Linux vi and vim editor: Tutorial and advanced features

This "vi" tutorial is intended for those who wish to master and advance their skills beyond the basic features of the basic editor. It covers buffers, "vi" command line instructions, interfacing with UNIX commands, and ctags. The vim editor is an enhanced version of vi. The improvements are clearly noticed in the handling of tags.

The advantage of learning vi and learning it well is that one will find vi on all Unix based systems and it does not consume an inordinate amount of system resources. Vi works great over slow network ppp modem connections and on systems of limited resources. One can completely utilize vi without departing a single finger from the keyboard. (No hand to mouse and return to keyboard latency)

NOTE: Microsoft PC Notepad users who do not wish to use "vi" should use "gedit" (GNOME edit) or "gnp" (GNOME Note Pad) on Linux. This is very similar in operation to the Microsoft Windows editor, "Notepad". (Other Unix systems GUI editors: "dtpad", which can be found in /usr/dt/bin/dtpad for AIX, vuepad on HP/UX, or xedit on all Unix systems.)

See our list of Linux GUI editors

Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora:

• rpm -ivh vim-common-...rpm vim-minimal-...rpm vim-enhanced-...rpm vim-X11-...rpm
• yum install vim-common vim-minimal vim-enhanced vim-X11

• apt-get install vim vim-common vim-gnome vim-gui-common vim-runtime

• Download vim source from http://vim.org
• tar xzf vim-7.0.tar.gz
• cd vim70
• ./configure --prefix=/opt --enable-cscope
• make
• make install

Command usage: vim [arguments] filename1 [filename2 ...]

One edits a file in vi by issuing the command: vi file-to-edit.txt

The vi editor has three modes, command mode, insert mode and command line mode.

1. Command mode: letters or sequence of letters interactively command vi. Commands are case sensitive. The ESC key can end a command.
2. Insert mode: Text is inserted. The ESC key ends insert mode and returns you to command mode. One can enter insert mode with the "i" (insert), "a" (insert after), "A" (insert at end of line), "o" (open new line after current line) or "O" (Open line above current line) commands.
3. Command line mode: One enters this mode by typing ":" which puts the command line entry at the foot of the screen.

Partial list of interactive commands:

Editing Commands:

Delete/Restore Buffers: Each time you delete or yank a line, it is stored in a local buffer and can be recalled and pasted. See "vi line buffers" examples below.

Search Commands:

Information Commands:

Terminate session:

• Use command: ZZ
  Save changes to current file and quit.
• Use command line: ":wq"
  Save (write) changes to current file and quit.
• Use command line: ":w"
  Save (write) changes to current file without quitting.
• Use command line: ":w!"
  Save (write) changes to current file overriding the file permissions if the user has the privileges to change the file permissions. For example this will save a file with read only privileges if the user is the owner or has the ability to modify the privileges to allow a write. This will not permanently modify the file privileges. Note that there is no space between the two characters. A space will infer that the output is streamed to a Unix command following the "!".
• Use command line: ":w filename"
  Save (write) changes to a new file of name "filename" without quitting.
• Use command line: ":q!"
  Ignore changes and quit. No changes from last write will be saved.
• Use command line: ":qa"
  Quit all files opened.

New session:

• Use command: ":e filename"
  Start new edit session on specified file name without closing current vi / vim editor process.

Vi/Vim modes are set using the "set" command and its many options.

:set all - display all mode settings of your editing session.
:set termcap - display terminal settings of your editing session.

:set ic - Change default to ignore case for text searches
Default is changed from noignorecase to ignorecase. (ic is a short form otherwise type set ignorecase)

noremap <F2> :set invpaste paste?
set pastetoggle=<F2>
	      

Interactive Command Examples:

