Downloading Vim
Vim is available for many different systems and there are several versions. This page will help you decide what to download.
Versions before 7.3 can also be obtained with Subversion and CVS.
Version
Vim 9.0 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 9.0 is vim90src.zip and vim-##-src.tar.gz for version 9.0 is vim-9.0-src.tar.gz. Links are provided for quick access to the latest version.
Note that the links point to the latest version (currently 9.0) 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.
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
hg clone https://bitbucket.org/vim-mirror/vim cd vim/src make
version 7.x, 8.x and 9.x There is one big file to download that contains almost everything. It is found in the unix directory (ftp):
| The runtime and source files together: | vim-##.tar.bz2 | vim-9.0.tar.bz2 (ftp) |
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.
- Debian packages are available at: http://packages.debian.org/vim.
- Sun Solaris Vim is included in the Companion Software: http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/freeware/.
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)
PC: MS-DOS and MS-Windows
For modern MS-Windows systems (starting with XP) you can simply use the executable installer:
gvim90.exe (ftp)
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.
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.
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). Self-installing executable gvim##.exe gvim90.exe (ftp) For Vim 6 and later. This includes a GUI version of Vim — with many features and OLE support — and all the runtime files. It works well on MS-Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. Use this if you have enough disk space and memory. It’s the simplest way to start using Vim on the PC. The installer allows you to skip the parts you don’t want.
For Vim 6.3 and later it also includes a console version, both for MS-Windows 95/98/ME and MS-Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. The installer automatically selects the right one. Runtime files vim##rt.zip vim90rt.zip (ftp) 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 three versions that run as an MS-Windows application. These provide menus, scrollbars and a toolbar. GUI executable gvim##.zip gvim90.zip (ftp) This is the «normal» GUI version. OLE GUI executable gvim##ole.zip gvim90ole.zip (ftp) A GUI version with OLE support. This offers a few extra features, such as integration with Visual Developer Studio. But it uses quite a bit more memory. There are three versions that run on MS-DOS or in a console window in MS-Windows: Win32 console executable vim##w32.zip vim90w32.zip (ftp) The Win32 console version works well on MS-Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. It supports long file names and is compiled with «big» features. It does not run perfectly well on MS-Windows 95/98/ME, especially when resizing the console window (this may crash MS-Windows. ). 32 bit DOS executable vim##d32.zip vim73_46d32.zip (ftp) The 32 bit DOS version works well on MS-Windows 95/98/ME. It requires a DPMI manager, which needs to be installed on MS-DOS. MS-Windows already has one. It supports long file names, but NOT on MS-Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. It is compiled with «big» features.
Not available for 7.4 and later. 16 bit DOS executable vim##d16.zip vim71d16.zip (ftp) The 16 bit DOS version is the only one that runs on old MS-DOS systems. Only use this if you are really desparate, because it excludes many useful features (such as syntax highlighting and long file names) and quickly runs out of memory.
The last version available is 7.1. Version 7.2 and later are too big to fit in the DOS memory model. 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 vim90src.zip (ftp) 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 gvim90.pdb (ftp) gvim##ole.pdb gvim90ole.pdb (ftp) vim##w32.pdb vim90w32.pdb (ftp) 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.
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.
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.
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 Bj�rn Winckler.
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.
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.
| Android | Search for «Vim Touch» by Momodalo in the Play Store. |
| i/OS | Run Vim on your iPhone or Ipad. |
| QNX (ftp) | Provided by Yakov Zaytsev. Requires QNX 6.3.0/6.3.2 with service pack 2. |
| Agenda | http://pi7.fernuni-hagen.de/hartrumpf/agenda/vim/vim.vr3 |
| Cygwin (with GTK GUI) | http://lassauge.free.fr/cygwin/ |
| Open VMS | http://www.polarhome.com/vim/ |
| MorphOS | http://www.akcaagac.com/index_vim.html |