Which version of VI (vi, nvi, nvi2, vim, nvim) are you using and why?

  • vi(1) on POSIX platforms
  • vim on Windows (due to lack of proper command-line job control)

I was hoping neovim was going to act as a sponge and prevent people bloating up proper vim but it has unfortunately accrued more sh*t since 2020 than all of the previous decades combined. Integrating an (unportable) terminal emulator in there was probably the catalyst.
 
Any of them but only by force because there's nothing else and the file is too big to echo all the text to it.
I don't understand why people appeal to a text-editor with specific invisible rules and status. Like the effect of backspace in vi. Must read man page. Really? Not my time going in that.
 
Mostly vi. However, I use vim as my default editor in mutt. At one point, nvi (FreeBSD's vi) couldn't always do Japanese, and at the time I needed it more in email. And it became a habit. There's a couple of things I have set in my $HOME/.vimrc that I use much more in mutt than anything else.

Also, I do a daily online cryptoquote and vim has multiple undo, which I never learned to do in nvi. (Don't know if it's there). And going to the top of a file which I do with the cryptoquote) has become more of a habit in vim. I don't think it's necessarily the simplest move to top of file, for nvi shift+h works, but it's my habit. So, as mutt is one of my main terminal uses it's probably around 50/50.
 
kpedersen said:
  • vi(1) on POSIX platforms
  • vim on Windows (due to lack of proper command-line job control)

I was hoping neovim was going to act as a sponge and prevent people bloating up proper vim but it has unfortunately accrued more sh*t since 2020 than all of the previous decades combined. Integrating an (unportable) terminal emulator in there was probably the catalyst.
Click to expand...
"...it has unfortunately accrued..." vim or nvim?
 
scottro said:
Mostly vi. However, I use vim as my default editor in mutt. At one point, nvi (FreeBSD's vi) couldn't always do Japanese, and at the time I needed it more in email. And it became a habit. There's a couple of things I have set in my $HOME/.vimrc that I use much more in mutt than anything else.

Also, I do a daily online cryptoquote and vim has multiple undo, which I never learned to do in nvi. (Don't know if it's there). And going to the top of a file which I do with the cryptoquote) has become more of a habit in vim. I don't think it's necessarily the simplest move to top of file, for nvi shift+h works, but it's my habit. So, as mutt is one of my main terminal uses it's probably around 50/50.
Click to expand...
(N)vi has multiple undo too but it works differently: "u" and "." instead of multiple "u". However, I understand the reasons for this 50/50 split.
 
OpenFreeNet said:
Not exactly a vi clone, but I'm switching from Doom Emacs with vi keycodes to Helix.
Click to expand...
ops, why?

As IDE, Helix has a very good tree-sitter and LSP integration.

As normal text editor, it has keybindings rather similar to vi, but more composable IMHO.

Keybindings are more discoverable, because after each key press it shows the available options.
 
vim - it was the first editor I used in the 90s. I do not miss anything in vim, but when I found out about the religious war (emacs vs vim) I tried emacs, however, I think I quit after a short while and went with vim exclusively. In recent years, I have been eyeing with emacs org mode at times but have not had time to dabble into it. However, I would probably try neovim + orgmode first.
 
OpenFreeNet said:
ops, why?

As IDE, Helix has a very good tree-sitter and LSP integration.

As normal text editor, it has keybindings rather similar to vi, but more composable IMHO.

Keybindings are more discoverable, because after each key press it shows the available options.
Click to expand...
I've heard it's quite difficult to configure...
 
yog.sothoth said:
I've heard it's quite difficult to configure...
Click to expand...
It has a different philosophy respect Emacs or Neovim. It is meant to be used in the default way, instead of being fully customizable with plugins like Neovim, or deeply configurable like Emacs. In any case, it supports all important "minor" configurations, and you can add new tree-sitter grammars and LSP tools.

It has a very nice interactive tutorial mode, where you can learn all important (and necessary) keybindings in very short time. So, if you are curious, I suggest to install and launch the tutorial mode. In my case, it was love at first sight :-)
 
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