this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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[–] FinalBoy1975 40 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I actually learned how to use vi like 30 years ago and I had all the commands memorized. Then, nano came along. All the commands are at the bottom of the screen to remind you. It was just too tempting to pass up. However, I can't help but suspect that somewhere out there I might have left a vi session open because maybe I mistyped. I might have accidentally typed ;q! instead of :q! or something.

[–] ChapolinColoradoNZ 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I get stressed out every time I need to jump into a server and check something and the only editor is vi. If I can I install nano straight away. Btw, :q! does nothing without pressing ESC first! Hehehe

[–] FinalBoy1975 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's part of the joke. I probably didn't press ESC first. LOL

[–] TheInsane42 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm feeling old now... I've been using vi for 35y now and was happy when I got vi.exe on a dos box, as I hated edit. I still don't like 'simple' editors like nano/joe.

I used kill to get out of emacs when trying it agter 7y of vi usage, so I get the need to get mideval on editors users aren't used off. ;)

[–] FinalBoy1975 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

vi has always been my bane because I'm a sloppy typist. I can't count the number of files i had to fix because they ended with :q i like nano because the commands are ctrl + whatever. i don't make a mess.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can :q! any time you want, but you can never leave.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Insert Mode tho

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

It's really easy, just unplug your computer.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
    • Esc × 2
    • CTRL-[ × 2
    • CTRL-\ CTRL-N × 2
    • :q
    • :qa
    • :wq
    • :wq!
    • :wqa
    • :x
    • ZZ
    • :q!
    • ZQ
    • :q!
    • :cq
[–] nebula42 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the hotel California of text editors >:)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You can ZZ any time you like, but you can never leave.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Nano is pretty good if you're in a terminal. Used to use vim for ssh related stuff but since nano added syntax highlights I didn't go back.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Nano's only appeal is that it's beginner-friendly, but you already know Vim, so why switch?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because Nano just works. Vim is insane affront to good design and standards.

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[–] dustyData 3 points 1 year ago

Micro exists. It's Nano with Lua plugins. Very robust and minimalist. No magic incantations. I actually use it to code simple stuff that I just don't want to wait a minute for VSCode to spin its wheels.

[–] redempt 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] PeterPoopshit 12 points 1 year ago

You exit vim by unplugging the pc.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's how you learn Linux and Google: how to kill vim? kill -9 vim.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

"vim" isn't a valid PID. I think you meant killall -9 vim

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Now do ed...

[–] Araozu 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My main problem with vim is that they use hjkl instead of jkl; , it doesn't make sense to me why they'd do that.

And my second problem is that I use my own custom keyboard layout instead of qwerty, so I'd have to remap all the keys. Why spend hours learning and then rebinding all the keys when I can instead play some Dota? /s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My main problem with vim is that they use hjkl instead of jkl; , it doesn't make sense to me why they'd do that.

With qwerty you can be sure of layout of the letters and numbers across languages.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Been a vim user for decades but never used hjkl. Probably strongly correlated with the fact I'm non QWERTY as well (Dvorak). I just use the arrow keys combined with the jumps to start/end of lines/words or to characters.

You don't need to remap anything aside from hjkl as the keybindings are mostly mnemonic and not location based.

On Dvorak at least, ^C is so easy to press that it's great for switching modes, I never use Esc.

I find the more time you've spent in non-graphical shells, especially on low spec devices or laggy connections, the more you appreciate vim. Instead of pressing Del a bunch of times and having it overrun you can ct" to swap out that string. I even use vim keys in vscode, as my hands are so used to them.

My biggest complaint is logging into some legacy device that only has vi and not vim, when shortcuts like "dap" or "caw" don't work

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Pssh, come on, it's just :q or :q! - couldn't be simpler or more intuitive!

[–] eslaf 8 points 1 year ago

:q does the trick

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I took the vim pill a few years ago and spent tons of time learning its shortcuts, trying out plugins, and forming strong opinions about my relationship with my text editor. It's a great tool, but I personally lost the plot somewhere down the line. I'm not sure that passion actually served me.

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[–] Kentronix 7 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

!killall vim

[–] Kaelygon 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Remember to actually kill the process though, since that will only background/suspend it in most cases.

(Be sure to save the file though first, Vim creates a "swap" / recovery file but its best to not rely on that, use fg to re-open, then press escape and type :wq)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Followed by kill -9 %1 to actually kill the process, otherwise your terminal might complain or freeze up when you try to close it

[–] dipshit 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
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