/vim_intro

Primary LanguageJavaScript

Intro

Agenda

  • Why this topic
  • A brief history of VIM
  • Why VIM
  • Understanding the philosophy
  • How to make VIM your own
  • Basic VIM
  • Touch on more advanced topics
  • Q & A... If time permits

How to Exit VIM

  :help write-quit
:q :quit quit
:q! quit! force quit
:qa :quitall quit and close all open buffers
:wq write file and quit
:wq! write and quit, if file does not have a name fail and quit
:x :exit write file only if file has been changes and quit
:xa :xall same as :x but run on all open buffers
:xa! :xall! same as :xa but exit even on errors
:cq :cquit quit and return a none 0, helpful on git commit

A brief history of VIM

|--QED
|     |_1965-1966
|     |_UC Berkeley
|
|--ed
|     |_1969
|     |_Bell Labs
|     |_Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie
|
|--em
|     |_"editor for mortals"
|     |_1975
|     |_Queen Mary’s College, London
|     |_George Coulouris
|
|--ex/vi
|     |_"extended ed"
|     |_1978
|     |_UC Berkeley
|     |_Bill Joy
|     |_Distributed with BSD Unix Version 1.1
|
|--vim
|     |_"Vi Imitation" later "Vi Improved"
|     |_1988
|     |_Bram Moolenaar
|
|--neovim
|     |_2014
|
|--vim 8
      |_2016

[Where Vim Came From]https://twobithistory.org/2018/08/05/where-vim-came-from.html

Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie

adm3a keyboard

Why VIM

Pros

  • Fast and Lightweight
  • More productivity with less typing
  • Customizable
  • Free
  • Portable
  • Fun

Cons

  • Steep learning curve
  • Default configurations sucks
  • Doesn't have a "modern" look and feel
  • System clipboard support is not always easy

Vim Philosophy

Vim is a Modal editor

mode commands
normal <C-[>
insert i I a A o O
command :
visual v V

“Indeed, the ratio of time spent reading versus writing is well over 10 to 1. We are constantly reading old code as part of the effort to write new code. ...[Therefore,] making it easy to read makes it easier to write.”

― Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Vim Grammar

(operator)[motion/text-object]

. . .

dw

delete word

. . .

=G

re-indent lines from current position to end of file

Learning resources

Vim help & Built in resources

$ vimtutor

Opens a quick self guided tour of basic vim commands

. . .

:help {topic}

<C-]> - navigate to tag under cursor <C-t> - navigate back from tag

Additional Resources

Customizing VIM

.vimrc

:help vimrc

Normally located at macOS/Linux ~/.vimrc for vim or ~/.config/nvim/init.vim for neovim

windows $HOME/_vimrc

To load a different vimrc start vim with the -u flag passing it the file you would like to load

vim -u vimrc

or

vim -u NONE

plugin managers

Basic VIM

Command Mode

Other common commands
:w write to file
:e {file} open file
:ls list open buffers
:b{buffer} open buffer
:!{command} run system command
:reg view registers

Movements

:help motion.txt

Single Character
h left
j down
k up
l right

Movements

:help motion.txt

By word

A word consists of a sequence of letters, digits and underscores, or a sequence of other non-blank characters, separated with white space (spaces, tabs, ).

A WORD consists of a sequence of non-blank characters, separated with white space. An empty line is also considered to be a WORD.

http://google.com = 5 words or 1 WORD
w forward to next word
W forward to next WORD
e forward to end of word
E forward to end of WORD
b backwards to previous word
B backwards to previous WORD
ge backwards to previous end of word
gE backwards to previous end of WORD

Movements

:help motion.txt

find and til

Works only on current line
f{char} forward to {char}
F{char} backwards to {char}
t{char} forward until {char}
T{char} backwards until {char}
; repeat last find command is same direction
, repeat last find command is opposite direction

Movements

:help motion.txt

search

Works on whole file
/{word} search forwards for word
?{word} search backwards for word
* search forwards for word under cursor
# search backwards for word under cursor
n continue search in same direction
N continue search in opposite direction

Movements

:help motion.txt

Navigating a file
{n}G Goto to line number {n}
gg Goto to first line of file
G Goto to end of file
jump down half a page
jump up half a page
scroll page down(forward) 1 full page
scroll page up(back) 1 full page
zz center buffer on current position
H move cursor to top of screen
M move cursor to middle of screen
L move cursor to bottom of screen

Movements

:help motion.txt
0 to column 0
^ to first non-blank char
$ to end of line
{n}| to column number {n}
% to matching bracket

Insert Mode

:help inserting
i insert before current position
a append after current position
I insert before first non-blank character on current line
A append after last blank character on current line
o insert line after current position and enter insert mode
O insert line before current position and enter insert mode

Always use ESC or <C-[> to return to normal mode

Commands

:help change.txt
x delete character
r replace character
~ toggle case

Operators

:help operator
y yank(copy) text
d delete text
c change text
< un-indent text
> indent text
gu make text lowercase
gU make text uppercase

The dot operator

:help single-repeat

dot ( . ) repeats the last command

Text Objects - In and Around

:help text-objects

Move be prepended by a command

Can include:

Braces/parentheses

  • ()
  • {}
  • []
  • <>

Quotes and backticks

  • "
  • '
  • `

Tags ->

  • t

Words/WORDS/sentances/paragraphs

  • w
  • W
  • s
  • p

ci{ -> Change contents in curly brace

dit -> Delete contents in xml/html tag

yaw -> Yank contents around current word including trailing whitespace

Undo/Redo
u undo
redo

"Advanced" Vim

Marks

:help marks

Marks can be a-z or A-Z

mg -> set mark named g to current position

`g -> goto mark g

'g -> goto the start of the line of mark g

automatic marks
` the cursor position before the last jump
[ the first character of the last yanked or changed text
] the last character of the last yanked or changed text
. the position where the last change was made

Vim Registers

:help registers

named regisers can be a-z

:registers

to view the list of current registers

To specify a register prepend with "

"oy$
"op

common unnamed registers are
" text from the most recent d, c, s, x or y command
+ the system clipboard register, is configured
0 the text from the most recent yank command not stored in another register
1-9 contains the text from the most recent delete or change command
_ the black hole register used to preserve numbered registers
/ the last search register
: the last ex command ran

Marcos

:help complex-repeat

q{char} starts recording into registar {char}

press q again to stop recording

macros are stored in the registars

Conclusion

FAQ