The mode in Vi and Vim in which you can insert text to the open document.
Insert Mode is the mode in Vi and Vim where you can insert text in the document.
You can go from Normal mode to Insert mode in several different ways, the difference is the placement of the cursor before starting Insert mode:
- a; append, move the cursor one character forward.
- A; append line, move the cursor to the end of the line.
- i; insert, doesn't move the cursor.
- I; insert before, move the cursor to the first non-whitespace character of the line.
- o; open, begin a new line below the cursor.
- O; open, begine a new line above the cursor.
In addition to these commands, Vim has 2 additional commands to start Insert mode:
- gI; insert before, move the cursor to the first column.
- gi; insert previous, move the cursor to the position Insert mode was stopped the last time.
To get back to Normal mode press the Esc key, which will set you back into normal mode.
See also:
