Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Ian Douglas Scott

Using #vim is easy once you learn a few basic keybindings.

h and l - move left and right
j and k - move down and up
η and λ - move backwards and forwards through time
ξ and κ - translation through additional temporal dimension (if applicable)
ᚻ, ᛄ, ᚳ and ᛚ - moving left, down, up, and right through celestial spheres
𐤄 and 𐤋 - switch deity to pantheon member to left or right
𐤉 - supplicate to chosen deity
𐤊 - challenge chosen deity (dangerous)
:q - exit

272 comments
Ian Douglas Scott

@N0ZB ":help maia" should document any relevant bindings and commands.

DELETED

@N0ZB @ids1024
I think it's :ᚠ
But sprinkling pipe-weed leaves over your keyboard also works.

DELETED

@orange_orangutan @ids1024

Is there a rune to summon Gandalf?

With a suddenness that startled them all the programmer sprang to his feet. He was laughing! 'I have it!' he cried. 'Of course, of course! Absurdly simple, like most riddles when you see the answer.'

Picking up his staff he stood before the terminal and typed on his old school mechanical keyboard

:help

Hojjat :ferris:

@ids1024 the vim plugin for vscode doesn't support most of these commands btw.

Stroad Warrior

@hojjat @ids1024 That's because VScode only supports Microsoft-sanctioned deities.

ATeriath

@ids1024 @spaceraser When you accidentally ‘ᚳ’, so you have to ‘ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ ᛄ’, amIright? 😂

Stephen Chadfield

@ids1024 You should never have explained how to exit!!!

DELETED

@ids1024 Why is there a keybind to challenge a deity?! That should need more than one keystroke dammit!

Andrew Collins

@pixelherodev @ids1024 #vim being too powerful is a valid concern. One has to ask, what exactly was "improved" from #vi? Safety. Because simply running #vi initiates a challenge with a powerful celestial deity. Take care!

Vertigo #$FF

@ids1024 Challenging deities has been fixed as of the latest release of Vim. You can now enter this in command-mode:

{⊃1⍵∨.∧3 4=+/+⌿¯1 0 1∘.⊖¯1 0 1⌽¨⊂⍵}

to give yourself infinite life energy. The only caveat is that you must run this before you invoke ᚳ.

Imdat :heart_nb: :verified:

@vertigo @ids1024 In #NeoVim you can combine them into one single command. It’s a bit long and I need to look it up every time I need it, but it is faster that way. You can also write a PlugIn to run that for you in Lua, which makes it even faster. I forgot the repo-URL but it is on GitHub. Just search for the original command as shown in the above post. Godspeed and 🖖

ingwar

@imdat @vertigo @ids1024 #emacs has a Mode for that: M-x ragnarök-mode. Accessible by the easy to remember M-S-C-l H-o C-k M-i.

Imdat :heart_nb: :verified:

@ingwar @vertigo @ids1024 The problem is that #NeoVim also has a “Ragnarök”-Mode - but as a bug. If you switch two letters in the command (I don’t remember anymore which ones exactly), everything is as described (infinite life energy, challenge deity, etc), but then, during the battle, you (as a side-effect) destroy at least one planet, and sometimes a solar system, … I already reported this as a bug but you … /2

FRANK.MCCONNEL

Don't forget :q! to exit more emphatically. Might come in handy if the deity marks your buffer as modified.

Bernd Petrovitsch🇦🇹#ZeroCovid

@ids1024 How my browser can't display the last eight keybinding letters ...

ospalh

@ids1024
That is possibly a font issue, not a browser issue.
Try installing Phoenician and Runic fonts 😅

DELETED

@ids1024 I mean at least people can use vim keybinds without breaking their hand - looking at you emacs - xD

DELETED

@arisunz Never used it as I doubt even with vim-ish keybinds it'd feel as good as just vim or neovim or even vi. Though that's more due to the nature of emacs being more of a operating system then just a simple but extensible text editor

ari but with fangs

@Anniiii eh, that's fair

but fwiw I used it with Doom Emacs and it was fairly decent

DELETED

@arisunz yeah I never said emacs was bad by any means, it's powerful and if you're willing to spend the time to configure it fully it's probably really really good, I was just making a joke about how insensible, hard to remember and complicated the default keybinds of emacs are haha

ari but with fangs

@Anniiii oh, sorry I didn't explain that too well

I meant Emacs Doom comes with EVIL keybindings for pretty much everything and *those* are pretty decent

Absolutely agree on the default keybindings though lmao

Ronsboy67

@Anniiii @ids1024 Wow, plus ça change! When I was first dabbling in Linux more than 20 years ago, picking sides in this war was the most important thing a newbie could do. To see it still thriving on Mastodon makes my heart rejoice. 😂 (emacs, ofc, btw)

