IRC Based Vim Tutorial

The reason this tutorial was created: basically I was tired of explaining vim usage on irc, and found myself doing it repeatedly, at the same time, I was too lazy to sit down and write my own "real" vim tutorial (I ignored the fact that I spent 10x the time explain stuff to people on line than it would have taking me to write a tutorial). So after one conversation explaining a large chunk of vim usage, I pulled it out of the logs, and published it (cropped and modified of course) here.


Tools you need to get started:

  • You will need Vim! That is it! See the homepage for links.

To go thru this tutorial please open up a STANDARD xterm and with the command "xterm -fg white -bg black -fn fixed" and then run "export TERM=ansi; vim". If you get stuck, my name is "MetaCosm"(I play Socrates) and can be found on irc.freenode.net in #vim (among other chans). If you happen to use windows, you will want to run this tutorial using plain old gvim (not Easy Gvim or ReadOnly Gvim), just about the entire tutorial should work for ya :). The only reason I don't recommend gvim for linux for this tutorial is because #1) Not everyone has it. #2) It can tempt people to use vim incorrectly during the tutorial, better to just use good old console vim.


Now, you will notice that it has a table of contents, and is broken into section, but that is just for ease of coming back where you left off, if you jump around you WILL be confused, and you WILL miss vital information that will make your vim experience less wonderful. This SEEMS like a long tutorial, but it really isn't once you realize a lot of the lines say stuff like "k", "ok", "cool", etc, it makes for REAL fast reading (under 30 mins for everyone I have had comment on it so far)



The Start (starting vim, general info)

Socrates: ewww, it is not vim
Socrates: therefore it is bad bad bad
Glaucon: ehh
Glaucon: vim
Glaucon: no
Socrates: you know nothing
Socrates: :)
Glaucon: never liked vim
Socrates: why not?
Socrates: it is so fast for editing
Glaucon: well, it is better than emacs to me
Glaucon: I agree its good
Socrates: did you use it properly? or as a half assed text editor (ie: not using modes)
Glaucon: just not my style
Glaucon: well, I admit it never got too into it
Glaucon: so, i didn't use the other modes
Socrates: ahh, that is the core reason you probably don't like it.
Glaucon: what other modes are there?
Socrates: *ahh*
Socrates: you didn't even explore a little :)
Socrates: want a quick little intro ?
Glaucon: sure
Socrates: type "vim" at console
Socrates: and tell me what version you got?
Socrates: :q to exit
Socrates: once you see the version
Glaucon: hold on
Glaucon: hmmm
Glaucon: how do I get the version?
Glaucon: in vim
Socrates: it should show when you go in
Socrates: right in front :)
Glaucon: got a little splash screen
Glaucon: version 5.8.3
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: that is fine, but you should get 6.0 at some point
Socrates: go into vim
Socrates: first thing to know
Glaucon: ok, in it
Socrates: is there are "3" modes
Socrates: you are in "normal" mode now
Glaucon: right
Socrates: hit the i key to enter "insert mode"
Socrates: and type some junk, just to work with
Glaucon: yea, this much i've covered
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: then hit esc to get back to "normal mode"
Socrates: just type
Socrates: k when I can continue in the chan
Glaucon: k


Real Basics (Well, mostly)

