Vi - Vim Tutorial. Howto video for the amazing vim editor.

Hi-res version at http://www.decisionsciencenews.com/?p=425
This is a *beginners only* tutorial.

Vim is a free and open source editor. The Decision Science News blog has created a vi and vim video tutorial for absolute beginners.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• vi
• vim
• editor
• howto
• tutorial
• video
• linux
• compsci

[Bitziucci]

hi there!! I have a bit of a problem here... everytime i am on the insert mode and i want to move lets say upwards when i press the up arrow it shows me the word A instead of moving up...so it happens when i press the down arrow the only difference is that when pushing the down arrow it show the word B...why is that and how can i move inside the text while being on the insert mode??

[dggoldst]

@Bitziucci make sure you are using vim and not vi. If it is vim try :set nocompatible (which changes you from vi-compatible mode to vim mode). If that is the problem, you will want to put that in your vimrc file so that it always runs in that mode.

[Autotrope]

Good tutorial. I like to learn it by actually seeing it done rather than trying to memorize a bunch of commands.

[danielsaan1976]

Because in UNIX vi/vim is often the available/installed editor. if you don't have access to those other editors, what do you do? learn it mate. You'll be doing yourself a favour.

[noob3132]

@Autotrope Then do it yourself. ;-)

[UnoriginalUsername06]

@ballersack Who doesn't code using Comic Sans?

[indigomx9]

@ennore82 I totally agree. I learned so much from this video alone. You create a great foundation, thanks a lot for sharing the knowledge! XD

[ennore82]

This is the best introductory video about vi editor i ever watched. thanks a lot for sharing it

[alreadytakenthe3rd]

I have a problem. When I'm in insert mode, pressing ctrl-[ does nothing.

[caseywise27]

@BDGregory As a Java/PHP developer, I remote in to tons of different Windows and unix/linux servers. In the 15 years I've been doing this, I've not seen anything faster/easier to edit code right on a unix/linux server (No FTP/SSH required). While I agree that it is confusing and unintuitive, I certainly believe that the time/frustration/cursing I've invested in to understanding vi/vim had paid back a hundred, if not, a thousand-fold already.

[caseywise27]

Thanks for posting.

[PubicTheHare]

Awesome tutorial! Vim intimidated me for the longest time, but I knew it was powerful; all the good devs I know swear by it. Now, I can roll with them (kind of). Appreciate it!

[BDGregory]

@ballersack Mostly I'm using various IDEs which include their own editors or I use 'Programmers File Editor' which used to be available from the Lancaster university website.