How to Exit Vim

Didn't see a mention of a very fast way of exiting Vim, so sharing:

'The iTerm way': map cmd-l to send a hex code '0x6A 0x6B 0x3A 0x71 0x0D' (translates to jk:q, where jk is my Vim binding to get out of insert mode)

For me, just like any other touch typer, left thumb is always on cmd and right ring finger is always on 'l' key, so this arrangement takes least amount of time for me to quit Vim.

> - So, how did you learn Vim? I heard there's quite a learning curve.

You can go through the interactive vimtutor.

Type :help tutor

Or you can just type :help and find the link to the vimtutor. If you are using gVim, then it should be one of the menu items ( maybe under help? ).

My suggestion is to just search for basic vim cheat sheet if you are getting started. There are also youtube tutorials online. Sometimes watching someone work with vim can help you get over the hump.

> - I just open it, but I couldn't figure out how to quit.

:q to quit.

:q! to quit without saving.

Remember to hit ESC to get back to the normal mode first if you are in other modes.

When you are comfortable with Vim then you can go on to some of the advanced vim topics. Also, in the beginning you might have to ddg/google/etc a bit. Good luck.

> And of course I'd have to dive deep into the ecosystem in order to get the same benefits that my main editor provides out of the box,

To me, vim shines as a modal editor, not an IDE. I use it for two purpose:

1. quick editing configuration files, or single file scripts 2. an editing mode in an IDE (mostly VSCode)

The main benefit of vim is to save you from using the mouse or the touch pad. I touch type, my indexes rest on F and J, and I can do pretty much anything without leaving the keyboard, without using the arrow keys, and keeping my eyes on the screen. It's not something I'd know how to do without Vim. If I'm using the arrow keys, I need extra-time to relocate the "J" key, which breaks the typing flow.

I would add a Paul Simon way, loading "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" until resources are exhausted.

As I sit here, vim running for several months inside an nvim terminal inside a tmux window inside an iterm tab inside mac os x, I think the real question is, why exit vim yourself when you can Inception vim's creator to do it for you?

That, as many people know, is actually how vim finally became threaded, and I'm sure it could be used to make a code change that exits vim automatically. Then you only have the task of modifying your vim executable in memory as well as on disk, which is so trivial that I leave it as an exercise to the reader.