Autocommands

You can add an auto command to your vimrc to have it automatically executed when a certain type of file is loaded. As an example, I use the following to convert tabs to spaces when a PHP file is loaded.

auto BufReadPost *.php retab!

See :help auto for the full info.

Editor Comparison

A friend sent this to me, and I thought it was pretty funny. I'm not sure of the original source. Thanks Nate!

UPDATE: The comic is from this blog. Good stuff!

Ignore the Modified Flag

There are times when I'm working on a temporary buffer, and I want to do something like a `gf' (go to file), but Vim insists that the buffer is modified and refuses to abandon the file. You can get around this by telling Vim the file isn't modified.

:set hidden

This effectively makes Vim treat the file like it's already saved. Please avoid using this for any production files as it can make Vim think that the file on disk is different than it actually is.

Make Windows Equal Height

If you have a bunch of split windows of disproportionate sizes, you can make them all equal by doing a `ctrl-w =' in normal mode.

Converting Tabs to Spaces

Here's a quick way to convert a tab-stopped file to a space-formatted file.

:set expandtab
:retab!

Last Changed Text

Here are two helpful commands to get to the last changed or yanked text.

`[ - First character of previously changed or yanked text
`] - Last character of previously changed or yanked text

Extending History

You can allow Vim to store more history than the default (last 20 commands) by setting history as follows.

:set history=N (where N is how much history you want to keep)