Editing Vim (text editor) (section)

== Features and improvements over vi ==
Vim has a vi compatibility mode, but when that mode is not used, Vim has many enhancements over vi.<ref name="vimhelp">Vim help system (type "<code>[https://vimhelp.org/ :help]</code>" within Vim)</ref> However even in compatibility mode, Vim is not entirely compatible with vi as defined in the [[Single UNIX Specification|Single Unix Specification]]<ref>{{citation | url = http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/vi.html | title = "vi&nbsp;— screen-oriented (visual) display editor", Single Unix Specification, Version 4 (IEEE Std 1003.1–2008) | author = The Open Group | access-date = 2010-12-27 | year = 2008 | archive-date = 22 January 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110122015032/http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/vi.html | url-status = live }}</ref> and [[POSIX]] (e.g., Vim does not support vi's open mode, only visual mode). Vim's developers state that it is "very much compatible with Vi".<ref name=vimfaq>{{cite web|url=https://vimhelp.org/vim_faq.txt.html#faq-1.3|title=Vim FAQ|author1=Peppe|author2=Benji|first3=Charles|last3=Campbell|date=2004-01-02|access-date=2010-12-27|archive-date=13 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113232234/https://vimhelp.org/vim_faq.txt.html#faq-1.3|url-status=live}} (question 1.3)</ref>

Some of Vim's enhancements include [[autocomplete|completion]] functions, [[data comparison|comparison]] and [[merge (revision control)|merging]] of files (known as vimdiff), a comprehensive integrated help system, extended [[regular expression]]s, [[scripting language]]s (both native and through alternative scripting interpreters such as Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, etc.) including support for [[plug-in (computing)|plugins]], a [[graphical user interface]] (gvim), limited [[integrated development environment]]-like features, [[mouse (computing)|mouse]] interaction (both with and without the GUI), [[Code folding|folding]], editing of compressed or archived files in [[gzip]], [[bzip2]], [[ZIP (file format)|zip]], and [[tar (computing)|tar]] format and files over network protocols such as [[Secure Shell|SSH]], [[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]], and [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol|HTTP]], session state preservation, [[spell checker|spell checking]], split (horizontal and vertical) and tabbed windows, [[Unicode]] and other multi-language support, [[syntax highlighting]], trans-session command, search and cursor position [[command history|histories]], multiple level and branching [[undo|undo/redo]] history which can persist across editing sessions, and visual mode.{{fact|date=March 2024}}

While running, Vim saves the user's changes in a swap file with the ".swp" [[file extension|extension]]. This file can be used to recover after a crash. If a user tries to open a file and a swap file already exists, Vim will warn the user, and if the user proceeds, Vim will use a swap file with the extension ".swo" (or, if there is already more than one swap file, ".swn", ".swm", etc.).<ref>{{cite web |title=Vim documentation: recover |url=http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/recover.html |website=vimdoc.sourceforge.net |access-date=17 December 2020 |archive-date=13 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213232131/http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/recover.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How to handle swapfiles in Vim |url=https://cs.longwood.edu/VimSwap.html |website=cs.longwood.edu |access-date=17 December 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507102651/https://cs.longwood.edu/VimSwap.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The feature can be disabled.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vimhelp.org/options.txt.html#'swapfile' |title='swapfile' option |date=10 October 2020 |website=vimhelp.org |access-date=18 December 2020 |archive-date=14 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214004148/https://vimhelp.org/options.txt.html#'swapfile' |url-status=live }}</ref>