This page explains how to install VIM text editor on CentOS 8 Linux server or desktop using the dnf command/yum command.
How to install vim on CentOS 8
VIM means Vi IMproved and often called as a programmer’s text editor. VIM is popular among sysadmins, DevOps engineers, Linux enthusiasts, and users. By default, CentOS 8 minimal version ships with a simple version of vi to keep cloud images small. However, we can search and install VIM as follows.
Step 1: Search for vim packages
Open the terminal app and then enter the following command. We can search vim package using metadata for keywords. The syntax is as follows:
sudo dnf search vim
Here is what I get on my box:
Last metadata expiration check: 0:15:25 ago on Wednesday 13 May 2020 02:22:40 PM IST. ================================== Name & Summary Matched: vim =================================== vim-gv.noarch : Git commit browser in Vim vim-filesystem.noarch : VIM filesystem layout geany-plugins-vimode.x86_64 : Vim-mode plugin for Geany vim-minimal.x86_64 : A minimal version of the VIM editor vim-minimal.x86_64 : A minimal version of the VIM editor vim-devicons.noarch : Adds file type icons to Vim plugins fluxbox-vim-syntax.noarch : Fluxbox syntax scripts for vim vim-jellybeans.noarch : A colorful, dark color scheme for Vim vim-airline.noarch : Lean & mean status/tabline for vim that's light as air vim-common.x86_64 : The common files needed by any version of the VIM editor vim-X11.x86_64 : The VIM version of the vi editor for the X Window System - GVim vim-enhanced.x86_64 : A version of the VIM editor which includes recent enhancements awesome-vim-colorschemes.noarch : Collection of color schemes for Neo/vim, merged for quick use ======================================= Name Matched: vim ======================================== vim-pathogen.noarch : Manage your runtimepath vim-gitgutter.noarch : Shows a git diff in the gutter and stages/undoes hunks and partial hunks vim-nerdtree-git-plugin.noarch : Plugin of NERDTree showing git status ====================================== Summary Matched: vim ====================================== kakoune.x86_64 : Code editor heavily inspired by Vim |
Another useful command is as follows:
sudo dnf list vim\*
Step 2: Getting info about vim package on CentOS 8
We got a vim-minimal installed. What we need is vim-enhanced. Let us find out the difference between the two by typing the following simple commands:
sudo dnf info vim-minimal
sudo dnf info vim-enhanced
Outputs:
Last metadata expiration check: 0:18:53 ago on Wednesday 13 May 2020 02:22:40 PM IST. Available Packages Name : vim-enhanced Epoch : 2 Version : 8.0.1763 Release : 13.el8 Architecture : x86_64 Size : 1.4 M Source : vim-8.0.1763-13.el8.src.rpm Repository : AppStream Summary : A version of the VIM editor which includes recent enhancements URL : http://www.vim.org/ License : Vim and MIT Description : VIM (VIsual editor iMproved) is an updated and improved version of the : vi editor. Vi was the first real screen-based editor for UNIX, and is : still very popular. VIM improves on vi by adding new features: : multiple windows, multi-level undo, block highlighting and more. The : vim-enhanced package contains a version of VIM with extra, recently : introduced features like Python and Perl interpreters. : : Install the vim-enhanced package if you'd like to use a version of the : VIM editor which includes recently added enhancements like : interpreters for the Python and Perl scripting languages. You'll also : need to install the vim-common package. |
Step 3: Installing vim-enhanced on CentOS Linux 8 server
Execute the following dnf command/yum command:
sudo dnf install vim-enhanced
## OR ##
sudo yum install vim-enhanced
Step 4: Start using vim
The syntax is:
vim filename
vim /path/to/file
vim [options] my-code.sh
We can create a permanent Bash alias:
alias vi='vim'
Add bash shell aliases to ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_aliases file:
echo "alias vi='vim'" >> ~/.bashrc
Reload it:
source ~/.bashrc
The Vim tutor
Are you new to VIM? Do you want to learn Vim commands? No need to search the Internet or book. VIM comes with the Vim tutor. All you have to do is type the following command:
vimtutor
The optional [language] argument is the two-letter name of a language, like “it” or “es”. To list installed languages, run the following ls command
ls -l /usr/share/vim/vim*/tutor/
Sample listing:
README.el.cp737.txt tutor.el tutor.hu.utf-8 tutor.no.utf-8 tutor.sv README.el.txt tutor.el.cp737 tutor.it tutor.pl tutor.sv.utf-8 README.txt tutor.el.utf-8 tutor.it.utf-8 tutor.pl.cp1250 tutor.tr.iso9 tutor tutor.eo tutor.ja.euc tutor.pl.utf-8 tutor.tr.utf-8 tutor.bar tutor.eo.utf-8 tutor.ja.sjis tutor.pt tutor.uk.utf-8 tutor.bar.utf-8 tutor.es tutor.ja.utf-8 tutor.pt.utf-8 tutor.utf-8 tutor.bg.utf-8 tutor.es.utf-8 tutor.ko.euc tutor.ru tutor.vim tutor.ca tutor.fr tutor.ko.utf-8 tutor.ru.cp1251 tutor.vi.utf-8 tutor.ca.utf-8 tutor.fr.utf-8 tutor.lv tutor.ru.utf-8 tutor.zh.big5 tutor.cs tutor.hr tutor.nb tutor.sk tutor.zh_cn.utf-8 tutor.cs.cp1250 tutor.hr.cp1250 tutor.nb.utf-8 tutor.sk.cp1250 tutor.zh.euc tutor.cs.utf-8 tutor.hr.utf-8 tutor.nl tutor.sk.utf-8 tutor.zh_tw.utf-8 tutor.de tutor.hu tutor.nl.utf-8 tutor.sr.cp1250 tutor.zh.utf-8 tutor.de.utf-8 tutor.hu.cp1250 tutor.no tutor.sr.utf-8 |
Hence, I can type:
vimtutor es
vimtutor lv
vimtutor tr
vimtutor it
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we learned how to install VIM (VIsual editor iMproved) is an updated and improved version of the vi editor on CentOS 8. Vi was the first real screen-based editor for UNIX, and is still very popular. VIM improves on vi by adding new features multiple windows, multi-level undo, block highlighting, and more. The vim-minimal package includes a minimal version of VIM, which is installed into /bin/vi for use when only the root partition is present. Hence, we must install vim-enhanced to get a full-fledged editor. See VIM official page here.
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