My VsCode Vim Setup

Why I use VsCode + Vim

• Vim requires too much of 'being on top of things'
• VsCode has some nice extensions and EverythingWorksTogetherNicely™ (mostly)
• I'm on Windows (because I like to play games too), and setting Vim or Neovim on Windows isn't straightforward
• Vim keybindings are the best part about Vim, so using that with VsCode is the most productive I can be without having a Vim setup

File Explorer

My leader key is space, I've set the shortcut space+f to toggle my file explorer. To do that, I need to change the shortcuts in two places:

// settings.json
{
    "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before" : ["<leader>","f"],
            "after": [],
            "commands" : [
              "workbench.files.action.focusFilesExplorer",
            ],
            "args": []
        },
    ],
}
    
// keybindings.json
[
  {
    "key": "space f",
    "command": "workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility",
    "when": "filesExplorerFocus && !editorTextFocus"
  }
]

This above setting, I got from: https://sendhil.blog/2020/10/02/vscode-bindings-to-toggle-file-explorer/

Move Lines Up and Down

When I first started using VsCode, I really liked the default shortcut to move lines up and down, just simply Alt+UpArrow can move one line or multiple up and down. Here's how I do it in VsCodeVim:

// keybindings.json  
{
    "key": "alt+j",
    "command": "editor.action.moveLinesUpAction",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly"
  },
  {
    "key": "alt+up",
    "command": "-editor.action.moveLinesUpAction",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly"
  },
  {
    "key": "alt+k",
    "command": "editor.action.moveLinesDownAction",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly"
  },
  {
    "key": "alt+down",
    "command": "-editor.action.moveLinesDownAction",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly"
  }

Next/Previous Editor

One thing that I really liked about my Vim setups was the ability to move to next open buffer quickly. It makes quickly switching around in files very easy. In VsCodeVim I have this to make that happen:

// keybindings.json
  {
    "key": "ctrl+j",
    "command": "workbench.action.previousEditor"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+pageup",
    "command": "-workbench.action.previousEditor"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+k",
    "command": "workbench.action.nextEditor"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+pagedown",
    "command": "-workbench.action.nextEditor"
  },

Indent/Outdent Lines

Indenting works in Vim with < and >. However it is not repeatable. True Vim Enthusiasts™ will say that the true vim philosophy is to use . to repeat your last action. But I like having it repeatable.

// settings.json
    "vim.visualModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before": [
                ">"
            ],
            "commands": [
                "editor.action.indentLines"
            ]
        },
        {
            "before": [
                "<"
            ],
            "commands": [
                "editor.action.outdentLines"
            ]
        },
    ],

Paste without losing value from register

I really hate this default behavior of Vim. If I yank something and then paste it, I cannot paste it again, because it has been removed from that register. So here's how I have fixed that:

// settings.json
    "vim.visualModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before": [
                "p",
            ],
            "after": [
                "p",
                "g",
                "v",
                "y"
            ]
        }
    ],

Undo/Redo mapping

I'm really used to using u and Ctrl+r to undo and redo. But that's not the behavior in VsCode, so here's how I've fixed that:

// settings.json
    "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        { 
            "before": ["u"], 
            "after": [],
            "commands": [
                {
                    "command": "undo", 
                    "args": []
                }
            ] 
        }, 
        { 
            "before": ["<C-r>"], 
            "after": [],
            "commands": [
                {
                    "command": "redo", 
                    "args": []
                }
            ] 
        },
    }    

Folding

I like folding/unfolding code with za etc. But with folded code, the Vim line up, down doesn't work with j, k so to fix that I had to put this in my settings.json

// settings.json
    "vim.foldfix": true,