This year, I am going to explore and learn the basics of vim. Each day, I aim to learn a few vim commands and post them as a series of blog articles.

Day 1 - Installation, Navigation & How to quit vim

Installation

check if it is already installed? vim --version or install it using the following command if you are using ubuntu:

sudo apt install vim

How to quit?

  • q! - Quit without saving
  • w - Save Changes
  • wq - Save & Quit
  • ZZ - Faster Save & Quit

Modes

I’ve explored four modes so far:

  • Normal Mode
  • Insert Mode
  • Visual Mode
  • Ex Mode

Step 1: Get rid of Arrow Keys and Mouse

Stop using Arrow keys & mouse. In normal mode, navigate using the following:

  • h - left
  • j - down (imagine j is an arrow pointing downwards)
  • k - top
  • l - right

Step 1.5: More about Navigation

  • ^Y - Scroll Up a little bit.Ctrl + Y
  • ^E - Scroll Down a little bit. Ctrl + E
  • ^B - Scroll Up a screen. Ctrl + B
  • ^F - Scroll Down a screen. Ctrl + F

Step 1.8: A Final Touch

  • gg - Go to top of the file
  • H - move the cursor high i.e. top of the screen
  • M - move the cursor to the middle of the screen
  • L - move the cursor to the bottom of the screen
  • G - Go to the bottom of the file.

That’s it, for tonight. Let’s practice this for a day and put these commands in muscle memory!

Vim Resource

Continue to Day 2