1*intro.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2015 Jan 20 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 37Throughout this manual the differences between Vi and Vim are mentioned in 38curly braces, like this: {Vi does not have on-line help}. See |vi_diff.txt| 39for a summary of the differences between Vim and Vi. 40 41This manual refers to Vim on various machines. There may be small differences 42between different computers and terminals. Besides the remarks given in this 43document, there is a separate document for each supported system, see 44|sys-file-list|. 45 46 *pronounce* 47Vim is pronounced as one word, like Jim, not vi-ai-em. It's written with a 48capital, since it's a name, again like Jim. 49 50This manual is a reference for all the Vim commands and options. This is not 51an introduction to the use of Vi or Vim, it gets a bit complicated here and 52there. For beginners, there is a hands-on |tutor|. To learn using Vim, read 53the user manual |usr_toc.txt|. 54 55 *book* 56There are many books on Vi that contain a section for beginners. There are 57two books I can recommend: 58 59 "Vim - Vi Improved" by Steve Oualline 60 61This is the very first book completely dedicated to Vim. It is very good for 62beginners. The most often used commands are explained with pictures and 63examples. The less often used commands are also explained, the more advanced 64features are summarized. There is a comprehensive index and a quick 65reference. Parts of this book have been included in the user manual 66|frombook|. 67Published by New Riders Publishing. ISBN: 0735710015 68For more information try one of these: 69 http://iccf-holland.org/click5.html 70 http://www.vim.org/iccf/click5.html 71 72 "Learning the Vi editor" by Linda Lamb and Arnold Robbins 73 74This is a book about Vi that includes a chapter on Vim (in the sixth edition). 75The first steps in Vi are explained very well. The commands that Vim adds are 76only briefly mentioned. There is also a German translation. 77Published by O'Reilly. ISBN: 1-56592-426-6. 78 79============================================================================== 802. Vim on the internet *internet* 81 82 *www* *WWW* *faq* *FAQ* *distribution* *download* 83The Vim pages contain the most recent information about Vim. They also 84contain links to the most recent version of Vim. The FAQ is a list of 85Frequently Asked Questions. Read this if you have problems. 86 87 VIM home page: http://www.vim.org/ 88 VIM FAQ: http://vimdoc.sf.net/ 89 Downloading: ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/MIRRORS 90 91 92Usenet News group where Vim is discussed: *news* *usenet* 93 comp.editors 94This group is also for other editors. If you write about Vim, don't forget to 95mention that. 96 97 *mail-list* *maillist* 98There are several mailing lists for Vim: 99<[email protected]> 100 For discussions about using existing versions of Vim: Useful mappings, 101 questions, answers, where to get a specific version, etc. There are 102 quite a few people watching this list and answering questions, also 103 for beginners. Don't hesitate to ask your question here. 104<[email protected]> *vim-dev* *vimdev* 105 For discussions about changing Vim: New features, porting, patches, 106 beta-test versions, etc. 107<[email protected]> *vim-announce* 108 Announcements about new versions of Vim; also for beta-test versions 109 and ports to different systems. This is a read-only list. 110<[email protected]> *vim-multibyte* 111 For discussions about using and improving the multi-byte aspects of 112 Vim. 113<[email protected]> *vim-mac* 114 For discussions about using and improving the Macintosh version of 115 Vim. 116 117See http://www.vim.org/maillist.php for the latest information. 118 119NOTE: 120- You can only send messages to these lists if you have subscribed! 121- You need to send the messages from the same location as where you subscribed 122 from (to avoid spam mail). 123- Maximum message size is 40000 characters. 124 125 *subscribe-maillist* 126If you want to join, send a message to 127 <[email protected]> 128Make sure that your "From:" address is correct. Then the list server will 129give you help on how to subscribe. 130 131 *maillist-archive* 132For more information and archives look on the Vim maillist page: 133http://www.vim.org/maillist.php 134 135 136Bug reports: *bugs* *bug-reports* *bugreport.vim* 137 138Send bug reports to: Vim Developers <[email protected]> 139This is a maillist, you need to become a member first and many people will see 140the message. If you don't want that, e.g. because it is a security issue, 141send it to <[email protected]>, this only goes to the Vim maintainer (that's Bram). 