1*insert.txt* For Vim version 8.1. Last change: 2019 May 07 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7 *Insert* *Insert-mode* 8Inserting and replacing text *mode-ins-repl* 9 10Most of this file is about Insert and Replace mode. At the end are a few 11commands for inserting text in other ways. 12 13An overview of the most often used commands can be found in chapter 24 of the 14user manual |usr_24.txt|. 15 161. Special keys |ins-special-keys| 172. Special special keys |ins-special-special| 183. 'textwidth' and 'wrapmargin' options |ins-textwidth| 194. 'expandtab', 'smarttab' and 'softtabstop' options |ins-expandtab| 205. Replace mode |Replace-mode| 216. Virtual Replace mode |Virtual-Replace-mode| 227. Insert mode completion |ins-completion| 238. Insert mode commands |inserting| 249. Ex insert commands |inserting-ex| 2510. Inserting a file |inserting-file| 26 27Also see 'virtualedit', for moving the cursor to positions where there is no 28character. Useful for editing a table. 29 30============================================================================== 311. Special keys *ins-special-keys* 32 33In Insert and Replace mode, the following characters have a special meaning; 34other characters are inserted directly. To insert one of these special 35characters into the buffer, precede it with CTRL-V. To insert a <Nul> 36character use "CTRL-V CTRL-@" or "CTRL-V 000". On some systems, you have to 37use "CTRL-V 003" to insert a CTRL-C. Note: When CTRL-V is mapped you can 38often use CTRL-Q instead |i_CTRL-Q|. 39 40If you are working in a special language mode when inserting text, see the 41'langmap' option, |'langmap'|, on how to avoid switching this mode on and off 42all the time. 43 44If you have 'insertmode' set, <Esc> and a few other keys get another meaning. 45See |'insertmode'|. 46 47char action ~ 48----------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 *i_CTRL-[* *i_<Esc>* 50<Esc> or CTRL-[ End insert or Replace mode, go back to Normal mode. Finish 51 abbreviation. 52 Note: If your <Esc> key is hard to hit on your keyboard, train 53 yourself to use CTRL-[. 54 If Esc doesn't work and you are using a Mac, try CTRL-Esc. 55 Or disable Listening under Accessibility preferences. 56 *i_CTRL-C* 57CTRL-C Quit insert mode, go back to Normal mode. Do not check for 58 abbreviations. Does not trigger the |InsertLeave| autocommand 59 event. 60 61 *i_CTRL-@* 62CTRL-@ Insert previously inserted text and stop insert. 63 64 *i_CTRL-A* 65CTRL-A Insert previously inserted text. 66 67 *i_CTRL-H* *i_<BS>* *i_BS* 68<BS> or CTRL-H Delete the character before the cursor (see |i_backspacing| 69 about joining lines). 70 See |:fixdel| if your <BS> key does not do what you want. 71 72 *i_<Del>* *i_DEL* 73<Del> Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at 74 the end of the line, and the 'backspace' option includes 75 "eol", delete the <EOL>; the next line is appended after the 76 current one. 77 See |:fixdel| if your <Del> key does not do what you want. 78 *i_CTRL-W* 79CTRL-W Delete the word before the cursor (see |i_backspacing| about 80 joining lines). See the section "word motions", 81 |word-motions|, for the definition of a word. 82 *i_CTRL-U* 83CTRL-U Delete all entered characters before the cursor in the current 84 line. If there are no newly entered characters and 85 'backspace' is not empty, delete all characters before the 86 cursor in the current line. 87 See |i_backspacing| about joining lines. 88 *i_CTRL-I* *i_<Tab>* *i_Tab* 89<Tab> or CTRL-I Insert a tab. If the 'expandtab' option is on, the 90 equivalent number of spaces is inserted (use CTRL-V <Tab> to 91 avoid the expansion; use CTRL-Q <Tab> if CTRL-V is mapped 92 |i_CTRL-Q|). See also the 'smarttab' option and 93 |ins-expandtab|. 94 *i_CTRL-J* *i_<NL>* 95<NL> or CTRL-J Begin new line. 96 *i_CTRL-M* *i_<CR>* 97<CR> or CTRL-M Begin new line. 98 *i_CTRL-K* 99CTRL-K {char1} [char2] 100 Enter digraph (see |digraphs|). When {char1} is a special 101 key, the code for that key is inserted in <> form. For 102 example, the string "<S-Space>" can be entered by typing 103 <C-K><S-Space> (two keys). Neither char is considered for 104 mapping. 105 106CTRL-N Find next keyword (see |i_CTRL-N|). 107CTRL-P Find previous keyword (see |i_CTRL-P|). 108 109CTRL-R {0-9a-z"%#*+:.-=} *i_CTRL-R* 110 Insert the contents of a register. Between typing CTRL-R and 111 the second character, '"' will be displayed to indicate that 112 you are expected to enter the name of a register. 113 The text is inserted as if you typed it, but mappings and 114 abbreviations are not used. If you have options like 115 'textwidth', 'formatoptions', or 'autoindent' set, this will 116 influence what will be inserted. This is different from what 117 happens with the "p" command and pasting with the mouse. 118 Special registers: 119 '"' the unnamed register, containing the text of 120 the last delete or yank 121 '%' the current file name 122 '#' the alternate file name 123 '*' the clipboard contents (X11: primary selection) 124 '+' the clipboard contents 125 '/' the last search pattern 126 ':' the last command-line 127 '.' the last inserted text 128 '-' the last small (less than a line) delete 129 *i_CTRL-R_=* 130 '=' the expression register: you are prompted to 131 enter an expression (see |expression|) 132 Note that 0x80 (128 decimal) is used for 133 special keys. E.g., you can use this to move 134 the cursor up: 135 CTRL-R ="\<Up>" 136 Use CTRL-R CTRL-R to insert text literally. 137 When the result is a |List| the items are used 138 as lines. They can have line breaks inside 139 too. 140 When the result is a Float it's automatically 141 converted to a String. 142 When append() or setline() is invoked the undo 143 sequence will be broken. 144 See |registers| about registers. 145 146CTRL-R CTRL-R {0-9a-z"%#*+/:.-=} *i_CTRL-R_CTRL-R* 147 Insert the contents of a register. Works like using a single 148 CTRL-R, but the text is inserted literally, not as if typed. 149 This differs when the register contains characters like <BS>. 150 Example, where register a contains "ab^Hc": > 151 CTRL-R a results in "ac". 152 CTRL-R CTRL-R a results in "ab^Hc". 153< Options 'textwidth', 'formatoptions', etc. still apply. If 154 you also want to avoid these, use CTRL-R CTRL-O, see below. 155 The '.' register (last inserted text) is still inserted as 156 typed. 157 158CTRL-R CTRL-O {0-9a-z"%#*+/:.-=} *i_CTRL-R_CTRL-O* 159 Insert the contents of a register literally and don't 160 auto-indent. Does the same as pasting with the mouse 161 |<MiddleMouse>|. When the register is linewise this will 162 insert the text above the current line, like with `P`. 163 Does not replace characters! 164 The '.' register (last inserted text) is still inserted as 165 typed. 166 167CTRL-R CTRL-P {0-9a-z"%#*+/:.-=} *i_CTRL-R_CTRL-P* 168 Insert the contents of a register literally and fix the 169 indent, like |[<MiddleMouse>|. 170 Does not replace characters! 171 The '.' register (last inserted text) is still inserted as 172 typed. 173 174 *i_CTRL-T* 175CTRL-T Insert one shiftwidth of indent at the start of the current 176 line. The indent is always rounded to a 'shiftwidth' (this is 177 vi compatible). 178 *i_CTRL-D* 179CTRL-D Delete one shiftwidth of indent at the start of the current 180 line. The indent is always rounded to a 'shiftwidth' (this is 181 vi compatible). 182 *i_0_CTRL-D* 1830 CTRL-D Delete all indent in the current line. 184 185 *i_^_CTRL-D* 186^ CTRL-D Delete all indent in the current line. The indent is 187 restored in the next line. This is useful when inserting a 188 label. 189 190 *i_CTRL-V* 191CTRL-V Insert next non-digit literally. For special keys, the 192 terminal code is inserted. It's also possible to enter the 193 decimal, octal or hexadecimal value of a character 194 |i_CTRL-V_digit|. 195 The characters typed right after CTRL-V are not considered for 196 mapping. 197 Note: When CTRL-V is mapped (e.g., to paste text) you can 198 often use CTRL-Q instead |i_CTRL-Q|. 199 200 *i_CTRL-Q* 201CTRL-Q Same as CTRL-V. 202 Note: Some terminal connections may eat CTRL-Q, it doesn't 203 work then. It does work in the GUI. 204 205CTRL-X Enter CTRL-X mode. This is a sub-mode where commands can 206 be given to complete words or scroll the window. See 207 |i_CTRL-X| and |ins-completion|. 208 209 *i_CTRL-E* 210CTRL-E Insert the character which is below the cursor. 211 *i_CTRL-Y* 212CTRL-Y Insert the character which is above the cursor. 213 Note that for CTRL-E and CTRL-Y 'textwidth' is not used, to be 214 able to copy characters from a long line. 215 216 *i_CTRL-_* 217CTRL-_ Switch between languages, as follows: 218 - When in a rightleft window, revins and nohkmap are toggled, 219 since English will likely be inserted in this case. 220 - When in a norightleft window, revins and hkmap are toggled, 221 since Hebrew will likely be inserted in this case. 222 223 CTRL-_ moves the cursor to the end of the typed text. 224 225 This command is only available when the 'allowrevins' option 226 is set. 227 Please refer to |rileft.txt| for more information about 228 right-to-left mode. 229 Only if compiled with the |+rightleft| feature. 230 231 *i_CTRL-^* 232CTRL-^ Toggle the use of typing language characters. 233 When language |:lmap| mappings are defined: 234 - If 'iminsert' is 1 (langmap mappings used) it becomes 0 (no 235 langmap mappings used). 236 - If 'iminsert' has another value it becomes 1, thus langmap 237 mappings are enabled. 238 When no language mappings are defined: 239 - If 'iminsert' is 2 (Input Method used) it becomes 0 (no 240 Input Method used). 241 - If 'iminsert' has another value it becomes 2, thus the Input 242 Method is enabled. 243 When set to 1, the value of the "b:keymap_name" variable, the 244 'keymap' option or "<lang>" appears in the status line. 245 The language mappings are normally used to type characters 246 that are different from what the keyboard produces. The 247 'keymap' option can be used to install a whole number of them. 248 249 *i_CTRL-]* 250CTRL-] Trigger abbreviation, without inserting a character. 251 252 *i_<Insert>* 253<Insert> Toggle between Insert and Replace mode. 254----------------------------------------------------------------------- 255 256 *i_backspacing* 257The effect of the <BS>, CTRL-W, and CTRL-U depend on the 'backspace' option 258(unless 'revins' is set). This is a comma separated list of items: 259 260item action ~ 261indent allow backspacing over autoindent 262eol allow backspacing over end-of-line (join lines) 263start allow backspacing over the start position of insert; CTRL-W and 264 CTRL-U stop once at the start position 265 266When 'backspace' is empty, Vi compatible backspacing is used. You cannot 267backspace over autoindent, before column 1 or before where insert started. 268 269For backwards compatibility the values "0", "1" and "2" are also allowed, see 270|'backspace'|. 