Brainscape Vim Flashcards
forward word/WORD
w / W
backward word/WORD
b / B
end of word/WORD
e / E
end of previous word
ge
beginning of line
0
beginning of text in line
end of line
$
land on next/previous “x” in line
fx / Fx
land just before the next/previous “x” in line
tx / Tx
next/previous (intra-line) find result
; / ,
move to matching parenthesis or bracket (or whatever is set in the ‘matchpairs’ option)
%
go to beginning of file
gg
go to end of file
G
go to line 7 of file
7G or 7gg
go to three-quarters of the way through the file
75% (you can use percentages!)
move cursor to the top of the screen
H (remember “highest”)
move cursor to the middle of the screen
M
move cursor to the bottom of the screen
L (remember “lowest”)
turn line numbers on/off
‘nu’ ‘number’ ‘nonu’ ‘nonumber’ :set nu, :set number/:set nonu, :set nonumber (also :# will just show you your current line number without turning on numbering)
turn on/off line number and percentage in the status bar
‘ru’ ‘ruler’ ‘noru’ ‘noruler’ (e.g. “:set ruler”)
scroll whole page at a time (name for both directions)
CTRL-F / CTRL-B (remember “Forward”/”Backward”)
scroll half a page at a time (name for both directions)
CTRL-D/CTRL-U (remember “Down”/”Up”)
scroll one line at a time (name for both directions)
CTRL-E (down) / CTRL-Y (up)
move the LINE with the cursor in middle of visible screen
zz
put the line with the cursor at the top of the screen
zt
put the line with the cursor at the bottom of the screen
zb
search (forward and backward)
/ forward ? backward
go to next/previous search result
n/N (note that “next” could be either forward or backward depending on whether / or ? is used)
setting to always make searches case-insensitive / sensitive (also, what is the default?)
‘ic’ ‘ignorecase’ ‘noic’ ‘noignorecase’ e.g. “:set ic” (default is ‘noignorecase’, so searches are case-sensitive by default)
use the current word under the cursor and search forward/backward (like “/” or “?”)
- (forward), # (backward)
SEARCH for the third next word under the cursor
3* (used with count)
turn off search highlighting temporarily
:noh :nohlsearch (command)
turn off search highlighting permanently
‘nohls’ ‘nohlsearch’ e.g. “:set nohls”
enable/disable display of search matches while you’re still typing (this is on by default)
‘is’ ‘incsearch’ ‘nois’ ‘noincsearch’ :set is/:set nois (this setting is on by default):
define a “jump”
anything farther than one line (not including “j” and “k” with count though)
jump back and forth between two recent JUMPS
`` (to the actual cursor position in the line) or ‘’ (to the beginning of line)
go to older/newer location in jump list
CTRL-O older / CTRL-I newer (also )
display list of recent jumps
:ju :jumps
mark place under cursor with an “a”
ma (marks can be “a-z”)
jump to mark “q”
q or 'q ( for intra-line, ‘ for beginning of line)
display list of marks
:marks (no abbreviated version)
clear the jump list of the current window
:cle :clearjumps
special mark for cursor position from just before most recent jump
’ or ` (e.g. `` or ‘’ to get back to where you were last)
special mark for cursor position from when last editing the file
” (e.g. `” or ‘” to get back to where you were when last editing the file)
special marks for the start/end of the last change
[ / ]
difference between uppercase and lowercase marks
lowercase marks are specific to one file, whereas uppercase marks are global and can be used from any file
see where “F” is marked, see where “M”, “C”, and “P” are marked
:marks F :marks MCP
delete operator
d{motion}
delete whole line
dd
change whole line (but keep indent) (two ways of doing this!)
cc (or S)
delete character under/before cursor
x (same as “dl”) / X (same as “dh”)
delete to end of line
D (same as “d$”)
change one character
s (same as “cl”)
replace one character
r{character}
replace mode
R
repeat last change
.
character-based/line-based/block-based visual mode
v / V / CTRL-V
change to other side of selection in visual mode
o (“o”ther)
change to opposite set of corners when in block-based visual mode
O (“O”ther)
re-select the most-recently selected visual area
gv
put copied text after/before cursor
p / P
put three copies of copied text after cursor
3p
swap two characters
xp (simply the commands “x”, then “p”)
copy text specified by a given movement
y{movement} (remember “yank”)
copy whole line
yy
copy to end of line
Y (must be mapped to do so in init.vim, since by default it acts identical to “yy”)
copy using normal clipboard instead of register, paste using normal clipboard instead of register
“y “p (or you can use “+” instead of “*”)
what “ab” and “aB” text objects represent
“a(“ and “a{“
change case of one character and move forward
~
switch case of current line
g~g~ or g~~
lowercase/uppercase the text indicated by a given motion
gu{motion} / gU{motion}
make current line uppercase / lowercase
gUgU or gUU gugu or guu
make highlighted text lowercase/uppercase in visual mode
u / U
append at end of line, insert at beginning of line
A I
text objects for an HTML or XML tag block (e.g. …)
at / it
text objects for words, sentences, and paragraphs
iw/aw is/as ip/ap
add one to the number under the cursor, add three
CTRL-A 3CTRL-A
subtract one from the number under the cursor, subtract three
CTRL-X 3CTRL-X
create an incrementing sequence
On separate lines, put “1” “1” “1” “1”. Then visually select all lines except the first and execute “g CTRL-A” to create “1” “2” “3” “4”.
