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I started using VIM a few weeks ago, now I am addicted. Ask Me Anything!

πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE on April 15, 2019

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juanfrank77 profile image
Juan F Gonzalez

Something similar just happened to me recently. Never used VIM before but then I started learning Haskell and doing some web dev with it and I needed a good text editor for it, my first instinct was to use VSCode but doing the switch between editor and terminal became bothersome. Since I've been using VIM to edit the source files I don't have to reload the project manually, it's all done automatically :D. Now for the question haha, what have been your go-to resources for learning it and using it effectively?

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I use forums like this, online articles and I have been a member of Pluralsight since it was Codeschool, that is mainly where I learn and practice new skills. I have started Udemy very recently which is also very resourceful.

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Juan F Gonzalez

Ahhh the good ol' CodeSchool I loved that one. Thanks for the reply, I'll look into Udemy for that.

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derek profile image
derek • Edited
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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

😱 😱 😱 Thank you for the resources, I will dive in this weekend and keep you posted.

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Patrick Kilter

How to exit vim?

scnr

Welcome to team vim, I love this piece of software

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hello,

There are a few keystrokes that can be used to exit vim depending on the situation and the task. To simply exit the editor you can type (in command mode) :q

But after you finish your editing tasks, you might want to save your work before you exit, you can use the following key combinations (make sure you are in command mode) :w to save and :q to quit. you can combine both to save and exit at once with the command :wq
There is another situation that I daily find myself in, where the command :q! which allows to exit without saving, comes handy. Sometimes when opening a file with the command vim namefile, misspelling the name file for instance, will tell vim to create a new file with the misspelled name while opening, so I basically have to force quit the editor as mentioned above.

Cheers

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Patrick Kilter

If you haven't changed anything in the misspelled file, you can just :q to quit.

Because there was no change at all. I somehow redo my changes back to blank and press :q otherwise.

Thanks for the long answer :D never thought to get a serious one there

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

πŸ˜€ Thx.

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

I have been watching online tutorials and I have been following courses on Pluralsight then one day I have decided to challenge myself and use vim on a daily basis, I have used to complete my school assignments and personal projects. I am not a pro but I have managed to understand the basics.

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Andy Zhao (he/him)

Do you feel like you're going to want to use VIM for everything? Like browsers, or any desktop app?

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hi Andy,

Thank you for your question. Yes indeed. I have watched a youtube video recently regarding terminal based file managing possibilities with vifm and I can't wait to play around with that.

Cheers

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Dian Fay

If you haven't, check out surfingkeys!

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hey,

Just added the extension. Thank you! ☺️

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Andrew Brown πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦

Welcome to team VIM

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Thanks Andrew.

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Peter Kim Frank

What's one thing that's surprised you about learning vim?

What aspects have been quick to pick up, and where are you still feeling the pain of adoption?

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πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hello Peter,

I am still learning and every new trick surprises, I am amazed by the key combinations, it adds that level of precision to your commands without the need to leave the keyboard.

As I am adopting vim very early in my career, I m not quite sure what I am missing besides the basics GUI dependencies and the burning temptations to use the mouse from time to time πŸ˜†.

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Ben Halpern

What would your argument be if you were trying to convince someone to switch?

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hello Ben,

Well, I'd say precision and productivity. Vim really makes one feel like a text surgeon (I've read that somewhere 😁), it takes you to the core of text editing and makes task completion simple and fast.

The fact that it can be called anywhere from the terminal makes the perfect tool for system admin. For instance, I am running a Wordpress site, after every theme update, I would face an issue within the wp-settings.php file, I had to log in cpanel from the browser find the file and edit it there or download, edit then upload. Now I only have to access the server with ssh, locate the file, open it with vim, edit, save and voilΓ ... task is completed within seconds.

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Nick Shulhin

Congrats! VIM is indeed amazing... But have you discovered any useful plugins to enhance your experience? Such as syntax highlight and reformatting?

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wilfrantz profile image
πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hello Nick,

I have read about many plugins but I am only using syntax highlight so far. I am taking my time to progressively master vim and will implement other plugins at a later time.

Thank you

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Ben Sinclair

Did you use vimtutor or a system like Vim Adventures to learn it, or did you dive in headfirst?

What have you found to be the most difficult or confusing aspect so far?

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πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hi there,

I refer to vimtutor from time to time and when you take a step back to look at it, it is even more interesting for, you still do have to leave the terminal.

As I have said earlier, coming from a GUI, it's hard not to be tempted to use the mouse, this is my daily struggle πŸ˜„.

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Ben Halpern

What did you use before VIM?

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πŸ‡­πŸ‡Ή DEDE

Hello Ben,

First, thank you for creating and maintaining this awesome platform. I have been in here not too long ago but I feel myself at home.
To answer your question, as a novice, I have been jumping from one IDE (or text editor) to another, I was mainly trying to look cool and impressive πŸ˜„. I have started with Xcode, jumped to viscose, sublime, bracket, etc..