vim

Contents

About

Compiled in features

To determine vims capabilities run vim --version

+ means compiled in
- means not compiled in

Example on Debian 11

   1 vim --version 
   2 VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2 (2019 Dec 12, compiled Oct 31 2021 15:40:05)
   3 Included patches: 1-3565
   4 Modified by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
   5 Compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
   6 Huge version with X11-Athena GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
   7 +acl               +file_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       -tag_any_white
   8 +arabic            +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       +tcl
   9 +autocmd           +float             +multi_byte        +termguicolors
  10 +autochdir         +folding           +multi_lang        +terminal
  11 -autoservername    -footer            -mzscheme          +terminfo
  12 +balloon_eval      +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +termresponse
  13 +balloon_eval_term +gettext           +num64             +textobjects
  14 +browse            -hangul_input      +packages          +textprop
  15 ++builtin_terms    +iconv             +path_extra        +timers
  16 +byte_offset       +insert_expand     +perl              +title
  17 +channel           +ipv6              +persistent_undo   +toolbar
  18 +cindent           +job               +popupwin          +user_commands
  19 +clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
  20 +clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
  21 +cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +virtualedit
  22 +cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +visual
  23 +cmdline_info      +libcall           +python3           +visualextra
  24 +comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +viminfo
  25 +conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +vreplace
  26 +cryptv            +listcmds          +rightleft         +wildignore
  27 +cscope            +localmap          +ruby              +wildmenu
  28 +cursorbind        +lua               +scrollbind        +windows
  29 +cursorshape       +menu              +signs             +writebackup
  30 +dialog_con_gui    +mksession         +smartindent       +X11
  31 +diff              +modify_fname      +sodium            +xfontset
  32 +digraphs          +mouse             +sound             +xim
  33 -dnd               +mouseshape        +spell             +xpm
  34 -ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +startuptime       +xsmp_interact
  35 +emacs_tags        +mouse_gpm         +statusline        +xterm_clipboard
  36 +eval              -mouse_jsbterm     -sun_workshop      -xterm_save
  37 +ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +syntax            
  38 +extra_search      +mouse_sgr         +tag_binary        
  39 -farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_old_static    
  40    system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
  41      user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
  42  2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
  43       user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  44   system gvimrc file: "$VIM/gvimrc"
  45     user gvimrc file: "$HOME/.gvimrc"
  46 2nd user gvimrc file: "~/.vim/gvimrc"
  47        defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
  48     system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim"
  49   fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
  50 Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DFEAT_GUI_ATHENA -Wdate-time -g -O2 -ffile-prefix-map=/build/vim-Co0v4N/vim-8.2.3565=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 
  51 Linking: gcc -L. -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fstack-protector-strong -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic -Wl,-E -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lXaw -lXmu -lXext -lXt -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE -ldl -lm -ltinfo -lselinux -lcanberra -lsodium -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl -L/usr/lib -llua5.2 -Wl,-E -fstack-protector-strong -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.32/CORE -lperl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lcrypt -L/usr/lib/python3.9/config-3.9-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.9 -lcrypt -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm -lm -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -ltcl8.6 -ldl -lz -lpthread -lm -lruby-2.7 -lm -L/usr/lib

