Vim

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Modal, keyboard-driven text editor built for speed and efficient editing, available almost everywhere.

PlatformWindows, macOS, Linux

Introduction

Vim can be quite a confusing program when you start using it. I'm still in the confused state, so bare with me.

If vim is not recognised in PowerShell, add the install folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Vim\vim92) to your PATH, then reopen the terminal.

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";C:\Program Files\Vim\vim92", "User")

Then close and reopen PowerShell, and vim $HOME/ will work.

TIP

Run vimtutor in a terminal for a built-in 30 minute interactive tutorial.

Config

Settings live in ~/.vimrc (on Windows: %USERPROFILE%\_vimrc).

set number relativenumber
set expandtab shiftwidth=4 tabstop=4
set ignorecase smartcase
set incsearch hlsearch
set clipboard=unnamedplus
syntax on

Modes

Vim is modal: the same keys do different things depending on the mode.

Mode	Enter with	Purpose
Normal	Esc	Navigate and run commands (default mode)
Insert	i / a / o	Type text
Visual	v / V / Ctrl V	Select characters / lines / block
Command-line	:	Run Ex commands (save, quit, search & replace)

Shortcuts

Files & quitting

Action	Shortcut
Save	:w
Save and quit	:wq or ZZ
Quit	:q
Quit without saving	:q!
Open file	:e path/to/file
Reload file from disk	:e!

Moving around

Action	Shortcut
Left / down / up / right	h j k l
Next / previous word	w / b
End of word	e
Start / end of line	0 / $
First non-blank character	^
Start / end of file	gg / G
Go to line N	:N or NG
Half page down / up	Ctrl D / Ctrl U
Jump to matching bracket	%
Jump back / forward	Ctrl O / Ctrl I

Editing

Action	Shortcut
Insert before / after cursor	i / a
Insert at line start / end	I / A
New line below / above	o / O
Delete character	x
Delete line	dd
Delete to end of line	D
Change word	cw
Change inside quotes	ci"
Yank (copy) line	yy
Paste after / before	p / P
Undo / redo	u / Ctrl R
Repeat last change	.
Indent / unindent line	>> / <<

Search & replace

Action	Shortcut
Search forward / backward	/text / ?text
Next / previous match	n / N
Search word under cursor	*
Replace all in file	:%s/old/new/g
Replace all with confirmation	:%s/old/new/gc
Clear search highlight	:noh

Windows, tabs & buffers

Action	Shortcut
Split horizontally / vertically	:sp / :vsp
Move between splits	Ctrl W then h j k l
New tab	:tabnew
Next / previous tab	gt / gT
List buffers	:ls
Switch buffer	:b N

Grammar

Vim commands read like a sentence: operator + motion (or text object). Learn a few of each and combine them.

Command	Meaning
dw	Delete to next word
d$	Delete to end of line
yiw	Yank inner word
ci(	Change inside parentheses
da"	Delete around quotes (including the quotes)
3dd	Delete 3 lines
gU + motion	Uppercase

Common operators: d delete, c change, y yank, > indent, gU / gu upper / lower case. Text objects: iw word, i" quotes, i( parentheses, it HTML tag, ip paragraph. Use i for inner, a for around.

Plugins

Good tutorial

Plugins can be managed with vim-plug. Setup on Windows:

Where things live

Path	Purpose
~\_vimrc (C:\Users\<name>\_vimrc)	Config file, read by Vim at startup
~\vimfiles\	Config folder: plugins, autoload\plug.vim, colour schemes
~\vimfiles\plugged\	Where vim-plug downloads plugins (managed automatically)

~ is shorthand for your user's home folder. On Linux/macOS the equivalents are ~/.vimrc and ~/.vim/; Windows uses _vimrc and vimfiles because dot-names are not hidden there. Run :version in Vim to see which locations it checks, and :echo $MYVIMRC to see which one it loaded.

Setup

1. Install vim-plug (requires git on the PATH):

   iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim |`
     ni $HOME/vimfiles/autoload/plug.vim -Force

2. Create the config file. The block below is file content for _vimrc, not commands to type into a terminal:

   vim $HOME/_vimrc

   Press i, paste the config, press Esc, then :wq.

   set nocompatible
   filetype plugin indent on
   syntax on
   
   call plug#begin('~/vimfiles/plugged')
   Plug 'preservim/vim-markdown'
   Plug 'junegunn/goyo.vim'
   Plug 'preservim/vim-pencil'
   call plug#end()
   
   " vim-markdown
   let g:vim_markdown_folding_disabled = 1   " folding is on by default and can be annoying
   let g:vim_markdown_frontmatter = 1        " highlight YAML front matter
   
   " vim-pencil: enable only for prose filetypes
   augroup pencil
     autocmd!
     autocmd FileType markdown,mkd call pencil#init({'wrap': 'soft'})
   augroup END
   
   " goyo: toggle distraction-free mode
   nnoremap <leader>g :Goyo<CR>

3. Reopen Vim and run :PlugInstall.

Command	Action
:PlugInstall	Install plugins listed in _vimrc
:PlugUpdate	Update installed plugins
:PlugClean	Remove plugins no longer listed

Markdown plugins

Plugin	Purpose	Usage
vim-markdown	Syntax highlighting and navigation for Markdown	:Toc table of contents, :TableFormat, ]] / [[ jump between headers
vim-pencil	Better prose writing (soft wrap)	:PencilToggle
goyo.vim	Distraction-free writing	:Goyo or \ g, :Goyo 80 sets the width

TIP

vim-markdown only works with filetype plugin indent on and syntax on in _vimrc. The default leader key is \.