1*intro.txt* For Vim version 8.2. Last change: 2021 Sep 29 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Introduction to Vim *ref* *reference* 8 91. Introduction |intro| 102. Vim on the internet |internet| 113. Credits |credits| 124. Notation |notation| 135. Modes, introduction |vim-modes-intro| 146. Switching from mode to mode |mode-switching| 157. The window contents |window-contents| 168. Definitions |definitions| 17 18============================================================================== 191. Introduction *intro* 20 21Vim stands for Vi IMproved. It used to be Vi IMitation, but there are so many 22improvements that a name change was appropriate. Vim is a text editor which 23includes almost all the commands from the Unix program "Vi" and a lot of new 24ones. It is very useful for editing programs and other plain text. 25 All commands are given with the keyboard. This has the advantage that you 26can keep your fingers on the keyboard and your eyes on the screen. For those 27who want it, there is mouse support and a GUI version with scrollbars and 28menus (see |gui.txt|). 29 30An overview of this manual can be found in the file "help.txt", |help.txt|. 31It can be accessed from within Vim with the <Help> or <F1> key and with the 32|:help| command (just type ":help", without the bars or quotes). 33 The 'helpfile' option can be set to the name of the help file, in case it 34is not located in the default place. You can jump to subjects like with tags: 35Use CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor, use CTRL-T to jump back. 36 37The differences between Vi and Vim are mentioned in |vi_diff.txt|. 38 39This manual refers to Vim on various machines. There may be small differences 40between different computers and terminals. Besides the remarks given in this 41document, there is a separate document for each supported system, see 42|sys-file-list|. 43 44 *pronounce* 45Vim is pronounced as one word, like Jim, not vi-ai-em. It's written with a 46capital, since it's a name, again like Jim. 47 48This manual is a reference for all the Vim commands and options. This is not 49an introduction to the use of Vi or Vim, it gets a bit complicated here and 50there. For beginners, there is a hands-on |tutor|. To learn using Vim, read 51the user manual |usr_toc.txt|. 52 53 *book* *books* 54Most books on Vi and Vim contain a section for beginners. Others are spending 55more words on specific functionality. You can find an overview of Vim books 56here: 57 http://iccf-holland.org/vim_books.html 58 59============================================================================== 602. Vim on the internet *internet* 61 62 *www* *WWW* *faq* *FAQ* *distribution* *download* 63The Vim pages contain the most recent information about Vim. They also 64contain links to the most recent version of Vim. The FAQ is a list of 65Frequently Asked Questions. Read this if you have problems. 66 67 Vim home page: https://www.vim.org/ 68 Vim FAQ: https://vimhelp.org/vim_faq.txt.html 69 Downloading: https://www.vim.org/download.php 70 71 72Asking questions, finding answers: https://vi.stackexchange.com/ 73"Vi and Vim Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people using the 74vi and Vim families of text editors" 75 76 77Usenet News group where Vim is discussed: *news* *usenet* 78 comp.editors 79This group is also for other editors. If you write about Vim, don't forget to 80mention that. 81You can access it here: 82https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.editors 83 84 *mail-list* *maillist* 85There are several mailing lists for Vim: 86<[email protected]> *vim-use* *vim_use* 87 For discussions about using existing versions of Vim: Useful mappings, 88 questions, answers, where to get a specific version, etc. There are 89 quite a few people watching this list and answering questions, also 90 for beginners. Don't hesitate to ask your question here. 91<[email protected]> *vim-dev* *vim_dev* *vimdev* 92 For discussions about changing Vim: New features, porting, patches, 93 beta-test versions, etc. 94<[email protected]> *vim-announce* *vim_announce* 95 Announcements about new versions of Vim; also for beta-test versions 96 and ports to different systems. This is a read-only list. 97<[email protected]> *vim-mac* *vim_mac* 98 For discussions about using and improving the Macintosh version of 99 Vim. 100 101See http://www.vim.org/maillist.php for the latest information. 102 103NOTE: 104- Anyone can see the archive, e.g. on Google groups. Search this if you have 105 questions. 106- You can only send messages to these lists if you have subscribed! 107- The first message is moderated, thus it may take a few hours to show up. 108- You need to send the messages from the same location as where you subscribed 109 from (to avoid spam mail). 110 111 *subscribe-maillist* 112If you want to join, send a message to 113 <[email protected]> 114Make sure that your "From:" address is correct. Then the list server will 115give you help on how to subscribe. 