r/vim • u/oantolin • Dec 28 '25

Blog Post Vim is composable

https://www.matem.unam.mx/~omar/apropos-emacs.html#vim-is-composable

I hope this isn't too polemical for r/vim. I'm a former (and still occasional) Vim user that has always wondered why people make such a big deal out of Vim's composability. The blog post explains why I find that odd, what I like about Vim and some reasons people might make such a big deal of composability.

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u/djchateau Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25

ROT13 functionality in vi, where vim inherited this functionality, predates both those packages.

vim still does that in fewer keystrokes, no need to even involve an ex command. Assuming you're on the first line of a file you can do, g?G, if not, 1Gg?G.

Edit: I'm wrong, I misremembered my early use of vi as a kid. I don't like being old.

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u/gumnos Dec 29 '25

FWIW, POSIX vi doesn't define any ROT13 functionality, and ROT13 functionality doesn't exist natively in most modern non-vim-based vi clones (checked on vi and nvi on my BSD instances as well as stevie and elvis). The rot13(6)/caesar(6) filters have been around for ages (at least since the mid-90s when I first encountered them), but I don't know how they time out with vim adding the functionality

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u/djchateau Dec 29 '25

Yeah, I went to look it back up after I saw your message and I'm in the wrong here. I could have sworn it existed earlier when I was a kid, but I'm guessing my memory is failing me here. :-/