== 2026-05-08 Friday ==

I've been using Vim for as long as I remember, since starting to 
use Linux in around 1999. I'm not, however, a "power user". I don't 
know many tricks, I don't use the awesomely complicate features or 
functions - either to navigate around a text file or to edit the 
contents.

I know how to switch to "insert" mode, how to yank lines, delete 
lines, paste lines I've yanked or deleted.

That's about all I know.

I have a muscle memory for Vim, even for the minimal knowledge I 
have about it.

I instinctively press "i" to start inserting text and "esc" to go 
back to command mode. I use "dd" and "yy" and "P" without thinking. 
And to save a file I use "shift zz" or "esc qa!" to close without 
saving.

But I've also used "pico" in the Pine (and later, Alpine) email 
client I've used for years, too.

Yesterday it came to a head, when I found a blog post I'd written 
in "markdown" and I wanted to put it on my phlog, but I wanted to 
remove the "*" characters that in markdown signified "italics" and 
replace them with "/" that I use to signify italics in plain text.

I struggled, and struggled to find a "recipe" for a "search and 
replace" in Vim for this. The issue being that * and / are special 
characters. No obvious combination of escaping (using \) would make 
it work.

So I tried in nano. 

And it's easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

So I thought I'd switch to nano for a while and see how I like it.

I'm battling my muscle memory for navigating and switching 
needlessly to "insert" mode, and for saving/closing.. I need to get 
the hang of "^x" to exit, "y" to save current buffer... etc.

But it'll come.

I've sorted syntax highlighting, I've sorted the "color stripe at 
67 characters" and automatic line-breaks (and it's easy to turn 
them on & off within a nano editing session), as well as applying 
the line-length wrapping "justify" to a whole file after it's 
written if the lines are too long.

I'm feeling more comfortable in nano after a few hours playing with 
it. 

I feel like I'm being unfaithful to Vim, after all these years, but 
hey - I never really knew her /that/ well anyway.