Vim emulation for Visual Studio Code VSCodeVim is a Vim emulator for Visual Studio Code.
Table of Contents (click to expand)💾 InstallationVSCodeVim is automatically enabled following installation and reloading of VS Code. MacTo enable key-repeating execute the following in your Terminal and restart VS Code:
We also recommend increasing Key Repeat and Delay Until Repeat settings in System Preferences -> Keyboard. WindowsLike real vim, VSCodeVim will take over your control keys. This behaviour can be adjusted with the ⚙️ SettingsThe settings documented here are a subset of the supported settings; the full list is described in the Quick ExampleBelow is an example of a settings.json file with settings relevant to VSCodeVim:
VSCodeVim settingsThese settings are specific to VSCodeVim.
Neovim Integration
To leverage neovim for Ex-commands,
Here's some ideas on what you can do with neovim integration:
Key RemappingCustom remappings are defined on a per-mode basis.
|
Mode |
---|
Normal |
Insert |
Visual |
VisualBlock |
VisualLine |
SearchInProgressMode |
CommandlineInProgress |
Replace |
EasyMotionMode |
EasyMotionInputMode |
SurroundInputMode |
OperatorPendingMode |
Disabled |
When rebinding keys in keybindings.json using "when clause context", it can be useful to know in which mode vim currently is. For example to write a "when clause" that checks if vim is currently in normal mode or visual mode it is possible to write the following:
"when": "vim.mode == 'Normal' || vim.mode == 'Visual'",
Vim settings
Configuration settings that have been copied from vim. Vim settings are loaded in the following sequence:
:set {setting}
vim.{setting}
from user/workspace settings.- VS Code settings
- VSCodeVim default values
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.autoindent | Copy indent from current line when starting a new line | Boolean | true |
vim.gdefault | When on, the :substitute flag g is default on. This means that all matches in a line are substituted instead of one. When a g flag is given to a :substitute command, this will toggle the substitution of all or one match. |
Boolean | false |
vim.hlsearch | Highlights all text matching current search | Boolean | false |
vim.ignorecase | Ignore case in search patterns | Boolean | true |
vim.incsearch | Show the next match while entering a search | Boolean | true |
vim.joinspaces | Add two spaces after '.', '?', and '!' when joining or reformatting | Boolean | true |
vim.leader | Defines key for <leader> to be used in key remappings |
String | \ |
vim.showcmd | Show (partial) command in status bar | Boolean | true |
vim.showmodename | Show name of current mode in status bar | Boolean | true |
vim.smartcase | Override the 'ignorecase' setting if search pattern contains uppercase characters | Boolean | true |
vim.textwidth | Width to word-wrap when using gq |
Number | 80 |
vim.timeout | Timeout in milliseconds for remapped commands | Number | 1000 |
vim.maxmapdepth | Maximum number of times a mapping is done without resulting in a character to be used. This normally catches endless mappings, like ":map x y" with ":map y x". It still does not catch ":map g wg", because the 'w' is used before the next mapping is done. | Number | 1000 |
vim.whichwrap | Allow specified keys that move the cursor left/right to move to the previous/next line when the cursor is on the first/last character in the line. See :help whichwrap. | String | b,s |
vim.report | Threshold for reporting number of lines changed. | Number | 2 |
.vimrc support
:warning: .vimrc support is currently experimental. Only remaps are supported, and you may experience bugs. Please report them!
Set vim.vimrc.enable
to true
and set vim.vimrc.path
appropriately.
🖱️ Multi-Cursor Mode
:warning: Multi-Cursor mode is experimental. Please report issues in our feedback thread.
Enter multi-cursor mode by:
- On OSX,
cmd-d
. On Windows,ctrl-d
. gb
, a new shortcut we added which is equivalent tocmd-d
(OSX) orctrl-d
(Windows). It adds another cursor at the next word that matches the word the cursor is currently on.- Running "Add Cursor Above/Below" or the shortcut on any platform.