142 143Please be brief; all the time that is spent on answering mail is subtracted 144from the time that is spent on improving Vim! Always give a reproducible 145example and try to find out which settings or other things influence the 146appearance of the bug. Try different machines, if possible. Send me patches 147if you can! 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 written 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 multi-byte versions 236 Sung-Hyun Nam Work on multi-byte 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 262I wish to thank all the people that sent me bug reports and suggestions. The 263list is too long to mention them all here. Vim would not be the same without 264the ideas from all these people: They keep Vim alive! 265*love* *peace* *friendship* *gross-national-happiness* 266 267 268In this documentation there are several references to other versions of Vi: 269 *Vi* *vi* 270Vi "the original". Without further remarks this is the version 271 of Vi that appeared in Sun OS 4.x. ":version" returns 272 "Version 3.7, 6/7/85". Sometimes other versions are referred 273 to. Only runs under Unix. Source code only available with a 274 license. More information on Vi can be found through: 275 http://vi-editor.org [doesn't currently work...] 276 *Posix* 277Posix From the IEEE standard 1003.2, Part 2: Shell and utilities. 278 Generally known as "Posix". This is a textual description of 279 how Vi is supposed to work. 280 See |posix-compliance|. 281 *Nvi* 282Nvi The "New" Vi. The version of Vi that comes with BSD 4.4 and FreeBSD. 283 Very good compatibility with the original Vi, with a few extensions. 284 The version used is 1.79. ":version" returns "Version 1.79 285 (10/23/96)". There has been no release the last few years, although 286 there is a development version 1.81. 287 Source code is freely available. 288 *Elvis* 289Elvis Another Vi clone, made by Steve Kirkendall. Very compact but isn't 290 as flexible as Vim. 291 The version used is 2.1. It is still being developed. Source code is 292 freely available. 293 294============================================================================== 2954. Notation *notation* 296 297When syntax highlighting is used to read this, text that is not typed 298literally is often highlighted with the Special group. These are items in [], 299{} and <>, and CTRL-X. 300 301Note that Vim uses all possible characters in commands. Sometimes the [], {} 302and <> are part of what you type, the context should make this clear. 303 304 305[] Characters in square brackets are optional. 306 307 *count* *[count]* 308[count] An optional number that may precede the command to multiply 309 or iterate the command. If no number is given, a count of one 310 is used, unless otherwise noted. Note that in this manual the 311 [count] is not mentioned in the description of the command, 312 but only in the explanation. This was done to make the 313 commands easier to look up. If the 'showcmd' option is on, 314 the (partially) entered count is shown at the bottom of the 315 window. You can use <Del> to erase the last digit (|N<Del>|). 316 317 *[quotex]* 318["x] An optional register designation where text can be stored. 319 See |registers|. The x is a single character between 'a' and 320 'z' or 'A' and 'Z' or '"', and in some cases (with the put 321 command) between '0' and '9', '%', '#', or others. The 322 uppercase and lowercase letter designate the same register, 323 but the lowercase letter is used to overwrite the previous 324 register contents, while the uppercase letter is used to 325 append to the previous register contents. Without the ""x" or 326 with """" the stored text is put into the unnamed register. 327 328 *{}* 329{} Curly braces denote parts of the command which must appear, 330 but which can take a number of different values. The 331 differences between Vim and Vi are also given in curly braces 332 (this will be clear from the context). 333 334 *{char1-char2}* 335{char1-char2} A single character from the range char1 to char2. For 336 example: {a-z} is a lowercase letter. Multiple ranges may be 337 concatenated. For example, {a-zA-Z0-9} is any alphanumeric 338 character. 339 340 *{motion}* *movement* 341{motion} A command that moves the cursor. These are explained in 342 |motion.txt|. Examples: 343 w to start of next word 344 b to begin of current word 345 4j four lines down 346 /The<CR> to next occurrence of "The" 347 This is used after an |operator| command to move over the text 348 that is to be operated upon. 349 - If the motion includes a count and the operator also has a 350 count, the two counts are multiplied. For example: "2d3w" 351 deletes six words. 352 - The motion can be backwards, e.g. "db" to delete to the 353 start of the word. 354 - The motion can also be a mouse click. The mouse is not 355 supported in every terminal though. 