[phzbOx]

The thing is.. there's a really step learning curve in learning the fundamentals of vim, but once you know them, it takes a second to learn a new command.

For instance, dt' will delete characters until it matches a'. But also, dtf' will delete characters until it matches a' but also delete that '. T and F goes backward.. you can put a number in front of the command to delete until it matches the nth ', etc. It looks like a lot of command.. but it's all the same basic ideas.

So to answer your question, yes you can use vim effectively with less than 10 commands.. but once you know those 10, it's a matter of seconds to learn 100+ which would make you extremely more effective.

And as my "top" commands.. I'd say definitely:

  ciw *deleting the current word*
  cit *deleting between the current html tag*
  ci) *deleting between the ()*

  With surround plugin:
  ds' *deleting the surrounding '*
  cs'" *changing the surrounding ' for "s*
  / *incremental search*
  o/O inserting new lines.

[dhimes]

->For instance, dt' will delete characters until it matches a'. But also, dtf' will delete characters until it matches a' but also delete that '.

dtf' should be df' in the above

[phzbOx]

ops, yes, thank you.

[billjings]

Worth noting: cib == ci), and ciB == ci}.

Also, "a" instead of "i" includes the enclosing markers. Not really that useful for braces and parens, but for strings da" is great. da[ is pretty great for Obj-C, too.