This is an archive of the From Vim Help section on the home page for 2009.

December 2009Edit

• Press J to join lines, or gJ to join with no extra spaces. :help J
• Use :set nojoinspaces to get only one extra space with J. :help 'joinspaces'
• Use 'B' and 'M' in 'formatoptions' to control spacing with multi-byte characters when joining lines. :help fo-table

November 2009Edit

• The built-in printf() supports strings and numbers, including floating point. :help printf()
• Substitute can replace matches with an evaluated expression: :s/.../\=.../. :help sub-replace-expression
• In :s/.../\=.../ the expression can use submatch(0) to get the matched text. :help submatch()

October 2009Edit

• When splitting a window, local options are copied to the new window. :help local-options
• The 'equalalways' option affects window sizing when splitting. :help 'equalalways'
• And the 'eadirection' option determines how 'equalalways' is interpreted. :help 'eadirection'

September 2009Edit

• In normal mode, pressing Ctrl-^ edits the alternate file. :help CTRL-^
• In insert mode, pressing Ctrl-^ toggles :lmap language mappings. :help i_CTRL-^
• The command :language displays the current language (locale). :help :language

August 2009Edit

• The command :ka (useful in a script) sets mark a. :help :k
• Using g`" jumps to the last known position in a file without changing the jump list. :help g`
• Typing :keepmarks '<,'>!filter replaces the last selected lines with output from a filter, while keeping marks. :help :keepmarks

July 2009Edit

• Vim's clever tricks are in chapter 12. :help usr_12.txt
• The 'shiftround' option keeps indentation at multiples of 'shiftwidth'. :help 'shiftround'
• The 'smartindent' option performs smart autoindenting when starting a new line. :help 'smartindent'

June 2009Edit

• Press Ctrl-w then o to see only the current window. :help CTRL-W_o
• Press Ctrl-w then r to rotate windows in a row or column. :help CTRL-W_r
• Press Ctrl-w then K to move the current window to the top (full width). :help CTRL-W_K

May 2009Edit

• In a range, . is the current line, and .+5 is 5 lines after the current line. :help :range
• Typing 6 then :s/old/new/g is interpreted as :.,.+5s/old/new/g :help N:
• Command :silent 'a,'bs/old/new/g will substitute in a range, swapping the first and last lines if necessary. :help E493

April 2009Edit

• Use :set rl! to overcome boredom. :help 'rl'
• Or try :g/^/m0 :help :g :help :m
• And ggg?G can be just as useful. :help g?

March 2009Edit

• Press R to enter Replace mode to overstrike characters. :help R
• Press gR to enter Virtual Replace mode to overstrike screen space. :help gR
• Press 3S to delete 3 lines and start insert (substitute lines). :help S

February 2009Edit

• Read how to recover after a crash, before you need to! :help crash-recovery
• The 'backupcopy' option determines how files are written if backups are used. :help 'backupcopy'
• The 'backupext' option can be changed in an autocommand to keep lots of backups. :help 'backupext'

January 2009Edit

• The :le command left-aligns all visually-selected lines. :help :left
• Format specified lines by typing gq followed by a motion command. :help gq
• gq uses 'formatexpr' or 'formatprg' or 'formatoptions'. :help 'formatexpr' :help 'formatprg' :help 'formatoptions'