Vim

Vim Logo

Vim is a well-known text editor used by all UNIX systems. It is based on vi ("visual") and which is based on ex again. The main advantages of Vim are less system requirements, configurability and it's spread. The most important opponent of Vim is the GNU Emacs editor. Vim is free and OpenSource.

Vim history

Getting started

CLI

Vim does not require any graphical user interface and can be started throughout the Command Line Interface / a terminal. In general, you don't have to type Vim, because in general vi starts vim. You can set the filename as the second argument (maybe a new file?)

vi Vim_file

Use option -R to view a file in readonly-mode

vi -R Vim_file

Use the UNIX manual man vi to get any further information. Use vimtutor to get a built-in tutorial.

Basics of Vim – modes and submit commands

There are two modes: Insert- and Commandline-Mode. After starting vim, you are in Commandline-Mode. You can always get into Commandline-Mode by pressing Esc. In Commandline-Mode press i to switch into Insert-Mode. To write the text "Hello World!" in a new file, use the following commands:

vi new_file

Hello World

:wq

Why did I highlight the commands differently? Well... the first command is a bash command (your shell has to proceed it). The second command is a Vim-command and will be inserted to the Vim command line (at the bottom of the Vim screen). And the last command is an ex-command. Vim tells ex to proceed the command (w = write; q = quit). Ex-commands always start with a colon. Prepend it, if not specified!

vi	Start vi
vi filename	Start vi and load file $filename
vi -R filename	... in read-only Mode
i	Enter Insert-Mode
w	write file
q	quit Vim
q!	force quitting Vim (→ without saving changes)

Vim in Read-Only mode

ZZ	Save file and quit editor
i	Enter Insert-Mode
ls	:ls 1 %a "file1.html" line 1 2 "file2.html" line 13 show all opened files
e	Reload file
e!	Force reloading file (→ without saving changes)

Navigation

h	left (one letter)
j	down (one line)
k	up (one line)
l	right (one letter)

GOTO

0	(zero) jump to the beginning of the line
$	jump to the end of the line
b	previous word
B	previous word (but don't consider punctuations and symbols)
w	next word
W	next word, but don't consider punctuations and symbols
+	jump to 0 of the next line
-	jump to 0 of the previous line
e	end; jump to the end of the current word
E	end; jump to the end of the current word (but don't consider punctuations and symbols)

You can use the commands multiple times by prepending numbers. 5B will jump 5 words backwards.

Modifying and Buffering

a	append; append text to the current cursor position
c	change; only useful in combination with movement command
d	delete; delete content (and copy it to the buffer)
p	put; insert content from the buffer
y	yank; copy content into the buffer

You can use the commands multiple times by prepending numbers. 5B will jump 5 words backwards. c2b will change the two previous words.

redo and undo

redo	redo
undo	undo
u	undo
U	undo all changes in current line unless you didn't move away

Stuff

R	toggle to replacement mode (exit by pressing Esc)
~	change letter at current position to uppercase/lowercase
dd	delete the whole current line
P	put; insert content from the buffer BEFORE the cursor
xp	transpose two letters
J	merge two lines (append next line to current one)

You can use the commands multiple times by prepending numbers. 5B will jump 5 words backwards. c2b will change the two previous words.

Insert-Commands

A	append text to end of line
I	insert text at end of line
o	open line; create new empty line below current cursor position
O	Open line; create new empty line after current cursor position
s	substitute; replace a letter
S	Substitute; replace a line

After executing those commands, you will be in insertion mode

Building commands

(command)(text unit)

eg. cw
eg. dw
eg. yw

(command)(number)(text unit) ...equals to...
(number)(command)(text unit)

eg. c2b
eg. 2cb

Examples

Object	copy	change	delete
1 word	yw	cw	dw
2 words without symbol consideration	2yW / y2W	2cW / c2W	2dW / d2W
3 word backwards	3yb / y3b	3cb / c3b	3db / d3b
1 line	yy / Y	cc	dd
until end of line	y$	c$ / C	d$ / D
to beginning of line	y0	c0	d0
single characters	y1 / yh	r	x / X
5 characters	5y1	5s	5x

set

wm=10	set wrapmargin to 10
nu	show number of line

Vim