VIM Shortcuts for Programmers

Posted on February 9th, 2008

Some of the most frequently VIM shortcuts I use. This is just a copy paste from my notes – so forget grammar and consistency.

Use ‘map’ to map important shortcuts:

While working on source code, sometimes I prefer to see code with line numbers, sometimes I don’t.

:map #1 :set nu^M

:map #2 :set nonu^M

Note: (^M characters are created by typing the key sequence [CTRL-V][CTRL-M]. This key sequence represents the carriage return)

Now You can Hit the following keys to toggle between source code with and without line numbers.

F1 Shows source code with line numbers

F2 Shows source code without line numbers

‘map’ is used like a ‘macro’ in MS Word /Excel. Read stuff on ‘map’ to know the magics . Read how can you put the maps in .vimrc file.

Some more programming specific shortcuts.

If you are at the beiginning of ‘/prashant/narayan/mhatrep/ok’, pressing dw will just delete ‘/’. Hit dW, It will delete complete ‘/prashant/narayan/mhatrep/ok’ word.

( beginning of previous sentence

) beginning of next sentence

{ beginning of previous paragraph

} beginning of next paragraph

20G or :20 move to line 20

G End of the file

J Join two lines (position cursor anywhere on the line)

:set ts=4 set tabstop = 4

When auto-indent is enabled (:set ai), we can use ‘ctrl+d’ to move one ident level to the left and ‘ctrl+t’ to move one ident level to the right.

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