Example on NixOS LiveCD

   1 VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2 (2019 Dec 12, compiled Jan 01 1980 00:00:00)
   2 Included patches: 1-3451
   3 Compiled by nixbld
   4 Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
   5 +acl               +file_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       -tag_any_white
   6 +arabic            +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       -tcl
   7 +autocmd           +float             +multi_byte        +termguicolors
   8 +autochdir         +folding           +multi_lang        +terminal
   9 -autoservername    -footer            -mzscheme          +terminfo
  10 -balloon_eval      +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +termresponse
  11 +balloon_eval_term +gettext           +num64             +textobjects
  12 -browse            -hangul_input      +packages          +textprop
  13 ++builtin_terms    +iconv             +path_extra        +timers
  14 +byte_offset       +insert_expand     -perl              +title
  15 +channel           +ipv6              +persistent_undo   -toolbar
  16 +cindent           +job               +popupwin          +user_commands
  17 -clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
  18 -clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
  19 +cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +virtualedit
  20 +cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +visual
  21 +cmdline_info      +libcall           -python3           +visualextra
  22 +comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +viminfo
  23 +conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +vreplace
  24 +cryptv            +listcmds          +rightleft         +wildignore
  25 +cscope            +localmap          -ruby              +wildmenu
  26 +cursorbind        -lua               +scrollbind        +windows
  27 +cursorshape       +menu              +signs             +writebackup
  28 +dialog_con        +mksession         +smartindent       -X11
  29 +diff              +modify_fname      -sodium            -xfontset
  30 +digraphs          +mouse             -sound             -xim
  31 -dnd               -mouseshape        +spell             -xpm
  32 -ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +startuptime       -xsmp
  33 +emacs_tags        -mouse_gpm         +statusline        -xterm_clipboard
  34 +eval              -mouse_jsbterm     -sun_workshop      -xterm_save
  35 +ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +syntax            
  36 +extra_search      +mouse_sgr         +tag_binary        
  37 -farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_old_static    
  38    system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
  39      user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
  40  2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
  41       user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  42        defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
  43   fall-back for $VIM: "
  44 /nix/store/hglqk4g9ajgk135fdhapm9rns95c3f88-vim-8.2.3451/share/vim"
  45 Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -g -O2 -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 
  46 Linking: gcc -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lm -ltinfo -ldl

Basic Adjustments

You can override /etc/vim/vimrc with /etc/vim/vimrc.local Create a local copy of /etc/vim/vimrc to let maintainer provide more distribution vimrc, that we don't want to interact during system upgrades. Try to acomplish this in vim itself, because a simple copy will create a ugly source recursion.

   1 % sudo vim /etc/vim/vimrc
   2 ### THEN TYPE:
   3 :% yank
   4 :vsp /etc/vim/vimrc.local
   5 P
   6 /" Source
   7 VGd
   8 :w
   9

or just simply copy it and deal with the error

   1 cp /etc/vim/vimrc{,.local}

Configure vim globally:

skip defaults (mouse mode is irritating)
Enable syntax-highlighting
background=dark
jump to last position
enable indentation plugin
show (partial)cmd in status line
matching brackets
Remove source from the end of file to avoid a sourcing loop

/etc/vim/vimrc.local

   1 " All system-wide defaults are set in $VIMRUNTIME/debian.vim and sourced by
   2 " the call to :runtime you can find below.  If you wish to change any of those
   3 " settings, you should do it in this file (/etc/vim/vimrc), since debian.vim
   4 " will be overwritten everytime an upgrade of the vim packages is performed.
   5 " It is recommended to make changes after sourcing debian.vim since it alters
   6 " the value of the 'compatible' option.
   7 
   8 " This line should not be removed as it ensures that various options are
   9 " properly set to work with the Vim-related packages available in Debian.
  10 runtime! debian.vim
  11 
  12 " Vim will load $VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim if the user does not have a vimrc.
  13 " This happens after /etc/vim/vimrc(.local) are loaded, so it will override
  14 " any settings in these files.
  15 " If you don't want that to happen, uncomment the below line to prevent
  16 " defaults.vim from being loaded.
  17 let g:skip_defaults_vim = 1
  18 
  19 " Uncomment the next line to make Vim more Vi-compatible
  20 " NOTE: debian.vim sets 'nocompatible'.  Setting 'compatible' changes numerous
  21 " options, so any other options should be set AFTER setting 'compatible'.
  22 "set compatible
  23 
  24 " Vim5 and later versions support syntax highlighting. Uncommenting the next
  25 " line enables syntax highlighting by default.
  26 syntax on
  27 
  28 " If using a dark background within the editing area and syntax highlighting
  29 " turn on this option as well
  30 set background=dark
  31 
  32 " Uncomment the following to have Vim jump to the last position when
  33 " reopening a file
  34 au BufReadPost * if line("'\"") > 1 && line("'\"") <= line("$") | exe "normal! g'\"" | endif
  35 
  36 " Uncomment the following to have Vim load indentation rules and plugins
  37 " according to the detected filetype.
  38 filetype plugin indent on
  39 
  40 " The following are commented out as they cause vim to behave a lot
  41 " differently from regular Vi. They are highly recommended though.
  42 set showcmd             " Show (partial) command in status line.
  43 set showmatch           " Show matching brackets.
  44 "set ignorecase         " Do case insensitive matching
  45 "set smartcase          " Do smart case matching
  46 "set incsearch          " Incremental search
  47 "set autowrite          " Automatically save before commands like :next and :make
  48 "set hidden             " Hide buffers when they are abandoned
  49 "set mouse=a            " Enable mouse usage (all modes)

