Vim is a programmable text editor for the terminal. It has become a de facto standard terminal text editor A command line version of Vim for macOS is builtin into the OS distribution. For example giton macOS uses Vim by default to prompt for writing a commit message. Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to make creating and changing any kind of text very efficient. It is included as 'vi' with most UNIX systems and with Apple macOS. To install the latest version, use homebrew: brew install vim. Vim-config on Mac OS X. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
- Vim-macos A simple plugin tries to extract some methods for interactive with MacOS system by generate applescript when necessary.
- You simply type vim into the terminal to open it and start a new file. You can pass a filename as an option and it will open that file, e.g. You can open multiple files by passing multiple file arguments. Vim has different modes, unlike most editors you have probably used.
For the past five years, my go-to text editors have been Vim and gVim/MacVim.Currently, I work on macOS with Ubuntu, as a target OS, running on the local VMware Fusion virtual machine.
Personally, I prefer to use the macOS GUI over Ubuntu and do not enjoy constantly switching between windows,so I used to connect to the machine with ssh -XY user@server and run gVim there.Since macOS supports X Window System, I was able to open the gVim window in macOS as a “native” application.
However, when I had to edit a file locally on macOS, naturally I used MacVim.
Over time, it became increasingly inconvenient because the behavior and appearance of gVim and MacVim had minor differences.Additionally, the X Window System simply does not fit the macOS ecosystem well.
Visual Studio Code
I started to search for efficient alternatives and almost ended up switching to Visual Studio Code.Don’t get me wrong - VS Code is an awesome text editor with features that a Vim user can only dream of, but I got used to my Vim shortcuts and plugins. I know there is Vim support in VS Code, but it is not the same.
Neovim
Eventually, I discovered Neovim.
Neovim is a refactor, and sometimes redactor, in the tradition of Vim (which itself derives from Stevie). It is not a rewrite but a continuation and extension of Vim.
Nvim always includes ALL features, in contrast to Vim (which ships withvarious combinations of 100+ optional features). Think of it as a leanerversion of Vim’s “HUGE” build. This reduces surface area for bugs, andremoves a common source of confusion and friction for users.
Once Neovim is installed, it behaves the same way as Vim and supports all of its plugins.Basically, it is a drop-in replacement of Vim.
Neovim also supports remote plugins that communicate via msgpack-rpc.The RPC messages can be sent through various channels, such as Unix socket, TCP socket, or stdin/stdout.
Neovim GUI clients are implemented as remote plugins and most of them communicate through stdin/stdout.Each GUI client launches nvim process and sends it commands in msgpack format via stdin, and nvimreplies back via stdout with information on how to redraw the screen.
Neovim + Neovim-Qt
Neovim-Qt is a compact Neovim GUI client written in C++ with Qt5.If I need to edit a file locally, I open Neovim-Qt, which works as described above.
Additionally, Neovim-Qt is able to connect to a Neovim instance, operating in server mode.In order to edit files on the virtual machine, I launch a nvim process within the virtual environment, enabling listening on the given IP/port:
and then start Neovim-Qt with the following parameters on macOS:
Running all of these commands manually every time I need to open a text editor is quite tedious.Therefore, I decided to automate the process with a simple script that provides the alias rgvim, where r stands for “remote”.
Vim On Mac
Finally, I can use a single GUI for both operating systems!
Screenshots:
Local macOS environment:
Vim Commands Mac
Connected to a remote instance: