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Text Editors / vim

Overview

The free and open source vim editor provides both a command-line editor (vim) and graphical user interface editor (gvim). The vim editor is often distributed by default with Linux-like operating systems such as Git Bash and provides a way to edit files on remote systems when a graphical user interface cannot be run. vim can be very efficient to use for users who are adept at typing by touch given the minimal use of Ctrl, Alt, etc.

On Cygwin, the graphical user interface can be started only after setting the DISPLAY environment variable to a proper value and running the X Windows Server:

  1. Start X Windows using Start / Cygwin-X / XWin Server.
  2. export DISPLAY=:0.0

Resources

Use

The vim editor uses two modes to edit files:

  1. Command mode
  2. Insert mode

When in insert mode, characters that are typed result in text being inserted in the file. When in command mode, characters that are typed, result in actions such as moving the cursor, deleted characters, searching, etc. To move from insert mode to command mode, use the ESC (escape) key. When in insert mode, vim will typically show INSERT in the bottom of the window.

The following are useful examples:

  • To see end of line characters, edit a file using binary mode: vim -b filename. In particular, Windows carriage return will be shown as ^M. It is recommended to not save text files with binary mode - just use for confirmation of end of line or to see other binary content.

Configuration

The vim editor is configured at runtime using the set command. For example, the following sets ignore case when searching:

:set ic

To ensure that such configuration is in effect each time that vim is started, configuration settings can be added to a .vimrc file in the user's home folder. See the example .vimrc configuration file for useful configuration settings..

Emulation in Software

vim emulators that mimic vim behavior are available in software tools, including:

Troubleshooting

The following are some common issues.

Issue Possible Solution
Keyboard freezes in vim session. This can occur if Ctrl-s was accidentally entered. Use Ctrl-q to return to normal mode.
Pasting content from Windows command prompt window or other source causes control characters to show and cannot edit normally. This is an open issue for this documentation.