Download vim for windows

Downloading Vim

Vim is available for many different systems and there are several versions.
This page will help you decide what to download.

Most popular:

Details and options for:

• Unix
• PC: MS-DOS and MS-Windows
• Amiga
• OS/2
• Macintosh
• Others

Versions before 7.3 can also be obtained with
Subversion
and
CVS.

Version

Vim 9.1 is the latest stable version. It is highly recommended, many bugs have
been fixed since previous versions.
If you have a problem with it (e.g.,
when it’s too big for your system), you could try version 6.4 or 5.8 instead.

To avoid having to update this page for every new version, there are
links to the directories. From there select the files you want to download.
In the file names ## stands for the version number. For example,
vim##src.zip
with version 9.1 is vim91src.zip and
vim-##-src.tar.gz for version 9.1
is vim-9.1-src.tar.gz.
Links are provided for quick access to the latest version.

Note that the links point to the latest version (currently 9.1) to avoid
that caching causes you to get an older version.

Unix

The best way to install Vim on Unix is to use the sources. This requires a
compiler and its support files. Compiling Vim isn’t difficult at all.
You can simply type «make install» when you are happy with the default
features. Edit the Makefile in the «src» directory to select specific
features.

You need to download at the sources and the runtime files.
And apply all the latest patches.
For Vim 6 up to 7.2 you can optionally get the «lang» archive, which adds
translated messages and menus. For 7.3 and later this is included with the
runtime files.

Using git

This is the simplest and most efficient way to obtain the latest version,
including all patches. This requires the «git» command.

The explanations are on the GitHub page.

Summary:

git clone https://github.com/vim/vim.git
cd vim/src
make

Using Mercurial

This is another simple and most efficient way to obtain the latest version,
including all patches. This requires the «hg» command.

The explanations are on this page:
Mercurial

Summary:

hg clone https://www.vim.org/hgweb/vim/
cd vim/src
make

version 7.x, 8.x and 9.x

Note:The FTP mirror is no longer maintained!
It contains only historic patches.
There is one big file to download that contains almost everything.
It is found in
the unix directory:

The files ending in «.tar.gz» are tar archives that are compressed with gzip.
Unpack them with tar -xzf filename.

The single big file ending in «.tar.bz2» is a tar archive compressed with
bzip2. Uncompress and unpack it with
bunzip2 -c filename | tar -xf —.

All archives should be unpacked in the same directory.

If you can’t compile yourself or don’t want to, look at the site of the
supplier of your Unix version for a packaged Vim executable. For Linux
distributions and FreeBSD these are often available shortly after a new Vim
version has been released. But you can’t change the features then.

• Debian packages are available at:
  http://packages.debian.org/vim.
• Oracle Solaris Vim is included in the Companion Software:
  http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/freeware/. (no longer available). You can try Unix Packages instead, but it only contains Vim packages up to 8.2
  
  Vim for other Sun systems can be found at
  http://sunfreeware.com/.
• HPUX with GTK GUI for various HPUX versions:
  http://hpux.its.tudelft.nl/hppd/hpux/Editors/vim-6.2/ or
  http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Editors/vim-6.2/ (note that the remark about the GNU GPL is wrong)

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PC: MS-DOS and MS-Windows

For modern MS-Windows systems (starting with 7) you can simply use the
executable installer:
    gvim_9.1.0821_x86.exe and gvim_9.1.0821_x64.exe
It includes GUI and console versions, for 32 bit and 64 bit systems.
You can select what you want to install and includes an uninstaller.

A zip package (32bit and 64bit) is also available:
    gvim_9.1.0821_x86.zip and gvim_9.1.0821_x64.zip

If you want a signed version you can get a build from
    vim-win32-installer
It supports many interfaces, such as Perl, Tcl, Lua, Python and Ruby.
There are also 64bit versions which only run on 64 bit MS-Windows and use a
lot more memory, but is compatible with 64 bit plugins.

You can also get a nightly build from there with the most recent improvements,
with a small risk that something is broken.

Windows XP
Windows XP support has been dropped as of v9.0.496, you can find the last support version at the Vim 9.0.494 release package from the vim-win32-installer page.

Since there are so many different versions of MS operating systems, there are
several versions of Vim for them.

For Vim 5.x, Vim 6.x and Vim 7 look in
the pc directory (ftp).

Runtime files   vim##rt.zip    vim91rt.zip

For all the following binary versions you need this runtime archive, which
includes the documentation, syntax files, etc. Always get this, unless you
use the self-installing executable.

There are a few extra files:

iconv library   libiconv

A library used for converting character sets.
Put «iconv.dll» in the same directory as gvim.exe to be able to edit files in
many encodings. You can find the dll file in the bin directory of the
«libiconv-win32» archive.

newer intl library   libintl

The included libintl.dll does not support encoding conversion.
If you have installed the iconv library, as mentioned above, you can install a
gettext library that uses it.
Get «intl.dll» from the bin directory in the gettext-win32 archive and store it
as «libintl.dll» in the same directory as gvim.exe, overwriting the file
that may already be there.

PC sources   vim##src.zip    vim91src.zip

The source files, packed for the PC. This only includes the files needed on
the PC, not for other systems. The files are in dos format CR-LF.

PC debug files   gvim##.pdb PDB files are available at the vim-win32-installer repository

When you notice a bug or a crash in Vim these files can be used to help tracing down the problem. In Vim 7 do «:help debug-win32» to see how.

PC translations   vim##lang.zip    vim72lang.zip (ftp)

Only for 7.2 and earlier, for 7.3 and later these are included in the «rt» archive.
Translated messages and menu files, packed for the PC. Use this to see
non-English menus. The messages are only translated when the libintl.dll
library is installed.

