Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

Aids and Easy Modes for New Users

Recognizing that both vi and Vim make some learning demands on new users, Vim provides several features that make it easier to use for some:

Graphical Vim (gvim)

When the user invokes the gvim command, a rich graphical window is displayed, offering Vim with some of the point-and-click features made popular by modern GUI programs. In many environments, gvim is a different binary file created by compiling Vim with all of the GUI options turned on. It can also be invoked through vim -g.

“Easy” Vim (evim)

The evim command substitutes some simple behaviors for standard vi features, which some users who are unfamiliar with vi might find to be a more intuitive way to edit files. Expert users probably won’t find this mode easy, because they’re already used to standard vi behavior. It can also be invoked through vim -e.

vimtutor

Vim comes with vimtutor, a separate command that essentially starts Vim with a special help file. This invocation of Vim gives users another starting point for learning the editor. vimtutor takes about 30 minutes to complete.