Equivalence of Emacs and Vim commands

Equivalence of VIM and Emacs commands

Descriptions for VIM commands are quite straightforward, there is not many choice, you have just to type the command. This is not as simple in Emacs, because there is so much possibilities. Here is presented the Emacs commands and their standard key bindings when there are some. But many (like myself) alter the default keybindings to type faster and according to what they do with Emacs.

This heading includes contributions from David Richfield. Thanks David !

Conventions

• NA
  Not Applicable, the equivalence doesn't exist.
• -
  I personnaly don't know if there is an equivalence.

Commands

Help

Action Emacs command VIM command General apropos :help
:help <word> then hit CTRL-D to see matching help entries for word About commands apropos-command : f1 a :help <command> Describe function describe-function : f1 f NA Describe variable describe-variable : f1 v :help options Describe key briefly describe-key-briefly : f1 c NA Tutorial help-with-tutorial : C-h t NA

Open/Close/Save

Action Emacs command VIM command Open a file find-file : C-x C-f :e file-name Reload a file from disk revert-buffer :e Close a buffer, a frame kill-buffer : C-x k :q Close all files C-x C-c :qall List all buffers, frame C-x C-b :files Change to next frame switch-to-buffer : C-x b C-w C-w Change to next buffer switch-to-buffer : C-x b :e#<n> Save a buffer, a frame save-current-buffer : C-x C-s :w Save all buffers, frame save-some-buffer : C-x s :wall

In Emacs, it is better to load all the files in different buffers, but in the same instance of Emacs, if only to load the file faster. Thus, open as many files as you want and then switch from one buffer to another.

Navigation / Search

Action Emacs command VIM command Go to the beginning of a buffer beginning-of-buffer : M-< 1G or gg Go to the end of a buffer end-of-buffer : M-> G Search forward C-s /<string> Repeat last search forward C-s C-s n or / Search backward C-r ?<string> Repeat last search backward C-r C-r N or ? Find the next brace, bracket, etc. Click on the brace, bracket, etc. %

Edition

Action Emacs command VIM command Transpose letters C-t xp Transpose words M-t Go to start of first word, then dwwP. Except at the end of the line, then go to the space in between the words, and type 2dwbhP downcase word M-l With cursor at beginning of word: veu Downcase region C-x C-l Mark region, press u. Upcase word M-u With cursor at beginning of word: veU Upcase region C-x C-u Mark region, press U. Syntax highlighting M-x toggle-global-lazy-font-lock-mode :syntax enable and then :set syntax=>syntax name< Region indentation M-x indent-according-to-mode == (current line)
<n>== (n, the number of lines)
=G (till end of file) Inserting comments indent-for-comment : M-; -

Cut & Paste

Action Emacs command VIM command Copy a region, a selection copy-region-as-kill <n>yy to "yank" or copy n lines, or mark region in visual mode, then press y Set mark C-Space m{a-zA-Z} Copy M-w See above Mark the buffer C-x h ggVG

String substitution

To come, work in progress.

:%s/stringToReplace/newString/gc
:%s#stringToReplace#newString#gc
:%s#/home/guest/tmp/comp#/usr/local/#gc

Undo / Redo

Action Emacs command VIM command Undo C-_ u Redo Space C-_ C-r Repeat a command M-x z . Repeat a complex command repeat-complex-command : C-x M-: .

More about the undo/redo in Emacs : All the actions are piled up, even the "undo" action. Thus to perform a "redo", one has to undo an "undo". One way to do that is after an "undo" to write a character, like "space", and then perform an "undo".

Check this out too about macros.

Spelling check

Action Emacs command VIM command Check spelling of a region/file ispell-region / ispell-buffer

:w! (hit ENTER):!ispell % (hit ENTER):e! % (hit ENTER)

Or a bit more complex and powerful, use some macros :
map <F5> :w!<CR>:!ispell -d francais %<CR>:e! %<CR>
map <F6> :w!<CR>:!ispell -d american %<CR>:e! %<CR>

Check spelling of a word ispell-word NA

Emacs specificities

Insertion

Action Emacs command Insert special characters C-q

Examples :

• To insert a TAB character
  C-q TAB
• To insert a newline in the minibuffer, for substitutions, etc.
  C-q C-j

LISP evaluation

Action Emacs command Evaluate a LISP expression and print the result eval-expression : M-:

For a function evaluation expression is of the form (function)

Examples :

• Addition
  (+ 1 2)
  will return 3
• Division
  (/ 225 60)
  will return 3
• Division
  (/ 225.0 60)
  will return 3.75
• Variable assigment
  (setq shell-file-name "bash")
  will return "bash"

For a variable evaluation expression is of the form variable

Examples :

• Checking a variable value
  M-: shell-file-name
  might return "/bin/bash" or "bash"

Emacs modes

Action Emacs command Get name of current buffer major mode, eg xml-mode M-: major-mode Get pretty name of current buffer major mode M-: mode-name Full description of current major mode M-x describe-mode