Practical Vim, 2nd Edition

On the Role of Vim Script

Vim script enables us to add new functionality to Vim or to change existing functionality. It’s a complete scripting language in itself and a subject worthy of a book of its own. Practical Vim is not that book.

But we won’t steer clear of the subject entirely. Vim script is always just below the surface, ready to do our bidding. We’ll see a few examples of how it can be used for everyday tasks in Tip 16; Tip 71; Tip 95; and Tip 96.

Practical Vim shows you how to get by with Vim’s core functionality. In other words, no third-party plugins assumed. I’ve made an exception for Tip 87. The visual-star.vim plugin adds a feature that I find indispensable, and it requires very little code—less than ten lines of Vim script. ...