271 272If the 'backspace' option does contain "eol" and the cursor is in column 1 273when one of the three keys is used, the current line is joined with the 274previous line. This effectively deletes the <EOL> in front of the cursor. 275 276 *i_CTRL-V_digit* 277With CTRL-V the decimal, octal or hexadecimal value of a character can be 278entered directly. This way you can enter any character, except a line break 279(<NL>, value 10). There are five ways to enter the character value: 280 281first char mode max nr of chars max value ~ 282(none) decimal 3 255 283o or O octal 3 377 (255) 284x or X hexadecimal 2 ff (255) 285u hexadecimal 4 ffff (65535) 286U hexadecimal 8 7fffffff (2147483647) 287 288Normally you would type the maximum number of characters. Thus to enter a 289space (value 32) you would type <C-V>032. You can omit the leading zero, in 290which case the character typed after the number must be a non-digit. This 291happens for the other modes as well: As soon as you type a character that is 292invalid for the mode, the value before it will be used and the "invalid" 293character is dealt with in the normal way. 294 295If you enter a value of 10, it will end up in the file as a 0. The 10 is a 296<NL>, which is used internally to represent the <Nul> character. When writing 297the buffer to a file, the <NL> character is translated into <Nul>. The <NL> 298character is written at the end of each line. Thus if you want to insert a 299<NL> character in a file you will have to make a line break. 300 301 *i_CTRL-X* *insert_expand* 302CTRL-X enters a sub-mode where several commands can be used. Most of these 303commands do keyword completion; see |ins-completion|. These are not available 304when Vim was compiled without the |+insert_expand| feature. 305 306Two commands can be used to scroll the window up or down, without exiting 307insert mode: 308 309 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-E* 310CTRL-X CTRL-E scroll window one line up. 311 When doing completion look here: |complete_CTRL-E| 312 313 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-Y* 314CTRL-X CTRL-Y scroll window one line down. 315 When doing completion look here: |complete_CTRL-Y| 316 317After CTRL-X is pressed, each CTRL-E (CTRL-Y) scrolls the window up (down) by 318one line unless that would cause the cursor to move from its current position 319in the file. As soon as another key is pressed, CTRL-X mode is exited and 320that key is interpreted as in Insert mode. 321 322 323============================================================================== 3242. Special special keys *ins-special-special* 325 326The following keys are special. They stop the current insert, do something, 327and then restart insertion. This means you can do something without getting 328out of Insert mode. This is very handy if you prefer to use the Insert mode 329all the time, just like editors that don't have a separate Normal mode. You 330may also want to set the 'backspace' option to "indent,eol,start" and set the 331'insertmode' option. You can use CTRL-O if you want to map a function key to 332a command. 333 334The changes (inserted or deleted characters) before and after these keys can 335be undone separately. Only the last change can be redone and always behaves 336like an "i" command. 337 338char action ~ 339----------------------------------------------------------------------- 340<Up> cursor one line up *i_<Up>* 341<Down> cursor one line down *i_<Down>* 342CTRL-G <Up> cursor one line up, insert start column *i_CTRL-G_<Up>* 343CTRL-G k cursor one line up, insert start column *i_CTRL-G_k* 344CTRL-G CTRL-K cursor one line up, insert start column *i_CTRL-G_CTRL-K* 345CTRL-G <Down> cursor one line down, insert start column *i_CTRL-G_<Down>* 346CTRL-G j cursor one line down, insert start column *i_CTRL-G_j* 347CTRL-G CTRL-J cursor one line down, insert start column *i_CTRL-G_CTRL-J* 348<Left> cursor one character left *i_<Left>* 349<Right> cursor one character right *i_<Right>* 350<S-Left> cursor one word back (like "b" command) *i_<S-Left>* 351<C-Left> cursor one word back (like "b" command) *i_<C-Left>* 352<S-Right> cursor one word forward (like "w" command) *i_<S-Right>* 353<C-Right> cursor one word forward (like "w" command) *i_<C-Right>* 354<Home> cursor to first char in the line *i_<Home>* 355<End> cursor to after last char in the line *i_<End>* 356<C-Home> cursor to first char in the file *i_<C-Home>* 357<C-End> cursor to after last char in the file *i_<C-End>* 358<LeftMouse> cursor to position of mouse click *i_<LeftMouse>* 359<S-Up> move window one page up *i_<S-Up>* 360<PageUp> move window one page up *i_<PageUp>* 361<S-Down> move window one page down *i_<S-Down>* 362<PageDown> move window one page down *i_<PageDown>* 363<ScrollWheelDown> move window three lines down *i_<ScrollWheelDown>* 364<S-ScrollWheelDown> move window one page down *i_<S-ScrollWheelDown>* 365<ScrollWheelUp> move window three lines up *i_<ScrollWheelUp>* 366<S-ScrollWheelUp> move window one page up *i_<S-ScrollWheelUp>* 367<ScrollWheelLeft> move window six columns left *i_<ScrollWheelLeft>* 368<S-ScrollWheelLeft> move window one page left *i_<S-ScrollWheelLeft>* 369<ScrollWheelRight> move window six columns right *i_<ScrollWheelRight>* 370<S-ScrollWheelRight> move window one page right *i_<S-ScrollWheelRight>* 371CTRL-O execute one command, return to Insert mode *i_CTRL-O* 372CTRL-\ CTRL-O like CTRL-O but don't move the cursor *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-O* 373CTRL-L when 'insertmode' is set: go to Normal mode *i_CTRL-L* 374CTRL-G u break undo sequence, start new change *i_CTRL-G_u* 375CTRL-G U don't break undo with next left/right cursor *i_CTRL-G_U* 376 movement, if the cursor stays within 377 same the line 378----------------------------------------------------------------------- 379 380Note: If the cursor keys take you out of Insert mode, check the 'noesckeys' 381option. 382 383The CTRL-O command sometimes has a side effect: If the cursor was beyond the 384end of the line, it will be put on the last character in the line. In 385mappings it's often better to use <Esc> (first put an "x" in the text, <Esc> 386will then always put the cursor on it). Or use CTRL-\ CTRL-O, but then 387beware of the cursor possibly being beyond the end of the line. Note that the 388command following CTRL-\ CTRL-O can still move the cursor, it is not restored 389to its original position. 390 391The CTRL-O command takes you to Normal mode. If you then use a command enter 392Insert mode again it normally doesn't nest. Thus when typing "a<C-O>a" and 393then <Esc> takes you back to Normal mode, you do not need to type <Esc> twice. 394An exception is when not typing the command, e.g. when executing a mapping or 395sourcing a script. This makes mappings work that briefly switch to Insert 396mode. 397 398The shifted cursor keys are not available on all terminals. 399 400Another side effect is that a count specified before the "i" or "a" command is 401ignored. That is because repeating the effect of the command after CTRL-O is 402too complicated. 403 404An example for using CTRL-G u: > 405 406 :inoremap <C-H> <C-G>u<C-H> 407 408This redefines the backspace key to start a new undo sequence. You can now 409undo the effect of the backspace key, without changing what you typed before 410that, with CTRL-O u. Another example: > 411 412 :inoremap <CR> <C-]><C-G>u<CR> 413 414This breaks undo at each line break. It also expands abbreviations before 415this. 416 417An example for using CTRL-G U: > 418 419 inoremap <Left> <C-G>U<Left> 420 inoremap <Right> <C-G>U<Right> 421 inoremap <expr> <Home> col('.') == match(getline('.'), '\S') + 1 ? 422 \ repeat('<C-G>U<Left>', col('.') - 1) : 423 \ (col('.') < match(getline('.'), '\S') ? 424 \ repeat('<C-G>U<Right>', match(getline('.'), '\S') + 0) : 425 \ repeat('<C-G>U<Left>', col('.') - 1 - match(getline('.'), '\S'))) 426 inoremap <expr> <End> repeat('<C-G>U<Right>', col('$') - col('.')) 427 inoremap ( ()<C-G>U<Left> 428 429This makes it possible to use the cursor keys in Insert mode, without breaking 430the undo sequence and therefore using |.| (redo) will work as expected. 431Also entering a text like (with the "(" mapping from above): 432 433 Lorem ipsum (dolor 434 435will be repeatable by using |.| to the expected 436 437 Lorem ipsum (dolor) 438 439Using CTRL-O splits undo: the text typed before and after it is undone 440separately. If you want to avoid this (e.g., in a mapping) you might be able 441to use CTRL-R = |i_CTRL-R|. E.g., to call a function: > 442 :imap <F2> <C-R>=MyFunc()<CR> 443 444When the 'whichwrap' option is set appropriately, the <Left> and <Right> 445keys on the first/last character in the line make the cursor wrap to the 446previous/next line. 447 448The CTRL-G j and CTRL-G k commands can be used to insert text in front of a 449column. Example: > 450 int i; 451 int j; 452Position the cursor on the first "int", type "istatic <C-G>j ". The 453result is: > 454 static int i; 455 int j; 456When inserting the same text in front of the column in every line, use the 457Visual blockwise command "I" |v_b_I|. 458 459============================================================================== 4603. 'textwidth' and 'wrapmargin' options *ins-textwidth* 461 462The 'textwidth' option can be used to automatically break a line before it 463gets too long. Set the 'textwidth' option to the desired maximum line 464length. If you then type more characters (not spaces or tabs), the 465last word will be put on a new line (unless it is the only word on the 466line). If you set 'textwidth' to 0, this feature is disabled. 467 468The 'wrapmargin' option does almost the same. The difference is that 469'textwidth' has a fixed width while 'wrapmargin' depends on the width of the 470screen. When using 'wrapmargin' this is equal to using 'textwidth' with a 471value equal to (columns - 'wrapmargin'), where columns is the width of the 472screen. 473 474When 'textwidth' and 'wrapmargin' are both set, 'textwidth' is used. 475 476If you don't really want to break the line, but view the line wrapped at a 477convenient place, see the 'linebreak' option. 478 479The line is only broken automatically when using Insert mode, or when 480appending to a line. When in replace mode and the line length is not 481changed, the line will not be broken. 482 483Long lines are broken if you enter a non-white character after the margin. 484The situations where a line will be broken can be restricted by adding 485characters to the 'formatoptions' option: 486"l" Only break a line if it was not longer than 'textwidth' when the insert 487 started. 488"v" Only break at a white character that has been entered during the 489 current insert command. This is mostly Vi-compatible. 490"lv" Only break if the line was not longer than 'textwidth' when the insert 491 started and only at a white character that has been entered during the 492 current insert command. Only differs from "l" when entering non-white 493 characters while crossing the 'textwidth' boundary. 