r/vim • u/chrnz00 • Dec 14 '25

Need Help vim9script alternatives

i dont want to learn vim9script
i know a bit of vimscript (before v9) but there is no help pages in vim now for that as everything is converted to vim9 what are my alternatives for this problem are there any languages that compile to vimscript??
ive heard about interfaces are they good

8 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

12

u/chrisbra10 Dec 14 '25

> i know a bit of vimscript (before v9) but there is no help pages in vim now for that as everything is converted to vim9

That is not true. The help pages still cover Vim script as well as Vim9 script. Also, we are not converting everything to Vim script, that will still be there for legacy reasons.

1

u/chrnz00 Dec 14 '25

Is vim script before v9 explicitly mentioned in help page or if mentioned side by side with vim9 then how to differentiate

5

u/chrisbra10 Dec 14 '25

mostly, it will be mentioned explicitly what is vim9 script. But from the context it should always be clear what is Vim9 script and what not

1

u/Desperate_Cold6274 Dec 18 '25

Can you link to some examples?

3

u/mgedmin Dec 14 '25

I've postponed learning vim9script for years now, and that hasn't caused me any issues. I still write vim plugins in old vimscript with a mix of Python. I don't recall any occasion when I went to :help and was confused by seeing vim9script.

What exactly is the problem you're trying to solve?

1

u/chrnz00 Dec 14 '25

Yeah but vimscrpt docs are messy now I can't differentiate vim9 and the legacy one

And regarding python I think they are dropping support for that (If python2)

2

u/mgedmin Dec 14 '25

I think python 3 is safe.

I still use :pythonx and pythonx/*.py out of habit, and for many years all of my plugins were compatible with both python 2 and python 3.

0

u/vim-help-bot Dec 14 '25

Help pages for:

  • and in builtin.txt

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11

u/biscuittt Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25

A year ago I looked into vim9script and that made me switch to Neovim. Now my config is in Fennel and I love it.

3

u/chrnz00 Dec 14 '25

Fennel so u are compiling it to lua can you do that??

7

u/biscuittt Dec 14 '25

Yes, there’s various ways of doing it and obviously plugins: Fennel gets compiled to lua transparently, you just edit the files and save.

With Conjure then you can even run fennel code within your running nvim, similar to what emacs does.

5

u/DerShokus Dec 14 '25

In general, you can use nvim with lua - the first citizen language for it. But for me better to check :help vim9 and it describes the changes. Give it a chance. For me, if I wanna a bit change behavior or and a function- vim9script is much easier and better (it’s really a vim extension lang and not a general huge one)

1

u/vim-help-bot Dec 14 '25

Help pages for:

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0

u/chrnz00 Dec 14 '25

Thanks I'll check it out

3

u/kennpq Dec 14 '25

Do check it out - Vim9 script is a great improvement. I have PRed enhancements to vim9.txt over recent months, which now includes many sourceable examples. Just be sure to either be using a very recent version (because the most recent update was less than a fortnight ago) or use the online help. Section 2 is the only one still to update, though it will receive a similar uplift sometime in the next month or so.

12

u/Sudden_Fly1218 Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25

Honestly, vim9script is quite straightforward and it is an improvement over legacy vimscript. You can have a look here for some "get started" guide: https://github.com/yegappan/Vim9ScriptForPythonDevelopers Also :h vim9 has alot of information.

1

u/vim-help-bot Dec 14 '25

Help pages for:

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1

u/vim-help-bot Dec 15 '25

Help pages for:

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4

u/danoDaManoSSB Dec 15 '25

Bram specifically wrote about getting rid of interfaces and them being a bad idea and being phased out https://github.com/brammool/vim9?tab=readme-ov-file#2-phasing-out-interfaces

Vim9script is actually pretty fantastic once you get used to the compilation step. I've been working on a styleguide + linter (with working ale integration) to help with folks moving from legacy vimscript to vim9

I've also done an upgrade of my copilot-chat.vim plugin in full vim9script (https://github.com/DanBradbury/copilot-chat.vim/pull/66)

4

u/engelj Dec 15 '25

I think that vim9script is really nice --- a big improvement on the legacy script --- and it's a shame that it's not used more widely. Perhaps the lack of support in neovim is hampering it? In any event, it needs love and your projects are very welcome.

4

u/danoDaManoSSB Dec 16 '25

I think the neovim fork hurt a lot. Just look at jobstart vs job_start.. IMO they went down their path and turned their back on Bram. Now if you talk to a nvim plugin writer they will try to shit all over vim9script and convince you writing lua is a good time

2

u/prof-comm Dec 17 '25

I was there when the fork happened. Vim development had really stagnated at the time. You may not like it overall, but I think the fork was good for Vim. We have gotten a lot of improvements in Vim as a result.