• Marking a line:
  Any line can be "Book Marked" for a quick cursor return.
  • Type the letter "m" and any other letter to identify the line.
  • This "marked" line can be referenced by the keystroke sequence "'" and the identifying letter.
    Example: "mt" will mark a line by the identifier "t".
    "'t" will return the cursor to this line at any time.
    A block of text may be referred to by its marked lines. i.e.'t,'b
  • Write a marked block to a new file: 't,'bw newfile
• vi line buffers:
  To capture lines into the buffer:
  • Single line: "yy" - yanks a single line (defined by current cursor position) into the buffer
  • Multiple lines: "y't" - yanks from current cursor position to the line marked "t"
  • Multiple lines: "3yy" - yank 3 lines. Current line and two lines below it.
  Note all lines deleted are also stored in numbered line buffers.
  Copy an entry in the buffer to the editing session:
  • "p" - place contents of latest entry to the buffer after current line defined by current cursor position. The buffer can be referenced by its number as well. The latest entry to the buffer is entry "1". Recall with the keystroke "1p
  • Each deleted line will end up in the vim line buffer. To recall the prior entry to the buffer use the keystroke: "2p. The prior entries to the buffer can all be referenced by its number. Each time an entry to the buffer is made, its position in the stack is incremented. Typically vim has nine (1-9) default "numbered" buffers.
• vi named line buffers:
  Storage buffers can be named with letters of the alphabet: a-z.
  To capture lines into the buffer:
  • Single "yanked" line stored in buffer "a": "ayy - yanks a single line (defined by current cursor position) into the buffer named "a"
  • Deleted line stored in buffer "b": "bdd - deletes a single line (defined by current cursor position) into the buffer named "a"
  • Deletes 4 lines and stores in buffer "t": "t4dd - deletes four lines (defined by current cursor position) into the buffer named "a"
  
  To paste lines from a named buffer:
  • Single line stored in buffer "a": "ap - paste contents of the buffer named "a" after the current line (defined by current cursor position)
• vim: Shift a block of code left or right:
  • Enter into visual mode by typing the letter "v" at the top (or bottom) of the block of text to be shifted.
  • Move the cursor to the bottom (or top) of the block of text using "j", "k" or the arrow keys.
    Tip: Select from the first collumn of the top line and the last character of the line on the bottom line.
    Zero ("0") will move the cursor to the first character of a line and "$" will move the cursor to the last character of the line.
  • Type >> to shift the block to the right.
    Type << to shift the block to the left.
  Note: The number of characters shifted is controlled by the "shift width" setting. i.e. 4: ":set sw=4"
  This can be placed in your $HOME/.vimrc file.
• vim: Shift a block of code left or right (method #2):
  • :20,40>
    Shift text from row 20 to 30, to the right
  • :20,40<
    Shift text from row 20 to 30, to the left

Command Line Examples:

• command options:
  The vi command line interface is available by typing ":". Terminate with a carriage return.
  Example commands:
  • :help topic
    If the exact name is unknown, TAB completion will cycle through the various options given the first few letters. Ctrl-d will print the complete list of possibilites.
• Executing Unix commands in vi:
  Any UNIX command can be executed from the vi command line by typing an "!" before the UNIX command.
  Examples:
  • :!pwd - shows your current working directory.
  • :!ls - shows files in your current working directory.
  • :sh - open a new Bash shell. Editing session is suspended until you exit the shell. Execute all the commands you want and then return to the vim session.
• Reading and merging/including external text:
  • :r filename - include the contents of an external file
  • :r !date - reads the results from the date command into a new line following the cursor.
  • :r !ls -1 - Place after the cursor, the current directory listing displayed as a single column.
• Line numbers:
  Lines may be referenced by their line numbers. The last line in the file can be referenced by the "$" sign.
  The entire file may be referenced by the block "1,$" or "%"
  The current line is referred to as "."
  A block of text may be referred to by its line numbers or its marked lines. i.e. 5,38 or 't,'b
  Write out a block of text denoted by line numbers :5,38 w newfile
  Append a marked block to an existing file: 't,'bw >> filename
• Find/Replace:
  Example:
  • :%s/fff/rrrrr/ - For all lines in a file, find string "fff" and replace with string "rrrrr" for the first instance on a line.
  • :%s/fff/rrrrr/g - For all lines in a file, find string "fff" and replace with string "rrrrr" for each instance on a line.
  • :%s/fff/rrrrr/gc - For all lines in a file, find string "fff" and replace with string "rrrrr" for each instance on a line. Ask for confirmation
  • :%s/fff/rrrrr/gi - For all lines in a file, find string "fff" and replace with string "rrrrr" for each instance on a line. Case insensitive.
  • :'a,'bs/fff/rrrrr/gi - For all lines between line marked "a" (ma) and line marked "b" (mb), find string "fff" and replace with string "rrrrr" for each instance on a line. Case insensitive.
  • :5,20s/fff/rrrrr/gc - For all lines between line 2 and line 20, find string "fff" and replace with string "rrrrr" for each instance on a line. Confirm each change with y/n.
  • :1,$s/$/XXX/ - For all lines in the file, append a tripple X (XXX)
  • :1,$s/XXX$// - For all lines in the file, remove the tripple X (XXX)
  • :%s/ *$/ - For all lines in a file, delete blank spaces at end of line (there is a single space before the asterisk). Repeat with a tab instead of a space to delete trailing tabs.
  • :%s/\(.*\):\(.*\)/\2:\1/g - For all lines in a file, move last field delimited by ":" to the first field. Swap fields if only two.
  • :%s#<[^>]\+>##g - Find and remove all HTML tags but keep the text contents.
  • :%s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/ - Find and remove all duplicate lines
  For more info type:
  • :help substitute
  • :help pattern
  • :help gdefault
  • :help cmdline-ranges
• Sorting:
  Example:
  • Mark a block of text at the top line and bottom line of the block of text. i.e. "mt" and "mb" on two separate lines. This text block is then referenced as "'t,'b.
  • Sort lines in block: (man page: sort)
    :'t,'b !sort
  • Reverse order of lines in block: (man page: tac)
    :'t,'b !tac
  • Sort lines of text in a paragraph. Block of lines defining the paragraph are identified by the cursor as the top and the first blank line as the end of the paragraph. Place curson on the line "Blue chair" and type the following:
    !}sort
    File to edit:

    Blue chair
    Red table
    Green grass
    Black stone
    
    Other stuff goes here...
    and here
                  

    Becomes

    Black stone
    Blue chair
    Green grass
    Red table
    
    Other stuff goes here...
    and here
                  

    Note that lines below the blank line delimeter are not sorted.
  • Sort lines of text in a paragraph by the second collumn:
    !}sort -f -k2
    option "-f" : ignore case
    option "-k" : list collumn number to sort by
    For a list of all options, see the sort man page
    File in previous example becomes:

    Blue chair
    Green grass
    Black stone
    Red table
    
    Other stuff goes here...
    and here
                  

  • Sort lines of text in a paragraph and arrange into four collumns:
    !}sort | pr -4t
    option -4 : four collumns
    option -t : omit page headers and trailer
    pr man page
    File to edit:

    Blue
    Red
    Green
    Black
    Yellow
    Orange
    White
    Brown
    
    Other stuff goes here...
    and here
                  

    Becomes

    Black		  Brown		    Orange	      White
    Blue		  Green		    Red		      Yellow
    
    
    Other stuff goes here...
    and here
                  

    Note that lines below the blank line delimeter are not sorted.
• Moving columns, manipulating fields and awk:
  :'t,. !awk '{print $3 " " $2 " " $1}' - This will reverse the order of the columns in the block of text. The block of text is defined here as from the line marked with the keystroke "bt" and the current line ("."). This text block is referenced as "'t,." (man page: awk)

                aaa bbb ccc              ccc bbb aaa
                xxx yyy zzz   becomes->  zzz yyy xxx
                111 222 333              333 222 111
                

• Source Code Formatting: C++/Java
  • Use vim visual text selection to mark the lines to format (beautify):
    • eg. Whole file:
      • Go to first line in file: shift-v
      • Go to last line in file: shift-g
      • Select the key equals: =
    This will align all braces and indentations. For the equivalent in emacs see the YoLinux emacs tutorial.
• Text Formatting:
  • Mark a block of text at the top line and bottom line of the block. i.e. "mt" and "mb" on two separate lines.
  • Example: ":'t,'b !nroff"
  • You can insert nroff commands i.e.:

    .ce 3	Center the next three lines
    .fi	Fill text - left and right justify (default)
    .nf	No Fill
    .ls 2	Double line spacing
    .sp	Single line space
    .sv 1.0i	Vertical space at top of page space
    .ns	Turn off spacing mode
    .rs	Restore spacing mode
    .ll 6.0i	Line length = 6 inches
    .in 1.0i	Indent one inch
    .ti 1.0i	Temporarily one time only indent one inch
    .pl 8.0i	Page length = 8 inches
    .bp	Page break

    Example:

    .fi
    .pl 2i
    .in 1.0i
    .ll 6.0i
    .ce
    Title to be centered
    .sp
    The following text bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla 
    bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla 
    bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla 
    bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla 
    bla bla bla bla bla
    

    Becomes:

                             Title to be centered
    
              The following text bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
              bla  bla  bla  bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
              bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla  bla  bla  bla
              bla  bla  bla  bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
              bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla  bla  bla  bla
              bla bla bla bla
    
    
    

  man pages:
  • nroff - text formatter (emulate nroff command with groff)
  • troff - troff processor of the groff text formatting system
  • tbl - table formatter (for troff)