494 495Normally an internal function will be used to decide where to break the line. 496If you want to do it in a different way set the 'formatexpr' option to an 497expression that will take care of the line break. 498 499If you want to format a block of text, you can use the "gq" operator. Type 500"gq" and a movement command to move the cursor to the end of the block. In 501many cases, the command "gq}" will do what you want (format until the end of 502paragraph). Alternatively, you can use "gqap", which will format the whole 503paragraph, no matter where the cursor currently is. Or you can use Visual 504mode: hit "v", move to the end of the block, and type "gq". See also |gq|. 505 506============================================================================== 5074. 'expandtab', 'smarttab' and 'softtabstop' options *ins-expandtab* 508 509If the 'expandtab' option is on, spaces will be used to fill the amount of 510whitespace of the tab. If you want to enter a real <Tab>, type CTRL-V first 511(use CTRL-Q when CTRL-V is mapped |i_CTRL-Q|). 512The 'expandtab' option is off by default. Note that in Replace mode, a single 513character is replaced with several spaces. The result of this is that the 514number of characters in the line increases. Backspacing will delete one 515space at a time. The original character will be put back for only one space 516that you backspace over (the last one). 517 518 *ins-smarttab* 519When the 'smarttab' option is on, a <Tab> inserts 'shiftwidth' positions at 520the beginning of a line and 'tabstop' positions in other places. This means 521that often spaces instead of a <Tab> character are inserted. When 'smarttab' 522is off, a <Tab> always inserts 'tabstop' positions, and 'shiftwidth' is only 523used for ">>" and the like. 524 525 *ins-softtabstop* 526When the 'softtabstop' option is non-zero, a <Tab> inserts 'softtabstop' 527positions, and a <BS> used to delete white space, will delete 'softtabstop' 528positions. This feels like 'tabstop' was set to 'softtabstop', but a real 529<Tab> character still takes 'tabstop' positions, so your file will still look 530correct when used by other applications. 531 532If 'softtabstop' is non-zero, a <BS> will try to delete as much white space to 533move to the previous 'softtabstop' position, except when the previously 534inserted character is a space, then it will only delete the character before 535the cursor. Otherwise you cannot always delete a single character before the 536cursor. You will have to delete 'softtabstop' characters first, and then type 537extra spaces to get where you want to be. 538 539============================================================================== 5405. Replace mode *Replace* *Replace-mode* *mode-replace* 541 542Enter Replace mode with the "R" command in normal mode. 543 544In Replace mode, one character in the line is deleted for every character you 545type. If there is no character to delete (at the end of the line), the 546typed character is appended (as in Insert mode). Thus the number of 547characters in a line stays the same until you get to the end of the line. 548If a <NL> is typed, a line break is inserted and no character is deleted. 549 550Be careful with <Tab> characters. If you type a normal printing character in 551its place, the number of characters is still the same, but the number of 552columns will become smaller. 553 554If you delete characters in Replace mode (with <BS>, CTRL-W, or CTRL-U), what 555happens is that you delete the changes. The characters that were replaced 556are restored. If you had typed past the existing text, the characters you 557added are deleted. This is effectively a character-at-a-time undo. 558 559If the 'expandtab' option is on, a <Tab> will replace one character with 560several spaces. The result of this is that the number of characters in the 561line increases. Backspacing will delete one space at a time. The original 562character will be put back for only one space that you backspace over (the 563last one). 564 565============================================================================== 5666. Virtual Replace mode *vreplace-mode* *Virtual-Replace-mode* 567 568Enter Virtual Replace mode with the "gR" command in normal mode. 569{not available when compiled without the |+vreplace| feature} 570 571Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but instead of replacing 572actual characters in the file, you are replacing screen real estate, so that 573characters further on in the file never appear to move. 574 575So if you type a <Tab> it may replace several normal characters, and if you 576type a letter on top of a <Tab> it may not replace anything at all, since the 577<Tab> will still line up to the same place as before. 578 579Typing a <NL> still doesn't cause characters later in the file to appear to 580move. The rest of the current line will be replaced by the <NL> (that is, 581they are deleted), and replacing continues on the next line. A new line is 582NOT inserted unless you go past the end of the file. 583 584Interesting effects are seen when using CTRL-T and CTRL-D. The characters 585before the cursor are shifted sideways as normal, but characters later in the 586line still remain still. CTRL-T will hide some of the old line under the 587shifted characters, but CTRL-D will reveal them again. 588 589As with Replace mode, using <BS> etc will bring back the characters that were 590replaced. This still works in conjunction with 'smartindent', CTRL-T and 591CTRL-D, 'expandtab', 'smarttab', 'softtabstop', etc. 592 593In 'list' mode, Virtual Replace mode acts as if it was not in 'list' mode, 594unless "L" is in 'cpoptions'. 595 596Note that the only situations for which characters beyond the cursor should 597appear to move are in List mode |'list'|, and occasionally when 'wrap' is set 598(and the line changes length to become shorter or wider than the width of the 599screen). In other cases spaces may be inserted to avoid following characters 600to move. 601 602This mode is very useful for editing <Tab> separated columns in tables, for 603entering new data while keeping all the columns aligned. 604 605============================================================================== 6067. Insert mode completion *ins-completion* 607 608In Insert and Replace mode, there are several commands to complete part of a 609keyword or line that has been typed. This is useful if you are using 610complicated keywords (e.g., function names with capitals and underscores). 611 612These commands are not available when the |+insert_expand| feature was 613disabled at compile time. 614 615Completion can be done for: 616 6171. Whole lines |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L| 6182. keywords in the current file |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-N| 6193. keywords in 'dictionary' |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K| 6204. keywords in 'thesaurus', thesaurus-style |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T| 6215. keywords in the current and included files |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I| 6226. tags |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]| 6237. file names |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-F| 6248. definitions or macros |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D| 6259. Vim command-line |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-V| 62610. User defined completion |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-U| 62711. omni completion |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O| 62812. Spelling suggestions |i_CTRL-X_s| 62913. keywords in 'complete' |i_CTRL-N| |i_CTRL-P| 630 631All these, except CTRL-N and CTRL-P, are done in CTRL-X mode. This is a 632sub-mode of Insert and Replace modes. You enter CTRL-X mode by typing CTRL-X 633and one of the CTRL-X commands. You exit CTRL-X mode by typing a key that is 634not a valid CTRL-X mode command. Valid keys are the CTRL-X command itself, 635CTRL-N (next), and CTRL-P (previous). 636 637To get the current completion information, |complete_info()| can be used. 638Also see the 'infercase' option if you want to adjust the case of the match. 639 640 *complete_CTRL-E* 641When completion is active you can use CTRL-E to stop it and go back to the 642originally typed text. The CTRL-E will not be inserted. 643 644 *complete_CTRL-Y* 645When the popup menu is displayed you can use CTRL-Y to stop completion and 646accept the currently selected entry. The CTRL-Y is not inserted. Typing a 647space, Enter, or some other unprintable character will leave completion mode 648and insert that typed character. 649 650When the popup menu is displayed there are a few more special keys, see 651|popupmenu-keys|. 652 653Note: The keys that are valid in CTRL-X mode are not mapped. This allows for 654":map ^F ^X^F" to work (where ^F is CTRL-F and ^X is CTRL-X). The key that 655ends CTRL-X mode (any key that is not a valid CTRL-X mode command) is mapped. 656Also, when doing completion with 'complete' mappings apply as usual. 657 658Note: While completion is active Insert mode can't be used recursively. 659Mappings that somehow invoke ":normal i.." will generate an E523 error. 660 661The following mappings are suggested to make typing the completion commands 662a bit easier (although they will hide other commands): > 663 :inoremap ^] ^X^] 664 :inoremap ^F ^X^F 665 :inoremap ^D ^X^D 666 :inoremap ^L ^X^L 667 668As a special case, typing CTRL-R to perform register insertion (see 669|i_CTRL-R|) will not exit CTRL-X mode. This is primarily to allow the use of 670the '=' register to call some function to determine the next operation. If 671the contents of the register (or result of the '=' register evaluation) are 672not valid CTRL-X mode keys, then CTRL-X mode will be exited as if those keys 673had been typed. 674 675For example, the following will map <Tab> to either actually insert a <Tab> if 676the current line is currently only whitespace, or start/continue a CTRL-N 677completion operation: > 678 679 function! CleverTab() 680 if strpart( getline('.'), 0, col('.')-1 ) =~ '^\s*$' 681 return "\<Tab>" 682 else 683 return "\<C-N>" 684 endif 685 endfunction 686 inoremap <Tab> <C-R>=CleverTab()<CR> 687 688 689 690Completing whole lines *compl-whole-line* 691 692 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L* 693CTRL-X CTRL-L Search backwards for a line that starts with the 694 same characters as those in the current line before 695 the cursor. Indent is ignored. The matching line is 696 inserted in front of the cursor. 697 The 'complete' option is used to decide which buffers 698 are searched for a match. Both loaded and unloaded 699 buffers are used. 700 CTRL-L or 701 CTRL-P Search backwards for next matching line. This line 702 replaces the previous matching line. 703 704 CTRL-N Search forward for next matching line. This line 705 replaces the previous matching line. 706 707 CTRL-X CTRL-L After expanding a line you can additionally get the 708 line next to it by typing CTRL-X CTRL-L again, unless 709 a double CTRL-X is used. Only works for loaded 710 buffers. 