Like many Unix tools, Vim is heavily configurable. Unfortunately, this means that it’s not very well-configured out of the box.
If you don’t already have a Vim configuration, you should start with the GPI Vim config which you will already have if you’re run through the initial setup instructions.
Vim is best learned interactively. With this in mind, the first thing you
should do is work through vimtutor, a program that launches vim with a
tutorial file to help you learn. Go run vimtutor and work through it now…
we’ll wait!
The link above is to an excellent walkthrough that approaches Vim from the standpoint of a 21st century user, a user for whom graphical interfaces are the norm and who might view Vim, a piece of software dating back to 1976, as “outdated.” Since these pieces are so well-written, we’ll be substituting them for content written by members of the GPI staff.
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