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Vim and Sublime text are two different text editors which people recommend due to their great compatibility and options. However, if you want to go for one of these text editors and are confused about selecting the right one, read our guide. We have mentioned the completed details of Vim vs. Sublime Text to select the right according to your requirements.
Vim vs. Sublime Text: Explaining Differences
What is Vim?
Vim is an amazing and highly configurable text editor created for providing an efficient platform for text editing. Vim is an improved version of Vi editor, and it is distributed with most of the UNIX systems.
This text editor is also popular as a “programmer's editor” because it is very useful for programming. That's why many developers consider it an entire IDE (integrated development environment).
Apart from programming work, Vim is the perfect choice for all text editing types, from writing emails to editing any configuration file. Comparing with Vi, Vim has some enhancements such as:
- Multi-level undo
- Filename completion
- Syntax highlighting
- Multi windows
- Command-line editing
- Online help
- Visual selection
There is an online help system (open it using the “: help” command) for Vim, so you don't have to worry about anything while using it. Bram Moolenaar has created most of the Vim, so if you want to see a credit name, you can use “: help credits”.
Features of Vim
Various features of Vim offers amazing convenience to the user, so here is the list of these features:
- Vim has a low memory footprint that means the amount of main memory it uses for running is low.
- Vim is a command centric which means users can easily perform complicated text-related tasks using a few commands.
- Vim has a recording feature that allows a user to record then play Vim commands repeatedly.
- There is multi-window support in Vim that means users can split their screen into two different windows.
- Vim is highly configurable and uses a simple text file for saving the configuration.
- Vim also has multiple buffers and multi-tab features for more convenience while working.
- Vim also has various plugin support that means users can extend its functionalities using different plugins.
Common Commands of Vim
| Commands | Description |
| hjkl | This command is used for moving the cursor left, right, up, and down respectively. |
| w | This command is used for moving a word forward. |
| ctrl + f | This command is used for moving down a page. |
| ctrl + b | This command is used for moving up a page. |
| 7j | This command is used for moving seven lines down. |
| dw | This command is used for deleting a word. |
| d6w | This command is used for deleting six words. |
| gg | This command is used for moving to the top of the document. |
| G | This command is used for moving to the bottom of the document. |
| . | This command is used for repeating the last command. |
| di] | This command is used for deleting everything inside [] |
| 4dd | This command is used for deleting four lines. |
| dt> | This command is used for deleting till > |
| dd | This command is used for deleting the whole line. |
| yy | This command is used to yank any line (yanking means copying). |
| cap | This command is used for changing a paragraph. |
| cc | This command is used for changing a line. |
What is Sublime Text?
Sublime text is an amazing text editor which is written in C++ and Python. The latest Sublime text version is 3.0, which has cross-platform support that means you can use it on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Developers mostly use sublime text as it has various features such as:
- File Type Recognition
- Syntax Highlight
- Macros, Plug-in
- Auto Indentation
- Sidebar packages
You can use a Sublime text editor as an IDE or integrated development editors like NetBeans or Visual Studio code.
This text editor has a Python application programming interface (API), and it also supports various programming or markup languages. According to the old versions, Sublime text editor was created for C++, CSS, HTML, etc., and there was no Python support until 2017.
Features of Sublime Text
There are various features of Sublime text editor so that user can easily work on it, so here is the list of these features:
- The Sublime text editor offers good compatibility to solve all linker errors easily.
- Users can conveniently track all of the folders and files to work on them.
- The Sublime text editor has excellent connectivity with different version control systems such as Mercurial, Git, etc.
- The Sublime text editor has great problem-solving capacity.
- The latest version of Sublime text editor can keep the color combination for the syntax combination.
Common Commands of Sublime Text
| Commands | Description |
| ctrl + shift + p | This command will open the command palette by which you can access the menu, plugins, or anything in the Sublime text editor. |
| ctrl + p | This command is used for switching files. |
| ctrl + r | This command will list all files' methods and make it easier to find a specific method from the file. |
| ctrl + d | This command is used for selecting a word and all of the next same words. |
| save project | This command is used for saving the current file. |
| install | Go to the command palette (ctrl + shift + p) and type install for installing new plugins. |
Vim vs. Sublime Text: comparison Table
| Factors | Vim | Sublime Text |
| Version Available | Paid or Free | Free |
| Category | Document Creation | Text Editor |
| Cross-platform support | Yes | Yes |
| Companies | Companies like Lyft, Atolye15, Alibaba Group, Accenture, GO-JEK, CircleCI use Vim. | Companies like Lyft, Atolye15, trivago, CRED, Clubhouse, and Typeform use Sublime Text. |
| Tools | Tools like .NET Core, TSLint, WakaTime, Kite, cdnjs, Pylint, etc., are integrated with Vim. | Tools like .NET Core, Linux, Windows, macOS, Grails, TSLint, etc., are integrated with sublime text. |
| Easy to use | It is an easy-to-use tool but not simpler than Sublime text. | It is very easy to use the tool. |
| Support Quality | It has an amazing support quality. | It has an amazing support quality but not better than Vim. |
| Alternatives | Microsoft Word, Quip, Google Docs, Foxit PDF Editor. | Notepad++, Visual Studio Code, UltraEdit, Atom. |
Conclusion
Vim vs. Sublime Text has always been a hot topic among developers and normal users, so it is important to understand the major differences between these text editing tools. We hope that our guide helped you choose the right one between Sublime Text and Vim to fulfill your requirements. We have included this information from multiple sources and user reviews, which means you can trust the details mentioned above. In our opinion, Sublime text is best for normal text editing, and Vim is best for coding and documentation-related work.