711 712Completing keywords in current file *compl-current* 713 714 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-P* 715 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-N* 716CTRL-X CTRL-N Search forwards for words that start with the keyword 717 in front of the cursor. The found keyword is inserted 718 in front of the cursor. 719 720CTRL-X CTRL-P Search backwards for words that start with the keyword 721 in front of the cursor. The found keyword is inserted 722 in front of the cursor. 723 724 CTRL-N Search forward for next matching keyword. This 725 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 726 727 CTRL-P Search backwards for next matching keyword. This 728 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 729 730 CTRL-X CTRL-N or 731 CTRL-X CTRL-P Further use of CTRL-X CTRL-N or CTRL-X CTRL-P will 732 copy the words following the previous expansion in 733 other contexts unless a double CTRL-X is used. 734 735If there is a keyword in front of the cursor (a name made out of alphabetic 736characters and characters in 'iskeyword'), it is used as the search pattern, 737with "\<" prepended (meaning: start of a word). Otherwise "\<\k\k" is used 738as search pattern (start of any keyword of at least two characters). 739 740In Replace mode, the number of characters that are replaced depends on the 741length of the matched string. This works like typing the characters of the 742matched string in Replace mode. 743 744If there is not a valid keyword character before the cursor, any keyword of 745at least two characters is matched. 746 e.g., to get: 747 printf("(%g, %g, %g)", vector[0], vector[1], vector[2]); 748 just type: 749 printf("(%g, %g, %g)", vector[0], ^P[1], ^P[2]); 750 751The search wraps around the end of the file, the value of 'wrapscan' is not 752used here. 753 754Multiple repeats of the same completion are skipped; thus a different match 755will be inserted at each CTRL-N and CTRL-P (unless there is only one 756matching keyword). 757 758Single character matches are never included, as they usually just get in 759the way of what you were really after. 760 e.g., to get: 761 printf("name = %s\n", name); 762 just type: 763 printf("name = %s\n", n^P); 764 or even: 765 printf("name = %s\n", ^P); 766The 'n' in '\n' is skipped. 767 768After expanding a word, you can use CTRL-X CTRL-P or CTRL-X CTRL-N to get the 769word following the expansion in other contexts. These sequences search for 770the text just expanded and further expand by getting an extra word. This is 771useful if you need to repeat a sequence of complicated words. Although CTRL-P 772and CTRL-N look just for strings of at least two characters, CTRL-X CTRL-P and 773CTRL-X CTRL-N can be used to expand words of just one character. 774 e.g., to get: 775 México 776 you can type: 777 M^N^P^X^P^X^P 778CTRL-N starts the expansion and then CTRL-P takes back the single character 779"M", the next two CTRL-X CTRL-P's get the words "é" and ";xico". 780 781If the previous expansion was split, because it got longer than 'textwidth', 782then just the text in the current line will be used. 783 784If the match found is at the end of a line, then the first word in the next 785line will be inserted and the message "word from next line" displayed, if 786this word is accepted the next CTRL-X CTRL-P or CTRL-X CTRL-N will search 787for those lines starting with this word. 788 789 790Completing keywords in 'dictionary' *compl-dictionary* 791 792 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K* 793CTRL-X CTRL-K Search the files given with the 'dictionary' option 794 for words that start with the keyword in front of the 795 cursor. This is like CTRL-N, but only the dictionary 796 files are searched, not the current file. The found 797 keyword is inserted in front of the cursor. This 798 could potentially be pretty slow, since all matches 799 are found before the first match is used. By default, 800 the 'dictionary' option is empty. 801 For suggestions where to find a list of words, see the 802 'dictionary' option. 803 804 CTRL-K or 805 CTRL-N Search forward for next matching keyword. This 806 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 807 808 CTRL-P Search backwards for next matching keyword. This 809 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 810 811 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T* 812CTRL-X CTRL-T Works as CTRL-X CTRL-K, but in a special way. It uses 813 the 'thesaurus' option instead of 'dictionary'. If a 814 match is found in the thesaurus file, all the 815 remaining words on the same line are included as 816 matches, even though they don't complete the word. 817 Thus a word can be completely replaced. 818 819 For an example, imagine the 'thesaurus' file has a 820 line like this: > 821 angry furious mad enraged 822< Placing the cursor after the letters "ang" and typing 823 CTRL-X CTRL-T would complete the word "angry"; 824 subsequent presses would change the word to "furious", 825 "mad" etc. 826 Other uses include translation between two languages, 827 or grouping API functions by keyword. 828 829 CTRL-T or 830 CTRL-N Search forward for next matching keyword. This 831 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 832 833 CTRL-P Search backwards for next matching keyword. This 834 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 835 836 837Completing keywords in the current and included files *compl-keyword* 838 839The 'include' option is used to specify a line that contains an include file 840name. The 'path' option is used to search for include files. 841 842 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I* 843CTRL-X CTRL-I Search for the first keyword in the current and 844 included files that starts with the same characters 845 as those before the cursor. The matched keyword is 846 inserted in front of the cursor. 847 848 CTRL-N Search forwards for next matching keyword. This 849 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 850 Note: CTRL-I is the same as <Tab>, which is likely to 851 be typed after a successful completion, therefore 852 CTRL-I is not used for searching for the next match. 853 854 CTRL-P Search backward for previous matching keyword. This 855 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 856 857 CTRL-X CTRL-I Further use of CTRL-X CTRL-I will copy the words 858 following the previous expansion in other contexts 859 unless a double CTRL-X is used. 860 861Completing tags *compl-tag* 862 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]* 863CTRL-X CTRL-] Search for the first tag that starts with the same 864 characters as before the cursor. The matching tag is 865 inserted in front of the cursor. Alphabetic 866 characters and characters in 'iskeyword' are used 867 to decide which characters are included in the tag 868 name (same as for a keyword). See also |CTRL-]|. 869 The 'showfulltag' option can be used to add context 870 from around the tag definition. 871 CTRL-] or 872 CTRL-N Search forwards for next matching tag. This tag 873 replaces the previous matching tag. 874 875 CTRL-P Search backward for previous matching tag. This tag 876 replaces the previous matching tag. 877 878 879Completing file names *compl-filename* 880 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-F* 881CTRL-X CTRL-F Search for the first file name that starts with the 882 same characters as before the cursor. The matching 883 file name is inserted in front of the cursor. 884 Alphabetic characters and characters in 'isfname' 885 are used to decide which characters are included in 886 the file name. Note: the 'path' option is not used 887 here (yet). 888 CTRL-F or 889 CTRL-N Search forwards for next matching file name. This 890 file name replaces the previous matching file name. 891 892 CTRL-P Search backward for previous matching file name. 893 This file name replaces the previous matching file 894 name. 895 896 897Completing definitions or macros *compl-define* 898 899The 'define' option is used to specify a line that contains a definition. 900The 'include' option is used to specify a line that contains an include file 901name. The 'path' option is used to search for include files. 902 903 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D* 904CTRL-X CTRL-D Search in the current and included files for the 905 first definition (or macro) name that starts with 906 the same characters as before the cursor. The found 907 definition name is inserted in front of the cursor. 908 CTRL-D or 909 CTRL-N Search forwards for next matching macro name. This 910 macro name replaces the previous matching macro 911 name. 912 913 CTRL-P Search backward for previous matching macro name. 914 This macro name replaces the previous matching macro 915 name. 916 917 CTRL-X CTRL-D Further use of CTRL-X CTRL-D will copy the words 918 following the previous expansion in other contexts 919 unless a double CTRL-X is used. 920 921 922Completing Vim commands *compl-vim* 923 924Completion is context-sensitive. It works like on the Command-line. It 925completes an Ex command as well as its arguments. This is useful when writing 926a Vim script. 927 928 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-V* 929CTRL-X CTRL-V Guess what kind of item is in front of the cursor and 930 find the first match for it. 931 Note: When CTRL-V is mapped you can often use CTRL-Q 932 instead of |i_CTRL-Q|. 933 CTRL-V or 934 CTRL-N Search forwards for next match. This match replaces 935 the previous one. 936 937 CTRL-P Search backwards for previous match. This match 938 replaces the previous one. 939 940 CTRL-X CTRL-V Further use of CTRL-X CTRL-V will do the same as 941 CTRL-V. This allows mapping a key to do Vim command 942 completion, for example: > 943 :imap <Tab> <C-X><C-V> 944 945User defined completion *compl-function* 946 947Completion is done by a function that can be defined by the user with the 948'completefunc' option. See below for how the function is called and an 949example |complete-functions|. 950 951 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-U* 952CTRL-X CTRL-U Guess what kind of item is in front of the cursor and 953 find the first match for it. 954 CTRL-U or 955 CTRL-N Use the next match. This match replaces the previous 956 one. 957 958 CTRL-P Use the previous match. This match replaces the 959 previous one. 960 961 962Omni completion *compl-omni* 963 964Completion is done by a function that can be defined by the user with the 965'omnifunc' option. This is to be used for filetype-specific completion. 966 967See below for how the function is called and an example |complete-functions|. 968For remarks about specific filetypes see |compl-omni-filetypes|. 969More completion scripts will appear, check www.vim.org. Currently there is a 970first version for C++. 