######### ####### ####### ####### ## ## ## ## # ## # ## ## ## ## ## ###### ## ## #### #### ## ## ## ### ### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## # ## # ## ## ####### ####### ####### ~ Linux / FOSS Meetup Linz ~

~ Jan 2024 ~

CC BY-SA 4.0 Daniel KNITTL-FRANK

Whois

GNU ♥ Linux
Software Engineer at Dynatrace
Member of HgbSec CTF team
I run fhLUG

Vim

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Vi Improved
First release in 1991
Authored by Bram Moolenaar († 2023)
Open-source (of course!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_(text_editor)

First Things First

How to start vim? Type vim
How to exit Vim? Type :wq<Enter> to save and exit, :q! to exit without save

(Pro-tip: ZZ and ZQ in normal mode)

Testimonials

Vi is like a Ferrari, if you're a beginner, it handles like a *****, but once you get the hang of it, it's small, powerful and FAST! --- (Unknown)

VIM is like a new model Ferrari, and sounds like one too - "VIIIIIIMMM!" --- (Stephen Riehm, Germany)

https://elias.rhi.hi.is/vim/quotes.html

Mode Based Editing

Vim supports different modes (normal, insert, visual, etc.)
<Esc> to exit any mode and return to normal mode

Getting Started

Vim comes with vimtutor binary which provides an "interactive" tutorial.

You should try it :]

Basic Motions

^ k Hint: The h key is at the left and moves left. < h l > The l key is at the right and moves right. j The j key looks like a down arrow. v

But you can almost always simply use the arrow keys to navigate

Shameless plug: … or you can learn Neo to avoid moving your hand to the arrow keys

Basic Inserting

To enter insert mode:

i: insert
a: append
o: starts a new line

When Something Goes Wrong

Don't panic and <ESC>

u: undo
<C-R>: redo

(g-/g+ for walking through undo-tree)

Cool Selection Tricks

<C-V>: block/column selection
V: line-based select
o: jump to start/end of selection
gv: re-select previous selection

Basic Editing

x: delete character (cross out)
dd: delete line
cc: change line
s: substitute character under cursor
J: Join lines

Copy & Paste

y: copy (yank)
d or x: cut (delete)
p, P: paste after, Paste before

More Motions

w: word forward
b: word backward
e: end of word
), (: sentence forward, backward
}, {: paragraph forward, backward
%: matching item, e.g. () [] {}
^: start of text
0, $: start and end of line
1G or 1gg: go to line 1

Combining Keys

Compose single keys to build powerful actions:

2.: repeat last action 2 times
yw: yank to next word
y3w: yank next 3 words
das: delete a sentence
ciw: change inner word
gUiw: Upper-case inner word

Text Object Selection

v enters visual mode (selecting text)

viw: inner word
vis: inner sentence
vib: inner block, e.g. () []
vi": inside double quotes
vap: around paragraph
va]: around brackets
vat: around tag
... plus many more

Searching

/regex, ?regex: search regular expression forward, backward
*, #: forward search for word under cursor, backward search
n, N: next match, previous match
fc, Fc: next/previous character 'c' (inclusive)
tc, Tc: next/previous character 'c' (exclusive)
;, ,: repeat forward, repeat backward
:%s/pattern/replace/g: substitute text file-wide

Text layout

=: auto-indent text/source code
>, <: indent, unindent
gq: format text
:center: center text
:left: left align text
:right: right aliign text

Autocompletion

<C-N>: autocomplete next
<C-P>: autocomplete previous
<C-X> <C-L>: autocomplete line
<C-X> <C-F>: autocomplete file path
<C-X> <C-N>: autocomplete with context
<C-X> <C-O>: omni-completion

Registers

Yank and delete fill numbered registers 0 to 9
26 named registers a to z
Access registers with "r
"ry3w: yank next 3 words into register "r"
"r2p: paste 2 times from register "r"

Macros

Registers can be used to store and replay macros

qr: start recording into register "r"; press q when finished
@r: execute macro from register "r"
@@: re-run last macro
@:: re-run last "ex" command

E.g. macro to capitalize first word in sentence, then jump to next sentence:

()guw~)

Pro-tip: Macros are simply text in registers, you can yank, edit, and paste them: "rp and "ry

Quick Filter

Need to filter current line through external command?

:.!cmd: filter current line through command

(Pro-tip: Type !!) (Pro-tip: !!sh to execute the current line as shell command)

Command Line Mode ("ex" mode)

:[range][command]

Useful commands:

:make: execute Makefile
:!cmd: run external command
:%!cmd: filter and replace content by command
:1,10w file: write first 10 lines to file
:r!date: read current date and time into file
:g/pattern/command: perform global command
:v/pattern/command: perform inverted global command
- e.g. :g/^$/d: delete empty lines
- e.g. :g/^#/norm A # add " #" after each Markdown header line

Useful Config Options

``` set number " show line numbers

set ignorecase smartcase " ignore case if pattern lower case

set incsearch " incremental search set hlsearch " highlight all matches

" show non-printing characters (make sure your terminal supports UTF8!) set list listchars=tab:→ ,nbsp:␣,trail:•,space:⋅ ```

Can be persisted in ~/.vimrc. If you want to have a look at my settings, check out https://github.com/knittl/.files/blob/master/.vimrc

Plugins

Possibility to write and load plugins written in VimL
Stored in ~/.vim/plugin/

Plugin Manager: Plug

Single-file plugin manager
https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug

Installing:

$ curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \ https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug/raw/master/plug.vim

Then add to your ~/.vimrc:

call plug#begin() Plug 'git repository url' call plug#end()

Useful Plugins (Incomplete List)

mattn/emmet-vim: HTML and CSS editing on steroids
tpope/vim-surround: Clever way of changing surrounding elements
tpope/vim-fugitive: Never leave Vim to do Git stuff
plasticboy/vim-markdown: Better visual editing of markdown files
junegunn/vim-easy-align: Align text and tables

Using Vim in Other Applications

vscodevim: A Vim plugin for Visual Studio Code
ideavim: A Vim plugin for IntelliJ
vimperator: A Vim plugin for Firefox (discontinued)
tridactyl: A Vim extension for Firefox
evil mode: The extensible vi layer for Emacs

Sources and Further Reading