116 117 *maillist-archive* 118For more information and archives look on the Vim maillist page: 119http://www.vim.org/maillist.php 120 121 122Bug reports: *bugs* *bug-reports* *bugreport.vim* 123 124There are three ways to report bugs: 1251. Open an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/vim/vim/issues 126 The text will be forwarded to the vim-dev maillist. 1272. For issues with runtime files, look in the header for an email address or 128 any other way to report it to the maintainer. 1293. Send bug reports to: Vim Developers <[email protected]> 130 This is a maillist, you need to become a member first and many people will 131 see the message. If you don't want that, e.g. because it is a security 132 issue, send it to <[email protected]>, this only goes to the Vim maintainer 133 (that's Bram). 134 135Please be brief; all the time that is spent on answering mail is subtracted 136from the time that is spent on improving Vim! Always give a reproducible 137example and try to find out which settings or other things trigger the bug. 138 139Preferably start Vim with: > 140 vim --clean -u reproduce.vim 141Where reproduce.vim is a script that reproduces the problem. Try different 142machines, if relevant (is this an MS-Windows specific bug perhaps?). 143 144Send me patches if you can! If you create a pull request on 145https://github.com/vim/vim then the automated checks will run and report any 146obvious problems. But you can also send the patch by email (use an attachment 147to avoid white space changes). 148 149It will help to include information about the version of Vim you are using and 150your setup. You can get the information with this command: > 151 :so $VIMRUNTIME/bugreport.vim 152This will create a file "bugreport.txt" in the current directory, with a lot 153of information of your environment. Before sending this out, check if it 154doesn't contain any confidential information! 155 156If Vim crashes, please try to find out where. You can find help on this here: 157|debug.txt|. 158 159In case of doubt or when you wonder if the problem has already been fixed but 160you can't find a fix for it, become a member of the vim-dev maillist and ask 161your question there. |maillist| 162 163 *year-2000* *Y2K* 164Since Vim internally doesn't use dates for editing, there is no year 2000 165problem to worry about. Vim does use the time in the form of seconds since 166January 1st 1970. It is used for a time-stamp check of the edited file and 167the swap file, which is not critical and should only cause warning messages. 168 169There might be a year 2038 problem, when the seconds don't fit in a 32 bit int 170anymore. This depends on the compiler, libraries and operating system. 171Specifically, time_t and the ctime() function are used. And the time_t is 172stored in four bytes in the swap file. But that's only used for printing a 173file date/time for recovery, it will never affect normal editing. 174 175The Vim strftime() function directly uses the strftime() system function. 176localtime() uses the time() system function. getftime() uses the time 177returned by the stat() system function. If your system libraries are year 1782000 compliant, Vim is too. 179 180The user may create scripts for Vim that use external commands. These might 181introduce Y2K problems, but those are not really part of Vim itself. 182 183============================================================================== 1843. Credits *credits* *author* *Bram* *Moolenaar* 185 186Most of Vim was created by Bram Moolenaar <[email protected]>. 187 188Parts of the documentation come from several Vi manuals, written by: 189 W.N. Joy 190 Alan P.W. Hewett 191 Mark Horton 192 193The Vim editor is based on Stevie and includes (ideas from) other software, 194worked on by the people mentioned here. Other people helped by sending me 195patches, suggestions and giving feedback about what is good and bad in Vim. 196 197Vim would never have become what it is now, without the help of these people! 198 199 Ron Aaron Win32 GUI changes 200 Mohsin Ahmed encryption 201 Zoltan Arpadffy work on VMS port 202 Tony Andrews Stevie 203 Gert van Antwerpen changes for DJGPP on MS-DOS 204 Berkeley DB(3) ideas for swap file implementation 205 Keith Bostic Nvi 206 Walter Briscoe Makefile updates, various patches 207 Ralf Brown SPAWNO library for MS-DOS 208 Robert Colon many useful remarks 209 Marcin Dalecki GTK+ GUI port, toolbar icons, gettext() 210 Kayhan Demirel sent me news in Uganda 211 Chris & John Downey xvi (ideas for multi-windows version) 212 Henk Elbers first VMS port 213 Daniel Elstner GTK+ 2 port 214 Eric Fischer Mac port, 'cindent', and other improvements 215 Benji Fisher Answering lots of user questions 216 Bill Foster Athena GUI port 217 Google Lets me work on Vim one day a week 218 Loic Grenie xvim (ideas for multi windows version) 219 Sven Guckes Vim promoter and previous WWW page maintainer 220 Darren Hiebert Exuberant ctags 221 Jason Hildebrand GTK+ 2 port 222 Bruce Hunsaker improvements for VMS port 223 Andy Kahn Cscope support, GTK+ GUI port 224 Oezguer Kesim Maintainer of Vim Mailing