Best of Vim Tips
David Rayner (zzapper) 15 Years of Vi + 7 years of Vim and still learning 12Oct10 : Last Update
BEGIN
" new items marked N , corrected items marked C
" searching
/joe/e : cursor set to End of match
3/joe/e+1 : find 3rd joe cursor set to End of match plus 1 C
/joe/s-2 : cursor set to Start of match minus 2
/joe/+3 : find joe move cursor 3 lines down
/^joe.fred.bill/ : find joe AND fred AND Bill (Joe at start of line)
/^[A-J]/ : search for lines beginning with one or more A-J
/begin_.end : search over possible multiple lines
/fred_sjoe/ : any whitespace including newline C
/fred|joe : Search for FRED OR JOE
/.fred&.joe : Search for FRED AND JOE in any ORDER!
/<fred>/ : search for fred but not alfred or frederick C
/<\d\d\d\d> : Search for exactly 4 digit numbers
/\D\d\d\d\d\D : Search for exactly 4 digit numbers
/<\d{4}> : same thing
/([^0-9]|^)%.% : Search for absence of a digit or beginning of line
" finding empty lines
/^\n{3} : find 3 empty lines
/^str.\nstr : find 2 successive lines starting with str
/(^str.\n){2} : find 2 successive lines starting with str
" using rexexp memory in a search
/(fred).(joe).\2.\1
" Repeating the Regexp (rather than what the Regexp finds)
/^([^,],){8}
" visual searching
:vmap // y/" : search for visually highlighted text
:vmap // y/=escape(@", '\/.$^~[]') : with spec chars
" \zs and \ze regex delimiters :h /\zs
/<\zs[^>]\ze> : search for tag contents, ignoring chevrons
" zero-width :h /@=
/<@<=[^>]>@= : search for tag contents, ignoring chevrons
/<@<=_[^>]>@= : search for tags across possible multiple lines
" searching over multiple lines _ means including newline
/ : search for multiple line comments
/fred_sjoe/ : any whitespace including newline C
/bugs(_.)bunny : bugs followed by bunny anywhere in file
:h _ : help
" search for declaration of subroutine/function under cursor
:nmap gx yiw/^(sub<bar>function)\s+"
" multiple file search
:bufdo /searchstr/ : use :rewind to recommence search
" multiple file search better but cheating
:bufdo %s/searchstr/&/gic : say n and then a to stop
" How to search for a URL without backslashing
?http://www.vim.org/ : (first) search BACKWARDS!!! clever huh!
" Specify what you are NOT searching for (vowels)
/\c\v([^aeiou]&\a){4} : search for 4 consecutive consonants
/%>20l%<30lgoat : Search for goat between lines 20 and 30 N
/^.{-}home.{-}\zshome/e : match only the 2nd occurence in a line of "home" N
:%s/home.{-}\zshome/alone : Substitute only the occurrence of home in any line N
" find str but not on lines containing tongue
^(.tongue.)@!.nose.$
\v^((tongue)@!.)nose((tongue)@!.)$
.nose.&^%(%(tongue)@!.)$
:v/tongue/s/nose/&/gic
"----------------------------------------
"substitution
:%s/fred/joe/igc : general substitute command
:%s//joe/igc : Substitute what you last searched for N
:%s/~/sue/igc : Substitute your last replacement string N
:%s/\r//g : Delete DOS returns ^M
" Is your Text File jumbled onto one line? use following
:%s/\r/\r/g : Turn DOS returns ^M into real returns
:%s= $== : delete end of line blanks
:%s= +$== : Same thing
:%s#\s\r?$## : Clean both trailing spaces AND DOS returns
:%s#\s*\r*$## : same thing
" deleting empty lines
:%s/^\n{3}// : delete blocks of 3 empty lines
:%s/^\n+/\r/ : compressing empty lines
:%s#<[^>]+>##g : delete html tags, leave text (non-greedy)
:%s#<_.{-1,}>##g : delete html tags possibly multi-line (non-greedy)
:%s#.(\d+hours).#\1# : Delete all but memorised string (\1) N
%s#><([^/])#>\r<\1#g : split jumbled up XML file into one tag per line N
" VIM Power Substitute
:'a,'bg/fred/s/dick/joe/igc : VERY USEFUL
" duplicating columns
:%s= [^ ]+$=&&= : duplicate end column
:%s= \f+$=&&= : same thing
:%s= \S+$=&& : usually the same
" memory
%s#.(tbl_\w+).#\1# : produce a list of all strings tbl_* N
:s/(.):(.)/\2 : \1/ : reverse fields separated by :
:%s/^(.)\n\1$/\1/ : delete duplicate lines
" non-greedy matching {-}
:%s/^.{-}pdf/new.pdf/ : delete to 1st occurence of pdf only (non-greedy)
" use of optional atom ?
