Vim Color Editor HOW-TO (Vi Improved with syntax color highlighting)

Al Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan)

v19.5, 2 Nov 2003

Abstract

This document is a guide to quickly setting up the Vim color editor on Linux or Unix systems. The information here will improve the productivity of programmers because the Vim editor supports syntax color highlighting and bold fonts, improving the "readability" of program code. A programmer's productivity improves 2 to 3 times with a color editor like Vim. The information in this document applies to all operating sytems where Vim works, such as Linux, Windows 95/NT, Apple Mac, IBM OSes, VMS, BeOS and all flavors of Unix like Solaris, HPUX, AIX, SCO, Sinix, BSD, Ultrix etc.. (it means almost all operating systems on this planet!)


Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1. Before you Install
1.2. Install Vim on Redhat Linux
1.3. Install Vim on Debian GNU/Linux
1.4. Install Vim on Unixes
1.5. Install Vim on Microsoft Windows 95/NT
1.6. Install Vim on VMS
1.7. Install Vim on OS/2
1.8. Install Vim on Apple Macintosh
2. Install Vim on Microsoft Windows 95/NT
2.1. Install bash shell
2.2. Edit bash_profile
2.3. Setup Window colors
3. MS Windows Notepad and Wordpad Imitator in Vim
3.1. MS Windows EditPlus Features in Vim
4. Setup gvim init files
4.1. Sample gvimrc file
4.2. Xdefaults parameters
5. Color Syntax init files
5.1. Auto source-in method
5.2. Manual method
6. VIM Usage
7. Remote Vi - MS Windows QVWM Manager
8. Vi companions
8.1. Directory Tree 'tags'
8.2. Ctags for ESQL
8.3. Ctags for JavaScript programs, Korn, Bourne shells
8.4. Debugger gdb
9. Online VIM help
10. Vim Home page and Vim links
10.1. Vi Resources and Tips
11. Vim Tutorial
11.1. Vim Hands-on Tutorial
11.2. Vi Tutorials on Internet
12. Vi Tutorial
12.1. Cursor Movement Commands
12.2. Repeat Counts
12.3. Deleting Text
12.4. Changing Text
12.5. Yanking (Copying) Text
12.6. Filtering text
12.7. Marking Lines and Characters
12.8. Naming Buffers
12.9. Substitutions
12.10. Miscellaneous "Colon Commands"
12.11. Setting Options
12.12. Key Mappings
12.13. Editing Multiple Files
12.14. Final Remarks
13. Vim Reference Card
13.1. Vi states
13.2. Shell Commands
13.3. Setting Options
13.4. Notations used
13.5. Interrupting, cancelling
13.6. File Manipulation
13.7. Movement
13.8. Line Positioning
13.9. Character positioning
13.10. Words, sentences, paragraphs
13.11. Marking and returning
13.12. Corrections during insert
13.13. Adjusting the screen
13.14. Delete
13.15. Insert, change
13.16. Copy and Paste
13.17. Operators (use double to affect lines)
13.18. Search and replace
13.19. General
13.20. Line Editor Commands
13.21. Other commands
14. Vim as XML Editor
14.1. Matchit.vim & Xmledit.vim
14.2. Vim and Docbook - Useful key mappings
14.3. XML Validation
15. Build Your "WYSIWYG" HTML Editor With Vi & Netscape
15.1. Sample .vimhtmlrc File
15.2. WYSIWYG
15.3. Other 'WYSIWYG' uses
15.4. Source code for atchange
15.5. HTML Beautifier Inside Vim : Program Tidy
16. Emacs - Old Habits Die Hard !
17. Related URLs
18. Other Formats of this Document
18.1. Acrobat PDF format
18.2. Convert Linuxdoc to Docbook format
18.3. Convert to MS WinHelp format
18.4. Reading various formats
19. Copyright Notice