Socrates: one of the mantras in vim is "stay as close to the home row as possible"...
Glaucon: home row?
Socrates: asdfghjkl; -- your "home row" keys
Glaucon: ahh
Socrates: where you place your hands
Socrates: now, you arlready know you can move around in "insert" or "normal" mode with arrows
I forgot to mention that you hit the "i" key to enter insert mode, and hit the escape key to go back to normal mode, you should assume "normal mode" as your regular mode, and insert mode as a special mode for typing.
Glaucon: right
Socrates: but, in "normal mode", you should get used to moving with this keys.
Glaucon: which keys
Socrates: ^
Socrates: k Hint: The h key is at the left and moves left.
Socrates: < h l > The l key is at the right and moves right.
Socrates: j The j key looks like a down arrow
Socrates: v
Socrates: once you get used to it, it is FAR faster
Socrates: because you get to keep your fingers on the home row.
Glaucon: ok
Glaucon: got it
Socrates: cool
Socrates: ok
Socrates: now let me introduce you to objects
Socrates: put the curser (in normal mode) at the start of a word
Glaucon: k
Socrates: then type this (still in normal mode)
Socrates: d2w
Glaucon: wow
Glaucon: k
Socrates: now let me explain
Socrates: (action) (times) (object)
Socrates: you just did
Socrates: (delete) (2) (words)
Socrates: now goto the space after the end of a word
Socrates: right AFTER the last letter
Socrates: and type
Socrates: d2b
Socrates: (delete) (2) (words Back)
Glaucon: heh
Glaucon: that is cool
Socrates: now, try using w and b in "normal" mode
Socrates: you will notice it moves
Socrates: just like hjkl do
Socrates: now, hjkl are objects :) So you can do
Socrates: d3h
Socrates: (delete) (3) (to the left)
Glaucon: how?
Glaucon: ahh
Glaucon: ahh
Socrates: tell me when you have moved around with w and b
Glaucon: I have, and used d3l
Socrates: type thing :)
Socrates: hehe
Socrates: ok
Socrates: write a new word (single one)
Socrates: using insert
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: now goto the start of the word and type
Socrates: cw
Socrates: "in normal mode"
Socrates: (change) (word)
Glaucon: whoah
Socrates: so if you had
Socrates: to change the next 4 words
Socrates: you would do
Socrates: c4w
Socrates: or to change the two words behind the cursor
Socrates: you would do c2b
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: cool
Glaucon: right
Socrates: now you know that your "movement keys" are actually also "objects" you can run commands on
Glaucon: yea
Glaucon: that is cool
Socrates: and you should now try the (change) (word)
Socrates: and (change) (word Back)
Socrates: and remember that you can give a number between them
Socrates: like
Socrates: c3w
Socrates: (change) (3) (words)
Socrates: ect
Glaucon: k
Socrates: ok
Socrates: change one of those words to something hard to type like
Socrates: "somethingReallyAnnoyingToType"
Socrates: or something like that
Glaucon: k


AutoComplete

Socrates: now I will show you autocomplete :)
Socrates: autocomplete will complete any word, in any open document you are currently editing
Socrates: here is how it works
Socrates: (don't get ahead of me :)
Socrates: control-n will find the "next" copy of the word that starts in that letter
Socrates: and control-p will find the "prev" copy of the word
Socrates: so you can search "either way" thru the buffer
Socrates: so type
Socrates: in "insert mode"
Socrates: type
Socrates: s(control-p) to match it with the "prev" word in the buffer
Socrates: that starts with s
Socrates: if that isn't it
Socrates: hit (control-p) again
Socrates: if you go past it
Socrates: hit (control-n)


Selecting Stuff, Cutting and Pasting...

Socrates: cool, you are not getting stuck much at all, makes it less painful
Glaucon: this is pretty easy
Socrates: yep
Socrates: it is.
Socrates: just gotta get in the right mindset
Socrates: wanna see some more cool stuff?
Socrates: :)
Glaucon: I just never had anyone explain it to me
Glaucon: yea
Socrates: ok
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: hehe :)
Glaucon: continue
Socrates: to select stuff in vim is real easy, same stuff as before new (action)
Socrates: v3w
Socrates: (in visual mode select) (3) (words)
Sorry if the next little bit is unclear, I will try to edit it when I get a chance Important thing I forgot to tell Glaucon is that you can use "V" (shift-v) to select LINES in visual mode, you hit just plain v to select CHARS instead, and you can grow or shrink visual mode just by using movement keys once you hit v (or V). Once in visual mode, there are some interesting things to note, first of all, when you go into visual mode, there are two "marks" set '< and '>, when you hit : (to go into normal mode, covered later), it will put in those "marks" as the default item to "act on". Also, you can hop to the upperleft corner, and the lowerright corner (the marks) by hitting o while in visual mode. Also, you can indent the visual "blocks" by hitting < and > while in visual mode, and remember that you can do it repeatedly by doing 3> to indent three times, 2< to un-indent 2 times
Socrates: then to copy them you hit "y" once they are selected ... "y" stands for "yank"
Glaucon: k
Glaucon: back to the lesson
Socrates: time to learn searching
Socrates: do a yank :)
Glaucon: ok
Glaucon: then?
Socrates: then the other half is "put"
Socrates: hit p to put that somewhere
Glaucon: ctrl p
Socrates: just p
Glaucon: just p?
Socrates: in normal mode
Glaucon: ok
Glaucon: heh
Socrates: and just y to "yank" in visual mode (let me explain)
Socrates: when you have something highlighted, you are in the thrid mode
Socrates: "Visual mode"
Socrates: it has some special things you need not be worried about.
Socrates: yet.
Socrates: I will explain them later
Socrates: tell me when you are ready to continue...
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: ok
Socrates: did you yank some text?
Socrates: and did you put some text?
Glaucon: yes