DELETED

@ronsboy67 @ids1024 I am not fighting a war here haha I personally like vim because I rather have a software that is usable ootb and is installed on most systems, but I see why people like emacs

Ronsboy67

@Anniiii @ids1024 sadly, both are in my past now. CLI requires reliable communication between brain and hands, mine have been on increasingly frosty terms for many years. It's why I gave up Linux too, because there is still afaik, nothing in the FLOSS world that comes close to DragonNaturallySpeaking, on which I have becomne ever more dependent. But seeing the (jocular) sparring between vi & emacs gave me a genuine nostalgic glow 😀

DELETED

@ronsboy67 @ids1024 Oh, sorry to hear. I am in the lucky position to not rely on such tools, but I agree we definitely need more and better quality of those tools if we ever really wanna be a good alternative for everyone

Ronsboy67

@Anniiii @ids1024 It is a trifling problem compared to those endured by many, and for a contrarian does have an upside - whenever especially evangelical penguinistas insist "there's a FLOSS tool for everything!" I can reply with "Hic Sunt Dracones?" 😀

mr.0ova

@ids1024 Yup, just an average “every day” vim experience.

Thomas Fricke (he/him)

@ids1024

#vim and even #vi are bloatware.

If you can't change a file by sed, you don't deserve it 😂

Did I work to much inside #container environments?

birnim

@thomasfricke @ids1024 fair, but changing a file in batch mode and editing it interactively is different. sed is not an interactive editor, despite still having an EDitor in its name

Thomas Fricke (he/him)

@birnim @ids1024

Interactivity? I am not sure, if this has come to stay in the time of automation.

😂

echopapa ☑️

@thomasfricke @birnim @ids1024

I think ed is enough. Works interactive and in batch mode, no bloatware like ex.

:-)

Chris Bohn

@echopapa @thomasfricke @birnim @ids1024
Bah! A magnetized needle was more than adequate until flash memory came along.
xkcd.com/378/

Chris Bohn

@thomasfricke @echopapa @birnim @ids1024
Obviously "editing a file with a magnetized needle" is a joke, but I recently noticed this core memory kit that includes a magnetized stylus to edit the memory contents.
core64.io/

Greg

@DocBohn @thomasfricke @echopapa @birnim @ids1024
In our tech museum at IBM Hursley, we have an example of early memory produced by French lacemakers, who had the rare ability to accurately thread the tiny ferrite(?) beads.

The museum's an incredible walk down memory lane, however old you are.

birnim

@thomasfricke @DocBohn @echopapa @ids1024 all I remember about punch cards is their hard paper. they made great whips, a nice addition to DIY wooden swords

Chris Bohn

@birnim @thomasfricke @echopapa @ids1024 Yeah, I got into computing as paper was on its way out -- I learned to program on a Heathkit H89, and in my undergrad days we used VT102 and Wyse-50 terminals. My freshman textbooks straddled the eras.

I once used a roll of punchtape as a source of bookmarks that lasted for *years*.

Bruno Girin

@ids1024 If you challenge the deity while in insert mode, can you add an explicit challenge? In other words can you do this?
ᚳ your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries

Gilles Massen

@ids1024
Sounds plausible. But I don't believe that a simple :q is enough to exit vi.

APT Ate My Homework

@ids1024 I've got the hang of most of these, but I can never remember that last one, and any time I try to experiment to find it, I accidentally open a portal to Yog-Sothoth

The Skylark 🏳️‍⚧️

@ids1024 emacs can do this too actually, in most major modes C-x C-d C-M-F is bound to fight-god

Dr. Curiosity 💻🔬

@ids1024 My first introduction to navigating with HJKL keys was NetHack, so this makes perfect sense to me.

Beth Anderson

@ids1024

:q! - did not mean to challenge deity, quit immediately without saving.

Owlet of Minerva

@ids1024 StackOverflow: How to quit eternal torment in Vim?

Hi, this is my first post here. I challenged Zeus using the ᚳ command as it says in this toot [link], and now I really want to exit Vim. I’ve tried typing :q like the manual says but nothing happens. Urgently need advice as I’m chained to a rock and a freaking huge eagle is eyeing my liver.

Tormod Haugen

@noctuaminervae @ids1024 Oh, to exit when you have challenged something that identifies as a *elder* god, you need to press:

<ESC><ESC><ESC>:q!<Enter>q!<Enter>

Drahflow

@ids1024 tfw I realize I actually use the σ, Σ and ₀ keybindings daily.

Daniel :verified_breze:

@ids1024 Afair there's also a keybinding for summoning cthulhu...

