a improved version of the text editor vi. VI improved. Highly customizable keyboard based text editor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ4p-saaQkc
Modes
Vim has 3 modes.
- Normal - allows for vim keybind commands by first typing :, giving a keyword, and then pressing enter. To enter normal mode, the key is ESC
- Insert - for typing the file data To enter insert mode, the key is i
- Visual - for selecting segments of the file To enter visual mode, the key is v
Normal Mode Keywords
| key | meaning | function | function2 | function3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | command | [:!*] allows for terminal commands after it | [:*!] forces the previous command. like :q! quits without saving | |
| q | quit | quits the currently edited file | ||
| w | write | writes to the file | ||
| r | replace | replaces cursor selection charcter with the next character you type | ||
| 1-inf | repeat # | [:(some number between 1-inf)*] # of times to repeat the next action you do. for example, [:15(right arrow key)] will cursor 15 characters right. | ||
| h | left | moves cursor left | ||
| l | right | moves cursor right | ||
| j | down | moves cursor down | ||
| k | up | moves cursor up |
Mode Changing Keywords
| key | meaning | function | function2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | Enter Insert Mode Before | Enter insert mode before the cursor selection | ||
| I | Enter Insert Mode Start of Line | Enter insert mode at the start of the current line | ||
| a | Enter Insert Mode After | Enter insert mode after the cursor selection | ||
| A | Enter Insert Mode End of Line | Enter insert mode at the end of the current line | ||
| o | Enter Insert Mode Newline Below | Enter insert mode and create a newline below which we start inserting from | ||
| O | Enter Insert Mode Newline Above | Enter insert mode and create a newline above which we can start inserting | ||
| v | Enter Visual Mode | Enter visual mode, switching modes in the process |
Keyword Chaining
You can chain these keyword commands to do several at once. or example, :wq will write to the file, then quit the file. So you do 2 commands in one.
Vim Preferences
Inside normal mode, you are able to enable features like numbered lines or relative numbering or tabstop. A list of 50 of them found here: https://www.shortcutfoo.com/blog/top-50-vim-configuration-options Now, these will only be for the current file. opening a new file will not save these changes. To make these changes permanent, you will need to edit the Vim .vimrc