Working with Vim

Working with Lines

Vim has numerous built-in functions and features to operate specifically on lines.

Copy / Delete Lines

Shortcuts exist for copying and deleting the current line.

Use dd to delete the current line.

Use yy to copy the current line.

Use cc to delete line and enter INSERT mode.

The above are equivalent to using the _ motion. For example, dd is equivalent to d_. Since these are common actions, the double letter shortcuts are easier to remember and type.

You can paste a deleted or yanked line elsewhere, use p to paste.

Another useful shortcut is D, to delete from cursor to end of line, equivalent to d$

The change equivalent is C, to delete from cursor to end of line, and switch to insert mode.

Line Motions

0 : Go to first column

^ : Go to first printable character

$ : Go to end of line

g_ : Go to last printable character

:32 or 32G : Go to line number 32

gg : Go to first line in buffer

G : Go to last line in buffer

Line INSERT mode

o : Add new line below, enter INSERT mode

O : Add new line above, enter INSERT mode

I : Enter INSERT mode at start of line

A : Enter INSERT mode at end of line

Merge lines

Use J to merge lines together. If you press J with nothing highlighted, it will remove the current line ending and white-space bringing the next line up. If multiple lines are highlighted, pressing J will merge them all into a single line.

Delete lines

The global command, g for short, applies a command on each line that matches the pattern.

Using d as the command will delete the lines match the pattern. For example the following will delete all lines containing the word pattern

:g/pattern/d

Use vglobal to apply a command to each line that does not match the pattern, v for short. For example, to delete all lines that do not contain pattern

:v/pattern/d

Wrap lines at length

Use gq to wrap lines to a specified length defined by textwidth. If the textwidth option is not set the default is 79. I use this daily in commit messages to fit within 80 characters. To use, just highlight the lines you want and then type gq

Wrapped line navigation can be weird in Vim. Since, one actual line wraps to multiple displayed lines. The j and k keys tells Vim to move to the next line, thus skipping over the wrapped lines.

Use gj and gk to navigate via displayed lines. I configure this as my default using the following configuration.

Add the following to your .vimrc

" move updown by visual (wrapped) lines
noremap j gj
noremap k gk

See Configuration section for more on working with your Vim config.

Bubble Up Lines

Move a single line, or multiple lines, up and down using control + arrow keys. The multiline mapping below is complex, even for me, I picked it up somewhere on the interweb.

" Bubble single lines
nmap <C-Up> :m .-2<CR>
nmap <C-Down> :m  .+1<CR>
 
" Bubble multiple lines
vnoremap <silent> <C-Up>  @='"zxk"zP`[V`]'<CR>
vnoremap <silent> <C-Down>  @='"zx"zp`[V`]'<CR>