356 - The ":omap" command can be used to map characters while an 357 operator is pending. 358 - Ex commands can be used to move the cursor. This can be 359 used to call a function that does some complicated motion. 360 The motion is always characterwise exclusive, no matter 361 what ":" command is used. This means it's impossible to 362 include the last character of a line without the line break 363 (unless 'virtualedit' is set). 364 If the Ex command changes the text before where the operator 365 starts or jumps to another buffer the result is 366 unpredictable. It is possible to change the text further 367 down. Jumping to another buffer is possible if the current 368 buffer is not unloaded. 369 370 *{Visual}* 371{Visual} A selected text area. It is started with the "v", "V", or 372 CTRL-V command, then any cursor movement command can be used 373 to change the end of the selected text. 374 This is used before an |operator| command to highlight the 375 text that is to be operated upon. 376 See |Visual-mode|. 377 378 *<character>* 379<character> A special character from the table below, optionally with 380 modifiers, or a single ASCII character with modifiers. 381 382 *'character'* 383'c' A single ASCII character. 384 385 *CTRL-{char}* 386CTRL-{char} {char} typed as a control character; that is, typing {char} 387 while holding the CTRL key down. The case of {char} does not 388 matter; thus CTRL-A and CTRL-a are equivalent. But on some 389 terminals, using the SHIFT key will produce another code, 390 don't use it then. 391 392 *'option'* 393'option' An option, or parameter, that can be set to a value, is 394 enclosed in single quotes. See |options|. 395 396 *quotecommandquote* 397"command" A reference to a command that you can type is enclosed in 398 double quotes. 399`command` New style command, this distinguishes it from other quoted 400 text and strings. 401 402 *key-notation* *key-codes* *keycodes* 403These names for keys are used in the documentation. They can also be used 404with the ":map" command (insert the key name by pressing CTRL-K and then the 405key you want the name for). 406 407notation meaning equivalent decimal value(s) ~ 408----------------------------------------------------------------------- 409<Nul> zero CTRL-@ 0 (stored as 10) *<Nul>* 410<BS> backspace CTRL-H 8 *backspace* 411<Tab> tab CTRL-I 9 *tab* *Tab* 412 *linefeed* 413<NL> linefeed CTRL-J 10 (used for <Nul>) 414<FF> formfeed CTRL-L 12 *formfeed* 415<CR> carriage return CTRL-M 13 *carriage-return* 416<Return> same as <CR> *<Return>* 417<Enter> same as <CR> *<Enter>* 418<Esc> escape CTRL-[ 27 *escape* *<Esc>* 419<Space> space 32 *space* 420<lt> less-than < 60 *<lt>* 421<Bslash> backslash \ 92 *backslash* *<Bslash>* 422<Bar> vertical bar | 124 *<Bar>* 423<Del> delete 127 424<CSI> command sequence intro ALT-Esc 155 *<CSI>* 425<xCSI> CSI when typed in the GUI *<xCSI>* 426 427<EOL> end-of-line (can be <CR>, <LF> or <CR><LF>, 428 depends on system and 'fileformat') *<EOL>* 429 430<Up> cursor-up *cursor-up* *cursor_up* 431<Down> cursor-down *cursor-down* *cursor_down* 432<Left> cursor-left *cursor-left* *cursor_left* 433<Right> cursor-right *cursor-right* *cursor_right* 434<S-Up> shift-cursor-up 435<S-Down> shift-cursor-down 436<S-Left> shift-cursor-left 437<S-Right> shift-cursor-right 438<C-Left> control-cursor-left 439<C-Right> control-cursor-right 440<F1> - <F12> function keys 1 to 12 *function_key* *function-key* 441<S-F1> - <S-F12> shift-function keys 1 to 12 *<S-F1>* 442<Help> help key 443<Undo> undo key 444<Insert> insert key 445<Home> home *home* 446<End> end *end* 447<PageUp> page-up *page_up* *page-up* 448<PageDown> page-down *page_down* *page-down* 449<kHome> keypad home (upper left) *keypad-home* 450<kEnd> keypad end (lower left) *keypad-end* 451<kPageUp> keypad page-up (upper right) *keypad-page-up* 452<kPageDown> keypad page-down (lower right) *keypad-page-down* 453<kPlus> keypad + *keypad-plus* 454<kMinus> keypad - *keypad-minus* 455<kMultiply> keypad * *keypad-multiply* 456<kDivide> keypad / *keypad-divide* 457<kEnter> keypad Enter *keypad-enter* 458<kPoint> keypad Decimal point *keypad-point* 459<k0> - <k9> keypad 0 to 9 *keypad-0* *keypad-9* 460<S-...> shift-key *shift* *<S-* 461<C-...> control-key *control* *ctrl* *<C-* 462<M-...> alt-key or meta-key *meta* *alt* *<M-* 463<A-...> same as <M-...> *<A-* 464<D-...