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GVIM Commands

In this article we will learn why we need gvim commands and in what scenarios we can use these gvim commands to make our work easier and save time.

Swasti PujariAssociate Director, Backend Engineering
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GVIM commands and their usages#

If you work in VLSI or any Linux-based environment, you’re likely no stranger to scripting, log analysis, and report generation. Whether you’re debugging a TCL script, parsing log files, or querying design reports, efficiency is key. Manually editing files is tedious and error-prone—this is where mastering GVIM (Graphical Vim) becomes a game-changer.

Below, we’ll explore essential GVIM commands tailored for engineers who want to streamline their workflow. Let’s dive in!

If one file is opened and we need to open a file to compare with this, then use below command.

tabe gvim <filename.tcl>

  • If you have opened the gvim and want to replace some string, then use below command.

:%s/old_string/new_string
:%s/old_string/new_string/g
:%s/old_string/new_string/gc

Here “g” represents the replacement and “c” represents conditional replacement.

  • If you want to append a string at all the lines in the file, open gvim and use below command.

:%s/$/<String to be append>/g

  • If you want to prepend any string at the beginning of all lines present in the file, then use below command.

:%s/^/<String to be append>/g

  • If you want to delete the lines other than a particular string, then use below command. This will delete all the lines in a file and will keep the lines contains ERROR.

:g!/ERROR/d

  • Simillar to above if you don’t want to keep lines which contains particular string then use below command. The difference between the above and below command is “!” sign.

:g/ERROR/d

  • If you have all the lines column and wants to change it to row, then use below command.

:%s/\n/ /

  • If one wants to split the file horizontally then use below command.

:sp file2.tcl

  • If one wants to split the file vertically then use below command.

:vsp file2.tcl

  • If one wants to show the line number, then use below command.

:su nu

  • If you want to hide the line numbers, then use below command.

:su nonu

  • If you want to jump at some particular line, then use below command.

:n

Where n can be any number.

Written by

Swasti Pujari

Associate Director, Backend Engineering at CoreIC Technologies, with 15+ years in VLSI Physical Design and backend engineering. Previously Practice Head at UST Global, leading Physical Design, STA, EMIR, DFT, and Physical Verification. Delivered 3nm, 6nm and 7nm projects for AMD, Intel, and Microchip, and published IEEE research on hybrid AI-EDA floorplanning.

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