Hold on, I am indeed a follower of EMACS cult :) but VIM was the first editor I learned. Why do I need to learn to use an editor, one might say. Surely, writing in Microsoft or Google Doc, we don’t have to. Why is VIM special? Let’s dive into it.

Magic mode

Once you open VIM, you are in a magic mode called normal mode officially. I prefer to call it magic mode where every keystroke is magic, which is why you can’t type like the normal. To type like the normal, you need to enter the insert mode from magic mode by pressing magical key such as i. Then you need to use Ctrl+[ or ESC to go back to magic mode. What can I benefit from magic mode? Why do I need to learn the abnormal behavior? Short answer is making editing more efficient. Oh, btw, you can exit VIM only from magic mode by pressing :q.

Fast movement

In magic mode, you can move by words with b, w, e, B, W, E keys; move by sentence with ( and ); move by paragraph with { and }; find chars linewise with f, F, t, T. no longer use arrow key instead using h, j, k, l which all located right in the center of QWERTY keyboard layout; If you use another different keyboard layout eg DVORAK, you have the absolute control to customize the key map.

Key mapping

A good editor should be extendable and customized, so is VIM.

My minimal vim configuration

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let mapleader=" "
let maplocalleader = ','
syntax on
set number
set relativenumber
set cursorline
set wrap
set showcmd
set wildmenu
set autochdir
set hlsearch
exec "nohlsearch"
set incsearch
set ignorecase
set smartcase
set nocompatible
filetype on
filetype indent on
filetype plugin on
filetype plugin indent on
set mouse=a
set encoding=utf-8
let &t_ut=''
set expandtab
set tabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2
set softtabstop=2
set list
set listchars=tab:▸\ ,trail:▫
set scrolloff=5
set tw=0
set indentexpr=
set backspace=indent,eol,start
set foldmethod=indent
set foldlevel=99
noremap H ^
noremap L $
map _ %
nnoremap <Leader>bb :ls<CR>:b<Space>
noremap <LEADER>ee :e $MYVIMRC<CR>
noremap <C-S> :w<cr>
inoremap <C-S> <ESC>:w<cr>
noremap Q :q<CR>
noremap R :source $MYVIMRC<CR>
inoremap <C-b> <left>
inoremap <C-j> <down>
inoremap <C-k> <up>
inoremap <C-f> <right>
inoremap <c-a> <home>
inoremap <c-e> <end>
inoremap <c-d> <del>
inoremap <c-x><c-a> <c-a>
inoremap <c-x><c-b> <c-e>
map sl :set splitright<CR>:vsplit<CR>
map sk :set nosplitright<CR>:vsplit<CR>
map sh :set nosplitbelow<CR>:split<CR>
map sj :set splitbelow<CR>:split<CR>
map sv <C-w>t<C-w>H
map sh <C-w>t<C-w>K