• Text Width Formatting:
  • Mark a block of text or reference a block by their line numbers and pipe them through fmt, a text formatter which splits lines on word boundaries.
  • :20,30 !fmt -80 will re-format the lines from line 20 to line 30 to wrap at an 80 collumn margin. Any line longer than 80 characters (eg a long URL), will not get split. A line split occurs at word delimiters such as a blank space.
  man page: fmt
• Spell Checking:
  • Mark a block of text by marking the top line and bottom line of the block. i.e. "mt" and "mb" on two separate lines.
  • :'t,'b !spell will cause the block to be replaced with misspelled words.
  • Press "u" to undo.
  • Proceed to correct words misspelled.
  man page: aspell
• Vim/Vi Macros: :map letter commands_strung_together
  :map - lists current key mappings
  Example - :map g n cwNEW_WORD{ctrl-v}{esc}i{ctrl-v}{CR}
  This example would find the next search occurrence, change the word and insert a line feed after the word. The macro is invoked by typing the letter "g".
  • Control/Escape/Carriage control characters must be prefixed with ctrl-V.
  • Choose a letter which is not used or important. (i.e. a poor choice would be "i" as this is used for insert)
• Double spacing:
  • :%s/$/{ctrl-V}{CR}/g
    This command applies an extra carriage return at the end of all lines
• Strip blanks at end of line:
  • :%s/{TAB}*$//
• Delete all lines beginning with or matching a pattern:
  • :1,$ /^#/d
    Delete all (first to last line: 1,$ or g) comments lines in file. Delete all lines beginning (^) with "#" (specify text pattern).
  • :g/#/d
    Delete all lines (g) containing comments (comments follow "#") in file. Delete all lines containing "#".
  • :g!/^#/d
    Delete all lines except (g! or v) comment lines beginning (^) with "#".
• Strip DOS ctrl-M's:
  • :1,$ s/{ctrl-V}{ctrl-M}//
    Note: In order to enter a control character, one muust first enter ctrl-v. This is true throughout vi. For example, if searching for a control character (i.e. ctrl-m): /ctrl-v ctrl-M If generating a macro and you need to enter esc without exiting the vi command line the esc must be prefixed with a ctrl-v: ctrl-v esc.
• Convert tabs to spaces:
  • :% !expand -t4
    convert tabs to four blank spaces for the whole file (%).
  • :20,30 !expand -t4
    convert tabs to four blank spaces for lines 20 through 30.
  Man page: expand
• Editing multiple files:
  • vi file1 file2 file3
  • :n Edit next file (file2)
  • :n Edit next file (file3)
  • :rewind Rewind to the first file (file1)
    or shift-ctrl-~
  • :rewind! Rewind to the first file (file1) without saving changes
  Note: Named buffers from "yanked" and deleted lines are shared between files. Contents of unamed buffers are not. To save file changes when switching files :set autowrite
• Line folding:

  Many times one may encounter a file with folded lines or may wish to fold lines. The following image is of a file with folded lines where each "+" represents a set of lines not viewed but a marker line prefixed with a "+" is shown stating how many lines have been folded and out of view. Folding helps manage large files which are more easily managed when text lines are grouped into "folds".

  Example: vim /usr/share/vim/vim63/plugin/netrw.vim

  

  Keystrokes:

  Keystroke	Description
  zR	Unfold all folded lines in file.
  za	Open/close (toggle) a folded group of lines.
  zA	Open a closed fold or close an open fold recursively.
  zc	Close a folded group of lines.
  zC	Close all folded lines recursively.
  zd	Delete a folded line.
  zD	Delete all folded lines recursively.
  zE	Eliminate all folded lines in file.
  zF	Create "N" folded lines.

• Hyper-Linking to include files:
  • Place cursor over the file name (i.e. #include "fileABC.h")
  • Enter the letter combination: gf
    (go to file)
  This will load file fileABC.h into vim. Use the following entry in your ~/.vimrc file to define file paths. Change path to something appropriate if necessary.