Windows 3.1 GUI executable   gvim##w16.zip and gvim##m16.zip

These are GUI versions for 16 bit windows (Windows 3.1). The «w16» has many
features, «m16» has few features (for when you’re short on memory).

The files ending in «.zip» can be unpacked with any unzip program.
Make sure you unpack them all in the same directory!

Alternate distributions

Yongwei’s build

You may also try Yongwei’s build,
executables with slightly different interfaces supported.

Cream

For an unofficial version that used to include all the latest patches and
optionally a bit
more: Cream.
The «one-click installer» mentioned includes the Cream changes.
For the «real Vim» use the «without Cream» version listed further down.

Unfortunately, it stopped updating since Vim 8.0.

Cygwin

For a Cygwin binary look at others.

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Amiga

Quite a long time ago, Vim development started on the Amiga. Although it’s a
really old system now, it might still work. However, this has not been tested
recently.
You may have to use an older version for which Amiga binaries are available.

For Vim 5.x and Vim 6 look in
the amiga directory (ftp).

Vim 7 files can be found at
os4depot.net. This is for AmigaOS 4. Made by Peter Bengtsson.

Runtime files   vim##rt.tgz    vim64rt.tgz (ftp)

Documentation, syntax files, etc. You always need this.

Executable   vim##bin.tgz    vim64bin.tgz (ftp)

The executables for Vim and Xxd.
For Vim 6 it includes «big» features, for Vim 5.x it
includes the normal features.
For Vim 6.2 it is not available (my Amiga had harddisk problems then, this miraculously healed later).

Big executable   vim##big.tgz

Vim with «big» features and Xxd. Only for Vim 5.x.

Sources   vim##src.tgz    vim64src.tgz (ftp)

The source files for the Amiga.
Only needed when you want to compile Vim yourself.

The files are all tar archives, compressed with gzip. To unpack, first
uncompress them with gzip -d filename. Then unpack with
tar xf filename. You need to unpack the archives in the same
directory.

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OS/2

The OS/2 version runs in a console window.

For Vim 5.x and Vim 6 look in
the os2 directory (ftp).
Version 6.2 is not available.
Versions 6.3 and 6.4 were compiled by David Sanders.

Version 7.0 was compiled by David Sanders.

Runtime files   vim##rt.zip    vim70rt.zip (ftp)

Documentation, syntax files, etc. You always need this.

Executables   vim##os2.zip    vim70os2.zip (ftp)

Vim, Xxd, Tee and EMX libraries.

The files ending in «.zip» can be unpacked with any unzip program.
Make sure you both zip archives in the same directory!

If you want to compile the OS/2 version, you need the EMX compiler. Use the
Unix source archive, runtime files and the extra archive. After unpacking the
runtime archive, move all the files and directories in the «runtime»
directory one level up.

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Macintosh

The terminal version of Vim is included as «vi», you already have it. It’s
lagging behind a bit though and has limited features, thus you may want to
additionally install a recent version or one with more features.

MacVim

There most popular version is MacVim. This is being actively developed. This
behaves like a Mac application, using a GUI.

MacVim has more a Mac look and feel, is developed actively and most people
prefer this version. Most of MacVim was made by Björn Winckler.

MacVim can be downloaded here: https://github.com/macvim-dev/macvim

New versions are made quite often.
Subscribe to the
vim-mac maillist
to be informed about bugs and updates.

Homebrew

This is a terminal version installed with the «brew» command.
It is updated frequently.
It can be downloaded here: formulae.brew.sh/formula/vim.

Older

Older binaries for Mac OS/X can be found on this
SourceForge project.
Maintained by Nicholas Stallard.

Here is a multi-byte version of Vim 5.7 (for Japanese, possibly also for
Korean and Chinese; not for Unicode):
http://www-imai.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~asai/macvim-e.html

Background

Most of the work for
the Macintosh port (Classic and Carbon) was done by Dany St-Amant.

If you have OSX and a setup for compiling programs, you can use the source code
and compile yourself. See the Unix section above. The development tools can be
downloaded from Apple’s developer web site.

Turn to the vim-mac maillist to meet other
Vim-Mac users.

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Others

This is a list of links to sites where various versions of Vim can be obtained.
These are supported by individuals, use at your own risk.

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Vim — это свободный текстовый редактор из мира GNU/Linux (можно скачать Vim для самых разных ОС, том числе и для Windows). Считается самым мощным текстовым редактором для программистов самого разного профиля. О Vim ходят легенды, как о текстовом редакторе с безграничными возможностями и неисчислимым набором функций. Корни программы уходят в далекий 1976 год: Vim построен на основе vi — текстового редактора, популярного на заре персональных компьютеров.

Vim считается очень сложным и требующим долго изучения. Тут уместна старая шутка: «Vim очень дружелюбен к пользователю, просто он разборчив в том, с кем дружить». Тем не менее, если пользователь решит пройти долгий путь изучения программы, то будет вознагражден суперэффективным редактором кода.

Vim — это функциональный, гибкий, настраиваемый и очень быстрый текстовый редактор. Предлагает различные режимы работы, подсветку синтаксиса сотен языков программирования и разметки, возможность управления редактором только с клавиатуры, широкие возможности редактирования текста, мощная функциональность управления файлами, макросы, плагины, мощная система управления буфером обмена, команды и все остальное, уместное в тестовом редакторе.

На официальном сайте доступен набор скриптов. На данный момент предлагается почти 6000 скриптов, ориентированных на самые разные нужды. Пользователь обязательно найдет то что ему нужно.

Vim часто сравнивают с GNU Emacs, что не очень корректно. Если упростить до максимума, то как тестовый редактор, Vim несомненно мощнее, а Emacs явно более функционален, как набор инструментов более широкого профиля.