Sidenote: Ok, I can't stay focused...

Socrates: ok, some sidenotes I mentioned a few times
Socrates: there are a few useful ways to enter insert mode from normal mode
Socrates: i == insert at current position
Socrates: a == insert AFTER current position
Socrates: o == open (create) a new line below current line
Socrates: I == insert AT START of current line
Socrates: A == insert AFTER end of current line
Socrates: O == open (create) a new line ABOVE current line
Glaucon: a - good, i was wondering bout that
Socrates: esc is still how you get back to normal mode :)
Socrates: o will probably be the most heavly used one
Glaucon: yea, I can see that
Socrates: yep


Sidenote: Back to objects again, sorry (Line Yanks and Deletes are here)

Socrates: ok, lets go back to "objects" for a moment ok?
Glaucon: sure
Socrates: you know that d3l will delete three to the right correct? (just reinterating!)
Glaucon: the right?
Glaucon: or the left?
Socrates: RIGHT
Socrates: remember
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: l is a movement key
Socrates: for "move right"
Glaucon: h is left
Socrates: yep
Socrates: there ya go
Socrates: so to delete three up
Socrates: what would ya hit?
Glaucon: d3k
Socrates: ok, now with k
Socrates: that is a little tricky
Socrates: because it is actually 4
Socrates: delete this line AND 3 up
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: and FYI a quick way to delete the current line is
Socrates: dd
Glaucon: d = ?
Glaucon: line?
Socrates: no, it is a convience shortcut
Socrates: d when AFTER d
Socrates: means "current"
Socrates: there are a few of those in vim
Glaucon: ahh
Socrates: yy = yank current line
Socrates: actually
Socrates: that is INCORRECT
Socrates: if you do
Socrates: d2d
Socrates: it will do
Socrates: actually 2 lines
Socrates: see, it is a little objects things
Glaucon: got it
Socrates: because h j k l are "movement keys"
Socrates: when you hit
Socrates: d2k
Socrates: it deletes three lines
Socrates: but you do
Socrates: d2d
Socrates: it deletes two lines
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: that could be confusing (inconsistant) but you will hit dd and yy enough to like it :)
Thanks to sjbrown in #PHP on freenode.net for this... "Marks Rule" -- You mark a part of something you are editing, so you can jump back to it quickly, and use it in binds and yanks and other such stuff. You mark and area with m(key to bind mark to) in normal mode. You can jump to that by doing `(key you binded the mark to) -- for example, putting the cursor over a part of a word and hitting "mj" would attach a mark there with the name "j", to jump to that mark, you would use "`j"


Searching Stuff

Socrates: ok, shifting gears again :)
Socrates: to searching
Socrates: in normal mode hit
Socrates: /(regular expresion) to search forward
Socrates: ?(regular expresion) to search backward
Glaucon: k
Socrates: now, you wanna see some more cool stuff
Socrates: you can do
Glaucon: sure
Socrates: y/) -- yank up until the result from the search (in the case, until paren)
Glaucon: man, there *is* alot in this
Socrates: I just threw alot at you
Socrates: play with it for awhile
Socrates: then tell me when you are "k"
Glaucon: k
Glaucon: I played with it
Socrates: what about using y and search together?
Glaucon: yup
Socrates: y/) -- yank up until the result from the search (in the case, until paren)
Socrates: y?) -- yank up until the result from the search (in the case, LAST paren)
Thanks to sjbrown again, for this extention of marks, you can actually use yank with marks as well, you can do y`(key you binded the mark to) -- cool huh?
Glaucon: yup
Socrates: try it both ways :)
Socrates: just for good measure
Glaucon: that is within a search, right?
Socrates: no
Glaucon: or is that in the normal mode?
Socrates: in normal mode
Glaucon: ok
Glaucon: hold on
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: by the way


