Chapter 2: Opening Files, Finding Content

Open Files

Ha, now you have learned a way to open files in Vim, although this way is not the most common, but it is the most direct, especially when your code includes a certain file, the following introduces two other commonly used open methods.

Open files in Vim

• :e <filename> open the file which named <filename>, if the file is not exists, it will create a new one
• :Ex open the directory tree in Vim, press - to enter the parent directory and press Enter to open the corresponding file

Find

Find content in document

• * find the word under the cursor and jump to the next
• # find the word under the cursor and jump to the previous
• /<search> find the specified string forward
• ?<search> find the specified string backward
• n continue to find the next
• N continue to find the previous

Note: n and N are directional. If you previously searched with *, n will continue to search toward the end of the document, and N toward the beginning of the document; conversely, if you search with #, n points to the beginning and N points to the end of the document.

Search in line

• f<X> Finds X on a line toward the end of the line and positions the cursor over the character X.`
• t<X> Finds X on a line toward the end of the line and positions the cursor over the character before X.
• F<X> Finds X on a line toward the beginning of the line and positions the cursor over the character X.
• T<X> Finds X on a line toward the beginning of the line and positions the cursor over the character after X.
• ; Find the next character in the current direction
• , Find the previous character in the current direction

There are several "Vim" words in the current document, you can try to use * and # to find and feel the directionality of n and N.

And there are several "n" characters in the "Note" above, you can try to find them in the line and feel the directionality of ; and ,.

Matching

In Vim, you can use % to match ( and ), [ and ], { and }. When the cursor is on one of the symbols, press %, the cursor will jump to the other symbol that matches it.

Press % on the ()[]{} characters in the following text to see the effect. Press % repeatedly to jump back and forth between each matching pair.

const func = (win, doc) => {
  const SEVEN = ((1 + 2) * (3 + 4) * (5 - 6)) / 7;
  const YU = [1, 2, [[3, 4], 5, 6], 7];
  if (true) {
    return SEVEN;
  } else {
    return YU;
  }
};

Next Chapter introduces editing. First, meet the Vim buffer: a buffer is text loaded into memory for editing. It is not a window or merely a file history. One buffer can appear in several windows, and closing a window does not necessarily remove its buffer.

Now you should have two files in your buffer, you can use :buffers or :ls command to view, see the buffer list, probably like this:

:ls
  1 #h   "chapter01.md"                  line 66
  2 %a   "chapter02.md"                  line 1
Press ENTER or type command to continue

Then, you can use the following commands to switch between buffers:

• :bn open the next file in the buffer
• :bp open the previous file in the buffer
• :b<N> open the Nth file in the buffer

Use :bdelete <N> (or :bd <N>) to remove a buffer from the list. Vim will refuse if it contains unsaved changes; do not immediately add ! until you have decided whether those changes matter.

Of course, you can also use the :Ex command, select chapter03.md and open it, enter Chapter 3.