971 972 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O* 973CTRL-X CTRL-O Guess what kind of item is in front of the cursor and 974 find the first match for it. 975 CTRL-O or 976 CTRL-N Use the next match. This match replaces the previous 977 one. 978 979 CTRL-P Use the previous match. This match replaces the 980 previous one. 981 982 983Spelling suggestions *compl-spelling* 984 985A word before or at the cursor is located and correctly spelled words are 986suggested to replace it. If there is a badly spelled word in the line, before 987or under the cursor, the cursor is moved to after it. Otherwise the word just 988before the cursor is used for suggestions, even though it isn't badly spelled. 989 990NOTE: CTRL-S suspends display in many Unix terminals. Use 's' instead. Type 991CTRL-Q to resume displaying. 992 993 *i_CTRL-X_CTRL-S* *i_CTRL-X_s* 994CTRL-X CTRL-S or 995CTRL-X s Locate the word in front of the cursor and find the 996 first spell suggestion for it. 997 CTRL-S or 998 CTRL-N Use the next suggestion. This replaces the previous 999 one. Note that you can't use 's' here. 1000 1001 CTRL-P Use the previous suggestion. This replaces the 1002 previous one. 1003 1004 1005Completing keywords from different sources *compl-generic* 1006 1007 *i_CTRL-N* 1008CTRL-N Find next match for words that start with the 1009 keyword in front of the cursor, looking in places 1010 specified with the 'complete' option. The found 1011 keyword is inserted in front of the cursor. 1012 1013 *i_CTRL-P* 1014CTRL-P Find previous match for words that start with the 1015 keyword in front of the cursor, looking in places 1016 specified with the 'complete' option. The found 1017 keyword is inserted in front of the cursor. 1018 1019 CTRL-N Search forward for next matching keyword. This 1020 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 1021 1022 CTRL-P Search backwards for next matching keyword. This 1023 keyword replaces the previous matching keyword. 1024 1025 CTRL-X CTRL-N or 1026 CTRL-X CTRL-P Further use of CTRL-X CTRL-N or CTRL-X CTRL-P will 1027 copy the words following the previous expansion in 1028 other contexts unless a double CTRL-X is used. 1029 1030 1031FUNCTIONS FOR FINDING COMPLETIONS *complete-functions* 1032 1033This applies to 'completefunc' and 'omnifunc'. 1034 1035The function is called in two different ways: 1036- First the function is called to find the start of the text to be completed. 1037- Later the function is called to actually find the matches. 1038 1039On the first invocation the arguments are: 1040 a:findstart 1 1041 a:base empty 1042 1043The function must return the column where the completion starts. It must be a 1044number between zero and the cursor column "col('.')". This involves looking 1045at the characters just before the cursor and including those characters that 1046could be part of the completed item. The text between this column and the 1047cursor column will be replaced with the matches. If the returned value is 1048larger than the cursor column, the cursor column is used. 1049 1050Negative return values: 1051 -2 To cancel silently and stay in completion mode. 1052 -3 To cancel silently and leave completion mode. 1053 Another negative value: completion starts at the cursor column 1054 1055On the second invocation the arguments are: 1056 a:findstart 0 1057 a:base the text with which matches should match; the text that was 1058 located in the first call (can be empty) 1059 1060The function must return a List with the matching words. These matches 1061usually include the "a:base" text. When there are no matches return an empty 1062List. 1063 1064In order to return more information than the matching words, return a Dict 1065that contains the List. The Dict can have these items: 1066 words The List of matching words (mandatory). 1067 refresh A string to control re-invocation of the function 1068 (optional). 1069 The only value currently recognized is "always", the 1070 effect is that the function is called whenever the 1071 leading text is changed. 1072 1073If you want to suppress the warning message for an empty result, return 1074|v:none|. This is useful to implement asynchronous completion with 1075|complete()|. 1076 1077Other items are ignored. 1078 1079For acting upon end of completion, see the |CompleteDone| autocommand event. 1080 1081For example, the function can contain this: > 1082 let matches = ... list of words ... 1083 return {'words': matches, 'refresh': 'always'} 1084< 1085 *complete-items* 1086Each list item can either be a string or a Dictionary. When it is a string it 1087is used as the completion. When it is a Dictionary it can contain these 1088items: 1089 word the text that will be inserted, mandatory 1090 abbr abbreviation of "word"; when not empty it is used in 1091 the menu instead of "word" 1092 menu extra text for the popup menu, displayed after "word" 1093 or "abbr" 1094 info more information about the item, can be displayed in a 1095 preview window 1096 kind single letter indicating the type of completion 1097 icase when non-zero case is to be ignored when comparing 1098 items to be equal; when omitted zero is used, thus 1099 items that only differ in case are added 1100 equal when non-zero, always treat this item to be equal when 1101 comparing. Which means, "equal=1" disables filtering 1102 of this item. 1103 dup when non-zero this match will be added even when an 1104 item with the same word is already present. 1105 empty when non-zero this match will be added even when it is 1106 an empty string 1107 user_data custom data which is associated with the item and 1108 available in |v:completed_item| 1109 1110All of these except "icase", "equal", "dup" and "empty" must be a string. If 1111an item does not meet these requirements then an error message is given and 1112further items in the list are not used. You can mix string and Dictionary 1113items in the returned list. 1114 1115The "menu" item is used in the popup menu and may be truncated, thus it should 1116be relatively short. The "info" item can be longer, it will be displayed in 1117the preview window when "preview" appears in 'completeopt'. The "info" item 1118will also remain displayed after the popup menu has been removed. This is 1119useful for function arguments. Use a single space for "info" to remove 1120existing text in the preview window. The size of the preview window is three 1121lines, but 'previewheight' is used when it has a value of 1 or 2. 1122 1123The "kind" item uses a single letter to indicate the kind of completion. This 1124may be used to show the completion differently (different color or icon). 1125Currently these types can be used: 1126 v variable 1127 f function or method 1128 m member of a struct or class 1129 t typedef 1130 d #define or macro 1131 1132When searching for matches takes some time call |complete_add()| to add each 1133match to the total list. These matches should then not appear in the returned 1134list! Call |complete_check()| now and then to allow the user to press a key 1135while still searching for matches. Stop searching when it returns non-zero. 1136 1137 *E839* *E840* 1138The function is allowed to move the cursor, it is restored afterwards. 1139The function is not allowed to move to another window or delete text. 1140 1141An example that completes the names of the months: > 1142 fun! CompleteMonths(findstart, base) 1143 if a:findstart 1144 " locate the start of the word 1145 let line = getline('.') 1146 let start = col('.') - 1 1147 while start > 0 && line[start - 1] =~ '\a' 1148 let start -= 1 1149 endwhile 1150 return start 1151 else 1152 " find months matching with "a:base" 1153 let res = [] 1154 for m in split("Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec") 1155 if m =~ '^' . a:base 1156 call add(res, m) 1157 endif 1158 endfor 1159 return res 1160 endif 1161 endfun 1162 set completefunc=CompleteMonths 1163< 1164The same, but now pretending searching for matches is slow: > 1165 fun! CompleteMonths(findstart, base) 1166 if a:findstart 1167 " locate the start of the word 1168 let line = getline('.') 1169 let start = col('.') - 1 1170 while start > 0 && line[start - 1] =~ '\a' 1171 let start -= 1 1172 endwhile 1173 return start 1174 else 1175 " find months matching with "a:base" 1176 for m in split("Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec") 1177 if m =~ '^' . a:base 1178 call complete_add(m) 1179 endif 1180 sleep 300m " simulate searching for next match 1181 if complete_check() 1182 break 1183 endif 1184 endfor 1185 return [] 1186 endif 1187 endfun 1188 set completefunc=CompleteMonths 1189< 1190 1191INSERT COMPLETION POPUP MENU *ins-completion-menu* 1192 *popupmenu-completion* 1193Vim can display the matches in a simplistic popup menu. 1194 1195The menu is used when: 1196- The 'completeopt' option contains "menu" or "menuone". 1197- The terminal supports at least 8 colors. 1198- There are at least two matches. One if "menuone" is used. 1199 1200The 'pumheight' option can be used to set a maximum height. The default is to 1201use all space available. 1202The 'pumwidth' option can be used to set a minimum width. The default is 15 1203characters. 1204 1205There are three states: 12061. A complete match has been inserted, e.g., after using CTRL-N or CTRL-P. 12072. A cursor key has been used to select another match. The match was not 1208 inserted then, only the entry in the popup menu is highlighted. 12093. Only part of a match has been inserted and characters were typed or the 1210 backspace key was used. The list of matches was then adjusted for what is 1211 in front of the cursor. 1212 1213You normally start in the first state, with the first match being inserted. 1214When "longest" is in 'completeopt' and there is more than one match you start 1215in the third state. 1216 1217If you select another match, e.g., with CTRL-N or CTRL-P, you go to the first 1218state. This doesn't change the list of matches. 1219 1220When you are back at the original text then you are in the third state. To 1221get there right away you can use a mapping that uses CTRL-P right after 1222starting the completion: > 1223 :imap <F7> <C-N><C-P> 1224< 1225 *popupmenu-keys* 1226In the first state these keys have a special meaning: 1227<BS> and CTRL-H Delete one character, find the matches for the word before 1228 the cursor. This reduces the list of matches, often to one 1229 entry, and switches to the second state. 1230Any non-special character: 1231 Stop completion without changing the match and insert the 1232 typed character. 1233 1234In the second and third state these keys have a special meaning: 1235<BS> and CTRL-H Delete one character, find the matches for the shorter word 1236 before the cursor. This may find more matches. 1237CTRL-L Add one character from the current match, may reduce the 1238 number of matches. 1239any printable, non-white character: 1240 Add this character and reduce the number of matches. 