vim

Use

vim ~/playground/vim-note.txt

What It Does

vim is a modal text editor. Keys mean different things in normal mode, insert mode, command-line mode, and visual mode.

Use nvim when it is available. Neovim keeps the same core editing model and is often the better default on modern systems.

Survival Path

Open a scratch file:

vim ~/playground/vim-note.txt

Then:

1. Press i to enter insert mode.
2. Type text.
3. Press Esc to return to normal mode.
4. Type :wq and press Enter to save and quit.

Panic Table

Core Movements

Learn these after survival works:

• h, j, k, l: left, down, up, right.
• w: next word.
• b: previous word.
• 0: start of line.
• $: end of line.
• gg: top of file.
• G: bottom of file.

Practice Game

Use Vim Adventures to build the movement model without damaging files.

Watch Out

If vim shows a swap warning, read it. It may mean the file is already open in another terminal. For a scratch file, recover or quit after confirming no other edit is active.

Docs Pointers

• Run man vim or man nvim.
• Inside nvim, type :Tutor.
• Read Vim help online and vim survival.