Real Vim ninjas count every keystroke - do you?

Pick a challenge, fire up Vim, and show us what you got.

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$ gem install vimgolf
$ vimgolf setup
$ vimgolf put [challenge ID]

Played Challenges

Simple, Practical, and Common - 33385 entries

Simple things we do all the time should be able to be done with very few keystrokes, but sometimes I find something I need to do makes me go, "There MUST be a better way." This challenge is just a simple movement and entering text at a certain place.

  • Best score: 22
  • Best player score: 23
  • Position: #2655 / 7364
  • Number of attempts: 10
Swap values - 4543 entries

Well, swap the values...

  • Best score: 11
  • Best player score: 13
  • Position: #584 / 1257
  • Number of attempts: 4
One number per line - 18616 entries

Just give me the numbers.

  • Best score: 14
  • Best player score: 17
  • Position: #1256 / 3842
  • Number of attempts: 6
Unsemantic linewrapping - 890 entries

[Inspired by a blog post I read: https://scott.mn/2014/02/21/semantic_linewrapping/. Text adapted.] Sometimes when editing a Markdown file, I wrap the lines semantically. Instead of inserting a newline at 70 columns (or whatever), or making paragraphs one long line, I put in newlines at a point that seems logical to me. This may seem silly, but it produces better diffs. Semantic linewrapping also makes editing snappier. I can delete, edit or insert sentences easily using linewise operations. Code-oriented text editors like Vim and [REDACTED] are really good at this kind of manipulation. Editing text that hasn't been wrapped semantically is a pain, though:

  • Best score: 9
  • Best player score: 9
  • Position: #13 / 224
  • Number of attempts: 2
V to the i - 4751 entries

Input is 99 V's. Output is 100 i's.

  • Best score: 7
  • Best player score: 8
  • Position: #1264 / 1879
  • Number of attempts: 2
Applying same text modification in several lines - 2845 entries

Remove identical text at the beginning of several lines and the closing parenthesis.

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 15
  • Position: #518 / 840
  • Number of attempts: 1
Add string initializers to an enum - 862 entries

Change Typescript enum so that it has string initializers.

  • Best score: 21
  • Best player score: 24
  • Position: #126 / 254
  • Number of attempts: 1
Add semicolons - 10792 entries

Simply add a semicolon at the end of each line

  • Best score: 10
  • Best player score: 11
  • Position: #894 / 3044
  • Number of attempts: 3
Bad Copy Syntax - 2001 entries

Copy should be from right to left, but sometimes you type it wrong.

  • Best score: 18
  • Best player score: 20
  • Position: #222 / 516
  • Number of attempts: 5
Split line with dots - 2125 entries

This line is too long, split it.

  • Best score: 15
  • Best player score: 19
  • Position: #344 / 630
  • Number of attempts: 1
remove lines containing the word "reader" - 3537 entries

easy stuff

  • Best score: 9
  • Best player score: 10
  • Position: #546 / 1144
  • Number of attempts: 5
Com(m)a Trouble - 3675 entries

Someone was real stupid when placing his commas. Can you fix it?

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 13
  • Position: #258 / 827
  • Number of attempts: 3
Box it - 7828 entries

Create a box around a line.

  • Best score: 21
  • Best player score: 22
  • Position: #488 / 1865
  • Number of attempts: 2
Cool or not? - 793 entries

abc trying to be cool or not...

  • Best score: 15
  • Best player score: 15
  • Position: #40 / 226
  • Number of attempts: 4
From argument to object - 1474 entries

This task typifies those programmers endure while coding. This C-family pseudocode needs a function argument to be repurposed as an object call. Simply search and replace? Repeat a pattern of edits?

  • Best score: 17
  • Best player score: 18
  • Position: #220 / 450
  • Number of attempts: 2
Every other line - 2886 entries

AaAaAaA

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 17
  • Position: #486 / 700
  • Number of attempts: 4
Copy three lines - 2840 entries

If the site is up (by some miracle), make the text under every header identical.

  • Best score: 13
  • Best player score: 21
  • Position: #454 / 635
  • Number of attempts: 3
Array propagate - 319 entries

Complete the array with the keys as part of the value

  • Best score: 23
  • Best player score: 25
  • Position: #45 / 115
  • Number of attempts: 3
Start coding format - 147 entries

I used to start coding with following format: int main(){ -(cursor here) }

  • Best score: 22
  • Best player score: 25
  • Position: #63 / 70
  • Number of attempts: 3
Search and Replace 0 - 4792 entries

Replace every instance of 'aaa' with 'xaaax'.