> command-key (Macintosh only) *<D-* 465<t_xx> key with "xx" entry in termcap 466----------------------------------------------------------------------- 467 468Note: The shifted cursor keys, the help key, and the undo key are only 469available on a few terminals. On the Amiga, shifted function key 10 produces 470a code (CSI) that is also used by key sequences. It will be recognized only 471after typing another key. 472 473Note: There are two codes for the delete key. 127 is the decimal ASCII value 474for the delete key, which is always recognized. Some delete keys send another 475value, in which case this value is obtained from the termcap entry "kD". Both 476values have the same effect. Also see |:fixdel|. 477 478Note: The keypad keys are used in the same way as the corresponding "normal" 479keys. For example, <kHome> has the same effect as <Home>. If a keypad key 480sends the same raw key code as its non-keypad equivalent, it will be 481recognized as the non-keypad code. For example, when <kHome> sends the same 482code as <Home>, when pressing <kHome> Vim will think <Home> was pressed. 483Mapping <kHome> will not work then. 484 485 *<>* 486Examples are often given in the <> notation. Sometimes this is just to make 487clear what you need to type, but often it can be typed literally, e.g., with 488the ":map" command. The rules are: 489 1. Any printable characters are typed directly, except backslash and '<' 490 2. A backslash is represented with "\\", double backslash, or "<Bslash>". 491 3. A real '<' is represented with "\<" or "<lt>". When there is no 492 confusion possible, a '<' can be used directly. 493 4. "<key>" means the special key typed. This is the notation explained in 494 the table above. A few examples: 495 <Esc> Escape key 496 <C-G> CTRL-G 497 <Up> cursor up key 498 <C-LeftMouse> Control- left mouse click 499 <S-F11> Shifted function key 11 500 <M-a> Meta- a ('a' with bit 8 set) 501 <M-A> Meta- A ('A' with bit 8 set) 502 <t_kd> "kd" termcap entry (cursor down key) 503 504If you want to use the full <> notation in Vim, you have to make sure the '<' 505flag is excluded from 'cpoptions' (when 'compatible' is not set, it already is 506by default). > 507 :set cpo-=< 508The <> notation uses <lt> to escape the special meaning of key names. Using a 509backslash also works, but only when 'cpoptions' does not include the 'B' flag. 510 511Examples for mapping CTRL-H to the six characters "<Home>": > 512 :imap <C-H> \<Home> 513 :imap <C-H> <lt>Home> 514The first one only works when the 'B' flag is not in 'cpoptions'. The second 515one always works. 516To get a literal "<lt>" in a mapping: > 517 :map <C-L> <lt>lt> 518 519For mapping, abbreviation and menu commands you can then copy-paste the 520examples and use them directly. Or type them literally, including the '<' and 521'>' characters. This does NOT work for other commands, like ":set" and 522":autocmd"! 523 524============================================================================== 5255. Modes, introduction *vim-modes-intro* *vim-modes* 526 527Vim has six BASIC modes: 528 529 *Normal* *Normal-mode* *command-mode* 530Normal mode In Normal mode you can enter all the normal editor 531 commands. If you start the editor you are in this 532 mode (unless you have set the 'insertmode' option, 533 see below). This is also known as command mode. 534 535Visual mode This is like Normal mode, but the movement commands 536 extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement 537 command is used, it is executed for the highlighted 538 area. See |Visual-mode|. 539 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VISUAL --" is shown 540 at the bottom of the window. 541 542Select mode This looks most like the MS-Windows selection mode. 543 Typing a printable character deletes the selection 544 and starts Insert mode. See |Select-mode|. 545 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- SELECT --" is shown 546 at the bottom of the window. 547 548Insert mode In Insert mode the text you type is inserted into the 549 buffer. See |Insert-mode|. 550 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- INSERT --" is shown 551 at the bottom of the window. 552 553Command-line mode In Command-line mode (also called Cmdline mode) you 554Cmdline mode can enter one line of text at the bottom of the 555 window. This is for the Ex commands, ":", the pattern 556 search commands, "?" and "/", and the filter command, 557 "!". |Cmdline-mode| 558 559Ex mode Like Command-line mode, but after entering a command 560 you remain in Ex mode. Very limited editing of the 561 command line. |Ex-mode| 562 563There are six ADDITIONAL modes. These are variants of the BASIC modes: 564 565 *Operator-pending* *Operator-pending-mode* 566Operator-pending mode This is like Normal mode, but after an operator 567 command has started, and Vim is waiting for a {motion} 568 to specify the text that the operator will work on. 569 570Replace mode Replace mode is a special case of Insert mode. You 571 can do the same things as in Insert mode, but for 572 each character you enter, one character of the existing 573 text is deleted. See |Replace-mode|. 