The VIM presentation

:h intro
:help
:helpgrep

Part 1

• Overview
• Minimal configuration
• Colorschemes and eye candy
• Buffers, windows and tabs
• Modes (Introduces normal mode motions)
• Text objects
• Operators
• Idioms
• Navigation
• Summary

Part 2

• Registers
• Macros
• Practice what you have learned
• Opening files
• Search
• Search and replace
• Mappings
• A tiny bit of VimL a.k.a Vimscript
• Plugins
• Resources

Part 1

Overview

Qwerty, the coder's keyboard layout

• One keystroke to frequently used characters . / [] ; ' \
• Two keystrokes characters with easy access () {} < > :
• One keystroke to type numbers
• , . / ? are frequently used keys in vim

Azerty is good for writing french

Use dead keys to type accented characters

Touch typing

• Use klavaro to learn touch typing
• The goal is to stay as close as possible to home row (asdf jkl;)

• Vim uses hjkl for cursor movement

A brief history of vim

• Written by Bram Moolenaar
• 1991, v1.14 - First public release for the Amiga
• 1994, v3.0 - Support for multiple windows
• 1996, v4.0 - Graphical user interface
• 1998, v5.2 - Long line support, file browser, dialogs, popup menu, select mode, session files, user defined functions and commands, Tcl interface
• 2001, v6.0 - Folding, plugins, multi-language
• 2006, v7.0 - Spell checking, code completion, tabs, current line and column highlighting, undo branches, and more
• 2013, v7.4 - A new, faster regular expression engine

Why vim?

The best text editor is the one you know best. But...

• Vim is preinstalled on almost every OS
• Vim can be run from a terminal or with the graphical interface (gvim)
• Access to your ~/.vimrc file from github and you're ready to code
• If vim is not installed you can compile it from the sources

Vim compilation

~% mkdir src && cd src
~% hg clone https://vim.googlecode.com/hg/ vim
~% cd vim
~% hg pull && hg update

Uncommented options in ~/src/vim/src/Makefile

CONF_OPT_GUI = --disable-gui
CONF_OPT_LUA = --enable-luainterp
CONF_OPT_PYTHON = --enable-pythoninterp
CONF_OPT_RUBY = --enable-rubyinterp
CONF_OPT_FEAT = --with-features=big
CONF_OPT_COMPBY = "--with-compiledby=ytg"
CONF_OPT_X = --without-x
# Home installation?
prefix = $(HOME)

Then type:

~% make
~% sudo make install

If you change anything in the src/Makefile be sure to type:

~% make reconfig

Minimal configuration

No configuration

% vim -u NONE -N

What are options?

• :h options
• boolean can only be on or off
• number has a numeric value
• string has a string value

Setting options

• :set {option}? show option value
• :set {option}& Reset option to its default value
• Boolean option
  • :set {option} switch it on
  • :set no{option} switch it off
  • :set {option}! or :set inv{option} toggle option
• String or Number option
  • :set {option}={value} set string or number option to {value}
  • :set {option}+={value} add the {value} to a number option, or append the {value} to a string option
  • :set {option}-={value} same as above but substract or remove

Load an alternative configuration and plugins directory

vim -u ~/.another.vimrc
set runtimepath+=~/.another.vim

Load a local vimrc file

Use a .vimrc.local file for specific configuration you need and/or don't want to disclose on github

if filereadable($HOME . '/.vimrc.local')
    source $HOME/.vimrc.local
endif

Tabs, spaces, indentation: dead simple ;-)

A ~/.vimrc sample:

set nocompatible
" Should always have the same value for simplicity's sake "
set shiftwidth=4 tabstop=4 softtabstop=4
set expandtab
filetype plugin on
syntax on

" When sourcing multiple times your vimrc file "
" clear the autocommands first instead of adding them "
augroup mygroup
    autocmd!
    autocmd FileType make setlocal noexpandtab
augroup END

See a full explanation about tabs and spaces

Advanced configuration, it's take a life time

• Keep track of your ~/.vimrc file on github
• Use the option's full name in favor of the shorthand version
• Edit and source in a flash

nnoremap <leader>E :edit $MYVIMRC<cr>
nnoremap <leader>S :source $MYVIMRC<cr>

Colorschemes and eye candy

Terminal configuration

# ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
export TERM=xterm-256color

# ~/.screenrc
term screen-256color

Colorschemes repository and viewer

• A colorscheme repository:https://github.com/flazz/vim-colorschemes
• A colorscheme viewer:http://bytefluent.com/vivify/