Lists 225 Axel Kielhorn work on the Macintosh port 226 Steve Kirkendall Elvis 227 Roger Knobbe original port to Windows NT 228 Sergey Laskavy Vim's help from Moscow 229 Felix von Leitner Previous maintainer of Vim Mailing Lists 230 David Leonard Port of Python extensions to Unix 231 Avner Lottem Edit in right-to-left windows 232 Flemming Madsen X11 client-server, various features and patches 233 Tony Mechelynck answers many user questions 234 Paul Moore Python interface extensions, many patches 235 Katsuhito Nagano Work on multibyte versions 236 Sung-Hyun Nam Work on multibyte versions 237 Vince Negri Win32 GUI and generic console enhancements 238 Steve Oualline Author of the first Vim book |frombook| 239 Dominique Pelle Valgrind reports and many fixes 240 A.Politz Many bug reports and some fixes 241 George V. Reilly Win32 port, Win32 GUI start-off 242 Stephen Riehm bug collector 243 Stefan Roemer various patches and help to users 244 Ralf Schandl IBM OS/390 port 245 Olaf Seibert DICE and BeBox version, regexp improvements 246 Mortaza Shiran Farsi patches 247 Peter da Silva termlib 248 Paul Slootman OS/2 port 249 Henry Spencer regular expressions 250 Dany St-Amant Macintosh port 251 Tim Thompson Stevie 252 G. R. (Fred) Walter Stevie 253 Sven Verdoolaege Perl interface 254 Robert Webb Command-line completion, GUI versions, and 255 lots of patches 256 Ingo Wilken Tcl interface 257 Mike Williams PostScript printing 258 Juergen Weigert Lattice version, AUX improvements, UNIX and 259 MS-DOS ports, autoconf 260 Stefan 'Sec' Zehl Maintainer of vim.org 261 Yasuhiro Matsumoto many MS-Windows improvements 262 Ken Takata fixes and features 263 Kazunobu Kuriyama GTK 3 264 Christian Brabandt many fixes, features, user support, etc. 265 Yegappan Lakshmanan many quickfix features 266 267I wish to thank all the people that sent me bug reports and suggestions. The 268list is too long to mention them all here. Vim would not be the same without 269the ideas from all these people: They keep Vim alive! 270*love* *peace* *friendship* *gross-national-happiness* 271 272 273In this documentation there are several references to other versions of Vi: 274 *Vi* *vi* 275Vi "the original". Without further remarks this is the version 276 of Vi that appeared in Sun OS 4.x. ":version" returns 277 "Version 3.7, 6/7/85". Sometimes other versions are referred 278 to. Only runs under Unix. Source code is now available under a 279 BSD-style license. More information on Vi can be found through: 280 http://ex-vi.sourceforge.net/ 281 *Posix* 282Posix From the IEEE standard 1003.2, Part 2: Shell and utilities. 283 Generally known as "Posix". This is a textual description of 284 how Vi is supposed to work. 285 See |posix-compliance|. 286 *Nvi* 287Nvi The "New" Vi. The version of Vi that comes with BSD 4.4 and FreeBSD. 288 Very good compatibility with the original Vi, with a few extensions. 289 The version used is 1.79. ":version" returns "Version 1.79 290 (10/23/96)". There has been no release the last few years, although 291 there is a development version 1.81. 292 Source code is freely available. 293 *Elvis* 294Elvis Another Vi clone, made by Steve Kirkendall. Very compact but isn't 295 as flexible as Vim. Development has stalled, Elvis has left the 296 building! Source code is freely available. 297 *Neovim* 298Neovim A Vim clone. Forked the Vim source in 2014 and went a different way. 299 Very much bound to github and has many more dependencies, making 300 development more complex and limiting portability. Code has been 301 refactored, resulting in patches not being exchangeable with Vim. 302 Supports a remote GUI and integration with scripting languages. 303 304============================================================================== 3054. Notation *notation* 306 307When syntax highlighting is used to read this, text that is not typed 308literally is often highlighted with the Special group. These are items in [], 309{} and <>, and CTRL-X. 310 311Note that Vim uses all possible characters in commands. Sometimes the [], {} 312and <> are part of what you type, the context should make this clear. 313 314 315[] Characters in square brackets are optional. 316 317 *count* *[count]* 318[count] An optional number that may precede the command to multiply 319 or iterate the command. If no number is given, a count of one 320 is used, unless otherwise noted. Note that in this manual the 321 [count] is not mentioned in the description of the command, 322 but only in the explanation. This was done to make the 323 commands easier to look up. If the 'showcmd' option is on, 324 the (partially) entered count is shown at the bottom of the 325 window. You can use <Del> to erase the last digit (|N<Del>|). 326 327 *[quotex]* 328["x] An optional register designation where text can be stored. 329 See |registers|. The x is a single character between 'a' and 330 'z' or 'A' and 'Z' or '"', and in some cases (with the put 331 command) between '0' and '9', '%', '#', or others. The 332 uppercase and lowercase letter designate the same register, 333 but the lowercase letter is used to overwrite the previous 334 register contents, while the uppercase letter is used to 335 append to the previous register contents. Without the ""x" or 336 with """" the stored text is put into the unnamed register. 337 338 *{}* 339{} Curly braces denote parts of the command which must appear, 340 but which can take a number of different values. The 341 differences between Vim and Vi are also given in curly braces 342 (this will be clear from the context). 343 344 *{char1-char2}* 345{char1-char2} A single character from the range char1 to char2. For 346 example: {a-z} is a lowercase letter. Multiple ranges may be 347 concatenated. For example, {a-zA-Z0-9} is any alphanumeric 348 character. 349 350 *{motion}* *movement* 351{motion} A command that moves the cursor. These are explained in 352 |motion.txt|. Examples: 353 w to start of next word 354 b to begin of current word 355 4j four lines down 356 /The<CR> to next occurrence of "The" 357 This is used after an |operator| command to move over the text 358 that is to be operated upon. 359 - If the motion includes a count and the operator also has a 360 count, the two counts are multiplied. For example: "2d3w" 361 deletes six words. 362 - The motion can be backwards, e.g. "db" to delete to the 363 start of the word. 364 - The motion can also be a mouse click. The mouse is not 365 supported in every terminal though. 366 - The ":omap" command can be used to map characters while an 367 operator is pending. 368 - Ex commands can be used to move the cursor. This can be 369 used to call a function that does some complicated motion. 370 The motion is always characterwise exclusive, no matter 371 what ":" command is used. This means it's impossible to 372 include the last character of a line without the line break 373 (unless 'virtualedit' is set). 374 If the Ex command changes the text before where the operator 375 starts or jumps to another buffer the result is 376 unpredictable. It is possible to change the text further 377 down. Jumping to another buffer is possible if the current 378 buffer is not unloaded. 379 380 *{Visual}* 381{Visual} A selected text area. It is started with the "v", "V", or 382 CTRL-V command, then any cursor movement command can be used 383 to change the end of the selected text. 384 This is used before an |operator| command to highlight the 385 text that is to be operated upon. 386 See |Visual-mode|. 387 388 *<character>* 389<character> A special character from the table below, optionally with 390 modifiers, or a single ASCII character with modifiers. 391 392 *'character'* 393'c' A single ASCII character. 394 395 *CTRL-{char}* 396CTRL-{char} {char} typed as a control character; that is, typing {char} 397 while holding the CTRL key down. The case of {char} does not 398 matter; thus CTRL-A and CTRL-a are equivalent. But on some 399 terminals, using the SHIFT key will produce another code, 400 don't use it then. 401 402 *'option'* 403'option' An option, or parameter, that can be set to a value, is 404 enclosed in single quotes. See |options|. 405 406 *quotecommandquote* 407"command" A reference to a command that you can type is enclosed in 408 double quotes. 409`command` New style command, this distinguishes it from other quoted 410 text and strings. 411 412 *key-notation* *key-codes* *keycodes* 413These names for keys are used in the documentation. They can also be used 414with the ":map" command (insert the key name by pressing CTRL-K and then the 415key you want the name for). 416 417notation meaning equivalent decimal value(s) ~ 418----------------------------------------------------------------------- 419<Nul> zero CTRL-@ 0 (stored as 10) *<Nul>* 420<BS> backspace CTRL-H 8 *backspace* 421<Tab> tab CTRL-I 9 *tab* *Tab* 422 *linefeed* 423<NL> linefeed CTRL-J 10 (used for <Nul>) 424<CR> carriage return CTRL-M 13 *carriage-return* 425<Return> same as <CR> *<Return>* 426<Enter> same as <CR> *<Enter>* 427<Esc> escape CTRL-[ 27 *escape* *<Esc>* 428<Space> space 32 *space* 429<lt> less-than < 60 *<lt>* 430<Bslash> backslash \ 92 *backslash* *<Bslash>* 431<Bar> vertical bar | 124 *<Bar>* 432<Del> delete 127 433<CSI> command sequence intro ALT-Esc 155 *<CSI>* 434<xCSI> CSI when typed in the GUI *<xCSI>* 435 436<EOL> end-of-line (can be <CR>, <NL> or <CR><NL>, 437 depends on system and 'fileformat') *<EOL>* 438 439<Up> cursor-up *cursor-up* *cursor_up* 440<Down> cursor-down *cursor-down* *cursor_down* 441<Left> cursor-left *cursor-left* *cursor_left* 442<Right> cursor-right *cursor-right* *cursor_right* 443<S-Up> shift-cursor-up 444<S-Down> shift-cursor-down 445<S-Left> shift-cursor-left 446<S-Right> shift-cursor-right 447<C-Left> control-cursor-left 448<C-Right> control-cursor-right 449<F1> - <F12> function keys 1 to 12 *function_key* *function-key* 450<S-F1> - <S-F12> shift-function keys 1 to 12 *<S-F1>* 451<Help> help key 452<Undo> undo key 453<Insert> insert key 454<Home> home *home* 455<End> end *end* 456<PageUp> page-up *page_up* *page-up* 457<PageDown> page-down *page_down* *page-down* 458<kHome> keypad home (upper left) *keypad-home* 459<kEnd> keypad end (lower left) *keypad-end* 460<kPageUp> keypad page-up (upper right) *keypad-page-up* 461<kPageDown> keypad page-down (lower right) *keypad-page-down* 462<kPlus> keypad + *keypad-plus* 463<kMinus> keypad - *keypad-minus* 464<kMultiply> keypad * *keypad-multiply* 465<kDivide> keypad / *keypad-divide* 466<kEnter> keypad Enter *keypad-enter* 467<kPoint> keypad Decimal point *keypad-point* 468<k0> - <k9> keypad 0 to 9 *keypad-0* *keypad-9* 469<S-...