How do I paste a register in insert mode without triggering auto-indent?
<C-r><C-o>{reg}
When you use a in insert mode to paste register a, Vim inserts the text as if you typed it character by character.
Search: i{ a{
2125 results for "i{ a{"
How do I interactively browse and set all Vim options in a single window?
:options
:options opens a special Vim buffer that lists every available option, grouped by category (appearance, editing, search, etc.
How do I get the current Vim mode as a string for use in expression mappings or the statusline?
mode()
The mode() function returns a short string identifying the current editing mode — 'n' for Normal, 'i' for Insert, 'v' for Visual character-wise, 'V' for Visua
macros #macros #normal-mode #visual-mode #insert-mode #editing
How do I search across all of Vim's help documentation for a keyword or phrase?
:helpgrep {pattern}
:helpgrep searches the full text of every Vim help file for a pattern and loads all matches into the quickfix list.
How do I swap two regions of text without a complex yank-delete-paste workflow?
cx{motion} … cx{motion} (vim-exchange)
The vim-exchange plugin provides cx{motion} to mark a region, then cx{motion} again on a second region to swap them in place.
How do I center or right-align a range of lines in Vim?
:[range]center / :[range]right / :[range]left
Vim has built-in Ex commands for text alignment: :center, :right, and :left.
How do I run a substitution or command on every line in the quickfix list?
:cdo
:cdo {cmd} executes {cmd} on each entry in the quickfix list — one by one, jumping to each location in turn.
command-line #ex-commands #quickfix #search #editing #buffers
How do I do a case-preserving search and replace in Vim?
:%s/\v(old)/\=toupper(submatch(0)[0]).tolower(submatch(0)[1:])/g
Standard substitutions don't preserve the original case of matched text.
How do I zero-pad or reformat numbers during a substitution using printf in Vim?
:%s/\d\+/\=printf('%03d', submatch(0))/g
Combining Vim's \= expression substitution with the printf() function lets you apply arbitrary formatting to matched text.
How do I apply the last substitution's replacement to a different search pattern without retyping it?
:~
The :~ command repeats the last substitution but uses the current search pattern instead of the original pattern.
How do I populate the argument list with a glob pattern to work across multiple files?
:args {pattern}
The :args command sets Vim's argument list to all files matching a glob pattern.
How do I jump to a definition-style pattern match using Vim's define search?
:djump /MY_MACRO/
:djump searches for matches using Vim's definition search rules and jumps to the selected hit.
How do I search for a second pattern relative to where the first one matched?
/pattern1/;/pattern2/
Vim's search offsets allow chaining two patterns together with a semicolon.
How do I save just the visually selected lines to a new file?
:'<,'>w {filename}
After making a visual selection, you can write only those lines to a new file using :'w {filename}.
How do I insert a timestamp computed by Vimscript directly from Normal mode?
"=strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')<CR>p
The expression register lets you evaluate Vimscript on demand and paste the result immediately.
registers #registers #expression-register #automation #timestamps
How do I use a count prefix in a custom Vim mapping where no count defaults to 1?
v:count1
The v:count1 variable holds the count typed before a command, defaulting to 1 if no count was given.
How do I configure Vim's command-line tab completion to show a list of matches?
:set wildmode=longest,list
By default, Vim's command-line completion just cycles through matches one at a time.
How do I duplicate a line in Vim?
yyp
The yyp command duplicates the current line by yanking it and immediately pasting it below.
How do I prepend a custom persistent undo directory while keeping existing undodir paths in Vim?
:set undodir^=$HOME/.vim/undo//
If you already have an undodir configured by a distro config or plugin, replacing it outright can remove fallback paths you still want.
How do I reuse the replacement text from my last substitution in a new one without retyping it?
:s/pattern/~/
In a Vim substitution, using ~ as the replacement string repeats the replacement text from the most recent :s command.