Vim for humans

Release 1.0

Vincent Jousse

Nov 09, 2016

CONTENTS

Preamble
1.1 Disclaimer . . . . . . .
1.2 Paid book but free price
1.3 Free license . . . . . . .
1.4 Thanks . . . . . . . . .

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1
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1

Introduction
2.1 For who? . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 What you will be learning . . .
2.3 What you will not be learning .
2.4 The hardest part is to get started

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3
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Having a usable Vim

3.1 Essential preamble: the insert mode . . .
3.2 Modes: the powerful Vim secrets . . . . .
3.3 The lifesaver default configuration . . . .
3.4 And now, the color! . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5 Our first plugin: the file explorer . . . . .
3.5.1
Plugin manager: Pathogen . . .
3.5.2
The NERD Tree: a file explorer
3.6 Here we go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7
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The text editor youve always dreamed of

4.1 Learning how to move: the copy/paste use case . .
4.1.1
Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.2
Forget the mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Forgetting the directional keys . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1
Moving without using the directional keys
4.3 Doing without the Esc key . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4 Combining keys and moves . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5 Search / Move quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.1
Scrolling pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.2
Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.3
Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6 Visual mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.7 Its your turn! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Essential plugins
5.1 Managing and switching between files : Lusty Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2 Searching files on disk: Ack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Searching files on disk: Ctrlp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5.4
6

ii

Advanced plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cheatsheet & examples

6.1 Questions / Answers . . . . . . .
6.1.1
How to quit Vim? . . . .
6.1.2
How to save as? . . . . .
6.1.3
How to copy/cut paste? .
6.1.4
How to create a new file?
6.1.5
Undo/redo . . . . . . . .
6.2 Reminders . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.1
Files . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.2
Moves . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.3
Text editing . . . . . . .
6.2.4
Search and/or replace . .
Indices and tables

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39
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CHAPTER

ONE

PREAMBLE

1.1 Disclaimer
Im not a native english speaker, so if you spot errors, feel free to tell me. Here is my email address: [email protected]

1.2 Paid book but free price

What does it mean? I am convinced that culture and education should be accessible for everyone. Asking people to
pay a price fixed in advance would put a barrier that limits the access to the book. Thats why I let you choose your
price.
And what if you dont have any euro to give in exchange for this book? Well, just download it freely and make the
promise you will use it for the best. But dont tell me you have nothing to offer in exchange. An email with a thank-you
would be just fine.
Whatever you give, it will be a motivation for me to write more books like this one.
If you give in euros, 20% of the earnings are donated to Framasoft, an association promoting free software.
You can give on the official website http://vimebook.com/en
Thanks for listening, and have fun!

1.3 Free license

Im releasing the book under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationa lLicence. So, you can do (almost)
whatever you want with this ebook.

1.4 Thanks
A big thank to my lovely sister Sandra for her reviews!

Vim for humans, Release 1.0

Chapter 1. Preamble

CHAPTER

TWO

INTRODUCTION

When you need to write or to code, you have to choose a text editor, and a very good one. They are many text editors
available out there, but very few of them are more than 40 years old. Its the case of Emacs (http://www.gnu.org/
software/emacs/), Vi and its improved successor Vim (http://www.vim.org). They were created in the 70s and are still
used a lot nowadays. You may have already noticed that its not thanks to the beauty of their website or the efficiency
of their communication. Here are some reasons for their success:
Forever You learn them once and you use them forever. In a world where languages and technologies are constantly
changing, its a real chance to be able to invest on the long term.
Everywhere They are available for each and every possible platform : Mac Os X, Windows, GNU/Linux, BSD, . . .
and its always been the case.
Efficient Thanks to their features (like the extensive use of the keyboard), you can edit and write text as fast as your
thoughts.
For everything They allow you to edit everything and anything. When youll use another programming language, or
another markup language, youll not have to change your editor. Of course, this book has been written using
Vim (and the ReST Markup).
Yet, these text editors are difficult to learn. Not that they are harder than anything else, not that you cant handle it, but
rather because there is no smart way out there to learn them for now. So, here we are.
The aim of this book is to address this gap by guiding you through your discovery of Vim. Ill put Emacs aside from
now and Ill focus on Vim. If you want to know more about this Editor war, be sure to check the Wikipedia page.
This book doesnt claim to be a reference book about Vim. There are already a lot of good references on the subject
like A byte of Vim. However, it claims to reduce the entry barrier to get used to Vim. In my opinion, the most difficult
thing about learning Vim is not getting discouraged and finding a way to use it while learning it step by step. We all
have to get things done with our text editor on a daily basis, thats why losing all your productivity when switching to
Vim is not possible
Im sure youll find a lot of people who will tell you: Just do it cold turkey, Youll see, its hard at the beginning, but
time will help. True, but youll still have the problem of trying to remain productive on a daily basis. The approach
of this book is the following:
Have a modern Vim: syntax highlighting and nice colors.
Use Vim as any other text editor: easily edit code and switch between files using the mouse.
Learn keyboard shortcuts and go without the mouse step by step.
Install the best plugins to start using Vim to its full potential.
Starting from bullet number 2, youll already be able to use Vim on a daily basis without losing a lot of productivity.
Its where the magic will happen: if you can integrate Vim in your daily habits, you have won. Youll then have the
rest of your life to learn all the shortcuts and the tip and tricks of Vim.

Vim for humans, Release 1.0

Youre tired of trying a new editor each year? Youre tired of having to relearn everything from scratch every time?
Youre tired having to change your editor when youre using your Mac, Windows or Linux? So, just stop it, and join
the community of people happy with their text editor!

2.1 For who?

Every person having to produce text (code, book, reports, slideshows, . . . ) regularly. Developers are of course concerned, but its not only about them.
For example, you are a:
Student If you want to impress your future boss with your resume, its a must. Its a proof of seriousness to see that a
student took the time to learn Vim on its own. Moreover, youll have a unique tool to write all what youll have to
write (and that youll be able to use for the rest of your career): your LaTeX reports, your slideshows, your code
(if you need Word or LibreOffice to write you reports, its time to use LaTeX, Markdown or reStructuredText).
Friendly advice: for your slideshows, dont hesitate to use something like impress.js. Its using HTML/JS/CSS
and I highly recommend that you use it to do awesome presentations based on non-proprietary technologies.
You can have a look at reveal.js too, and its online editor slide.es.
Teacher Its time to set an example for your student and to teach them a tool they will use during their entire life. A
lot more than any other programming language.
Coder To invest time in your daily tool is something essential. Youll anyway have to learn keyboard shortcuts, so
youd better do it for something useful. If this investment is still profitable 10 years from now, its the perfect
investment, its Vim.
System and network administrator If you use Emacs, then I can forgive you. If you use nano/pico, there is nothing
I can do for you, otherwise, its time to get some work done folks! To remotely administrate a Unix system is
the perfect use case for Vim (a powerful text editor without the need of a graphical interface).
Writer If you write using Markdown/reStructuredText/WikiMarkup or LaTeX, Vim will save you a lot of time. Youll
not be able to go back to another editor after it, or youll want to Vimify it at all costs.
Trust me, I have done and still do all these 5 roles, and my best investment has always been, by far, Vim.

2.2 What you will be learning

How to use Vim as an usual editor first (you know, the type of text editors having syntax highlighting, allowing
you to open files, to click using the mouse, . . . ). In short, the demystification of Vim that will allow you to go
further.
How to move from classical text editon to the power of Vim, baby step by baby step (its where addiction begins).
How to do without the mouse and why its the best thing that can happen to you when youre programming/writing text.
How you can easily deduce keyboard shortcuts with some simple rules.
To sum up: as you consider yourself a craftsman, act like one. Learn how to use your tool, once and for all.

