[TOC]

Vim Note and Configurations

Reference

• How to Customize Your Vim Code Editor with Mappings, Vimscript, Status Line, and More
• Buffers, Windows, and Tabs
• vi Complete Key Binding List
• Fold
• RegexOne
• RegexLearn

What is .vimrc?

.vimrc is served as customised configurations for Vim. For macOS, it's normally saved under the user's home directory as a hidden file. In other cases, Vim checks the other potential paths in the following order:

1. $VIMINIT
2. $HOME/.vimrc
3. $HOME/.vim/vimrc
4. $EXINIT
5. $HOME/.exrc
6. $VIMRUNTIME/default.vim

When Vim is opened, the first matched .vimrc will be loaded and the rest will be ignored.

In general, a .vimrc includes:

• Plugins
• Settings
• Mappings
• Custom functions
• Custom commands

What is .vim?

.vim folder is typically used to store configuration files, plugins, and other resources related to the Vim text editor. Vim is a highly configurable and extensible text editor, and users often customise its behaviour by placing configuration files and additional resources in the .vim directory.

Buffers, windows and tabs

• Buffer: An in-memory space associated with files opened in Vim. One buffer is tied with one file.

  Operation	Command
  List	:buffers, :ls, :files
  Navigate	:bnext/:bn, :bprevious/:bp, :buffer+buffer_num/:b+buffer_num
  Delete	:bdelete[+buffer_num]/:bd[+buffer_num]
  Exit all	:qall/:qa, :qall!/:qa!, :wqall/:wqa

• Window: A viewport onto a buffer. One buffer can have multiple views.

  Operation	Command
  Split	:split[+file_path]/:sp[+file_path]/ctrl+w+s, :vsplit[+file_path]/:vsp[+file_path]/ ctrl+w+v
  Navigate	ctrl+w+h(left)/l(right)/j(down)/k(up)/w(next)
  Close	:quit/:q/ctrl+w+o(only keep the current window)

• Tab: A collection of windows. One tab contains multiple windows.

  Operation	Command
  List	:tabs
  Create	:tabnew+file_path
  Close	:tabclose
  Navigate	:tabn+tab_num, :tabnext/:tabn, :tabprevious/:tabp, :tablast/:tabl, :tabfirst
  Open with a tab	vim -p+file_1 file_2 file_3 ...

When closing windows/tabs, only the views of the buffers are closed, the buffers themselves still exist.

Mapping

Mapping syntax: mapping_mode new_key old_key

• nnoremap: mappings in normal mode
• inoremap: mappings in insert mode
• vnoremap: mappings in visual mode

A mapleader is an unused key associated with other keys to create new mappings. The default mapleader is \. To set a new mapleader: let mapleader=new_leader_key.

Regrex Cheatsheet

Pattern	Note
abc...	Letters
123...	Digits
\d	Any digit
\D	Any non-digit
.	Any character
\.	Period
[abc]	Only a, b or c
[^abc]	Not a, b nor c
[a-z]	Letters from a to z
[0-9]	Digits from 0 to 9
\w	Any alphanumeric (letters & digits) character
\W	Any non-alphanumeric character
{m}	m times repetitions
{m,n}	m to n times repetitions
*	0 or more repetitions
+	1 or more repetitions
?	Optional character
\s	Any whitespace
\S	Any non-whitespace
^...$	Start and end
(...)	Group capture
(a(bc))	Subgroup capture
(.*)	Any group capture
`(abc	def)`