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I barely use any Vim, but I'm more confused about there being some hidden complexity in exiting Vim that I'm not aware of. Isn't it just... [Esc] :wq ...or..

I barely use any Vim, but I'm more confused about there being some hidden complexity in exiting Vim that I'm not aware of. Isn't it just... [Esc] :wq ...or... [Esc] :q! ...depending if you want to save the current document or not?

gtsteve 9y ago
Imagine you don't know that. Now try to exit vim.
- ashark 9y ago
  Add in the bonus confusion that you may not have even been trying to run vim, and in fact may not know what it is (hey, everyone's a beginner some time), but have landed there due to a default $EDITOR value. [EDIT] also, a typical mid-level computer user's tendency to slap "ESC" when panicked. Ha!
  - fishywang 9y ago
    Which OS/Linux distribution set default $EDITOR to vim? Personally I've never seen one, and I don't think vim is a sane default value for $EDITOR.
    - recursive 9y ago
      Don't know about $EDITOR, but if you issue a git commit in Windows, and forget to specify -m, then you end up in vim.
    - dom0 9y ago
      I dunno if it's actually vim or some variation on it, but it is the default on, for example, Arch Linux, although I believe most other distros dropped me into it as well (e.g. git commit / rebase -i). If there is such a thing as user hostile in the world of CLI tools, then dropping the user unannounced into vi with some open buffer most definitely counts as user hostile.
    - 0xFFFE 9y ago
      In Jessie, visudo lands you in nano, unless you explicitly set the $EDITOR.
    - JdeBP 9y ago
      What are your thoughts on $VISUAL?
  - bbcbasic 9y ago
    > you may not have even been trying to run vi git rebase -i For example
- tcoff91 9y ago
  Ok, so anyone with any terminal experience but no vim experience would press <ctrl>-c. Then, the program tells them "Type :quit<Enter> to exit Vim" And if the user is capable of reading, they shouldn't have any problem. If they don't know about ctrl-c, they shouldn't be using a terminal editor.
  - dsp1234 9y ago
    E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)
  - zero_iq 9y ago
    Try actually following those instructions. They don't work. There is a step missing, and you may get warnings even if you know to hit escape first.
    - Gracana 9y ago
      You don't have to hit escape, ctrl-c puts you in normal mode.
  - Bartweiss 9y ago
    If vim opens and that's the first thing you try, then it'll work, yeah. But if you've typed anything, this won't quite work. <ctrl> c will take you out of insert mode, but won't offer any prompt. <ctrl> c again will bring up the quit prompt, but that's not intuitive the way doing it the first time is. And if you type the wrong thing after the first <ctrl> c, you'll break back into insert mode and have to take another run at it. I remember getting stuck in vim because git bash uses it as a default editor. It happened when I forgot to enter a commit message, which meant that I started typing a commit message and thereby lost the useful prompt when I went to quit. edit: per another thread, this gets far worse if you don't realize the ':' is active and not a prompt to "type: quit". That error sets off a maze that will never show you the prompt again to find your mistake.
- ZenoArrow 9y ago
  In that case I'd just close the terminal window if I was running the terminal from a GUI session. Does that count?
Etheryte 9y ago
You can also <Esc>-ZZ to save the file and exit. Very convenient to remember if you use Vim a lot.
tcoff91 9y ago
No, it really is that easy. If you try to <ctrl>-c, the program even tells you to use :q It's just become a meme at this point.
- jayflux 9y ago
  But why would i be pressing <ctrl>-c in the first place if i don't know any Vim commands? Edit: ah quit foreground process, ignore me
  - tcoff91 9y ago
    <ctrl>-c is not a vim command. It's a universal terminal command. <ctrl>-c is how you kill the foreground process in bash, zsh, sh, windows command line, etc... If you don't know about <ctrl>-c you shouldn't be attempting to use a terminal based editor to begin with. Vim can't be blamed for people not knowing how to use a terminal.
  - zeptomu 9y ago
    Because it is the standard command to kill (i.e. send SIGINT) running programs in a terminal? E.g. ping, top, etc. all quit using Ctrl-C.
- masklinn 9y ago
  > If you try to <ctrl>-c, the program even tells you to use :q And then you do and it helpfully adds ":q" to the buffer. You're still in vim.
  - splawn 9y ago
    If you hit ctrl-c then you are no longer in insert mode (ctrl-c acts like esc for some reason), so no, it won't add anything to the buffer and ":q" will get you out. I don't blame people for being confused though.. I remember getting stuck in vim all the time back in the day because of a default $EDITOR value.
djtriptych 9y ago
or :q or ZZ or qa(!) or wqa(!) I love vim and I've used all of those at some point. I'd never pretend there's no learning curve, just that the learning curve is worth it.
chocolatemario 9y ago
Never forget ZZ. Or, my preferred method, suspend the process for later use.
deanstag 9y ago
Correct. But as the article mentions, it might be confusing for developers who predominantly use IDEs and text editors that are not modal in nature.
spydum 9y ago
I think mostly it's people not being familiar with escape key. If you think about it, pretty rare you use Escape in anything other than a game..
- donarb 9y ago
  On the Mac, the escape key has been used forever in dialogs as a surrogate for the Cancel button or for dismissing dialogs where the results are non-destructive.
optimuspaul 9y ago
It baffles me that it isn't just ^C like every other unix program.
- rhinoceraptor 9y ago
  Every other unix program is not an interactive editor, they don't care if stdout is a teleprinter, a physical terminal or a terminal emulator.
- kbp 9y ago
  If you press ^C, it tells you how to quit. As to why it doesn't just exit, a lot of beginners would probably expect ^C in a text editor to copy text.
VT_Drew 9y ago
ZZ also works as save and quit.
bitcrusher 9y ago
or even: [Esc] :x to save and exit.

