Auto Completion of Word in Vim

If you want to auto complete a word(or variable in a program), then just press Ctrl-P in the editing mode.

For example:

com<ctrl-p> => complete.

If there is more than one possible words for completion, then vim shows a drop down list, from where you can select the desired word.

Pasting in Vim without Formatting

If smartindent, autoindent, and/or cindent are enabled in VIM,
you find that pasting in the vim does a lot right indentation, which
is not desirable always.

Therefore, you may want to disable indentation while pasting.
This can be done as:

:set paste

Paste your buffer content in the VIM. Then revert back
to indentation mode as given below:

:set nopaste

I hope that this tip will help you in saving time and reducing key
presses.
Enjoy VIMming :)

Using VIM Command in BASH Command Line

You can use vim commands in the BASH
command line editing, like

• moving cursors, using l ;
• Changing word, using cw
• etc

For enabling vim mode in BASH, you have to append following
line in your bashrc file ~/.bashrc. Just type the command given
below:

$ echo 'set -o vi' >> ~/.bashrc
$ . ~/.bashrc

Now, you can use vim commands by pressing Esc (Escape)
button.

Sorting a Column in Vim

I am also learning the Visual mode in Vim.
If you want to sort a column (usually selected)
in a file.

$ vim unsorted.txt
2
3
1
5
4

Go to the line, from where you want to start
the sort. Press Ctrl-v, now select the column
using arrow keys.
2
3
1
5
4

Now, press :sort in command mode. You will get
1
2
3
4
5

Indentation in Vim

If you are a programmer, you always find doing indentations hard with
GUI based editors. But you can do indentations of line(s), block, or whole file,
with Vim with much ease and speed.

1. Indentation of a line.
a. Go to the line you want to indent.
b. Press ESc,
c. Press >>, to indent right, or
d. Press <<, to indent left

2. Indentation of n(say 5) lines.
a. Go to the first line of lines you want to indent.
b. Press ESc,
c. Press 5>>, to indent right, or
d. Press 5<<, to indent left


3. Indentation of a code block (Lines between { and }).
a. Go to the beginning '{' or end '}' of block.
b. Press ESc,
c. Press =%, to indent.


4. Indentation of whole program file.
a. Press ESc,
b. Go to the beginning of file by pressing 1G.
c. Press =G, to indent whole file.


I hope that now you can say that Vim is very easy and fast
as compared to other GUI editors. :) Happy VIMming.

Finding Matching Parenthesis in Your Source Code

Let us consider a simple C program.

1 #include
2
3 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
4 {
5 printf("Hello World.\n");
6 return (0);
7 }


In order to find matching parenthesis for parenthesis at line number 4.
Just press % in ESc mode.

You can use same command (%) to match (, ), [, ], {, or } .

Run Commands From Vim

Hello, you can run shell commands from Vim editor.

Press Esc : to go to command mode.

Type ! (Exclamation sign)

Type any command after !, and press ENTER

For example:

:!date

Wed May 21 12:44:33 IST 2008

Press ENTER or type command to continue

Searching Current Word

In order to search current word (word under cursor),

forward direction:

Esc *

reverse direction:

Esc #

Now, press either n or N to go in same direction or opposite direction.

This tip will prevent you from pressing many keys.
No need to go to search and press n/N. :)

Deleted Contents in Numbered[1-9] Buffers

If you have deleted some content (line(s) or word(s)) accidentally,
you can retrieve using Paste command (p or P).

For example,

In order to retrieve second latest deleted content:
Press Esc
Press "2p

Changing a Part of Word

All of us know cw (change word) command, to change a word.
It changes word from cursor to end of word. Suppose you want
to change a part of word.

for example: Mismanagement to Management

(i). Suppose your cursor is at M of Mismanagement, like
Mismanagement

(ii). Since you want to change only 4 characters "Mism" to "M",
Press c4l (Remembrall: Change 4 Left)
Then press M as replacement word. You will get
Management

Note

Search and Replace on VIM

1. Search and Replace All (Easiest)

Esc
:%s/old_pattern/new_pattern/g

2. Search and Replace selected

(a) Esc
(b) /old_pattern
(c) Go to desired by pressing n again and again
(d) Press cw (Change Word) and type
(e) Esc
(f) Press n to go to next old_pattern
(g) Press . if you want to do repeat last command used in step (c)
(h) Go to step (f), until all desired changes are made

Convert DOS EOL (End of Line) to Linux EOL

This is useful when you do not have dos2unix command.
You can determine whether a file is having DOS End of Line.

$ od -c dos_file.txt | grep "\\\r" | wc -l
If you see any output other than 0, then this file
is having \r\n as new line (i.e DOS EOL).

1. Suppose you want to convert EOL of dos_file.txt . Open this
file using vim as:

$ vim dos_file.txt

2. If ^M (Ctrl-M) character is at end of every line, then this file
is in DOS format. We have to remove this ^M from the end
of line. Therefore, go to Edit mode by pressing Esc (Escape
button).

3. Type
:%s/^M$//g

And viola!, you will find that all ^M has gone from end of line.

4. Now, save the file and exit.

PS. In order to type ^M on screen, you should press Ctrl-v Ctrl-m
Otherwise this method will not work.

Alternatively, you can use sed to remove ^M from end of line, given
as following:

$ sed 's/^M$//g' dos_file.txt > temp
$ mv temp dos_file.txt

Swapping Two Consecutive Lines in Vim

1. Go to edit mode by pressing Esc (Escape Button).

2. Go to the line which you want to swap with the line following.
Example:
1 Singh Jat
2 Mitesh

3. Press dd, then press p. You will find the two line are swapped.
Example:
1 Mitesh
2 Singh Jat

Swaping Two Consecutive Characters in Vim

1. Go to edit mode by pressing Esc (Escape Button).

2. Go to the character which you want to swap with the character following.
Example: Mitseh

3. Press x, then press p. You will find the characters are swapped.
Example: Mitesh

Remembrall: Esc-x-p Transpose (X-Pose) characters