Getting started with vim can be a tedious and boring task. This pre-configured vim package is something that can make using vim more enjoyable and simple for new users.
The .vimrc in this pre-configured vim package contains many configurations that are commonly used. Some of the configurations are commented out. If after looking at the .vimrc file and you decide to use some of the configurations that are not included, just remove the comments.
As for the nine selected plugins, each are popular ones that every vim user should know. Want to jump between folders with a few keys? Want to comment a whole paragraph with just a snap? The nine selected plugins have features that make programming easier than ever.
To see what other programmers think about vim, go to Stackoverflow: Is learning VIM worth the effort?
To see what shortcuts other programmers love to use, go to Stackoverflow: What is your most productive shortcut with Vim?
To learn more about what vim can do, go to [The Vim Editor: What Vim Can Do] (http://www.vim.org/about.php)
To see an introduction on .vimrc, go to The Vim Editor: Open vimrc file
Before installng, make sure you have git and vim.
Type the command below to download .vimrc and all the included plugins.
sh <(curl https://github.com/atan009/vimrc/raw/master/download.sh -L)
If you already have .vim and .vimrc, this installation will create a new directory called old_vim_config and move all the old files into it.
Even with vim and .vimrc, there are some features that users would wish vim could do. Simple tasks like commenting a paragraph or jumping between folders within a file are something that many programmers would love to be able to do. As a result, a lot of programmers started to write their own vim script file and enable these features. The vim script file that they write are called Plugins. Using plugins not only makes it easier and faster to code in vim, but it also personalizes the text editor for the programmer.
In this pre-configured vim package, there are nine plugins that are popular among vim-lovers:
| Plugin | Description |
|---|---|
| Fugitive | git wrapper |
| Syntastic | syntax error detector |
| NERDcommenter | commenting helper |
| EasyMotion | fast searching/jumping tool |
| NERDtree | a file explorer |
| SuperTab | fast typing filled-in aid |
| Gundo | simplistic undo tree |
| Solarized | stylish colorscheme |
| Surround | mapping tool |
| Pathogen | simple plugin installation package |
#####Modifications:
If you want to remove a plugin, just remove the directory of that plugin in the bundle directory. If you want to add a plugin, the first thing to do is to check whether the new plugin is compatible with the other plugins. If it is, simply install it by following the installation directions given by the creator. Depending on the plugin, you may need to modify .vimrc to fit the plugins needs.
As a git user, fugitive is probably the most useful plugin in this tutorial. It is a Git wrapper that collects and creates a lot of shortcuts for git. With fugitive, you can add, push, commit, checkout status or branches, and do any other things that git can do, but a lot faster.
To make it easier, here are a list of fugitive commands:
| Fugitive Command | Git Command |
|---|---|
| :Gstatus | git status |
| :Gwrite | git add |
| :Gcommit | git commit |
| :Gpush | git push |
| :Gblame | git blame |
| :Gmove | git mv |
| :Ggrep | git grep |
| :Gread | git checkout -- |
The gif belows demonstrates how to check the status using :Gstatus, add README.md using :Gwrite, commit the file using :Gcommit, and push the file to github repo using :Gpush.
For more explanation on Fugitive, go to [Github tpope/vim-fugitive] (https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive)
Syntastic is a plugin which will save all programmers time. It detects syntax errors BEFORE you even compile. As all programmers know, these errors happen by mistake all the time and can be annoying. This is a highly recommended plugin for anyone who hates searching through their code for one syntax error.
Syntastic identifies errors after everytime a file is saved. When highlighting a line of error, the error will be displayed at the bottom of the terminal. A line of error will be show with >> next to it.
For more information about Syntastic, go to [Github scrooloose/syntastic] (https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic)
NERDcommenter is a plugin that makes adding and removing comments easy. All of the commands can be done in either visual or normal mode.
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| \cc | comment out the line highlighted by the cursor |
| \ci | toggle the state of the highlighted lines |
| \cu | uncomment the line that the cursor is highlighting |
| \cs | comment the highlighted using /* and */ rather than the ordinary // |
Below shows example of using \ci and \cu to comment out single line.