  "Recursively set the path of the project.
  set path=$PWD/**
  

• Batch execution of vi from a command file:
  Command file to change HTML file to lower case and XHTML compliance:

  :1,$ s/<HTML>/<html>/g
  :1,$ s/<\/HTML>/<\/html>/g
  :1,$ s/<HEAD>/<head>/g
  :1,$ s/<\/HEAD>/<\/head>/g
  :1,$ s/<TITLE>/<title>/g
  :1,$ s/<\/TITLE>/<\/title>/g
  :1,$ s/<BODY/<body/g
  :1,$ s/<\/BODY/<\/body/g
  :1,$ s/<UL>/<ul>/g
  :1,$ s/<\/UL>/<\/ul>/g
  ...
  ..
  .
  :1,$ s/<A HREF/<a href/g
  :1,$ s/<A NAME/<a name/g
  :1,$ s/<\/A>/<\/a>/g
  :1,$ s/<P>/<p>/g
  :1,$ s/<B>/<b>/g
  :1,$ s/<\/B>/<\/b>/g
  :1,$ s/<I>/<i>/g
  :1,$ s/<\/I>/<\/i>/g
  :wq
         
  

  Execute: vi -e file-name.html < ViCommands-HtmlUpdate.txt

  [Potential Pitfall]: This must be performed while vim has none of the files open which are to be affected. If it does, vim will error due to conflicts with the vim swap file.

This functionality allows one to jump between files to locate subroutines.

• ctags *.h *.c This creates a file names "tags".

Edit the file using vi.

• Unix command line: vi -t   subroutine_name This will find the correct file to edit.
  OR
• Vi command line: :tag subroutine_name This will jump from your current file to the file containing the subroutine. (short form :ta subroutine_name )
  OR
• By cursor position: ctrl-] Place cursor on the first character of the subroutine name and press ctrl-] This will jump to the file containing the subroutine.
  Note: The key combination ctrl-] is also the default telnet connection interrupt. To avoid this problem when using telnet block this telnet escape key by specifying NULL or a new escape key:
  • telnet -E file-name
  • telnet -e "" file-name

In all cases you will be entered into the correct file and the cursor will be positioned at the subroutine desired.
If it is not working properly look at the "tags" file created by ctags. Also the tag name (first column) may be abbreviated for convenience. One may shorten the significant characters using :set taglength=number

Tag Notes:

• A project may have a tags file which can be added and referred to by: :set tags=tags\ /ad/src/project1.tags
  A "\" must separate the file names.
• :set autowrite will automatically save changes when jumping from file to file, otherwise you need to use the :w command.
• Autowrite can be intentionally avoided by using "!" to avoid the save when switching files. Changes will be lost: :ta! next-tag

vim tagging notes: (These specific tag features not available in vi)

:set tags=./tags,./subdir/tags

Links:

• Vim docs - ctags
• Man page: ctags
• vim/tag search
• ctags framework

There are more than one version of ctags out there. The original Unix version, the GNU version and the version that comes with vim. This discussion is about the one that comes with vim. (default with Red Hat)

For use with C++:

• ctags version 5.5.4:

     ctags *.cpp ../inc/*.h
  
                

• ctags version 5.0.1:

     ctags --lang=c++ --c-types=+Ccdefgmnpstuvx *.cpp ../inc/*.h
  
  

To generate a tags file for all files in all subdirectories: ctags -R .

The ctags program which is written by the VIM team is called " Exuberant Ctags" and supports the most features in VIM.

Man page: ctags - Generate tag files for source code

VIM: $HOME/.exrc

• ~/.vimrc
• ~/.gvimrc
• ~/.vim/ (directory of vim config files.)

VI: $HOME/.exrc

         set autoindent
         set wrapmargin=0
         map g hjlhjlhjlhlhjl
         "
         " S = save current vi buffer contents and run spell on it,
         "     putting list of misspelled words at the end of the vi buffer.
         map S G:w!^M:r!spell %^M
         colorscheme desert
         "Specify that a dark terminal background is being used.
         set bg=dark
        

Notes:

• Look in /usr/share/vim/vim61/colors/ for available colorschemes.
  (I also like "colorscheme desert")
• Alternate use of autoindent: set ai sw=3

Cscope was developed to cross reference C source code. It now can be used with C++ and Java and can interface with vim.

Using Cscope to cross reference souce code will create a database and allow you to traverse the source to find calls to a function, occurances of a function, variable, macros, class or object and their respective declarations. Cscope offers more complete navigation than ctags as it has more complete cross referencing.

Vim must be compiled with Cscope support. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (or CentOS 5), includes vim 7.0 with cscope support. Earlier versions of Red Hat or Fedora RPM does not support Cscope and thus must be compiled.

Compiling Vim from source:

• Download vim source from http://vim.org
• tar xzf vim-7.0.tar.gz
• cd vim70
• ./configure --prefix=/opt --enable-cscope
• make
• make install

Using Cscope with vim:

Invoke Cscope from within vim from the vim command line. Type the following: :cscope find search-type search-string The short form of the command is ":cs f" where the "search-type" is:

Results of the Cscope query will be displayed at the bottom of the vim screen.

