Vi is a text editor that was originally created for the Unix operating system. Vi is actually short for “visual”.
On most modern systems, Vim has replaced vi. Even if you think you’re starting vi by running the vi command, for example, Vim is what actually starts.
Vim is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with Linux and UNIX systems. The name Vim is a contraction of Vi and Improved. So, Vim is vi improved.
Vim is a highly configurable text editor that you can use for software development or any kind of text editing. When someone masters Vim, they can often be more efficient with it than using other text editors. Vim forces you to use only the keyboard and no mouse. This limits the time you waste moving your hand between devices.
You should know how to use at least one text editor that can be used from a text-only shell prompt.
Vim is available on a number of different operating systems. Vim is available on Linux, Unix, Mac, and Windows.
A great thing about Vim is that it can be installed anywhere and comes preinstalled on many machines.
Vim is almost always installed on a server and most Linux distributions install it by default.
Vim’s lightweight footprint is part of why it’s pre-installed on so many operating systems and servers.
Vim on Linux works with LF only, Vim on Windows works with both LF and CRLF
Vim commands all come from the keyboard, and they allow you to edit entire words, lines, or paragraphs of text with individual commands.
All the power Vim provides allows you to do things quickly. You can even make complex edits fairly quick and easily, once you know how Vim works.
Nothing in Vim requires you to use the mouse. You can do absolutely everything from the keyboard.
This sounds daunting at first, but once you've integrated some of the keymaps into muscle memory you'll see your productivity skyrocket. Reaching for the mouse, even if only rarely, breaks your flow. And those little breaks can add up over time.
For some people, a keyboard-driven workflow is crucial to prevent RSI symptoms. If you struggle with RSI, it might be worth giving Vim a shot.
Note : Vim has mouse support, but most people rarely use it.
Like a language, Vim has the concept of verbs, nouns (or objects), and adjectives. For example, to delete a word you type the command dw, which is an action and an object. If you want to perform a different action on that object, then use a different action command. For example, to change the text of a word you would use cw.
To delete everything contained within a pair of quotes, you can use the command di”. This means “delete inside the quotes.” You have an action: delete, an adjective: inside, and an object: quotation marks.
If you want to delete 3 words, you use the command d3w which literally means to “delete 3 words.” It’s very language like.
There’s no need to get hung up on any of these commands at this point. The idea here is to demonstrate how easy it can be to think in Vim, and how it’s actually more efficient than manually learning dozens and dozens of commands for every little situation you might encounter.
If you’ve ever waited for your IDE to start up when you’re just trying to simply edit one file, you know what we mean. Vim opens files instantly and editing is superfast. No waiting.
When you learn how to navigate with Vim, you’ll find you can use those same navigation key bindings in other programs such as man and less. You can even configure your command line shell to use Vim-style line editing features. For example, you can use set -o vi for your Bash shell, so you can use Vim key bindings to browse any command history and even edit the current command line.
Even other editors support Vim modes. Sometimes the mode is built-in and other times you’ll need to install a plugin first.
Here are just a few editors where you can put your Vim knowledge to use:
- Visual Studio
- Visual Studio Code
- NetBeans
- Atom
- Eclipse
- Notepad++
- and more!
Not only can you run Vim from the command line and use its textual user interface, you can run Vim in a Graphical User Interface mode suitable for graphical environments. The Graphical User Interface mode of Vim has all the same features you know and love in Vim, in addition to the features you would expect from of a graphical application. Those additional features include things like scroll bars, menus, a list of recently opened files, the ability to use a mouse, and integration with the system clipboard.
Once you have a little exposure to Vim, Vim’s built-in help system comes in really handy. You can use it to quickly lookup commands, syntax, and more — all without leaving the editor. You can even edit your file while referring to the documentation all on the same screen. The documentation that comes with Vim is very well written and easy to use.
Debian/ Ubuntu/ Mint : sudo apt install vim
RHEL/ Fedora : sudo dnf install vim
Arch/ Manjaro : sudo pacman -S vim
To check the current Vim version, run: vim --version
Now that you have Vim installed, run this from the terminal: vim
You should see an intro screen. This is the where you will be working on your file. Unlike most text editors and IDEs, Vim is a modal editor. If you want to type abc you need to switch to insert mode with i.
To open a file on Vim from the terminal, run: vim file.txt
You can also open multiple files at once: vim file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
Vim opens file1.txt, file2.txt, and file3.txt in separate buffers. You will learn about buffers later.
A modal editor provides different modes of operation, each suited for a particular purpose. For example, in Vim, there are modes for entering keyboard commands, inserting text, and selecting text.
This is different from non-modal (or modeless) editors, which only provide one mode for inputting characters.
At any time, you can see which mode you are in on the status bar of the editor, if the showmode option is set :
- insert mode is shown by the modeline as
-- INSERT -- - visual mode is show by the modeline as
-- VISUAL -- - select mode is shown by the modeline as
-- SELECT -- - insert normal mode is shown by the modeline as
-- (insert) -- - …etc
A side note
Vim actually has seven so-called 'basic modes', and six 'additional modes', for a grand total of 13 unique modes. That sounds super daunting — but even expert Vimmers typically use just three or four of these modes regularly.
To change between modes, use Esc for normal mode.
This mode is the place that we spent most our time in. Remember, this is what makes Vim different.
In Normal mode you can enter all the normal editor commands. If you start the editor you are in this mode by default.
In normal mode, there are multiple ways to move around an open file. In addition to using the cursor keys to move around, you can use h (left), j (down), k (up), and l (right) to move as well. This particularly helps touch typists who don’t like leaving the home row when making changes.
