Install vim with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, winget, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• ex
• rview
• rvim
• vi
• view
• vim
• vimdiff
• vimtutor
• xxd

Project history

Vim began in the late 1980s as Bram Moolenaar's Amiga-oriented vi clone, initially called Vi IMitation and based on the Stevie editor lineage. Secondary historical summaries place the first public distribution of Vim 1.14 on Fred Fish disk #591 in January 1992, with later releases expanding from an Amiga editor into a portable Unix, Windows, macOS, and multi-platform editor.

As the editor gained functionality beyond imitation, the name became Vi IMproved. Important feature eras included multiple windows in the 3.x period, a GUI in the 4.x period, syntax highlighting and early scripting in Vim 5.0, folding and plugins in Vim 6.0, spell checking and completion in Vim 7.0, jobs and asynchronous I/O in Vim 8.0, popup windows and text properties in Vim 8.2, and Vim9 Script in Vim 9.0.

Bram Moolenaar remained Vim's central author and maintainer for more than 30 years. After his death in August 2023, upstream Vim continued under the project and contributor community; the Vim 9.1 release in January 2024 was dedicated to Moolenaar and described him as Vim's lead developer for more than 30 years.

Adoption history

Vim became a default or near-default editor in many Unix-like environments because it preserves vi's keyboard model while adding programmer-oriented features. The upstream README notes that Vim is often installable through users' favorite package managers, that small versions are preinstalled on Mac and Linux, and that a minimal vim.tiny build is used by many Linux distributions as the default vi implementation.

Developer-culture adoption is reinforced by Vim's documentation, mailing lists, script ecosystem, and plugin culture. Vim's own help points users to vim.org, vimhelp, mailing lists, Vi and Vim Stack Exchange, and the built-in user manual, while the GitHub project lists the official repository and issue workflow used by modern contributors.

How it is used

Vim is used for editing source code, configuration files, prose, commit messages, logs, and other plain text. Its package-nerd value comes from being available over SSH, in containers, on recovery shells, and across operating systems, with a configuration model centered on vimrc files and scriptable behavior.

The editor's usage model is modal: normal mode commands, insert mode text entry, visual selections, Ex commands, registers, mappings, macros, and text objects combine into a keyboard-centered workflow. Vim's own introduction emphasizes that all commands are given with the keyboard, keeping fingers on the keyboard and eyes on the screen.

Why package nerds care

Vim is one of the canonical examples of a package that is both a normal user application and a system-level expectation. It appears as an editor, a vi provider, a scripting host, a terminal UI dependency for habits and tutorials, and the source of many Vim-like interfaces in unrelated programs.

Its significance is also social: Vim is charityware, historically encouraging donations for children in Uganda. That charityware model remains part of official Vim messaging and carried into related projects such as Vim Classic.

Timeline

• 1988: Bram Moolenaar starts work on what becomes Vim.
• 1992: Vim 1.14 is publicly distributed via Fish Disk #591.
• 1993: The name expansion Vi IMproved appears in the Vim 2.0 era.
• 1998: Vim 5.0 adds syntax highlighting and basic scripting.
• 2006: Vim 7.0 adds spell checking, completion, tabs, and undo branches.
• 2016: Vim 8.0 adds jobs, asynchronous I/O, and lambdas.
• 2022: Vim 9.0 introduces Vim9 Script.
• 2023: Bram Moolenaar dies; community maintenance continues.
• 2024: Vim 9.1 is released and dedicated to Bram Moolenaar.
• 2026: Vim 9.2 is announced with further Vim9 language work and modern platform updates.

Related projects

• Vim descends from the vi editor tradition but is a distinct codebase with major extensions. Related projects include gVim, MacVim, Neovim, Vim Classic, vi-compatible implementations such as nvi and ex-vi, and a large ecosystem of Vim scripts and plugin managers.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_(text_editor)
• https://github.com/vim/vim
• https://vimhelp.org/intro.txt.html
• https://www.vim.org/
• https://www.vim.org/vim-9.1-released.php
• https://www.vim.org/vim90.php