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I've come across ViEmu, and I read the very motivating article: Why, oh WHY, do those #?@! nutheads use vi?

Anyway, I've come to like the command mode in vim, specially the motions, and I also like the idea behind ViEmu, which is to bring "vim mode" into a typical text editor.

What other editors have a similar "vim mode" or a plugin that provides the functionality?

Vadim Kotov
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hasen
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17 Answers17

21

I am a huge fan of vim myself, so whenever I am trying a new IDE, I am instantly looking for a vim plugin. Here is a short list of plugins that I found:

Also, a couple of editors/IDEs have built-in vim mode:

  • AbiWord word processor supports vi keybindings.
  • Kate text editor includes a vi mode.
  • QtCreator has FakeVim mode.
  • Sublime Text has vintage mode.
  • Even Emacs has viper-mode!
  • bash, gdb, mysql-client, and many other applications use the GNU Readline library to interact with the user. Readline includes a vi mode.
  • In Bourne-style shells like ksh and zsh, type set -o vi to enable vi-like command-line editing.
  • ViEmu works also in Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft SQL Server and Word!

Bonus - web browsers! Really, try it, it is awesome!

  • Firefox - vimperator
  • Chromium/Chrome - cvim / vimium
  • Sadly, all of vi plugins for Opera seem outdated.

Please let me know if I forgot something, I would be happy to extend the list. For a more extensive list (sometimes sadly outdated), please see this article.

Glorfindel
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mc.suchecki
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    If you want something that works everywhere, it is possible to get the basic functions using AutoHotkey, e.g https://github.com/mihaifm/vim.ahk – Stenemo Jan 30 '16 at 19:48
15

It's worth noting that there's a lot more to vi than keybindings. As this blog post notes, there isn't any IDE plugin that emulates all the features vi.

RossFabricant
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    well, one could just use vim then!! but I prefer a blend of typical text editing and vim-style commands and motions. – hasen Mar 31 '09 at 23:23
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    Full vim is *huge*. But still, incomplete but extensive support can be quite good. ViEmu supports a lot of stuff, and more every version. Disclaimer: I'm the author. – jonbho Apr 01 '09 at 21:27
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    And it should be noted that much/most/all of the functionality that one typically seeks in an IDE can be supplemented by vim's extensive repository of plugins, and that gVim/MacVim provides some creature comforts of more seemingly "modern" editors to boot. – David Rivers Aug 06 '10 at 14:03
10

Check out excellent Vrapper plugin for Eclipse.

Vrapper is an eclipse plugin which acts as a wrapper for eclipse text editors to provide a Vim-like input scheme for moving around and editing text.

Unlike other plugins which embed Vim in Eclipse, Vrapper imitates the behaviour of Vim while still using whatever editor you have opened in the workbench. The goal is to have the comfort and ease which comes with the different modes, complex commands and count/operator/motion combinations which are the key features behind editing with Vim, while preserving the powerful features of the different Eclipse text editors, like code generation and refactoring.

Vrapper tries to offer Eclipse users the best of both worlds.

Krzysiek Goj
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10

Editra has vim mode

Imran
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9

I primarily use:

  • Visual Studio with ViEmu
  • NetBeans with jVi
Christian C. Salvadó
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9

Sublime Text has a vintage mode for vi style editing.

danriti
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8

for Firefox users :

Glorfindel
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webwesen
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7

Emacs has viper-mode, which offers multiple levels of Vi emulation (from more Vi-like to more Emacs-like). The manual describes it as follows:

 Viper Is a Package for Emacs Rebels;
 it is a VI Plan for Emacs Rescue
 and/or a venomous VI PERil.
bk1e
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    I haven't used it, but Emacs also has vimpulse (http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/vimpulse.el) which adds more features to viper-mode. – projecktzero Mar 31 '09 at 18:25
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    Those are still Vi emulation, not Vim (which I prefer more) – MBO Dec 05 '09 at 08:29
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    Check out [Evil mode](http://emacswiki.org/emacs/Evil#toc1). I'm a hardcore vim user and this is plugin has gotten me the closest I have ever gotten to switching. Visual mode even works! It also tries to integrate with the rest of the emacs environment. – mvanveen Feb 07 '12 at 10:09
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http://texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ViFamily includes a long list of vi clones and a long list of vi implementations. This second list includes perhaps a dozen text editors with "Vim modes".

jasonspiro
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6

It seems the eclim plugin can help you embed the real GVim into Eclipse.

Swaroop C H
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6

Komodo Edit has a reasonably good Vi emulation mode. It's also very good for code sense etc.. and supports a plethora of languages. Linux and Windows... and damn, I should be on commission with these guys... wait a minute, it's freeware... Damn! Damn! Damn!

Anyway... Good editor, Linux & Windows, Free, Vi (and Emacs) emulation.

Glorfindel
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Simon Peverett
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5

Qt Creator has a "vim mode" for editing, but it currently lacks some abilities; as well, I feel handicapped without the settings I have in my .vimrc.

Glorfindel
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Caleb Huitt - cjhuitt
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    There now actually is a setting "Read .vimrc from location" in the FakeVim settings of Qt Creator (v3.5.1). – agold Nov 12 '15 at 10:12
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I'm using viPlugin for Eclipse. Unfortunately, it's not free, but it works pretty well for all the basic Vim commands.

Andy White
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3

Slickedit has extremely good vim emulation. One of the soundest purchases I have ever made.

JProgrammer
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ojblass
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3

There is also freeware Vimplugin for Eclipse — it embeds Vim into Eclipse, but you lose all navigation and code-completion functionality that Eclipse provides, so its usefulness is disputable.

Paul
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3

I have found the vim mode in Sublime Text 2 to be fantastic along with the great extensions and awesome performance makes it one of the best $59 I've spent all year.

JProgrammer
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0

Yzis a vi-like editor inspired by vim.

Yzis aims to be a powerful, fast editor with all of Vim's features and hopefully, at some point, more. (quoted from Yzis' website)

EDIT : the yzis project seems to be dead. The internet archive has copy of the yzis page.

f3lix
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