574 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- REPLACE --" is 575 shown at the bottom of the window. 576 577Virtual Replace mode Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but 578 instead of file characters you are replacing screen 579 real estate. See |Virtual-Replace-mode|. 580 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VREPLACE --" is 581 shown at the bottom of the window. 582 583Insert Normal mode Entered when CTRL-O given in Insert mode. This is 584 like Normal mode, but after executing one command Vim 585 returns to Insert mode. 586 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) --" is 587 shown at the bottom of the window. 588 589Insert Visual mode Entered when starting a Visual selection from Insert 590 mode, e.g., by using CTRL-O and then "v", "V" or 591 CTRL-V. When the Visual selection ends, Vim returns 592 to Insert mode. 593 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) VISUAL --" 594 is shown at the bottom of the window. 595 596Insert Select mode Entered when starting Select mode from Insert mode. 597 E.g., by dragging the mouse or <S-Right>. 598 When the Select mode ends, Vim returns to Insert mode. 599 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) SELECT --" 600 is shown at the bottom of the window. 601 602============================================================================== 6036. Switching from mode to mode *mode-switching* 604 605If for any reason you do not know which mode you are in, you can always get 606back to Normal mode by typing <Esc> twice. This doesn't work for Ex mode 607though, use ":visual". 608You will know you are back in Normal mode when you see the screen flash or 609hear the bell after you type <Esc>. However, when pressing <Esc> after using 610CTRL-O in Insert mode you get a beep but you are still in Insert mode, type 611<Esc> again. 612 613 *i_esc* 614 TO mode ~ 615 Normal Visual Select Insert Replace Cmd-line Ex ~ 616FROM mode ~ 617Normal v V ^V *4 *1 R gR : / ? ! Q 618Visual *2 ^G c C -- : -- 619Select *5 ^O ^G *6 -- -- -- 620Insert <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- 621Replace <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- 622Command-line *3 -- -- :start -- -- 623Ex :vi -- -- -- -- -- 624 625-- not possible 626 627*1 Go from Normal mode to Insert mode by giving the command "i", "I", "a", 628 "A", "o", "O", "c", "C", "s" or S". 629*2 Go from Visual mode to Normal mode by giving a non-movement command, which 630 causes the command to be executed, or by hitting <Esc> "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" 631 (see |v_v|), which just stops Visual mode without side effects. 632*3 Go from Command-line mode to Normal mode by: 633 - Hitting <CR> or <NL>, which causes the entered command to be executed. 634 - Deleting the complete line (e.g., with CTRL-U) and giving a final <BS>. 635 - Hitting CTRL-C or <Esc>, which quits the command-line without executing 636 the command. 637 In the last case <Esc> may be the character defined with the 'wildchar' 638 option, in which case it will start command-line completion. You can 639 ignore that and type <Esc> again. {Vi: when hitting <Esc> the command-line 640 is executed. This is unexpected for most people; therefore it was changed 641 in Vim. But when the <Esc> is part of a mapping, the command-line is 642 executed. If you want the Vi behaviour also when typing <Esc>, use ":cmap 643 ^V<Esc> ^V^M"} 644*4 Go from Normal to Select mode by: 645 - use the mouse to select text while 'selectmode' contains "mouse" 646 - use a non-printable command to move the cursor while keeping the Shift 647 key pressed, and the 'selectmode' option contains "key" 648 - use "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" while 'selectmode' contains "cmd" 649 - use "gh", "gH" or "g CTRL-H" |g_CTRL-H| 650*5 Go from Select mode to Normal mode by using a non-printable command to move 651 the cursor, without keeping the Shift key pressed. 652*6 Go from Select mode to Insert mode by typing a printable character. The 653 selection is deleted and the character is inserted. 654 655If the 'insertmode' option is on, editing a file will start in Insert mode. 656 657 *CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* 658Additionally the command CTRL-\ CTRL-N or <C-\><C-N> can be used to go to 659Normal mode from any other mode. This can be used to make sure Vim is in 660Normal mode, without causing a beep like <Esc> would. However, this does not 661work in Ex mode. When used after a command that takes an argument, such as 662|f| or |m|, the timeout set with 'ttimeoutlen' applies. 