Start up a vim application like this:

vim = Vimbot::Driver.new
vim.start

When you want to quit vim,

> vim.stop

By default, Vimbot will try to guess what vim application to use, and use an empty .vimrc and .gvimrc. If you want to specify a vim binary or some config files, you can do this:

> vim = Vimbot::Driver.new(
  :vim => "bin/my_vim",
  :vimrc => "~/.vimrc",
  :gvimrc => ".alternative_gvimrc"
)

From there, you can begin editing:

> vim.type "i", "Hey vim users,"
> vim.append "<CR><CR>", "Try testing your vim plugins with vimbot!"
> vim.command "%s/vim/best_editor_ever/g"

=> "2 substitutions on 2 lines"

• type - sends keyboard input to vim, applying mappings and creating an undo entry where needed
• normal - like, type, but enters normal mode first
• insert - like, type, but enters insert mode first
• append - like, type, but enters insert mode first
• undo
• redo
• clear_buffer
• raw_type - like type, but does not do vimbot's normal behavior of ensuring that an undo entry is created and that mappings are applied

• line - get the text of the line the cursor is on
• line_number, column_number - get the position of the cursor
• register - get the contents of a given register
• mode - returns the mode as a letter: i, n, c, v, V, s
• evaluate - get value of arbitrary vimscript expression
• in_insert_mode?
• in_normal_mode?
• in_command_mode?
• in_visual_mode?
• in_select_mode?

• source, runtime - load vimscript files
• set - set a vim option
• map - add a key mapping

New convenience methods are easy to add, and pull requests are welcome!

Vimbot is developed with Vim 7.3 and Ruby 1.9.2.

Vimbot is developed by Max Brunsfeld | @maxbrunsfeld | maxbrunsfeld@gmail.com