About vi and vim

Vi is a standard text editor for Unix-like systems. It's considered inaccessible and inconvenient, but this opinions are not true.

It is true vi has a little not-typical command set (and the way they're called), but when you learn it, you'll be able to do things other editors' users can only dream of.

An example of great vi's possibilities can for example be existence of its macros solving Hanoi towers, emulating simple computer or solving maze.

Vim is an improved version of vi (as you see everything can be improved) for various platforms (Unix-like systems, MS-DOS, Amiga, Windows NT).

Some of the new features of vim are:

support for multiple windows on screen

possibility of starting in insert mode

extended insert mode (that's mossible to move cursor while in insert mode)

extended backspace in insert mode (optional)

overwrite mode

multilevel undo and redo

creation of backup files (.bak)

command history

ability for visual block marking

ability of analyzis of compiler error listings

operations on rectangular ("vertical") blocks

built in online help

improved command line editing

and much more

Vim FAQ: Huge set of questions and answers concerning Vim. Priceless knowledge base.

Paweł Więcek <coven@vmh.net>