What is the difference between linux vi and vim

Difference: 1. Pressing u in vi can only undo the last command, but in vim you can undo the command without limit; 2. vi can only run in unix, but vim can run in a variety of operating platforms ; 3. There is a syntax highlighting function in vim, but not in vi; 4. vi supports 3 modes, while vim supports 4 modes, etc.

The operating environment of this tutorial: CentOS 6 system, Dell G3 computer.

The difference between VI and VIM

They are both multi-mode editors. The difference is that vim is an upgraded version of vi. It is not only compatible with all instructions of vi, but also There are some new features in it.

These advantages of vim are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1. Multi-level undo

We know that in vi, pressing u only The last command can be undone, and in vim it can be undone without limit.

2. Ease of use

vi can only run on unix, while vim can not only run on unix, windows, mac and other operating platforms.

3. Syntax highlighting

vim can use different colors to highlight your code.

4. Visual operation

That is to say, vim can not only run in the terminal, but also in x window, mac os, and windows.

5. Full compatibility with vi

In some cases, you can use vim as vi.

Vi and vim are both editors in Linux. The difference is that vim is more advanced and can be regarded as an upgraded version of vi. vi is suitable for text editing, but vim is more suitable for coding.

VI mode

vi has 3 modes: command line mode (command mode/general mode), text input mode ( input mode/edit mode), last line mode (last line mode/command line command mode).

• Command line mode (command mode/normal mode)

  At any time, no matter what mode the user is in, just click The "ESC" key can put Vi into the command line mode; we enter the start Vi command in the shell environment (the prompt is $), and when entering the editor, we are also in this mode.
  In this mode, users can enter various legal Vi commands to manage their own documents. At this time, any character entered from the keyboard is interpreted as an editing command. If the entered character is a legal Vi command, Vi completes the corresponding action after accepting the user command. However, it should be noted that the entered commands are not displayed on the screen. If the characters entered are not legal commands for Vi, Vi will ring the alarm.

• Text input mode (input mode/edit mode)

  In command mode, enter the insert command i (insert) and the additional command a ( append), open command o (open), modify command c (change), replace command r or replace command s to enter text input mode. In this mode, any characters entered by the user are saved by Vi as file content and displayed on the screen. During the text input process, if you want to return to the command mode, just press the "ESC" key.

• Last line mode (last line mode/command line command mode)

  Last line mode is also called ex escape mode.
  The functions of the Vi and Ex editors are the same. The main difference between the two is the user interface. In Vi, commands are usually single keys, such as i, a, o, etc.; in Ex, commands are lines of text that end with the Enter key. Vi has a dedicated "escape" command that provides access to many line-oriented Ex commands.
  In command mode, the user presses the ":" key to enter the last line mode. At this time, Vi will display a ":" on the last line of the display window (usually the last line of the screen) as the last line mode. prompt, waiting for the user to enter a command. Most file management commands are executed in this mode (such as writing the contents of the edit buffer to a file, etc.). After the last line of commands is executed, Vi automatically returns to command mode.

VIM mode

vim has a total of 4 modes:

• Normal-mode

• Insert-mode

• Command-mode

• Visual-mode(Visual-mode)

Normal mode

The default mode is normal mode after starting vim. No matter what mode you are in, pressing the <esc></esc> key (sometimes you need to press it twice) will enter the normal mode.

Insert mode

Press i, I, a, A and other keys in normal mode to enter insert mode.

Now just remember to press the i key to enter insert mode. In insert mode, corresponding characters are written when keystrokes are made.

Command Mode

In normal mode, press the : (English colon) key to enter command mode.

In command mode, you can perform some input and execute some instructions provided by vim or plug-ins, just like in the shell. These instructions include setting up the environment, file operations, calling a function, etc.

Commonly used commands are: q (exit), q! (force exit), w (save), wq (save and exit).

Visual mode

Press v, V, <ctrl> v</ctrl> in normal mode to enter visual mode.

The operation in visual mode is a bit like operating with a mouse. When selecting text, there is a visual sense of mouse selection, which is sometimes very convenient.

Related recommendations: "Linux Video Tutorial"

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