• To jump to a result type the results number (+ enter)
• Use tags commands to return after a jump to a result: ctrl-t
  To return to same spot as departure, use ctrl-o
• To use "tags" navigation to search for words under the cursor (ctrl-\ or ctrl-]) instead of using the vim command line ":cscope" (and "ctrl-spaceBar" instead of ":scscope"), use the vim plugin, cscope_maps.vim [cache]
  When using this plugin, overlapping ctags navigation will not be available. This should not be a problem since cscope plugin navigation is the same but with superior indexing and cross referenceing.
  Place this plugin in your directory "$HOME/.vim/plugin"
  Plugin required for vim 5 and 6. This feature is compiled in with vim 7.0 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and CentOS 5 and newer Linux OS's. Attempts to use the plugin when not required will result in the following error:

  E568: duplicate cscope database not added

• Cycle through results:
  • Next result: :tnext
  • Previous result: :tprevious
• Create a split screen for Cscope results: :scscope find search-type search-string
  (Short form: :scs f search-type search-string)
• Use command line argument ":cscope -R": Scan subdirectories recursively
• Use Cscope ncurses based GUI without vim: cscope
  • ctrl-d: Exit Cscope GUI

Cscope command line arguments:

Cscope environment variable:

Manually Generating file cscope.files

File: $HOME/bin/gen_cscope or /opt/bin/gen_cscope

#!/bin/bash
find ./ -name "*.[ch]pp" -print > cscope.files
cscope -b -q -k

Note that this generates CScope files in the current working directory. The CScope files are only usefull if you begin the vim session in the same directory. Thus if you have a heirarchy of directories, perform this in the top directory and reference the files to be edited on the command line with the relative path from the same directory in which the CScope files were generated.

Also see:

• cscope man page
• cscope home page
• Using cscope with Linux kernel source code

Vim default plugins:

Vim comes with some default plugins which can be found in:

• Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora:
  • RHEL4/5: /usr/share/vim/vim70/autoload/
  • Fedora 3:/usr/share/vim/vim63/plugin/
• Ubuntu / Debian:
  • Ubuntu 18.04: /usr/share/vim/vim80/autoload/
  • Ubuntu 6.06: /usr/share/vim/vim64/plugin/

Additional custom plugins:

User added plugins are added to the user's local directory: ~/.vim/plugin/ or ~/.vimrc/plugin/

• Vim.org: List of all plugins

File Explorer / List Files: explorer.vim

Help is available with the following command: :help file-explorer

The new window buffer created by ":Vexplore" and ":Sexplore" can be closed with ":bd" (buffer delete).

CScope: cscope_maps.vim

Tabbed pages: minibufexpl.vim

Recommended ~/.vimrc file entry:

"Hide abandon buffers in order to not lose undo history.
set hid

The new window buffer tab created can be closed with ":bd" (buffer delete).

Links:

• minibufexpl plugin home page

Alternate between the commensurate include and source file: a.vim

Usefull for C/C++ programmers to switch between the source ".cpp" and commensurate ".hpp" or ".h" file and vice versa.

Links:

• a.vim plugin home page

Plug-in Installation:

• mkdir -p ~/.vim/plugin
• cd ~/.vim/plugin
• wget -O a.vim http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=7218
• wget -O minibufexpl.vim http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=3640

Using a mousewheel with vim in an xterm. Place in file $HOME/.Xdefaults

XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \n\ 
: string("0x9b") string("[64~") \n\ 
: string("0x9b") string("[65~")

• ed - line editor (works on one file at a time)
• red - restricted shell version of ed
• tr - translate or delete characters
• ex - line oriented version of vi. Works on multiple files.
• sed - stream editor
• view - read only version of vi
• rview - restricted view
• gvim - GUI version of VIM
• rvim - restricted vim

• Linux Text Editors - overview and list
• The vim home page
• Fast vi tutorial
• Troubleshooters.com: VI and VIM
• Vim as an XML/XHTML editor

Books:

	"The Ultimate Guide to VI and EX Text Editors" Hewlet Packard Corporation ISBN #0-8053-4460-8, Addison-Wesley Pub Co., Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company
	"Learning the vi and vim Editors (7th edition) by Arnold Robbins, Elbert Hannah, Linda Lamb ISBN #059652983X, O'Reilly
	"Vi iMproved (VIM) by Steve Oualline ISBN #0735710015, Sams (1st edition)

   

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