gtsteve 9y ago

Imagine you don't know that. Now try to exit vim.

ashark 9y ago
Add in the bonus confusion that you may not have even been trying to run vim, and in fact may not know what it is (hey, everyone's a beginner some time), but have landed there due to a default $EDITOR value. [EDIT] also, a typical mid-level computer user's tendency to slap "ESC" when panicked. Ha!
- fishywang 9y ago
  Which OS/Linux distribution set default $EDITOR to vim? Personally I've never seen one, and I don't think vim is a sane default value for $EDITOR.
  - recursive 9y ago
    Don't know about $EDITOR, but if you issue a git commit in Windows, and forget to specify -m, then you end up in vim.
  - dom0 9y ago
    I dunno if it's actually vim or some variation on it, but it is the default on, for example, Arch Linux, although I believe most other distros dropped me into it as well (e.g. git commit / rebase -i). If there is such a thing as user hostile in the world of CLI tools, then dropping the user unannounced into vi with some open buffer most definitely counts as user hostile.
  - 0xFFFE 9y ago
    In Jessie, visudo lands you in nano, unless you explicitly set the $EDITOR.
  - JdeBP 9y ago
    What are your thoughts on $VISUAL?
- bbcbasic 9y ago
  > you may not have even been trying to run vi git rebase -i For example
tcoff91 9y ago
Ok, so anyone with any terminal experience but no vim experience would press <ctrl>-c. Then, the program tells them "Type :quit<Enter> to exit Vim" And if the user is capable of reading, they shouldn't have any problem. If they don't know about ctrl-c, they shouldn't be using a terminal editor.
- dsp1234 9y ago
  E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)
- zero_iq 9y ago
  Try actually following those instructions. They don't work. There is a step missing, and you may get warnings even if you know to hit escape first.
  - Gracana 9y ago
    You don't have to hit escape, ctrl-c puts you in normal mode.
- Bartweiss 9y ago
  If vim opens and that's the first thing you try, then it'll work, yeah. But if you've typed anything, this won't quite work. <ctrl> c will take you out of insert mode, but won't offer any prompt. <ctrl> c again will bring up the quit prompt, but that's not intuitive the way doing it the first time is. And if you type the wrong thing after the first <ctrl> c, you'll break back into insert mode and have to take another run at it. I remember getting stuck in vim because git bash uses it as a default editor. It happened when I forgot to enter a commit message, which meant that I started typing a commit message and thereby lost the useful prompt when I went to quit. edit: per another thread, this gets far worse if you don't realize the ':' is active and not a prompt to "type: quit". That error sets off a maze that will never show you the prompt again to find your mistake.
ZenoArrow 9y ago
In that case I'd just close the terminal window if I was running the terminal from a GUI session. Does that count?

Etheryte 9y ago

You can also <Esc>-ZZ to save the file and exit. Very convenient to remember if you use Vim a lot.

tcoff91 9y ago

No, it really is that easy. If you try to <ctrl>-c, the program even tells you to use :q It's just become a meme at this point.

jayflux 9y ago
But why would i be pressing <ctrl>-c in the first place if i don't know any Vim commands? Edit: ah quit foreground process, ignore me
- tcoff91 9y ago
  <ctrl>-c is not a vim command. It's a universal terminal command. <ctrl>-c is how you kill the foreground process in bash, zsh, sh, windows command line, etc... If you don't know about <ctrl>-c you shouldn't be attempting to use a terminal based editor to begin with. Vim can't be blamed for people not knowing how to use a terminal.
- zeptomu 9y ago
  Because it is the standard command to kill (i.e. send SIGINT) running programs in a terminal? E.g. ping, top, etc. all quit using Ctrl-C.
masklinn 9y ago
> If you try to <ctrl>-c, the program even tells you to use :q And then you do and it helpfully adds ":q" to the buffer. You're still in vim.
- splawn 9y ago
  If you hit ctrl-c then you are no longer in insert mode (ctrl-c acts like esc for some reason), so no, it won't add anything to the buffer and ":q" will get you out. I don't blame people for being confused though.. I remember getting stuck in vim all the time back in the day because of a default $EDITOR value.

djtriptych 9y ago

or :q or ZZ or qa(!) or wqa(!) I love vim and I've used all of those at some point. I'd never pretend there's no learning curve, just that the learning curve is worth it.

chocolatemario 9y ago

Never forget ZZ. Or, my preferred method, suspend the process for later use.

deanstag 9y ago

Correct. But as the article mentions, it might be confusing for developers who predominantly use IDEs and text editors that are not modal in nature.

spydum 9y ago

I think mostly it's people not being familiar with escape key. If you think about it, pretty rare you use Escape in anything other than a game..

donarb 9y ago
On the Mac, the escape key has been used forever in dialogs as a surrogate for the Cancel button or for dismissing dialogs where the results are non-destructive.

optimuspaul 9y ago

It baffles me that it isn't just ^C like every other unix program.

rhinoceraptor 9y ago
Every other unix program is not an interactive editor, they don't care if stdout is a teleprinter, a physical terminal or a terminal emulator.
kbp 9y ago
If you press ^C, it tells you how to quit. As to why it doesn't just exit, a lot of beginners would probably expect ^C in a text editor to copy text.

VT_Drew 9y ago

ZZ also works as save and quit.

bitcrusher 9y ago

or even: [Esc] :x to save and exit.