A Vim Guide for Advanced Users • Hacker News Board

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#51

Post by bxparks » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 5:36 PM UTC

orlp wrote: post #12

OskarS wrote: post #5

The article mentions ”gn” in passing, but it doesn’t give it enough credit: this is an enormously useful motion, almost more useful on its own than the rest of the article. The thing that makes it golden is that it is a motion, and thus combined with a command, it is repeatable! So, like: 1. Search for something (either using / or *). 2. Type ”cgn” in Normal mode (i.e. change next search match) and replace what you s…

This has one huge shortcoming: when the next match is off-screen, pressing . jumps immediately to the next match and replaces it, before you had the opportunity to review whether you want that. To solve this I wrote a little plugin (that I finished as a plugin yesterday and uploaded just now): https://github.com/orlp/vim-quick-replace It requires vim-repeat (and a patched one because the current one has an issue): ht…

That's a good point about previewing. So instead of "cgn", it looks like you can do "gns", which highlights the match, then enters into substitution mode, and you type the replacement, then hit . Then you can hit "n." "n." "n." repeatedly, where the "n" goes to the next match so that you can preview, and the "." applies the replacement. Not quite as efficient as a single ".", but the "n." sequence is a familiar one.

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#52

Post by tvrg » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

orlp wrote: post #12

OskarS wrote: post #5

The article mentions ”gn” in passing, but it doesn’t give it enough credit: this is an enormously useful motion, almost more useful on its own than the rest of the article. The thing that makes it golden is that it is a motion, and thus combined with a command, it is repeatable! So, like: 1. Search for something (either using / or *). 2. Type ”cgn” in Normal mode (i.e. change next search match) and replace what you s…

This has one huge shortcoming: when the next match is off-screen, pressing . jumps immediately to the next match and replaces it, before you had the opportunity to review whether you want that. To solve this I wrote a little plugin (that I finished as a plugin yesterday and uploaded just now): https://github.com/orlp/vim-quick-replace It requires vim-repeat (and a patched one because the current one has an issue): ht…

Is this much different from searching with * or :s for a match and use something like "ciwReplacement", then "n." or just "n" if I don't want to change the match? I can imagine that the plugin works in more complicated cases, but most of the time I probably just want to replace a word with ciw or ciW.

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#53

Post by happy-go-lucky » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 5:38 PM UTC

One of my favorites is the Vim's ability to split both horizontally ( +, then ) and vertically ( +, then ).

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#54

Post by residualmind » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 5:40 PM UTC

Agentlien wrote: post #43

This was a really nice refresher and I learned a few new cool tricks (like gx). I'm a bit surprised that the 'u' flag for sort wasn't mentioned. That's the most useful one in my mind and I use it almost every time.

My thoughts exactly about ':sort u'

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#55

Post by tvrg » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

aaimtts wrote: post #48

OskarS wrote: post #5

The article mentions ”gn” in passing, but it doesn’t give it enough credit: this is an enormously useful motion, almost more useful on its own than the rest of the article. The thing that makes it golden is that it is a motion, and thus combined with a command, it is repeatable! So, like: 1. Search for something (either using / or *). 2. Type ”cgn” in Normal mode (i.e. change next search match) and replace what you s…

This is very useful, thank you! How would you go about pasting the "replace" part though? I could only think of this rather awkward sequence: 1. Yank to named register 2. Search 3. "cgn" 4. Ctrl-R to paste from named register 5. Repeat This is actually the biggest gripe I have with vim, even after almost 10 years of constant use. Vim always seems to overwrite the default register when I don't want it to. This makes r…

You can slightly simplify your workflow using the yank register 0.

1. Yank using y without specifying a register

...

4. CTRL-R 0

Deletes and changes don't touch the 0-register. It always contains your last (unnamed) yank.

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#56

Post by dllthomas » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 6:01 PM UTC

The section on the quickfix list should include cbuffer, which puts the contents of the current buffer in the quickfix list.

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#57

Post by cma » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

Is there a good way by default to wrap a visual selection in braces/parens/brackets?

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#58

Post by dllthomas » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

nafizh wrote: post #19

Practical vim by Drew Neil is hands down the best vim learning resource out there. Nothing even comes close.

What are the high points? Would you expect it has much to add for someone who's been using vim for closer to 3 decades than 2?

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#59

Post by nightcracker » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 6:19 PM UTC

tvrg wrote: post #52

orlp wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has one huge shortcoming: when the next match is off-screen, pressing . jumps immediately to the next match and replaces it, before you had the opportunity to review whether you want that. To solve this I wrote a little plugin (that I finished as a plugin yesterday and uploaded just now): https://github.com/orlp/vim-quick-replace It requires vim-repeat (and a patched one because the current one has an issue): ht…

Is this much different from searching with * or :s for a match and use something like "ciwReplacement ", then "n." or just "n" if I don't want to change the match? I can imagine that the plugin works in more complicated cases, but most of the time I probably just want to replace a word with ciw or ciW.

Well, assuming you already have a plugin or mapping that makes * search your visual selection, it's similar.

You'd have to do *, then N to back to where you just were, then cgn, type your replacement, and then n., n., n., n (skip), n., etc.

With my plugin that just becomes one mapping, type your replacement, ., ., n (skip), ., etc.

It's just very smooth, which I like because I use this operation literally all the time. Hell, I'll even use it when changing a single variable, just to make sure there isn't another sneaky one in the file somewhere.

Re: A Vim Guide for Advanced Users

#60

Post by danidiaz » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 6:20 PM UTC

orthecreedence wrote: post #17

Thank you! Two things I really got from this: Capital marks. I use ma or ms and `a `s a lot, but did not know you could do global marks with mA and `A. Very useful! I've been using `` for a long time to mean "go back to the last place I was editing" but sometimes it gets overridden when navigating (I'm not super familiar with the jumplist, so maybe I need to get a better understanding) but `[ and `] are exactly what…

> did not know you could do global marks with mA and `A.

Incidentally, the "Vimium" browser extension also supports those marks with the same syntax; they're an interesting alternative to conventional bookmarks for frequently accessed pages. https://github.com/philc/vimium/blob/master/README.md