VIM Text Editor

Using VIM Text Editor

Vim is an editor to create or edit a text file. There are two modes in vim. One is the command mode and another is the insert mode. In the command mode, user can move around the file, delete text, etc. In the insert mode, user can insert text.

Changing mode from one to another

From command mode to insert mode type a/A/i/I/o/O ( see details below)

From insert mode to command mode type Esc (escape key)

Some useful commands for VIM

Text Entry Commands (Used to start text entry)

Keystroke	Description
a	Append text following current cursor position.
A	Append text to the end of current line.
i	Insert text before the current cursor position.
I	Insert text at the beginning of the cursor line.
gI	Insert text in column 1 [count] times.
o	Open up a new line following the current line and add text there.
O	Open up a new line in front of the current line and add text there.

Selecting Text (Visual Mode)

To select text, enter visual mode with one of the commands below, and use motion commands to highlight the text you are interested in. Then, use some command on the text.

The operators that can be used are:

Keystroke	Description
~	switch case
d	delete
c	change
y	yank
>	shift right
<	shift left
!	filter through external command.
=	filter through equalprg option command.
gq	format lines to textwidth length.
v	start Visual mode per character.
V	start Visual mode linewise.
Esc	exit Visual mode without making any changes.

The following commands are used only in the commands mode

Cursor Movement Commands

Keystroke	Description
h	Moves the cursor one character to the left.
i	Moves the cursor one character to the right.
k	Moves the cursor up one line.
j	Moves the cursor down one line.
nG or :n	Cursor goes to the specified (n) line.

Example:- 10G goes to line 10

Keystroke	Description
^F (CTRl F)	Forward screenful.
^B	Backward screenful.
^f	One page forward.
^b	One page backward.
^U	Up half screenfu.
^D	Down half screenful.
$	Move cursor to the end of current line.
0 (zero)	Move cursor to the beginning of current line.
w	Forward one word.
b	Backward one word.

Exit Commands

Keystroke	Description
:wq	Write file to disk and quit the editor.
:q!	Quit (no warning).
:q	Quit (a warning is printed if a modified file has not been saved).
ZZ	Save workspace and quit the editor (same as :wq).
: 10,25 w temp	write lines 10 through 25 into file named temp. Of course, other line. numbers can be used. (Use :f to find out the line numbers you want.

Text Deletion Commands

Keystroke	Description
x	Delete character.
dw	Delete word from cursor on.
db	Delete word backward.
dd	Delete line.
d$	Delete to end of line.
d^ (d caret, not CTRL d)	Delete to beginning of line.

Yank (has most of the options of delete)-- VI's copy commmand

Keystroke	Description
yy	yank current line.
y$	yank to end of current line from cursor.
yw	yank from cursor to end of current word.

5yy yank, for example, 5 lines Paste (used after delete or yank to recover lines.)

Keystroke	Description
p	paste below cursor.
P	paste above cursor.
"2p	paste from buffer 2 (there are 9).
u	Undo last change.
U	Restore line.
J	Join next line down to the end of the current line.

File Manipulation Commands

Keystroke	Description
:w	Write workspace to original file.
:w	file Write workspace to named file.
:e	file Start editing a new file.
:r	file Read contents of a file to the workspace.
o	while in the insert mode in a new line.
i	while in the insert mode.
^L	will appear in your text and will cause the printer to start.

Other Useful Commands

Most commands can be repeated n times by typing a number, n, before the command. For example 10dd means delete 10 lines.

Keystroke	Description
.	Repeat last command.
cw	Change current word to a new word.
r	Replace one character at the cursor position.
R	Begin overstrike or replace mode – use ESC key to exit.
:/	pattern Search forward for the pattern.
:?	pattern Search backward for the pattern.
n	used after either of the 2 search commands above to continue to find next occurrence of the pattern.
:g/pat1/s//pat2/g	replace every occurrence of pattern1 (pat1) with pat2.

Example replace every occurrence of pattern1 (pat1) with pat2

Keystroke	Description
g/tIO/s//Ada.Text_IO/g	This will find and replace tIO by Ada.text_IO everywhere in the file.
:g/a/s// /g	replace the letter a, by blank.
:g/a/s///g	replace a by nothing.

Note: Even this command be undone by u.

Examples

Step 1

type vim filename (create a file named filename).

Step 2

type i ( switch to insert mode).

Step 3

enter text (enter your Ada program)

Step 4

hit Esc key (switch back to command mode).

Step 5

type :wq (write file and exit vim).

Editing the Existing File