> shift-key *shift* *<S-* 470<C-...> control-key *control* *ctrl* *<C-* 471<M-...> alt-key or meta-key *meta* *alt* *<M-* 472<A-...> same as <M-...> *<A-* 473<D-...> command-key (Macintosh only) *<D-* 474<t_xx> key with "xx" entry in termcap 475----------------------------------------------------------------------- 476 477Note: The shifted cursor keys, the help key, and the undo key are only 478available on a few terminals. On the Amiga, shifted function key 10 produces 479a code (CSI) that is also used by key sequences. It will be recognized only 480after typing another key. 481 482Note: There are two codes for the delete key. 127 is the decimal ASCII value 483for the delete key, which is always recognized. Some delete keys send another 484value, in which case this value is obtained from the termcap entry "kD". Both 485values have the same effect. Also see |:fixdel|. 486 487Note: The keypad keys are used in the same way as the corresponding "normal" 488keys. For example, <kHome> has the same effect as <Home>. If a keypad key 489sends the same raw key code as its non-keypad equivalent, it will be 490recognized as the non-keypad code. For example, when <kHome> sends the same 491code as <Home>, when pressing <kHome> Vim will think <Home> was pressed. 492Mapping <kHome> will not work then. 493 494 *<>* 495Examples are often given in the <> notation. Sometimes this is just to make 496clear what you need to type, but often it can be typed literally, e.g., with 497the ":map" command. The rules are: 498 1. Any printable characters are typed directly, except backslash and '<' 499 2. A backslash is represented with "\\", double backslash, or "<Bslash>". 500 3. A real '<' is represented with "\<" or "<lt>". When there is no 501 confusion possible, a '<' can be used directly. 502 4. "<key>" means the special key typed. This is the notation explained in 503 the table above. A few examples: 504 <Esc> Escape key 505 <C-G> CTRL-G 506 <Up> cursor up key 507 <C-LeftMouse> Control- left mouse click 508 <S-F11> Shifted function key 11 509 <M-a> Meta- a ('a' with bit 8 set) 510 <M-A> Meta- A ('A' with bit 8 set) 511 <t_kd> "kd" termcap entry (cursor down key) 512 Although you can specify <M-{char}> with {char} being a multibyte 513 character, Vim may not be able to know what byte sequence that is and then 514 it won't work. 515 516If you want to use the full <> notation in Vim, you have to make sure the '<' 517flag is excluded from 'cpoptions' (when 'compatible' is not set, it already is 518by default). > 519 :set cpo-=< 520The <> notation uses <lt> to escape the special meaning of key names. Using a 521backslash also works, but only when 'cpoptions' does not include the 'B' flag. 522 523Examples for mapping CTRL-H to the six characters "<Home>": > 524 :imap <C-H> \<Home> 525 :imap <C-H> <lt>Home> 526The first one only works when the 'B' flag is not in 'cpoptions'. The second 527one always works. 528To get a literal "<lt>" in a mapping: > 529 :map <C-L> <lt>lt> 530 531For mapping, abbreviation and menu commands you can then copy-paste the 532examples and use them directly. Or type them literally, including the '<' and 533'>' characters. This does NOT work for other commands, like ":set" and 534":autocmd"! 535 536============================================================================== 5375. Modes, introduction *vim-modes-intro* *vim-modes* 538 539Vim has seven BASIC modes: 540 541 *Normal* *Normal-mode* *command-mode* 542Normal mode In Normal mode you can enter all the normal editor 543 commands. If you start the editor you are in this 544 mode (unless you have set the 'insertmode' option, 545 see below). This is also known as command mode. 546 547Visual mode This is like Normal mode, but the movement commands 548 extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement 549 command is used, it is executed for the highlighted 550 area. See |Visual-mode|. 551 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VISUAL --" is shown 552 at the bottom of the window. 553 554Select mode This looks most like the MS-Windows selection mode. 555 Typing a printable character deletes the selection 556 and starts Insert mode. See |Select-mode|. 557 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- SELECT --" is shown 558 at the bottom of the window. 559 560Insert mode In Insert mode the text you type is inserted into the 561 buffer. See |Insert-mode|. 562 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- INSERT --" is shown 563 at the bottom of the window. 