vim

vim [options] [file ..]
vim [options] -
vim [options] -t tag
vim [options] -q [errorfile]

vim is a modal text editor

Vi epitomises all that is great about the UNIX way of thinking. It has a very steep learning curve and without takling time to learn the commands a new user would get lost very quickly. However, with a bit of effort you will soon have the most powerful and efficient text editor at your fingertips.

See here for a vi command reference.

See here for a vim cheat sheet.

Tips

Use the % key to jump to a matching bracket.
Use set noautoindent to prevent indentation problems when pasting into vim.
Use set fileformat=unix to remove DOS CR characters.
Use set background=dark when using vim in a terminal with a dark background.

Examples

Regular expressions

:g/^\s*$/d       # delete all blank lines
:g!/string/d     # delete lines not containing string
:g/fred/,/joe/d  # delete across lines

shellspells beta

vim

Tips

Examples