Building on the Basics

Now that we know how to open a file, edit it, move around in it, and save it, let us now look into how we can tweak it. My post to part 1 of vim basics can be found here: https://blog.lanlocked.xyz/post/vim-basics-part-1/. Part 2 can be found here: https://blog.lanlocked.xyz/post/vim-basics-part-2.

In this part, we'll cover visual mode, text objects (which will change how you think about editing), and then dive into customizing vim with your .vimrc configuration file.

Visual Mode: Selecting Text

Visual mode lets you select text before performing operations on it. It's more intuitive than some of vim's other modes and is great for when you need to see what you're working with.

There are three types of visual mode:

v     " Character-wise visual mode
V     " Line-wise visual mode (capital V)
Ctrl+v  " Block visual mode

Character-wise visual mode (v):

1. Place your cursor at the start of text you want to select
2. Press v
3. Use movement keys (hjkl, w, e, etc.) to expand selection
4. Perform an action (d to delete, y to yank, c to change)

Line-wise visual mode (V):

This is perfect for selecting entire lines:

1. Press V (capital)
2. Use j or k to select multiple lines
3. Press d to delete, y to yank, or > to indent

Block visual mode (Ctrl+v):

This is one of vim's killer features - you can select rectangular blocks of text. Perfect for editing columnar data or adding the same text to multiple lines:

1. Press Ctrl+v
2. Use movement keys to select a block
3. Press I to insert at the start of each line in the block
4. Type your text
5. Press Esc and watch it apply to all lines

Example with block mode:

Let's say you have:

apple
banana
cherry

And you want to add "fruit: " to each line:

1. Place cursor on 'a' in apple
2. Press Ctrl+v
3. Press jj to select down two more lines
4. Press I (capital i)
5. Type "fruit: "
6. Press Esc

Result:

fruit: apple
fruit: banana
fruit: cherry

This is incredibly useful for commenting out blocks of code or editing configuration files.

Text Objects: The Game Changer

Text objects are what separate vim beginners from vim power users. They let you operate on logical chunks of text rather than just characters or lines.

The syntax is: