Questions tagged [vim]
Vim is a free and open-source modal text editor available for most major platforms. It allows high efficiency in many text editing tasks but has a steep learning curve. To learn the basics, run ":help vimtutor". For non-programming questions please use https://vi.stackexchange.com/ instead.
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How do I exit Vim?
I am stuck and cannot escape. It says:
type :quit<Enter> to quit VIM
But when I type that it simply appears in the object body.
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How do I make git use the editor of my choice for editing commit messages?
How do I globally configure git to use a particular editor (e.g. vim) for commit messages?
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How to replace a character by a newline in Vim
I'm trying to replace each , in the current file by a new line:
:%s/,/\n/g
But it inserts what looks like a ^@ instead of an actual newline. The file is not in DOS mode or anything.
What should I ...
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Indent multiple lines quickly in vi
It should be trivial, and it might even be in the help, but I can't figure out how to navigate it. How do I indent multiple lines quickly in vi?
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34
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Vim clear last search highlighting
After doing a search in Vim, I get all the occurrences highlighted. How can I disable that? I now do another search for something gibberish that can't be found.
Is there a way to just temporarily ...
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How to do case insensitive search in Vim
I'd like to search for an upper case word, for example COPYRIGHT in a file. I tried performing a search like:
/copyright/i # Doesn't work
but it doesn't work. I know that in Perl, if I give the ...
- 41.8k
2017
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22
answers
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How to duplicate a whole line in Vim?
How do I duplicate a whole line in Vim in a similar way to Ctrl+D in IntelliJ IDEA/ Resharper or Ctrl+Alt+↑/↓ in Eclipse?
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How does the vim "write with sudo" trick work?
Many of you have probably seen the command that allows you to write on a file that needs root permission, even when you forgot to open vim with sudo:
:w !sudo tee %
The thing is that I don't get ...
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55
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What's a quick way to comment/uncomment lines in Vim?
I have a Ruby code file open in vi, there are lines commented out with #:
class Search < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
# create_table :searches do |t|
# t.integer :user_id
# ...
- 58.9k
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27
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Turning off auto indent when pasting text into vim
I am making the effort to learn Vim.
When I paste code into my document from the clipboard, I get extra spaces at the start of each new line:
line
line
line
I know you can turn off auto ...
- 37.5k
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5
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What is the difference between the remap, noremap, nnoremap and vnoremap mapping commands in Vim?
What is the difference between the remap, noremap, nnoremap and vnoremap mapping commands in Vim?
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Tab key == 4 spaces and auto-indent after curly braces in Vim
How do I make vi-Vim never use tabs (converting spaces to tabs, bad!), makes the tab key == 4 spaces, and automatically indent code after curly brace blocks like Emacs does?
Also, how do I save these ...
- 92.2k
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votes
16
answers
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How do I move to end of line in Vim?
I know how to generally move around in command mode, specifically, jumping to lines, etc. But what is the command to jump to the end of the line that I am currently on?
- 22.1k
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5
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What is the <leader> in a .vimrc file?
I see <leader> in many .vimrc files, and I am wondering what does it mean?
What is it used for?
Just a general overview of the purpose and usage would be great.
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1235
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29
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How to effectively work with multiple files in Vim
I've started using Vim to develop Perl scripts and am starting to find it very powerful.
One thing I like is to be able to open multiple files at once with:
vi main.pl maintenance.pl
and then hop ...
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What is your most productive shortcut with Vim?
I've heard a lot about Vim, both pros and cons.
It really seems you should be (as a developer) faster with Vim than with any other editor.
I'm using Vim to do some basic stuff and I'm at best 10 times ...
1112
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40
answers
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How to copy to clipboard in Vim?
Is it possible to copy to clipboard directly from Vim? yy only copies stuff to Vim's internal buffer. I want to copy to the OS's clipboard. Is there any such command in Vim or you can only yank stuff ...
- 34.6k
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How can I make Vim paste from (and copy to) the system's clipboard?
Unlike other editors, Vim stores copied text in its own clipboard. So, it's very hard for me to copy some text from a webpage and paste it into the current working file. It so happens I have to either ...
- 27.2k
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17
answers
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How do I use vim registers?
I only know of one instance using registers is via CtrlR* whereby I paste text from a clipboard.
What are other uses of registers? How to use them?
Everything you know about VI registers (let's ...
917
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6
answers
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What is Vim recording and how can it be disabled?
I keep seeing the recording message at the bottom of my gVim 7.2 window.
What is it and how do I turn it off?
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votes
23
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Make Vim show ALL white spaces as a character
I can't find a way to make Vim show all white spaces as a character.
All I found was about tabs, trailing spaces etc.
Matt
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29
answers
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Convert DOS/Windows line endings to Linux line endings in Vim
If I open files I created in Windows, the lines all end with ^M.
How do I delete these characters all at once?
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70
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What are the dark corners of Vim your mom never told you about? [closed]
There are a plethora of questions where people talk about common tricks, notably "Vim+ctags tips and tricks".
