Develop faster with these quick Vim + VSCode tips

This post was originally posted on my personal blog at jwbaldwin.com

When I started Flowist.io, I decided: I want to learn vim. And I want to be fast.

Learning Vim can be hard at first. But combining it with VSCode can make that a bit easier - and you get the best of both worlds!

Here are some of the most useful tips and tricks that instantly allowed me to work faster! P.S.: great resource for starting out: devhints.io/vim

Vim secret: It's not hard. Just learn what the letters mean, combine them, and see what happens!

Setup

First of all, to install vim in vscode:

1. Open Visual Studio Code
2. Go to Extensions
3. Search for vim
4. The first plugin named Vim is the one you want
5. Click install
6. Boom!

1. vim-surround

This plugin lets you surround with or remove surrounding elements (think: ", ', {}, (), etc.)

This is a must-have plugin for Vim. I don't believe in immediately installing tons of plugins, but some of them are just necessary.

ve S<tag>

2. vim-motion

Press the keybind and then use the letters to move through your file. Another must-have. Not a replacement for other Vim movements, but incredibly useful for moving quickly and being more productive.

My keybind and config to jump-start you :)

    "vim.easymotionMarkerFontFamily": "FiraCode-Retina",
    "vim.easymotionMarkerBackgroundColor": "#7e57c2",
    "vim.easymotionMarkerWidthPerChar": 8,
    "vim.easymotionMarkerFontSize": "14",
    "vim.easymotionMarkerYOffset": 4,
    "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before": [" "],
            "after": ["leader", "leader", "leader", "b", "d", "w"],
        }
    ],
    "vim.easymotion": true,
    "vim.hlsearch": true,

> <space>

3. jj

Hitting <esc> sucks. I didn't realize I wasn't the only one who felt this, and everyone knew a better way. Map something simple to <esc> instead (I use jj, but anything easy works.)

    "vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before": ["j", "j"],
            "after": ["<esc>"]
        }
    ]

> jj

4. cmd + p

Open files super quickly. Don't use the mouse!

> cmd+p

5. V

Visual mode (think highlight and select) but for a whole line at a time.
Didn't know this existed either.

> V

6. yip, yap

Here's where things get expressive!

Helpful for grabbing functions or methods and quickly copying them to paste elsewhere.

y = yank
i = inner (in)
p = paragraph

and

y = yank
a = a
p = paragraph (including newlines)

> yap

7. cit, yit

Great for editing HTML. 10x faster then navigating inside of the tag and editing or copying it.

c = change
i = inner (in)
t = tag (YES, html tags!)

Bonus tip: Use ", and { to speed up html and javascript editing too!
and

y = yank
i = inner (in)
t = tag

> cit

8. dw, df

Easily remove words faster.

d = delete
w = word

and

d = delete
f = find
= item to search for and include in the delete

> dw dfs

9. ci", ci{

Change class tags, hrefs, strings and edit function bodies way faster.

c = change
i = inner (in)
" = item to change inside of

and

c = change
i = inner (in)
{ = item to change inside of

> ci{

10. f_, F_

Super useful for moving to specific items. Way faster than lllllll or even 8l...h

f = find (ahead of cursor)
_ = anything to search for

and

F = Find (behind cursor)
_ = anything to search for

> f2 F3

BONUS: u, r

Some bonus must-haves!

u = undo the last change

and

r = replace (r + thing to replace with)

> <space> dit ... u

Conclusion

Since I started working on Flowist.io I made a serious effort to get proficient with vim. Hopefully, this helps you boost your vim speed too!

Thanks for reading :) Catch me on twitter @jwbaldwin_