Copy to registers

Docs

Usage

Need support in vim for +xterm_clipboard Please see #Compiled in features
:registers or short :reg show content of all registers. May be filtered with optional register name like
:reg a b 2 + *
Write and access registers with "
"*yy yank selection into the x11-selection
"+yy yank selection into the x11-clipboard

Vim offers the + and * registers to reference the system clipboard (:help quoteplus and :help quotestar). Note that on some systems, + and * are the same, while on others they are different. Generally on Linux, + and * are different:

+ corresponds to the desktop clipboard (XA_SECONDARY) that is accessed using CTRL-C, CTRL-X, and CTRL-V,
while * corresponds to the X11 primary selection (XA_PRIMARY), which stores the mouse selection and is pasted using the middle mouse button in most applications.

We can use these registers like any other register.

Tabs

Tabs are very useful. You can open many files in tabs using the option vim -p. This can be combined with xargs to find files by a pattern and open them in a vim tab

   1 grep --exclude-dir=.git -Eril "$PATTERN" \
   2         |sort \
   3         |xargs vim -p

This way you can easily hit the default maximum number of tabs (10). But you can easily raise the limit in
~/.vimrc

   1 set tabpagemax=20

Resizing split-screen

Please see the help page
:h window-resize

   1 ==============================================================================
   2 6. Window resizing                                      window-resize
   3 
   4                                                 CTRL-W_=
   5 CTRL-W =        Make all windows (almost) equally high and wide, but use
   6                 'winheight' and 'winwidth' for the current window.
   7                 Windows with 'winfixheight' set keep their height and windows
   8                 with 'winfixwidth' set keep their width.
   9 
  10 :res[ize] -N                                    :res :resize CTRL-W_- 
  11 CTRL-W -        Decrease current window height by N (default 1).
  12                 If used after :vertical: decrease width by N.
  13 
  14 :res[ize] +N                                    CTRL-W_+ 
  15 CTRL-W +        Increase current window height by N (default 1).
  16                 If used after :vertical: increase width by N.
  17 
  18 :res[ize] [N]
  19 CTRL-W CTRL-_                                   CTRL-W_CTRL-_ CTRL-W__
  20 CTRL-W _        Set current window height to N (default: highest possible).
  21 
  22 :{winnr}res[ize] [+-]N
  23                 Like :resize above, but apply the size to window {winnr}
  24                 instead of the current window.
  25 
  26 z{nr}<CR>       Set current window height to {nr}. 
  27 
  28                                                 CTRL-W_<
  29 CTRL-W <        Decrease current window width by N (default 1).
  30 
  31                                                 CTRL-W_>
  32 CTRL-W >        Increase current window width by N (default 1).
  33 
  34 :vertical res[ize] [N]                  :vertical-resize CTRL-W_bar
  35 CTRL-W |        Set current window width to N (default: widest possible).

colorscheme

List all color profiles

   1 dpkg -L vim-runtime \
   2         |grep 'colors/.*\.vim' \
   3         |xargs -L1 basename \
   4         |sed 's/\.vim//'
   5 blue
   6 darkblue
   7 default
   8 delek
   9 desert
  10 elflord
  11 evening
  12 industry
  13 koehler
  14 morning
  15 murphy
  16 pablo
  17 peachpuff
  18 ron
  19 shine
  20 slate
  21 check_colors
  22 torte
  23 zellner