Eye candy settings

# ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
# Disable cursor blinking
# http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Configuring_the_cursor
echo -ne "\033]12;#ffffff\007"

" ~/.vimrc "
set cursorline " Highlight the cursor screen line "
set colorcolumn=80 " Draws a vertical line at column 80 "

" String to put at the start of lines that have been wrapped "
let &showbreak='↪ '

" Minimal number of screen lines to keep above and below the cursor "
set scrolloff=3

" If 't_vb' is cleared and 'visualbell' is set, "
" no beep and no flash will ever occur "
set visualbell
set t_vb=
set guicursor+=a:blinkon0 " Disable gui cursor blinking "

Buffers, windows and tabs

:help windows-intro

Buffers

• A buffer is a file loaded into memory for editing
• All opened files are associated with a buffer
• There are also buffers not associated with any file

Buffers commands

• :ls shows all buffers
• % is the current file
• # is the alternate file. Use the CTRL-^ to toggle between the current and alternate file
• :buffer :b given a full or partial name (use tab to complete) or number, edit buffer
• :bdelete :bd like the above but deletes one or more buffers
• :bnext :bn go to next buffer
• :bprevious :bp go to previous buffer
• :bufdo to run a ex command on all buffers (:bufdo %s/foo/bar/g). Set the 'hidden' option so buffers do not need to be saved
• :wall :wa Write all buffers
• :saveas Write to file and edit it

Buffer mappings

Mapping suggestion, courtesy of the https://github.com/tpope/vim-unimpaired plugin.

nnoremap [b :bprevious<cr>
nnoremap ]b :bnext<cr>

Prefer not to map the Tab key as CTRL-I and tab is the same in vim. CTRL-I goes forward in the jump list.

Windows

• A window is a viewport onto a buffer
• You can use multiple windows on one buffer, or several windows on different buffers
• Use the mouse to scroll, give focus and resize a window (:set mouse=a)

Windows

Windows commands

• Window commands start with CTRL-W
• CTRL-W CTRL-S :split :sp Horizontally split current window in two. The ex command can take a file argument.
• CTRL-W CTRL-V :vsplit :vs Vertically split current window in two
• CTRL-W CTRL-Q :q to close a window
• CTRL-W CTRL-O :on to close all other window but the current window
• CTRL-W CTRL-= to redimension all windows
• CTRL-W CTRL-W to move the cursor clockwise from window to window
• CTRL-W CTRL-(H|J|K|L) to move the cursor to the left, top, bottom or right window
• :windo to run a ex command on all windows

Tabs

• :h tabpage
• A tab page holds one or more windows
• You can easily switch between tab pages, so that you have several collections of windows to work on different things

Tabs

Tabs

Tabs

Tabs

• :tabnew or :tabnew {file}
• :tabclose
• :tabonly
• :tabNext ({count}gt in normal mode)
• :tabprevious ({count}gT in normal mode)
• :tabdo {cmd} execute {cmd} in each tab page

Modes

Introduces normal mode motions

:h vim-modes

Normal mode

• Default mode when the editor starts
• Movements are made from normal mode
• Pin point the location of your next change or insertion
• Use :set relativenumber
• Easy up and down on wrapped long linesnnoremap j gjnnoremap k gk
• zz redraws at center of window
• z<cr> redraws at top of window
• {operator}/foo operates from the cursor position until the search

Vim movements cheat sheet

Insert mode

• :h usr_24.txt
• Enter insert mode using: i, I, a, A, o, O, gi (Go to last insertion and switch to insert mode)
• CTRL-W to delete the word before the cursor
• CTRL-U to delete the line before the cursor
• Use completion CTRL-N, CTRL-P to complete a word
  • CTRL-N, CTRL-P again to cycle forward, backward
  • CTRL-Y to choose the value
  • CTRL-E to discard the completion menu

Leave insert mode

• Esc
• CTRL-[
• CTRL-C

Or, remap jk to escape:

inoremap jk <esc>
inoremap <esc> <nop>

Paste in insert mode, terminal only

:set paste

Then paste using the system's paste command

:set nopaste

This is an unoptimized workflow.

