I would appreciate it if someone can let a newbie know what the differences are between vi and vim . I've heard Vim is a successor to vi but whenever I try to open vi in Ubuntu it opens vim instead.

Best Answer

Functionally, vim is almost a proper superset of vi . Therefore, everything that is in vi is available in vim.

Vim enhances these features There are a few of the enhanced vim features

Vim has been ported to a wider range of platforms than vi
Vim includes support (syntax highlighting, code folding, etc) for several popular programming languages (c/c++, python, perl, shell, etc).
Vim integrates with cscope.
Vim can be used to edit files using network protocols such as ssh and http
Vim offers multilevel undoredo
Vim allows the screen to be split for editing multiple files
Vim can edit files inside a compressed archive (gzip, zip, tar, etc).
Vim includes a built in diff for comparing files (vimdiff).
Vim supports plugins and more advanced control over config and startup files
Vim can be scripted with vimscript, or with an external scripting language (e.g. python, perl, shell).

There are many other differences Refer below sources which are few of good places to start finding out more.

Source: Vim.Org , Vim on Wikpedia .

Let's hope it helps :)