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 17
  • Position: #1242 / 1585
  • Number of attempts: 2
comment and uncomment code inline - 1069 entries

It's very useful to be able to comment out a block of code in a quick edit. And likewise to uncomment the code. This operation often involves multi-line stanzas and even large blocks. With just line-wise navigation and insert mode this would cost you about 4 keystrokes per line. Master this hole of VimGolf and you'll quickly drop your key count in day to day Vim as well.

  • Best score: 9
  • Best player score: 9
  • Position: #72 / 314
  • Number of attempts: 3
Just the middle - 11360 entries

Delete the instructions at the top and bottom.

  • Best score: 7
  • Best player score: 8
  • Position: #2546 / 4164
  • Number of attempts: 2
Team names - 1805 entries

The team names are misspelled.

  • Best score: 16
  • Best player score: 16
  • Position: #14 / 581
  • Number of attempts: 4
Converting group lines from format A to Format B - 20 entries

Convert from one format to another

  • Best score: 56
  • Best player score: 84
  • Position: #9 / 10
  • Number of attempts: 1
Remember VimGolf Rules ! - 257 entries

Rules, ... and don't forget !

  • Best score: 7
  • Best player score: 7
  • Position: #1 / 138
  • Number of attempts: 1
Turn a ninja to case-insensitive [Nn][Ii][Nn][Jj][Aa] regexp! - 63 entries

I bumped into this in a dailywtf code: http://pastebin.com/QApa5ycS I didn't want to translate a string whenever I wanted to be [Ss][Aa][Rr][Cc][Aa][Ss][Tt][Ii][Cc] on slack, so I figured a script (python, sed, whatever) would be helpful. Well, or a few vim keystroke!

  • Best score: 18
  • Best player score: 18
  • Position: #21 / 37
  • Number of attempts: 1
Basic renumbering - 5587 entries

Renumbering Basic.

  • Best score: 11
  • Best player score: 11
  • Position: #87 / 1258
  • Number of attempts: 9
create arrows in a list - 106 entries

Add arrow at same distance

  • Best score: 10
  • Best player score: 10
  • Position: #45 / 71
  • Number of attempts: 1
Create Leading Zeros - 238 entries

Create leading zeros only for id columns. Please use generic approach!

  • Best score: 23
  • Best player score: 24
  • Position: #16 / 80
  • Number of attempts: 5
replace 2nd column blanks with values in same column if blank - 231 entries

Where ,SOMELOGB and ,SOMELOGC replaces each /r carriage return if 2nd column is blank. The replace only happens if 2nd column is blank though and should replace up to the non blank row.

  • Best score: 15
  • Best player score: 20
  • Position: #74 / 81
  • Number of attempts: 2
Fun With The Diagonal - 103 entries

change the lowercase characters on the main diagonal to uppercase

  • Best score: 11
  • Best player score: 11
  • Position: #51 / 79
  • Number of attempts: 1
Vice versa - 7805 entries

Little role switching.

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 13
  • Position: #784 / 2101
  • Number of attempts: 4
mp3 - Cutlist - 29 entries

An audio CD was accidentally ripped into one single mp3 file. A dummy cue-file now needs to be filled out with the correct values to get single mp3 files.

  • Best score: 65
  • Best player score: 159
  • Position: #10 / 12
  • Number of attempts: 1
One to Ten - 2165 entries

Generate the sequence of numbers from 1 to 10, one number per line. Inspired by this Reddit thread: https://redd.it/ak4it2

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 12
  • Position: #151 / 662
  • Number of attempts: 5
Delete to the end of the current line - 791 entries

Delete to the end of the current line, but keep the character under the cursor.

  • Best score: 5
  • Best player score: 6
  • Position: #311 / 385
  • Number of attempts: 1
Song Transcription Oops - 234 entries

When transcribing vocal music to Canjo Tab you can start by finding the lowest note and assigning that to zero and working your way up from there. However, without fail, I tend to miscount the notes and when I am near done I find a lower note. I mark this with a "z". This means I have to increase all the previous ones by 1. just a sting of numbers :)

  • Best score: 15
  • Best player score: 15
  • Position: #2 / 75
  • Number of attempts: 2
change parenthesis - 278 entries

change the pair of braces into a pair of parentheses

  • Best score: 9
  • Best player score: 10
  • Position: #99 / 156
  • Number of attempts: 1
Separating firstname & lastname - 120 entries

Seperate named with equal tabs.

  • Best score: 19
  • Best player score: 30
  • Position: #45 / 55
  • Number of attempts: 3
Reorder the groups - 1137 entries

Change the order so that the groups of fruit come before the vegetables.

  • Best score: 14
  • Best player score: 15
  • Position: #101 / 259
  • Number of attempts: 2
Array transposition - 2378 entries

Transpose two arrays into one.