Paste in insert mode

" Inspired by https://github.com/tpope/vim-unimpaired "
" Sets paste on and set nopaste when leaving insert mode "
" using an autocommand "
nnoremap <silent> yo  :set paste<cr>o
nnoremap <silent> yO  :set paste<cr>O

" Disables paste mode when leaving insert mode
autocmd InsertLeave *
    \ if &paste == 1 |
    \     set nopaste |
    \ endif

Command mode

• In this mode, you type ex commands
• Enter command mode by typing ':'
• Do it faster by remapping ; to : and : to ;
• Use the command history window q:
• Use the search history window q/
• CTRL-R CTRL-W brings the word under the cursor in the command line
• CTRL-R CTRL-0 brings the yanked content in the command line

Vim modes in your shell

For zsh users

# ~/.zshrc
bindkey -v
# maps jk to escape, same as in my .vimrc
bindkey -M viins 'jk' vi-cmd-mode

For bash users

# ~/.bashrc
set -o vi

# ~/.inputrc
$if mode=vi
set keymap vi-insert
    "jk": vi-movement-mode
$endif

For all users

Use ctrl-z and fg to switch between the command line and vim

Visual modes

Visual modes

• v, character visual mode
• V, line wise visual mode
• CTRL-V, visual bloc mode (I insert at start, A insert at end)
• Use the mouse to select character wise
• Each key combination is a toggle from visual to normal mode and vice versa
• Extend the visual selection with o and j / k
• Recall the last visual selection with gv

Text objects

:h text-objects

Text objects

• Used while in visual mode or after an operator (d, y, c...)
• The movement command operates from here (cursor position) to where the movement takes us.
• When using an object the whole object is operated upon, no matter where on the object the cursor is.
• "i" selects an "inner" object
• "a" selects "a"n object including whitespace
• "a" always selects more text than "i"

Text objects

• iw, iW inner word, WORD
• aw, aW a word, WORD with a leading or trailing space
• ip inner paragraph, ap a paragraph including trailing space
• i] or i[ inner brackets
• a] or a[ inner brackets and brackets included
• i) or i(
• a) or a(
• i} or i{
• a} or a{
• i> or i<
• a> or a<
• it inner tag, at a tag
• i', i" quoted text
• a', a" quoted text quotes included

Text objects examples

• diw, delete inner word
• daw, delete a word
• diW, delete inner WORD
• daW, delete a WORD
• yip, yank inner paragraph
• yap, yank a paragraph
• cit, change inner tag
• cat, change a tag
• ci(, ca(, vi', vi", ci', ci"

Operators

:h operator

Operators

• After a visual selection
• Before a motion
• Before a text object
• They can be prefixed by a count:

  3yw 3cw 2dap

  or the equivalent more like a phrase:

  y3w c3w d2ap

• When an operator is repeated, it operates on the line

  dd 3yy 5>>

Operators list

Idioms

count + operator + motion or text object == idioms == actions

Idioms is more or less a synonym for grammar

Navigation

Marks

Marks are similar to bookmarks

• m{a-z} set buffer local marks
• m{A-Z} set global marks
• '{a-zA-Z} go to {a-zA-Z} mark at first non blank character
• `{a-zA-Z} go to {a-zA-Z} mark, preserve cursor column number
• Marks can be used as motions, v'a (visually select from here to mark "a")
• '. is the last change mark
• '', `` to the position before the latest jump
• :marks lists all marks

Jumps

Jumps are like breadcrumb navigation

• Next/prev search, paragraph, matchpair, edit file...
• Tiny movements are not jumps, hjkl, 10j, w, b
• Each window has its own jumps list
• CTRL-O go to older jump
• CTRL-I go to newer jump
• :jumps lists all jumps

Changes

When making a change the cursor position is remembered

• g; go to older change
• g, go to newer change
• '. is the last change mark
• :changes lists all changes

Tag navigation

Uses ctags to create a tag index, functions, variables, classes, etc...

