Vim

Write to read-only file

:w !sudo tee "%"

Delete any number of lines

Shift+V from point of cursor and press D key to delete.

Search and replace

Current file

:%s/search/replace/g

Across all directories

1. Open Telescope with fuzzy finding:

   <leader>fw

2. Type in search term

3. Add all results to quickfix list at once using <Ctrl-q> or alternatively, press Tab on every desired entry and press <Alt-q>

4. Type the following command:

   :cfdo %s/search/replace/g

5. Write all changes:

   :wa

Tip

In Telescope it is necessary to escape certain characters like { (e.g. \{), but the same isn’t necessary when doing the actual replacement with :cfdo.

Disable search highlight

:noh

Prepend multiple lines with a character

1. Shift+V from point of cursor to enter Visual Block mode
2. Move up/down to select multiple lines
3. : to enter command mode
4. s/^/#/g to replace first character on the lines with a #

The prompt will look something like this when all done:

:'<,'>s/^/#/g

Format to certain column width

1. Set text width to desired width:

   :set textwidth=80

2. Move to start of file:

   gg

3. Format text from start to the end:

   gqG

Tip

Use visual mode the selectively format (don’t move to start of the file in that case).

Measure start-up speed

Using Hyperfine

$ hyperfine "nvim --headless +qa" --warmup 5
Benchmark 1: nvim --headless +qa
  Time (mean ± σ):      40.3 ms ±   1.8 ms    [User: 16.1 ms, System: 8.0 ms]
  Range (min … max):    37.2 ms …  46.3 ms    58 runs

Using NeoVim

$ nvim --startuptime startup.log -c exit && head -n 21 startup.log
--- Startup times for process: Primary/TUI ---

times in msec
 clock   self+sourced   self:  sourced script
 clock   elapsed:              other lines

000.000  000.000: --- NVIM STARTING ---
000.070  000.070: event init
000.197  000.126: early init
000.368  000.172: locale set
000.414  000.046: init first window
011.338  010.925: inits 1
011.346  000.008: window checked
011.350  000.004: parsing arguments
011.733  000.028  000.028: require('vim.shared')
011.798  000.031  000.031: require('vim.inspect')
011.836  000.028  000.028: require('vim._options')
011.837  000.100  000.041: require('vim._editor')
011.838  000.155  000.027: require('vim._init_packages')
011.840  000.334: init lua interpreter
012.142  000.302: --- NVIM STARTED ---

Using Lazy

:Lazy profile

Re-indent according to file type

• A single line: ==
• A range of lines: <range>==
• Entire file: gg=G
  • Probably won’t be as intelligent as a language-specific formatter

Reverse lines

:g/^/m0

More information here.

Use visual mode to selectively reverse ((:g|:global) command is still required).

Useful for re-ordering commits with git rebase -i if you know you made the most relevant commit first and subsequent minor changes afterwards.

Undo options

Boolean options

:set spell
:set spell!

Non-boolean options

:set formatoptions&

Diff two open buffers

Run :diffthis in both of the buffers. Run :diffoff to disable.

Cancel a Git commit with a non-zero exit

:cq

Open new file

:e <file path>

When using relative paths, your actual working directory needs to match as well

Get the file path to the currently opened buffer

1. Enter Insert mode
2. Press <Ctrl-r> and %

The active line should now contain the file path to the currently opened buffer, but remember that this is relative to the current working directory. So, whereever Vim was opened will be the root.