Vim Color Editor HOW-TO (Vi Improved with syntax color highlighting) : VIM Usage

5. VIM Usage

You can use Vim in two modes - one with GUI and other without GUI. To use GUI use command -

        gvim foo.cpp

To use non-gui mode give -

        vim foo.cpp
OR plain vanilla mode
        vi foo.cpp

It is very strongly recommended that you always use gvim instead of vim, since GUI mode with colors will definitely improve your productivity.

GUI mode gvim provides the following -

You can mark the text using the mouse to do cut, copy and paste.
You can use the Menu bar which has - File, Edit, Window, Tools, Synatx and Help buttons.
Also in near future in gvim - a second menu bar will display the list of files being edited, and you can switch files by clicking on the filenames, until then you can use vi commands - :e#, :e#1, :e#2, :e#3, :e#4, ....so on to select the files.