{"id":6942,"date":"2021-06-09T13:17:28","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T13:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/?p=6942"},"modified":"2021-06-09T13:17:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T13:17:28","slug":"how-to-install-and-use-vim-editor-in-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/ubuntu\/how-to-install-and-use-vim-editor-in-linux\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Install and Use Vim Editor in Linux"},"content":{"rendered":"

A powerful tool for the command line, vim (Vi Improved) is a text editor that is used for editing programs and config files written in Python, shell, C, Perl, C++, etc. It is great for the development environment. This article will go through installing vim, using it for editing and managing documents, and uninstalling it.<\/p>\n

Installing vim<\/h2>\n

The first step will be to update the package database using:<\/p>\n

sudo apt update<\/pre>\n
You will be asked for your password before the packages update, enter your password to proceed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Next, search for vim packages using:<\/p>\n
sudo apt search vim<\/pre>\n
You will see a long list of available packages you don\u2019t need to install all of them. We will be installing vim, vim-tiny can be installed instead as well.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To install vim, run:<\/p>\n
sudo apt-get update<\/pre>\n
sudo apt install vim<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
You will be asked to confirm the installation, enter y<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You can check if vim installed by running:<\/p>\n
vim --version<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
Opening vim<\/h2>\n
To open the vim editor, run:<\/p>\n
vim<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You can see the vim version along with some helpful commands.<\/p>\n
Creating a file<\/h2>\n
To create a new file, use:<\/p>\n
vim {filename}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
When you run the above command, the file opens in the vim editor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When you try typing in anything in the editor, you won\u2019t be able to. That\u2019s because vim opens in normal mode. Vim has four modes, we will look at each.<\/p>\n
Normal mode<\/h3>\n
When you open vim it is in normal mode. You cannot enter text in this mode, you can only view the document. To enter normal mode, press Esc.<\/p>\n
Visual mode<\/h3>\n
This mode allows you to select and manipulate text. You can enter visual mode by pressing either one of the following keys:<\/p>\n
v : You can select text by moving your cursor up or down, left or right.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
V : You can select the entire line by moving up or down.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CTRL v : This enters visual block mode, allowing you to expand and contract the selection.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Insert mode<\/h3>\n
This lets you edit text. You can enter insert mode through the following keys:<\/p>\n
i : enter insert mode at the current cursor position<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
a : enter insert mode after the current cursor position<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I: enter at the beginning of the current line<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A: enter at the end of the current line<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Command mode<\/h3>\n
This mode is used for saving documents, searching, quitting the program, etc. You can enter this mode using :.<\/p>\n
Here a couple of common commands:<\/p>\n
:wq -> to save and exit the document<\/p>\n
:help -> shows you helpful tips<\/p>\n
Editing a document<\/h2>\n
Now that you are familiar with the modes, let\u2019s edit our file.<\/p>\n
Open the file using:<\/p>\n
vim {filename}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
Enter insert mode by pressing i. Enter your text.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To save and exit the editor, press the escape key, followed by :wq, and then hit enter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The following commands will help you with editing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Command<\/strong><\/td>\nUse<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
:w<\/td>\nSave<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
:q<\/td>\nQuit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
y<\/td>\nCopy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
yy<\/td>\nCopy line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
p<\/td>\nPaste<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
d<\/td>\ncut<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dd<\/td>\nCut line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
:\/word<\/td>\nSearch forward for a word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
:?word<\/td>\nSearch backward for a word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
n<\/td>\nTraverse through the whole document to look for the searched word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
x<\/td>\nDelete character<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dw<\/td>\nDelete word from the cursor on<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dd<\/td>\nDelete line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
D$<\/td>\nDelete end of line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
L<\/td>\nMoves the cursor one character to the right<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
j<\/td>\nMoves the cursor down by one line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
k<\/td>\nMoves the cursor up by one line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
You can also add text to your file when creating it. Use:<\/p>\n
echo {your text} >> {filename}<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Uninstalling vim<\/h2>\n
To uninstall vim from your system, use:<\/p>\n
sudo apt remove vim<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
You will be asked for your password before proceeding.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Next, you will need to enter y<\/strong> to confirm the uninstallation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This article went through how to install vim, followed by some basics on using vim and then uninstalling it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A powerful tool for the command line, vim (Vi Improved) is a text editor that is used for editing programs and config files written in Python, shell, C,…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[100,181],"class_list":["post-6942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ubuntu","tag-ubuntu-20-04","tag-vim-editor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linuxways.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}