Useful Vim Tricks
Append Output Of A External Command To Your Buffer
The :read command can insert a file or the output of an external program into the current buffer.
To run a program just prefix the shell command with !.
Example:
:read !echo "hello"
You can also specify the line you want to output to. Just prefix read with a number and it will output to that line.
Example:
:12read !echo "hello"
To output to a certain number of lines before your current line, prefix with - number of lines.
- for before.
Example:
:-12read !echo "hello"
Create A New File In The Same Directory As The Current Buffer
%:h will autocomplete the folder path for you. Press ’
:e %:h/
Custom Settings For Different Filetypes / Languages: ftplugin
By using the ftplugin directory, you can apply different settings or keymaps
for different languages and filetypes.
For example: In the $HOME/.config/nvim/ftplugin/javascript.vim file
nnoremap ,get :read $VIMPATH/snippets/js/get.js<CR>
when you run this keymap, it will pipe the contents of the .js file into
your current buffer
Sorting
Highlight the lines you want to sort, then run the command: :sort
Example:
// before
banana = 'banana'
durian = 'durian'
cantalope = 'cantalope'
apple = 'apple'
// after
apple = 'apple'
banana = 'banana'
cantalope = 'cantalope'
durian = 'durian'
Columns
Highlight (using shift+v) the lines you want, then run the command :!column --table.
This will organize the spacing for you.
Example:
// before
apple = 'apple'
banana = 'banana'
cantalope = 'cantalope'
durian = 'durian'
// after
apple = 'apple'
banana = 'banana'
cantalope = 'cantalope'
durian = 'durian'
Multiple Commands In One
You can execute multiple commands in one command by separating them with |.
Example:
:%s/hello/world | %s/foo/bar | %s/hello/goodbye
Use Case: Generating A File
Sometimes you just need to quickly create a file with some boilerplate in it, to do this you can make vim open and read file, then pipe it into your current buffer.
You can create a snippets folder that holds all of your snippets or boilerplate. Using these files, I can generate the files I want by combining commands in VIM.
Example: I have a snippet file called test.js. In this file, I have some boilerplate for a
test file for a nodejs project. In any given project, I can generate a new test file in the same directory as
my current buffer is in using:
:e %:h/mytest.test.js | read /path/to/snippet/test.js
Windows
Hiding Windows
noremap <leader>hh <C-w>h:hide<CR> " hide the left window
noremap <leader>hj <C-w>j:hide<CR> " hide the bottom window
noremap <leader>hk <C-w>k:hide<CR> " hide the top window
noremap <leader>hl <C-w>l:hide<CR> " hide the right window