564 565Command-line mode In Command-line mode (also called Cmdline mode) you 566Cmdline mode can enter one line of text at the bottom of the 567 window. This is for the Ex commands, ":", the pattern 568 search commands, "?" and "/", and the filter command, 569 "!". |Cmdline-mode| 570 571Ex mode Like Command-line mode, but after entering a command 572 you remain in Ex mode. Very limited editing of the 573 command line. |Ex-mode| 574 575Terminal-Job mode Interacting with a job in a terminal window. Typed 576 keys go to the job and the job output is displayed in 577 the terminal window. See |terminal| about how to 578 switch to other modes. 579 580There are seven ADDITIONAL modes. These are variants of the BASIC modes: 581 582 *Operator-pending* *Operator-pending-mode* 583Operator-pending mode This is like Normal mode, but after an operator 584 command has started, and Vim is waiting for a {motion} 585 to specify the text that the operator will work on. 586 587Replace mode Replace mode is a special case of Insert mode. You 588 can do the same things as in Insert mode, but for 589 each character you enter, one character of the existing 590 text is deleted. See |Replace-mode|. 591 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- REPLACE --" is 592 shown at the bottom of the window. 593 594Virtual Replace mode Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but 595 instead of file characters you are replacing screen 596 real estate. See |Virtual-Replace-mode|. 597 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VREPLACE --" is 598 shown at the bottom of the window. 599 600Insert Normal mode Entered when CTRL-O is typed in Insert mode (see 601 |i_CTRL-O|). This is like Normal mode, but after 602 executing one command Vim returns to Insert mode. 603 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) --" is 604 shown at the bottom of the window. 605 606Terminal-Normal mode Using Normal mode in a terminal window. Making 607 changes is impossible. Use an insert command, such as 608 "a" or "i", to return to Terminal-Job mode. 609 610Insert Visual mode Entered when starting a Visual selection from Insert 611 mode, e.g., by using CTRL-O and then "v", "V" or 612 CTRL-V. When the Visual selection ends, Vim returns 613 to Insert mode. 614 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) VISUAL --" 615 is shown at the bottom of the window. 616 617Insert Select mode Entered when starting Select mode from Insert mode. 618 E.g., by dragging the mouse or <S-Right>. 619 When the Select mode ends, Vim returns to Insert mode. 620 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) SELECT --" 621 is shown at the bottom of the window. 622 623============================================================================== 6246. Switching from mode to mode *mode-switching* 625 626If for any reason you do not know which mode you are in, you can always get 627back to Normal mode by typing <Esc> twice. This doesn't work for Ex mode 628though, use ":visual". 629You will know you are back in Normal mode when you see the screen flash or 630hear the bell after you type <Esc>. However, when pressing <Esc> after using 631CTRL-O in Insert mode you get a beep but you are still in Insert mode, type 632<Esc> again. 633 634 *i_esc* 635 TO mode ~ 636 Normal Visual Select Insert Replace Cmd-line Ex ~ 637FROM mode ~ 638Normal v V ^V *4 *1 R gR : / ? ! Q 639Visual *2 ^G c C -- : -- 640Select *5 ^O ^G *6 -- -- -- 641Insert <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- 642Replace <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- 643Command-line *3 -- -- :start -- -- 644Ex :vi -- -- -- -- -- 645 646-- not possible 647 648*1 Go from Normal mode to Insert mode by giving the command "i", "I", "a", 649 "A", "o", "O", "c", "C", "s" or S". 650*2 Go from Visual mode to Normal mode by giving a non-movement command, which 651 causes the command to be executed, or by hitting <Esc> "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" 652 (see |v_v|), which just stops Visual mode without side effects. 653*3 Go from Command-line mode to Normal mode by: 654 - Hitting <CR> or <NL>, which causes the entered command to be executed. 655 - Deleting the complete line (e.g., with CTRL-U) and giving a final <BS>. 656 - Hitting CTRL-C or <Esc>, which quits the command-line without executing 657 the command. 658 In the last case <Esc> may be the character defined with the 'wildchar' 659 option, in which case it will start command-line completion. You can 660 ignore that and type <Esc> again. 661*4 Go from Normal to Select mode by: 662 - use the mouse to select text while 'selectmode' contains "mouse" 663 - use a non-printable command to move the cursor while keeping the Shift 664 key pressed, and the 'selectmode' option contains "key" 665 - use "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" while 'selectmode' contains "cmd" 666 - use "gh", "gH" or "g CTRL-H" |g_CTRL-H| 667*5 Go from Select mode to Normal mode by using a non-printable command to move 668 the cursor, without keeping the Shift key pressed. 669*6 Go from Select mode to Insert mode by typing a printable character. The 670 selection is deleted and the character is inserted. 671 672If the 'insertmode' option is on, editing a file will start in Insert mode. 673 674 *CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* 675Additionally the command CTRL-\ CTRL-N or <C-\><C-N> can be used to go to 676Normal mode from any other mode. This can be used to make sure Vim is in 677Normal mode, without causing a beep like <Esc> would. However, this does not 678work in Ex mode. When used after a command that takes an argument, such as 679|f| or |m|, the timeout set with 'ttimeoutlen' applies. 680When focus is in a terminal window, CTRL-\ CTRL-N goes to Normal mode until an 681edit command is entered, see |t_CTRL-\_CTRL-N|. 682 683 *CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* 684The command CTRL-\ CTRL-G or <C-\><C-G> can be used to go to Insert mode when 685'insertmode' is set. Otherwise it goes to Normal mode. This can be used to 686make sure Vim is in the mode indicated by 'insertmode', without knowing in 687what mode Vim currently is. 688 689 *Q* *mode-Ex* *Ex-mode* *Ex* *EX* *E501* 690Q Switch to "Ex" mode. This is a bit like typing ":" 691 commands one after another, except: 692 - You don't have to keep pressing ":". 693 - The screen doesn't get updated after each command. 694 - There is no normal command-line editing. 695 - Mappings and abbreviations are not used. 696 In fact, you are editing the lines with the "standard" 697 line-input editing commands (<Del> or <BS> to erase, 698 CTRL-U to kill the whole line). 699 Vim will enter this mode by default if it's invoked as 700 "ex" on the command-line. 701 Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode. 702 Note: In older versions of Vim "Q" formatted text, 703 that is now done with |gq|. But if you use the 704 |vimrc_example.vim| script "Q" works like "gq". 705 706 *gQ* 707gQ Switch to "Ex" mode like with "Q", but really behave 708 like typing ":" commands after another. All command 709 line editing, completion etc. is available. 710 Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode. 711 712============================================================================== 7137. The window contents *window-contents* 714 715In Normal mode and Insert/Replace mode the screen window will show the current 716contents of the buffer: What You See Is What You Get. There are two 717exceptions: 718- When the 'cpoptions' option contains '$', and the change is within one line, 719 the text is not directly deleted, but a '$' is put at the last deleted 720 character. 721- When inserting text in one window, other windows on the same text are not 722 updated until the insert is finished. 723 724Lines longer than the window width will wrap, unless the 'wrap' option is off 725(see below). The 'linebreak' option can be set to wrap at a blank character. 726 727If the window has room after the last line of the buffer, Vim will show '~' in 728the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: 729 730 +-----------------------+ 731 |some line | 732 |last line | 733 |~ | 734 |~ | 735 +-----------------------+ 736 737Thus the '~' lines indicate that the end of the buffer was reached. 738 739If the last line in a window doesn't fit, Vim will indicate this with a '@' in 740the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: 741 742 +-----------------------+ 743 |first line | 744 |second line | 745 |@ | 746 |@ | 747 +-----------------------+ 748 749Thus the '@' lines indicate that there is a line that doesn't fit in the 750window. 751 752When the "lastline" flag is present in the 'display' option, you will not see 753'@' characters at the left side of window. If the last line doesn't fit 754completely, only the part that fits is shown, and the last three characters of 755the last line are replaced with "@@@", like this: 756 757 +-----------------------+ 758 |first line | 759 |second line | 760 |a very long line that d| 761 |oesn't fit in the wi@@@| 762 +-----------------------+ 763 764If there is a single line that is too long to fit in the window, this is a 765special situation. Vim will show only part of the line, around where the 766cursor is. There are no special characters shown, so that you can edit all 767parts of this line. 768 769The '@' occasion in the 'highlight' option can be used to set special 770highlighting for the '@' and '~' characters. This makes it possible to 771distinguish them from real characters in the buffer. 772 773The 'showbreak' option contains the string to put in front of wrapped lines. 774 775 *wrap-off* 776If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap. Only the part that 777fits on the screen is shown. If the cursor is moved to a part of the line 778that is not shown, the screen is scrolled horizontally. The advantage of 779this method is that columns are shown as they are and lines that cannot fit 780on the screen can be edited. The disadvantage is that you cannot see all the 781characters of a line at once. The 'sidescroll' option can be set to the 782minimal number of columns to scroll. 