VSCodeVim is a Visual Studio Code extension that enables Vim keybindings, including:
- Modes: normal, insert, command, visual, visual line, visual block (with
useCtrlKeys
, see below) - Command combinations (
c3w
,daw
,2dd
, etc) - Highly versatile command remapping (
jj
to esc,:
to command panel, etc.) - Incremental search with
/
and?
- Marks
- Vim settings similar to those found in .vimrc
- Multi-cursor support. Allows multiple simultaneous cursors to receive Vim commands (e.g. allows
/
search, each cursor has independent clipboards, etc.). - The EasyMotion plugin!
- The Surround.vim plugin!
- And much more! Refer to the roadmap or everything we support.
Please report missing features/bugs on GitHub, which will help us get to them faster.
Ask us questions, talk about contributing, or just say hi on Slack!
Make a donation to VSCodeVim here!
Donations help convince me to work on this project rather than my other (non-open-source) projects. I'd love to work on VSCodeVim full time, but I need money to live!
Below is an example of a settings.json file for VSCode settings applicable to this extension. The following section goes over some supported options in more detail.
{
"vim.easymotion": true,
"vim.incsearch": true,
"vim.useSystemClipboard": true,
"vim.useCtrlKeys": true,
"vim.hlsearch": true,
"vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
{
"before": ["j","j"],
"after": ["<Esc>"]
}
],
"vim.otherModesKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["<leader>","d"],
"after": ["d", "d"]
}
],
"vim.leader": "<space>"
}
The following is a subset of the supported configurations; the full list is described in the Contributions
tab for this extension, or in our package.json.
-
Enable Vim ctrl keys overriding common VS Code operations (eg. copy, paste, find, etc). Setting this option to true will enable:
ctrl+c
,ctrl+[
=><Esc>
ctrl+f
=> Full Page Forwardctrl+d
=> Half Page Backctrl+b
=> Half Page Forwardctrl+v
=> Visual Block Mode- etc.
-
Type: Boolean (Default:
true
) -
Example:
"vim.useCtrlKeys": true
- Keybinding overrides to use for insert and other (non-insert) modes.
Bind jj
to <Esc>
in insert mode:
"vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
{
"before": ["j", "j"],
"after": ["<Esc>"]
}
]
Bind :
to show the command palette:
"vim.otherModesKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": [":"],
"after": [],
"commands": [
{
"command": "workbench.action.showCommands",
"args": []
}
]
}
]
Bind ZZ
to save and close the current file:
"vim.otherModesKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["Z", "Z"],
"after": [],
"commands": [
{
"command": "workbench.action.files.save",
"args": []
},
{
"command": "workbench.action.closeActiveEditor",
"args": []
}
]
}
]
Or bind <leader>w
to save the current file:
"vim.otherModesKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["leader", "w"],
"after": [],
"commands": [
{
"command": "workbench.action.files.save",
"args": []
}
]
}
]
-
Non-recursive keybinding overrides to use for insert and other (non-insert) modes (similar to
:noremap
) -
Example: Bind
j
togj
. Notice that if you attempted this binding normally, the j in gj would be expanded into gj, on and on forever. Stop this recursive expansion using insertModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive and/or otherModesKeyBindingNonRecursive."vim.otherModesKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [ { "before": ["j"], "after": ["g", "j"] }]
- Have VSCodeVim start in Insert Mode rather than Normal Mode.
- We would be remiss in our duties as Vim users not to say that you should really be staying in Normal mode as much as you can, but hey, who are we to stop you?
- Override VSCode's copy command with our own, which works correctly with VSCodeVim.
- If cmd-c or ctrl-c is giving you issues, set this to false and complain at microsoft/vscode#217.
- Type: Boolean (Default:
true
)
- Enable yanking to the system clipboard by default
- Type: Boolean (Default:
false
) - Note: Linux users must have xclip installed
- Set the color of search highlights.
- Type: Color String (Default:
rgba(150, 150, 150, 0.3)
)
- Use a non-blinking block cursor
- Type: Boolean (Default:
false
)
- Ignore case in search patterns
- Type: Boolean (Default:
true
)
- Override the 'ignorecase' option if the search pattern contains upper case characters
- Type: Boolean (Default:
true
)
- When there is a previous search pattern, highlight all its matches
- Type: Boolean (Default:
false
)
- Show the next search match while you're searching.
- Type: Boolean (Default:
true
)
- Copy indent from current line when starting a new line
- Type: Boolean (Default:
true
)
- Timeout in milliseconds for remapped commands
- Type: Number (Default:
1000
)
- Show the text of any command you are in the middle of writing.
- Type: Boolean (Default:
true
)
- Width to word-wrap to when using
gq
. - Type: number (Default:
80
)
- What key should
<leader>
map to in key remappings? - Type: string (Default:
\
)
Vim options are loaded in the following sequence:
:set {option}
vim.{option}
from user/workspace settings.- VSCode configuration
- VSCodeVim default values
Multi-Cursor mode is currently in beta. Please report things you expected to work but didn't to our feedback thread.
You can enter multi-cursor mode by:
- Pressing cmd-d on OSX.
- Running "Add Cursor Above/Below" or the shortcut on any platform.
- Pressing
gc
, a new shortcut we added which is equivalent to cmd-d on OSX or ctrl-d on Windows. (It adds another cursor at the next word that matches the word the cursor is currently on.)
Now that you have multiple cursors, you should be able to use Vim commands as you see fit. Most of them should work. There is a list of things I know of which don't here. If you find yourself wanting one of these, please add it to our feedback thread.
Each cursor has its own clipboard.
Pressing Escape in Multi-Cursor Visual Mode will bring you to Multi-Cursor Normal mode. Pressing it again will return you to Normal mode.
On OS X, open Terminal and run the following command:
defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false // For VS Code
defaults write com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false // For VS Code Insider
Configure the useCtrlKeys
option (see configurations#useCtrlKeys) to true.
To activate easymotion, you need to make sure that easymotion
is set to true
in settings.json.
Now that easymotion is active, you can initiate motions using the following commands. Once you initiate the motion, text decorators will be displayed and you can press the keys displayed to jump to that position. leader
is configurable and is \
by default.
Motion Command | Description |
---|---|
<leader> <leader> s <char> |
Search character |
<leader> <leader> f <char> |
Find character forwards |
<leader> <leader> F <char> |
Find character backwards |
<leader> <leader> t <char> |
Til character forwards |
<leader> <leader> T <char> |
Til character backwards |
<leader> <leader> w |
Start of word forwards |
<leader> <leader> e |
End of word forwards |
<leader> <leader> g e |
End of word backwards |
<leader> <leader> b |
Start of word backwards |
This project is maintained by a group of awesome people and contributions are extremely welcome ❤️. For a quick tutorial on how you can help, see our contributing guide.
Vim has a lot of nooks and crannies. VSCodeVim preserves some of the coolest nooks and crannies of Vim. Some of our favorite include:
gd
- jump to definition. Astoundingly useful in any language that VSCode provides definition support for. I use this one probably hundreds of times a day.gq
on a visual selection - Reflow and wordwrap blocks of text, preserving commenting style. Great for formatting documentation comments.
- Thanks to @xconverge for making over 100 commits to the repo. If you're wondering why your least favorite bug packed up and left, it was probably him.
- Thanks to @Metamist for implementing EasyMotion!
- Thanks to @sectioneight for implementing text objects!
- Special props to Kevin Coleman, who created our awesome logo!
Our recent releases and update notes are available here.