  • Best score: 16
  • Best player score: 25
  • Position: #289 / 443
  • Number of attempts: 6
Assign numbers to fields - 105 entries

You are given a list of space-separated strings. Add an increasing numeric prefix to each one.

  • Best score: 19
  • Best player score: 19
  • Position: #21 / 59
  • Number of attempts: 2
Collect List - 4264 entries

Convert to comma separated list.

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 13
  • Position: #576 / 1186
  • Number of attempts: 3
VimGolfNight - 536 entries

Based on "The name of the game".

  • Best score: 12
  • Best player score: 12
  • Position: #95 / 343
  • Number of attempts: 1
swap or reverse - 115 entries

Try to swap or reverse the line as needed.

  • Best score: 16
  • Best player score: 16
  • Position: #44 / 66
  • Number of attempts: 4
Winning streak - 124 entries

Make the number on each line equal the consecutive L's or W's.

  • Best score: 21
  • Best player score: 26
  • Position: #21 / 49
  • Number of attempts: 3
I forgot quotes - 15931 entries

Oops.

  • Best score: 10
  • Best player score: 11
  • Position: #1185 / 4161
  • Number of attempts: 6
-a-b-c- - 3176 entries

Put hyphens everywhere.

  • Best score: 13
  • Best player score: 19
  • Position: #1062 / 1129
  • Number of attempts: 1
Split the words - 356 entries

Add the spaces manually if you must, but if you use Vim's spell checking feature wisely, I think you'll save a LARGE number of strokes.

  • Best score: 18
  • Best player score: 20
  • Position: #13 / 108
  • Number of attempts: 8
A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 ! - 10628 entries

A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 !

  • Best score: 11
  • Best player score: 12
  • Position: #2244 / 3667
  • Number of attempts: 1
attr_aligner - 3444 entries

Two attr keywords. Two separate indentations. Align the colons.

  • Best score: 19
  • Best player score: 24
  • Position: #230 / 692
  • Number of attempts: 5
Letter case trickery - 1594 entries

This file is in a downright esoteric format, consisting of hexadecimal numbers, non-hexadecimal keywords, and "Z" indicating end-of-line. Make the hexadecimal numbers lowercase.

  • Best score: 9
  • Best player score: 12
  • Position: #298 / 511
  • Number of attempts: 2
quotes inside quotes - 3125 entries

taken from tip 85 of the very good book 'Practical Vim: Edit Text at the Speed of Thought' ! I'd be interested what people use :)

  • Best score: 14
  • Best player score: 14
  • Position: #54 / 1072
  • Number of attempts: 4
Words in parens - 12858 entries

We should all ace this, right?

  • Best score: 13
  • Best player score: 14
  • Position: #117 / 3946
  • Number of attempts: 3
Hole-in-one - 1012 entries

Lets take this golf thing literally.. Drive off the tee into the hole, and of course you don't strike the ball completely clean.

  • Best score: 15
  • Best player score: 16
  • Position: #34 / 302
  • Number of attempts: 4
Saving the hashes(#) - 1992 entries

The following file is copied from vimcasts.org(Its only for learning purpose,hope the site owner doesn't mind it), its probably the easiest of challenges.Our goal is to delete every line which doesn't contain a hash signs. The remaining hash signs with numbers are then sorted to get the final output.

  • Best score: 20
  • Best player score: 46
  • Position: #457 / 473
  • Number of attempts: 1
switch variable - 5036 entries

how fast can you switch two variable ?

  • Best score: 11
  • Best player score: 12
  • Position: #766 / 1736
  • Number of attempts: 2
Simple text editing with Vim - 12290 entries

Make the pairs of lines match up by making each second line same as first

  • Best score: 13
  • Best player score: 13
  • Position: #203 / 3581
  • Number of attempts: 3
Reformat/Refactor a Golfer Class - 6560 entries

A simple case of removing unneeded code and fixing broken indentation.

  • Best score: 32
  • Best player score: 34
  • Position: #309 / 1616
  • Number of attempts: 7

Contributed Challenges

Song Transcription Oops - 234 entries

When transcribing vocal music to Canjo Tab you can start by finding the lowest note and assigning that to zero and working your way up from there. However, without fail, I tend to miscount the notes and when I am near done I find a lower note. I mark this with a "z". This means I have to increase all the previous ones by 1. just a sting of numbers :)

Comparing Schema With Diff - 50 entries

Sometimes databases output things differently one to another. Fixing things that are out of order will make the diffs more usable.

Bad Copy Syntax - 2001 entries

Copy should be from right to left, but sometimes you type it wrong.

Bradley M. Small
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entered into 58 challenges

contributed 3 challenges