2.3 What you will not be learning

Youll not be learning how to install and to configure Vim for Windows. Its doable, but I have very limited
knowledge about Windows. It may happen, but not yet. Only Linux/Unix will be discussed (and by extension
4

Chapter 2. Introduction

Vim for humans, Release 1.0

Mac OS X).
Youll not be learning how to use Vi (notice the lack of m). Ill only teach you how to be productive writing
text with Vim, Ill not teach you how to impress your friends with Vi (and anyway, Vim is enough for that). For
those who dont get what Im talking about, Vi is the ancestor of Vim (which stands for Vi - IMproved) and is
installed by default on all Unix-like systems (even on Mac OS X).
Youll not be learning to know Vim by heart: this book is not a reference its a pragmatic smart way to learn Vim.
Youll not learn how to pimp the colors of your Vim: Ill use the Solarized theme, its the best theme for your
eyes.

2.4 The hardest part is to get started

So, your are ready for the adventure? Ready to sacrifice one hour to start using Vim, one week to be familiar with it,
and the rest of your life to be happy with your choice? So here we go! Well, almost, we need to talk a little bit before.
With Vim youll have to struggle. No matter how big your willpower is, you will struggle. Be prepared. The goal of
this guide is to diminish this struggle as much as possible, but be aware that you will struggle anyway. No pain, no
gain. Here is the method I recommend to tame the beast:
Try to make using Vim a habit. Be sure to follow this guide until the chapter about The NERD Tree (the file
explorer). Then youll be able to use Vim as you would do with Notepad++, Textmate or Sublime Text for
example. Youll be using only 1% of the capacities of Vim, but whatever. What really matters is to use Vim on a
daily basis.
Be sure to have a printed sheet with all the main Vim shortcuts near you. The goal here is not to learn them by
heart, but only to have somewhere to look when youll ask yourself: it surely exists a better way to do this.
Keep the faith. At the beginning youll be sceptical regarding the usefulness of learning everything from scratch
with Vim. And then, one day, youll have a a ha! moment. Youll be asking yourself why all the softwares
your are using cant be controlled using Vim shortcuts.
Keep in mind that its an investment for your next 20 years. And everybody knows that investment are rarely
profitable immediately.
So, enough talking, lets get started!

2.4. The hardest part is to get started

Vim for humans, Release 1.0

Chapter 2. Introduction

CHAPTER

THREE

HAVING A USABLE VIM

This may be a surprising approach for you, but for me, the first thing to do is to have a Vim usable by a normal human
being. It seems that everybody agrees that Vim is a very powerful editor. And I think that you will agree too if I
say that, by default, Vim is totally unusable. Lets be honest, without a decent minimal configuration, using Vim is
counterproductive.
In my humble opinion, its the first obstacle to tackle before anything else. This is what all the trendy editors like
TextMate, Sublime Text, Notepad++ or Netbeans are proposing: a default environment usable as it is, even if we dont
use its full potential for now.
Here is what a default Vim is missing (and why most of people are giving up before they can really see the power of
Vim):
Default configuration You can configure Vim thanks to a file named ~/.vimrc. This file is, obviously, totally
empty by default. The first thing to do will be to have a ~/.vimrc file with a minimal configuration.
Syntax highlighting By default, Vim is white and ugly. To fix that, we will use the Solarized theme. If your goal is
to be efficient, its the best theme available out there (across all text editors), period. The beautiful image below
will give you an idea of what it looks like (with the dark and the light theme). Personally, Im using the dark
theme.

File explorer If your are using Vim along with a graphical interface (I suppose its the case for 99% of you) you will
by default have a File menu available. This menu should allow you to open a file. Its, for sure, a good start.
But having a file explorer a la Netbeans or Textmate can be very handy. To mimic the same behavior, we will be
using The NERD Tree. Be aware that, once you will have read this guide, you will not need the mouse anymore.
This chapter is mandatory if you have very few (or not at all) experience with Vim. By the end of the chapter, you will
have a Vim usable on a daily basis. It should be enough to then be able to learn it gradually. Because, of course, there
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is no magic, you will have to practice to be able to learn Vim, the sooner, the better.
However, if you are already familiar with Vim and dont use the mouse anymore, you can skip this chapter. But be
sure to give Solarized a try, you would be missing something otherwise.

3.1 Essential preamble: the insert mode

Lets be totally crazy. We will try to create the ~/.vimrc configuration file with Vim itself. As I said earlier, the
sooner you start to use Vim, the better. I told you it would be totally crazy.
The first thing to do will certainly be to install a Vim version for your operating system. If you are using a Mac, give
MacVim a try, its the best Vim port for Mac without any doubt. If your are using GNU/Linux or any other Unix-like
system, you should have gVim available, or at least easily installable using your package management system. Be sure
to install the __full__ version (ie. with ruby and lua support). For ubuntu, the package is called vim-nox. For Mac
OS X, MacVim has already all what you need builtin. For Windows, it seems that there is a version available on the
official Vim website (http://www.vim.org/download.php), but I havent tested it.
When you will start Vim, you should see a welcome text asking you to help poor children in Uganda (or something
along the lines).

This text will disappear as soon as we will be writing text in Vim.

We will start by adding a comment in the header of the file to specify the author of the document (should be
you). To be able to type text, the first thing to do will be to press the i key (the cursor should have changed).
The welcome text should have disappeared and you should have a blank page looking like the image below:

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On a side note: if you dont really understand what you have done and Vim is displaying red messages at the bottom
left or doesnt seem to react as it should when you press the i key, dont panic. Pressing multiples times on the Esc
key (two times should be enough) should bring Vim to its default mode, the Normal mode. Then it should behave as
you would expect again.
You should know be able to write down the comment below:
" VIM Configuration - Vincent Jousse

You will have noticed that comments in VimL (the name of the Vim programing language) start with a ". Then press
the Esc key to come back to the default mode (the normal mode) of Vim. Thats all, you are done. Here is a screenshot
of what your Vim should look like now:

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I can already hear you: all that fuss for that? Well, yes. And you even dont know how to save a file. But all these
things are logical that Im gonna explain to you. One of the advantages of Vim is that, usually, it is logical. Once you
will have understood the logic behind it, all will be crystal clear for you (at least I hope so).
By default, when you start Vim, you are presented with its default mode. This mode is called the Normal mode. The
purpose of this mode is not to write text (for that, you will have the Insert mode), but only to move the cursor and to
manipulate text. The power of Vim is coming from the combination of these two modes (other modes exist, but its not
the topic for now). You will need some time and some practice to realize the power its giving to you, so you will just
need to trust me in the meantime.
If you are asking yourself why those modes, why by default we cant even write down some text and why we are
making things more complicated than they should, the next chapter is for you.

3.2 Modes: the powerful Vim secrets

I suppose you will agree if I say that, if you want to learn Vim, its to be more efficient when writing/manipulating text
or code. To be more efficient when writing text, there are not many solutions. There is only one actually: you need to
move your hands as less as you can (even not at all) and only move your fingers.
To do so, of course, you will need to do without your mouse. In addition to being slow, the move keyboard -> mouse
and then mouse -> keyboard is really bad for your articulations. Its often the cause of musculoskeletal disorders.
Maybe you are still young and dont know what Im talking about. But believe me, you will have such problems
one day or another (often sooner than what you think). If your are in front of your computer all day long, dont
neglect those possible troubles, you may regret it someday. According to Wikipedia, its actually the most common
professional disease.
You will need to forget the move of your right hand toward the directional keys (left/right/bottom/top) too. Its a waste
of time and its completely unneeded with Vim.
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So what do you have the right to do? Not a lot to be honest (but its for your own good), you can only leave your hands
on the home row as you can see on the picture below.