663 664 *CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* 665The command CTRL-\ CTRL-G or <C-\><C-G> can be used to go to Insert mode when 666'insertmode' is set. Otherwise it goes to Normal mode. This can be used to 667make sure Vim is in the mode indicated by 'insertmode', without knowing in 668what mode Vim currently is. 669 670 *Q* *mode-Ex* *Ex-mode* *Ex* *EX* *E501* 671Q Switch to "Ex" mode. This is a bit like typing ":" 672 commands one after another, except: 673 - You don't have to keep pressing ":". 674 - The screen doesn't get updated after each command. 675 - There is no normal command-line editing. 676 - Mappings and abbreviations are not used. 677 In fact, you are editing the lines with the "standard" 678 line-input editing commands (<Del> or <BS> to erase, 679 CTRL-U to kill the whole line). 680 Vim will enter this mode by default if it's invoked as 681 "ex" on the command-line. 682 Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode. 683 Note: In older versions of Vim "Q" formatted text, 684 that is now done with |gq|. But if you use the 685 |vimrc_example.vim| script "Q" works like "gq". 686 687 *gQ* 688gQ Switch to "Ex" mode like with "Q", but really behave 689 like typing ":" commands after another. All command 690 line editing, completion etc. is available. 691 Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode. 692 {not in Vi} 693 694============================================================================== 6957. The window contents *window-contents* 696 697In Normal mode and Insert/Replace mode the screen window will show the current 698contents of the buffer: What You See Is What You Get. There are two 699exceptions: 700- When the 'cpoptions' option contains '$', and the change is within one line, 701 the text is not directly deleted, but a '$' is put at the last deleted 702 character. 703- When inserting text in one window, other windows on the same text are not 704 updated until the insert is finished. 705{Vi: The screen is not always updated on slow terminals} 706 707Lines longer than the window width will wrap, unless the 'wrap' option is off 708(see below). The 'linebreak' option can be set to wrap at a blank character. 709 710If the window has room after the last line of the buffer, Vim will show '~' in 711the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: 712 713 +-----------------------+ 714 |some line | 715 |last line | 716 |~ | 717 |~ | 718 +-----------------------+ 719 720Thus the '~' lines indicate that the end of the buffer was reached. 721 722If the last line in a window doesn't fit, Vim will indicate this with a '@' in 723the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: 724 725 +-----------------------+ 726 |first line | 727 |second line | 728 |@ | 729 |@ | 730 +-----------------------+ 731 732Thus the '@' lines indicate that there is a line that doesn't fit in the 733window. 734 735When the "lastline" flag is present in the 'display' option, you will not see 736'@' characters at the left side of window. If the last line doesn't fit 737completely, only the part that fits is shown, and the last three characters of 738the last line are replaced with "@@@", like this: 739 740 +-----------------------+ 741 |first line | 742 |second line | 743 |a very long line that d| 744 |oesn't fit in the wi@@@| 745 +-----------------------+ 746 747If there is a single line that is too long to fit in the window, this is a 748special situation. Vim will show only part of the line, around where the 749cursor is. There are no special characters shown, so that you can edit all 750parts of this line. 751{Vi: gives an "internal error" on lines that do not fit in the window} 752 753The '@' occasion in the 'highlight' option can be used to set special 754highlighting for the '@' and '~' characters. This makes it possible to 755distinguish them from real characters in the buffer. 756 757The 'showbreak' option contains the string to put in front of wrapped lines. 758 759 *wrap-off* 760If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap. Only the part that 761fits on the screen is shown. If the cursor is moved to a part of the line 762that is not shown, the screen is scrolled horizontally. The advantage of 763this method is that columns are shown as they are and lines that cannot fit 764on the screen can be edited. The disadvantage is that you cannot see all the 765characters of a line at once. The 'sidescroll' option can be set to the 766minimal number of columns to scroll. {Vi: has no 'wrap' option} 767 768All normal ASCII characters are displayed directly on the screen. The <Tab> 769is replaced with the number of spaces that it represents. Other non-printing 770characters are replaced with "^{char}", where {char} is the non-printing 771character with 64 added. Thus character 7 (bell) will be shown as "^G". 