So vim is vi with extra vim, right? But it's still a commandline editor? -oblivion
VIM is VI IMproved. So yes, VIM is VI with many improvements.
There is a VIM.exe for terminal or commandline window (DOS-Box) and also gVIM with a normal gui and with toolbar and menus (you can create your own menus)
The advantage of VIM is for me that every keystroke can be a command and literal text,.. depending on the mode you are in.
There are action commands and movement commands, and you can combine them together, like (
d)elete(
w)ord or (
V)isualSelect till (
})end-of-paragraph
or
"ddw : store what you delete in register/clipboard d
"d : use register d
d : delete
w : word
That way you can do many nifty things by just a few keystrokes: in a nutshell >>
http://rayninfo.co.uk/vimtips.htmlI guess this editor is only for people who work with text on a daily basic, else you wont get all that nifty tricks in to your fingers.
First it seams to be a many extra work to think about "ddw, but once you can memorize it f needed, it's a great workflow.
VIM has a command line, so you can just map the command "ddw to a key like F3 and use that the next few times you need it. ( just 'nmap <F1> "ddw <enter>' and here you go)
Actions are e.g. '(v) select', '(y)ank/copy' and '(d)elete'. Movements are e.g. '/findme', '(w)ord', '$' end of line, '}' next empty line, '%' to bracket, 'f"' to next quote,...
So you can use '
f " v f " y ' to find next quote, change to visual mode, select till next quote, and copy to register/clipboard.
========================================
(g)lobally[whole file] search for lines containing 'TODO'
and then (y)ank[copy] this line to register[clipboard] U (upper case U means 'append' to u)
use:
:g/TODO/y U
To yank the next line too, just add a '2':
:g/TODO/y U 2
To yank one line before and one after, use:
:g/TODO/-,+y U
To yank one line before and two after, use:
:g/TODO/-,+2y U
========================================
Select between quotes, or parenthesis, or whole paragraph, or <Tag>, or,or,or...:
vi"
vi)
vip
vit
More e.g. there >
http://www.vimdrills...drill-3-text-objects========================================
Best watch some vids to see how VIM works
http://vimeo.com/15443936http://lococast.net/.../category/screencasthttp://net.tutsplus....casts-and-resources/http://vimcasts.org/...d-html-with-a-macro/http://media.vimcast...1/markdown_macro.ogvVimSpeak Demo - playing VimGolf using only voice
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=qy84TYvXJbkMe thinking: only if you will need such tricks often on a daily basic, or you are a programmer, then VIM is for you. No?
If you just want to read a few readme.txt files or write only a little now and then, then other editors may be much more nifty for you.
HTH?