Vim Editor

Vim is a text editor that is spreading rapidly and being actively used by many programmers. Ease of use, functionality and flexibility are the main qualities of this program that have led to its popularity. The number of code writers who prefer this program is continuing to grow every day.

The following list describes many of Vim’s software tools, but doesn’t include its utilities relating to entering and editing text: automatic filling; comparison of 2 or more files; simultaneous operation in several encodings; configurable automatic syntax highlighting; multiple layout of editing windows; unlimited depth of rollback and undo; integration with the operating system; the best review of the text after its collapse; good configuration for the user needs.

The above list of Vim features is not complete – these are just some of the functions that are used by programmers in everyday practice for editing software code, analysis of LOG-files, and editing of configuration files.

VIM Editor provides 4 modes:

Normal mode. Modification of the text is not allowed, the arrow keys move the cursor, others keys perform pre-scripted (by default, or by the user) commands. This is the central mode, there user has the ability to configure for another mode (to transition back – press the Escape key).

Insert mode. After transitioning to this configuration, the user gets a “normal” text editor. Typed characters are inserted into an existing document; they are not perceived as commands. Insert, delete, auto-completion, and text editing are all available by pressing keyboard shortcuts.

Command line. It is used to enter commands that are not associated with normal or F-keys and their sequences. Can be fetched by pressing the colon while in normal mode, after it should follow an obscure command.

Visual mode. Special control commands along with the navigation command arrows allow you to allocate text fragments line by line, character by character, or block by block. Normal mode commands are applied to the dedicated area. As for editing, here it is slightly easier because you can see what block of the text you should change.

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Vim Editor tips and tricks

Vim Editor Commands (Cheat Sheet)

11.11.2015

Vim is a very powerful editor with an enormous set of functions. This article describes the basic commands that are essential to working with Vim. Time you spend on learning Vim commands and functions will pay big dividends for you in your future use of…

Vim editor: how to refresh / reload an opened file

04.11.2015

If you are editing a file that has been modified by some external program, it can be refreshed with the command :edit without any parameters, or simply :e. If you have modified the file locally, you may lose modifications after refreshing the file using :e!.…

Vim editor: how to delete lines in files

04.11.2015

There is a command d to delete lines, words and characters from the file. The dd command deletes the one current line on which the cursor is located. Using the command Nd and pressing the arrow removes N characters (lines) depending on the arrow pressed.…

How to exit the VIM editor

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Vundle – plugin manager for Vim

03.11.2015

Install, remove and find new plugins for Vim all in one place. A critical feature, as Vim without plugins is not Vim at all. Vundle is a package manager for Vim, the same as a Bundler for Ruby. It organizes the directory structure and also…