Start Vim in insert mode for new files

Question

I mostly use Vim to edit configuration files so I understand why it starts in normal mode. But I also use vi mode for the REPL (bash, zsh, ipython, etc.) and the shell always starts in insert mode (this makes sense because you just want to start typing a command).

For the same reason, when I open a new empty file vim foo.txt, I want to be in insert mode. So I'm looking for a vimrc function that checks if the file is empty and then put me in insert mode.

In this way I can be consistent across the terminal. When there aren't text objects I know I'm in insert mode.

Answer 1

You need to add this to your vimrc:

autocmd BufNewFile * startinsert

The autocommand creates a command which is executed on a specific event.

Here the event is BufNewFile the doc descibes it has:

When starting to edit a file that doesn't exist. Can be used to read in a skeleton file.

The * is here to execute the command on every new file (not a specific filetype or name)

And the command to be executed is startinsert which starts insert mode.

Note that it will also work for new files edited from vim with e foo.txt for example.

See:

• :h autocmd-events
• :h BufNewFile
• :h :startinsert

Answer 2

vim -c 'startinsert'

Will start Vim in insert mode pass it a file and it will open that file in insert mode.

The easiest way is to make save this as an alias in your terminal config.

Example: alias vim="vim -c 'startinsert' "