vim unmap everything (completely stripped down vim)

Question

Love vim. Tried Janus. Like the idea, but it's too slow, 100 plugins competing for keybindings. I want to actually understand what every vim configuration I make does.

Is there a way to "unmap" all vim keys or as much as possible. Remove most commands, etc. The point of this is an exercise for myself. I want a super small subset of maps, settings, bindings, so I can add things one by one as I need them.

Have you seen efforts like this?

You could try the original vi which has a much more strict/limited set of commands. I believe it's called "nvi" now (New VI) — Earlz, Jul 07 '11 at 14:46

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 07 '11 at 15:01

Try to run vim with the following command :

"vim -u NONE"

from man vim

   -u {vimrc}  Use the commands in the file {vimrc}  for  initializations.
               All  the  other  initializations  are skipped.  Use this to
               edit a special kind of files.  It can also be used to  skip
               all  initializations by giving the name "NONE".  See ":help
               initialization" within vim for more details.

It should start vim without any plugin or customisation.

+1, learning Vim with a ton of plugins is the wrong way to go. — romainl, Jul 07 '11 at 16:11

sehe · Answer 2 · 2011-07-07T15:21:55.840

5

Aside from

:mapclear
:nmapclear
:vmapclear
:xmapclear
:smapclear
:omapclear
:mapclear
:imapclear
:lmapclear
:cmapclear

starting it like

vim -U NONE -C -Z

will start

-U without startupfile
-C in compatible mode
-Z in restricted mode

edited Jul 07 '11 at 15:21

answered Jul 07 '11 at 15:02

sehe

374,641
47
450
633

What for do you need compatible mode here? I never saw it actually being used. – ZyX Jul 07 '11 at 15:47
2

@ZyX: The OP asked for `completely stripped down vim`; I'm not saying anyone needs that. I'm just pointing at things he could use – sehe Jul 07 '11 at 16:04
This is an awesome answer, because `mapclear` is quite useful when one wants to, for example, get rid of all the annoying mappings added by default on Windows, or to ensure that reloading one's `.vimrc` causes a "fresh start" (i.e. that removing a mapping and reloading the `.vimrc` will cause it to be removed from the current session). – Kyle Strand Jan 07 '15 at 01:08

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 07 '11 at 15:51

0

I tried to do something similar and posted that on reddit post.

I try to restrict the mappings I define in my vimrc and load only some plugins that I find essential.

answered Jul 07 '11 at 15:51

skeept

12,077
7
41
52

vim unmap everything (completely stripped down vim)

3 Answers3