location of init.vim, Linux
~/.config/nvim/init.vim
location of init.vim, Windows
~/AppData/Local/nvim/init.vim
reset an option to its default state
end with “&”, e.g. “:set iskeyword&”
what distinguishes a “setting” in the help files
single quotes, e.g. :help ‘wrap’
how to find help for a visual mode command
prepend “v_”, e.g. :help v_u
how to find help for an insert mode command
prepend “i_”, e.g. :help i_CTRL W
how to find help for a command-line command
prepend “:”, e.g. :help :quit
how to find help for editing text in the command-line
prepend “c_”, e.g. :help c_
how to find help for a Vim start-up option
prepend “-“, e.g. :help -r
how to find help for a regular expression
prepend “/”, e.g. :help /[
how to search for a help topic
type “:help word” and then press CTRL-D to see matching entries for “word” (or use “:helpgrep word”)
change background to dark/light version of color scheme
‘bg’ ‘background’ (e.g. “:set background=dark/light”)
change color scheme
:colorscheme evening
print a physical paper copy of a file, print only a portion of a file
:hardcopy highlight with visual mode before printing
settings relating to physical printing of a file
look at settings beginning with ‘print*’, e.g. ‘printdevice’ ‘printheader’ ‘printfont’ ‘printoptions’
print to html
:TOhtml
disable SYNTAX highlighting for the moment
:syntax clear
disable syntax highlighting completely
:syntax disable
allow manual turning on and off of syntax highlighting per buffer
:syntax manual, then “:set syntax=ON” (or OFF) on a per-buffer basis
force Vim to use a certain type of syntax highlighting for a file
‘ft’ ‘filetype’ (e.g. “:set filetype=fortran”)
see what filetype Vim is currently using for syntax highlighting
:set ft? :set filetype? (with no argument)
open Vim with multiple files in horizontal splits, vertical splits
nvim -o file1.txt file2.txt nvim -O file1.txt file2.txt
close the current file and open a new one
:edit FILE
hide current file and edit another
:hide edit otherfile.txt
edit a new set of files from within Vim
:args five.txt six.txt seven.txt
view currently open files that were given from arguments
:ar :args
edit the next, previous file in the :args list, skip two files forward in :args list
:n :next :N :prev :previous :2next
write changes and move to next, previous file in :args list
:wn :wnext (same as “:write”, then “:next”) :wN :wp :wprevious
go to first file in :args list
:fir :first (bonus–can also use “:rewind”)
go to last file in :args list
:la :last
setting to automatically write file when switching to another buffer
‘aw’ ‘autowrite’ ‘noaw’ ‘noautowrite’ (e.g. “:set autowrite”)
what is the difference between the argument list and buffers in Vim
the argument list was already present in Vi, but the buffer list was a new addition for Vim
add file(s) to the argument list in Vim
:arga :argadd (e.g. “:arga file3.txt file4.txt”)
remove file(s) from argument list in Vim
:argd :argdelete (e.g. “:argdelete file1.txt” or “*.txt” or “%”)
edit file N in the argument list
:argu :argument (e.g. “:argu 3” or “:3argu”)
write and quit all (TWO different command-line commands)
:wqa :xa
quit all files
:qa :quitall
quit without saving
:q! quit!
technical difference between “:wq” and “:x”
“:wq” writes and quits no matter what, whereas “:x” writes and quits, but only actually does the “write” if the file was changed
uppercase letters to write current file, if modified, and quit
ZZ (same as “:x”)
uppercase letters to quit without checking for changes
ZQ (same as “:q!”)
close the current window (command-line command and keybinding)
:clo :close CTRL-W c
quit the current window (command-line command and keybinding)
:q :quit CTRL-W q
what is the technical difference between “:quit” and “:close”
“:quit” will quit Vim if you’re in the last open window, whereas “:close” will make sure to leave Vim open
jump between the previous file and the current file (back and forth as desired)
CTRL-^ (technically, will jump to the “alternate file”, which is the most-recently viewed one)
jump to buffer N (command line command and keybinding)
:Nbuf :Nbuffer N CTRL-^
how backups work by default in Vim, what option controls this behavior
backup is made, file is overwritten, backup is deleted (this is the behavior of the ‘wb’ ‘writebackup’ option)
keep backups from being deleted automatically after write
‘bk’ ‘backup’ ‘nobk’ ‘nobackup’ (e.g. “:set backup”)
what backup filenames look like by default
“file.txt~” with a tilde
setting to make a custom backup-file signifier
‘bex’ ‘backupext’ (e.g. “:set backupext=.backup”)
backup to a specified directory instead of just cwd
‘bdir’ ‘backupdir’ (e.g. “:set backupdir=DIRECTORY”)
how to keep a backup of the original file before any changes were made, also, what is prerequisite for this to work
:set patchmode=.orig (“.orig” is the extension); requires ‘backupdir’ to be set for this to work
how to open a file in read-only mode
nvim -R file.txt (bonus! you may also be able to simply use the command “view file.txt” from Linux)
what is the difference between “nvim -R file.txt” and “nvim -M file.txt”
“-R” is read-only mode, which will warn before saving, whereas “-M” is even more strict, opening Vim with the ‘modifiable’ setting switched off
how can you remove the read-only setting if you opened a file in read-only mode
:set write (inverse of “:set nowrite”), no shortened version of this option
how you can remove the “modifiable” protection and make a file modifiable again
‘ma’ ‘modifiable’ ‘noma’ ‘nomodifiable’ (e.g. “:set modifiable”)
