Vim IRC FAQ

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created February 16, 2008 · complexity basic · author Metacosm · version 7.0

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Using help

• :help :help
• :help c_Ctrl-D
• :help :helpgrep

Search Highlights

• :help 'hlsearch' -- turn them on or off permanently
• :help :nohlsearch -- turn them off until the next search

Backspace behavior -- how to get (g)vim to backspace over line-endings and so forth

• :help 'bs'

Do something to all lines matching a pattern

• :help :g

Format options

• :help fo-table

End-of-line problems (extra ^Ms all over the place)

• File Format

Indenting

• Category:Indenting
• :help 'expandtab'
• :help 'shiftwidth'
• :help 'tabstop'
• :help 'copyindent'
• :help 'preserveindent'
• :help sub-replace-special -- for why \n doesn't do what you want in s///

Not indenting when pasting

• :help 'paste'

Making invisible characters visible (tabs, newlines, trailing spaces,...)

• :help 'list'
• :help 'listchars'

Show matching braces

• :help 'showmatch'