• CTRL-] to jump to the first found tag
• :tag {ident} same as above
• g CTRL-] jump to the tag directly when there is only one match. If many matches, prompts the user for a file number.
• :tjump {ident} same as above
• CTRL-T, :pop jump to older tag position
• :tag jump to newer tag position
• :tags shows the tag stack

Tag navigation configuration

# In a shellscript somewhere
find ~/dailymotion -name .git -prune -o -name '*.php' -type f |\
    ctags --PHP-kinds=cif -f ~/.vim/tags/dailymotion -L - --totals=yes

" ~/.vimrc "
set tags=~/.vim/tags/dailymotion

Summary

Part 2

Registers

Registers

• A register is a storage place for strings
• "a to "z are user defined registers
• "A to "Z append strings to registers "a to "z
• "0 is the yank register
• "" is the unnamed register
• "= the expression register
• "_ the black hole register
• :reg shows the registers list
• :reg a shows the content of register a

Get from a register

• "ap in normal mode
• CTRL-R a in insert or command mode
• :echo @a in Vimscript

Write to a register

• "ayiw in normal mode
• :let @a = 'foo' in Vimscript

My yank gets overwritten

The problem:

• I yanked a line and deleted a word
• When I press p, the deleted word is put into the document
• Where's the line I just yanked?

The solution:

• Use the yank register ("0) to put the last yank into the document

Yank and delete operations, the explanation

• Yank operations populate the yank ("0) and unnamed ("") registers
• Delete operations populate the unnamed ("") register
• The put command uses the unnamed register by default
• Use the yank register ("0) to put the last yank into the document

Macros

The dot command, the mini macro

. Repeat the last change.

• Repeats the last delete
• Repeats the last paste
• Repeats the last edit: A change starts when entering insert mode and stops when going back to normal mode
• Compose atomic changes to be repeatable

Recording a macro

• Going to the start of the line is good idea
• qa starts recording the macro in register "a
• Make your changes...
• q stops recording
• :reg a shows the content of register "a

Execute a macro

• @a executes a macro from register "a
• @@ repeats the last macro
• 22@a repeats the macro "a 22 times
• Visually select lines and then :normal @a

Edit a macro

• "ap pastes the macro from register "a into the document
• Make your changes by adding or removing characters
• Special charaters like Esc or Backspace can be inserted via CTRL-V{char}
• 0"ayg_ yanks back the new macro in register "a
• The important thing is not to include the "new line" charater in the new macro

Practice what you have learned

From this:

Enter   13
Up arrow    38
Down arrow  40
Left arrow  37
Right arrow 39
Escape  27
Spacebar    32
Ctrl    17
Alt 18
Tab 9
Shift   16
Caps-lock   20
Windows key 91
Windows option key  93
Backspace   8
Home    36
End 35
Insert  45
Delete  46
Page Up 33
Page Down   34
Numlock 144
Scroll-lock 145
Pause-break 19
F1-F12  112-123

To this:

9,    # Tab
13,   # Enter
16,   # Shift
17,   # Ctrl
18,   # Alt
19,   # Pause-break
20,   # Caps-lock
27,   # Escape
32,   # Spacebar
33,   # Page-Up
34,   # Page-Down
35,   # End
36,   # Home
37,   # Left-arrow
38,   # Up-arrow
39,   # Right-arrow
40,   # Down-arrow
91,   # Windows-key
93,   # Windows-option-key
112,  # F1
113,  # F2
114,  # F3
115,  # F4
116,  # F5
117,  # F6
118,  # F7
119,  # F8
120,  # F9
121,  # F10
122,  # F11
123,  # F12
144,  # Numlock
145,  # Scroll-lock

Solution

• Execute the macro: $diw0Pa, # <esc>
• Execute this vimscript to handle F1-F12:

• let c = 1
  for i in range(112, 123) | put =(i . ', # F' . c) | let c = c + 1 | endfor

• Visually select the paragraph and press :!sort -u -h or !ipsort -u -h

Opening files

Some commands for opening files

• vim file1 file2 file3...
• :edit file or :e file
• :split file
• :vsplit file or :vs file
• :Explore or :Ex opens the local-directory browser on the current file's directory
• :args app/scripts/*.js
• :args app/scripts/**/*.js
• :find file requires setting the path options properly (:set path+=app/scripts/**)

Opening files under the cursor

• gf edit the file whose name is under or after the cursor. Set the path option properly.
• :set suffixesadd=.coffee,.js if the filename's extension is omitted.