However, I don't refer to commonly used shortcuts that someone new to Vim would find cool....
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14
answers
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How to move screen without moving cursor in Vim?
I recently discovered Ctrl+E and Ctrl+Y shortcuts for Vim that respectively move the screen up and down with a one line step, without moving the cursor.
Do you know any command that leaves the cursor ...
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797
votes
30
answers
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Differences between Emacs and Vim
What practical, objective differences are there between Emacs and Vim? For example, what can be done using one but not the other (or done more easily with one than the other)? What should I know in ...
790
votes
28
answers
1.3m
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Copy all the lines to clipboard
Is there any way to copy all lines from open file to clipboard in VI editor. I tried yG but it's not using clipboard to store those lines.
So is it possible?
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14
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728
votes
10
answers
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How do I do redo (i.e. "undo undo") in Vim?
In Vim, I did too much undo. How do I undo this (that is, redo)?
- 267k
713
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12
answers
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How to paste yanked text into the Vim command line
I'd like to paste yanked text into Vim's command line. Is it possible?
- 44.7k
712
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16
answers
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How do I fix the indentation of an entire file in Vi?
In Vim, what is the command to correct the indentation of all the lines?
Often times I'll copy and paste code into a remote terminal and have the whole thing messed up. I want to fix this in one ...
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707
votes
9
answers
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To switch from vertical split to horizontal split fast in Vim
How can you switch your current windows from horizontal split to vertical split and vice versa in Vim?
I did that a moment ago by accident but I cannot find the key again.
- 137k
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votes
7
answers
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"Find next" in Vim
To search forward in Vim for cake, I'd type /cake, but the cursor jumps to the first match when I press return. Is there a Vim command analogous to "find next"?
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15
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What does the ^M character mean in Vim?
I keep getting the ^M character in my .vimrc and it breaks my
configuration.
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3
answers
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605
votes
11
answers
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Find and replace strings in vim on multiple lines
I can do :%s/<search_string>/<replace_string>/g for replacing a string across a file, or :s/<search_string>/<replace_string>/ to replace in current line.
How can I select and ...
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588
votes
22
answers
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Where is my .vimrc file?
I have been using Vim, and I would really like to save my settings. The problem I am having is that I cannot find my .vimrc file, and it is not in the standard /home/user/.vimrc location. How might I ...
- 6,531
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10
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How do I close a single buffer (out of many) in Vim?
I open several files in Vim by, for example, running
vim a/*.php
which opens 23 files.
I then make my edit and run the following twice
:q
which closes all my buffers.
How can you close only one ...
- 137k
580
votes
8
answers
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How can I make my match non greedy in vim?
I have a big HTML file that has lots of markup that looks like this:
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman;">...
- 149k
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30
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In Vim is there a way to delete without putting text in the register?
Using Vim I often want to replace a block of code with a block that I just yanked.
But when I delete the block of code that is to be replaced, that block itself goes into the register which erases ...
- 191k
522
votes
38
answers
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Convert ^M (Windows) line breaks to normal line breaks
Vim shows ^M on every line ending.
How do I replace this with a normal line break in a file opened in Vim?
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517
votes
15
answers
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514
votes
11
answers
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How to get the list of all installed color schemes in Vim?
Is there a way to get a list of all installed color schemes in Vim? That would make very easy to select one without looking at the .vim directory.
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513
votes
14
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How to insert text at beginning of a multi-line selection in vi/Vim
In Vim, how do I insert characters at the beginning of each line in a selection?
For instance, I want to comment out a block of code by prepending // at the beginning of each line assuming my ...
- 36.7k
507
votes
16
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Move cursor to end of file in vim
When I want the cursor to go to the end of the file (i.e. the end of the last line) in Vim, I have to type six keystrokes:
<ESC>G$a - which translates to ESC + Shiftg + Shift4 + a on my ...
user1322720
485
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15
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Vim and Ctags tips and tricks [closed]
I have just installed Ctags (to help with C++ development) with my Vim (or rather gVim), and would like to find out your favorite commands, macros, shortcuts, tips that go along with it...
Share your ...
Sasha
473
votes
23
answers
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Renaming the current file in Vim
How should I rename my current file in Vim?
For example:
I am editing person.html_erb_spec.rb
I would like it renamed to person.haml_spec.rb
I would like to continue editing person.haml_spec.rb
How ...
- 130k
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15
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Vim: insert the same characters across multiple lines
Sometimes I want to edit a certain visual block of text across multiple lines.
For example, I would take a text that looks like this:
name
comment
phone
email
And make it look like this
...
- 29.2k
467
votes
4
answers
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How to comment in Vim's config files: ".vimrc"?
How do I add a comment in Vim's configuration files, like .vimrc?
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465
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34
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What are the benefits of learning Vim? [closed]
As a programmer I spend a lot of hours at the keyboard and I've been doing it for the last 12 years, more or less. If there's something I've never gotten used to during all this time, it's these ...