Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

Summary

vi is still the standard text-editing tool on Unix. vi was almost revolutionary in its time, with its dual mode and touch-edit philosophy. Vim continues where vi stops, and it is the next evolutionary step for powerful editing and text management:

• Vim extends vi, building on the excellent standard set by the older editor. Although other editors have also built upon the original, Vim has emerged as the most popular and widely used vi clone.

• Vim offers far more than vi, enough more to become the new standard.

• Vim is for beginners and for power users. For beginners, it offers various learning tools and “easy” modes, whereas for experts it offers powerful extensions to vi, along with a platform on which power users can enhance and tune Vim to their exact needs.

• Vim runs everywhere. As discussed earlier, in environments where Vim wasn’t available, others stepped in and ported it to most useful OS platforms. Vim may not literally be everywhere, but it’s close!

• Vim is free. Furthermore, as mentioned in the previous release of this book, Vim is charityware. The work Bram Moolenaar has done creating, improving, maintaining, and sustaining Vim is one of the truly remarkable feats in the free software market. If you like his work, Bram invites you to learn about his favorite cause, helping children in Uganda. More information is available at the web site, http://iccf-holland.org/, or simply use Vim’s built-in help command, topic “uganda” (:help uganda).