Using Vim instead of (or with) Xcode for iOS development

user_385559 0
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Xcode comes with a lot of things that are essential to building to the iPhone and/or iPad. In fact a lot of it I am not even aware of because it is so 'behind the scenes'.

On the other hand, I have recently been exposed to the advantages of using Vim as an editor. Is there any setup which would make using Vim an efficient option when developing for the iOS platforms? Or would it be so complicated to combine the two as to make this question moot?

In other words, if you have any tips, advice or warnings when using Vim and Xcode together, I am all ears!

xcode vim ios
10 Answers

Starting with Xcode 13.0 Beta you can use Vim keybindings in Xcode. It is enabled in settings:

Preferences → Text Editing → Editing → Enable Vim key bindings

Edit (per @fangxing):

The way to toggle what is now called Vim Mode changed:

Menubar → Editor → Vim Mode
user_12643380

Using AppCode in parallel with Xcode is just amazing. Code changes sync right away! I am so happy with this setup because I can finally use vim (as an AppCode plugin) when writing iOS apps. AppCode has additional advantages so I really recommend that you check it out. The refactoring tools are also way better IMHO. E.g. it can extract methods that Xcode can't for some reason and if it can not extract a method it will at least tell you why.

user_81948220
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