[NCLUG] Things I'm trying to learn with vim.

Sean Reifschneider jafo at tummy.com
Wed Sep 11 21:37:43 MDT 2013


I mostly have been on a slow path of learning vim.  I've used vi since the
mid '80s, but I never really spent a lot of time getting beyond a certain
threshold.  Once I got there, I was pretty happy with what I was doing, so
I'd often use "F<space>" instead of "b", or "C" instead of "D", or
|F"cf"<ESC>"i| instead of |ci"|...

But as Bill and I were talking about getting this presentation set up, I
started trying to bring my game up a bit.

Seems like I probably need a flashcard program.  :-)

Here are some of the things I've been working on remembering:

* ciw ci" ci) cit

   Change text within words/quotes/parens/tags

* t instead of f

   I've been in the bad habit of |cf""<ESC>i| instead of using |ct"|

* More window commands.

   I know Control-W <h/j/k/l>, but I need to remember _ and = and others.

* Better buffer navigation.

   I was in the bad habit of editing a bunch of files and then using ":n",
   and ":rew", and <Control>^but not ":prev".  Not so bad with 5 files,
   terrible with 50.  The other day I did a bunch of edits and just
   stayed in vim, using ":ls" and ":bu".  Need to remember to use
   "<NUM><Control>^" to switch to that numbered buffer.

* Advanced marks.

   I really should get on this.  I know about named marks, but recently
   found out about `], which is the end of a paste.  Also `. which is the
   last change made.

* Various "g" commands.

   I know about "g-" and "g+" to move forward and backward along the undo
   tree, but had forgotten about the "gu" command to uppercase something.
   So, for example, "gUiw" to make the current word uppercase.  Also
   ":changes" to show the undo tree.

* I should understand the "cwin" better.

   Not sure what all uses it other than ":make" and ":diff", but ":diff"
   with it made me a believer.

That's what I recall off the top of my head.

Sean


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