772Characters between 127 and 160 are replaced with "~{char}", where {char} is 773the character with 64 subtracted. These characters occupy more than one 774position on the screen. The cursor can only be positioned on the first one. 775 776If you set the 'number' option, all lines will be preceded with their 777number. Tip: If you don't like wrapping lines to mix with the line numbers, 778set the 'showbreak' option to eight spaces: 779 ":set showbreak=\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ " 780 781If you set the 'list' option, <Tab> characters will not be shown as several 782spaces, but as "^I". A '$' will be placed at the end of the line, so you can 783find trailing blanks. 784 785In Command-line mode only the command-line itself is shown correctly. The 786display of the buffer contents is updated as soon as you go back to Command 787mode. 788 789The last line of the window is used for status and other messages. The 790status messages will only be used if an option is on: 791 792status message option default Unix default ~ 793current mode 'showmode' on on 794command characters 'showcmd' on off 795cursor position 'ruler' off off 796 797The current mode is "-- INSERT --" or "-- REPLACE --", see |'showmode'|. The 798command characters are those that you typed but were not used yet. {Vi: does 799not show the characters you typed or the cursor position} 800 801If you have a slow terminal you can switch off the status messages to speed 802up editing: 803 :set nosc noru nosm 804 805If there is an error, an error message will be shown for at least one second 806(in reverse video). {Vi: error messages may be overwritten with other 807messages before you have a chance to read them} 808 809Some commands show how many lines were affected. Above which threshold this 810happens can be controlled with the 'report' option (default 2). 811 812On the Amiga Vim will run in a CLI window. The name Vim and the full name of 813the current file name will be shown in the title bar. When the window is 814resized, Vim will automatically redraw the window. You may make the window as 815small as you like, but if it gets too small not a single line will fit in it. 816Make it at least 40 characters wide to be able to read most messages on the 817last line. 818 819On most Unix systems, resizing the window is recognized and handled correctly 820by Vim. {Vi: not ok} 821 822============================================================================== 8238. Definitions *definitions* 824 825 screen The whole area that Vim uses to work in. This can be 826 a terminal emulator window. Also called "the Vim 827 window". 828 window A view on a buffer. 829 830A screen contains one or more windows, separated by status lines and with the 831command line at the bottom. 832 833 +-------------------------------+ 834screen | window 1 | window 2 | 835 | | | 836 | | | 837 |= status line =|= status line =| 838 | window 3 | 839 | | 840 | | 841 |==== status line ==============| 842 |command line | 843 +-------------------------------+ 844 845The command line is also used for messages. It scrolls up the screen when 846there is not enough room in the command line. 847 848A difference is made between four types of lines: 849 850 buffer lines The lines in the buffer. This is the same as the 851 lines as they are read from/written to a file. They 852 can be thousands of characters long. 853 logical lines The buffer lines with folding applied. Buffer lines 854 in a closed fold are changed to a single logical line: 855 "+-- 99 lines folded". They can be thousands of 856 characters long. 857 window lines The lines displayed in a window: A range of logical 858 lines with wrapping, line breaks, etc. applied. They 859 can only be as long as the width of the window allows, 860 longer lines are wrapped or truncated. 861 screen lines The lines of the screen that Vim uses. Consists of 862 the window lines of all windows, with status lines 863 and the command line added. They can only be as long 864 as the width of the screen allows. When the command 865 line gets longer it wraps and lines are scrolled to 866 make room. 867 868buffer lines logical lines window lines screen lines ~ 869 8701. one 1. one 1. +-- folded 1. +-- folded 8712. two 2. +-- folded 2. five 2. five 8723. three 3. five 3. six 3. six 8734. four 4. six 4. seven 4. seven 8745. five 5. seven 5. === status line === 8756. six 6. aaa 8767. seven 7. bbb 877 8. ccc ccc c 8781. aaa 1. aaa 1. aaa 9. cc 8792. bbb 2. bbb 2. bbb 10. ddd 8803. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc c 11. ~ 8814. ddd 4. ddd 4. cc 12. === status line === 882 5. ddd 13. (command line) 883 6. ~ 884 885============================================================================== 886 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 887