how to append to a file instead of simply writing one
:write»_space; file.txt (append current buffer to file.txt)
how to save a copy of the file with a new name, but keep on editing the file with the original name
:write file2.txt
save a copy of a file and continue editing the file with the new name
:saveas file2.txt
display information about the current file (both command-line command and keybinding)
:f :file CTRL-G
split current buffer into two separate (horizontal) windows (command-line command and keybinding)
:sp :split CTRL-W s
which window will have the cursor after a horizontal split
the top window
which window will have the cursor after a vertical split
the left window
create a new split window that is 3 lines high
:3split (note that count must precede the command)
split and open a specified file in the new window
:sp :split FILE (e.g. “:split file2.txt”)
split (horizontally) and open a new file in the new split (command-line command and keybinding)
:new CTRL-W n
split the current buffer into two VERTICAL windows (command-line command and keybinding)
:vsp :vsplit CTRL-W v
create a vertical split with a specified file
:vsp :vsplit file2.txt
create a vertical split with a new file
:vne :vnew
hide the current buffer
:hid :hide
close all other windows except the current one (command-line command and keybinding)
:on :only CTRL-W o
jump from window to window
CTRL-W w
move to window to the left, down, up, or to the right
CTRL-W h j k l
move to the top window
CTRL-W t
move to the bottom window
CTRL-W b
rotate all windows downwards/rightwards (clockwise) or upwards/leftwards (counter-clockwise)
CTRL-W r and CTRL-W R
swap current window with the next one (or the previous if there is no “next” window)
CTRL-W x
swap current window with the third window from the top
3 CTRL-W x (windows increment starting with “1”)
move window left, down, up, or right
CTRL-W H J K L
move current window to a new tab page
CTRL-W T (uppercase “T”)
move current window to a new tab page before tab three
3 CTRL-W T
make all windows the same height and width
CTRL-W =
increase/decrease size of window (also, increase/decrease by four lines) (command-line command and keybinding)
:resize +4/-4 CTRL-W +/- and 4 CTRL-W +/-
set current window as high as possible, “maximize” (command-line command and keybinding)
:res :resize (with no arguments) CTRL-W _
set current window height to a specific number of rows (command line and keybinding), also, a “bonus” shortcut for this
:resize N [N]CTRL-W _ z{nr}
make window wider/narrower, make window wider/narrower by three columns (command-line command and keybinding)
:vert :vertical resize +3/-3 CTRL-W >//< (three columns)
how to make the new window you’re creating appear to the right or below rather than to the default above or left
:rightb :rightbelow / :bel :belowright (bonus FYI, “:lefta :leftabove” / “:abo :aboveleft” are the inverse counterparts of these
how to make the new window you’re creating all the way at the top and/or to the left, OR bottom and/or right
:to :topleft / :bo :botright (but NOT :bottomright)
the two options that will alter the default above/left behavior for window splits
‘sb’ ‘splitbelow’ ‘nosb’ ‘nosplitbelow’ ‘spr’ ‘splitright’ ‘nospr’ ‘nosplitright’ (e.g. “:set splitbelow”)
settings to set the DESIRED (not hard) minimum hight and width of a new window also, what is the default and minimum setting for this
‘wh’ ‘winheight’ ‘wiw’ ‘winwidth’ e.g. “:set wiw=5” minimum and default setting is “1”
settings for the hard minimum height and width to enforce for other windows (besides the new one you’re opening)
‘wmh’ ‘winminheight’ ‘wmw’ ‘minwinwidth’
reasonable values for the ‘winminheight’ option
0-3, where zero will just be the separator itself (too large a number will cause errors when opening multiple windows)
reasonable values for the ‘winminwidth’ option
0-12, where zero will just be the separator itself (too large a number will cause errors when opening multiple windows)
option to automatically resize all windows to have equal spacing among them (default on)
‘ea’ ‘equalalways’ ‘noea’ ‘noequalalways’
how do you open Vim in diff mode
nvim -d main.c~ main.c (in this example using a backup file as a means of comparison)
how do you go into diff mode from within Vim
:vertical diffsplit main.c~ (compare “main.c~” with the file you’re currently editing, presumably “main.c”)
make it so that the two windows no longer scroll together in diff mode
:set noscrollbind (‘scb’ ‘scrollbind’ ‘noscb’ ‘noscrollbind’)
jump to the next/previous change in diff mode, jump three changes forward/back
]c / [c used with a count, 3]c / 3[c
in diff mode, replace deleted text when you’re in the LEFT window
dp (remember “diff put”)
in diff mode, remove changes when you’re in the RIGHT window
do (remember “diff obtain”)
open Vim with multiple files in separate tab pages
nvim -p file1.txt file2.txt
open a file in a new tab page within Vim
:tabedit FILE
open a new tab with an empty window
:tabnew
close all tabs except current
:tabonly
close current tab
:tabc :tabclose
close all tabs except tab number two
:2tabonly OR :tabonly 2
go to next tab/previous tab, go to tab number 3 (command-line command and keybindings)
:tabnext :tabprevious gt / gT 3gt ALSO CTRL-/ (works in both normal and insert mode)
go to first/last tab page
:tabfirst :tablast
make the current tab the last one
:tabm :tabmove (default behaviour of “:tabmove” is to put current tab at the end–“:tabmove $” will also work)
move current tab left, right, after tab 2, or to the beginning
