How to exit the Vim editor?

Every time I use vi editor on terminal in OSX or Linux, I face issue on exiting Vim editor on terminal. So in this blog I am going to explain complete procedure on exiting vim editor on terminal in OSX or Linux.

What is Vim editor?

Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to make creating and changing any kind of text very efficient. It is included as "vi" with most UNIX systems and with Apple OS X.

How to Use Vim on Terminal?

Go to terminal and type following command

vi "NameOfFile"

and it will open Vim editor like this.

This is blank file. To start editing file press "I" key and then you can start editing file.

Now the tricky part is exiting vim editor on terminal. Here are exact procedure.

Hit the Esc key, vim goes into command mode.

Type Shift key + : and you will see : at bottom of the file.

Now you have to type command to tell editor what you want to do with the file. Here are some options you have.

q to quit
q! to quit without saving
wq to write and quit
wq! to write and quit even if file has only read permission
x to write and quit
qa to quit all
Now press "Return key" and it will exit vim editor.