Fig. 3.1: Home row, QWERTY keyboard

Illustration by Cy21 - CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL
(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Typing-home-keys-hand-position.svg

You will also find on each keyboard some marks on the letters F and J, the goal of these marks is to give a landmark
for the position of your fingers (the indexes) on the home row of the keyboard.
Trying to move as less as possible the hands from the keyboard is the reason for having a normal mode and an insert
mode in Vim. When switching from one to the other, the keys under your fingers will sometimes allow you to move
the cursor and to manipulate text: copy/paste, deletion, . . . (its the normal mode), sometimes they will allow you
to select some text (its the visual mode) and sometimes to insert some text (its the insert mode). And of course, all
of that is possible without the extensive use of keys combinations like Ctrl + key that are very bad for your fingers
(Emacs, this on is for you).
By default, we can switch from the insert mode to the normal mode by pressing the Esc key, but it will be one of the
first things we will change: the Esc key is to far from your fingers on current keyboards.
To switch from normal mode to insert mode, we can for example press the i key. We will later learn that there are
other ways to do so too. For example, to enter the insert mode and to then create a new line below the current one (no
matter where is your cursor on the line), we will use the o key while in normal mode.
I will talk again about this subject later in Learning how to move: the copy/paste use case, but if you are not ready,
at some point, to do without your mouse and the directional keys to edit text, I would recommend you to stop learning
Vim right now. Its as simple as that. You can leverage the full power of Vim only by getting rid of the mouse and by
moving your hand as little as possible.
If you want to go further, you can buy an orthogonal keyboard like TypeMatrix. Its the keyboard Im currently using,

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and my fingers are thanking me everyday.

The ultimate change would be to switch your keyboard layout to a more efficient one like Colemak. But its another
story.

3.3 The lifesaver default configuration

Lets get serious and try to have a usable Vim. We will start by editing the default configuration file ~/.vimrc and
by entering default values that any sane person would love to find in it.
You have to place this file in your home directory. It should be /home/your_user/.vimrc if your are using Linux,
/Users/your_user/.vimrc if your are using Mac OS X. Generally speaking, it should be in you home directory under
~/.vimrc. If you are using Windows, you can create a file named _vimrc that you have to put in your %HOME%
directory. This directory is obviously not the same across the different Windows versions. Usually, its the directory
just before your directory My Documents. More information is available on Wikipedia if you want.
Ive directly commented all the lines in the code itself. Nothing fancy here, you should just be asking yourself why all
of this is not available by default.
For those who have done a copy/paste (and you should be one of those), you just have to save your newly created file.
We want to put it in our home directory, so you have to save it as ~/.vimrc. When using Mac OS X and Linux, ~ is
the home directory of the current user. But be careful, when using Linux and Mac OS X the files starting with a . are
hidden files. So dont be surprised to not see by default your ~/.vimrc in your file explorer.
For people using the mouse, you will just have to use the File menu and then the Save as one. Save the file under the
name .vimrc in your home directory. For those who want to use the keyboard you will just have to type :sav ~/.vimrc
(be sure to be in the Normal mode by pressing the Esc key before). To save your further modifications, just use the
menus with the mouse or type :w when in Normal mode.
I have uploaded this configuration file directly on Github. You can download or copy/paste it directly from: http:
//vimebook.com/link/en/firstconfig.
Below is a screenshot of Vim (macvim) after your first configuration.
Notice the line numbers on the left and the position (coordinates) of the cursor at the bottom right.
Well, its a good start, but we now need more colors. Lets go!

3.4 And now, the color!

First, we need to enable syntax highlighting in the configuration file. Add these lines at the end of your ~/.vimrc
configuration file:
" Enable syntax highlighting
syntax enable
" Enable file specific behavior like syntax highlighting and indentation
filetype on
filetype plugin on
filetype indent on

You should have a Vim looking like the picture below.

For the time being, the easiest way to test the modifications you made to your ~/.vimrc file is to restart Vim. If you
want to use Vim like a boss right now, you can type in normal mode :so ~/.vimrc or :so $MYVIMRC. It will reload the
configuration without the need to restart Vim. :so being a shortcut for vimcmd::source.
This is a good first step, its time to turn to the use of a theme.
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Fig. 3.2: Vim after your first configuration.

3.4. And now, the color!

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Fig. 3.3: Default syntax highlighting.

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Themes will allow you to have a nicer Vim than the default one. A theme will change the background color of Vim and
the colors used for the syntax highlighting. As I said earlier, we will use the Solarized theme http://ethanschoonover.
com/solarized (with dark or light background, it will be up to you).
To install it, you will first need to create a directory called .vim in the same directory than your ~/.vimrc (that is
to say, in your home directory). Note that when using Windows, the .vim directory is called vimfiles. Each time Ill
be speaking of the .vim directory, it will be the vimfiles directory for people using Windows. In this .vim directory,
create a sub directory named colors. Then, download the Solarized theme file https://raw.github.com/altercation/
vim-colors-solarized/master/colors/solarized.vim (its the same file for the light and the dark version) and copy it in
your vim/colors/ directory. You .vim directory should look like the picture below.

Fig. 3.4: Content of the .vim directory with Solarized.

Then enable the Solarized theme in your ~/.vimrc like shown in the code below.:
" Use the dark version of Solarized
set background=dark
colorscheme solarized

To test the light theme, you just have to change dark with light (for the background property).
Here is a preview of the two versions (personally, I prefer the dark one).
A bonus (if you dont use Vim directly in your terminal) would be to choose a font that suits your needs a little bit
better. This is of course optional, but I suppose that some of you are sensible to such things.
If your are using Mac OS X, I recommend the Monaco font that is quite friendly. Add the following lines to your
~/.vimrc to use it:
set guifont=Monaco:h13
set antialias

You can of course change h13 with h12 if you want a smaller font (or with h14 if you want a bigger one).
Under Linux I am using the DejaVu Sans Mono font:
set guifont=DejaVu\ Sans\ Mono\ 10
set antialias

You can of course change the font size as you want. To have the list of all the available fonts for your system type :set
guifont:* in normal mode.
You will find the full version of the configuration file for this chapter online http://vimebook.com/link/en/
syntaxhlconfig. I will not spend more time talking about the fonts as its dependant of your operating system and
not of Vim.

3.5 Our first plugin: the file explorer

Here we go, we have a nice Vim that we can actually use with pretty colors. Its a good first step, but now, it would be
cool to be able to open files without having to do File -> Open using the menu bar. This is the perfect opportunity to

3.5. Our first plugin: the file explorer

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Fig. 3.5: The dark Solarized theme.

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Fig. 3.6: The light Solarized theme.

3.5. Our first plugin: the file explorer

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install our first plugin: a file explorer. We will use a two-step approach here: first we will install a plugin manager and
then we will install the plugin using this plugin manager. By default Vim doesnt come with a plugin manager and,
believe me, if you dont install one your ~/.vim directory will soon be a real mess. So lets get started.

