Is VIM worth learning?

euser1984

Thanks....I do edit text files periodically and have notes etc....alot of those things are being transitioned to Google drive now though.

I know Google drive is nothing in comparison and there are VIM online editors so it doesn't make a big problem.

Just to note I don't do anything other than text editing and would prefer to keep my fingers on the keyboard....

Khannie

Is it unformatted text? If so, learn vim.

White Heart Loon

Vim has it's uses over ssh or telnet where it offers a way to edit text files without a GUI but would be very complicated and clunky when compared to a visual text editor like Notepad++. It's a matter of taste.

Khannie

White Heart Loon wrote: »

would be very complicated and clunky when compared to a visual text editor like Notepad++.

If you're proficient with it, there is no substitute. I'm grand with it, but there are lads that I work with that can make it sing.

syklops

White Heart Loon wrote: »

Vim has it's uses over ssh or telnet where it offers a way to edit text files without a GUI

:eek:

but would be very complicated and clunky when compared to a visual text editor like Notepad++.

Surely it would be complicated when compared to Notepad++ because the learning curve for Notepad++ is almost non-existent.

Just to note I don't do anything other than text editing and would prefer to keep my fingers on the keyboard....

If you only want to keep your fingerson the keyboard then VIM is your man. With a GUI editor, your right hand is swapping back and forth to the mouse the whole time. If you can't do it by pushing keys in VIM then VIM can't do it.

Here is a cheat sheet for you but there is a myriad of them on the net.

28064212

syklops wrote: »

With a GUI editor, your right hand is swapping back and forth to the mouse the whole time

Only if you're doing it really badly. Most decent GUI editors have default keyboard commands for many common tasks, and most of them let you create your own shortcuts. And if that fails, you can just "Alt" to the window menu.

syklops

28064212 wrote: »

Only if you're doing it really badly. Most decent GUI editors have default keyboard commands for many common tasks, and most of them let you create your own shortcuts. And if that fails, you can just "Alt" to the window menu.

Thats true, and learning the keyboard shortcuts also increases the learning curve.

I wonder if Notepad++'s keyboard shortcuts are as powerful as Vi/Vim's though. Can it do stuff like delete to the end of the line, delete this column of text etc, without using the mouse at all?

28064212

syklops wrote: »

I wonder if Notepad++'s keyboard shortcuts are as powerful as Vi/Vim's though. Can it do stuff like delete to the end of the line, delete this column of text etc, without using the mouse at all?

Yes and yes.

Two advantages of Notepad++ (etc):

• Notepad++ at least gives you the option of a mouse interface
• Vim's interface is only useful within Vim. Notepad++ and alternatives use very similar setups. Someone going from Vim to, say, the Visual Studio editor is going to have a much tougher time than someone doing the same from Notepad++

There's nothing wrong with Vim, I use it myself on some systems, but given the option, I'd go with Notepad++

croo

The great thing about being fluent in vi(m) is that no matter what version of unix/linux you are working on you can be sure that vi(m) exists... handy if you are frequently out & about at (or perhaps more likely these days ssh-ing into) customer sites.

stupid head

neovim

stupid head

stupid head wrote: »

neovim

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/vim_dev/x0BF9Y0Uby8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_%28text_editor%29