Mapping -Arrows to selecting characters/lines

Question

I started to use vim recently, but I miss the character/line selection methods from other text editors. By default vim maps ,

Answer 1

This mapping keeps insert mode during selection (visual mode) and it starts on the correct position. You can also select a word to the left or right using Ctrl-Shift-Left/Right (if your terminal supports it):

" Select with shift + arrows
inoremap                  v
inoremap                 v
inoremap                    v
inoremap                  v
imap                    
imap                   
vnoremap                  
vnoremap                 
vnoremap                    
vnoremap                  

" Auto unselect when not holding shift
vmap                        
vmap                       
vmap                          
vmap                        

This may be useful for quickly selecting small parts when you're in insert mode but I recommend using the default commands for selecting larger parts.