Vim (text editor):

Vim is a text editor first released by Bram Moolenaar in 1991 for the Amiga computer. The name "Vim" is an acronym for "Vi IMproved"^[2] because Vim was created as an extended version of the vi editor, with many additional features designed to be helpful in editing program source code.

Interface

Like vi, Vim's interface is based not on menus or icons but on commands given in a text user interface; its GUI mode, gVim, adds menus and toolbars for commonly used commands but the full functionality is still expressed through its command line mode.

For many users learning Vim may be slow initially, but once the basics are understood they progress quickly.^[5] To facilitate this, Vim has a built-in tutorial for beginners. There is also the Vim Users' Manual that details the basic and more advanced Vim features. This manual can be read from within Vim, or found online.^[6]

Vim also has a built-in help facility (using the :help command) that allows users to query and navigate through commands and features.

Modal editing

As a descendant of vi, Vim is modal—a design choice that tends to confuse new users not familiar with vi and unaware of insert-mode. Many editors are modal in the general sense of having to distinguish between insert-mode and command inputs, but most others implement that modality through very different methods: command menus (mouse or keyboard driven), meta keys (simultaneous use of multiple keys, usually involving control key (CTRL) or alt key (ALT)), and mouse input. Vim, following vi, is unique in that the entire keyboard is switched into and out of these modes. This allows, but does not require, one to perform all editing functions with no use of the mouse or menus and minimal use of meta keys. For touch-typists and those averse to the mouse, this can be a great benefit in power and efficiency.^{[citation needed]}

Some variations of vi show the mode as an onscreen status-box, such as "<INSERT>" or could show the repeat mode counter ("<REPEAT: 87>"). However, with the widespread use of mode-based browsers for the Internet, people are accustomed to hidden modes, because they don't have a browser status-box saying "BUSY" on those windows that are in data-receive mode blocking their input. The whole concept of mode-status indicators is in the subject of user-feedback mechanisms, and programs that indicate "BUSY" or "SAVING" or "QUITING" keep the user informed of numerous modes, as a comfortable interface. Such mode-status indicators are relatively easy for developers to implement in screen-editor software or each browser window, so users could request them in improved software.

Customization

Part of Vim's power is that it can be extensively customized. The basic interface can be controlled by the many options available, and the user can define personalized key mappings—often called macros—or abbreviations to automate sequences of keystrokes, or even call internal or user defined functions.

Vim script

There are many plugins available that will extend or add new functionality to Vim. These complex scripts are usually written in Vim's internal scripting language vimscript.^[7] Vim also supports scripting using MzScheme, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, and other languages.

Bundles

There are projects bundling together complex scripts and customizations and aimed at turning Vim into a tool for a specific task or adding a major flavour to its behaviour. Examples include Cream which makes Vim behave like a click-and-type editor or VimOutliner that provides a comfortable outliner for users of Unix-like systems.

Features and improvements over vi

Vim is almost fully vi compatible when in compatible mode, but Vim has many enhancements over vi which may or may not be available in compatible mode.^[8]