Once you have multiple cursors, you should be able to use Vim commands as you see fit. Most should work; some are unsupported (ref PR#587).
- 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.
🔌 Emulated Plugins
vim-airline
:warning: There are performance implications to using this plugin. In order to change the status bar, we override the configurations in your workspace settings.json which results in increased latency and a constant changing diff in your working directory (see issue#2124).
Change the color of the status bar based on the current mode. Once enabled, configure "vim.statusBarColors"
. Colors can be defined for each mode either as string
(background only), or string[]
(background, foreground).
"vim.statusBarColorControl": true,
"vim.statusBarColors.normal": ["#8FBCBB", "#434C5E"],
"vim.statusBarColors.insert": "#BF616A",
"vim.statusBarColors.visual": "#B48EAD",
"vim.statusBarColors.visualline": "#B48EAD",
"vim.statusBarColors.visualblock": "#A3BE8C",
"vim.statusBarColors.replace": "#D08770",
"vim.statusBarColors.commandlineinprogress": "#007ACC",
"vim.statusBarColors.searchinprogressmode": "#007ACC",
"vim.statusBarColors.easymotionmode": "#007ACC",
"vim.statusBarColors.easymotioninputmode": "#007ACC",
"vim.statusBarColors.sneaklabelinputmode": "#007ACC",
"vim.statusBarColors.surroundinputmode": "#007ACC",
vim-easymotion
Based on vim-easymotion and configured through the following settings:
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.easymotion | Enable/disable easymotion plugin | Boolean | false |
vim.easymotionMarkerBackgroundColor | The background color of the marker box. | String | '#0000' |
vim.easymotionMarkerForegroundColorOneChar | The font color for one-character markers. | String | '#ff0000' |
vim.easymotionMarkerForegroundColorTwoCharFirst | The font color for the first of two-character markers, used to differentiate from one-character markers. | String | '#ffb400' |
vim.easymotionMarkerForegroundColorTwoCharSecond | The font color for the second of two-character markers, used to differentiate consecutive markers. | String | '#b98300' |
vim.easymotionIncSearchForegroundColor | The font color for the search n-character command, used to highlight the matches. | String | '#7fbf00' |
vim.easymotionDimColor | The font color for the dimmed characters, used when #vim.easymotionDimBackground# is set to true. |
String | '#777777' |
vim.easymotionDimBackground | Whether to dim other text while markers are visible. | Boolean | true |
vim.easymotionMarkerFontWeight | The font weight used for the marker text. | String | 'bold' |
vim.easymotionKeys | The characters used for jump marker name | String | 'hklyuiopnm,qwertzxcvbasdgjf;' |
vim.easymotionJumpToAnywhereRegex | Custom regex to match for JumpToAnywhere motion (analogous to Easymotion_re_anywhere ). Example setting (which also matches start & end of line, as well as Javascript comments in addition to the regular behavior (note the double escaping required): ^\s*. |
\b[A-Za-z0-9] | [A-Za-z0-9]\b |
Once easymotion is active, initiate motions using the following commands. After you initiate the motion, text decorators/markers 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> b |
Start of word backwards |
<leader><leader> l |
Matches beginning & ending of word, camelCase, after _ , and after # forwards |
<leader><leader> h |
Matches beginning & ending of word, camelCase, after _ , and after # backwards |
<leader><leader> e |
End of word forwards |
<leader><leader> ge |
End of word backwards |
<leader><leader> j |
Start of line forwards |
<leader><leader> k |
Start of line backwards |
<leader><leader> / <char>... <CR> |
Search n-character |
<leader><leader><leader> bdt |
Til character |
<leader><leader><leader> bdw |
Start of word |
<leader><leader><leader> bde |
End of word |
<leader><leader><leader> bdjk |
Start of line |
<leader><leader><leader> j |
JumpToAnywhere motion; default behavior matches beginning & ending of word, camelCase, after _ and after # |
<leader><leader> (2s|2f|2F|2t|2T) <char><char>
and <leader><leader><leader> bd2t <char>char>
are also available.
