From Vim Help

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

Every few weeks, the section on the home page will be replaced. Old items will be moved here so anyone interested can browse them.

To discuss suggestions for new items, please edit the talk page.

August 2009

• 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 2009

• 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 2009

• 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 2009

• 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 2009

• 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 2009

• 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 2009

• 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 2009

• 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'

Previous years

• 2008 From Vim Help