Vimtutor Summaries
Source Vim Tutorial for Beginners vimtutor - SysTutorials.
** To move the cursor, press the h,j,k,l keys as indicated. **
^
k Hint: The h key is at the left and moves left.
< h l > The l key is at the right and moves right.
j The j key looks like a down arrow.
v
1. Move the cursor around the screen until you are comfortable.
2. Hold down the down key (j) until it repeats.
Now you know how to move to the next lesson.
3. Using the down key, move to Lesson 1.2.
NOTE: If you are ever unsure about something you typed, press <ESC> to place
you in Normal mode. Then retype the command you wanted.
NOTE: The cursor keys should also work. But using hjkl you will be able to
move around much faster, once you get used to it. Really!
Lesson 1 SUMMARY
1. The cursor is moved using either the arrow keys or the hjkl keys.
h (left) j (down) k (up) l (right)
2. To start Vim from the shell prompt type: vim FILENAME <ENTER>
3. To exit Vim type: <ESC> :q! <ENTER> to trash all changes.
OR type: <ESC> :wq <ENTER> to save the changes.
4. To delete the character at the cursor type: x
5. To insert or append text type:
i type inserted text <ESC> insert before the cursor
A type appended text <ESC> append after the line
NOTE: Pressing <ESC> will place you in Normal mode or will cancel
an unwanted and partially completed command.
Now continue with Lesson 2.
Lesson 2 SUMMARY
1. To delete from the cursor up to the next word type: dw
2. To delete from the cursor to the end of a line type: d$
3. To delete a whole line type: dd
4. To repeat a motion prepend it with a number: 2w
5. The format for a change command is:
operator [number] motion
where:
operator - is what to do, such as d for delete
[number] - is an optional count to repeat the motion
motion - moves over the text to operate on, such as w (word),
$ (to the end of line), etc.
6. To move to the start of the line use a zero: 0
7. To undo previous actions, type: u (lowercase u)
To undo all the changes on a line, type: U (capital U)
To undo the undo's, type: CTRL-R
Lesson 3 SUMMARY
1. To put back text that has just been deleted, type p . This puts the
deleted text AFTER the cursor (if a line was deleted it will go on the
line below the cursor).
2. To replace the character under the cursor, type r and then the
character you want to have there.
3. The change operator allows you to change from the cursor to where the
motion takes you. eg. Type ce to change from the cursor to the end of
the word, c$ to change to the end of a line.
4. The format for change is:
c [number] motion
Now go on to the next lesson.
Lesson 4 SUMMARY
1. CTRL-G displays your location in the file and the file status.
G moves to the end of the file.
number G moves to that line number.
gg moves to the first line.
2. Typing / followed by a phrase searches FORWARD for the phrase.
Typing ? followed by a phrase searches BACKWARD for the phrase.
After a search type n to find the next occurrence in the same direction
or N to search in the opposite direction.
CTRL-O takes you back to older positions, CTRL-I to newer positions.
3. Typing % while the cursor is on a (,),[,],{, or } goes to its match.
4. To substitute new for the first old in a line type :s/old/new
To substitute new for all 'old's on a line type :s/old/new/g
To substitute phrases between two line #'s type :#,#s/old/new/g
To substitute all occurrences in the file type :%s/old/new/g
To ask for confirmation each time add 'c' :%s/old/new/gc
Lesson 5 SUMMARY
1. :!command executes an external command.
Some useful examples are:
(MS-DOS) (Unix)
:!dir :!ls - shows a directory listing.
:!del FILENAME :!rm FILENAME - removes file FILENAME.
2. :w FILENAME writes the current Vim file to disk with name FILENAME.
3. v motion :w FILENAME saves the Visually selected lines in file
FILENAME.
4. :r FILENAME retrieves disk file FILENAME and puts it below the
cursor position.
5. :r !dir reads the output of the dir command and puts it below the
cursor position.
Lesson 6 SUMMARY
1. Type o to open a line BELOW the cursor and start Insert mode.
Type O to open a line ABOVE the cursor.
2. Type a to insert text AFTER the cursor.
Type A to insert text after the end of the line.
3. The e command moves to the end of a word.
4. The y operator yanks (copies) text, p puts (pastes) it.
5. Typing a capital R enters Replace mode until <ESC> is pressed.
6. Typing ":set xxx" sets the option "xxx". Some options are:
'ic' 'ignorecase' ignore upper/lower case when searching
'is' 'incsearch' show partial matches for a search phrase
'hls' 'hlsearch' highlight all matching phrases
You can either use the long or the short option name.
7. Prepend "no" to switch an option off: :set noic
Lesson 7 SUMMARY
1. Type :help or press <F1> or <Help> to open a help window.
2. Type :help cmd to find help on cmd .
3. Type CTRL-W CTRL-W to jump to another window
4. Type :q to close the help window
5. Create a vimrc startup script to keep your preferred settings.
6. When typing a : command, press CTRL-D to see possible completions.
Press <TAB> to use one completion.
vimtutor summary
This concludes the Vim Tutor. It was intended to give a brief overview of
the Vim editor, just enough to allow you to use the editor fairly easily.
It is far from complete as Vim has many many more commands. Read the user
manual next: ":help user-manual".
For further reading and studying, this book is recommended:
Vim - Vi Improved - by Steve Oualline
Publisher: New Riders
The first book completely dedicated to Vim. Especially useful for beginners.
There are many examples and pictures.
See http://iccf-holland.org/click5.html
This book is older and more about Vi than Vim, but also recommended:
Learning the Vi Editor - by Linda Lamb
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Inc.
It is a good book to get to know almost anything you want to do with Vi.
The sixth edition also includes information on Vim.
This tutorial was written by Michael C. Pierce and Robert K. Ware,
Colorado School of Mines using ideas supplied by Charles Smith,
Colorado State University. E-mail: bware@mines.colorado.edu.
Modified for Vim by Bram Moolenaar.
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