Sidenote: to commands

Socrates: sidenote
Socrates: you hit : to enter commandline to type commands
Socrates: :w saves the file
Socrates: :w (filename)
Socrates: saves it to the filename
Socrates: :q
Socrates: to exit
Glaucon: isn't there like a ! thing?
Glaucon: like, :!q
Socrates: yes, there sure it
Glaucon: ?
Socrates: but, what it does
Socrates: is allow you to ignore warning
Socrates: you hit :q
Socrates: and it says "you haven't saved it!!"
Socrates: you go
Socrates: :q! to say, "I don't care!"
Glaucon: hehe
Socrates: sometimes you will try to write to a read only file
Socrates: and it will say "read-only file"
Socrates: and you type
Socrates: :w! to say "I don't care if it is read only"
Glaucon: heh
Socrates: :wq will save AND exit
Glaucon: so, does the file get saved, then?
Socrates: yes, it does
Socrates: but it will bitch at you if the file doesn't already have a class="header" name
Socrates: so if you open from file (or have already saved)
Socrates: the file will have an assosiated name
Socrates: you got all that?
Socrates: I know I am piling stuff on ya
Glaucon: I'm following
Glaucon: i just saved the file as tut.vim
Glaucon: :w tut.vim
Something I forgot to mention in this section (don't ask me how) is :e, you use :e to OPEN file, :e (file), you can also be specific and mention multiple files, sorry about skipping this important features!


Sidenote: Shit I should have told you before!

Socrates: ok, more sidetracking to things I forgot :)
Socrates: in normal mode
Socrates: hit "x" to delete a single char
Glaucon: k
Glaucon: ahh
Glaucon: I was wondering that
Glaucon: I was using dl to do that
Socrates: very good :)
Socrates: that is what I was about to tell you
Socrates: dl would also work :)
Socrates: ahh, other sidenotes :)
Socrates: for moving around the file
Socrates: hit gg in normal mode to go to start of file
Socrates: hit (shift-g) (G) to go to end
Glaucon: k
Socrates: type a number followed by shift-g to goto that line
Socrates: 2 (shift-g)
Socrates: for line 2
Socrates: on so forth
Socrates: also, I assume you already realized you can do stuff like
Socrates: 10k (move ten lines up)
Socrates: etc
Glaucon: vim is cool
Socrates: hehe :)
Socrates: told ya so :)
Glaucon: never realized its power
Socrates: and there is still more to learn :)
Glaucon: heh


Objects again, you poor bastard!

Socrates: ok, ready for some more "objects" you can use in commands and movements
Socrates: ^ --- start of line
Glaucon: ok, a few
Socrates: $ --- end of line
Socrates: do d$ -- delete to end of line from current position
Socrates: you already learned w correct?
Socrates: let me show you a tweaked version of w
Socrates: it is e
Glaucon: word
Socrates: e - from the cursor to the end of the word, NOT including the space.
Socrates: w - from the cursor to the end of the word, including the space.
Socrates: see the diff?
Glaucon: ummm
Glaucon: I don't get the e thing
Socrates: when you do "dw" it deletes the word AND the space after it
Glaucon: ahhh
Glaucon: i see
Socrates: if you hit "de" it will leave the trailing space
Socrates: but I thoguht you should know.
Glaucon: I can't see too much use for it


Undo/Redo (and a common problem with it)

Socrates: another AWESOME feature of vim
Socrates: infinite undo/redo :)
Socrates: in normal mode
Socrates: hit "u" to undo
Socrates: hit "control-r" to redo
Socrates: and hit "shift-u" (U) to undo all changes to current LINE
Glaucon: k
Glaucon: cept "u" twice redoes the undo
Socrates: ack, christ.
Glaucon: "u" twice redoes it
Socrates: you are in vi compatible mode probably
Socrates: type this
Socrates: :set nocompatible
Socrates: in normal mode
Glaucon: there
Glaucon: now it works
Socrates: ok, thank god :)
Socrates: good point, that is going to be a problem for others probably too :)
Socrates: did you try
Socrates: "u", "control-r", "U"
Glaucon: yup, they all work as advertized


Sidenote: Shit I should have told you before #2!

