Vim

Date: 2021-06-06 05:12:20 +08:00Date modified: 2021-07-20 23:31:58 +08:00

Every sysadmin's favorite default text editor. Is being familiar to Vim a path to productivity? No. But being good at it can make for a difference in the day-to-day life of a sysadmin for there are advanced capabilities of this editor.

The keybindings of Vim

One of the things that make Vim popular is the keybindings.

Keybinding	Description
`[m`	Go to the previous method.
`g~w`	Toggle letter casing.
`2guW`	Convert two words into lowercase.
`10d)`	Delete 10 sentences.
`39zz`	Place the cursor in the middle in line 39.
`3d10w`	Delete 10 words and repeat 3 times.

Most of the time, Vim keybindings is made of mainly two things:

The operators denoting an action.
The motions describing the scope of the action.

There's a certain pattern to it when you use it, too.

[count][operator][motion]

Tips and tricks

:h is the help system of Vim. It contains all of the documentation of the editor and the installed plugins. I recommend to start with the default help page (e.g., :h).
- You can get the meaning of the keybinding with the help section — e.g., :h gg, :h G.
Vim has fine-grained control motions.
- ( and ) for sentences.
- { and } for paragraphs.
- [ and ] for sections.
There are many advanced navigation features in Vim.
- gf will go to the file at point.
- K goes to the definition of the keyword at point.
- Ctrl+O will jump back at a previous jump point.
- gd go the local definition of the keyword at point.
- H, M, and L places the cursor in higher, middle, and lower part in the current screen, respectively.
- zt, zz, and zb displays the current line in the top, middle, and bottom part of the screen, respectively.