Learn Vim

Vim tips + tricks
Want to support this page AND learn Vim?
Check out
by @iggredible

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

If you want to learn more Vim, check out my Learn-Vim guide on Github!

(Did I tell you it's free? 😁)

https://t.co/jiBxeTTi7U

#vim

[DHH @dhh]

@tobi As much as I love TextMate, I've come to realize the folly of being tied to one commercial OS on the basis of an editor. I considered going all-in on VSCode, but if I'm going to switch editor after 20 years, I'd like it to be my last change. Vim will be here and free in 100 years

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

If you have the jq command https://t.co/vPsCmoHQ9R installed, you can use it to format JSON in Vim!

On the line where you have a large JSON object:
{ "foo": { "bar": { "foo_id": null, "bar_id": 98765, "baz_id": 12345 } } }

Run:
:.!jq .

Vim bang operator/cmd: :h !

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

The vim-yoink plugin lets you to yank multiple times and quickly choose which yanked text to paste (with Ctrl-n/Ctrl-p).

If you use copy/paste often, check it out!

https://t.co/mDFRR6OSVK

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

If you want to resize, swap, and move windows, the winresizer plugin (https://t.co/6lKmM78eUb) can quickly resize your vim window with its resize mode.

Check it out!

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

If you have one large window and one small window, you can make them equal size with Ctrl-w + =

:h CTRL-W_=

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

You can "swap" windows with Ctrl-w + r

(technically it's down/right-ward rotation, but works like a swap with only 2 windows)

:h CTRL-W_r

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

@RandVegan Yup!

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

To roll a dice 5 times:

:for i in range(1,5) | put='Dice roll: ' . (rand() % 6 + 1) | endfor

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

There are 5 different history commands in Vim:

:his c or : - command-line history (q:)
:his s or / or ? - search history (q/ or q?)
:his e or = - expression history
:his i or @ - input history
:his d or > - debug history

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

= is the filter operator (by default it indents). If you want to indent the entire buffer, run:
gg=G

- gg goes to the top
- =G indent operator + all the way to the bottom

Use `` to go back to the original location.

Try: gg=G``

More:
https://t.co/qjnzs74jVR
:h =
#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

Press Ctrl-W o`` to zoom the current window and close other open windows (You can also run `:on`)

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

If you want to close the current window, you can press Ctrl-w + c

More: :h CTRL-W_c

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

If you use fugitive.vim, you can use git grep to use a keyword in a specific branch / SHA

:Ggrep MY_FOO some-branch
:Ggrep MY_FOO some-sha

Useful if you want to see if / how a text looks like in a different branch

:h :Ggrep

https://t.co/0mQAZHvKcM

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

To reverse two words, you can use this substitution:

:s/\(\w\+\) \(\w\+\)/\2 \1/g

This will reverse "strawberry chocolate" into "chocolate strawberry"

If you think there's too many backslash, you can use \v:
:s/\v(\w+) (\w+)/\2 \1/g

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

To generate 100 lines of "100 bottles of milk", you can run:

:for i in range(100, 0, -1) | put = i . ' bottles of milk 🥛' | endfor

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

Let's say you have:

apples
oranges
apples
bananas

To search for apples FOLLOWED BY bananas (and not apples followed by oranges), you can use a multi-line search

/apples\_.bananas

:h \_x

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

@xtremepentest @ghumare64 @sysxplore @linuxopsys @LinuxHandbook @devops_tech @itsfoss @nixcraft 👍

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

Last time we looked at :vimgrep to search for keywords.

:vimgrep /Waffles/ app/**/*.rb

To add more results into your last search, you can use :vimgrepa. To also search for Pancakes:

:vimgrepa /Pancakes/ app/**/*.rb

Now you have a list of Waffles AND Pancakes.

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

Vim has an internal grep to search for texts in files, :vimgrep.

If I want to search "Waffles" inside ruby files inside app/ directory:

:vimgrep /Waffles/ app/**/*.rb

To display the quickfix list result:
:copen

Try it!

#vim

[Learn Vim @learnvim]

When you pass multiple file names when you run Vim from the terminal (vim bar.rb foobar.lua), Vim stores those files inside the argument lists, which you can access with

:args

You can navigate through the argument lists with :next, :prev, :first, :last.

:h arglist

#vim