Tip #234: Vi(M) Command Line tips & tricks

tip karma

Rating 47/28, Viewed by 9193

created:		April 11, 2002 3:18		complexity:		basic
author:		David Rayner (zzapper)		as of Vim:		6.0

Hi VIMMERs These tips save me wearing out my delicate little fingers with unnecessary keystrokes. They assume Unix, but I also use them on a Windows Unix Shell (MKS) as well # When I know the file i want to edit is the most recent file in a directory alias -x vew='vi `l\s -t * | head -1 `' #When I know the file I want to edit contains a unique keyword #this is actually in a little shell script call ed vg where the keyword is passed as parameter $1 #/bin/sh #name vg vi.exe $(grep -isl $1 *) & # some variations alias -x vp='vi `l\s -t *.@(pl|cgi)| head -1 `' #execute the most recent script (I call this from within VIM with a mapped button) alias -x xew='`l\s -t *.pl | head -1 `' Cheers zzapper

<<Some tips for using Vim to write Lisp code | Toggle highlight word under cursor, to find cursor. >>

Additional Notes

[email protected], April 13, 2002 2:54

Hi I forgot my best script v.ksh this allows me to edit a file(s) containing any particular substring such say I know that a file in a directory is the only one that contains the letter z I just need to type > v z # v.ksh # description : vi all files containing $1 in name # but excluding binaries #set -x filenum=0 for x in *$1* do if [[ "$x" != *.@(xls|exe|mdb) ]] && [ -f "$x" ] then filelst[$filenum]=$x let filenum=filenum+1 fi done vim ${filelst[*]} & # end script If your shell (ef csh) allows you alias parameters this can also be done with something like (sorry I forget) alias v=''vi.exe *$$1$*'

[email protected], April 18, 2002 11:56

that 'vew' thing is very cool. i _always_ want to do that, very useful... i had to have it like this under cygwin... alias vnew='vim `ls -t | head -1 `' alias vold='vim `ls -t | tail -1 `' vold is cool when you want to edit each file in a directory but don't want to deal with buffers inside vim.

[email protected], April 20, 2002 15:12

Hi I've just remembered he syntax A Csh alias (for shells that allow parameters) alias v 'vi *\!*\*' You can now edit a file in a directory that is say the only one with a filename containing say "bank" just by typing > v bank alsp don't forget the wonderfull fact that vim will edit a pipe > ls -1 fred*.c | vim - will result in VIm opening an unnamed file containing a list of files fred* r

[email protected], May 29, 2002 11:16

Open a file with vi(m) and jump to a particular place defined by "searchstr" vi -c "/searchstr" main.c turn this into a script #vis.ksh #vi with search vi -c "/$1" $2

[email protected], May 29, 2002 11:22

how many times you decided to use one file as a basis for a new file, started editting the original, and then absently minded saved it, rather than saving as!! this shell script simplifies and avoids this problem # vcp.ksh # description : copy file $1 to $2 then edit $2 #set -x cp $1 $2 vi $2

[email protected], July 22, 2002 8:53

View Gvim Command Line help by typing gvim -h Notables gvim -u local_vimrc gvim --noplugin gvim -v (Vi compatible) gvim + fred.php (jump to End of file) gvim +10 fred.php (jump to 10th line) gvim -w hist.txt fred.php (append all typed commands to hist.txt) gvim -c "/searchstr" main.c (jump to string when main.c opened)(note quotes) gvim -R important.txt (open read only)

[email protected], July 29, 2002 9:42

To summarise # the following is an alias to edit the most recent file in a directory > vew # the following script v.ksh , edits any file in current directory whose name contains say "main" >v main # the following script vg.ksh (see below) , edits any file containing the specified keyword and jumps to 1st occurrence >vg fn_main # vg.ksh gvim.exe -c "/$1" $(grep -isl "$1" *) # gvim can edit a pipe ls -1 *.php | gvim - These should run with adaptions on Unix, and on Windows with CYGWin,MKS etc

[email protected], August 10, 2002 2:01

Ftping via VIM gvim ftp://ftp.yoursite.co.uk/public_html/index.html

[email protected], September 2, 2002 6:32

Open file1 & file2 into a split window gvim -o file1 file2

[email protected], September 8, 2002 2:04

# compare differences in 2 files (vimdiff) # see :h vimdiff gvim -d file1 file1

[email protected], September 18, 2002 2:47

# performing edits on multiple files (pipe separates commands) vim -c "argdo %s/ABC/DEF/g | w" *.txt

[email protected], July 29, 2003 12:45

vim -c "argdo %s/FOO/BAR/g | update" `grep -l FOO *`




	If you have questions or remarks about this site, visit the vimonline development pages. Please use this site responsibly. Questions about Vim should go to [email protected] after searching the archive. Help Bram help Uganda.