Vim is nice. Some people like it, some don't; but those that don't probably are expecting different things from their text editor. So here I have some tips to maybe understand why Vim is so special. But you don't need to, like, understand it. Using whatever is fine. As long as you're happy. 🎈

That is due to its powerful navigation, editing and automation capabilities. I'll give some examples below, but I just find it to be much faster, and it is usually available in many different environments. It does wonders in abstracting patterns in the code that will save you both time and keystrokes. As a consequence, I use the mouse less, and now I'm much more appreciative of keyboard navigation.

Oh — I'm very sorry about that, and maybe we can mend your relationship with this tool, if you're up for it ❤️‍🩹 in fact, it can be quite frustrating to drop into the world of vim without any proper context. It's like playing Dwarf Fortress having come from 3D, latest generation games. Yikes! 😱

Here are some tips:

Vim is a bit dense at first, and it can get frustrating to work at a slower pace than you're used to — at the beginning. It's like learning to write with your other hand: you know you're faster with your usual hand, but you're also aware that eventually you'll get it. There are probably better analogies. Just take a breather every once in a while.

Just to make sure you understand why vim is an option for some people. And see what proper Vim usage can do. If it resonates with you, the added motivation will probably help you get farther, and be a little easier on yourself for not getting it right away 🫶 here's a classic StackOverflow thread in which people discuss their most productive Vim workflows:

⚠️ currently missing content on macros, which are very useful, and copy pasting across different files ⚠️

This is a command you run in your shell, launching an interactive tutorial on basic Vim motions. With this, you should learn how to navigate the file using the proper movements. Ideally you would do half, practice a day or two, and then finish the other half.

• h, j, k, l fine movements for small adjustments (if you do these motions repeatedly, odds are there was a more efficient way);
• G/gg to reach the top and bottom of a page, respectively.
• ctrl + u/d to scroll up or down a page;
• nG jumps to the nth line; or
• [?/][pattern] jumps [backwards/forward] to a specific pattern;
• f finds a character - this is immensely useful - and then ; jumps to the next occurence (Fwill lookup backwards);
• nw jump to the nth word from where your cursor stands;
• $/^ jump to the beginning or end of line, respectively;

Thus, the general procedure should be to move with a major movement (a jump or a search), and then fine tune using word motions and then character motions.

• i inserts text as cursor (I'd recommend avoiding this mode to navigate the text 😗).
• a appends (inserts) text after the cursor (instead of INSERT MODE to right arrow after a line break);
• x deletes a character under the cursor (instead of INSERT MODE to backspace the text);
• r replaces a character under the cursor (instead of INSERT MODE to backspace the text, and then rewrite);
• o opens a line below the cursor (instead of INSERT MODE to press enter);

And don't let your future self be thrown off by this - but all of these commands have the UPPER CASE equivalent (i becomes I) which slightly (and most conveniently) modifies its behaviour. Try it out!

• y yanks text - this is equivalent to copying;
• p puts text - this is equivalent to pasting;
• d deletes text;
• c changes text (deletes text, but also puts you on INSERT MODE);
• v selects text;

We can combine what we can think as actions (let's say, everything that was under heading number three) with motions (which we haven't really done yet). Practical example: suppose you have these rhymes in your file, and your cursor is at the beginning: M in Mary.

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow

We want to change little for, say, loving. Consider f l cw loving ESC (with no spaces), which we will read as "find l; change word", after which we input loving and then exit INSERT MODE. That was nice!

Whenever you do any of d, c, v motions, you can use b, e, w (and some more to come) motions to specify begin or end of word ¹, or just the whole word. You might want, however, to change/delete/select - more generally, an action - up until a certain character. Suppose cursor at the beginning: d in def.

def very_sexy_function(my_arg, another_arg):
    return "most_holyness_of_sexy_vim"

Now my boss just came into work; he sees me doing some silly powerful stuff in Python, and of course that function is sexy - but that is a very innapropriate behaviour in the workplace. I want to (most quickly!) change that!

• t/f I don't really have good mnemonics for these (except (un)til for t), but these are fundamental; So then, one could do fs, which reads as "find s", and then ct_ ("change (un)til underscore") - which would now place the cursor under INSERT MODE - and the name could now be very_appropriate_function instead.

def very_appropriate_function(my_arg, another_arg):  
    return "most_holyness_of_sexy_vim"

All is good, except for the second line - our command didn't take care of that. However - and this is another very powerful command - all that's needed is jfs., where the . (dot) will repeat your last action. In this case, it will ct_ on the line just below (we did j).

Here are some good resources to improve your Vim:

• DuckDuckGo: it's likely whatever problem you have, or feature you need implemented, is out there already — good luck in finding it out! 🔍
• Vim Wiki: you will learn something on each visit. https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/
• Mastering Vim Quickly: From WTF to OMG in no time by Jovica Ilic: the title is a little over-the-top 😀 but the content is very good.

syntax on
filetype plugin on
filetype plugin indent on
set smartindent
set hlsearch
set showcmd
set laststatus=2
set statusline+=%F

These are almost obligatory. smartindent works really well for C (I mostly do that and Python), and hlsearchis great to highlight matches on ssubstitutions. showcmd is useful to show people some Vim tricks (the typed commands appear in the bottom right corner), and the last two lines just show the current file I am at.

:set nu! rnu!" Some people like relative numbers (really useful to repeat macros across any given number of lines)

set undodir=~/.vim/undodir
set undofile 

This enables permanent undo history. It's curious how so many people don't ever care about enabling this — you can close the file, come back later, and your undo history will be there. It's so reassuring 💞

set foldenable 
set foldmethod=indent

Also obligatory. Sometimes you want an overview on the file without having to endlessly scroll through hundreds of lines of code. zc closes the current fold; zo will open it. C and O close and open all folds.

map <leader>b :buffers<CR>:buffer<Space>

Leader keys are a great concept in Vim. After you map a key as leader, you can produce specific commands tailored to your own experience. This is an early experiment with that, since buffer management is not too intuitive. Now I press SPC b to see the list of open buffers. Real nice.

map <Down> <NOP>
map <Up> <NOP>
map <Left> <NOP>
map <Right> <NOP>

Deactivates the arrow keys. Useful if you're transitioning to hjkl, but then you have to explain why your arrows do not work when other people work on your machine 🙃

¹ it's likely that you and Vim will disagree on the definition of word. Assume this_is_a_word, but this.is.not.a.word. So it will come with experience.