Jump to content

Vim (text editor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.8.180.234 (talk) at 17:29, 26 October 2011 (→‎Vim script: needed a conjunction). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Vim
Original author(s)Bram Moolenaar
Initial release1991; 33 years ago (1991)
Stable release8.2.0000[1] (13 December 2019; 4 years ago (2019-12-13)) [±]
Repository
Written inC and Vimscript
PlatformCross-platform: Unix, Linux, Microsoft Windows
Available inEnglish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Spanish[2]
TypeText editor
LicenseFree software, charityware
Websitewww.vim.org

Vim is a text editor written in 1988 by Bram Moolenaar for the Amiga computer, but first released publicly (v1.14) in 1991[3]. It was based on an earlier editor, Stevie, for the Atari ST, created by Tim Thompson, Tony Andrews and G.R. (Fred) Walter[original research?]. The name "Vim" is an acronym for "Vi IMproved"[4] because Vim is an extended version of the vi editor, with many additional features designed to be helpful in editing program source code. Originally, the acronym stood for "Vi IMitation", but that was changed with the release of Vim 2.0 in December 1993.[5] A later comment states that the reason for changing the name was that Vim's feature set surpassed that of vi.[6]

Although Vim was originally released for the Amiga, Vim has since been developed to be cross-platform, supporting many other platforms. It is the most popular editor amongst Linux Journal readers.[7]

Vim is free and open source software and is released under a license which includes some charityware clauses, encouraging users who enjoy the software to consider donating to children in Uganda.[8] The license is compatible with the GNU General Public License.

Interface

Graphical Vim under GTK+ 2.

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.

Vim has a built-in tutorial for beginners (accessible through the "vimtutor" command). There is also the Vim Users' Manual that details Vim's features. This manual can be read from within Vim, or found online.[9][10]

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

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.[11] Vim also supports scripting using Lua (as of Vim 7.3), Perl, Python, Racket[12] (formerly PLT Scheme), Ruby, and Tcl.

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 has a vi compatibility mode but when not in this mode Vim has many enhancements over vi.[13] However, even in compatibility mode, Vim is not 100% compatible with vi as defined in the Single Unix Specification[14] and POSIX (e.g., Vim does not support vi's open mode, only visual mode). Vim has nevertheless been described as “very much compatible with Vi”.[15]

Some of Vim's enhancements include completion, comparison and merging of files (known as vimdiff), a comprehensive integrated help system, extended regular expressions, scripting languages (both native and through alternative scripting interpreters such as Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, etc.) including support for plugins, a graphical user interface (known as gvim), limited integrated development environment-like features, mouse interaction (both with and without the GUI), folding, editing of compressed or archived files in gzip, bzip2, zip, and tar format and files over network protocols such as SSH, FTP, and HTTP, session state preservation, spell checking, split (horizontal and vertical) and tabbed windows, unicode and other multi-language support, syntax highlighting, trans-session command, search, and cursor position histories, multiple level undo/redo history which can persist across editing sessions, and visual mode.

Availability

Whereas vi was originally available only on Unix operating systems, Vim has been ported to many operating systems including AmigaOS (the initial target platform), Atari MiNT, BeOS, DOS, Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista/Server 2008/7, IBM OS/2 and OS/390, MorphOS, OpenVMS, QNX, RISC OS, Unix, Linux, BSD, and Mac OS.[16] Also, Vim is shipped with every copy of Apple Mac OS X.[17]

Vim has been compiled for Apple's iOS operating system, and can be installed through Cydia on jailbroken Apple devices running iOS.[18]

Vim (not to be mistaken with aVim) has been independently compiled for Google Android, which is based on Linux, although it can only run on rooted devices as of July 2011.[19]

