Vim emulation for Visual Studio Code
VSCodeVim is a Vim emulator for Visual Studio Code.
- 🚚 For a full list of supported Vim features, please refer to our roadmap.
- 📃 Our change log outlines the breaking/major/minor updates between releases.
- ❓ If you need to ask any questions, join us on Slack
- Report missing features/bugs on GitHub.
Table of Contents (click to expand)
VSCodeVim is automatically enabled following installation and reloading of VS Code.
⚠️ Vimscript is not supported; therefore, we are not able to load your.vimrcor use.vimplugins. You have to replicate these using our Settings and Emulated plugins.
To enable key-repeating execute the following in your Terminal and restart VS Code:
$ defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false # For VS Code
$ defaults write com.microsoft.VSCodeInsiders ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false # For VS Code Insider
$ defaults delete -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled # If necessary, reset global defaultWe also recommend increasing Key Repeat and Delay Until Repeat settings in System Preferences -> Keyboard.
Like real vim, VSCodeVim will take over your control keys. This behaviour can be adjusted with the useCtrlKeys and handleKeys settings.
The settings documented here are a subset of the supported settings; the full list is described in the Contributions tab in the extensions menu of VS Code.
Below is an example of a settings.json file with settings relevant to VSCodeVim:
{
"vim.easymotion": true,
"vim.sneak": true,
"vim.incsearch": true,
"vim.useSystemClipboard": true,
"vim.useCtrlKeys": true,
"vim.hlsearch": true,
"vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
{
"before": ["j", "j"],
"after": ["<Esc>"]
}
],
"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["<leader>", "d"],
"after": ["d", "d"]
},
{
"before": ["<C-n>"],
"commands": [":nohl"]
}
],
"vim.leader": "<space>",
"vim.handleKeys": {
"<C-a>": false,
"<C-f>": false
}
}These settings are specific to VSCodeVim.
| Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| vim.changeWordIncludesWhitespace | Include trailing whitespace when changing word. This configures the cw action to act consistently as its siblings (yw and dw) instead of acting as ce. | Boolean | false |
| vim.cursorStylePerMode.{Mode} | Configure a specific cursor style for {Mode}. Omitted modes will use default cursor type Supported cursors: line, block, underline, line-thin, block-outline, and underline-thin. | String | None |
| vim.debug.suppress | Boolean indicating whether log messages will be suppressed. | Boolean | false |
| vim.debug.loggingLevelForConsole | Maximum level of messages to log to console. Logs are visible in the developer tools. Supported values: 'error', 'warn', 'info', 'verbose', 'debug'). | String | error |
| vim.debug.loggingLevelForAlert | Maximum level of messages to present as VS Code information window. Supported values: 'error', 'warn', 'info', 'verbose', 'debug'). | String | error |
| vim.disableExtension | Disable VSCodeVim extension. This setting can also be toggled using toggleVim command in the Command Palette |
Boolean | false |
| vim.handleKeys | Delegate configured keys to be handled by VSCode instead of by the VS
8000
CodeVim extension. Any key in keybindings section of the package.json that has a vim.use<C-...> in the when argument can be delegated back to VS Code by setting "<C-...>": false. Example: to use ctrl+f for find (native VS Code behaviour): "vim.handleKeys": { "<C-f>": false }. |
String | "<C-d>": true |
| vim.overrideCopy | Override VS Code's copy command with our own, which works correctly with VSCodeVim. If cmd-c/ctrl-c is giving you issues, set this to false and complain here. | Boolean | false |
| vim.searchHighlightColor | Set the color of search highlights | String | rgba(150, 150, 255, 0.3) |
| vim.startInInsertMode | Start in Insert mode instead of Normal Mode | Boolean | false |
| vim.substituteGlobalFlag | Similar to Vim's gdefault setting. /g flag in a substitute command replaces all occurrences in the line. Without this flag, replacement occurs only for the first occurrence in each line. With this setting enabled, the g is on by default. |
Boolean | false |
| vim.useCtrlKeys | Enable Vim ctrl keys overriding common VS Code operations such as copy, paste, find, etc. | Boolean | true |
| vim.visualstar | In visual mode, start a search with * or # using the current selection |
Boolean | false |
⚠️ Experimental feature. Please leave feedback on neovim integration here.
To leverage neovim for Ex-commands,
- Install neovim
- Modify the following configurations:
| Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| vim.enableNeovim | Enable Neovim | Boolean | false |
| vim.neovimPath | Full path to neovim executable | String |
Here's some ideas on what you can do with neovim integration:
- The power of g
- The :normal command
- Faster search and replace!
Custom remappings are defined on a per-mode basis.
- Keybinding overrides to use for insert, normal, and visual modes.
- Bind
jjto<Esc>in insert mode:
"vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
{
"before": ["j", "j"],
"after": ["<Esc>"]
}
]- Bind
£to goto previous whole word under cursor
"vim.normalModeKeyBindings": [
{
"before": ["£"],
"after": ["#"]
}
]- Bind
:to show the command palette:
"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": [":"],
"commands": [
"workbench.action.showCommands",
]
}
]- Bind
<leader>mto add a bookmark and<leader>bto open the list of all bookmarks (using the Bookmarks extension):
"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["<leader>", "m"],
"commands": [
"bookmarks.toggle"
]
},
{
"before": ["<leader>", "b"],
"commands": [
"bookmarks.list"
]
}
]- Bind
ZZto the vim command:wq(save and close the current file):
"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["Z", "Z"],
"commands": [
":wq"
]
}
]- Bind
ctrl+nto turn off search highlighting and<leader>wto save the current file:
"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before":["<C-n>"],
"commands": [
":nohl",
]
},
{
"before": ["leader", "w"],
"commands": [
"workbench.action.files.save",
]
}
]- Bind
pin visual mode to paste without overriding the current register
"vim.visualModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": [
"p",
],
"after": [
"p",
"g",
"v",
"y"
]
}
],- Bind
>and<in visual mode to indent/outdent lines (repeatable)
"vim.visualModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": [
">"
],
"commands": [
"editor.action.indentLines"
]
},
{
"before": [
"<"
],
"commands": [
"editor.action.outdentLines"
]
},
]- Bind
<leader>vimto clone this repository to the selected location.