Socrates: another quick sidenote, hitting "r" over a char (in "normal mode" of course) will allow you to replace it (try it)
Socrates: back to objects for a moment, to change the rest of a line you would do
Socrates: c$ (just a quick note) :)
Socrates: did you try "r"
Socrates: for replacing a single char
Socrates: that is another "quick-change"
Socrates: thing like "x"
Glaucon: yes
Glaucon: k
Socrates: now try this out
Socrates: type a starting and ending paren in you file
Socrates: then goto the starting one
Socrates: and type
Glaucon: I have some starting and ending parens
Socrates: "%" in normal mode
Socrates: and it will find the matching one
Socrates: very useful in deeply nested sourcecode
Glaucon: k


Regular Expression and search/replace

Socrates: thing I forgot to ask
Socrates: do you know howto do regular expressions?
Glaucon: regexpr?
Socrates: yep
Glaucon: not familiar with the term
Socrates: ok, well, that is more than I can get into in this conversation, but I will post a link for future ref (don't goto it now)
Socrates: http://puzzling.org/computing/help/vi-regexps.html
Glaucon: gotcha
Socrates: ok, now to so a search and replace on the current line you do this
Socrates: :s/old/new/g
Socrates: try it out.
Socrates: :#,#s/old/new/g where #,# are the numbers of the two lines, starting line first, ending line second
Socrates: :%s/old/new/g to change every occurrence in the whole file.
Glaucon: like, :s/file/newfile/g?
Socrates: no
Socrates: it is for replacing text in the current line
Socrates: so if you line was
Socrates: Hello World
Socrates: then you did
Socrates: s:/Hello/Hi Mom/g
Socrates: then the line would read
Socrates: Hi Mom World
Socrates: you would have replaced "Hello" with "Hi Mom"
Glaucon: ok
Glaucon: got it
Socrates: got the other two version too?
Socrates: listed above?
Glaucon: yes
Glaucon: it works
Socrates: cool cool


Running external commands and semi-related stuff

Socrates: now let me show ya how to run EXTERNAL commands :)
Socrates: :!ls -- run ls
Socrates: a useful little command
Socrates: the :!
Glaucon: can it pipe the output to the file?
Socrates: you can do anything you can do at console.. the CURRENT file is represented by %
Glaucon: ahhh
Glaucon: so
Glaucon: :!ls >> %
Glaucon: puts ls into the current file
Socrates: try it out :)
Glaucon: ok, having some trouble with that
Glaucon: :!ls >> % doesn't work
Socrates: it does in vim 6, and I am guessing it does you your version too, I am guessing it just is not prompting you to reload.
Socrates: I just tested it in vim 6
Glaucon: ahh
Socrates: it asks me to reload
Glaucon: thats what that is
Socrates: after the file has changed.
Glaucon: how do I reload?
Socrates: ahh, in 6 it asks you to reload, in vim 5.8 it just notified you that the file had been changed, in vim 5.8 just
Socrates: exit and come back in
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: stuffty solution I know
Socrates: but, I don't know offhand how to quickly reload
Glaucon: there it is
Socrates: ok
Socrates: now wanna see something cool? :)
Glaucon: sure
Socrates: :r FILENAME will insert that file at the current cursor position
Another couple cool things you can do is :r !command (such as :r ls) to insert the output from a command into the current file. Along those lines, you can also pass a command into vim with "cat file.txt | vim -" the floating dash at the end means, "read from stdin". No need to test the second half of this little comment now, try it after you finish the tutorial
Glaucon: heh
Glaucon: even recursive:)
Socrates: hehe :)
Socrates: cool, didn't know that :)
Socrates: ok, now you saw how "r"(for replacing a single char, not for inserting a file) worked right?
Glaucon: yup
Socrates: if you do "R" it puts you into a special mode of insert (called replace) -- it is standard "overtype"
Socrates: it will just type over whatever is there
Socrates: I have never actually used it
Socrates: but I assume it has uses
Glaucon: yea
Glaucon: retro feel to the old Apple II:)