The difference is character count required for search.
For example, <leader><leader> 2s <char><char>
requires two characters, and search by two characters.
This mapping is not a standard mapping, so it is recommended to use your custom mapping.
vim-surround
Based on surround.vim, the plugin is used to work with surrounding characters like parentheses, brackets, quotes, and XML tags.
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.surround | Enable/disable vim-surround | Boolean | true |
t
or <
as <desired>
or <existing>
will enter tag entry mode. Using <CR>
instead of >
to finish changing a tag will preserve any existing attributes.
Surround Command | Description |
---|---|
y s <motion> <desired> |
Add desired surround around text defined by <motion> |
d s <existing> |
Delete existing surround |
c s <existing> <desired> |
Change existing surround to desired |
S <desired> |
Surround when in visual modes (surrounds full selection) |
Some examples:
"test"
with cursor inside quotes typecs"'
to end up with'test'
"test"
with cursor inside quotes typeds"
to end up withtest
"test"
with cursor inside quotes typecs"t
and enter123>
to end up with<123>test</123>
vim-commentary
Similar to vim-commentary, but uses the VS Code native Toggle Line Comment and Toggle Block Comment features.
Usage examples:
gc
- toggles line comment. For examplegcc
to toggle line comment for current line andgc2j
to toggle line comments for the current line and the next two lines.gC
- toggles block comment. For examplegCi)
to comment out everything within parentheses.
vim-indent-object
Based on vim-indent-object, it allows for treating blocks of code at the current indentation level as text objects. Useful in languages that don't use braces around statements (e.g. Python).
Provided there is a new line between the opening and closing braces / tag, it can be considered an agnostic cib
/ci{
/ci[
/cit
.
Command | Description |
---|---|
<operator>ii |
This indentation level |
<operator>ai |
This indentation level and the line above (think if statements in Python) |
<operator>aI |
This indentation level, the line above, and the line after (think if statements in C/C++/Java/etc) |
vim-sneak
Based on vim-sneak, it allows for jumping to any location specified by two characters.
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.sneak | Enable/disable vim-sneak | Boolean | false |
vim.sneakUseIgnorecaseAndSmartcase | Respect vim.ignorecase and vim.smartcase while sneaking |
Boolean | false |
vim.sneakMaxLinesToConsider | The maximum number of lines searched (starting from the position of the cursor) while sneaking (useful if one is working with large files). -1 means no restriction. | Number | -1 |
vim.sneakReplacesF | Make f/F work like vim-sneak. | Boolean | false |
vim.sneakLabelMode | Enable/disable label mode. If enabled, Sneak overlays text with "labels" which can be jumped to by typing the label character. | Boolean | false |
vim.sneakLabelTargets | List of characters used to label the target locations (if vim.sneakLabelMode is active). |
String | ";sftunq/SFGHLTUNRMQZ?0" |
vim.sneakHighlightFontColor | Font color to use for highlighting. | ||
vim.sneakHighlightBackgroundColor | Background color to use for highlighting. | ||
vim.sneakHighlightUseFadeout | If enabled, the visible text (except for Sneak matches) is faded-out to provide more contrast to targets (usually used by setting vim.sneakHighlightBackgroundColor to be identical with the editor's background color). |
Boolean | false |
vim.sneakHighlightFadeColor | The color used for the fade-out effect (if vim.sneakHighlightUseFadeout is enabled). |
Once sneak is active, initiate motions using the following commands. For operators sneak uses z
instead of s
because s
is already taken by the surround plugin.
Motion Command | Description |
---|---|
s<char><char> |
Move forward to the first occurrence of <char><char> |
S<char><char> |
Move backward to the first occurrence of <char><char> |
<operator>z<char><char> |
Perform <operator> forward to the first occurrence of <char><char> |
<operator>Z<char><char> |
Perform <operator> backward to the first occurrence of <char><char> |
CamelCaseMotion
Based on CamelCaseMotion, though not an exact emulation. This plugin provides an easier way to move through camelCase and snake_case words.
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.camelCaseMotion.enable | Enable/disable CamelCaseMotion | Boolean | false |
Once CamelCaseMotion is enabled, the following motions are available:
Motion Command | Description |
---|---|
<leader>w |
Move forward to the start of the next camelCase or snake_case word segment |
<leader>e |
Move forward to the next end of a camelCase or snake_case word segment |
<leader>b |
Move back to the prior beginning of a camelCase or snake_case word segment |
<operator>i<leader>w |
Select/change/delete/etc. the current camelCase or snake_case word segment |
By default, <leader>
is mapped to \
, so for example, d2i\w
would delete the current and next camelCase word segment.
Input Method
Disable input method when exiting Insert Mode.
Setting | Description |
---|---|
vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.enable |
Boolean denoting whether autoSwitchInputMethod is on/off. |
vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.defaultIM |
Default input method. |
vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.obtainIMCmd |
The full path to command to retrieve the current input method key. |
vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.switchIMCmd |
The full path to command to switch input method, with {im} a placeholder for input method key. |
Any third-party program can be used to switch input methods. The following will walkthrough the configuration using im-select.
Install im-select (see installation guide)
Find your default input method key
Mac:
Switch your input method to English, and run the following in your terminal:
/<path-to-im-select-installation>/im-select
to output your default input method. The table below lists the common English key layouts for MacOS.Key Description com.apple.keylayout.US U.S. com.apple.keylayout.ABC ABC com.apple.keylayout.British British com.apple.keylayout.Irish Irish com.apple.keylayout.Australian Australian com.apple.keylayout.Dvorak Dvorak com.apple.keylayout.Colemak Colemak Windows:
Refer to the im-select guide on how to discover your input method key. Generally, if your keyboard layout is en_US the input method key is 1033 (the locale ID of en_US). You can also find your locale ID from this page, where the
LCID Decimal
column is the locale ID.
Configure
vim.autoSwitchInputMethod
.MacOS:
Given the input method key of
com.apple.keylayout.US
andim-select
located at/usr/local/bin
. The configuration is:"vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.enable": true, "vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.defaultIM": "com.apple.keylayout.US", "vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.obtainIMCmd": "/usr/local/bin/im-select", "vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.switchIMCmd": "/usr/local/bin/im-select {im}"
Windows:
Given the input method key of
1033
(en_US) andim-select.exe
located atD:/bin
. The configuration is:"vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.enable": true, "vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.defaultIM": "1033", "vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.obtainIMCmd": "D:\\bin\\im-select.exe", "vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.switchIMCmd": "D:\\bin\\im-select.exe {im}"
The {im}
argument above is a command-line option that will be passed to im-select
denoting the input method to switch to. If using an alternative program to switch input methods, you should add a similar option to the configuration. For example, if the program's usage is my-program -s imKey
to switch input method, the vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.switchIMCmd
should be /path/to/my-program -s {im}
.
ReplaceWithRegister
Based on ReplaceWithRegister, an easy way to replace existing text with the contents of a register.
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.replaceWithRegister | Enable/disable ReplaceWithRegister | Boolean | false |
Once active, type gr
(say "go replace") followed by a motion to describe the text you want replaced by the contents of the register.
Motion Command | Description |
---|---|
[count]["a]gr<motion> |
Replace the text described by the motion with the contents of the specified register |
[count]["a]grr |
Replace the [count] lines or current line with the contents of the specified register |
{Visual}["a]gr |
Replace the selection with the contents of the specified register |
vim-textobj-entire
Similar to vim-textobj-entire.
Adds two useful text-objects:
ae
which represents the entire content of a buffer.ie
which represents the entire content of a buffer without the leading and trailing spaces.
