B e n g bengidev

Xcode VIM

Learning VIM in Xcode comes with its own set of challenges and limitations, but there is enough there for you to give your mousing hand a break and master the keyboard.

A limited set of commands are available in Xcode, and this document attempts help ease the learning curve of using VIM in Xcode by providing a handy reference as well as what I find works for me in practice.

NOTE: Commands are case-sensitive. A command of N means pressing shift + n on the keyboard.

This document is a work in progress! Leave a comment if you would like to see a change.

Note

I’ve written a newer optimized 2026 version of this guide with a faster setup using Zinit + Starship and improved plugin loading.

This version avoids slow shell startups and works better with modern Zsh setups.

Updated guide: https://gist.github.com/n1snt/2cccc8aa5f7b645a7628d3512c70deb6

Oh my zsh.

Semantic Commit Messages

See how a minor change to your commit message style can make you a better programmer.

Format: <type>(<scope>): <subject>

<scope> is optional

	extension UILabel {

	static func spaceLabel() -> UILabel {
	let spacingLabel = UILabel()
	spacingLabel.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 150, height: 50)
	spacingLabel.textColor = .white
	spacingLabel.textAlignment = .center
	spacingLabel.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 18)
	spacingLabel.text = "LIKE ME"
	spacingLabel.backgroundColor = .red

	let styles: [UIFont.TextStyle] = [
	// iOS 17
	.extraLargeTitle, .extraLargeTitle2,
	// iOS 11
	.largeTitle,
	// iOS 9
	.title1, .title2, .title3, .callout,
	// iOS 7
	.headline, .subheadline, .body, .footnote, .caption1, .caption2,
	]

B e n g bengidev

Xcode VIM

Note

Oh my zsh.

Semantic Commit Messages

Example