Recording Macros

Socrates: to record a macro (a recorded set of commands)
Socrates: you do
Glaucon: macros? AWESOME!!
Socrates: q[start](key to "save" the macro to) (whatever you want macro todo, just do it here) q(to stop)
Socrates: you can enter insert mode while recording the macro
Socrates: so lets do this
Socrates: lets walk thru it step by step
Glaucon: yea
Socrates: in normal mode
Socrates: hit q
Socrates: now hit the key you want to bind the macro (use m)
Glaucon: k
Glaucon: ok, now recording
Socrates: ok, now type i (to get to insert mode)
Socrates: then type "Hello World"
Socrates: then type esc to get back to normal mode
Socrates: and then hit q to stop recording the macro
Glaucon: k
Socrates: now to RUN it
Socrates: you hit
Socrates: @m
Glaucon: ahh
Glaucon: didn't know how to run it
Glaucon: got it now
Socrates: ok, cool, once you run a macro
Socrates: it can be re-run by hitting
Socrates: @@ (another one of those quick commands)
Socrates: so you can just go @@@@@@@@ to run a command 4 times
Socrates: I think you can see why it would be easy :)
Glaucon: yea
Socrates: a few other things to note
Socrates: before I get to the url
Socrates: type this
Socrates: :abbreviate myname (your full name here, all three or more parts)
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: no go into "insert mode"
Socrates: and type "myname "
Socrates: notice the space at the end
Socrates: it is important
Glaucon: wow
Socrates: wow indeed my friend :)
Socrates: think of the power
Socrates: and you can even position the cursor back a few
Glaucon: so, chp can be char *
Glaucon: and vd can be void
Socrates: ahh yes
Socrates: but I think you should be more bold
Socrates: why not make it type out entire command blocks?
Socrates: let me show you something
Glaucon: ok
Socrates: :abbreviate xMain int main( ) <CR><CR><CR><UP><UP><UP>
Socrates: hell, using <LEFT> you could even put the curson in the right spot :)
Socrates: you can also abbrev common html color codes you use
Socrates: :abbreviate htmlGreen #001122
Socrates: and stuff like that :)
Glaucon: so
Glaucon: <CR> is literally "<CR>"?
Socrates: yep
Glaucon: ohhh
Socrates: there are alot of things like that
Socrates: you can also bind keys using "mappings"
Glaucon: how do I unset one?
Socrates: unset an abbrev?
Glaucon: I set xMain to int main( ) <
Glaucon: cuz I just pressed the return key
Glaucon: now, I try to reset it
Socrates: unabbreviate :)
Glaucon: ahhh
Socrates: or just set OVER it
Glaucon: no, can't set over it
Glaucon: i tried
Glaucon: when I type xMain in the command line it expands it
Socrates: you need todo a trick
Socrates: there is a better way (that I don't know)
Socrates: but I do this
Socrates: type
Socrates: :abbreviate x Main do some stuff
Socrates: then backspace to get rid of the space between x and Main
Socrates: and that will work
Socrates: there IS a better way
Socrates: but is a little complex for this intro
Glaucon: got it
Socrates: there is a ton more to learn
Socrates: about buffers
Socrates: split windows
Socrates: your own custom little scripts
Socrates: syntax highlighting, folding, ftp browsing, file browsing
Socrates: etc etc
Socrates: but I think that this is by FAR enough info for a first sitting
Socrates: I recommend you get vim 6.0
Glaucon: yes
Glaucon: I will
Socrates: and that you use gvim
Glaucon: now that I can use it:)
Socrates: http://www.vim.org for more info on this amazing editor
Socrates: and for add on scripts and such
Socrates: http://vim.sourceforge.net
Glaucon: well, again, thank you
In closing, there is one VERY import thing I totally forgot to tell "Glaucon" and that is about using vims help system, and can not believe I left it out, but just type :h command (or part of command) to search the help for that command, and learn to use it often, and you will learn the power of vim more quickly. Vim has hundreds of features that I did not mention, I only showed "Glaucon" the stuff I use most often, and the stuff I find most useful. My personal way of working with vim is with Multiple Buffer, in gvim, on linux 2.4.x. Please do not think after you have finished this little page you know all the tricks of vim, you don't, but you got a damn good start :) Thanks for reading!