:%s#<[zy]?tbl_[a-z_]+>#\L&#gc : lowercase with optional leading characters
" over possibly many lines
:%s/// : delete possibly multi-line comments
:help /{-} : help non-greedy
" substitute using a register
:s/fred/a/g : sub "fred" with contents of register "a"
:s/fred/asome_texts/g
:s/fred/=@a/g : better alternative as register not displayed
" multiple commands on one line
:%s/\f+.gif>/\r&\r/g | v/.gif$/d | %s/gif/jpg/
:%s/a/but/gie|:update|:next : then use @: to repeat
" ORing
:%s/goat|cow/sheep/gc : ORing (must break pipe)
:'a,'bs#[|]##g : remove [] from lines between markers a and b N
:%s/\v(.\n){5}/&\r : insert a blank line every 5 lines N
" Calling a VIM function
:s/date/=strftime("%c")/ : insert datestring
" Working with Columns sub any str1 in col3
:%s:((\w+\s+){2})str1:\1str2:
" Swapping first & last column (4 columns)
:%s:(\w+)(.\s+)(\w+)$:\3\2\1:
" format a mysql query
:%s#<from>|<where>|<left join>|<\inner join>#\r&#g
" filter all form elements into paste register
:redir @|sil exec 'g#<(input|select|textarea|/=form)>#p'|redir END
:nmap ,z :redir @sil exec 'g@<(input<Bar>select<Bar>textarea<Bar>/=form)>@p'redir END
" substitute string in column 30 N
:%s/^(.{30})xx/\1yy/
" decrement numbers by 3
:%s/\d+/=(submatch(0)-3)/
" increment numbers by 6 on certain lines only
:g/loc|function/s/\d/=submatch(0)+6/
" better
:%s#txtdev\zs\d#=submatch(0)+1#g
:h /\zs
" increment only numbers gg\d\d by 6 (another way)
:%s/(gg)@<=\d+/=submatch(0)+6/
:h zero-width
" rename a string with an incrementing number
:let i=10 | 'a,'bg/Abc/s/yy/=i/ |let i=i+1 # convert yy to 10,11,12 etc
" as above but more precise
:let i=10 | 'a,'bg/Abc/s/xx\zsyy\ze/=i/ |let i=i+1 # convert xxyy to xx11,xx12,xx13
" find replacement text, put in memory, then use \zs to simplify substitute
:%s/"([^.]+).\zsxx/\1/
" Pull word under cursor into LHS of a substitute
:nmap z :%s#<=expand("")>#
" Pull Visually Highlighted text into LHS of a substitute
:vmap z :%s/<>/
" substitute singular or plural
:'a,'bs/bucket(s)/bowl\1/gic N
" all following performing similar task, substitute within substitution
" Multiple single character substitution in a portion of line only
:%s,(all/.)@<=/,_,g : replace all / with _ AFTER "all/"
" Same thing
:s#all/\zs.#=substitute(submatch(0), '/', '', 'g')#
" Substitute by splitting line, then re-joining
:s#all/#&^M#|s#/##g|-j!
" Substitute inside substitute
:%s/.*/='cp '.submatch(0).' all/'.substitute(submatch(0),'/','_','g')/
" global command display
:g/gladiolli/# : display with line numbers (YOU WANT THIS!)