1241 1242In all three states these can be used: 1243CTRL-Y Yes: Accept the currently selected match and stop completion. 1244CTRL-E End completion, go back to what was there before selecting a 1245 match (what was typed or longest common string). 1246<PageUp> Select a match several entries back, but don't insert it. 1247<PageDown> Select a match several entries further, but don't insert it. 1248<Up> Select the previous match, as if CTRL-P was used, but don't 1249 insert it. 1250<Down> Select the next match, as if CTRL-N was used, but don't 1251 insert it. 1252<Space> or <Tab> Stop completion without changing the match and insert the 1253 typed character. 1254 1255The behavior of the <Enter> key depends on the state you are in: 1256first state: Use the text as it is and insert a line break. 1257second state: Insert the currently selected match. 1258third state: Use the text as it is and insert a line break. 1259 1260In other words: If you used the cursor keys to select another entry in the 1261list of matches then the <Enter> key inserts that match. If you typed 1262something else then <Enter> inserts a line break. 1263 1264 1265The colors of the menu can be changed with these highlight groups: 1266Pmenu normal item |hl-Pmenu| 1267PmenuSel selected item |hl-PmenuSel| 1268PmenuSbar scrollbar |hl-PmenuSbar| 1269PmenuThumb thumb of the scrollbar |hl-PmenuThumb| 1270 1271There are no special mappings for when the popup menu is visible. However, 1272you can use an Insert mode mapping that checks the |pumvisible()| function to 1273do something different. Example: > 1274 :inoremap <Down> <C-R>=pumvisible() ? "\<lt>C-N>" : "\<lt>Down>"<CR> 1275 1276You can use of <expr> in mapping to have the popup menu used when typing a 1277character and some condition is met. For example, for typing a dot: > 1278 inoremap <expr> . MayComplete() 1279 func MayComplete() 1280 if (can complete) 1281 return ".\<C-X>\<C-O>" 1282 endif 1283 return '.' 1284 endfunc 1285 1286See |:map-<expr>| for more info. 1287 1288 1289FILETYPE-SPECIFIC REMARKS FOR OMNI COMPLETION *compl-omni-filetypes* 1290 1291The file used for {filetype} should be autoload/{filetype}complete.vim 1292in 'runtimepath'. Thus for "java" it is autoload/javacomplete.vim. 1293 1294 1295C *ft-c-omni* 1296 1297Completion of C code requires a tags file. You should use Exuberant ctags, 1298because it adds extra information that is needed for completion. You can find 1299it here: http://ctags.sourceforge.net/ Version 5.6 or later is recommended. 1300 1301For version 5.5.4 you should add a patch that adds the "typename:" field: 1302 ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/unstable/patches/ctags-5.5.4.patch 1303A compiled .exe for MS-Windows can be found at: 1304 http://ctags.sourceforge.net/ 1305 https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags-win32 1306 1307If you want to complete system functions you can do something like this. Use 1308ctags to generate a tags file for all the system header files: > 1309 % ctags -R -f ~/.vim/systags /usr/include /usr/local/include 1310In your vimrc file add this tags file to the 'tags' option: > 1311 set tags+=~/.vim/systags 1312 1313When using CTRL-X CTRL-O after a name without any "." or "->" it is completed 1314from the tags file directly. This works for any identifier, also function 1315names. If you want to complete a local variable name, which does not appear 1316in the tags file, use CTRL-P instead. 1317 1318When using CTRL-X CTRL-O after something that has "." or "->" Vim will attempt 1319to recognize the type of the variable and figure out what members it has. 1320This means only members valid for the variable will be listed. 1321 1322When a member name already was complete, CTRL-X CTRL-O will add a "." or 1323"->" for composite types. 1324 1325Vim doesn't include a C compiler, only the most obviously formatted 1326declarations are recognized. Preprocessor stuff may cause confusion. 1327When the same structure name appears in multiple places all possible members 1328are included. 1329 1330 1331CSS *ft-css-omni* 1332 1333Complete properties and their appropriate values according to CSS 2.1 1334specification. 1335 1336 1337HTML *ft-html-omni* 1338XHTML *ft-xhtml-omni* 1339 1340CTRL-X CTRL-O provides completion of various elements of (X)HTML files. It is 1341designed to support writing of XHTML 1.0 Strict files but will also work for 1342other versions of HTML. Features: 1343 1344- after "<" complete tag name depending on context (no div suggestion inside 1345 of an a tag); '/>' indicates empty tags 1346- inside of tag complete proper attributes (no width attribute for an a tag); 1347 show also type of attribute; '*' indicates required attributes 1348- when attribute has limited number of possible values help to complete them 1349- complete names of entities 1350- complete values of "class" and "id" attributes with data obtained from 1351 <style> tag and included CSS files 1352- when completing value of "style" attribute or working inside of "style" tag 1353 switch to |ft-css-omni| completion 1354- when completing values of events attributes or working inside of "script" 1355 tag switch to |ft-javascript-omni| completion 1356- when used after "</" CTRL-X CTRL-O will close the last opened tag 1357 1358Note: When used first time completion menu will be shown with little delay 1359- this is time needed for loading of data file. 1360Note: Completion may fail in badly formatted documents. In such case try to 1361run |:make| command to detect formatting problems. 1362 1363 1364HTML flavor *html-flavor* 1365 1366The default HTML completion depends on the filetype. For HTML files it is 1367HTML 4.01 Transitional ('filetype' is "html"), for XHTML it is XHTML 1.0 1368Strict ('filetype' is "xhtml"). 1369 1370When doing completion outside of any other tag you will have possibility to 1371choose DOCTYPE and the appropriate data file will be loaded and used for all 1372next completions. 1373 1374More about format of data file in |xml-omni-datafile|. Some of the data files 1375may be found on the Vim website (|www|). 1376 1377Note that b:html_omni_flavor may point to a file with any XML data. This 1378makes possible to mix PHP (|ft-php-omni|) completion with any XML dialect 1379(assuming you have data file for it). Without setting that variable XHTML 1.0 1380Strict will be used. 1381 1382 1383JAVASCRIPT *ft-javascript-omni* 1384 1385Completion of most elements of JavaScript language and DOM elements. 1386 1387Complete: 1388 1389- variables 1390- function name; show function arguments 1391- function arguments 1392- properties of variables trying to detect type of variable 1393- complete DOM objects and properties depending on context 1394- keywords of language 1395 1396Completion works in separate JavaScript files (&ft==javascript), inside of 1397<script> tag of (X)HTML and in values of event attributes (including scanning 1398of external files). 1399 1400DOM compatibility 1401 1402At the moment (beginning of 2006) there are two main browsers - MS Internet 1403Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. These two applications are covering over 90% of 1404market. Theoretically standards are created by W3C organisation 1405(http://www.w3c.org) but they are not always followed/implemented. 1406 1407 IE FF W3C Omni completion ~ 1408 +/- +/- + + ~ 1409 + + - + ~ 1410 + - - - ~ 1411 - + - - ~ 1412 1413Regardless from state of implementation in browsers but if element is defined 1414in standards, completion plugin will place element in suggestion list. When 1415both major engines implemented element, even if this is not in standards it 1416will be suggested. All other elements are not placed in suggestion list. 1417 1418 1419PHP *ft-php-omni* 1420 1421Completion of PHP code requires a tags file for completion of data from 1422external files and for class aware completion. You should use Exuberant ctags 1423version 5.5.4 or newer. You can find it here: http://ctags.sourceforge.net/ 1424 1425Script completes: 1426 1427- after $ variables name 1428 - if variable was declared as object add "->", if tags file is available show 1429 name of class 1430 - after "->" complete only function and variable names specific for given 1431 class. To find class location and contents tags file is required. Because 1432 PHP isn't strongly typed language user can use @var tag to declare class: > 1433 1434 /* @var $myVar myClass */ 1435 $myVar-> 1436< 1437 Still, to find myClass contents tags file is required. 1438 1439- function names with additional info: 1440 - in case of built-in functions list of possible arguments and after | type 1441 data returned by function 1442 - in case of user function arguments and name of file where function was 1443 defined (if it is not current file) 1444 1445- constants names 1446- class names after "new" declaration 1447 1448 1449Note: when doing completion first time Vim will load all necessary data into 1450memory. It may take several seconds. After next use of completion delay 1451should not be noticeable. 1452 1453Script detects if cursor is inside <?php ?> tags. If it is outside it will 1454automatically switch to HTML/CSS/JavaScript completion. Note: contrary to 1455original HTML files completion of tags (and only tags) isn't context aware. 1456 1457 1458RUBY *ft-ruby-omni* 1459 1460Completion of Ruby code requires that vim be built with |+ruby|. 1461 1462Ruby completion will parse your buffer on demand in order to provide a list of 1463completions. These completions will be drawn from modules loaded by 'require' 1464and modules defined in the current buffer. 1465 1466The completions provided by CTRL-X CTRL-O are sensitive to the context: 1467 1468 CONTEXT COMPLETIONS PROVIDED ~ 1469 1470 1. Not inside a class definition Classes, constants and globals 1471 1472 2. Inside a class definition Methods or constants defined in the class 1473 1474 3. After '.', '::' or ':' Methods applicable to the object being 1475 dereferenced 1476 1477 4. After ':' or ':foo' Symbol name (beginning with 'foo') 1478 1479Notes: 1480 - Vim will load/evaluate code in order to provide completions. This may 1481 cause some code execution, which may be a concern. This is no longer 1482 enabled by default, to enable this feature add > 1483 let g:rubycomplete_buffer_loading = 1 1484<- In context 1 above, Vim can parse the entire buffer to add a list of 1485 classes to the completion results. This feature is turned off by default, 1486 to enable it add > 1487 let g:rubycomplete_classes_in_global = 1 1488< to your vimrc 1489 - In context 2 above, anonymous classes are not supported. 1490 - In context 3 above, Vim will attempt to determine the methods supported by 1491 the object. 