Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 5 - Comment a code block

In the part 5 of this series, I am going to explain how to Comment/Uncomment a code block in VIM editor.

Method 1

Add folowing lines in your ~/.vimrc file

func! PhpUnComment() range
    let l:paste = &g:paste
    let &g:paste = 0

    let l:line        = a:firstline
    let l:endline     = a:lastline

    while l:line <= l:endline
        if getline (l:line) =~ '^\s*\/\/.*$'
            let l:newline = substitute (getline (l:line), '^\(\s*\)\/\/ \(.*\).*$', '\1\2', '')
        else
            let l:newline = substitute (getline (l:line), '^\(\s*\)\(.*\)$', '\1// \2', '')
        endif
        call setline (l:line, l:newline)
        let l:line = l:line + 1
    endwhile

    let &g:paste = l:paste
endfunc

vnoremap <buffer> <C-c> :call PhpUnComment()<CR>

Now In visual mode select the lines to comment/uncomment and press <CTRL-c>. This will comment all the uncommented lines, and uncomment all the commented lines.


Method 2

Using blockwise visual mode (CTRL-V) select the block to be commented.
Press I (capital i) and write the text you want to prepend to each line of the selected block (e.g. // or #). Then press ESC and the text will be inserted to the left of each line of the selected block.


For other posts related to VIM settings and plugins you can also visit

Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 1 - General settings
Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 2 - Autocompletion
Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 3 - PHP documentor
Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 4 - CodeSniffer Integration

Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 1 - General settings

Here are some useful settings, commands and plugins to make VI editor more developer friendy (some settings are there only for PHP users).

You need to add the following settings in .vimrc file in your home directory or alternatively you can add them to /etc/vim/vimrc file, that will enable these settings for all users on the system.

"For highlighting the code add
 syntax on

"Show a ruler at the bottom of screen
  set ruler
  set laststatus=2

"Show matching brackets.
  set showmatch

"To do a case insesnitive search.
  set ignorecase

"To replace TAB with shift of 4 spaces.
  set tabstop=4
  set shiftwidth=4
  set expandtab

"Show line numbers.
 set number

"Jump 5 lines when running out of the screen
 set scrolljump=5

"Indicate jump out of the screen when 3 lines before end of the screen
 set scrolloff=3

"Set indentation rules
 setlocal autoindent
 setlocal smartindent

"Correct indentation after opening a docblock and automatic * on every line
  setlocal formatoptions=qroct

"Append ending brackets whenever open a bracket
 inoremap [ []
 inoremap ( ( )

"Spell Checking
 set spell spelllang=en_us
 Now use can move to next or previous misspelled word using ]s and [s commands, also you can use following
 zg   Add word under cursor as good word
 z=   Suggest corrections for the word under cursor

For other posts related to VIM settings and plugins you can also visit

Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 2 - Autocompletion
Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 3 - PHP documentor
Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 4 - CodeSniffer Integration
Some useful settings and plugins for VI Editor : Part 5 - Comment a code block