Hacking Vim 7.2

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Vim
  • Getting Vim
  • vi, Vim, and friends
    • vi
    • STEVIE
    • Elvis
    • nvi
    • Vim
    • Vile
    • Compatibility
  • Vim is charityware
  • Common terminology
  • Summary

• Chapter 2: Personalizing Vim
  • Where are the configuration files?
  • Changing the fonts
  • Changing color scheme
    • Personal highlighting
      • Example 1: Mark color characters after a certain column
      • Example 2: Mark tabs not used for indentation in code
      • Example 3: Preventing errors caused by IP addresses
  • A more informative status line
  • Toggle menu and toolbar
  • Adding your own menu and toolbar buttons
    • Adding a menu
    • Adding toolbar icons
  • Modifying tabs
  • Work area personalization
    • Adding a more visual cursor
    • Adding line numbers
    • Spell checking your language
    • Adding helpful tool tips
    • Using abbreviations
      • Example 1: Using abbreviations for quick address insertion
    • Modifying key bindings
  • Summary

• Chapter 3: Better Navigation
  • Faster navigation in a file
    • Context-aware navigation
      • Moving around within a code file
      • Moving in a code file
    • Navigating long lines
  • Faster navigation in Vim help
    • Faster navigation in multiple buffers
    • Open referenced files faster
  • Search and you will find
    • Search the current file
      • Example 1: Find the next occurrence of a word
      • Example 2: Search for a word under the cursor
    • Search in multiple files
    • Search the help system
  • X marks the spot
    • Visible markers—using signs
    • Hidden markers—using marks
  • Summary

• Chapter 4: Production Boosters
  • Using templates
    • Using template files
    • Abbreviations as templates
    • Snippets with the snipMate script
  • Using tag lists
    • Easier taglist navigation
    • Other usages of taglists
  • Using autocompletion
    • Autocompletion with known words
    • Autocompletion using dictionary lookup
    • Omnicompletion
    • All-in-one completion
  • Using macro recording
  • Using sessions
    • Simple session usage
      • Satisfy your own session needs
    • Sessions as a project manager
  • Registers and undo branching
    • Using registers
      • The unnamed register
      • The small delete register
      • The numbered registers
      • The named registers
      • The read-only registers
      • The selection and drop registers
      • The black hole register
      • Search pattern register
      • The expression register
  • Using undo branching
  • Folding
    • Simple text file outlining
    • Using vimdiff to track the changes
    • Navigation in vimdiff
    • Using diff to track changes
  • Open files anywhere
    • Faster remote file editing
  • Summary

• Chapter 5: Advanced Formatting
  • Formatting text
    • Putting text into paragraphs
    • Aligning text
    • Marking headlines
    • Creating lists
  • Formatting code
    • Autoindent
    • Smartindent
    • Cindent
    • Indentexpr
    • Fast code-block formatting
    • Auto format pasted code
  • Using external formatting tools
    • Indent
    • Berkeley Par
    • Tidy
  • Summary

• Chapter 6: Basic Vim Scripting
  • Syntax-color schemes
    • Your first syntax-color file
  • Syntax regions
    • Color scheme and syntax coloring
  • Using scripts
    • Script types
    • Installing scripts
      • Uninstalling scripts
  • Script development
    • Script writing basics
      • Types
      • Variables
      • Conditions
      • Working with lists and dictionaries
      • Loops
      • Creating functions
  • Summary

• Chapter 7: Extended Vim Scripting
  • Script structure
    • Script header
    • Script-loaded check
    • Script configuration
    • Key mappings
    • Functions
    • Putting it all together
  • Scripting tips
    • Gvim or Vim?
    • Which operating system?
    • Which version of Vim?
    • Printing longer lines
  • Debugging Vim scripts
  • Distributing Vim scripts
    • Making Vimballs
  • Remember the documentation
  • Using external interpreters
    • Vim scripting in Perl
    • Vim scripting in Python
    • Vim scripting in Ruby
  • Summary

• Appendix A: Vim Can Do Everything
  • Vim games
    • Game of Life
    • Nibbles
    • Rubik's cube
    • Tic-Tac-Toe
    • Mines
    • Sokoban
    • Tetris
  • Programmers IDE
  • Mail program
  • Chat with Vim
  • Using Vim as a Twitter client

• Appendix B: Vim Configuration Alternatives
  • Tips for keeping your vimrc file clean
  • A vimrc setup system
  • Storing vimrc online

• Index

Kim Schulz

For someone who uses Vim and is looking to master it, this book is a great starting point. I'd recommend this book to any person who uses Vim and wants to explore features they may have been missing. Read More

Hacking Vim 7.2 offers some great tips on how to customise your experience and also introduces you to its scripting engine in order to publish your own extensions. Read More

Sample chapters

You can view our sample chapters and prefaces of this title on PacktLib or download sample chapters in PDF format.

Find your book in our support section to find errata and to download code samples.