783 784All normal ASCII characters are displayed directly on the screen. The <Tab> 785is replaced with the number of spaces that it represents. Other non-printing 786characters are replaced with "^{char}", where {char} is the non-printing 787character with 64 added. Thus character 7 (bell) will be shown as "^G". 788Characters between 127 and 160 are replaced with "~{char}", where {char} is 789the character with 64 subtracted. These characters occupy more than one 790position on the screen. The cursor can only be positioned on the first one. 791 792If you set the 'number' option, all lines will be preceded with their 793number. Tip: If you don't like wrapping lines to mix with the line numbers, 794set the 'showbreak' option to eight spaces: 795 ":set showbreak=\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ " 796 797If you set the 'list' option, <Tab> characters will not be shown as several 798spaces, but as "^I". A '$' will be placed at the end of the line, so you can 799find trailing blanks. 800 801In Command-line mode only the command-line itself is shown correctly. The 802display of the buffer contents is updated as soon as you go back to Command 803mode. 804 805The last line of the window is used for status and other messages. The 806status messages will only be used if an option is on: 807 808status message option default Unix default ~ 809current mode 'showmode' on on 810command characters 'showcmd' on off 811cursor position 'ruler' off off 812 813The current mode is "-- INSERT --" or "-- REPLACE --", see |'showmode'|. The 814command characters are those that you typed but were not used yet. 815 816If you have a slow terminal you can switch off the status messages to speed 817up editing: 818 :set nosc noru nosm 819 820If there is an error, an error message will be shown for at least one second 821(in reverse video). 822 823Some commands show how many lines were affected. Above which threshold this 824happens can be controlled with the 'report' option (default 2). 825 826On the Amiga Vim will run in a CLI window. The name Vim and the full name of 827the current file name will be shown in the title bar. When the window is 828resized, Vim will automatically redraw the window. You may make the window as 829small as you like, but if it gets too small not a single line will fit in it. 830Make it at least 40 characters wide to be able to read most messages on the 831last line. 832 833On most Unix systems, resizing the window is recognized and handled correctly 834by Vim. 835 836============================================================================== 8378. Definitions *definitions* 838 839 buffer Contains lines of text, usually read from a file. 840 screen The whole area that Vim uses to work in. This can be 841 a terminal emulator window. Also called "the Vim 842 window". 843 window A view on a buffer. There can be multiple windows for 844 one buffer. 845 846A screen contains one or more windows, separated by status lines and with the 847command line at the bottom. 848 849 +-------------------------------+ 850screen | window 1 | window 2 | 851 | | | 852 | | | 853 |= status line =|= status line =| 854 | window 3 | 855 | | 856 | | 857 |==== status line ==============| 858 |command line | 859 +-------------------------------+ 860 861The command line is also used for messages. It scrolls up the screen when 862there is not enough room in the command line. 863 864A difference is made between four types of lines: 865 866 buffer lines The lines in the buffer. This is the same as the 867 lines as they are read from/written to a file. They 868 can be thousands of characters long. 869 logical lines The buffer lines with folding applied. Buffer lines 870 in a closed fold are changed to a single logical line: 871 "+-- 99 lines folded". They can be thousands of 872 characters long. 873 window lines The lines displayed in a window: A range of logical 874 lines with wrapping, line breaks, etc. applied. They 875 can only be as long as the width of the window allows, 876 longer lines are wrapped or truncated. 877 screen lines The lines of the screen that Vim uses. Consists of 878 the window lines of all windows, with status lines 879 and the command line added. They can only be as long 880 as the width of the screen allows. When the command 881 line gets longer it wraps and lines are scrolled to 882 make room. 883 884buffer lines logical lines window lines screen lines ~ 885 8861. one 1. one 1. +-- folded 1. +-- folded 8872. two 2. +-- folded 2. five 2. five 8883. three 3. five 3. six 3. six 8894. four 4. six 4. seven 4. seven 8905. five 5. seven 5. === status line === 8916. six 6. aaa 8927. seven 7. bbb 893 8. ccc ccc c 8941. aaa 1. aaa 1. aaa 9. cc 8952. bbb 2. bbb 2. bbb 10. ddd 8963. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc c 11. ~ 8974. ddd 4. ddd 4. cc 12. === status line === 898 5. ddd 13. (command line) 899 6. ~ 900 901============================================================================== 902 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: 903