івась тарасик

@usox @ids1024 summon cthulhu?! what a ridiculous idea… those arrogant mortals think that just by learning some more obscure #vim hotkeys and becoming equal to gods they can now summon... anything and everything? o_O

Daniel :verified_breze:

@tivasyk @ids1024 If not the mortals, then maybe ChatGPT?

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
From the depths of the ocean, awaken the Great Old One. Hear my call, Great Cthulhu, and rise from your slumber. The stars are right and the time is near. Emerge from the deep, bring chaos and fear. The ancient ones await your return and bow before your might. Cthulhu, bring your terror and wreak havoc in the night.

івась тарасик

@usox @ids1024 you forgot the : at the beginning, but it could actually work, you know…

:-P

Daniel :verified_breze:

@tivasyk @ids1024

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C: Summon Cthulhu. This keybinding combination will unleash the ancient god of chaos and destruction, Cthulhu, from its slumber in the depths of R'lyeh. Those foolish enough to attempt this command will suffer greatly, for Cthulhu will bring with it madness and destruction.

Now I'm afraid of ChatGPT _and_ Cthulhu... 😃

Carlos Juan Martín Pérez

@ids1024 that is correct, but now that one masters the interactive mode, what are the runes to actually edit text? Asking for a friend 🤪

івась тарасик

@kadejo @ids1024 when one really masters #vim, one sees finally that there are no texts in need of editing:

there are those that have been already perfected by one's predecessors, and those not worth the time.

berend

@ids1024 what is the shortcut for starting emacs? In case you need a text editor...

івась тарасик

@berend @ids1024 that one's actually easy…

:term emacs

but one will need to bind it to a shortcut.

p.s. «shortcuts make long delays» – j.r.r.t.

kanguru

@ids1024 @itgrrl I came across this post while looking for how to switch backwards and forwards through the different pronouns modes. I’ve got myself stuck in ze/zir and need to get back to he/him (boring cis white guy) before work tomorrow!

Federico Damián Schonborn

@mtz767 @ids1024 :x if you want to save a grand total of 1 (one) keystroke

seeteegee

@ids1024 I really appreciate the open mouthed tongue right emoticon to quit vim.

Matthew Johnson

@ids1024 Now I wish I wouldn't have gone with the smaller keyboard layout. I have no idea where the runes layer is! 😂

DELETED

@ids1024 a perfect example of a ui so intuitive you really need no manual

Silent Joy :verified:

@ids1024 it's so primitive.

I prefer the simplicity and intuitivety of Nano, and no learning curve.

Sadly, VI commands are ingrained in my brain from years of abuse.

I never dared play with emacs.

aadmaa

@SilentJoy @ids1024 I'd watch out for Nano, what with its teensy little gods? Enrage them with an accidental ᛄ of supplication to their rivals, and then where are you? The insecurity... it's dangerous...

DELETED

@SilentJoy @ids1024
I use nano as well. I used Emacs for a while when I was writing in clojure, but happily forgot everything afterwards.

I would actually love something like nano but with a little more power, that you can learn incrementally without any steep learning curve thresholds. Does something like that exist?

I don't mind if it only summons little gods.

Andreas Wieland

@ids1024
First I thought "what a boaring post" - but then I read it... 😅

Charlie Stross

@ids1024 Of course, NeoVim adds Old Enochian as a domain-specific language for demon summoning in addition to VimScript and it's own specialized voudon-oriented dialect of Lua, Loa.

Jax

@d_a_keldsen @cstross @ids1024 this reminds me old joke about strong password generator and another one: "been using vim for 3y now, mostly trying to exit it"

SpaceLifeForm

@ids1024

You left out ESC.

That is where people get confused.

The number one thing that people need to learn about vi and vim (these days), is that you are either in command mode or edit mode.

They need to learn that if they get confused to use the ESC key to get back to command mode.

Then they can try :q! or :wq!

Power off can confuse them even more if they run into the recovery file.

When learning vim, make sure you understand the purpose of ESC.

Patrick

@ids1024 I guess
:q!
saved me more then once.

Florin Grozea

@lordkhan @ids1024 when in doubt always ESC + :q!

Maybe someone already mentioned the joke in the thread, vi is the best editor... I have never managed to get out of it.

Lifecrane

@ids1024 yep .. it's easy like that 🙄🤣😂

JoBlade

@ids1024
As I have all Greek letter on my French BÉPO layout, and as a vim user, I can confirm moving through time is very useful ;)

n0toose

@ids1024 fyi η ελληνική γλώσσα εξακολουθεί να υπάρχει

lertsenem

@ids1024 Yeah, those are classics, but the real vim experience starts when you learn how to use macros.