1492 - Vim can detect and load the Rails environment for files within a rails 1493 project. The feature is disabled by default, to enable it add > 1494 let g:rubycomplete_rails = 1 1495< to your vimrc 1496 1497 1498SYNTAX *ft-syntax-omni* 1499 1500Vim has the ability to color syntax highlight nearly 500 languages. Part of 1501this highlighting includes knowing what keywords are part of a language. Many 1502filetypes already have custom completion scripts written for them, the 1503syntaxcomplete plugin provides basic completion for all other filetypes. It 1504does this by populating the omni completion list with the text Vim already 1505knows how to color highlight. It can be used for any filetype and provides a 1506minimal language-sensitive completion. 1507 1508To enable syntax code completion you can run: > 1509 setlocal omnifunc=syntaxcomplete#Complete 1510 1511You can automate this by placing the following in your |.vimrc| (after any 1512":filetype" command): > 1513 if has("autocmd") && exists("+omnifunc") 1514 autocmd Filetype * 1515 \ if &omnifunc == "" | 1516 \ setlocal omnifunc=syntaxcomplete#Complete | 1517 \ endif 1518 endif 1519 1520The above will set completion to this script only if a specific plugin does 1521not already exist for that filetype. 1522 1523Each filetype can have a wide range of syntax items. The plugin allows you to 1524customize which syntax groups to include or exclude from the list. Let's have 1525a look at the PHP filetype to see how this works. 1526 1527If you edit a file called, index.php, run the following command: > 1528 syntax list 1529 1530The first thing you will notice is that there are many different syntax groups. 1531The PHP language can include elements from different languages like HTML, 1532JavaScript and many more. The syntax plugin will only include syntax groups 1533that begin with the filetype, "php", in this case. For example these syntax 1534groups are included by default with the PHP: phpEnvVar, phpIntVar, 1535phpFunctions. 1536 1537If you wish non-filetype syntax items to also be included, you can use a 1538regular expression syntax (added in version 13.0 of 1539autoload/syntaxcomplete.vim) to add items. Looking at the output from 1540":syntax list" while editing a PHP file I can see some of these entries: > 1541 htmlArg,htmlTag,htmlTagName,javaScriptStatement,javaScriptGlobalObjects 1542 1543To pick up any JavaScript and HTML keyword syntax groups while editing a PHP 1544file, you can use 3 different regexs, one for each language. Or you can 1545simply restrict the include groups to a particular value, without using 1546a regex string: > 1547 let g:omni_syntax_group_include_php = 'php\w\+,javaScript\w\+,html\w\+' 1548 let g:omni_syntax_group_include_php = 'phpFunctions,phpMethods' 1549< 1550The basic form of this variable is: > 1551 let g:omni_syntax_group_include_{filetype} = 'regex,comma,separated' 1552 1553The PHP language has an enormous number of items which it knows how to syntax 1554highlight. These items will be available within the omni completion list. 1555 1556Some people may find this list unwieldy or are only interested in certain 1557items. There are two ways to prune this list (if necessary). If you find 1558certain syntax groups you do not wish displayed you can use two different 1559methods to identify these groups. The first specifically lists the syntax 1560groups by name. The second uses a regular expression to identify both 1561syntax groups. Simply add one the following to your vimrc: > 1562 let g:omni_syntax_group_exclude_php = 'phpCoreConstant,phpConstant' 1563 let g:omni_syntax_group_exclude_php = 'php\w*Constant' 1564 1565Add as many syntax groups to this list by comma separating them. The basic 1566form of this variable is: > 1567 let g:omni_syntax_group_exclude_{filetype} = 'regex,comma,separated' 1568 1569You can create as many of these variables as you need, varying only the 1570filetype at the end of the variable name. 1571 1572The plugin uses the isKeyword option to determine where word boundaries are 1573for the syntax items. For example, in the Scheme language completion should 1574include the "-", call-with-output-file. Depending on your filetype, this may 1575not provide the words you are expecting. Setting the 1576g:omni_syntax_use_iskeyword option to 0 will force the syntax plugin to break 1577on word characters. This can be controlled adding the following to your 1578vimrc: > 1579 let g:omni_syntax_use_iskeyword = 0 1580 1581For plugin developers, the plugin exposes a public function OmniSyntaxList. 1582This function can be used to request a List of syntax items. When editing a 1583SQL file (:e syntax.sql) you can use the ":syntax list" command to see the 1584various groups and syntax items. For example: > 1585 syntax list 1586 1587Yields data similar to this: 1588 sqlOperator xxx some prior all like and any escape exists in is not ~ 1589 or intersect minus between distinct ~ 1590 links to Operator ~ 1591 sqlType xxx varbit varchar nvarchar bigint int uniqueidentifier ~ 1592 date money long tinyint unsigned xml text smalldate ~ 1593 double datetime nchar smallint numeric time bit char ~ 1594 varbinary binary smallmoney ~ 1595 image float integer timestamp real decimal ~ 1596 1597There are two syntax groups listed here: sqlOperator and sqlType. To retrieve 1598a List of syntax items you can call OmniSyntaxList a number of different 1599ways. To retrieve all syntax items regardless of syntax group: > 1600 echo OmniSyntaxList( [] ) 1601 1602To retrieve only the syntax items for the sqlOperator syntax group: > 1603 echo OmniSyntaxList( ['sqlOperator'] ) 1604 1605To retrieve all syntax items for both the sqlOperator and sqlType groups: > 1606 echo OmniSyntaxList( ['sqlOperator', 'sqlType'] ) 1607 1608A regular expression can also be used: > 1609 echo OmniSyntaxList( ['sql\w\+'] ) 1610 1611From within a plugin, you would typically assign the output to a List: > 1612 let myKeywords = [] 1613 let myKeywords = OmniSyntaxList( ['sqlKeyword'] ) 1614 1615 1616SQL *ft-sql-omni* 1617 1618Completion for the SQL language includes statements, functions, keywords. 1619It will also dynamically complete tables, procedures, views and column lists 1620with data pulled directly from within a database. For detailed instructions 1621and a tutorial see |omni-sql-completion|. 1622 1623The SQL completion plugin can be used in conjunction with other completion 1624plugins. For example, the PHP filetype has its own completion plugin. 1625Since PHP is often used to generate dynamic website by accessing a database, 1626the SQL completion plugin can also be enabled. This allows you to complete 1627PHP code and SQL code at the same time. 1628 1629 1630XML *ft-xml-omni* 1631 1632Vim 7 provides a mechanism for context aware completion of XML files. It 1633depends on a special |xml-omni-datafile| and two commands: |:XMLns| and 1634|:XMLent|. Features are: 1635 1636- after "<" complete the tag name, depending on context 1637- inside of a tag complete proper attributes 1638- when an attribute has a limited number of possible values help to complete 1639 them 1640- complete names of entities (defined in |xml-omni-datafile| and in the 1641 current file with "<!ENTITY" declarations) 1642- when used after "</" CTRL-X CTRL-O will close the last opened tag 1643 1644Format of XML data file *xml-omni-datafile* 1645 1646XML data files are stored in the "autoload/xml" directory in 'runtimepath'. 1647Vim distribution provides examples of data files in the 1648"$VIMRUNTIME/autoload/xml" directory. They have a meaningful name which will 1649be used in commands. It should be a unique name which will not create 1650conflicts. For example, the name xhtml10s.vim means it is the data file for 1651XHTML 1.0 Strict. 1652 1653Each file contains a variable with a name like g:xmldata_xhtml10s . It is 1654a compound from two parts: 1655 16561. "g:xmldata_" general prefix, constant for all data files 16572. "xhtml10s" the name of the file and the name of the described XML 1658 dialect; it will be used as an argument for the |:XMLns| 1659 command 1660 1661Part two must be exactly the same as name of file. 1662 1663The variable is a |Dictionary|. Keys are tag names and each value is a two 1664element |List|. The first element of the List is also a List with the names 1665of possible children. The second element is a |Dictionary| with the names of 1666attributes as keys and the possible values of attributes as values. Example: > 1667 1668 let g:xmldata_crippled = { 1669 \ "vimxmlentities": ["amp", "lt", "gt", "apos", "quot"], 1670 \ 'vimxmlroot': ['tag1'], 1671 \ 'tag1': 1672 \ [ ['childoftag1a', 'childoftag1b'], {'attroftag1a': [], 1673 \ 'attroftag1b': ['valueofattr1', 'valueofattr2']}], 1674 \ 'childoftag1a': 1675 \ [ [], {'attrofchild': ['attrofchild']}], 1676 \ 'childoftag1b': 1677 \ [ ['childoftag1a'], {'attrofchild': []}], 1678 \ "vimxmltaginfo": { 1679 \ 'tag1': ['Menu info', 'Long information visible in preview window']}, 1680 \ 'vimxmlattrinfo': { 1681 \ 'attrofchild': ['Menu info', 'Long information visible in preview window']}} 1682 1683This example would be put in the "autoload/xml/crippled.vim" file and could 1684help to write this file: > 1685 1686 <tag1 attroftag1b="valueofattr1"> 1687 <childoftag1a attrofchild> 1688 & < 1689 </childoftag1a> 1690 <childoftag1b attrofchild="5"> 1691 <childoftag1a> 1692 > ' " 1693 </childoftag1a> 1694 </childoftag1b> 1695 </tag1> 1696 1697In the example four special elements are visible: 1698 16991. "vimxmlentities" - a special key with List containing entities of this XML 1700 dialect. 17012. If the list containing possible values of attributes has one element and 1702 this element is equal to the name of the attribute this attribute will be 1703 treated as boolean and inserted as 'attrname' and not as 'attrname="' 17043. "vimxmltaginfo" - a special key with a Dictionary containing tag 1705 names as keys and two element List as values, for additional menu info and 1706 the long description. 17074. "vimxmlattrinfo" - special key with Dictionary containing attribute names 1708 as keys and two element List as values, for additional menu info and long 1709 description. 1710 1711Note: Tag names in the data file MUST not contain a namespace description. 1712Check xsl.vim for an example. 1713Note: All data and functions are publicly available as global 1714variables/functions and can be used for personal editing functions. 1715 1716 1717DTD -> Vim *dtd2vim* 1718 1719On |www| is the script |dtd2vim| which parses DTD and creates an XML data file 1720for Vim XML omni completion. 1721 1722 dtd2vim: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1462 1723 1724Check the beginning of that file for usage details. 