Using the Vim Editor

"Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. It is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems.

Vim is often called a "programmer's editor," and so useful for programming that many consider it an entire IDE . It's not just for programmers, though. Vim is perfect for all kinds of text editing, from composing email to editing configuration files." ( the official Vim website).

In most Linux distributions, the command "vi" is actually an alias to Vim.

There are three basic modes of Vim:

Command Mode

This is the default when you enterVvim. In command mode, most letters, or short sequences of letters, that you type will be interpreted as commands, without explicitly pressing Enter . If you press Esc when you're in command mode, your terminal may beep at you. This is a very good way to tell when you're in command mode.

Insert Mode

In insert mode, whatever you type is inserted in the file at the cursor position. Type a (lowercase letter a, for append ) to enter insert mode from command mode; press Esc to end insert mode, and return to command mode.

Line Mode

Use line mode to enter line oriented commands. In command mode, type a colon ( : ). Your cursor moves to the bottom of the screen, by a colon prompt. Type a line mode command, then press Enter . Any sensible command from the UNIX line editor ex will work, and a few are good to know about. These commands are indicated in this handout by a colon in front of the command. Each time you use a line mode command, you must type a colon to enter line mode, then type the command by the colon prompt at the bottom of the screen, then press Enter when you finish typing the command. (The search commands starting with / and ? work similarly).

Click HERE to download a vi quick reference card. Since Vim is based on vi, this reference is still applicable.