vim compile

[pawn]

hi,,i am new on linux programming..i want to know how can i compile a c program on vim editor?which commands should i use?
thanks for reading..

[serz]

compile a program on vim? vim is an editor.. it has nothing to do with compiling!

[Cabhan]

Well, it can be done by executing shell commands, but this is not what I recommend.

Write your program in vi, then type, in command mode, ":wq" and enter. This will save your file and exit you from vi.

Now, back on the commandline, enter:

gcc -Wall -o foo foo.c

This will use gcc to compile your program, display all errors, and name the resulting executable "foo".

If you get an error about "gcc: command not found", you need to install gcc. The path for this is distro-dependent.

Okie dokie?

[dylunio]

You can run shell commands in vim, so to compile something you'd use: Esc

:!gcc -Wall -o foo foo.c

within the editor.

[lakerdonald]

Well, it can be done by executing shell commands, but this is not what I recommend.

How would you recommend compiling something then?

[Cabhan]

I'd recommend doing it outside vim, in the shell proper, as opposed to the within-vim option indicated by dylunio.

Ah, I see how that's ambiguous. I apologize.

And actually, now looking at it, I see that it may not be such a bad solution at all. *shrugs* I guess I just prefer to operate outside vim for running my apps.

So yeah, you can either exit to the shell proper or use dylunio's within-vim option. Bother are viable.

[lakerdonald]

I know what you mean. I thought you meant not to use the shell.
But I have a similar qualm with the Emacs shell. I really don't use it much for compiling because of its rudimentary functionality ( although in Emacs' defense, the documentation doesn't claim the shell to be otherwise! ) such as lack of tab-completion.
Oh well...

[kyku]

Well, Vim has a nice, little feature called 'quickfix' that enables you to invoke make utility from within and provides a nice navigation over spotted errors. Type ":help quickfix" in Vim to learn more. Regards...