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 file, 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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