Vim Cheat Sheet
Posted on March 6th, 2021Tags:
#vim, #vimscript, #cheat-sheetThere's already a number of cheat sheets out there for Vim and Vimscript, but I rarely find one that works. Or at the very least an easily searchable list with specific keywords describing what a function does. So I made one. (Or at least made a reference that I'll add stuff to when I find neat tricks).
This is largely meant to cover "lesser known" functions, but will cover others that may not be lesser known, purely because I felt like including it, or because it took embarassingly long for me to become aware of its existence.
Files
| Function | Description | Tags |
|---|
writefile() | Writes to a file, and creates said file if it doesn't exist. Largely useful by being a pure script feature, meaning you don't have to open a buffer to make a new file. | create, write, erase |
Folders
| Function | Description | Tags |
|---|
mkdir | Creates a directory, but it supports several arguments. If the second argument is "p", it both creates parent directories as needed, and newer versions of Vim don't throw if the directory exists | create, trees |
Vim features
| Keyword | Description | Tags |
|---|
silent! | Bang version of silent, and it completely discards errors. Put it in front of anything causing an error, and it'll be handled quietly. | errors, error handling |
scriptversion | (New Vim only): makes it possible to set the language standard. Not to be confused with vim9script, though it's in a similar alley for classic strings | version |
Strings
| Function | Description | Tags |
|---|
split() | Potentially familiar, but the second argument supports regex | split |
.. | Alternative to . for string concatenation. Does the exact same thing but with no a mbiguity with the standard access operator, which also happens to be .. | String concatenation operator |
Regex
| Flag | Description | Tags |
|---|
\v | Very magic - means characters are interpreted differently. The major implication here is that you can write () or [] groups without needing to escape characters. Same with or - generally, it removes the need for a lot of escaping. | magic, escaping |
\V | Essentially the opposite of \v, but a bit more extreme. Largely useful if you've got a bit of a regex that you'd have to escape. Both \v and \V can be used in the same string, which makes it exceptionally useful in scripting contexts. \v still has a lot of uses, notably in substitute if you need regex, and you've forgotten about :sm. Function use is much more relevant, however. | no magic, escaping |
Note: I'm not entirely sure why it's called magic. It just makes interpretation feel slightly more like traditional regex (assuming magic is on).
Comments
All comments posted either through utteranc.es or manually on the associated GitHub issue end up on an associated issue in the website GitHub repo, and as such are required to follow the project code of conduct. Remember this while writing comments.