Dark, high contrast, usable in vimdiff

   1 delek, murphy, slate, zellner

Change profile in vim

   1 :colorscheme slate

I like "slate" ~/.vimrc

   1 colorscheme slate

Synchronous scrolling of two buffers

# Open two buffers e.g. with :vsp # :set scrollbind # :syncbind

vim-pathogen

   1 aptitude install vim-pathogen

~/.vimrc

   1 execute pathogen#infect()

vim-youcompleteme

   1 aptitude install vim-youcompleteme

~/.vimrc

   1 """ youcompleteme
   2 "let g:ycm_key_list_select_completion = ['<TAB>', '<Down>']
   3 "let g:ycm_key_list_previous_completion = ['<S-TAB>', '<Up>']
   4 "let g:ycm_key_list_stop_completion = ['<C-y>']
   5 let g:ycm_key_invoke_completion = '<C-Space>'

vim-syntastic

   1 aptitude install vim-syntastic

nerdtree

   1 cd
   2 mkdir -p ~/.vim/bundle
   3 cd ~/.vim/bundle
   4 git clone https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree.git

~/.vimrc

   1 """ NERDTree
   2 autocmd StdinReadPre * let s:std_in=1
   3 autocmd VimEnter * if argc() == 0 && !exists("s:std_in") | NERDTree | endif
   4 
   5 "map <C-n> :NERDTreeToggle<CR>
   6 map <F2> :NERDTreeToggle<CR>

nerdtree-git-plugin

   1 cd ~/.vim/bundle
   2 git clone https://github.com/Xuyuanp/nerdtree-git-plugin.git

VIM mode digraph

vim.dot

   1 digraph vim_mode {
   2 
   3         graph   [fontname="monospace"];
   4         node    [fontname="monospace"];
   5         edge    [fontname="monospace"];
   6 
   7         labelloc="t";
   8         label="VIM MODE DIAGRAPH";
   9 
  10         SHELL -> NORMAL [label="vim",weight=100];
  11         NORMAL -> SHELL [label="ZZ"];
  12         NORMAL  [shape="box"];
  13         NORMAL -> INSERT        [label="iIaAoOsS INS",weight=105]
  14         INSERT -> NORMAL        [label="ESC"];
  15         INSERT -> REPLACE       [label="INS"];
  16         REPLACE -> INSERT       [label="INS"];
  17         NORMAL -> REPLACE       [label="rR"];
  18         REPLACE -> NORMAL       [label="ESC"];
  19         NORMAL -> VISUAL        [label="vV^v"];
  20         VISUAL -> NORMAL        [label="ESC"];
  21         VISUAL -> EXECUTE       [label=":"];
  22         VISUAL -> INSERT        [label="IA"];
  23         VISUAL -> REPLACE       [label="r"];
  24         NORMAL -> EXECUTE       [label=":",weight=100];
  25         EXECUTE -> NORMAL       [label="ESC"];
  26         EXECUTE -> SHELL        [label="x wq q q!"];
  27 }

Create svgs

   1 dot -Tsvg -O vim.dot
   2 dot -Tsvg:cairo -O vim.dot

Cheat Sheet

Source http://www.viemu.com/a_vi_vim_graphical_cheat_sheet_tutorial.html

Download the zip files

Basic editing

Operators & Repetition

Yank & Paste

Searching

Marks & Macros

Various Movements

Various Commands

Modelines

https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Modeline_magic
Has some security implications.

:help auto-setting
:help modeline
:help 'modeline' determines whether to look for modelines
:help 'modelines' number of lines checked to find each modeline

modelines maybe disabled in the system vimrc for security
- enable it with :set modeline in session or .?vimrc
Determine the file format's comment character or sequence
e.g. # ; -- // {* *}  and leave space behind
Place the modeline within 5 lines close to top or bottom
Two syntaxes
1. Without "set", no text can follow the options.
  # vim: syntax=named:sw=4:ts=4:
2. With "set", the modeline ends at the first colon not following a backslash.
  # vim: set syntax=named sw=4 ts=4:

Syntax

Nginx

   1 mkdir -p ~/.vim/syntax
   2 wget -O ~/.vim/syntax/nginx.vim \
   3         'https://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=19394'

~/.vim/filetype.vim

   1 au BufRead,BufNewFile /etc/nginx/*,/usr/local/nginx/conf/* if &ft == '' | setfiletype nginx | endif

Configurations

Services

Misc

Navigation

vim

About

Compiled in features

Basic Adjustments

Copy to registers

Tabs

Resizing split-screen

colorscheme

Synchronous scrolling of two buffers

vim-pathogen

vim-youcompleteme

vim-syntastic

nerdtree

nerdtree-git-plugin

VIM mode digraph

Cheat Sheet

Modelines

Syntax

Nginx