Release history

Date Version Changes and additions
June, 1987 N/A Tim Thompson releases Stevie (ST editor for VI enthusiasts), a limited vi clone for the Atari ST, posting the source on Usenet.[20][21]
June, 1988 N/A Tony Andrews improves Stevie, and ports it to Unix and OS/2, releasing version 3.10 on Usenet.[20][22]
1988 1.0 Bram Moolenaar creates Vi IMitation for the Amiga, based on Stevie, never publicly released
November 2, 1991 1.14[6] First public release for the Amiga on Fred Fish disk #591[23]
1992 1.22[6] Port to Unix. Vim now competes with vi.
December 14, 1993 2.0[5] This is the first release using the name Vi IMproved.
August 12, 1994 3.0[6] Support for multiple windows
May 29, 1996 4.0[6][24] Graphical user interface
February 19, 1998 5.0[6][25] Syntax highlighting, basic scripting (user defined functions, commands, etc.)
April 6, 1998 5.1 Bug fixes, various improvements
April 27, 1998 5.2 Long line support, file browser, dialogs, popup menu, select mode, session files, user defined functions and commands, Tcl interface, etc.
August 31, 1998 5.3 Bug fixes, etc.
July 25, 1999 5.4 Basic file encryption, various improvements
September 19, 1999 5.5 Bug fixes, various improvements
January 16, 2000 5.6 New syntax files, bug fixes, etc.
June 24, 2000 5.7 idem
May 31, 2001 5.8 idem
September 26, 2001 6.0[6][26] Folding, plugins, multi-language, etc.
March 24, 2002 6.1 Bug fixes
June 1, 2003 6.2 GTK2, Arabic language support, :try command, minor features, bug fixes
June 7, 2004 6.3 Bug fixes, translation updates, mark improvements
October 15, 2005 6.4 Bug fixes, updates to Perl, Python, and Ruby support
May 7, 2006 7.0 [27] Spell checking, code completion, tab pages (multiple viewports/window layouts), current line and column highlighting, undo branches, and more
May 12, 2007 7.1 Bug fixes, new syntax and runtime files, etc.
August 9, 2008 7.2 [28] Floating point support in scripts, refactored screen drawing code, bug fixes, new syntax files, etc.
August 15, 2010 7.3 Lua support, Python3 support, Blowfish encryption, persistent undo/redo

(Note that some dates are approximate,[29] development releases are not listed, and many minor version releases are not yet included in this list.)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Releases". Retrieved 13 December 2019 – via GitHub.
  2. ^ "Vim in non-English languages". Retrieved 14 December 2010.
  3. ^ http://moolenaar.net/vimstory.pdf
  4. ^ "ICCF Holland - helping children in Uganda". ICCF Holland. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  5. ^ a b "Filewatcher". Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Moolenaar, Bram (2002-01-15). "Vim, an open-source text editor". Retrieved 2005-10-24.
  7. ^ "Linux Journal: 2003 Readers' Choice Awards". 2003-11-01. Retrieved 2006-05-24.; "Linux Journal: 2004 Readers' Choice Awards". 2004-11-01. Retrieved 2006-05-24.; "Linux Journal: 2005 Readers' Choice Awards". 2005-09-28. Retrieved 2006-05-24.
  8. ^ Vim documentation: uganda
  9. ^ Vim manual at Sourceforge.net
  10. ^ Oualline, Steve (2001). Vi IMproved (VIM) (PDF). New Riders Publishers. ISBN 0-7357-1001-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ help vim-script-intro
  12. ^ "Vim documentation: if_mzsch". 11 February 2010.
  13. ^ Vim help system (type ":help" within Vim)
  14. ^ The Open Group (2008), "vi - screen-oriented (visual) display editor", Single Unix Specification, Version 4 (IEEE Std 1003.1-2008), retrieved 2010-12-27
  15. ^ Peppe, Benji, Charles Campbell (2004-01-02). "Vim FAQ". Retrieved 2010-12-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (question 1.3)
  16. ^ ":help sys-file-list"
    "Vim Online: Downloads". Retrieved 2007-01-07.
  17. ^ "Mac OS X Manual Page For vim(1)". Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  18. ^ http://www.foreveriphone.com/vim-on-iphone/
  19. ^ http://code.google.com/p/android-cruft/
  20. ^ a b Thompson, Tim (2000-03-26). "Stevie". Retrieved 2010-12-27.
  21. ^ Tim Thompson (1987-06-28). "A mini-vi for the ST". Newsgroup: comp.sys.atari.st. 129@glimmer.UUCP. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
  22. ^ Tony Andrews (1988-06-06). "v15i037: Stevie, an "aspiring" VI clone for Unix, OS/2, Amiga". Newsgroup: comp.sources.unix. 893@fig.bbn.com. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
  23. ^ Textfiles.com
  24. ^ "Official Vim Manual, Version 4 summary". 2004-03-12. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  25. ^ "Official Vim Manual, Version 5 summary". 2004-01-17. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  26. ^ "Official Vim Manual, Version 6 summary". 2004-03-12. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  27. ^ "Official Vim Manual, Version 7 summary". 2006-05-10. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  28. ^ Groups.google.com
  29. ^ Dates were taken from the official Vim FTP site.

External links

The Wikibook Learning the vi Editor has a page on the topic of: Vim
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vim.

Official Vim Resources

Books

Text Tutorials

Video Tutorials

Other Vim Resources

Vim Ports/Variants

  • MacVim, a GUI version of vim for Mac OS X that supports multiple windows with tabbed editing and a host of other features.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vim_(text_editor)&oldid=457518168"