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Users of Vim and similars, what exactly makes it useful compared to other text editors? How much time do you suppose you save when working with it? (programming.dev)

submitted 4 months ago by ICastFist@programming.dev to c/ask_experienced_devs@programming.dev

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I'd like actual examples instead of "I work faster", something like "I can move straight to the middle of the file with 7mv" or "I can keep 4 different text snippets in memory and paste each with a number+pt, like 2pt", things that you actually use somewhat frequently instead of what you can do, but probably only did once.

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[–] zagaberoo 1 points 4 months ago

Nano is extremely basic, it's not really the right comparison. Vi competes well with heavyweight GUI editors and IDEs, yet is available about as ubiquitously as nano.

By learning vi, I can have my no-compromises favorite editor equally available to me locally or remotely. The terse, low-chord (looking at you, nano) editing language in vi means I'm not even that hampered when I do remote editing from my phone.