Below shows example of using \cs to comment out multiple lines.
For more information about NERDcommenter, go to [Github scrooloose/nerdcommenter] (https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdcommenter)
EasyMotion helps you make large jump within a buffer easier and faster by searching up your destination.
For one character search, enter \\w. A word Target: will appear in the command line. Enter any character you want to search for and EasyMotion will highlight all the appearances of the character in the buffer. Enter the one you want to jump to and EasyMotion will take you there.
EasyMotion will override vim's word search and highlight corresponding matches.
![EasyMotionN] (http://imgur.com/DVc9xzl.gif)
For more information about EasyMotion, go to [Github Lokaltog/vim-easymotion] (https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-easymotion)
NERDtree allows you to view your files and directories in the form of a tree, bookmark directories/files, open selected files within a file, and checkout different folders.
| Command | Result |
|---|---|
| ctrl n | open NERDtree and view all files in tree form |
| arrow keys | navigate between files and directories |
| <ENTER> | read files or directories |
| NERDTreeClose | close NERDtree |
For more infomation about NERDtree, go to [Github scrooloose/nerdtree] (https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree)
For more tips on NERDtree, go to tuts+: Vim Essential Plugin: NERDTree
SuperTab aids you in quickly typing in strings of characters, but only pre-existing ones. This is useful if you enjoy automatic text filling. By typing a few characters and pressing <TAB> the word will be filled automatically, unless there is more than one existing string with the same characters typed. In this situation, a list of words will be shown in which you can choose the correct one by pressing <TAB> to alternate between different words.
For more information about Supertab, go to [Github ervandew/supertab] (https://github.com/ervandew/supertab)
In vim, all the changes you make to your file are saved as a tree. Gundo is a plugin that displays your edit history in the form of a tree so you can easily see the differences between previous changes and jump back to any old version.
Press <F5> in a file to traverse the graph of the tree of changes. Default current position in the undo tree is the one marked with @. To move between the graph, use j and k keys. Like vim, gg jumps to top of the file while G brings you to the bottom of the file.
Press return on a state to revert the content of the file and use p to make the preview window show the differences between the current state and selected state.
To quit the undo tree, press q.
For more explanation about Gundo, go to [Gundo: Graph your Vim undo tree in style.] (http://sjl.bitbucket.org/gundo.vim/)
Solarized changes the colorscheme of the vim editor. Often times, the default is not the best. It can be extremely irritating when you cannot differentiate between different types of files in vim. It is possible to change the font and customize the colors to your own preference.
For more information about solarized, go to [Github altercation/vim-colors-solarized] (https://github.com/altercation/vim-colors-solarized)
Alternate color schemes include [Github sjl/badwolf] (https://github.com/sjl/badwolf/) , [Github tomasr/molokai] (https://github.com/tomasr/molokai)
Surround aids you in adding, changing or deleting delimiters. Below are three most commonly used commands.
| command | result |
|---|---|
| cs<old char><new char> | replace occurences of the old char with the new char |
| ds" | remove the delimiters |
| yssb or yss) | surround an entire line with parenthesis |
Below is an example of cs"'
Below is an example of ds"
Below is an example of yssb
For more information about Surround, go to [Github tpope/vim-surround] (https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround)
Pathogen is a plugin that will make installing other plugins easier. It also allows runtime files to be installed in their own private directories. Pathogen is not the only plugin manager, but it is the only one included here. There are many other plugin managers, but Pathogen appeared to be the most basic one.
Alternate Plugin Manager include [Github MarcWeber/vim-addon-manager] (https://github.com/MarcWeber/vim-addon-manager) , [Github gmarik/Vundle.vim] (https://github.com/gmarik/Vundle.vim) , [Github Shougo/neobundle.vim] (https://github.com/Shougo/neobundle.vim)
For more information about Pathogen, go to [Github tpope/vim-pathogen] (https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen)