Useful vim commands and snippets

In this post, I will list down some useful vim snippets that I've collected throughout my experience with this beast of an application. I will keep updating this list whenever I encounter something new.

All the below shortcuts are executed in COMMAND mode, unless otherwise specified.

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:! ...

Executes an external command.
Example:
:!gcc % Invokes gcc on the current file

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:<range>!...

Pipes the text that's in the specified range to an external command and reads back the result into the file
Examples:
:1,6!sort
:%!sort Here, the % means 1, $ (from line 1 till the end of file)
:%!xxd Turns the file into a hex dump, with the linux xxd command
:!xxd -r To reverse back to the text
:%!nl -ba or :%!cat -n Number all lines

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:r <filename>

Reads an external file and inserts it at the current cursor position
Example:
:r main.c Inserts the contents of main.c in the next line

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:r!

Reads in the results of an external command and inserts it in the next line
Example:

:r! ls -l

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:.!

Like :r! but inserts the text in the current line
Example:

:.! ls -l

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%

Goes to the matching bracket under the cursor
Example:

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<action>i...

works on the enclosing text, specificied by the encloser
Examples:
ci{ Change the text between the { }

vi' Visually select the text between '
vi" Visually select the text between "
diw Delete the current word

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CTRL + v

Block-select mode

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CTRL + a

Increments the number under the cursor

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CTRL + x

Decrements the number under the cursor

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'.

Jumps back to the last edited line

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`.

Jumps back to the last edited word

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gi

Like `. but goes into INSERT mode

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ga

Displays the ASCII, hex and octal value of the character under the cursor

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~

Changes the case of the letter under the cursor

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CTRL + r (in INSERT mode)
Examples:

"	Unnamed register, containing the text of the last delete or yank
%	Current filename
#	Alternate file name
*	Clipboard contents (X11: primary selection)
+	Clipboard contents
/	Last search pattern
:	Last command-line
.	Last inserted text
-	Last small (less than a line) delete
=8*5	Insert 40 into text (mini-calculator)

(I have written a whole post about CTRL + r)

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:Explorer

Opens a built in file explorer

Although vim's inbuilt file explorer suffices, I suggest you use NERDTree for a better file explorer.

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:earlier 20m

Reverts the document back to how it was 20 minutes ago

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:later 15m

The reversal of :earlier

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zz

Scrolls the screen to make the current line in the middle of the page

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:changes

View the changelist

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g; and g,

Move backwards and forwards through the changelist

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ge

Moves the the previous word end

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:perldo and :rubydo

Execute a perl or a ruby one liner on a range of text.  If you do not specify a range, the command will execute on all the lines.  In the one liner, $_ refers to the text of the line


Examples:
:perldo $_ = join ' ', reverse split Reverse the words of all the lines
:2,4 rubydo $_ += ";" Inserts a semicolon at the end of lines 2 to 4 (This example can also be achieved with :2,4 s/$/; )

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q:

View command history

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gf

Tries to identify the word under the cursor as a file name and open it

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CTRL + z

Switch back to the shell.  Type in fg to return back to vim

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:sh

Go to sub shell.  CTRL + d or type exit to go back to vim

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ggg?G

ROT13 the current file

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*

Finds the next occurrence of the word under the cursor

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#

Finds the previous occurrence of the word under the cursor

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:set cul

Highlights the line containing the cursor

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:set nu

Turns on line numbers in the left margins

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:set autochdir

Set the working directory to the location of the current file

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:set so=3

Scrolls the text so that (when possible) there are always at least three lines visible above the cursor, and three lines visible below the cursor
Examples:
:set so=999 Keeps the cursor in the middle line, whenever possible

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:set showcmd

Shows the command keystrokes as they are being inputted, at the bottom right of the screen

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gg=G

Corrects indentation for the whole file

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guu

Lowercase the entire line

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gUU

Uppercase the entire line

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xp

Transpose two characters (switch their positions).  This is a simple cut (x) and paste (p) after the cursor operation.

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CTRL + v (INSERT mode)

Enter a character from its hexadecimal value

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CTRL + y (INSERT mode)

Inserts the character above at the current cursor position

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CTRL + w (INSERT mode)

Deletes the previous word

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gk

Go up one visible line

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gj

Go down one visible line

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:tab help ...

Open help in a new page
Examples:
:tab help shiftwidth Opens the help for shiftwidth in a new tab

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:qa

Close all windows and tabs (:qa! to force it)