You can also make changes to single characters in normal mode. For example, to replace a single character, move your cursor over it and press r, and then the character you want to replace it with. Similarly, you can delete single characters by moving your cursor over it and pressing x.
To perform an undo, press u in normal mode. This undoes changes up to the last time you were in normal mode. If you want to redo (i.e., undo your undo) press Ctrl+r in normal mode.
We can navigate among other modes through it.
In Insert mode the text you type is inserted into the buffer.
You can enter it by using an insert command from normal mode.
Insert commands include:
ifor ’insert’, this immediately switches vim to insert modeafor ’append’, this moves the cursor after the current character and enters insert modeoinserts a new line below the current line and enters insert mode on the new line
There are so many more ways of inserting text in Vim that can’t be listed here, but these are the simplest.
Beware of staying in insert mode for too long; Vim is not designed to be used in insert mode all the time. You can type normally until you want to make a correction, save the file, or perform another operation that’s reserved for command mode or last-line mode (Cmdline Mode).
To get out of insert mode, hit the Escape key. Once you press Escape, you’re in command mode again.
Visual mode is used to make selections of text.
This is like Normal mode, but the movement commands extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement command is used, it is executed for the highlighted area.
Vim has three different visual modes. They are:
- Character-wise visual mode (
VISUSAL) :v - Line-wise visual mode (
V-LINE) :V - Block-wise visual mode (
V-BLOCK) :Ctrl-V
If you find yourself using visual mode operation far more often than normal mode operations, be careful. This is an anti-pattern. It takes more keystrokes to run a visual mode operation than its normal mode counterpart. For example, if you need to delete an inner word, why use four keystrokes, viwd (visually highlight an inner word then delete), if you can accomplish it with just three keystrokes (diw)? The latter is more direct and concise. Of course, there will be times when visual modes are appropriate, but in general, favor a more direct approach.
It's used to give vim commands. When you are in this mode, the cursor goes to the bottom of the screen where you can type in different commands.
There are 4 different commands you can use to enter the command-line mode:
- Search patterns :
/,? - Command-line commands ("Ex command") :
: - External commands ("filter command" or "bang operator") :
!
You can enter the command-line mode from the normal mode or the visual mode.
To leave the command-line mode, you can use <Esc>, Ctrl-c, or Ctrl-[.
:wto save changes made to the file.:wqsave the changes then exit vim.:q!discard the changes we made and then exit vim.
Select mode looks like Visual mode, but the commands accepted are quite different. It was created to be similar to Windows' selection mode but with time has been less and less used.
Select mode emulates regular editor's text highlighting behavior closer than visual mode. In regular editor, after you highlight a block of text, if you type letter "a", it will delete and replace the highlighted block of text with letter "a".
- Character-wise Select Mode
gh - Line-wise Select Mode
gH - Block-wise Select Mode
g Ctrl-h
To enter the select mode from Normal mode, press :gh, gH or g Ctrl-h
To select a text, press shift + arrow
Getting back to Normal Mode, press <Esc> or Ctrl-C or Ctrl-[.
You can't execute normal mode commands on highlighted text in select mode.
Like Command-line mode, but after entering a command you remain in Ex mode.
To enter it, you type : Q
To get back to Normal mode from Ex mode, enter the :visual or :vi for short
To quit Ex mode, enter the already known :q command.
Since v8.1, Vim has shipped with a built-in terminal. This feature allows us to have a terminal running in a Vim window.
Why use this? Mainly because it saves you jumping to a separate terminal window. You can also use Vim commands to manipulate a shell session and easily transfer clipboard content between the terminal and files you're working on.
To open vim terminal, just type the command :terminal, or :vert terminal to open the terminal in a vertical split window.
To close the vim terminal, type exit or Ctrl-W Ctrl-C
This is like Normal mode, but after an operator command has started, and Vim is waiting for a {motion} to specify the text that the operator will work on.
Entered when CTRL-O is typed in Insert mode. This is like Normal mode, but after executing one command Vim returns to Insert mode.
Entered when starting a Visual selection from Insert mode, e.g., by using CTRL-O and then v, V or CTRL-V. When the Visual selection ends, Vim returns to Insert mode.
See more
Entered when starting Select mode from Insert mode. E.g., by dragging the mouse or <S-Right>. When the Select mode ends, Vim returns to Insert mode.
Replace mode is a special case of Insert mode. You can do the same things as in Insert mode, but for each character you enter, one character of the existing text is deleted.
Before entering this mode, get into normal mode and put your cursor on top of the first character that you want to replace. Then press R to enter replace mode. Now whatever you type will replace the existing text. The cursor automatically moves to the next character just like in insert mode.
Tip: If you have made a small typing error in replace mode, just press backspace without exiting the replace mode. This will revert the changes made to the preceding character in replace mode.
Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but instead of file characters you are replacing screen real estate.
Type gR to enter VREPLACE mode
Replace vs Virtual Replace Modes
See more
Using Normal mode in a terminal window. Making changes is impossible. Use an insert command, such as "a" or "i", to return to Terminal-Job mode.
Vim does have an auto-save feature, but it saves it to the "recovery" file.
When you edit a document, e.g. MyFile.txt vim will create the revovery file .MyFile.txt.swp. If your system were to crash, or your session were to die, then you can reconnect, and recover from essentially where you left off, by typing: vim -r MyFile.txt This will open the file for editing, and recover the last changes you made to it.
- You can learn the basics of Vim in just a few minutes using
vimtutorcommand. - OpenVim — interactive tutorial
- Vim Adventures — learn Vim by playing a game
- shortcutfoo — has nice animation for some shortcuts
- Vim Cheat Sheet
- devhints : Vim Cheat Sheet
- Vim scripting cheatsheet