The first addition to my little tutorial

Open up vim same as you did for my first little tutorial, again Socrates played by MetaCosm of #vim fame :)

Splitting (using little windows) in vim

Socrates: then we shall begin the "windowing" tutorial
Glaucon: my term is already set to those settings i think..
Glaucon: anyway, go on :D
Socrates: ok
Socrates: so you wanted to learn howto use windowing right?
Glaucon: right
Socrates: ok
Socrates: are you using 6.0
Socrates: or 5.x
Socrates: ?
Glaucon: 6.0
Socrates: ok
Socrates: so you have the vertical split :)
Socrates: very groovey stuff
Socrates: first, lets show a "normal split"
Glaucon: alright then
Socrates: (control-w)s
Socrates: (control-w) -- think of it as for "window"
Glaucon: oooh
Glaucon: nice
Socrates: in normal mode of course :)
Socrates: now to switch between them
Socrates: do (control-w)w
Glaucon: that works
Socrates: now, to do a vertical split try, (control-w)v
Glaucon: ahh
* Glaucon is impressed
Socrates: now, often when you have a new "split" you want it to be on a new file
Socrates: you do
Socrates: (control-w)n
Socrates: to start a new split, on a new buffer
Glaucon: mmm, cool
Socrates: now do close a "split"
Socrates: you do
Socrates: (control-w)n
Socrates: ack
Socrates: sorry
Socrates: (control-w)c
Glaucon: cool
Glaucon: is there a way to cycle thru them in reverse ?
Socrates: now, I should mention I teach from memory, and I have never used reverse cycle, but I am certain there is one, give me a moment :)
Glaucon: heh ok :D
Glaucon: i'd just think it would be annoying have 5 splits, and going forward one, then having to go forward 4 again to get back to the first one
Socrates: ok
Socrates: lets finish up what I am clueful about (this is kinda broken with vertical splits)
Glaucon: hehe ok
Socrates: (control-w)R (switch this split and NEXT split)
Socrates: (control-w)r (and LAST split)
Socrates: basically up and down with normal splits
Socrates: or left and right with vert splits
Glaucon: hm
Glaucon: let me try that
Glaucon: hm interesting
Socrates: ... ?
Socrates: what is..
Glaucon: this rotating
Socrates: ahh, yeah
Socrates: ahh, and guess what!
Glaucon: what?
Socrates: there ARE directional movement keys :)
Socrates: I found them
Glaucon: neat
Socrates: move a window UP (control-w)(control-k) [same way you move a line up, neat ey?]
Glaucon: yeah
Socrates: jhkl move around exactly as you would expect :)
Glaucon: ooh, so its the same as moving regularly
Glaucon: that's pretty cool
Glaucon: easy to remember
Socrates: yep.
Socrates: ohhh, on more item to mention
Socrates: lets say you want to focus on a single task
Socrates: just one thing
Socrates: you goto it
Socrates: and do a
Socrates: (control-w)o
Socrates: that makes it the "only" thing you are looking at.


Using Buffers and stuff

Glaucon: uh huh
Glaucon: and to bring the others back ?
Socrates: they are buffers
Socrates: you can split and show whatever buffer you like
Socrates: or, have you not learned buffers yet?
Glaucon: i know a bit about buffers
Glaucon: but i'm not sure how to switch between them
Socrates: :bp (prev buffer) and :bn (next buffer)
Glaucon: ooh
Socrates: or :buffers will show you a list with numbers
Socrates: and you can do
Socrates: :buffer #
Glaucon: cool
Glaucon: any shortcut for :buffer ?
Socrates: try :b
Socrates: but I am not sure.
Socrates: tell me if it works
Socrates: this is going in the tutorial you know :)
Glaucon: eh
Glaucon: the shortcut is :ls
Socrates: that is the shortcut for buffers
Socrates: not buffer
Socrates: they are diff :)
Glaucon: oh
Socrates: :buffer #
Socrates: to GOTO a buffer
Glaucon: yeah, :b works
Socrates: :buffers to list buffers
Socrates: so :buffers or :ls works
Socrates: and :b or :buffer works :)
Glaucon: heh, glad we got that figured out :D
Socrates: yep.