:-tabmove :+tabmove :2tabmove :0tabmove (also can use “:tabm” for short) (yes, it is fine to put the number after the command as well)
split window and jump to alternate file (command-line command and keybinding)
:split # CTRL-W ^
start/stop recording a macro
q{register} / q (note that you can paste the contents of the register if you need to tweak something)
execute macro, execute macro more than once
@{register} {count}@{register}
how does the “g” flag modify the “:substitute” command (i.e. “:s/a/b/g” vs “:s/a/b/”)
replace all matches on the line instead of just the first
how does the “c” flag modify the “:substitute” command (i.e. “:%s/a/b/c”)
confirm
what are the confirm options for the substitute “c” flag (i.e. “:%s/a/b/c)
y (yes; make this change) n (no; skip this match) a (all; change all remaining without further confirmation) q (quit; don’t make this change either) l (make this the last change)
what do CTRL-E and CTRL-Y do in substitute confirm mode
scroll the text one line down/up, as expected
command to see the name of the current swap file being used
:sw :swapname
command-line flag to start Vim without using swap file
nvim -n file.txt
when is the swap file updated by default
after typing 200 characters or when you haven’t typed anything for 4 seconds
setting to change the number of characters for the interval of writing to the swap file
‘uc’ ‘updatecount’ (e.g. “:set updatecount=1000”)
setting to change the time to wait after idle before writing to swap file
‘ut’ ‘updatetime’ (e.g. “:set updatetime=1000” (in milliseconds))
turn off writing to swap file
:set updatecount=0 (will turn off writing to swap file completely!)
command to write all text for all buffers into swap file(s)
:pre :preserve
how to launch Vim to recover a file you were editing (also, what if there was no filename?)
nvim -r FILE nvim -r “” (if no filename)
view all swap files found in a directory when starting Vim
nvim -r
swap file warning you will get when the swap file is NEWER than the file being opened (meaning, it might have saved some lost work)
YES
swap file warning you will get when the file is already opened elsewhere
process ID: 12559 (still running)
go to beginning/end of your line when using the command line
CTRL-B / CTRL-E (or / )
at command line, complete to longest unambiguous string
CTRL-L (mnemonic, “complete Line”)
AT COMMAND LINE, show all possible completions based on what you’ve typed
CTRL-D (mnemonic, “Do this for me…” or “Don’t make me work here”)
at command-line (or search), open up a small window for easier editing
CTRL-F (mnemonic “Fix it up”)
open up the command-line window (with browsable command/search history)
or q/
stop browsing at the command-line window and place the current line ready to execute
CTRL-C
delete whole word backward at command-line
CTRL-W
delete whole line (and “start over”) at command-line
CTRL-U
command to just view non-interactive list of command-line / search history
:his :history :history /
suspend Vim and go back to command prompt (command-line command and keybinding)
:suspend CTRL-Z
if you have suspended Vim, how do you get back to it from the shell
fg
how to read the output of a program into Vim
:r :read !{program}
send text from Vim to be the input of another program
:w :write !{program}
filter text from Vim through an external program
:[range]!{program}
view a list of recent files
:bro o :browse oldfiles
special mark that is set with the last cursor position and file when exiting Vim
‘0 (and these get pushed to ‘1, ‘2, ‘3, etc., cycling through and dropping off after ‘9) (note this was broken in v0.2.2 and will be fixed for future)
difference between a “session” and a “view”
a “session” saves everything (window sizes and positions, mappings, option values), whereas a “view” just saves settings related to just one window (e.g. number/nonumber setting, folds, etc.) also note that making a session saves views on all windows automatically
command to save a session
:mks :mksession [my_session.vim] (if omitted, filename will default to Session.vim)
restore a session from within Vim
:source my_session.vim
restore a session when opening Vim
vim -S my_session.vim
command to save a view, also, what are the three ways you can save a view
:mkvie :mkview (unnumbered, let Vim worry about name) :mkview 1-9 (additional nine numbered views possible per file) :mkview my_view.vim (specific file name, can be used on another file)
what are modelines
specific lines hardcoded at the beginning and/or end of a file that specify configuration settings
what are the default lines that Vim checks for modelines
the first five lines and the last five lines
setting to change how many lines to have Vim look for modelines, also, how to turn off modelines
:set modelines=10 :set nomodelines
syntax for a modeline
any-text vim:set {option}={value} {option}={value} … : any-text (if you want other text after the modelines, the “:” tells Vim to stop interpreting the modeline–escape with “:” if needed)
change current working directory globally, for current tab, for current window
:cd :tcd :lcd
go to file name under cursor and edit
gf
change working directory to directory of current file
:cd %:p:h
setting to AUTOMATICALLY set the working directory to be that of the currently open file
‘acd’ ‘autochdir’ ‘noacd’ ‘noautochdir’ (e.g. “:set autochdir”)
edit a file from anywhere in the current ‘path’
:fin :find (like :edit but will look for file anywhere in current ‘path’) also :splitfind, :tabfind, etc.
