Source: https://foxhop.net/f33d4f88-2f95-11f1-821d-e86a64d24d78/vim-tips-and-tricks Snapshot: 2026-05-25T22:25:04Z Generator: Remarkbox 1527ef7 This is a thread snapshot. The living document lives at the source URI above — it may have been edited, extended, or replied-to since.

Vim Tips and Tricks

As I learn more about vim, I plan to document the tips and tricks I learn here.

how to set tab to 4 spaces in vim

Add the following into your .vimrc file:

set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

how to set replace all tabs with a space

:%s/\t/ /g

how to highlight spelling errors

set spell spelllang=en_us

vimdiff or hg merge

This is a list of some common commands when using vimdiff:

ctrl w (twice)

switch windows

do

diff obtain, take the other window's differences. Pull the change.

dp

diff put, give the other window our differences. Push the change.

[c

move focus to previous difference.

]c

move focus to next difference.

:diffupdate

diff update

:diffget <window number>

get changes from specified window number and place them into current window.

:diffput <window number>

put changes from current window into specified window number.

zo

open folded text

zc

close folded text

bgolemon — Mar 27, 2011 10:05 am

You should take a look at my vimrc here <http://bukzor.hopto.org/hgroot/home/file/c0078b4417f2/.vimrc>_. It solves some common annoyances without changing the way vim works much.

Source: https://foxhop.net/f33d4f88-2f95-11f1-821d-e86a64d24d78/vim-tips-and-tricks
Snapshot: 2026-05-25T22:25:04Z
Generator: Remarkbox 1527ef7