Using FakeVim Mode

In the FakeVim mode, you can run the main editor in a manner similar to the Vim editor. To run the editor in the FakeVim mode, select Edit > Advanced > Use Vim-style Editing or press Alt+V,Alt+V.

Supported Modes and Commands

In the FakeVim mode, most keystrokes in the main editor will be intercepted and interpreted in a way that resembles Vim. Most of the supported commands can be followed by a motion command or executed in visual mode, or they work with registers or can be prefixed with a number of repetitions.

The following sections describe the commands emulated in the supported modes and how they diverge from Vim in functionality:

• Normal
• Visual
• Command line (:)
• Insert and replace

For more information on using Vim, see Documentation on the Vim web site.

Normal and Visual Modes

• Basic movement, such as h/j/k/l, <C-U>, <C-D>, <C-F>, <C-B>, gg, G, 0, ^, $
• Word movement, such as w, e, b
• Inner/a movement, such as ciw, 3daw, ya{
• f and t movement
• [ and \c ] movement
• { and } paragraph movement
• Delete/change/yank/paste with register
• Undo and redo
• <C-A> and <C-X> increase or decrease a number in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal format (for example 128<C-A> on or before "0x0ff" changes it to "0x17f")
• . repeats the last change
• /search, ?search, *, #, n, N - most of regular expression syntax is used in Vim except that \< and \> are the same as \b in QRegExp
• @ and q (macro recording and execution) special keys are saved as <S-Left>
• Marks
• gv goes to last visual selection; can differ if text is edited around it
• Indentation using =, <<, >>, with movement, count, and in visual mode
• to upper/lower, such as ~, gU, gu
• i, a, o, I, A, and O enter insert mode
• Scroll window, such as zt, zb, zz
• Wrap line movement, such as gj, gk, g0, g^, g$

Command Line Mode

• :map, :unmap, :inoremap, and so on
• :source provides very basic line-by-line sourcing of vimrc files
• :substitute substitutes an expression in a range
• :'<,'>!cmd filters through an external command (for example, sorts the lines in a file with :%!sort)
• :<range>sor[t][!]
• :.!cmd inserts the standard output of an external command
• :read
• :yank, :delete, :change
• :move, :join
• :20 goes to an address
• :history
• :registers, :display
• :nohlsearch
• :undo, :redo
• :normal
• :<, :>
• set formatoptions=, see :h fo-table in the Vim documentation. Currently supported letters: fo-j

Plugin Emulation

FakeVim also emulates some popular vim plugins. To enable plugin emulation for particular plugins, select Edit > Preferences > FakeVim > General > Plugin Emulation.

Currently emulated plugins:

• vim-commentary: gc action to comment code regions. For example, gcc, gc2j, gcip
• ReplaceWithRegister:
  • [count]["x]gr{motion} to replace motion with the contents of register x.
  • ["x]grr to replace the current line.
• argtextobj.vim: Defines the ia and aa text objects for function parameters.
• vim-exchange: A text exchange operator for vim.
• vim-surround: Adds mappings for deleting, adding and changing surroundings.

Insert Mode

• <C-O> executes a single command and returns to insert mode
• <C-V> inserts a raw character
• <insert> toggles replace mode

Options

Use :set ... to set the options listed in the following table:

Vimrc Example

 " highlight matched
 set hlsearch
 " case insensitive search
 set ignorecase
 set smartcase
 " search while typing
 set incsearch
 " wrap-around when searching
 set wrapscan
 " show pressed keys in lower right corner
 set showcmd
 " tab -> spaces
 set expandtab
 set tabstop=4
 set shiftwidth=4
 " keep a 5 line buffer for the cursor from top/bottom of window
 set scrolloff=5
 " X11 clipboard
 set clipboard=unnamed
 " use ~ with movement
 set tildeop

 " mappings
 nnoremap ; :
 inoremap jj <Esc>

 " clear highlighted search term on space
 noremap <silent> <Space> :nohls<CR>

 " reselect visual block after indent
 vnoremap < <gv
 vnoremap > >gv

 " MOVE LINE/BLOCK
 nnoremap <C-S-J> :m+<CR>==
 nnoremap <C-S-K> :m-2<CR>==
 inoremap <C-S-J> <Esc>:m+<CR>==gi
 inoremap <C-S-K> <Esc>:m-2<CR>==gi
 vnoremap <C-S-J> :m'>+<CR>gv=gv
 vnoremap <C-S-K> :m-2<CR>gv=gv
 

Mapping FakeVim Commands

To map commands entered on the FakeVim command line to Qt Creator functions, select Edit > Preferences > FakeVim > Ex Command Mapping. Enter a string in the Filter field to search for a specific Qt Creator function.

Select a function in the list, and enter a string that will trigger the function in the Regular expression field. You can view the trigger expression in the Ex Trigger Expression field. To remove the trigger expression, select Reset.

To reset the trigger expressions for all functions, select Reset All.

To map user commands to keyboard shortcuts, select Edit > Preferences > FakeVim > User Command Mapping. The user command mapped to the shortcut is executed by FakeVim as if you were typing it (as when replaying a macro).

Setting FakeVim Preferences

To make changes to the Vim-style settings, select Edit > Preferences > FakeVim > General.

To preselect the indentation settings specified for the text editor, select Copy Text Editor Settings. To preselect the Qt coding style, select Set Qt Style. To preselect a simple indentation style, select Set Plain Style. You can then change any of the preselected settings.

To use a Vim-style color scheme, select Edit > Preferences > Text Editor > Fonts & Color. In the Color Scheme list, select Vim (dark).

Quitting FakeVim Mode

To quit the FakeVim mode, unselect Edit > Preferences > FakeVim > Use FakeVim or press Alt+V,Alt+V.

You can temporarily escape FakeVim mode to access the normal Qt Creator keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl-R for Run by first pressing the comma key (,).