Vim - Vimtutor Summary

Vimtutor Summary

Lesson 1

1. The cursor is moved using either the arrow keys or the hjkl keys.
   h (left) j (down) k (up) l (right)

2. To start Vim from the shell prompt type: vim FILENAME ENTER

3. To exit Vim type: ESC :q! to trash all changes.
   OR type: ESC :wq to save the changes.

4. To delete the character at the cursor type: x

5. To insert or append text type:
   i type inserted text ESC insert before the cursor
   A type appended text ESC append after the line

Lesson 2

1. To delete from the cursor up to the next word type: dw
2. To delete from the cursor to the end of a line type: d$

3. To delete a whole line type: dd

4. To move to the start of the line use a zero: 0
   To move to the end of the line use a zero: $

5. To undo previous actions, type: u (lowercase u)
   To undo all the changes on a line, type: U (capital U)
   To undo the undo’s, type: CTRL-R

6. To repeat a motion prepend it with a number: 2w

7. The format for a change command is:

operator   [number]   motion

where:
operator - is what to do, such as d for delete
[number] - is an optional count to repeat the motion
motion - moves over the text to operate on, such as w (word)

Lesson 3

1. To put back text that has just been deleted, type p . This puts the
   deleted text AFTER the cursor (if a line was deleted it will go on the
   line below the cursor).

2. To replace the character under the cursor, type r and then the
   character you want to have there.

3. The change operator allows you to change from the cursor to where the
   motion takes you. eg. Type ce to change from the cursor to the end of
   the word, c$ to change to the end of a line.

4. The format for change is:

c   [number]   motion

Lesson 4

1. CTRL-G displays your location in the file and the file status.
   G moves to the end of the file.
   number G moves to that line number.
   gg moves to the first line.

2. Typing / followed by a phrase searches FORWARD for the phrase.
   Typing ? followed by a phrase searches BACKWARD for the phrase.
   After a search type n to find the next occurrence in the same direction
   or N to search in the opposite direction.
   CTRL-O takes you back to older positions, CTRL-I to newer positions.

3. Typing % while the cursor is on a (,),[,],{, or } goes to its match.

4. To substitute new for the first old in a line type :s/old/new
   To substitute new for all ‘old’s on a line type :s/old/new/g
   To substitute phrases between two line #’s type :#,#s/old/new/g
   To substitute all occurrences in the file type :%s/old/new/g
   To ask for confirmation each time add ‘c’ :%s/old/new/gc

Lesson 5

1. :!command executes an external command.

2. :w FILENAME writes the current Vim file to disk with name FILENAME.

3. v motion :w FILENAME saves the Visually selected lines in file
   FILENAME.

4. :r FILENAME retrieves disk file FILENAME and puts it below the
   cursor position.

5. :r !dir reads the output of the dir command and puts it below the
   cursor position.

Lesson 6

1. Type o to open a line BELOW the cursor and start Insert mode.
   Type O to open a line ABOVE the cursor.

2. Type a to insert text AFTER the cursor.
   Type A to insert text after the end of the line.

3. The e command moves to the end of a word.

4. The y operator yanks (copies) text, p puts (pastes) it.

5. Typing a capital R enters Replace mode until ESC is pressed.

6. Typing “:set xxx” sets the option “xxx”. Some options are:
   ‘ic’ ‘ignorecase’ ignore upper/lower case when searching
   ‘is’ ‘incsearch’ show partial matches for a search phrase
   ‘hls’ ‘hlsearch’ highlight all matching phrases
   You can either use the long or the short option name.

7. Prepend “no” to switch an option off: :set noic

Lesson 7

1. Type :help or press or to open a help window.

2. Type :help cmd to find help on cmd .

3. Type CTRL-W CTRL-W to jump to another window

4. Type :q to close the help window

5. Create a vimrc startup script to keep your preferred settings.

6. When typing a : command, press CTRL-D to see possible completions.
   Press to use one completion.