Vim in (not so) short | My Little DevBlog

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Aug 3, 2025

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I want to make it short, but Vim is too powerful

Vim in not so short

Preliminaries

When vim is not available, you can temporarily use cat or nano as alternatives

When using a new IDE, you should first learn or configure:

save
copy / paste
duplicate line
delete word / delete line
line movement
navigate forward / back
undo / redo
page navigation (page down, page up, center to middle, etc.)
indent / unindent
multi-cursor
search / content search
input commands (Ctrl + P in VSCode, double Shift in IntelliJ, : in vim…)
completion, suggestion, parameter hint, hover hint
go to / peek definition, type, declaration, reference, implementation
rename symbol / refactor (if available)
AI controlling: toggle chat box, trigger inline chat…
tabs / windows management

Use the :help command to query anything you don’t understand

:set option? can view current settings

Windows and Tabs

Buffer: Can be understood as a temporary file. Even if this file is edited, it doesn’t mean it’s written to the actual file. We can observe buffers through windows and manage them through tabs.

Use commands starting with b in Ex (command line) mode for buffer operations:

bd buffer delete; bwipeout clears more thoroughly

bn or bnext switch to next buffer

bp or bprevious switch to previous buffer

ctrl + ^ switch to the last buffer

Ctrl + W window shortcuts and :sp split commands are the basics of window management. :sp can use parameters to specify files to split (open a new window for this file)

Ctrl + W + w cycle windows, Ctrl + W + hjkl switch focus left/down/up/right (move cursor)

Ctrl + W + = (make window panes equal size)

Ctrl + W + + Ctrl + W + Ctrl + W + < Ctrl + W + > (fine-tune window size)

:vsp performs vertical split, dividing into two sides

:resize 20 sets height to 20 lines; :vertical resize 80 sets width to 80 columns

:tabs is the basic tab management command.

:tabnew opens a new tab, :tabe (edit) opens a tab for editing. Can be followed by filename.

:tabn :tabp switch tabs, or use gt gT to switch

Display current buffer in new tab: :tab split

:tabmove move tab, for example :tabmove 2

Batch execution:

:tabdo {cmd} execute on all tabs, e.g., :tabdo set nocursorline

:windo {cmd} execute on each window in current tab, e.g., :windo diffthis

:only and :close are universal management methods

Type :close :only directly to manage windows

Type :tabclose :tabonly to manage tabs

Key Remapping

Here’s the key remapping configuration in VSCode vim extension:

Common key aliases:

<Backspace>

<C-c> -> Ctrl + C

<A-c> -> Alt + C

<Shift>

<CapsLock>

<Tab>

<Enter>

<Esc>

<Cmd-> Mac specific

<Up>

<Down>

<Left>

<Right>

vim Configuration File

Use the .vimrc file in the home directory:

Unbound Keys

In VSCode and other IDEs, you can return Vim-controlled keys to the IDE, since they have no use in GUI interfaces.

Ctrl + D scroll down

Ctrl + Z suspend Vim

Ctrl + X decrease number at cursor by 1, in insert mode it’s completion, decrease by 1 is quite useful

Ctrl + C can be considered

Ctrl + F scroll forward, in insert mode used to view command history

Ctrl + W window command, delete one word before cursor

Ctrl + P completion

Ctrl + S pause output

Ctrl + Q same as Ctrl + V, only q alone is for recording macros, VSCode defaults to Add cursor below, multi-cursor editing tool

Ctrl + Y / E scroll window up/down by 1 line

Ctrl + T depends on situation

Quick Reference

(jut for memory, may not be accurate)

w -> word

b -> back

e -> end

H -> page head; L -> low; M -> middle

zz move current line to the middle position

Ctrl + U & Ctrl + D half screen move up & down