Usage examples:
dae
- delete the whole buffer content.yie
- will yank the buffer content except leading and trailing blank lines.gUae
- transform the whole buffer to uppercase.
vim-textobj-arguments
Similar to the argument text object in targets.vim. It is an easy way to deal with arguments inside functions in most programming languages.
Motion Command | Description |
---|---|
<operator>ia |
The argument exluding separators. |
<operator>aa |
The argument including separators. |
Usage examples:
cia
- change the argument under the cursor while preserving separators like comma,
.daa
- will delete the whole argument under the cursor and the separators if applicable.
Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|
vim.argumentObjectOpeningDelimiters | A list of opening delimiters | String list | ["(", "["] |
vim.argumentObjectClosingDelimiters | A list of closing delimiters | String list | [")", "]"] |
vim.argumentObjectSeparators | A list of object separators | String list | [","] |
🎩 VSCodeVim tricks!
VS Code has a lot of nifty tricks and we try to preserve some of them:
gd
- jump to definition.gq
- on a visual selection reflow and wordwrap blocks of text, preserving commenting style. Great for formatting documentation comments.gb
- adds another cursor on the next word it finds which is the same as the word under the cursor.af
- visual mode command which selects increasingly large blocks of text. For example, if you had "blah (foo [bar 'ba|z'])" then it would select 'baz' first. If you pressedaf
again, it'd then select [bar 'baz'], and if you did it a third time it would select "(foo [bar 'baz'])".gh
- equivalent to hovering your mouse over wherever the cursor is. Handy for seeing types and error messages without reaching for the mouse!
📚 F.A.Q.
None of the native Visual Studio Code
ctrl
(e.g.ctrl+f
,ctrl+v
) commands workSet the
useCtrlKeys
setting tofalse
.Moving
j
/k
over folds opens up the foldsTry setting
vim.foldfix
totrue
. This is a hack; it works fine, but there are side effects (see issue#22276).Key repeat doesn't work
Are you on a Mac? Did you go through our mac-setup instructions?
There are annoying intellisense/notifications/popups that I can't close with
<esc>
! Or I'm in a snippet and I want to close intellisensePress
shift+<esc>
to close all of those boxes.How can I use the commandline when in Zen mode or when the status bar is disabled?
This extension exposes a remappable command to show a VS Code style quick-pick version of the commandline, with more limited functionality. This can be remapped as follows in VS Code's keybindings.json settings file.
{ "key": "shift+;", "command": "vim.showQuickpickCmdLine", "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.mode != 'Insert'" }
Or for Zen mode only:
{ "key": "shift+;", "command": "vim.showQuickpickCmdLine", "when": "inZenMode && vim.mode != 'Insert'" }
How can I move the cursor by each display line with word wrapping?
If you have word wrap on and would like the cursor to enter each wrapped line when using j, k, ↓ or ↑, set the following in VS Code's keybindings.json settings file.
{ "key": "up", "command": "cursorUp", "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl && !suggestWidgetMultipleSuggestions && !suggestWidgetVisible" }, { "key": "down", "command": "cursorDown", "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl && !suggestWidgetMultipleSuggestions && !suggestWidgetVisible" }, { "key": "k", "command": "cursorUp", "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl && vim.mode == 'Normal' && !suggestWidgetMultipleSuggestions && !suggestWidgetVisible" }, { "key": "j", "command": "cursorDown", "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl && vim.mode == 'Normal' && !suggestWidgetMultipleSuggestions && !suggestWidgetVisible" }
Caveats: This solution restores the default VS Code behavior for the j and k keys, so motions like
10j
will not work. If you need these motions to work, other, less performant options exist.I've swapped Escape and Caps Lock with setxkbmap and VSCodeVim isn't respecting the swap
This is a known issue in VS Code, as a workaround you can set
"keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode"
and restart VS Code.
❤️ Contributing
This project is maintained by a group of awesome people and contributions are extremely welcome :heart:. For a quick tutorial on how you can help, see our contributing guide.
Special shoutouts to:
- 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!
- Shoutout to @chillee aka Horace He for his contributions and hard work.