“u” in buffer list
an “unlisted” buffer (see :help unlisted-buffer)
”%” in buffer list
the current buffer
”#” in buffer list
the alternate buffer
“a” in buffer list
buffer is loaded and displayed (active)
“h” in buffer list
buffer is loaded but hidden
”=” in buffer list
buffer is read-only (mnemonic, file contents “equals” what it was when it was loaded)
”-“ in buffer list
buffer is “not modifiable” (i.e. ‘modifiable’ is turned off) (mnemonic: if “+” means modified, “-“ means “not able to be modified”)
”+” in buffer list
buffer has been modified
command to view buffer list
:ls :buffers
switch to buffer 2
:2b :2buffer or :b 2 :buffer 2 (can also type part of filename)
list all buffers, including unlisted buffers (like help entries open)
:buffers! (or :ls!)
make an abbreviation
:ab :abbreviate jm John Maughan
remove an abbreviation
:una :unabbreviate jm
clear all abbreviations
:abc :abclear
how are abbreviations different from keybindings
abbreviations are triggered when you type a space, whereas keybindings will trigger as soon as the key combination is typed
paste text, aligning indent with surrounding indentation
]p
indent/unindent the line by ‘shiftwidth’ spaces (in normal mode)
> > / <
indent/unindent current line from insert mode
CTRL-T / CTRL-D (remember “T”ab and “D”elete tab)
in insert mode, delete previous word
CTRL-W
in insert mode, delete whole line
CTRL-U
in insert mode, copy character from above / below the current line
CTRL-Y / CTRL-E
in insert mode, paste the contents of a register
CTRL-R{register} (mnemonic “Register”)
in insert mode, insert a literal character (like a special character)
CTRL-V {character}
in insert mode, insert a literal tab (useful for when using SuperTab)
CTRL-I
in insert mode, execute a single command and then return to insert mode
CTRL-O {command}
in insert mode, insert the text you typed last time you were in insert mode, do this and exit insert mode
CTRL-A CTRL-@
when operating on search results, visually select the next/previous match
gn / gN (using these, you don’t have to press “n.”, because just “.” will actually make the change for you!)
when operating on search results, delete, change, or make next match uppercase
dgn (delete next match) cgn (change next match) gUgn (make next match uppercase
command to turn spell checking on/off
:set spell :set nospell (no abbreviated version of these)
custom keybinding (from vimcast) for quickly toggling spell check
{leader}s
add word under cursor as a good/wrong word to spellfile, to internal word list
zg / zw zG / gW
describe difference between spellfile and internal word list
the spellfile is persistent, whereas the internal word list is discarded when exiting Vim
describe what marking a word “wrong” actually does in the spellfile
turns existing entries into comment lines, thus the file only grows in length
undo marking a word as “good”/”wrong” in spellfile, in internal word list
zug / zuw zuG / zuW
suggest/cancel suggesting correctly spelled words for word under cursor in spell-check mode
z= (CTRL-C to cancel) (mnemonic “what might equal the correct word”)
trigger spelling completions
CTRL-X s
clean up commented lines in spellfile
:runtime /spell/cleanadd.vim
command-line commands to add a “good” or “wrong” word to spellfile/internal word list
:spe :spellgood {word} :spellw :spellwrong {word} append a “!” to only add to the internal word list (e.g. :spe! tyger)
next/previous misspelled word, also, same but only stop at “wrong” words, skipping rare words or words from another region
]s / [s ]S / [S
how to toggle an option in vim
append an exclamation mark “!”, e.g. “:set wrap!” to toggle the option back and forth
turn off soft wrapping lines longer than the width of the window
‘wrap’ ‘nowrap’ (e.g. “:set nowrap”) (no shorter form)
when soft wrapping is on, wrap lines lines at word breaks instead of in the middle
‘lbr’ ‘linebreak’ (bonus: will wrap long lines at a character in ‘breakat’ option)
setting for inserting actual line breaks if lines get longer than a certain length
‘tw’ ‘textwidth’, e.g. “:set tw=72” (and ‘fo’ needs “t” in it)
cause wrapped lines to continue visually indented
‘bri’ ‘breakindent’ (and ‘nobri’ ‘nobreakindent’ of course)
cause wrapped lines to show a string of your choosing before the wrapped text (default string is “”)
‘sbr’ ‘showbreak’, e.g. “:set sbr=>\ “ (backslash to escape space)
how to treat a setting value like a variable, and why one would do this
prepend an ampersand, e.g. :let &showbreak = ‘+++ ‘ this allows you to avoid having to escape spaces
turn on/off display of non-print characters
‘list’ ‘nolist’
turn on/off line numbering
‘nu’ ‘number’ ‘nonu’ ‘nonumber’
check if any buffers were changed outside of Vim, and, if ‘autoread’ is set (it will be by default in Neovim), reload the file
:checkt :checktime
trigger word completion, cycle through previous/next completion
CTRL-P, CTRL-P / CTRL-N to cycle backwards/forwards
complete whole lines
CTRL-X CTRL-L
complete keywords in thesaurus
CTRL-X CTRL-T
complete keywords in dictionary
CTRL-X CTRL-D
complete file name
CTRL-X CTRL-F
show the current state of an option
append a question mark to the setting when using the set command, e.g. “:set number?”
jump to matching ), ], or }
%
delete specified mark or marks delete marks “a”, “b”, and “1”delete marks in range from “a” to “z”delete all marks for current buffer
:delm :delmarks:delm a b 1:delm a-z:delm!
motion to go to beginning/end of sentence
( / )
motion to go to the beginning / end of a paragraph
{ / }
setting to change how substitute effects are shown as you type (also, what are the options you can use for it)
‘icm’ ‘inccommand’ “” (no feedback), “nosplit” (show effects incrementally, as you type, “split” (show results in preview window) (e.g. “:set icm=nosplit”)
turn off search wrapping from bottom to top (default is on)
‘ws’ ‘wrapscan’ ‘nows’ ‘nowrapscan’ (e.g. “:set nowrapscan”)
four levels of “magic” that can be specified as flags for a regular expression (also, what is the default setting?)
