Vim Text editor can efficiently help us quickly create or modify some common text type files, such as configuration files:

Create File

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vim newfile    # After running the command, it'll create an empty file called newfile

Command Mode

Vim opens a file in command mode:

Help

We can view the command-related help by the :help command:

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:help

To go back to command mode, just type :q and press Enter:

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:q

Insert Mode

We can press the letter i on the keyboard to enter to insert mode:

Let’s write something:

We can press the ESC key to go back to command mode:

Command Mode Operations

We can do a lot of things in command mode, such as searching, undo changes, save, exit files, and other more advanced uses.

Save

We can type the :w command in command mode and press enter to save the file:

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:w

After we save the command, we can see some basic information about the file at the bottom: of the screen

Exit

If we have saved the written content, we can exit vim by :q command and press Enter:

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:q

Edit File

Opening a file is almost the same as creating a file:

The difference between an existing file and a new file is the basic information at the bottom of the screen after the file is opened, the existing file has the basic information, and the new file has nothing:

References Basic Vim Commands Every Linux User Must Know

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