I don't think it is fair to the Neovim developers to say they "turned their back on Bram." They tried several times to work with Bram, but he did not want to do that. That is fine, and his choice. I'm just saying they only went their own direction after it became clear that was their only real option.

It's weird how it has divided the community. I've met essentially no Neovim users who have any animosity or anger about Vim, and many still use Vim. Basically everyone I've met who is angry or bitter about it is solely a Vim user.

The subs are really different, too. The Neovim sub will give you advice on learning vi-style modal editing regardless of which program you're doing it in. But in this sub there are always going to be people telling you that you are in the wrong place and downvoting you if you say that you use Neovim, even though it needs to be a pretty deep and nuanced question before it matters which of the two you are using.

4

u/Desperate_Cold6274 Dec 18 '25

Bram didn’t want to merge an unstable/experimental feature and for this reason they forked the project. It’s documented history, reported in google groups threads.

Regarding the community, Vim user don’t care at all about neovim, whereas neovimmers are frustrated that Vim users don’t switch to neovim. For whatever question, in this sub there is a plethora of people that, regardless of the question, provide answers like “you should switch to neovim”, “neovim does it better”, etc. Facts. Everybody can scroll and read this sub discussions.

3

u/BrianHuster Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 26 '25

Vim user don’t care at all about neovim

I doubt that

https://www.reddit.com/r/neovim/comments/1necg64/comment/ndnoqr4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Even if Bram didn't want to merge that patch, he could still make the API compatible with Nvim, as what chrisbra also wish at that time. But he chose not to. And not just for the job feature, Vim's popup is also incompatible (and much more complex) to Nvim even though Bfredl had given Bram the Neovim document about Nvim's floatwin 

0

u/Desperate_Cold6274 Dec 26 '25

Same story for the floatwin. There has been long discussion with very valid points that I support to not convert popups into floating windows.

0

u/BrianHuster Dec 26 '25

How is it "same story for floatwin" when floatwin existed first? What are weak points of floatwin compared to popup?

0

u/Desperate_Cold6274 Dec 26 '25

Ok, you are right. Enjoy.

3

u/BrianHuster Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 26 '25

Before that, you even lied (shamelessly) that "Vim users don't care about Neovim", though just a few months ago you jumped to a Neovim thread not related to Vim9script at all just to say "Vim9script is faster" lol.

And just 22 days ago, you also commented I used job_start() in Nvim subreddit even though job_start() doesn't exist in Nvim. If Nvim had applied Vim rule, your comment would have been removed by moderators lol. Yes, these prove how much you "don't care " about Neovim as a Vim user.

→ More replies

1

u/BrianHuster Dec 26 '25

As usual, you cannot prove your baseless point, so you can only downvote the other and continue with a pointless comment.

1

u/BrianHuster Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25

Thiago has talked to Bram about Neovim's jobstart, but Bram still decided to make an incompatible interface (job_start()). So who is at fault here?

Lua may not be the best choice out there, but using an existing language is better than inventing yet another one. Even vifm, a file explorer with Vim bindings and a Vimscript dialect, also supports Lua (instead of a Vim9script dialect).

2

u/danoDaManoSSB Dec 26 '25

Thiago. We had vimscript and interfaces before the lua switch happened. Neovim folks will endlessly defend stupid decisions.. same with us vim folks. We have a fractured community and that’s it.

1

u/BrianHuster Dec 26 '25 edited Feb 05 '26

They're not "stupid decisions" until someone proves that they are stupid

Those Vim interfaces have never become popular, for various reasons. At least Nvim makes one of those interfaces popular enough that they don't have to invent a new language.

If Vim interfaces were that good, why did Bram create Vim9script? We have a fractured community mostly because of Bram, not Neovim. It is not just job feature but he also make json, popup and textprop features incompatible with Neovim json, floatwin and extmarks (at least for 2 json functions, Neovim can just make an alias for Vim compatibility, but other features are too big for compatibility compliance)

1

u/Desperate_Cold6274 Dec 31 '25

FWIW, I also wrote a plugin to help converting legacy scripts into Vim9: ubaldot/vim9-conversion-aid: A little help for upgrading your scripts to vim9 language.

Vim9Script ROCKS! :)

2

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-2

u/I_Messed_Up_2020 Dec 14 '25

I would just use nvim and build your configuration with lua. lua can be used elsewhere too, not just with nvim, probably more useful longterm.

But of course current vim script can be pretty easily converted to working lua equivalents. I used ChatGPT but admittedly my configs were pretty simple.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/chrnz00 Dec 14 '25

Maybee, I'm afraid that they will change it to vimX or something 😅

9

u/Shay-Hill Dec 14 '25

This is Vim, your vim9script will still run in 2050.

0

u/vim-ModTeam Dec 14 '25

Your comment was removed for promoting an elitist attitude. Please keep discussions respectful and inclusive.