‘magic’ is set to on by default, and is recommended to be kept to avoid breaking plugins\m (interpret as if ‘magic’ is set, only [$.*~] have special meaning, the rest have to be escaped with “" in order to be special)\M (interpret as if ‘nomagic’ is set, only [$] has special meaning)\v (“very magic”, all characters have special meaning except [0-9a-zA-Z_] (like you would expect as normal in Python–you have to escape any special characters you do not want to be treated as special)\V (“very nomagic” only the “" and the terminating character have special meaning)
move up/down one screen line, move to beginning/end of screen line
gk / gj g0, g^, and g$
init.vim keybinding to clear search highlighting
CTRL-L
init.vim keybinding to toggle spell check
s
commentary.vim: comment or uncomment a motion
gc{motion}
commentary.vim comment or uncomment [count] lines
[count]gcc
commentary.vim: comment or uncomment the visual-mode highlighted lines
{visual}gc
commentary.vim: text object for a comment for use in operator pending mode
gc
commentary.vim: uncomment the current and adjacent commented lines
gcgc OR gcu
commentary.vim: comment or uncomment [range] lines from command line
:[range]Commentary
center lines in [range] between [width] columns, also, what are defaults
:ce :center (e.g. “:[range]center [width]” “:3,4ce 50” “:0,$center 40”), default is ‘textwidth’ or 80 characters if ‘textwidth’ is 0
right-align lines in [range] at [width] columns, also list defaults
:ri :right (e.g. “:[range]right [width]”), default ‘textwidth’ or 80 if ‘textwidth’ is 0
left-align lines in [range], also list defaults
:le :left (e.g. :[range]left [indent]), default indent is 0
what is the difference between gq and gw
“gw” puts the cursor back to its original position and does not use any external program, whereas “gq” leaves the cursor in its new position and will use either ‘formatexpr’ or ‘formatprg’ if found in preference over just formatting the text internally
how to format the current line, format current paragraph, format N lines
gqgq OR gqq, gqap, [count]gqq (used with count you can do like 3gqgq to format 3 lines) also, you could use “{visual}gq” or “gq{motion}” note that all the same are available with “gw” (e.g. “gwgw” or “gww”)
how to set Vim to do formatting by use of an external program
‘fp’ ‘formatprg’ (e.g. “:set formatprg=yapf”), note that such a program must take input through stdin and send output to stdout
how to set the line-ending style in Neovim
‘ff’ ‘fileformat’ (e.g. “:set fileformat=dos”), can be “dos” (CRLF) “unix” (LF) or “mac” (CR)
view list of digraphs in Vim
:dig :digraphs
how to enter a digraph in Vim (two methods)
CTRL-K {char1} {char2} OR turn on ‘digraph’ option and do {char1} {char2}
setting to allow digraphs from insert mode
‘dg’ ‘digraph’ ‘nodg’ ‘nodigraph’
setting to change the directory for the swap file also, set as same directory as edited file
‘dir’ ‘directory’ :set dir=.
default location of swap file in Neovim
$XDG_DATA_HOME/nvim/swap
where is $XDG_DATA_HOME for Neovim
~/.local/share/nvim ~/AppData/Local/nvim-data
where is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (Linux and Windows)
~/.config/nvim ~/AppData/Local/nvim
how to change the number of files that will be remembered for “:browse oldfiles”
‘sd’ ‘shada’ with ‘ paramenter (e.g. “:set shada=’25”) (may need to wipe your shada file before the change will be reflected)
setting that specifies options for how text is formatted
‘fo’ ‘formatoptions’
default setting for ‘formatoptions’
tcqj
format option to auto-wrap text using ‘textwidth’
t
format option to auto-wrap comments using textwidth (also, how to wrap for comments but NOT for normal text)
c (for comments only, “:set fo-=t” and “:set fo+=c”)
format option to automatically continue comments when you press , also, format option to continue comments when you use “o” or “O” in normal mode
r (for , mnemonic “Return”) o (for “o” and “O”)
format option to automatically format paragraphs (every time text is added or deleted paragraph will be reformatted)
a (mnemonic “Automatically / Always”)
format option to recognize numbered lists
n
format option to leave long lines alone when you’re entering insert mode (if it was already longer than ‘textwidth’ when you started, leave it alone)
l (lowercase letter “L”)
describe helpful combinations of format options “” “t” “c” “tc”
”” no automatic formatting (you can still use “gq” for manual formatting)”t” automatically format text, but not comments”c” automatically format comments, but not text”tc” automatically format comments and text
format option to make whitespace at end of line signal paragraph continuation
w (mnemonic “whitespace”)
setting for how many spaces a character looks like on screen, also, what is default
‘ts’ ‘tabstop’ default is 8
setting for number of “spaces” of width to put in when pressing and when editing text (Vim will then convert to the appropriate number of tabs/spaces)
‘sts’ ‘softtabstop’ (e.g. “:set sts=4”) 0 is default (which means turned off) NOTE–this will combine tabs and spaces as necessary to reach the value of ‘sts’ as needed, unless ‘expandtab’ is also set
setting indicating number of spaces to use for each step of autoindent (“»”, “<
‘sw’ ‘shiftwidth’ default is 8
setting to use spaces instead of tabs, also, what is default
‘et’ ‘expandtab’ ‘noet’ ‘noexpandtab’ default is off
command to redo tabs/spaces in file, also, how to replace tabs with spaces