"vim.visualModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": [
"<leader>", "v", "i", "m"
],
"commands": [
{
"command": "git.clone",
"args": [ "https://github.com/VSCodeVim/Vim.git" ]
}
]
}
]"vim.insertModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive"/"normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive"/"visualModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive"
- Non-recursive keybinding overrides to use for insert, normal, and visual modes
- Example: Bind
jtogj. 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 normalModeKeyBindingNonRecursive.
"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["j"],
"after": ["g", "j"]
}
]-
Are your configurations correct?
Adjust the extension's logging level to 'debug', restart VS Code. As each remapped configuration is loaded, it is outputted to console. In the Developer Tools console, do you see any errors?
debug: Remapper: normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive. before=0. after=^. debug: Remapper: insertModeKeyBindings. before=j,j. after=<Esc>. error: Remapper: insertModeKeyBindings. Invalid configuration. Missing 'after' key or 'command'. before=j,k.
Misconfigured configurations are ignored.
-
Does the extension handle the keys you are trying to remap?
VSCodeVim explicitly instructs VS Code which key events we care about through the package.json. If the key you are trying to remap is a key in which vim/vscodevim generally does not handle, then it's most likely that this extension does not receive those key events from VS Code. With logging level adjusted to 'debug', as you press keys, you should see output similar to:
debug: ModeHandler: handling key=A. debug: ModeHandler: handling key=l. debug: ModeHandler: handling key=<BS>. debug: ModeHandler: handling key=<C-a>.
As you press the key that you are trying to remap, do you see it outputted here? If not, it means we don't subscribe to those key events.
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.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.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.whichwrap | Controls wrapping at beginning and end of line. Comma-separated set of keys that should wrap to next/previous line. Arrow keys are represented by [ and ] in insert mode, < and > in normal and visual mode. To wrap "everything", set this to h,l,<,>,[,]. |
String | `` |
| vim.report | Threshold for reporting number of lines changed. | Number | 2 |
⚠️ 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.
⚠️ 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"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. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerForegroundColorOneChar | The font color for one-character markers. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerForegroundColorTwoChar | The font color for two-character markers, used to differentiate from one-character markers. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerWidthPerChar | The width in pixels allotted to each character. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerHeight | The height of the marker. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerFontFamily | The font family used for the marker text. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerFontSize | The font size used for the marker text. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerFontWeight | The font weight used for the marker text. | ||
| vim.easymotionMarkerYOffset | The distance between the top of the marker and the text (will typically need some adjusting if height or font size have been changed). | ||
| vim.easymotionKeys | The characters used for jump marker name | ||
| 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.
Based on surround.vim, the plugin is used to work with surrounding characters like parenthesis, brackets, quotes, and XML tags.
| Setting | Description | Type | Default Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| vim.surround | Enable/disable vim-surround | Boolean | true |
t or < as <desired char> or <existing char> will do tags and enter tag entry mode. Using <CR> instead of > to finish changing a tag will preserve any existing attributes.
| Surround Command | Description |
|---|---|
d s <existing char> |
Delete existing surround |
c s <existing char> <desired char> |
Change surround existing to desired |
y s <motion> <desired char> |
Surround something with something using motion (as in "you surround") |
S <desired char> |
Surround when in visual modes (surrounds full selection) |
Some examples:
"test"with cursor inside quotes type cs"' to end up with'test'"test"with cursor inside quotes type ds" to end up withtest"test"with cursor inside quotes type cs"t and enter 123> to end up with<123>test</123>testwith cursor on word test type ysaw) to end up with(test)
Similar to vim-commentary, but uses the VSCode native Toggle Line Comment and Toggle Block Comment features.
Usage examples:
gc- toggles line comment. For examplegccto toggle line comment for current line andgc2jto toggle line comments for the current line and the next two lines.gC- toggles block comment. For examplegCi)to comment out everything within parenthesis.
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) |
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 | true |
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 occurence of <char><char> |
S<char><char> |
Move backward to the first occurence of <char><char> |
<operator>z<char><char> |
Perform <operator> forward to the first occurence of <char><char> |
<operator>Z<char><char> |
Perform <operator> backward to the first occurence of <char><char> |
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-selectto 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 Decimalcolumn is the locale ID.
-
-
Configure
vim.autoSwitchInputMethod.-
MacOS:
Given the input method key of
com.apple.keylayout.USandim-selectlocated 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.exelocated 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}.
Vim 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 pressedafagain, 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!
-
None of the native Visual Studio Code
ctrl(e.g.ctrl+f,ctrl+v) commands workSet the
useCtrlKeyssetting tofalse. -
Moving
j/kover folds opens up the foldsTry setting
vim.foldfixtotrue. 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 vscode style quick-pick, limited functionality, version of the commandline. This can be remapped as follows in visual studio 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'" }
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.
- 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.