3.5.1 Plugin manager: Pathogen

Pathogen (https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/) is typically the kind of plugin that you discover after having already configured your Vim. And then you ask yourself: Why did I not start this way? . Fortunately, I have a good
news for you: we will start the right way.
First of all, lets start with a little explanation about how to install plugins using Vim. Plugins are installed by copying
files (most of the time with the *.vim extension) in subdirectories of your ~/.vim directory. By the way, Weve already
created a subdirectory called colors that contains our first coloration plugin using the Solarize theme.
The main problem with this approach is that the plugins are not isolated. So you will have to copy files from different
plugins in the same directory and you will soon not be able to know from what plugin a file is coming from. No need
to say that when you will want to remove or update a plugin, it will be a nightmare to know where the files are located.
Thats why Pathogen is especially useful, it will allow each plugin to be located in a separate directory. Here is an
example of a ~/.vim directory before and after the usage of Pathogen:

Fig. 3.7: ~/.vim before and after Pathogen

You are totally right if you find that the version with Pathogen is using more directories. But believe me, those
directories will save your life later. You will be able to easily remove and update plugins and you will be able to use
git (or any other SCM software) to manage your plugins / submodules / dependencies.
Lets start by installing Pathogen. Create a directory called autoload in your ~/.vim directory. Download pathogen.vim
( https://raw.github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/master/autoload/pathogen.vim ) and copy it to your autoload directory.
For the Unix/Mac OS X/Linux user, here is how to install it (if you dont have curl, you can use wget -O - instead:

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# Create the autoload directory

mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload
# Download and install Pathogen
curl -so ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim \
https://raw.github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/master/autoload/pathogen.vim

From now on, we will install our plugins directly in the .vim/bundle directory that you will create right now:
# Create the bundle directory used by Pathogen
mkdir -p ~/.vim/bundle

All you have to do is to activate Pathogen in your ~/.vimrc file and voila. We will put the following lines at the
very beginning of the ~/.vimrc file, right after the set nocompatible line. It is mandatory to put the code at the
beginning of your ~/.vimrc file, otherwise it will not work.:
" Activate pathogen
call pathogen#infect()

Since charity begins at home, we will tidy up our install by using Pathogen with our Solarized plugin. We just have
to create a directory called solarized in your newly created .vim/bundle directory. You could name it as you want as
any subdirectory of the bundle directory will be considered as a plugin directory. Then, we will move our previously
created colors directory in the solarized directory as follow:
# Create the plugin directory for solarized
mkdir ~/.vim/bundle/solarized
# Move solarized to the bundle dir
mv ~/.vim/colors ~/.vim/bundle/solarized

Currently, Pathogen is still the most used plugin manager for Vim. But recently, a new challenger has arrived, its
called Vundle https://github.com/gmarik/vundle. I have chosen to use Pathogen here because its the one you will hear
about the most often. But you have to know that Vundle is an interesting alternative: its compatible with Pathogen
and you can manage your plugins directly from internet (from github, the vim website, . . . ). For those familiar with
Ruby, its Bundler (http://gembundler.com) for Vim.
Our Vim is almost ready to be used on a daily basis. We are just missing an handy way to explore the files of a project.
We will use The NERD Tree for that.

3.5.2 The NERD Tree: a file explorer

The NERD Tree is a plugin that will allow you to display your directory and file tree directly in Vim, just like in
TextMate, Sublime Text or Eclipse/NetBeans. This is not a mandatory plugin if you want to control everything using
the keyboard (I dont use it anymore myself), but its very handy when you are starting with Vim.
The other solution that we will see in the Essential plugins chapter will be to use the Ctrl-p or Command-t plugins
to find files and to use the LustyExplorer and LustyJuggler plugins to navigate between the files. Indeed, having to
visualize the whole file tree to find a file is a lot slower than to find a file by its name. In the meantime, The NERD Tree
will allow us to use Vim with a normal file explorer where you can click with the mouse.
First, we will prepare Pathogen in order to install all the files needed by The NERD Tree.
# Create the directory for The NERD Tree
mkdir ~/.vim/bundle/nerdtree

Then, download the latest .zip available on the plugin page http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1658. At
the time of this writing, the latest version is the 4.2.0 that you can directly download using this url: http://www.vim.

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org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=17123.
Unzip the file and copy the content in the newly created ~/.vim/bundle/nerdtree directory. The directory
structure of your nerdtree directory should look like the one below:
nerdtree
|-- doc
|
`-- NERD_tree.txt
|-- nerdtree_plugin
|
|-- exec_menuitem.vim
|
`-- fs_menu.vim
|-- plugin
|
`-- NERD_tree.vim
`-- syntax
`-- nerdtree.vim

Then, you will need to activate the plugin. You can do it manually by typing :NERDTree in normal mode. If you
prefer to activate The NERD Tree every time you open your Vim, add these lines to your ~/.vimrc:
" Activate the NERDTree when launching vim
autocmd vimenter * NERDTree

I have to admit that this command is a little bit obscure. Actually it means: every time you open vim (vimenter),
no matter what is the type of the file (*), launch The NERD Tree (NERDTree).
Nothing special then, The NERD Tree will display the tree of the directory where youve launched Vim as you can see
on the picture below. You can use your mouse and/or your keyboard to move inside The NERD Tree.

Fig. 3.8: Vim with The NERD Tree.

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You can also run commands (create, copy a file) by typing the m key when you are inside The NERD Tree. To switch
between the NERD Tree window and your file window with your keyboard, use Ctrl + w and then w. That is to say,
hold the Control (Ctrl) key and at the same time press the w key. You can then release everything and press w
again. This shortcut is valid to switch between any Vim window (its not a shortcut specific to The NERD Tree).

3.6 Here we go
Now, youve done the hardest part. Well, almost. Weve just covered what is sorely lacking in Vim: a sensible default
configuration. Im not saying that you now have the best editor out there, but at least, you should be able to use Vim
as any other normal text editor that you do not yet know all the possibilities. I recommend, at this stage, to start using
Vim in your everyday life. Feel free to use the mouse and the menus for now. The primary goal here is to reduce the
negative impact that Vim could have on your daily productivity, if not configured properly. You will gradually learn
the keyboard shortcuts when the time will come.
We will now discuss what makes the uniqueness of Vim: the way modes are handled and the shortcuts to manipulate
text. The ball is in your court now: either you are willing to change your habits and move to another level of efficiency
with Vim, or else using Vim as an improved notebook is right for you (in this case, you can stop there). Its up to you !

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CHAPTER

FOUR

THE TEXT EDITOR YOUVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF

I confess, I have some weird dreams. But hey, maybe my dreams are not as weird as they seem: dreaming of a tool
that can improve all the professional areas of my life as a coder, writer, teacher, . . . doesnt seem that weird after all.
The success of Vim is due to its ability to ease the text manipulations. Certainly, it will provide you with functionalities dedicated to specific tasks (often via plugins) as syntax highlighting, spell checking, . . . but in the end, its always
to write/fix/handle/move text that you spend most of your time.
This is where the difference lies between Vim and the IDE like Eclipse/Netbeans/PhpStorm and others. Such IDE will
put the focus on the particularities of your programming language while providing basic text manipulation functionalities. Vim takes the opposite approach: you will by default be very effective to manipulate/write text no matter what
kind of text. But then, when you will feel the need, you will be able to enrich Vim with plugins specific to your needs
and programming languages.
This chapter will cover how to use Vim the right way (you will begin to forget your mouse) and what is the logic
behind all these obscure commands. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to not use your mouse anymore
to edit/handle text. In any case, you should force yourself when learning Vim, its not that hard to only use the keyboard,
and it will make a huge diffrence in your day to day life.

4.1 Learning how to move: the copy/paste use case

We have already seen in the Essential preamble: the insert mode section how to switch between the insert mode (to
write text) and the normal mode (for the moment, you should not totally get what is the purpose of this mode). When
you press the i key your cursor will switch to the insert mode (when you are already in the normal mode) and when
you press the Esc key it will switch back to the normal mode. Well, thats cool. And now, what else?

4.1.1 Preamble
Now is the time to learn our first text manipulation: the famous copy/paste. I can already hear some of you saying that
it is useless: you already know how to do that. You switch to the insert mode, you use your mouse (or you move using
the directional keys while holding the Shift key) to select some text. Then you go to the edit menu and you select
copy. Then, edit menu and paste. Well, why not.
But if you have understood the Modes: the powerful Vim secrets section about the ideal position of your hands on
the keyboard, you should know that you did things you were not supposed to do:
You used your mouse
You moved your right hand a lot from its rest position, to press the directional keys that are far away from your
fingers
Certainly, it doesnt really matter, but its totally ineffective (using your mouse or moving your right hand toward
the directional keys is very slow) and harmful for your little hands. This is your last chance: if you are not ready to

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force yourself to not do it, |vim| is not for you. Vim does a perfect job at keeping your hands on the keyboard and at
forgetting your mouse. If you dont do it, you will not be using Vim to its fullest. And, one day or another, you will
quit for another editor that was made to be used with a mouse. So, should we continue?

4.1.2 Forget the mouse

If you are reading thoses lines it means that you have answered yes to the question above, so lets go! Our first step
will be to get rid of the mouse. Then we will do the same with directional keys, but first things first.
To copy/past using Vim, you will have to switch to the normal mode (the default one
when you open Vim).
To know what the current mode is, just have a look at the bottom left of your Vim.
You can see Vim in insert mode in the figure below.

When there is nothing displayed at the bottom left, its because you are currently in normal mode. In order to quit a
mode to return to the normal one, you just have to press the Esc key. You may already have noticed that pressing the
Esc key is a pain for your fingers. No worries, its just a temporary thing, I will explain why in the Doing without
the Esc key section.
Lets say that you are currently in the normal mode and that you already have some text in you Vim. For example, it could be this beautiful quote from Mark Twain: They did not know it was impossible, so they did
it.. Your Vim should like the one in the figure below. Notice that there is nothing displayed at the bottom left.

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The most intuitive way (but not the most efficient, we will see why a little bit later) to copy/paste the impossible
word is to move the cursor at the first letter of the word using the directional keys, to press the v key (to switch to the
visual mode), to move to the last letter of the word (you should have the word impossible highlighted) and then to
press the y key (the y key stands for yank). Youve just copied your first word using Vim. Hooray!
Then, move to the end of the sentence (in normal mode) and press the p key (the p key standing for
paste). The word should now be pasted at the end, and you should have something like the figure below.

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We can see that Vim uses the mode switching trick (including the normal mode for moving) in order to not have
to use the mouse. When you will be used to switch quickly from one mode to another (and in order to do so, going
without the Esc key will be mandatory), using the mouse will appear like a pure waste of time. But obviously, you
will first need to train yourself.

4.2 Forgetting the directional keys

Here we are. Even if forgetting the mouse is a first good step, the real goal when using Vim is to forget the directional
keys too. You will be faster and better when using Vim on the sole condition that you dont use the directional keys
anymore. It will indeed force you to keep your hands on the home row and you will have to switch to the normal mode
to move around. This is a prerequisite to use Vim at its fullest.
In this section, I will explain how to move without using the directional keys. Then, when you will know how to do it,
I will give you the code that you need to put in your ~/.vimrc to totally disable the directional keys. It was the only
way I found to force me to not use the directional keys anymore.

4.2.1 Moving without using the directional keys

When in normal mode, 4 keys will allow you to move your cursor:
the h key to move to the left
the j key to move to the bottom
the k key to move to the top
the l key to move to the right

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As you can notice, those keys are located on the home row so that you dont have to move your hands. Your index
has two moves (left and bottom) while your auricular doesnt have any. You will see that its not a problem, its even
a feature: your index is stronger than your auricular. By checking the keyboard that was used to develop Vi in the
Doing without the Esc key section, you will understand why.
On a side note, once you will be used to Vim, you will not use the left and right moves a lot. You will primarily move
the cursor word by word, paragraph by paragraph or by using the search function. Here are some fast moves that I
otfen use:
Key
e
b
w
^
$
0

Move
to the end of the current word
to the beginning of the current word
to the beginning of the next word
to the first non white character of the line
to the end of the line
to the start of the line

This is the mininum to move your hands in normal mode. They are also commands allowing you to first move and
then to enter the insert mode directly. They are very handy because they will allow you to save a few keystrokes. Here
are some that I often use:
Key
i
a
I
A
o
O
r

Action
enter insert mode just before the cursor
enter insert mode just after the cursor
enter insert mode at the beginning of the line
enter insert mode at the end of the line
insert a new line below the current line
insert a new line above the current line
replace the character under the cursor by a new one

Lets discuss that a little bit. The secret of Vim relies in this chapter. There is one thing that you have to do when
learning Vim: use the hjkl keys to move. If you can manage to do that, you will learn everything else on the go.
Youll find a lot of websites with all the possible commands, combinations and so on. You will learn and forgot them
(depending on how useful they are to you). If you have a single effort to do: it is to use the directional keys and thus
to force you to use the normal mode. Everything else will then be perfectly obvious.
Here is the ultimate configuration that you will need to put in your ~/.vimrc to achieve your goal: disabling the
directional keys:

4.2. Forgetting the directional keys

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" Disabling the directional keys

map <up> <nop>
map <down> <nop>
map <left> <nop>
map <right> <nop>
imap <up> <nop>
imap <down> <nop>
imap <left> <nop>
imap <right> <nop>

Here we are. Believe me, this will be a little bit hard at the beginning. It was the case for me during the first two days.
But then, you just forget and deal with it. Anyway, if you are not ready to struggle for two days in order to learn Vim
properly: what are you doing here?!
I will not go into details on all the possible keys to move inside Vim, other resources do a better job at it. Its the case
of A byte of Vim that you can freely download here: http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/vim/. But on the other hand,
you will learn in Combining keys and moves how to use them wisely.
Here is an handy graphical cheat sheet that you can download on http://www.viemu.com/a_vi_vim_graphical_cheat_
sheet_tutorial.html. I would recommend you to print it and to put it on your desktop: it helps a lot at the beginning.

Keep in mind that the main goal here is to increase your speed while keeping your hands on the home row and using
the normal mode. Get down to work!

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4.3 Doing without the Esc key

Lets be honest: having to use the Esc key to exit the insert mode seems to be totally counterproductive. The key is
very far from the home row, you have to move your full left hand to reach it and you have to torture your little finger
to press it.
To understand why the Esc key is used by default to exit the insert mode, we have to go back in time a little
bit. We need to find the keyboard used to program Vi. You can see on the picture below that the Esc key was
very easy to reach. You can notice that the directional keys were on the home row, on the famous h, j, k, l keys.
But unfortunately, its not the case anymore, so we will have to do some changes to the default configuration.

So we agree that we need another key to exit the insert mode. There are many solutions, here are some possibilities
that you can try in your ~/.vimrc:
" Press the j 2 times in row
:imap jj <Esc>
" Press the j key followed by the k one
:imap jk <Esc>
" Press the i 2 times in row
:imap ii <Esc>
:imap ` <Esc>
" Shift-Space
:imap <S-Space> <Esc>
" Alt-Space.
:imap <M-Space> <Esc>

You can have a look at the discussion here if you want more information: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Avoid_the_
escape_key.

