Learning VI and VIM Editor: VIM overview

Vim refers to the "VI improved", that is, the improved version of VI. Currently, Vim is probably the most widely used type of VI.

Overview:

Author and Brief History:

Vim is written by Bram Moolenaar, and is also developed by other people. So vim can grow and change with the computer industry and the need of text editing, and maintain its own value. Today's vim is one of the most versatile class VI editors, and online help is plentiful.

Comparison with VI:

vim is more receptive than VI because some versions of VIM are available for almost all operating systems, and VI is only available for Unix or Unix-like systems. VI is the original version, but Vim implements all the VI features, while providing many useful and powerful extensions, including: syntax extension, programmer assistance, graphical user interface features, scripting and plug-ins, initialization, session context, post-processing, state transitions, Transparent editing, meta-information, black hole registers, key word complement congruent. vim can also be returned to the VI compatible mode by setting the Compatible option.

Get VIM:

If the operating system is a unix-like operating system, VIM may already be installed. If your operating system does not have VIM installed, you will need to manually install vim yourself.

get vim in Unix and gnu/linux environments:

A certain version of Vim is now attached to many UNIX environments, and most gnu/linux distributions link the default VI location "/BIN/VI" to the Vim executable file. But there are many variants of Unix, and Gnu/linux has many distributions, if your unix-like operating system does not have VIM installed, you need to download the VIM source package and compile and install it.

Get vim in a Windows environment:

For Windows operating systems, the most convenient way to use Vim is to install gvim yourself. Another way is to install the Cygwin, a kit that is ported to a common GNU tool to the Windows platform, and Vim is the standard feature of the Cygwin installation.

For the method of obtaining Vim on Mac OS or other operating system, you can refer to Vim's website.

The final note is that Vim is a free software and a charitable software (Charityware). If you are using Vim, you may wish to enter ": Help Uganda" for more information.

This chapter VI command summarizes:

This chapter describes the differences between VIM and VI as a whole, and how to get vim on each operating system.

Learning VI and VIM Editor: VIM overview