Learning VI
It's known for a relatively steep learning curve - because there are an unbelievable number of options for VI, but you can get by with a few basic commands (see below for the cheatsheet).
Also, the vim-common package includes the vimtutor command. This command allows you to go through an interactive tutorial. Either type <bash> vimtutor </bash> or <bash> man vimtutor </bash> for more information
In addition to the VIM, there is gvim which is the graphical version of vim. Use that too. After you read some of the resources listed here, you'll know how to use plugins for vim to do debugging, syntax highlighting, automatic docblocks, network and multiple file operations, lint syntax highlighting and code tag parsing with exuberant ctags.
Resources
- Vim wiki http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
- https://vimhelp.appspot.com/quickref.txt.html An HTML collection of the vim help, quickref and other info.
Configuration
For configuring vim, including 'What is a modeline?' see these excellent references:
- the Drupal website has a good collection of comments for configuring
vim for PHP http://drupal.org/node/29325
- Andrei Zmievski did a talk on vim-for-php-programmers http://www.gravitonic.com/blog/archives/000357.html
For an example of setting up additional syntax highlighting, see Syntax Highlighting
VI Cheetsheet
- Esc - Escape to view-only mode. Press Esc before using the following commands to get out of whatever mode you're already in.
- i - Enter insert mode. Place the cursor where you want to type and press i before typing.
- x - Delete the character under the cursor.
- dd - Delete the current line.
- :q! - Quit
- :wq - Save and Quit
See our VI Cheetsheet or http://www.eec.com/business/vi.html for more
VI Improved
On modern systems vim is actually the package that is installed because it succeeds the predecessor 'vi' There are many other vim-related packages. Check if vi is a symbolic link to vim (file `which vi`), and if not then sudo apt-get install vim.