:retab to replace tabs with space, just run this with ‘expandtab’ turned on
display whitespace characters
‘list’ ‘nolist’ (no abbreviated versions)
setting that controls how “:list” command displays characters
‘lcs’ ‘listchars’
open Vim and go to line number 57
nvim +57 file.txt
open Vim and search for “something” immediately
nvim +/something file.txt
how to make a pattern case sensitive or insensitive
add “\c” anywhere in pattern to make case insensitive or “\C” to make the pattern case sensitive
how does ‘smartcase’ work
‘scs’ ‘smartcase’ ‘noscs’ ‘nosmartcase’ will make the search case insensitive unless you include a capital letter (when ‘ignorecase’ is turned on)
how to apply a command multiple times to all files in argument list, to all buffers, to all tabs, or to all windows in the current tab
:argdo :bufdo :tabdo :windo
option to hide a buffer instead of abandon it when you unload it, also, how will this change behavior
‘hid’ ‘hidden’ ‘nohid’ ‘nohidden’ vim won’t complain and make you add a “!” when you unload a buffer by “:close” or “:quit”; it will just hide them and hope you remember to write all before you quit (it will still warn you if you try to exit Vim with unsaved buffers)
how to execute normal mode commands from the command line
:norm :normal the optional “!” ignores mappings
how to execute a macro on all buffers
:bufdo normal! @a (the exclamation makes the command not use mappings)
format option to allow formatting of comments when using gq
q
what symbol designates the default (unnamed) register
”
how to paste text from register into command line
CTRL-R{register}
how to append to a register instead of overwrite it
use a capital letter, e.g. “B” to append to register “b”
buffer that contains the last-used search pattern
/
buffer that contains the last-used command-line command
:
option to show a column in a different color shade to signal a certain number of columns
‘cc’ ‘colorcolumn’ (e.g. “:set colorcolumn=80”)
setting that controls how to recognize lists when using the “n” formatoption setting
‘flp’ ‘formatlistpat’
command restore a view
:lo :loadview [nr]
option that controls where views are stored
‘vdir’ ‘viewdir’
setting that handles what gets stored in views
‘vop’ ‘viewoptions’
move to next/previous function or class definition
]] / [[
move forwards to the end / backwards to the end of a function
][ / []
setting to set what gets saved in session files
‘ssop’ ‘sessionoptions’
warning you will get when you have an old swap file
NEWER than swap file!
close current buffer and open a new, blank file
:ene :enew
how to set current buffer as read-only
:ro :readonly
move cursor to previous (last-accessed) window
CTRL-W p (or CTRL-W CTRL-P)
digraph for “en dash”
-N
digraph for “em dash”
-M
digraph for superscript/subscript numbers
{number}S / {number}s (number can be any of [0-9+=-n()] )
digraph for tilde over letter (like “n”)
{letter}? (e.g. “n?”)
digraph for acute accent
{letter}’ (e.g. “i’”)
activate the Vim file browser
:edit . OR :Explore
from Vim file browser, display file in horizontal, vertical split, preview window, previous window, or a new tab page
o (horizontally split) v (vertically split) p (preview window) P (previous window) t (new tab page)
from Vim file browser, reverse the sort order
r
from Vim file browser, change listing style
i
from Vim file browser, change the way files are sorted (also, what are the three options)
s name, mod time, size
from Vim file browser, change current directory to browser directory
c
from Vim file browser, rename the file or directory under cursor
R
from Vim file browser, delete file or directory under cursor
D
from Vim file browser, make bookmark / goto bookmark
mb / gb
from Vim file browser, go to parent directory
-
create fold
zf
command to create a fold for lines in {range}
:{range}fo :{range}fold
open fold / close fold open all folds at cursor / close all folds at cursor
zo / zc zO / zC
“reduce” folding / more folding, also, open all folds / close all folds
zr / zm zR / zM
disable folding / bring back folding, also, toggle between these two states
zn / zN zi
move to start/end of current open fold, what does this do if already at start/end
[z / ]z (if already at start/end, move to start/end of containing fold)
move down to the start of the next / up to the beginning of the previous fold
zj / zk
delete single fold at cursor line (shift sub-folds up one level) / delete all folds at cursor line recursively (all sub-folds get deleted)
zd / zD
delete all folds in window
zE (mnemonic: “eliminate” all folds)
setting to make folds automatically open as you scroll over them
‘fdo’ ‘foldopen’ (specifically, “:set foldopen=all”)
setting to automatically close folds as you move out of them
‘fcl’ ‘foldclose’ (specifically, “:set foldclose=all”)
setting to change how folds are handled for the window, what is the default method
‘fdm’ ‘foldmethod’ default foldmethod is “manual”
how to set folds to be automatic based on indentation
:set fdm=indent
how to set folds to be set using ‘foldmarker’ in your text
:set fdm=marker
setting to use filetype-specific syntax to specify folds
:set fdm=syntax
setting to automatically define folds in a diff to fold text that has not changed
:set fdm=diff
setting to define folds manually
:set fdm=manual
display a small left-hand column to visualize folds
‘fdc’ ‘foldcolumn’ (e.g. “:set foldcolumn=4”) Bonus! You can actually just click on the folds in the foldcolumn to open and close!
