Vim is a very advanced vi clone. It has tons and tons of features and possibilities, but it also does have a steep learning curve.
Even though I’m rather confident in my use of vim and often know many more commands than users around me, I also barely scratch the surface of its possibilities. Nevertheless, when I sit down with sysadmin colleagues and see them use vim I often think “there is a command for that” or “there is much simpler way to achieve that“. But I do also realize that learning new features and commands in vim does take time and requires active use of the new knowledge in order to stay. And that’s exactly what this blog is all about, share those tricks. I will now, however, give basic introductions on how to use vim. If you need beginner information, then please go search the web for that. I definitely assume you know about the two major modes in vim, you know how to exit the editor, how to open and save files, how to move around in a file with basic commands, etc.
In probably rather irregular intervals, I aim to show commands, settings, tips and tricks, etc. in this category. Always just a little bit at a time, one command or commands concerning one topic, one setting or related set of settings, one trick, … In easily digestible helpings, bite by bite. Have a look at them. Pick up the ones which are useful for you and start using them. One at a time, bite by bite. When using the new command or setting becomes second nature, then come back looking for the next bite. Hopefully, over time, you will become much more proficient in using vim, much faster editing files and require much less typing.
What do I get out of it? Well, less irritating itching to yell at my fellow admins to do things in a much simpler and faster way, a place to collect my vim tricks so I can look them up easily myself and maybe a little bit of a good feeling because this may help others. Maybe some of you are even willing to share your tricks with me or point out where I’m wrong and I can become a better ‘vimmer’ myself.
Use the info in this category, share it; only shared knowledge is useful knowledge.
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