Search

Search commands

• :h pattern.txt
• / searches forward
• ? searches backward
• n next search
• N previous search
• * searches forward for word under the cursor
• # searches backward for word under the cursor

Some useful search options

set incsearch " Preview as you type "
set ignorecase " Don't be case sensitive "
set smartcase " If you type a capital letter, be case sensitive "

Search pattern options

• /\c{pattern} forces no case sensitivity
• /\C{pattern} forces case sensitivity
• /\v{pattern} enables very magic patterns ~= perl regular expressions (vim uses ~= posix regular expressions by default)
• /\V{pattern} enables very no magic patterns == literal search
• /{pattern}/e puts the cursor at the end of the match

Visual cursor line pulse

https://github.com/inside/vim-search-pulse

Visual pattern pulse

https://github.com/inside/vim-search-pulse

Grep the code

• CTRL-Z
• % git grep foo
• Copy the interesting filename, remember the line number
• % fg
• :e filename
• Eventually search foo again
• This is an unoptimized workflow

Grep the code with vim

• :set grepprg=git grep -n $*
• :grep foo
• Navigate matches with the builtin quicklist
• :cn go to next match, open the file if needed and puts the cursor on the line matching the pattern
• :cp go to previous match
• If you run :grep several times, use :colder and :cnewer to navigate through older/newer grepped code

Grep the code with the grep operator

Use text objects, motions or visual selections to operate on the grep command. In this case: <leader>giw

https://github.com/inside/vim-grep-operator

Grep the code with the grep operator

Ask the user for directories. In this case: <leader><leader>giw

https://github.com/inside/vim-grep-operator

Use the global command

• :g/re/p
• :g/re
• :g/re/d
• :g/console.log/d to remove all debug statements in one command

Search and replace

Search and replace

:%s/{pattern}/{string}/gc

• :h :s
• % is the range, here it means the whole file. Can be 5,14 or '<,'> the last visual selection
• g means every occurence on the line
• c prompts the user for an action

Use the dot command to search and replace

• * finds the next word under the cursor
• cw{replacement}
• n.
• n.
• n.
• etc...

Complex searches and replacement

:%s/\v(foo) bar/\1 baz/gc

Or use Tim Pope's https://github.com/tpope/vim-abolish plugin.

Search and replace in all buffers

:bufdo %s/foo/bar/g

Mappings

Mappings

• :h map
• :h key-notation
• :map {lhs} {rhs}
• Use mode maps n, i, v
• Always use noremap

Mappings

" save file whether in insert or normal mode "
inoremap <leader>s <c-o>:w<cr><esc>
nnoremap <leader>s :w<cr>

A tiny bit of VimL a.k.a Vimscript

VimL a.k.a Vimscript

• Learn Vimscript the Hard Way
• :h functions
• :h vim-script-intro

Code sample: a toggle tab function

" Toggles between the active and last active tab "
" The first tab is always 1 "
let g:last_active_tab = 1
nnoremap <leader>gt :execute 'tabnext ' . g:last_active_tab<cr>
autocmd TabLeave * let g:last_active_tab = tabpagenr()

Plugins

• Vundle, the plug-in manager for Vim
• unite, unite-outline fuzzy find any source (files, tags, buffers, windows, tabs, menu, mru files, lines, ...)
• delimitMate, insert mode auto-completion for quotes, parens, brackets, etc...
• surround.vim, quoting/parenthesizing made simple
• The nerdtree, a tree explorer plugin for vim
• The nerdcommenter, a plugin for commenting
• fugitive.vim, a Git wrapper so awesome, it should be illegal
• CamelCaseMotion, CamelCase and under_score motions
• snipMate, TextMate-style snippets for Vim
• vim-trailing-whitespace, Highlights trailing whitespace in red and provides :FixWhitespace to fix it.
• Gundo, Graph your Vim undo tree in style

Resources

• The official site and mailing lists
  • http://www.vim.org/, http://www.vim.org/maillist.php
• Videos
  • Vimcasts, MinuteVimTricks
  • Bram Moleenaar's 7 Habits For Effective Text Editing 2.0
  • Derek Wyatt's Vim tutorial videos
  • Vim at OSCON 2013
• Blog and Reddit
  • The usevim blog
  • reddit.com/r/vim/, reddit.com/r/vimplugins
• Books
  • Practical Vim
  • Learn Vimscript The Hard Way by Steve Losh

Questions&Answers