Vim is a very powerful tool for editing text. It is widely used by programmers for source code editing and browsing. It is an improved version of the vi editor, hence stands for Vi IMproved.. It is freely distributed with most of the linux and unix systems. It can be downloaded from below link.
Once you get used to Vim, you will definitely say like every programmer, "Vim is a life saviour".
Below are some of the widely used vim commands, every programmer/vim user must know:
Editing
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r
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replace a single
character (does not use insert mode)
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J
|
join line below to
the current one
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cc
|
change (replace) an
entire line
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cw
|
change (replace) to
the end of word
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c$
|
change (replace) to
the end of line
|
s
|
delete character at
cursor and subsitute text
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S
|
delete line at
cursor and substitute text (same as cc)
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xp
|
transpose two
letters (delete and paste, technically)
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u
|
undo
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.
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repeat last command
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Marking Text (visual mode)
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v
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start visual mode,
mark lines, then do command (such as y-yank)
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V
|
start Linewise
visual mode
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O
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move to other end of
marked area
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Ctrl+v
|
start visual block
mode
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O
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move to Other corner
of block
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Aw
|
mark a word
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Ab
|
a () block (with
braces)
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aB
|
a {} block (with
brackets)
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Ib
|
inner () block
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Ib
|
inner {} block
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Esc
|
exit visual mode
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Visual Commands
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>
|
shift right
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<
|
shift left
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Y
|
yank (copy) marked
text
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D
|
delete marked text
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~
|
switch alphabet’s case
(lower to upper or upper to lower)
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Cut and Paste
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yy
|
yank (copy) a line
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2yy
|
yank 2 lines
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yw
|
yank word
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y$
|
yank to end of line
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P
|
put (paste) the
clipboard after cursor
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P
|
put (paste) before
cursor
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dd
|
delete (cut) a line
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dw
|
delete (cut) the
current word
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X
|
delete (cut) current
character
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Exiting
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:w
|
write (save) the
file, but don't exit
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:wq
|
write (save) and quit
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:q
|
quit (fails if
anything has changed)
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:q!
|
quit and throw away
changes
|
Search / Replace
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/pattern
|
search for pattern
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?pattern
|
search backward for
pattern
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n
|
repeat search in
same direction
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N
|
repeat search in
opposite direction
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:%s/old/new/g
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replace all old with
new throughout file
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:%s/old/new/gc
|
replace all old with
new throughout file with confirmations
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Working with multiple files
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:e filename
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edit a file in a new
buffer
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:bnext (or :bn)
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go to next buffer
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:bprev (or :bp)
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go to prev buffer
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:bd
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deletes the buffer currently active
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:sp filename
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open a file in a new
buffer and split window
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ctrl + ws
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split windows
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ctrl + ww
|
switch between
windows
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ctrl + wq
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quit a window
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ctrl + wv
|
split windows
vertically
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