How do I reflow and hard-wrap a paragraph or selected lines to a fixed width in Vim?
gq (visual mode)
Pressing gq on a visual selection reformats the selected lines to hard-wrap at textwidth columns.
Tag: formatting
How do I reindent a block of code using a visual selection?
= (in visual mode)
After making a visual selection, pressing = applies Vim's auto-indent to every selected line at once.
How do I uppercase or lowercase matched text directly in a substitute command?
:%s/pattern/\U&/g
Vim's substitute replacement string supports special case-transform atoms that change the case of matched text without requiring a second pass or an external to
How do I pipe a range of lines through an external command and replace them with the output?
!{motion}{command}
The ! operator filters the text covered by a motion through an external shell command, replacing the original lines with the command's stdout.
How do I sort lines and remove duplicates in one command?
:sort u
The :sort u command sorts all lines in the buffer (or a selected range) alphabetically and removes duplicate lines in a single pass.
How do I sort lines based on a specific column or pattern match rather than the whole line?
:%sort /[^,]*,/ n
Vim's :sort command accepts a pattern that controls which part of each line is used as the sort key.
How do I filter text through an external program using a motion in normal mode?
!{motion}{program}
The ! operator in normal mode lets you pipe a range of text through any external program and replace it with the output.
How do I add line numbers to the beginning of every line using a substitute expression?
:%s/^/\=line('.').' '/
Vim's substitute command supports expressions in the replacement string using \=.
How do I change the case of a specific column of text using visual block mode?
<C-v>jjlU
Visual block mode lets you select rectangular regions of text, which means you can target a specific column and apply case changes only to that area.
How do I fix the indentation of a code block without affecting surrounding code?
=i{
When editing code with messy indentation — after a paste, a merge conflict, or a refactor — you often need to fix just one block rather than the entire file
How do I turn a visual selection of lines into a numbered list?
:s/^/\=line('.') - line("'<") + 1 . '. '/
When you need to quickly number a set of lines — such as TODO items, steps, or bullet points — you can use a visual selection combined with a substitution e
visual-mode #visual-mode #editing #ex-commands #formatting #substitute
How do I insert the same text multiple times without a macro or copy-paste?
80i-<Esc>
Vim's insert commands accept a count prefix that repeats everything you type.
How do I find accidentally repeated words like 'the the' in a document?
/\(\<\w\+\>\)\_s\+\1\>
When writing or editing text, repeated words like "the the" or "is is" are a common typo that spell checkers often miss.
How do I align columns of text into a neatly formatted table in Vim?
:'<,'>!column -t
When working with data that has uneven spacing — such as variable assignments, CSV-like data, or configuration entries — you can select the lines and pipe t
visual-mode #visual-mode #editing #formatting #external-command #alignment
How do I increase or decrease indentation while staying in insert mode?
<C-t> and <C-d> in insert mode
When typing in insert mode, you can adjust the current line's indentation without leaving to normal mode.
How do I set different Vim options for specific programming languages?
autocmd FileType python setlocal ts=4 sw=4 et
Using autocmd FileType, you can configure Vim to automatically apply buffer-local settings whenever a file of a particular type is opened.
How do I reformat a paragraph or visual selection to fit a specific line width?
gq
The gq operator reformats text to fit within your configured textwidth.
How do I indent or dedent the current line without leaving insert mode?
<C-t> and <C-d>
When you're typing in insert mode and realize the current line needs more or less indentation, you don't have to leave insert mode to fix it.
How do I quickly convert between snake_case, camelCase, and other naming conventions in Vim?
crs / crm / crc / cru
Tim Pope's vim-abolish plugin provides cr (coerce) commands that instantly convert the word under the cursor between common naming conventions.
How do I reformat a paragraph to fit a specific line width in Vim?
gqap
The gq operator reformats text by wrapping lines to fit within the textwidth setting.