4.4 Combining keys and moves

Now that we are able to move properly by using the normal mode, its time to see how to perform other useful
operations. We have already seen how to copy/past in the Learning how to move: the copy/paste use case chapter, we
will now have a look at how to delete/edit more easily.

4.3. Doing without the Esc key

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In Forgetting the directional keys we have seen that if we want to move to the start of the next word we just have to
use the w key. We will combine that with some new keys of the normal mode:
the d key is used to delete
the c key is used to delete and switch to insert mode
Something good to know: by default, everything that is deleted is placed in the clipboard. The delete is behaving like
a cut.
The particularity of these keys is that they are waiting for a move order to know what should be deleted. So you will
need to provide one of the keys that we have discussed in the Forgetting the directional keys chapter.
Here are some examples:
Action
the d key then the w key
the c key then the w key
the d key then the $ key
the d key then the ^ key

Result
deletes all the characters until the next word
deletes all the characters until the next word and switch to the insert mode
delete everything until the end of the line
delete everything until the start of the line

To copy, you can use:

Action
the y key then the w key
the y key then the $ key
the y key then the ^ key

Result
copy the characters until the next word
copy everything until the end of the line
copy everything until the first non blank character of the line

All you have to do next is to press the p key to paste the text you have copied above. By default, the p key will paste
the text after the current position of the cursor. If you want to paste before the position of the cursor, use the p key.
From time to time, you may also want to be able to delete some text. . . ;) Here are some useful commands to do so:
Action
dd
x
X

Result
delete the current line and put it in the clipboard
delete the character under the cursor
delete the character before the cursor

Most of the moves can be prefixed by a multiplier number. Here are some examples:
Action
2dd
3x
3X
2yy
5j

Result
delete 2 lines
delete 3 characters forward
delete 3 characters backward
copy 2 lines in the clipboard
move 5 lines downward

4.5 Search / Move quickly

Now that we know the basic commands for editing text with Vim, lets see how we can move faster in our document.
We have already mentioned the w, b, ^ and $ keys that allow us to respectively move at the end of a word, at the
beginning of a word, at the beginning of a line and at the end of a line. First, lets see how to scroll without using
the mouse. Note that all these commands are for the normal mode.

4.5.1 Scrolling pages

To scroll page by page, you must use:

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Control + f to move to the next page (f = forward)

Control + b to move to the previous page (b = backward)
These shortcuts will allow you to move quickly in your document.
You can also:
Move to the top of the file by typing gg
Move to the end of the file by typing G
Move to the line number 23 by typing :23

4.5.2 Marks
When Im moving inside a file, I often need to go back to some previous points. For example, when I go to the
beginning of the file while I am working in the middle of it, I like to come back directly to where I was working before
moving to the beginning. Fortunately, Vim has everything for it through the use of markers. Markers are simply
bookmarks that allow you to move quickly through the file.
You can put a marker by pressing ma. To move your cursor to the position of the marker, just press 'a. You can place
as many markers as you want by changing a with any letter of the alphabet (this is called register in Vims language).
To place another marker you can for example use the letter d. Thanks to md you will put the marker and with 'd you
will move to the position of the marker.

4.5.3 Search
In normal mode, you can start a search by using the / key followed by the text you want to search and the Enter
key. Thanks to our Vim configuration you should see your search occurrences highlighted at the same time as you
type. By default, the search is not case sensitive (no difference between upper and lower case). However, as soon as
you will type a capital, the search will become case sensitive. You can move forward to the next search result thanks
to the n key. To move backward, use the N key.
As a reminder, here are the corresponding lines of your configuration:
" -- Search
set ignorecase
set smartcase
set incsearch
set hlsearch

"
"
"
"
"

Ignore case when searching

If there is an uppercase in your search term
search case sensitive again
Highlight search results when typing
Highlight search results

Be careful, by default, the search is using POSIX regular expressions. If you want to search for characters commonly
used in regular expressions (like [ ] ^{ } $ /) do not forget to prefix them with \.
You can also search for the word that is directly under your cursor through the * key. the * key will search forward,
the # key will search backward.

4.6 Visual mode

I have already mentioned the visual mode when explaining how to Copy/Paste, but I will do a little reminder here,
just in case.

4.6. Visual mode

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When you are in normal mode, press the v key to switch to the visual mode. You will then be able to select
individual characters or entier lines thanks to the various ways of moving that you just learned above. You can then
copy the selected text with the y key and paste it with the p key. To cut it just use the d key instead of the y key.
In normal mode you will be able to use the v key to select line per line. And of course, use the Esc key or ;; to
switch back to normal mode.

4.7 Its your turn!

You should now be able to only use the keyboard to manipulate and edit text in Vim. I have only skimmed over the
power of Vim here, but it should be enough to survive. I have given you the bare minimum here, but this minimum
should allow you to enjoy Vim and to not use the mouse anymore.
Its now your turn to read all the many resources available on the Internet describing all the possible moves and
combinations.
Here is a list of resources that could be useful to you:
A byte of Vim http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/vim/en
A beautiful Wiki : http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Vim_Tips_Wiki
Videos from Peepcode : https://peepcode.com/products/smash-into-vim-i and https://peepcode.com/products/
smash-into-vim-ii
Derek Wyatts blog http://www.derekwyatt.org/vim/vim-tutorial-videos/
To awaken the child in you, I urge you to go have fun with http://vim-adventures.com/.
This
is a role playing online game that aims to teach you to master Vim!
Here is an overview:

Now we will go to the next level: the use of plugins, or how to make Vim indispensable.

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CHAPTER

FIVE

ESSENTIAL PLUGINS

Lets be clear, using Vim without plugins is almost useless. Its the usage of plugins that will allow you to boost your
productivity. You dont need a lot of them, but you need the good ones.
Vim can of course be used without any plugin and it can be useful to know how to use it without needing to install
additional plugins. Indeed, on most servers, you will have zero plugin installed. Thats why, knowing how to open and
save a file, knowing how to switch between files just by using default commands is very useful. However, for your
writing or coding needs, plugins are mandatory.

5.1 Managing and switching between files : Lusty Explorer

Weve already talked about NerdTree in The NERD Tree: a file explorer, we have seen that thanks to it, we can have
a project explorer in a sidebar. One of the problems of this plugin is that it was not designed to be used with the
keyboard. You can for sure use the keyboard, but it will not be as efficient as a plugin developed with keyboard usage
in mind.
The first plugin that I install when I have to use Vim is Lusty Explorer (http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_
id=1890). This plugin will allow you to navigate between the files on you hard drive in order to open files without
using the mouse. Moreover, it will allow you to easily switch between you opened files, called buffers in Vim terms.
Lets install it.
First, download the latest version of the script here: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1890 (its currently the 4.3 http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=17529). Then put it in your .vim/ folder. It
should look like this:
.vim
|-- autoload
|
`-- pathogen.vim
`-- bundle
|-- lusty-explorer
|
`-- plugin
|
`-- lusty-explorer.vim

If you have done everything right since the beginning, your .vim/ directory should now look like this:
.vim
|-- autoload
|
`-- pathogen.vim
`-- bundle
|-- lusty-explorer
|
`-- plugin
|
`-- lusty-explorer.vim
|-- nerdtree

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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
`--

|-|
|-|
|
|-|
`--

doc
`-- NERD_tree.txt
nerdtree_plugin
|-- exec_menuitem.vim
`-- fs_menu.vim
plugin
`-- NERD_tree.vim
syntax
`-- nerdtree.vim
solarized
`-- colors
`-- solarized.vim

Lets see how to use it. If we take a look at the documentation, here is what we find:
<Leader>lf
<Leader>lr
<Leader>lb
<Leader>lg

Opens
Opens
Opens
Opens

filesystem explorer.
filesystem explorer at the directory of the current file.
buffer explorer.
buffer grep.

