Vim: Difference between revisions

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imported>Hayford Peirce
(if the article title is in caps, then the first mention of it in the article should be too, particularly since it's the first word. yeah, yeah, i know about e.e.cummings)
imported>Pat Palmer
(Vim moved to Vim1: the name of this program is case-sensitive and must be lower-case; I'll first move it to "vim1", then try to move to "vim")
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#REDIRECT [[Vim1]]
 
[[Image:vim screenshot.png|thumb|300px|The vim text editor running in a terminal emulator]]
'''Vim''' is a [[modal]] plain [[text editor]]. Although it is most commonly used in [[Unix-like]] systems, it has also been ported to [[Microsoft Windows]]. Vim is an [[open source software|open source]] clone of [[vi]], and is an acronym for '''''Vi''' i'''m'''proved''.
 
Like vi, vim contains two basic editing modes: command mode and insert mode. In command mode, nearly every keystroke is received as a command. For example, if a user types ":wq", vim will '''w'''rite the document and '''q'''uit. To move the cursor, one would use J to go down a line, K to go up a line, H to scroll one character to the left, and L to scroll one character to the right. Due to this unique approach, the user is rarely, if ever, required to remove his hands from the keyboard, thus making the interface very ergonomic.
 
In insert mode, nearly every key is interpreted as printed text. This is where the document itself is actually composed. This modal approach to editing is often confusing to new users who cannot understand why the text they type is not appearing on the screen. It is often useful for novice users to read a tutorial on using the application before they are required to use it.
 
[[Image:gvim.png|thumb|300px|gvim displaying a [[C programming language|C]] source code file with syntax highlighting]]
Although it has traditionally been used largely by console gurus, a graphical version has also been made. ''gvim'' was written with [[GTK+]] and provides much functionality that the text version could not or does not provide, such as in-line spell checking and syntax highlighting, in addition to easy-to-use menu shortcuts to many advanced editing functions, such as compiling source code.
 
==Related topics==
*[[Vi]]
*[[Emacs]]
*[[Nano]]
*[[Pico]]
*[[Unix]]
*[[Text editor wars]]
 
==External links==
[http://www.vim.org/ Vim project page]

Revision as of 12:36, 2 October 2008

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