:g/fred.joe.dick/ : display all lines fred,joe & dick
:g/<fred>/ : display all lines fred but not freddy
:g/^\s$/d : delete all blank lines
:g!/^dd/d : delete lines not containing string
:v/^dd/d : delete lines not containing string
:g/joe/,/fred/d : not line based (very powerfull)
:g/fred/,/joe/j : Join Lines N
:g/-------/.-10,.d : Delete string & 10 previous lines
:g/{/ ,/}/- s/\n+/\r/g : Delete empty lines but only between {...}
:v/\S/d : Delete empty lines (and blank lines ie whitespace)
:v/./,/./-j : compress empty lines
:g/^$/,/./-j : compress empty lines
:g/<input|<form/p : ORing
:g/^/put_ : double space file (pu = put)
:g/^/m0 : Reverse file (m = move)
:g/^/m$ : No effect! N
:'a,'bg/^/m'b : Reverse a section a to b
:g/^/t. : duplicate every line
:g/fred/t$ : copy(transfer) lines matching fred to EOF
:g/stage/t'a : copy (transfer) lines matching stage to marker a (cannot use .) C
:g/^Chapter/t.|s/./-/g : Automatically underline selecting headings N
:g/(^I[^^I]){80}/d : delete all lines containing at least 80 tabs
" perform a substitute on every other line
:g/^/ if line('.')%2|s/^/zz /
" match all lines containing "somestr" between markers a & b
" copy after line containing "otherstr"
:'a,'bg/somestr/co/otherstr/ : co(py) or mo(ve)
" as above but also do a substitution
:'a,'bg/str1/s/str1/&&&/|mo/str2/
:%norm jdd : delete every other line
" incrementing numbers (type as 5 characters)
:.,$g/^\d/exe "norm! <c-a>": increment numbers
:'a,'bg/\d+/norm! ^A : increment numbers
" storing glob results (note must use APPEND) you need to empty reg a first with qaq.
"save results to a register/paste buffer
:g/fred/y A : append all lines fred to register a
:g/fred/y A | :let @=@a : put into paste buffer
:let @a=''|g/Barratt/y A |:let @=@a
" filter lines to a file (file must already exist)
:'a,'bg/^Error/ . w >> errors.txt
" duplicate every line in a file wrap a print '' around each duplicate
:g/./yank|put|-1s/'/"/g|s/./Print '&'/
" replace string with contents of a file, -d deletes the "mark"
:g/^MARK$/r tmp.txt | -d
" display prettily
:g//z#.5 : display with context
:g//z#.5|echo "==========" : display beautifully
" Combining g// with normal mode commands
:g/|/norm 2f|r : replace 2nd | with a star
"send output of previous global command to a new window
:nmap :redir @a:g//:redir END:new:put! a
"----------------------------------------
" Global combined with substitute (power editing)
:'a,'bg/fred/s/joe/susan/gic : can use memory to extend matching
:/fred/,/joe/s/fred/joe/gic : non-line based (ultra)
:/biz/,/any/g/article/s/wheel/bucket/gic: non-line based N
" Find fred before beginning search for joe
:/fred/;/joe/-2,/sid/+3s/sally/alley/gIC
"----------------------------------------
" create a new file for each line of file eg 1.txt,2.txt,3,txt etc
:g/^/exe ".w ".line(".").".txt"
"----------------------------------------
" chain an external command
:.g/^/ exe ".!sed 's/N/X/'" | s/I/Q/ N
"----------------------------------------
" Operate until string found N
d/fred/ :delete until fred
y/fred/ :yank until fred
c/fred/e :change until fred end
"----------------------------------------
" Summary of editing repeats N
. last edit (magic dot)
:& last substitute
:%& last substitute every line
:%&gic last substitute every line confirm
g% normal mode repeat last substitute
g& last substitute on all lines
@@ last recording
@: last command-mode command
:!! last :! command
:~ last substitute
:help repeating
" Summary of repeated searches
; last f, t, F or T
, last f, t, F or T in opposite direction
n last / or ? search
N last / or ? search in opposite direction
" Absolutely essential
g* g# : find word under cursor () (forwards/backwards)
% : match brackets {}
. : repeat last modification
@: : repeat last : command (then @@)
matchit.vim : % now matches tags