1725The script requires perl and: 1726 1727 perlSGML: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/perlsgml 1728 1729 1730Commands 1731 1732:XMLns {name} [{namespace}] *:XMLns* 1733 1734Vim has to know which data file should be used and with which namespace. For 1735loading of the data file and connecting data with the proper namespace use 1736|:XMLns| command. The first (obligatory) argument is the name of the data 1737(xhtml10s, xsl). The second argument is the code of namespace (h, xsl). When 1738used without a second argument the dialect will be used as default - without 1739namespace declaration. For example to use XML completion in .xsl files: > 1740 1741 :XMLns xhtml10s 1742 :XMLns xsl xsl 1743 1744 1745:XMLent {name} *:XMLent* 1746 1747By default entities will be completed from the data file of the default 1748namespace. The XMLent command should be used in case when there is no default 1749namespace: > 1750 1751 :XMLent xhtml10s 1752 1753Usage 1754 1755While used in this situation (after declarations from previous part, | is 1756cursor position): > 1757 1758 <| 1759 1760Will complete to an appropriate XHTML tag, and in this situation: > 1761 1762 <xsl:| 1763 1764Will complete to an appropriate XSL tag. 1765 1766 1767The script xmlcomplete.vim, provided through the |autoload| mechanism, 1768has the xmlcomplete#GetLastOpenTag() function which can be used in XML files 1769to get the name of the last open tag (b:unaryTagsStack has to be defined): > 1770 1771 :echo xmlcomplete#GetLastOpenTag("b:unaryTagsStack") 1772 1773 1774 1775============================================================================== 17768. Insert mode commands *inserting* 1777 1778The following commands can be used to insert new text into the buffer. They 1779can all be undone and repeated with the "." command. 1780 1781 *a* 1782a Append text after the cursor [count] times. If the 1783 cursor is in the first column of an empty line Insert 1784 starts there. But not when 'virtualedit' is set! 1785 1786 *A* 1787A Append text at the end of the line [count] times. 1788 1789<insert> or *i* *insert* *<Insert>* 1790i Insert text before the cursor [count] times. 1791 When using CTRL-O in Insert mode |i_CTRL-O| the count 1792 is not supported. 1793 1794 *I* 1795I Insert text before the first non-blank in the line 1796 [count] times. 1797 When the 'H' flag is present in 'cpoptions' and the 1798 line only contains blanks, insert start just before 1799 the last blank. 1800 1801 *gI* 1802gI Insert text in column 1 [count] times. 1803 1804 *gi* 1805gi Insert text in the same position as where Insert mode 1806 was stopped last time in the current buffer. 1807 This uses the |'^| mark. It's different from "`^i" 1808 when the mark is past the end of the line. 1809 The position is corrected for inserted/deleted lines, 1810 but NOT for inserted/deleted characters. 1811 When the |:keepjumps| command modifier is used the |'^| 1812 mark won't be changed. 1813 1814 *o* 1815o Begin a new line below the cursor and insert text, 1816 repeat [count] times. 1817 When the '#' flag is in 'cpoptions' the count is 1818 ignored. 1819 1820 *O* 1821O Begin a new line above the cursor and insert text, 1822 repeat [count] times. 1823 When the '#' flag is in 'cpoptions' the count is 1824 ignored. 1825 1826These commands are used to start inserting text. You can end insert mode with 1827<Esc>. See |mode-ins-repl| for the other special characters in Insert mode. 1828The effect of [count] takes place after Insert mode is exited. 1829 1830When 'autoindent' is on, the indent for a new line is obtained from the 1831previous line. When 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is on, the indent for a line 1832is automatically adjusted for C programs. 1833 1834'textwidth' can be set to the maximum width for a line. When a line becomes 1835too long when appending characters a line break is automatically inserted. 1836 1837 1838============================================================================== 18399. Ex insert commands *inserting-ex* 1840 1841 *:a* *:append* 1842:{range}a[ppend][!] Insert several lines of text below the specified 1843 line. If the {range} is missing, the text will be 1844 inserted after the current line. 1845 Adding [!] toggles 'autoindent' for the time this 1846 command is executed. 1847 1848 *:i* *:in* *:insert* 1849:{range}i[nsert][!] Insert several lines of text above the specified 1850 line. If the {range} is missing, the text will be 1851 inserted before the current line. 1852 Adding [!] toggles 'autoindent' for the time this 1853 command is executed. 1854 1855These two commands will keep on asking for lines, until you type a line 1856containing only a ".". Watch out for lines starting with a backslash, see 1857|line-continuation|. 1858 1859When in Ex mode (see |-e|) a backslash at the end of the line can be used to 1860insert a NUL character. To be able to have a line ending in a backslash use 1861two backslashes. This means that the number of backslashes is halved, but 1862only at the end of the line. 1863 1864NOTE: These commands cannot be used with |:global| or |:vglobal|. 1865":append" and ":insert" don't work properly in between ":if" and 1866":endif", ":for" and ":endfor", ":while" and ":endwhile". 1867 1868 *:start* *:startinsert* 1869:star[tinsert][!] Start Insert mode just after executing this command. 1870 Works like typing "i" in Normal mode. When the ! is 1871 included it works like "A", append to the line. 1872 Otherwise insertion starts at the cursor position. 1873 Note that when using this command in a function or 1874 script, the insertion only starts after the function 1875 or script is finished. 1876 This command does not work from |:normal|. 1877 1878 *:stopi* *:stopinsert* 1879:stopi[nsert] Stop Insert mode as soon as possible. Works like 1880 typing <Esc> in Insert mode. 1881 Can be used in an autocommand, example: > 1882 :au BufEnter scratch stopinsert 1883< 1884 *replacing-ex* *:startreplace* 1885:startr[eplace][!] Start Replace mode just after executing this command. 1886 Works just like typing "R" in Normal mode. When the 1887 ! is included it acts just like "$R" had been typed 1888 (ie. begin replace mode at the end-of-line). Other- 1889 wise replacement begins at the cursor position. 1890 Note that when using this command in a function or 1891 script that the replacement will only start after 1892 the function or script is finished. 1893 1894 *:startgreplace* 1895:startg[replace][!] Just like |:startreplace|, but use Virtual Replace 1896 mode, like with |gR|. 1897 1898============================================================================== 189910. Inserting a file *inserting-file* 1900 1901 *:r* *:re* *:read* 1902:r[ead] [++opt] [name] 1903 Insert the file [name] (default: current file) below 1904 the cursor. 1905 See |++opt| for the possible values of [++opt]. 1906 1907:{range}r[ead] [++opt] [name] 1908 Insert the file [name] (default: current file) below 1909 the specified line. 1910 See |++opt| for the possible values of [++opt]. 1911 1912 *:r!* *:read!* 1913:[range]r[ead] [++opt] !{cmd} 1914 Execute {cmd} and insert its standard output below 1915 the cursor or the specified line. A temporary file is 1916 used to store the output of the command which is then 1917 read into the buffer. 'shellredir' is used to save 1918 the output of the command, which can be set to include 1919 stderr or not. {cmd} is executed like with ":!{cmd}", 1920 any '!' is replaced with the previous command |:!|. 1921 See |++opt| for the possible values of [++opt]. 1922 1923These commands insert the contents of a file, or the output of a command, 1924into the buffer. They can be undone. They cannot be repeated with the "." 1925command. They work on a line basis, insertion starts below the line in which 1926the cursor is, or below the specified line. To insert text above the first 1927line use the command ":0r {name}". 1928 1929After the ":read" command, the cursor is left on the first non-blank in the 1930first new line. Unless in Ex mode, then the cursor is left on the last new 1931line (sorry, this is Vi compatible). 1932 1933If a file name is given with ":r", it becomes the alternate file. This can be 1934used, for example, when you want to edit that file instead: ":e! #". This can 1935be switched off by removing the 'a' flag from the 'cpoptions' option. 1936 1937Of the [++opt] arguments one is specifically for ":read", the ++edit argument. 1938This is useful when the ":read" command is actually used to read a file into 1939the buffer as if editing that file. Use this command in an empty buffer: > 1940 :read ++edit filename 1941The effect is that the 'fileformat', 'fileencoding', 'bomb', etc. options are 1942set to what has been detected for "filename". Note that a single empty line 1943remains, you may want to delete it. 1944 1945 *file-read* 1946The 'fileformat' option sets the <EOL> style for a file: 1947'fileformat' characters name ~ 1948 "dos" <CR><NL> or <NL> DOS format 1949 "unix" <NL> Unix format 1950 "mac" <CR> Mac format 1951Previously 'textmode' was used. It is obsolete now. 1952 1953If 'fileformat' is "dos", a <CR> in front of an <NL> is ignored and a CTRL-Z 1954at the end of the file is ignored. 1955 1956If 'fileformat' is "mac", a <NL> in the file is internally represented by a 1957<CR>. This is to avoid confusion with a <NL> which is used to represent a 1958<NUL>. See |CR-used-for-NL|. 1959 1960If the 'fileformats' option is not empty Vim tries to recognize the type of 1961<EOL> (see |file-formats|). However, the 'fileformat' option will not be 1962changed, the detected format is only used while reading the file. 1963A similar thing happens with 'fileencodings'. 1964 1965On non-MS-DOS, Win32, and OS/2 systems the message "[dos format]" is shown if 1966a file is read in DOS format, to remind you that something unusual is done. 1967On Macintosh, MS-DOS, Win32, and OS/2 the message "[unix format]" is shown if 1968a file is read in Unix format. 1969On non-Macintosh systems, the message "[Mac format]" is shown if a file is 1970read in Mac format. 1971 1972An example on how to use ":r !": > 1973 :r !uuencode binfile binfile 1974This command reads "binfile", uuencodes it and reads it into the current 1975buffer. Useful when you are editing e-mail and want to include a binary 1976file. 1977 1978 *read-messages* 1979When reading a file Vim will display a message with information about the read 1980file. In the table is an explanation for some of the items. The others are 1981self explanatory. Using the long or the short version depends on the 1982'shortmess' option. 1983 1984 long short meaning ~ 1985 [readonly] {RO} the file is write protected 1986 [fifo/socket] using a stream 1987 [fifo] using a fifo stream 1988 [socket] using a socket stream 1989 [CR missing] reading with "dos" 'fileformat' and a 1990 NL without a preceding CR was found. 1991 [NL found] reading with "mac" 'fileformat' and a 1992 NL was found (could be "unix" format) 1993 [long lines split] at least one line was split in two 1994 [NOT converted] conversion from 'fileencoding' to 1995 'encoding' was desired but not 1996 possible 1997 [converted] conversion from 'fileencoding' to 1998 'encoding' done 1999 [crypted] file was decrypted 2000 [READ ERRORS] not all of the file could be read 2001 2002 2003 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: 2004