Vim shortcuts

:%s/foo/bar/g

Find each occurrence of 'foo', and replace it with 'bar'.

:%s/foo/bar/gc

Change each 'foo' to 'bar', but ask for confirmation first.

:%s/\<foo\>/bar/gc

Change only whole words exactly matching 'foo' to 'bar'; ask for confirmation.

:%s/foo/bar/gci

Change each 'foo' (case insensitive) to 'bar'; ask for confirmation.

  This may be wanted after using :set noignorecase to make searches case sensitive (the default). 

  :%s/foo/bar/gcI

Change each 'foo' (case sensitive) to 'bar'; ask for confirmation.

  This may be wanted after using :set ignorecase to make searches case insensitive. 

:s/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' in the current line.

:%s/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' in all lines.

:5,12s/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' for all lines from line 5 to line 12 inclusive.

:'a,'bs/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' for all lines from mark a to mark b inclusive.

:.,$s/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' for all lines from the current line (.) to the last line ($) inclusive.

:.,+2s/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' for the current line (.) and the two next lines (+2).

:%s/foo/bar/g Equivalent to :1,$s/foo/bar/g (change all lines).

:g/^baz/s/foo/bar/g Change each 'foo' to 'bar' in each line starting with 'baz'.

When searching:

., *, \, [, ], ^, and $ are metacharacters. 
+, ?, |, {, }, (, and ) must be escaped to use their special function. 
\/ is / (use backslash + forward slash to search for forward slash) 
\t is tab, \s is whitespace 
\n is newline, \r is CR (carriage return = Ctrl-M = ^M) 
\{#\} is used for repetition. /foo.\{2\} will match foo and the two following characters. The \ is not required on the closing } so /foo.\{2} will do the same thing. 
\(foo\) makes a backreference to foo. Parenthesis without escapes are literally matched. Here the \ is required for the closing \). 

When replacing:

\r is newline, \n is a null byte (0x00). 
\& is ampersand (& is the text that matches the search pattern). 
\1 inserts the text of the first backreference. \2 inserts the second backreference, and so on. 

:split filename
:vsplit filename

ctrl W = equal size :res -N ctrl W - reduce height by N :res +N ctrl W + increase height by N

ctrl W _ ctrl W < decrease window width by N (default 1) ctrl W > increase window width by N (default 1)

:tabedit filename

:tabn(ext)
gt              #goto next tab.

:tabp(rev)
gT              #goto previous tab.

To jump to a mark enter an apostrophe (<tt>'</tt>) or backtick <tt>()</tt> followed by a letter. Using an apostrophe jumps to the beginning of the line holding the mark, while a backtick jumps to the line and column of the mark. Using a lowercase letter (for example <tt>a</tt>) will only work if that mark exists in the current buffer. Using an uppercase letter (for example <tt>A</tt>) will jump to the file and the position holding the mark (you do not need to open the file prior to jumping to the mark). *Each file can have mark '''a''' – use a lowercase mark to jump within a file. *There is only one file mark '''A''' – use an uppercase mark to jump between files. <code> {| class="wikitable" !Command !! Description |- | <tt>ma</tt> || set mark '''a''' at current cursor location |- | <tt>'a</tt> || jump to line of mark '''a''' (first non-blank character in line) |- | <tt>a</tt> || jump to position (line and column) of mark 'a'

</code>

Commands like <tt>d'a</tt> operate “linewise” and include the start and end lines.<br> Commands like <tt>da</tt> operate "characterwise" and include the start but not the end character. It is possible to navigate between lowercase marks: {| class="wikitable" !Command !! Description |- | <tt>]'</tt> || jump to next line with a lowercase mark |- | <tt>['</tt> || jump to previous line with a lowercase mark |- | <tt>]</tt> || jump to next lowercase mark

Vim has some special marks which it sets automatically. Here are some of the most useful:

{| class=“wikitable” !Command !! Description

See the full list at '[ and following.

%:p full path to buffer. %:p:h parent directory of buffer.

In Action: show content of parent dir of current buffer.

:!ls %:p:h

• convert tabs to spaces (useful for python programming)

:set tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 expandtab
or
:set expandtab

:retab
... works for current buffer...