David Eccles 🌻🩹🩹🩹🛡️🩹

@ids1024 playing Nethack is a good way to build up your #vim navigation skills, although I think vim probably has more spells to learn

Holly Schilling

@ids1024 I just wish there was some sort of -y command line option to automatically respond affirmatively when I’m asked if I’m a deity. Maybe I need to build my own extension for it.

Shoku the MN Wolf 🏳️‍🌈

@ids1024 I have used vim once, recently. That is why I have not used vim twice.

kristofer
@ids1024 and that’s “easier” than emacs’ meta-boson suite expressed most naturally in octonion rotations?? methinks not!
Al Downunder

@ids1024 hell yeah! I've used vi for 20+ years and won't touch anything else by choice. Once you start mastering macros for editing, it becomes way more useful. Feel free to dG this comment 😁

Simon Schultz

@ids1024 his is definitely the vim manual I was looking for.

François

@ids1024 Gives an unfair advantage to Greek people.

Paul Coen

@ids1024 “Does it make me feel like I’m playing Hack or Moria via a VT100 terminal” is a key feature in a text editor.

CIOSAI

@ids1024 you didn't mention the 醉臥沙場君莫笑 command

Tom Boutell

@ids1024 “but we still don’t know how to save” “exactly”

Nathan A Harig

@ids1024 Hi, I accidentally opened a gateway between worlds and summoned a malignant Sumerian-aged deity that's demanding I select the form of the destructor- what keystroke do I use to pick that?

Nicholas Weaver

@ids1024

Easier. Just put in your shell rc file:

alias vim emacs
alias vi emacs

Tenax Raccoon

@ids1024 If you find yourself moving through cthonic spheres when you press ᚻ, ᛄ, ᚳ and ᛚ, or can't exit with :q, check to see if you have your caps lock on

Ankit Pati

@ids1024 You joke, but Vim actually has commands for time travel, and no, they’re not bound to obscure Greek alphabets.

:earlier 5m

:later 4m

Ross of Ottawa

@ids1024 Ugh, I always forget if I need the colon before a deity swap.

keith

@ids1024

vi mode in the zsh is a must because with creative combinations of η, λ, and ᛄ you can go through your command history and ask to have that `rm` undone.

stanthesam

@ids1024
Don't forget
:q666 quit and save your sole.

Retired Aggie

@ids1024 the least obvious use of keyboard controls ever devised

Bruce Elrick

@ids1024 What's the key to sacrifice a chicken?

That Boy Bailey

@ids1024 Do we have to present these commands by showing rune stones to the computer or will using the keyboard suffice?

jeffeb3

@ids1024
Also:
:q! Exit without saving
:q¡ Exit branch in time without saving

Sherry Yang

@ids1024 oh so this is the missing cheatsheet that I never had all these time. no wonder I never got it right. #TeamNano

mope

@ids1024

Technically there's already commands to travel through time!

g-
g+

Also `:earlier 5m` and `:later 5m`

Ohad Frenkel Keshet

@ids1024 surprisingly enough, the same keystrokes, in order listed, will also merely calculate the average of a list of integers on APL programming language.
Go figure...

BTW, this is best practiced while playing the new-ish "5D chess" game (on Steam, among others), where, on a YouTube vid you can hear: "Ah yes, the classic: two rows up and back in time" (and the expected comment: "ah, yes... the CLASSIC...")
😂

Anton Lodder

@ids1024 the joke is that none of these commands will help you if you press ctrl-s

Andrew

@ids1024 Am I a bad person because I prefer to use my arrow keys?

Mythic Beasts

@ids1024
( and ) - add/remove curvature to your dimensions
Π - make the sun and planets go around the earth
Ἀ - make the earth and planets go around the sun

fneddy

@ids1024
I think my η and λ are somehow broken.

Ministerofimpediments

@ids1024
#Nano …best editor for keeping your soul in its corporeal vessel.

Jim Wrinkle

@ids1024 Where are the #vi keybindings for Mastodon ?

Rpsu (326 ppm)

@ids1024 now I’d just need to know what is “celestial sphere” ad find key “ᛚ” and then I could start using #vim

Mitch Wand

@ids1024 I expect to see this on xkcd next week!😆​

Volker König

@ids1024
I am the unofficial vim support person in our company and appreciate this collection very much.

Dave Swersky

@ids1024 Kratos says "traveling through time is more trouble than it's worth" so I'd avoid those

Lyle, a walking haunted house

@ids1024: I can't believe you left out the command for "toggle astral projection mode", its in my top 10 of commands for daily use.

George Mitchell

@ids1024 Easily the most common mistake newbies make is forgetting to periodically hit λ to catch the application state up with their typing.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had folks complain to me that they “can’t type anything in vim”.

Spatula

@ids1024 Accurate!

(Also, HJKL makes intuitive sense in vi, right up until the point that you try to use a Dvorak keyboard.)

Go Up