Birmingham mumbai

[
 129 
]
An alternative to 
:split
 is 
:vsplit
, or 
:vs
 for short. It does the same thing as 
:split
, 
but it splits the window vertically. Considering most computer displays nowadays 
are widescreen (and even ultra-widescreen), a vertical split often works out better in 
a practical sense:
Figure 5.7: The vim text editor, with two files open in a vertical split
To be honest, the effect doesn't look all that great in the previous screenshot, the 
reason being the width of a page in a book isn't enough to really show the benefit. Go 
ahead and give it a shot and see for yourself.
So far, we've gone over two modes of 
vim
—command and 
insert mode. But there's 
also another commonly used mode we haven't discussed yet—
visual mode
. Visual 
mode allows you to select text, which then allows you to copy and paste.
To do so, make sure you're in command mode, and then start by moving the cursor 
to the first character in a series of text you want to copy. Then, press the 
v
 letter 
key on your keyboard, and move the selection with your arrow keys. You'll notice 
that you'll highlight more text as you move the cursor. Once you've selected all the 
text that you'd like to copy, press the 
y
 key and the highlight will go away. At this 
point, you've essentially copied the text you had highlighted into the 
vim
 equivalent 
of the clipboard, similar to desktop operating systems. You can then (while also in 
command mode) press the 
p
 key to paste the text wherever the cursor is. It may take 
a few tries to get a hang of the workflow, but go ahead and give it a shot. If you make 
a mistake, you can press 
u
 while in command mode to 
undo
, so you can revert any 
changes you make.

---

Managing Files and Directories