Getting Started

01 About the manuals

01.1 Two manuals

• Press CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor.
• Press CTRL-O] to jump back (repeat to go further back).

01.2 Vim installed

• usr_90.txt
• the compatible option should be off. You can check it with this command: :set compatible?
• List all sourced script names: :scriptnames

01.3 Using the Vim tutor

• > vimtutor

> vim --clean -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q'
> vim --clean TUTORCOPY
// The --clean argument makes sure Vim is started with nice defaults.

02 The first steps in Vim

02.1 Running Vim for the First time

02.2 Inserting text

• :set showmode

02.3 Moving around

    k
h     l
  j

02.4 Deleting characters

• x
• dd
• J

02.5 Undo and Redo

• u
• CTRL-R

02.6 Other editing commands

• Q_in

02.7 Getting out

• ZZ

02.8 Finding help

• CTRL-T pop tag

• CTRL-O jump to older position

• :help CTRL-A

• :help cpo-<letter>

• :help i_CTRL-H
• :help i_CTRL-W
• :help i_CTRL-X
• :help i_<Up>
• :help v_o

• :help c_%

• :help -t
• :help 'number'
• :help :s
• :help E37
• :help >cont

03 Moving around

03.6 Telling where you are

• CTRL-G show where you are.
• :set ruler/ru enable ruler.

03.8 Simple searches

• :set ignorecase ignoring case
• *# searching for a ward in the text
• /\<the\> searching for whole words.
• :set hlsearch highlighting matches.
• :set incsearch display the match for the string while you are still typing it.

03.10 Using marks

• :jumps gives a list of positions you jumped to.

• :marks get a list of marks.
• m{mark} place a mark.
• '{mark} jump to mark.

04 Making small changes

04.1 Operators and motions

• d4w delete four words.
• c4w just like “d” operator, except it leaves you in Insert mode.

04.2 Changing text

SHORTCUTS

• xdl delete character under the cursor.
• Xdh delete character left of the cursor.
• Dd$ delete to end of the line.
• Cc$ change to end of the line.
• scl change one character.
• Scc change a whole line.

04.3 Repeating a change

• . It repeats the last change.

04.4 Visual mode.

• v
• V selecting lines.
• CTRL-V selecting blocks.
• o only takes you to one of the other corners.
• O move to the other corner in the same line.

04.7 Using the clipboard

• "*y copy to the clipboard.
• "*p put text from the clipboard.

04.8 Text objects.

• daw delete a word.

05 Set your settings

05.1 The vimrc file.

• :edit $MYVIMRC
• :version mentions the name of the “user vimrc file” Vim looks for.

05.3 The defaults.vim

• set backspace=indent,eol,start
• set showcmd
• set wilemenu
• filetype plugin indent on

05.4 Simple mappings

• :map <F5> i{<Esc>ea}<Esc>

05.5 Adding a package

• packadd! matchit
• :help matchit

05.6 Adding a plugin

05.7 Adding a help file

05.8 The option window

• :options

05.9 Often used options

• :set iskeyword&
• :set ignorecase
• :set nowrap
• :set list

06 Using syntax highlighting

07 Editing more than one file

07.1 Edit another file

• :hide edit foo.txt

07.2 A list of files

• :previous
• :next

• :args where am i

• :set autowrite automatic writing
• :args five.c six.c seven.h editing another list of files