I’m stuck in Vim and trying to figure out how to exit. I see the message saying type :quit to quit VIM, but when I type it, the command just appears in the text area instead of actually quitting. What’s the correct way to exit Vim in this case?
How can I properly exit Vim when the usual commands don’t seem to work?
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Ah, this brings back memories from my early days with Vim. I’ve been using it for around 5 years now, and this tripped me up plenty back then! It sounds like you’re in insert mode, which means Vim is just treating what you type as text. Press Esc first to switch back to normal mode, then type :q to quit, or :q! if you want to force quit without saving. That usually does the trick when you want to exit Vim.
Totally feel you, @macy-davis. I’ve been using Vim for a while too—once you understand the modes, things start to click. Like Tom said, if your command is showing up as text, you’re likely in insert or visual mode. Tap Esc a couple of times to be sure you’re back in normal mode. Then, if you want to save and exit Vim, use :wq. If you just want out without saving changes, go with :q!. Been there, done that, more times than I’d like to admit 
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Yeah, same here. I made the full switch to Linux about 3 years ago, and getting stuck in Vim was a rite of passage. Just to add one more thing to Toby’s point: if you’re ever unsure which mode you’re in, hit Esc twice just to reset back to normal mode. Then try typing :q or :q!. And if things still go sideways, Ctrl + C followed by :q! can help break you out and exit Vim. That combo has saved me more times than I can count.