Question

Is it possible to log all commands I type in VIM for later analyzing? I mean each simple command like motions or changing the text, i.e. jjjjjjkkkcw<newword>

If it is not possible in VIM, maybe there is a keylogger on linux, which can be attached to specific window/process?

I’d prefer in-vim logging, because it could have options to have different logs for different vim modes. Also I don’t want to log “colon” commands.

Answer 1

Yes, there is! When launching vim use vim -W ~/vimcommands.log to >> to a file, or -w to overwrite the file.

-w {scriptout}
All the characters that you type are recorded in the file {scriptout}, until you exit Vim.
This is useful if you want to create a script file to be used with “vim -s” or “:source!”.
If the {scriptout} file exists, characters are appended.
-W {scriptout}
Like -w, but an existing file is overwritten.

You may want to add a bash alias to store vim logs based on file name. I am interested to see how you intend to analyse your logs, I would like to do the same.