Before we start editing files, lets get familiar with some basic movements.

Navigate back to the empty directory and type in the following.

> vim test.js

You are now in NORMAL mode. This probably doesn't feel all that normal. And you are right, its really not that normal.

Lets talk Modes

There are a few modes that you should be aware of.

• Normal
• Insert
• Visual
• Visual Line

My First If Statement

Lets write our first if statement.

Currently, you are in NORMAL mode. This is where you can execute commands to navigate, edit, and execute vim/sys commands. To get out of this mode, press i

After pressing i you should see something like -- INSERT -- in the bottom left hand side of vim.

Now that you are in insert mode, type the following

if (true) {

}

Press <esc> or <Ctrl-c> (abbreviated <C-c>) to leave INSERT mode and back to NORMAL.

Goodness, isn't default vim ugly?

type :q to quit vim. Also, don't tell anyone.

My First Moves

Basic navigation

time to curl down our first little exercise

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThePrimeagen/vim-fundamentals/master/course-website/lessons/exercise-0-hjkl-x.md > exercise.md && vim exercise.md

Deleting, Yanking, and Pasting

These are going to be some of your fundamental movements within vim. This is where you will see some significant speed ups compared to a conventional editor.

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThePrimeagen/vim-fundamentals/master/course-website/lessons/exercise-1-dyp.md > exercise.md && vim exercise.md

Insert!

We are going to go over entering into insert mode

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ThePrimeagen/vim-fundamentals/master/course-website/lessons/exercise-2-insert.md > exercise.md && vim exercise.md

Recap

Lets talk about what happened. I would love to get some feedback from you. What do you think about all of this nonsense? Does it seem like to much? Or does it seem exciting? I hope you are excited.

We learned

• h,j,k,l for basic movement.
• w,b for word hopping. Effectively the same as Option/Ctrl + arrow keys
• yy to "copy" a line, called Yank
• dd to delete, and yank, a line
• p and P to paste the contents of the implicit register below / above
• Most of the ways to go into insert mode!
  • i and a for which side of the cursor
  • I and A for which side of the line
  • o and O for belowe / above line
• zz - I snuck that one in...

That is a grand total of 16 different motions