Knowledge Base

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====== Vim Tips and Tricks ======
===== Install new syntax file for Vim =====
  - Download the .vim file.
  - Copy it to <vim installation directory>
  - Edit your .vimrc file.
  - Add a line like this: “**au BufNewFile,BufRead *.ft set filetype=ft**”, where “ft” is the file extension and file type you are installing support for.

===== Custom Vim settings in Cygwin =====
If you want to have custom startup setting for Vim in a Cygwin session, do the following:

  - Start a Cygwin Bash session.
  - Go to “/usr/share/vim/vim72″. (You may need to modify the “72″ to match your installed version of Vim.)
  - Copy vimrc_example.vim to ~/.vimrc
  - Go to your home directory, edit the .vimrc file, and modify the settings to your liking.

===== Customize syntax highlighting in VIM by extension =====
Sometimes, VIM does not correctly apply syntax highlighting rules.  In my case, I found that this happens a lot with Visual Basic files.  You can override the syntax highlighting rules, forcing a set of syntax rules to be applied based on a file’s extension, as follows.  For example, if you find that .cls (VB class files) are not being handled as Visual Basic files, add the following to your vimrc file:

“**au BufNewFile,BufRead *.cls set filetype=vb**”

For other file types, just add a line similar to the one above, changing the “*.cls” and “vb” values as needed.

===== Maximize Vim at startup =====
If you want Vim to be automatically maximized when you run it, enter the following as the last statement in your vimrc file: “**au GUIEnter * simalt ~x**” (without the quotes)

===== Search and Replace =====
(from [[http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Search_and_replace|here]])

The **:substitute** command searches for a text pattern, and replaces it with a text string. There are many options, but these are what you probably want:

<code>:%s/foo/bar/g</code>
...finds each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in all lines), and replaces it with ‘bar’.

<code>:s/foo/bar/g</code>
...finds each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in the current line only), and replaces it with ‘bar’.

<code>:%s/foo/bar/gc</code>
...changes each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’, but asks for confirmation first.

<code>:%s/\<foo\>/bar/gc</code>
...changes only whole words exactly matching ‘foo’ to ‘bar’; asks for confirmation.

<code>:%s/foo/bar/gci</code>
...changes each ‘foo’ (case insensitive) to ‘bar’; asks for confirmation.  This may be wanted after using **:set noignorecase** to make searches case sensitive (the default).

<code>:%s/foo/bar/gcI</code>
...changes each ‘foo’ (case sensitive) to ‘bar’; asks for confirmation.  This may be wanted after using **:set ignorecase** to make searches case insensitive.