We can see that the documentation is referring to a key named <Leader> that you need to combine with keys like
lf, lr, lb et lg. The <Leader> key is a special key that we need to define in our ~/.vimrc. Almost each plugin
will need this special key to be defined, so we will use it a lot. This is a good way to avoid collisions with the default
shortcuts of Vim.
So, we need to choose a key to be our <Leader> key. By default, Vim uses \ as a <Leader> key. I dont know
about you, but for me this is not handy at all. I dont love to use my little finger too much. So I always replace the
default <Leader> key with the , key. You can of course choose another key, but lot of people are using ,: its up to
you. To tell it to Vim, you will need to add a line in your ~/.vimrc as follow:
let mapleader = ","

Once the modification made and taken into account by Vim (by restarting Vim or by typing :so
~/.vimrc or :so $MYVIMRC in normal mode), you should be able to do ,lr (if you choosed ,
as your <Leader> key) and you should see something like the picture below in your Vim.

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The next thing to do is to deactivate The Nerd Tree by commenting the corresponding line like I have done on the
screenshot above. It will not be useful anymore as Lusty Explorer is a better replacement when using the keyboard.
You can see on the lusty screenshot that Lusty Explorer is made of two parts. The bottom part is about the current
directory youre exploring and the top part is the content of this directory. The current item is highligthed. For
example, on the lusty screenshot above, the current item is the .vim/ directory, highligthed in yellow (the color could
be different, it depends on your theme).
Lusty Explorer uses something called Fuzzy
file you want to select. This part can be
or just letters composing the file to select.
.viminfo will be selected without needing
key to open the corresponding file in Vim.

matching that will allow you to type only a small part of the
everything: the begining of the filename, the middle, the end
In the example above, if I enter .vimi in the Lusty window,
to specify the full name. Then I just need to press the Enter
You can see this particular example in the screenshot above.

Here are some handy handy shortcuts of Lusty Explorer:

5.1. Managing and switching between files : Lusty Explorer

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Control + n select the next file/directory

Control + p select the previous file/directory
Control + w go the the parent directory
Control + e create a new empty file (unsaved) with the current name entered in Lusty Explorer. If you want
to save the file, you just have to use :w.
So Lusty Explorer can be used for two things: navigate your filesystem with ,lr and ,lf, and switch between your
opened files (buffers) with ,lb. Personally, I dont use the ,lg keys a lot to search in the buffers, but its up to you.
In order to get familiar with Lusty Explorer you should try to open multiple files with ,lr or ,lf. Then, try to switch
between the opened files with the help of ,lb. This is the combination Im using the most on a day to day basis.
This plugin is totally mandatory and adds a lot of value to Vim: not using the mouse to open files. Be sure to take the
time to learn how to use it, its a great time investment.

5.2 Searching files on disk: Ack

At some point, you will need to search for a particular pattern inside your codebase. Vim can help help you to do so
with a plugin that uses Ack under the hood.
Ack (http://betterthangrep.com/) is a program written in perl that replaces the good old grep to search inside files. Its
grep, but better. But it has one little disadvantage : its hardly installed by default. So, as you may have guessed, the
first thing to do will be to install it. As it depends on the OS you are running, you will have to refer to the installation
instructions to know how to intall it for your particular case: http://github.com/mileszs/ack.vim#installation.
For Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install ack-grep. For Mac OS X, first you will need Homebrew
(http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/) and then you will need to open a terminal and to type brew install ack.
For people using MacPorts the command will be: sudo port install p5-app-ack. For Windows, install
Strawberry Perl (http://strawberryperl.com/) and in a command shell execute C:\>cpan App::Ack. You should
now be able to use the ack command in your terminal instead of grep.
Now, were ready for the big thing. Go to the ack plugin page (http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2572)
and download the last version (at the moment, its the 0.3.1 version). Uncompress it in your ~/.vim/bundle/
directory so that you have a structure like the one below:
bundle
|-- ack
|
|-|
|
|
`-|
...

doc
`-- ack.txt
plugin
`-- ack.vim

As always, be sure that your modifications are taken into account by restarting Vim or by entering :source ~/.vimrc
while in normal mode.
Then we will need to add some lines to our ~/.vimrc file to ease the use of the plugin ::
" Default params for ack
let g:ackprg="ack -H --nocolor --nogroup --column"
" Add a mark and search
nmap <leader>j mA:Ack<space>
" Add a mark and search for the word under the cursor
nmap <leader>ja mA:Ack "<C-r>=expand("<cword>")<cr>"
nmap <leader>jA mA:Ack "<C-r>=expand("<cWORD>")<cr>"

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Ack will start the search from the directory of the file currently opened. Here are some examples (supposing that your
<Leader> key is the , key):
,j toto : will search for toto starting from the directory of the current file,
,ja with your cursor on a word will search for this word.
The results will be displayed in a window called the Quickfix Window, as you can see below.

Here are some commands available inside this window:

o : open (same as <Enter>)
go : preview display (open the file but keep the focus on the ack.vim results)
t : open in a new tab
T : open in a new background tab
h : open and split the window horizontally
v : open and split the window vertically
q : close the quickfix window
By default, Ack doesnt search in files that are not relevant. For example, it will not search in temp files or in files used
by your favorite revision control system. If you want Ack to search into any file, independantly of its type, you need
to specify the -u option in your ~/.vimrc ::
" Default params for Ack
let g:ackprg="ack -H -u --nocolor --nogroup --column"

5.2. Searching files on disk: Ack

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5.3 Searching files on disk: Ctrlp

Here we will not search inside files like we did with Ack. We will rather search for files to open with Vim. It can be
very handy when youre working on a project where files are everywhere in the directory tree.
As always, we will start by installing the plugin. For once, this plugin has a dedicated page that you will find here: http:
//kien.github.com/ctrlp.vim/. Scroll to the bottom to download the latest version in the Direct Downloads section.
For the laziest, here is the direct link: http://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim/zipball/master. Uncompress the archive in your
~/.vim/bundle/ directory, so that you get something like that:
bundle
|
...
|-- ctrlp
|
|-- autoload
|
|
|-- ctrlp
|
|
|
|-- bookmarkdir.vim
|
|
|
|-- buffertag.vim
|
|
|
|-- changes.vim
|
|
|
|-- dir.vim
|
|
|
|-- line.vim
|
|
|
|-- mixed.vim
|
|
|
|-- mrufiles.vim
|
|
|
|-- quickfix.vim
|
|
|
|-- rtscript.vim
|
|
|
|-- tag.vim
|
|
|
|-- undo.vim
|
|
|
`-- utils.vim
|
|
`-- ctrlp.vim
|
|-- doc
|
|
`-- ctrlp.txt
|
|-- plugin
|
|
`-- ctrlp.vim
|
`-- readme.md
...

As always, be sure that your modifications are taken into account by restarting Vim or by entering :source ~/.vimrc
while in normal mode.
Now we need to add the shortcut to our ~/.vimrc to invoke CtrlP like in the listing below. Personnaly, Ive chosen
,c, but you can choose whatever you want.:
let g:ctrlp_map = '<leader>c'

Here is CtrlP in action.

