How do I learn how to use vi/vim effectively? Nano is straightforward to use, and emacs has a nice tutorial. Having to use vim to initially configure the OS while it was being installed freaked me out; it was unlike any other text editor I've used.

Question

How do I learn how to use vi/vim effectively? Nano is straightforward to use, and emacs has a nice tutorial.  Having to use vim to initially configure the OS while it was being installed freaked me out; it was unlike any other text editor I've used.

anonymous · Answer

http://jeetworks.org/files/images/emacs_learning_curves.png

farmdawgnation · Answer

Don't sell your soul to the devil by using emacs.

So, vim has the concept of modes and whatnot. If you want to get vim into insert mode (which allows you to type and navigate with arrows) you just need to press i after you open it up.

After you're done typing, press ESC to go back to command mode. In command mode, you can just type specific commands... the most basic ones are:

":w" - Save the file.
":wq" - save the file and quit
":q" - quit

You can add an exclamation point onto the end of those to try and force them. So, for example to quit without saving you'll type ":q!" in command mode.

There's a nice command cheat sheet around here somewhere.

farmdawgnation · Answer

This isn't the one we use at work, but it's not bad: http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/vimcheat.html

anonymous · Answer

I've found a nice vimtutor applicaton

rsmith6559 · Answer

This link may help: http://www.lagmonster.org/docs/vi.html

anonymous · Answer

vimtutor!