The first addition to my little tutorial done by someone else.

Folding in vim (by rik)

Glaucon: okay, the real reason I'm here.. I've just moved from vim 5 to vim 6 (hooray!) and I'm wondering what this folding thing is. Can you tell me about it?
Socrates: yup sure. pop open an vim, and I'll go through it with you
Glaucon: done
Socrates: okay, first, edit your .vimrc file, and add:
Socrates: " if using a version 6 vim, enable folding
Socrates: if version >= 600
Socrates: set foldenable
Socrates: set foldmethod=marker
Socrates: endif
Socrates: that'll enable folding on vim version 6 and higher, but not anything less, because everyon takes their .vimrc fies with them from machine to machine, don't they :)
Socrates: okay, now, if you open up a new .c file (or any file, in fact), after reloading your .vimrc (:source ~/.vimrc will do the trick), then you'll be ready to begin
Editor's note: Reloading your .vimrc file can sometimes cause unforseen problems. It's safer to quit vim and restart it.
Socrates: okay, say you've got a function, that looks like this (pause while he creates this function himself):
Socrates: * greet - prints "Hello World" to stdout
Socrates: * in: no arguments
Socrates: * out: no return value
Socrates: */
Socrates: void greet (void)
Socrates: {
Socrates: printf( "Hello World!\n" );
Socrates: return;
Socrates: }
Socrates: uhm. there's supposed to be a "/*" for the first line. silly irc thought it was an unknown command :)
Socrates: anyway, it's a complete function, and you know it works, so what you'd like to do is hide it... well, change the layout to this, and watch the magic start to happen:
Socrates: /* {{{ greet - prints "Hello World" to stdout
Socrates: * in: no arguments
Socrates: * out: no return value
Socrates: */
Socrates: void greet (void)
Socrates: {
Socrates: printf( "Hello World!\n" );
Socrates: return;
Socrates: } /* }}} */
Glaucon: uhm. what are those "{{{" and the "}}}" in a comment there for?
Socrates: they're the magic markers. you're probably thinking "but nothing's happened yet. what's going on"
Glaucon: yup. dead on right!
Socrates: okay, put your cursor anywhere into the function, and (in normal mode) type "zc" (without the quotes)
Glaucon: WOW!
Socrates: I got this:
Socrates: +-- 10 lines: /say greet - prints "Hello World" to stdout-----------------------
Glaucon: yeah. only I got it without the /say because I'm not trying to paste to IRC :)
Glaucon: wow
Glaucon: okay, so I can hide all this stuff, and keep the top line as a comment.
Glaucon: okay, so.. uh.. how do I get it back again?
Socrates: well, in "zc", c == close.. and you want to open it again
Glaucon: so, "zo" ?
Socrates: yup
Glaucon: cool.
Socrates: there's only two other things. When you start to edit a file, vim will fold up *everything* to start with
Socrates: so you'll have to open what you want to work on
Glaucon: 'k
Socrates: and finally, :help folding will tell you the other commands, which I haven't told you about because I don't use them :)
Glaucon: cool.
Glaucon: okay, many thanks.
Socrates: no problem. want to know about remote editing?
Glaucon: *blink* remote editing? YES! oh, but I gotta go. next time?
Socrates: sure.


Common Questions/Answers and Randomness

To reselect what you just had selected use 'gv' -- Thanks Heptite
To redo the very last operation just hit "." -- Thanks Heptite
To go a page forward, or a page back use control-f and control-b.
To go a paragraph forward, or a paragraph back, use < and > (in normal mode of course)
To go a sentence forward, or a sentence back, use ( and ) (in normal mode of course)
To go to the next instance of a char you use f-char [example, f; to goto the semicolon in the line, you can use t in the same fashion to go to the char BEFORE the char you are searching for]


#VIM Op Products:

  • Colors Pack
  • Colors Approx
  • Rails Support
  • Nerd Tree

Vim Related:

  • Vim Homepage
  • Vim (Tips) Wiki
  • VimDocs Homepage
  • MacVim Homepage
  • Vim Cheat Sheet
  • Visual Cheat Sheet
  • Vim Cook Book
  • Vim Books
  • Vim Creator
  • Vim Wikipedia Entry
  • Vim Colorschemes Online