Using git commit -a with vim

I'm new with git, so I decided to learn git using the tutorials of github. The third chapter said:

"For this first example we’ll modify the README file to add ourselves as an author on the project. So we simply edit the file. Now we want to commit that change, so we run the git commit -a command."

When I use the git commit -a command, the console opens a vim and I wrote my message, but I don't know how to close this vim editor from the console. How do I save the message and close vim?

Solution 1:

In vim, you save a file with :wEnter while in the normal mode (you get to the normal mode by pressing Esc).
You close your file with :q while in the normal mode.

You can combine both these actions and do Esc:wqEnter to save the commit and quit vim.

As an alternate to the above, you can also press ZZ while in the normal mode, which will save the file and exit vim. This is also easier for some people as it's the same key pressed twice.

Solution 2:

Instead of trying to learn vim, use a different easier editor (like nano, for example). As much as I like vim, I do not think using it in this case is the solution. It takes dedication and time to master it.

git config core.editor "nano"

Solution 3:

See this thread for an explanation: VIM for Windows - What do I type to save and exit from a file?

As I wrote there: to learn Vimming, you could use one of the quick reference cards:

http://bullium.com/support/vim.html
http://tnerual.eriogerg.free.fr/vim.html

Also note How can I set up an editor to work with Git on Windows? if you're not comfortable in using Vim but want to use another editor for your commit messages.

If your commit message is not too long, you could also type

git commit -a -m "your message here"

Solution 4:

The better question is: How do I interrupt the commit when I quit vim?

There are 2 ways:

:cq or :cquit
Delete all lines of the commit message, including comments, and then :wq

Either way will give git an error code, so it will not proceed with the commit. This is particularly useful with git commit --amend.

Solution 5:

Try ZZ to save and close. Here is a bit more info on using vim with Git