surround.vim: delete surrounding character
ds” ds) dst
surround.vim: change surroundings
cs{from}{to} cs”’ cs)]
surround.vim: wrap {motion or text object} in desired surroundings
ys{motion or text object}{surrounding} ysiw) yss”
surround.vim: wrap whole line in desired surroundings
yss{surrounding}
surround.vim: variant to indent surrounded text and place on a line of its own
yS and ySS
surround.vim: surround something from visual mode
S{surrounding}
surround.vim: how to surround with/without whitespace
opening marks ADD whitespace, closing marks do not
jump to tag under cursor
CTRL-]
go to preceding tag (keybinding and command-line command)
CTRL-T :pop
split window and jump to tag under cursor do same but make window 5 lines high
CTRL-W ] 5CTRL-W ]
show list of tags you have traversed through
:tags
jump forward three tags
:3tag
jump to tag by a specific name
:tag {identifer}
command to split window and jump to a specific tag by name
:stag {ident}
select among options for the same tag name
:tselect TAGNAME
navigate next/previous and first/last when going through tags with same name
:tnext / :tprevious :tfirst / :tlast (:tnext and :tprevious can be used with a count as well, e.g. “:3tnext”)
cycle through possible tags beginning with a certain word
:tag write_ (cycle through tags beginning with “write_”)
cycle through possible tags containing pattern
:tag /block (cycle through tags containing the pattern “block”)
open preview window to display “tag_name”
:ptag tag_name
open preview window to display tag under cursor (keybinding)
CTRL-W }
close preview window
:pclose
edit a file in preview window
:pedit file.txt
setting to specify the height of the preview window, also, what is default
‘pvh’ ‘previewheight’ default is 12
go to definition (two keybindings with related meanings)
gd (supposed to be local) gD (supposed to be global) but for Python, the entire module (including comments) is the namespace
undo one change (keybinding and command-line command), also, describe behavior of this
u :u :undo has the effect of walking up the undo tree
redo one change (keybinding and command-line command), also describe behavior
CTRL-R :red :redo walk down the undo tree, branching to newest branch
go to older/newer time-based text state (keybindings and command-line commands), also, how is this different from “normal” undo
g- / g+ :ea :earlier / :lat :later these will get you to all possible text states, wheras “normal” undo is tree based and will only take you down the newest branch of the undo tree
go to older/newer time-based undo by changes in text state, seconds, minutes, hours, days, or file writes
:earlier/later {N}[s/m/h/d/f] (number without a letter will jump older {count} times, whearas appending the appropriate letter will do so by time specifier)
go back to the state exactly as it was when you last saved the file
:earlier 1f
go back to the state as it was 4 days ago
:earlier 4d
go back to the state as it was 3 hours ago
:earlier 3h
yankstack.vim: cycle backward/forward through history of yanks
Alt-P / Alt-Shift-P
yankstack.vim: view history of yanks
:Yanks
where views are stored by default
$XDG_DATA_HOME/nvim/view
branch (“or” logic)
|
concat (“and” logic)
\&
0 or more as many as possible
*
regex; 1 or more as many as possible
+
0 or 1 as many as possible
\?
n to m as many as possible
{n,m}
n exactly
{n}
at least n as many as possible
{n,}
0 to m as many as possible
{,m}
n to m as few as possible
{-n,m}
n exactly
{-n}
at least n as few as possible
{-n,}
0 to m as few as possible
{-,m}
0 or more as few as possible
{-}
start-of-line
end-of-line
$
any single character
.
beginning of word
\
end of word
>
whitespace / not whitespace
\s \S
digit / non-digit
\d \D
hex digit / non-hex digit
\x \X
octal digit / non-octal digit
\o \O
word character / non-word character [0-9A-Za-z_]
\w \W
alphabetic character / non-alphabetic character
\a \A
lowercase character / non-lowercase character
\l \L
uppercase character / non-uppercase character
\u \U
match character
\t
match newline character
\n
last given substitute string
~ (no escaping needed)
group
()
string matched by first group
\1
character class (any one of the characters in the class)
[] (no escaping needed)
ignore case for whole pattern / match case for whole pattern
\c \C (may be used anywhere in pattern)
“very magic” on for the following characters / “very nomagic” on for the following characters “magic” / “nomagic” for the following characters
\v \V \m \M
quick help (e.g., quick Python help from Vim)
K
show a column on the left of screen that shows open and closed folds
‘fdc’ ‘foldcolumn’ (e.g. “set fdc=3”) maximum value is 12
from Vim file browser, list bookmarks
qb (mnemonic: “query bookmarks)
from Vim file browser, go to previous / next folder (walk history backwards / forwards)
u / U
scroll [count] characters to the right/left scroll half a screenwidth right/left
[count]zl / [count]zh zL / zH (also can use z and z for single character scrolling)
