Vim Book

A short, practical book for people who’ve never touched Vim and want to actually get comfortable with it.

  1. Before You Start : what modal editing even is
  2. Modes : Normal, Insert, Visual, Command-line
  3. Moving Around : getting anywhere without arrow keys
  4. Editing Basics : insert, delete, copy, paste, undo
  5. Search and Replace : finding and changing text fast
  6. Visual Mode : selecting text on purpose
  7. Registers and Clipboard : copy-paste, properly
  8. Files and Buffers : working with more than one file
  9. Configuring Vim : your .vimrc, a few good defaults
  10. Plugins 101 : installing your first few plugins
  11. Building a Habit : a two-week practice plan
  12. Appendix: Cheat Sheet : everything on one page

Who this is for

Anyone who’s opened Vim by accident, typed a few letters, watched garbage fill the screen, and closed the terminal because they couldn’t figure out how to quit. No prior knowledge assumed. By the end you’ll be able to open a file, move around, edit it, save it, and quit on purpose.

What you need

  • Vim installed (vim --version to check; brew install vim or apt install vim if not).
  • A terminal you’re already somewhat comfortable in.
  • A weekend of spare time, in short sessions.

Neovim works fine too. Where it differs in a way that matters to a beginner, you’ll see a “Neovim note.”

How to use it

Read a chapter, then do the exercises before moving on. Vim is a physical skill, not just a mental one, so practice each thing in a scratch file before trusting yourself to do it for real.

Author

By Dariush Abbasi .

License

CC BY 4.0 .