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Launch it with ,c and then type the name of the file you want to search. When the searched file will be selected first,
you will just have to press the Enter key to open it.
CtrlP can be used for navigating through the opened files (like Lusty), but I find Lusty handier for that. You can also
use to navigate directly through your code by following your functions thanks to something called the tags (like you
can do when using Eclipse). Its a too big topic for the scope of this book, but if youre interested you can read this
blog article on the topic: http://andrew-stewart.ca/2012/10/31/vim-ctags.

5.4 Advanced plugins

Writing an entire book about the Vim plugin is for sure something doable, but I have to admit that I dont have enough
courage. So, I will stop here with the plugins thing. However, below is a list of some plugins that may interest you.
This list comes from a poll I did on Twitter asking my followers what were the most useful Vim plugins to them. Here
it is:
neocomplcache. Its an automatic completion plugin. It can autocomplete file names, language attributes,
snippets and a lot more. The Github repo: https://github.com/Shougo/neocomplcache
surround. With this plugin, you can manage (change, add, delete) everything that surrounds: parenthesis,
brackets, quotes, . . . For example, you will be able to change Hello world! with Hello world! or <q>Hello
world!</q> with a simple key combination. The Github repo: https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround
fugitive. If you work with source code, you have to use a version control system. If its not the case, you can
go hide yourself. Otherwise, if youre using Git, fugitive was made for you. It allows you to manage your git
command directly inside Vim. The Github reop: https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive
syntastic. Syntastic will check the syntax of your source code. It will, like Eclipse does it for exemple, directly
display your syntax errors in your Vim. It can be a time saver if you edit a lot of code. Github repo : https:
//github.com/scrooloose/syntastic
5.4. Advanced plugins

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ctags + ctrlp. Ctags is a small external program that will parse your source code and allow you to follow
your functions calls through your source code. Very useful to navigate into your source code. Used with ctrlp
described above, it will soon become a must. Everything is explained here: http://andrew-stewart.ca/2012/10/
31/vim-ctags.

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CHAPTER

SIX

CHEATSHEET & EXAMPLES

So here we go, we now have everything needed to make a good start with Vim. It should be enough to use it on a
daily basis. Its the most important thing to do if you want to successfully use Vim: developing the habit of using it
everyday. Once youll have this habit, everything should seem natural to you.
The aim of this chapter is to provide you with a reference for the most common things youll have to do with Vim so
that, when you are lost, you know where to search for help. This chapters contains two parts. The first one is a set of
Q/A covering the most common problems that newbies are facing. The goal is to answer this kind of question: f**k,
how can I do this, it was so simple with my old editor. The second is a non-exhaustive list of the most useful Vim
commands.

6.1 Questions / Answers

6.1.1 How to quit Vim?
First you need to be sure to be in normal mode. If you dont know how to be sure that you are in normal mode, just
press the Esc key or the ; key (depending on your configuration) multiple times and you should be in normal mode.
Then, type :q to exit Vim. The problem is that most of the times, Vim will no let you quit like that. For example, if you
have unsaved changes, it will not let you quit. You can cancel your modifications by using ! like that: :q!. You can
also save your modifications and save like that: :wq.

6.1.2 How to save as?

In normal mode, if you type :w, Vim will by default save your modifications into the current file. If you want to use
another filename to save as, you just need to specify it after w like that: :w myfile.txt. Vim will save your file under
the name myfile.txt. On the other hand, Vim will not open myfile.txt, it will stay on the previous file.
If you want Vim to save under the filename myfile.txt and then open the file in the current buffer, you will have to use
:sav myfile.txt.

6.1.3 How to copy/cut paste?

This one is easy, there is already a full chapter on it, cf. Learning how to move: the copy/paste use case.
In short:
Switch to visual mode with the v key,
Select the text you want to copy by moving the cursor,
Copy using the y key or cut using the x key or the d key,

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Paste after the cursor using the p key or before using the p key.

6.1.4 How to create a new file?

The traditional way to create a file is to type, in normal mode, :e myfile.txt to open an empty buffer. Then, save your
buffer using :w. Il will be saved as myfile.txt in the current directory.
You can also use Lusty Explorer (cf. Managing and switching between files : Lusty Explorer). To do so, launch it
using ,lr or ,lf (supposing that your leader key is ,), type the name of the file you want to create and then press
the Control key and the e key at the same time. You can then save as above.

6.1.5 Undo/redo
To undo, just press the u key while in normal mode. To undo your undo (and so, to redo) press the Control key and
the r key at the same time.

6.2 Reminders
6.2.1 Files
Expected result
Save
Save as
Save as / open
Quit without saving (force quit)
Save and quit
Save as root

Action
:w
:w filename.txt
:sav filename.txt
:q!
:wq
:w !sudo tee %

Comments
Save as filename.txt but dont open filename.txt
Save as and open filename.txt

6.2.2 Moves
Expected result
Move one character left
Move one line down
Move one line up
Move one character right
Move to the end of the word
Move to the beginning of the word
Move to the beginning of the next word
Move to line 42
Move to the beginning of the file
Move to the end of the file
Move to the end of the line
Move to the first non empty character of the line
Move to the beginning of the line
Move one page down
Move one page up
Move to the first line of the screen
Move to the middle of the screen
Move to the last line of the screen
42

Action
h
j
k
l
e
b
w
:42
gg or :0
GG or :$
$
^
0
Ctrl+f
Ctrl+b
H
M
L
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6.2.3 Text editing

Expected result
Insert before the cursor
Insert before the first non empty character of the line
Insert after the cursor
Insert at the end of the line
Insert a new line below
Insert a new line above
Replace everything after the cursor
Replace one character (and stay in normal mode)
Delete the character after the cursor (like the del. key)
Delete the character before the cursor (like the backspace key)
Delete the current line
Copy the current line
Paste after the cursor. If its line, paste the line below.
Paste before the cursor. If its line, paste the line above
Switch the case (upper/lower)
Move the text to the right (indent)
Move the text to the left
In visual mode, delete the selected text
In visual mode, replace the selected text
In visual mode, copy the selected text
Undo
Redo

Action
i
I
a
A
o
O
C
r
x
X
dd
yy
p
P
~
>
<
d
c
y
u
Ctrl+r

Comments
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Normal mode
Visual mode
Visual mode
Visual mode
Visual mode
Visual mode
Visual mode
Normal mode
Normal mode

6.2.4 Search and/or replace

Expected result
Search
Next
Previous
Replace on the current line (once)
Replace on the current line
(multiple)
Replace on all the lines (once)
Replace on all the lines (multiple)
Replace on the current line, case
insensitive (once)
Replace on the current line, case
insensitive (multiple)

6.2. Reminders

Action
/*toto

Comments
Search the toto string starting at the current cursor
position
n
Go to the next search result
N
Go to the previous search result
:s/toto/titiReplace toto by titi on the current line (once)
:s/toto/titi/g
Replace toto by titi on the current line (for all
occurences of toto)
:%s/toto/titi
Replace toto by titi on all the lines of the file (once per
line)
:%s/toto/titi/g
Replace toto by titi on all the lines of the file (for all
occurences of toto)
:s/toto/titi/i
Replace toto by titi on the current line, case insensitive
(once)
:s/toto/titi/gi
Replace toto by titi on the current line, case insensitive
(for all occurences of toto)

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CHAPTER

SEVEN

INDICES AND TABLES

genindex
modindex
search

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