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One of the reasons I usually don't use an IDE for development is that I'm so used to vi keybindings that I usually end up messing up my text and putting in lots of ":w"s, and I can't use vi's powerful regex replace mechanism. Are there any IDEs that allow you to configure vi keybindings or use vi as the editor within the IDE?

Related:

Is it possible to use vi or vim keymap in NetBeans?

Community
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Phil
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16 Answers16

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There is ViEmu which provides vim key bindings for Visual Studio. I haven't used it, but I probably would if I were working in VS and not actually using vim.

Also, I know that SlickEdit has a vi keybinding option.

Greg Hewgill
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There's jVi for NetBeans. There's also viPlugin for Eclipse, but it's not free. :(

Bill the Lizard
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PIDA is an IDE that has real Vim integrated, embedded, and smoothly controlled. In my opinion, no amount of emulation beats actual Vim, where you can use all your Vim plugins, syntax highlighting etc.

Obligatory Screenshot.

Ali Afshar
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  • This is probably the best answer, PIDA uses real VIM. However, it adds little else to GVIM, it does not have native remote file support, refactor, code complete from included files, or other IDE features. Just VIM. – dotancohen Aug 21 '12 at 12:50
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There's IDEAVim for IntelliJ which is rad.

yalestar
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For Eclipse there is also vrapper, It is free. I use it for two weeks and works great.

EDIT:

I have been experiencing errors while refactoring methods so I stopped using it.

Now I'm using ViPlugin. It works fine and I recommend it but it is not free (but cheap and has the trial version)

Krzysztof Kot
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  • vrapper is the best free option to edit vim style in eclipse, from what I have evaluated. – sjas Jul 12 '12 at 12:22
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You can try free Komodo Edit which has intgrated vi mode.

doubleface
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    This is one of the big reasons I use Komodo. There is also a Komodo IDE (which is not free). – Xiong Chiamiov Apr 29 '10 at 22:27
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    Komodo is great for vi integration. But it misses one thing! Confirmations with interactive find-substitute. Something like :%s/errors/error/gc. That will just replace all occurrences of errors with error and not ask for each one. Without being able to confirm, one might as well be stuck with the normal dialogs. – rem45acp Dec 30 '13 at 21:03
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For Visual Studio there's ViEmu (http://www.viemu.com/). Unfortunately it is not free, and it is not 100% Vim. I've been using it for 1-2 years now and is really happy with it, as it allows me to do most of what I'm used to from Vim.

I doesn't replace all of VS's key bindings, so you can actually mix VS and Vim commands, which is nice. However, it does make life a little harder if you want to use other plug-ins such as ReSharper and the like.

Brian Rasmussen
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Editra has vi emulation, is cross platform, handles syntax highlighting, etc... seems nice. I've just started using it at home on my mac, and will probably switch to it in the office too.

Phillip B Oldham
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MonoDevelop can both embed vim as the editor and the default editor has a vi mode.

MonoDevelop is now available on Windows and Mac as well as Linux.

Hamish Downer
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QT Creator also has a vi mode for it's editor.

However, not all features of vim are supported. Really it is good if you are looking for vi style editing, but doesn't have enough features to really feel like you are working in vim.

MichaelM
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Check out jVi.

Eugene Yokota
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I'm in the same boat. My brain thinks in vi, and coding with different keybindings is like trying to translate to a different language during a conversation.

I used viPlugin for a few years (up until 2008), but always had the impression it was masking lots of Eclipse goodness in terms of completion and lookup functionality and I just eventually reverted to command line vi again.

I'm going through a trial with Komodo right now, and I'm tempted to spring for the full blown commercial license. It builds in vi emulation, so it's a ground-up approach rather than some tacked-on add in.

Another path you might consider is taking steps to make vi more IDE-like, ala...

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/guides/2009/05/vim-made-easy-how-to-get-your-favorite-ide-features-in-vim.ars

kshep
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Tasking EDE has a vi mode, if you're lucky enough to be coding for one of the embedded devices it targets.

finnw
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There's meanwhile an excellent free and (from my limited perspective, but the many raving reviews probably speak for themselves) entirely sufficient alternative to the twice mentioned still commercial ViEmu for Visual Studio available, namely the VsVim Extension:

This is a Vim Emulation layer for Visual Studio 2010 [and 2012]. It integrates the familier key binding experience of Vim directly into Visual Studio's editor.

It's developed via Jared Parsons' GitHub project jaredpar/VsVim - a list of Supported Features and a FAQ addressing the interoperability choices/options is available there as well, most notably addressing how to Temporarily disable VsVim:

VsVim can be temporairly disabled by the key sequence Ctrl+Shift+F12 and re-enabled later by the same key sequence. While disabled VsVim will not interfere with any keyboard or selection allowing you to use Visual Studio as if VsVim wasn’t installed.

Steffen Opel
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Try Activestate's Komodo IDE - there's a free Komodo Edit as well not sure if the bindings are included. I really like it particularly for perl and html/css work.

dch
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Most IDE's that I know of (eclipse, netbeasn, VS200X) have replace with regex features available, Im not a big vi user, what do you really want to be able to do?

My advice is to really take the time to learn the IDE of choice and you will soon be a very efficient (in different ways) developer within that environment, they wouldnt be popular IDE's if there were in efficient.

I switch between IDE's a lot, and you end up just getting used to pushing the wrong key combinations, its not that bad.

Mark
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    Mostly we want to be able to do all our editing without moving our hands from the home row - no going to cursor keys, no page up/page down keys, and no mouse usage. And we want to be able to navigate the files really efficiently. – Hamish Downer Sep 09 '09 at 19:49
  • In eclipse: cntrl+shift+r filename I rarely if ever use the mouse in eclipse. – Stefan Kendall Sep 09 '09 at 20:01
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    @Stefan: If we wanted to use so many modifier keys, we'd be using emacs. – Xiong Chiamiov Apr 29 '10 at 22:31
  • As long as you don't have arthritis, cntrl+shift is a common modifier sequence. All IDEs I know of bind cntrl+shift to a number of actions. – Stefan Kendall Apr 29 '10 at 23:52
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    You cannot compare run-of-the-mill keyboard shortcuts to Vim. It's just impossible. – Arda Xi Jul 04 '10 at 21:22