1*message.txt* For Vim version 8.1. Last change: 2018 Dec 30 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7This file contains an alphabetical list of messages and error messages that 8Vim produces. You can use this if you don't understand what the message 9means. It is not complete though. 10 111. Old messages |:messages| 122. Error messages |error-messages| 133. Messages |messages| 14 15============================================================================== 161. Old messages *:messages* *:mes* *message-history* 17 18The ":messages" command can be used to view previously given messages. This 19is especially useful when messages have been overwritten or truncated. This 20depends on the 'shortmess' option. 21 22 :messages Show all messages. 23 24 :{count}messages Show the {count} most recent messages. 25 26 :messages clear Clear all messages. 27 28 :{count}messages clear Clear messages, keeping only the {count} most 29 recent ones. 30 31The number of remembered messages is fixed at 20 for the tiny version and 200 32for other versions. 33 34 *g<* 35The "g<" command can be used to see the last page of previous command output. 36This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter 37prompt. You are then back at the hit-enter prompt and can then scroll further 38back. 39Note: If the output has been stopped with "q" at the more prompt, it will only 40be displayed up to this point. 41The previous command output is cleared when another command produces output. 42The "g<" output is not redirected. 43 44If you are using translated messages, the first printed line tells who 45maintains the messages or the translations. You can use this to contact the 46maintainer when you spot a mistake. 47 48If you want to find help on a specific (error) message, use the ID at the 49start of the message. For example, to get help on the message: > 50 51 E72: Close error on swap file 52 53or (translated): > 54 55 E72: Errore durante chiusura swap file 56 57Use: > 58 59 :help E72 60 61If you are lazy, it also works without the shift key: > 62 63 :help e72 64 65============================================================================== 662. Error messages *error-messages* *errors* 67 68When an error message is displayed, but it is removed before you could read 69it, you can see it again with: > 70 :echo errmsg 71Or view a list of recent messages with: > 72 :messages 73See `:messages` above. 74 75 76LIST OF MESSAGES 77 *E222* *E228* *E232* *E256* *E293* *E298* *E304* *E317* 78 *E318* *E356* *E438* *E439* *E440* *E316* *E320* *E322* 79 *E323* *E341* *E473* *E570* *E685* *E950* > 80 Add to read buffer 81 makemap: Illegal mode 82 Cannot create BalloonEval with both message and callback 83 Hangul automata ERROR 84 block was not locked 85 Didn't get block nr {N}? 86 ml_upd_block0(): Didn't get block 0?? 87 pointer block id wrong {N} 88 Updated too many blocks? 89 get_varp ERROR 90 u_undo: line numbers wrong 91 undo list corrupt 92 undo line missing 93 ml_get: cannot find line {N} 94 cannot find line {N} 95 line number out of range: {N} past the end 96 line count wrong in block {N} 97 Internal error 98 Internal error: {function} 99 fatal error in cs_manage_matches 100 Invalid count for del_bytes(): {N} 101 102This is an internal error. If you can reproduce it, please send in a bug 103report. |bugs| 104 105> 106 ATTENTION 107 Found a swap file by the name ... 108 109See |ATTENTION|. 110 111 *E92* > 112 Buffer {N} not found 113 114The buffer you requested does not exist. This can also happen when you have 115wiped out a buffer which contains a mark or is referenced in another way. 116|:bwipeout| 117 118 *E95* > 119 Buffer with this name already exists 120 121You cannot have two buffers with the same name. 122 123 *E72* > 124 Close error on swap file 125 126The |swap-file|, that is used to keep a copy of the edited text, could not be 127closed properly. Mostly harmless. 128 129 *E169* > 130 Command too recursive 131 132This happens when an Ex command executes an Ex command that executes an Ex 133command, etc. The limit is 200 or the value of 'maxfuncdepth', whatever is 134larger. When it's more there probably is an endless loop. Probably a 135|:execute| or |:source| command is involved. 136 137 *E254* > 138 Cannot allocate color {name} 139 140The color name {name} is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that 141are available on most systems. 142 143 *E458* > 144 Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect 145 146This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still 147run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try 148stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting 149gvim. 150Browsers are known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this with 151netscape by telling it to use its own colormap: > 152 netscape -install 153Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): > 154 netscape -ncols 64 155This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: > 156 Netscape*installColormap: Yes 157or > 158 Netscape*maxImageColors: 64 159< 160 *E79* > 161 Cannot expand wildcards 162 163A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to 164attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no 165matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal. 166 167 *E459* > 168 Cannot go back to previous directory 169 170While expanding a file name, Vim failed to go back to the previously used 171directory. All file names being used may be invalid now! You need to have 172execute permission on the current directory. 173 174 *E190* *E212* > 175 Cannot open "{filename}" for writing 176 Can't open file for writing 177 178For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten. 179The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory 180or the file name is not valid. 181 182 *E166* > 183 Can't open linked file for writing 184 185You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is 186a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be 187possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but 188Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its 189place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its 190place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to 191manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim 192can overwrite. 193 194 *E46* > 195 Cannot change read-only variable "{name}" 196 197You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim 198internal variable |v:var| which is read-only. 199 200 *E90* > 201 Cannot unload last buffer 202 203Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing 204to display in the window. 205 206 *E40* > 207 Can't open errorfile <filename> 208 209When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error 210messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes: 211- 'shellredir' has a wrong value. 212- The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another 213 directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make 214 command is still executed in the wrong directory. 215- 'makeef' has a wrong value. 216- The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be 217 detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH. 218 219 > 220 Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP 221 222On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was 223to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by 224many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and 225related options. It might also be that the external command was not found, 226there is no different error message for that. 227 228 *E12* > 229 Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search 230 231Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly 232come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags 233file. Also see 'secure'. 234 235 *E74* > 236 Command too complex 237 238A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a 239mapping that indirectly calls itself. 240 241> 242 CONVERSION ERROR 243 244When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that 245some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the 246format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care 247about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value 248that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't 249care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option. 250 251 *E302* > 252 Could not rename swap file 253 254When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well. 255This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless. 256 257 *E43* *E44* > 258 Damaged match string 259 Corrupted regexp program 260 261Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you 262know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs| 263 264 *E208* *E209* *E210* > 265 Error writing to "{filename}" 266 Error closing "{filename}" 267 Error reading "{filename}" 268 269This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file 270name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed. 271The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist 272and the destination file may be incomplete. 273 274> 275 Vim: Error reading input, exiting... 276 277This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required. 278Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both 279stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim. 280 281 *E47* > 282 Error while reading errorfile 283 284Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error 285message that was not recognized. 286 287 *E80* > 288 Error while writing 289 290Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably 291incomplete. 292 293 *E13* *E189* > 294 File exists (add ! to override) 295 "{filename}" exists (add ! to override) 296 297You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to 298write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command. 299Example: > 300 :w /tmp/test 301changes to: > 302 :w! /tmp/test 303< 304 *E768* > 305 Swap file exists: {filename} (:silent! overrides) 306 307You are protected from overwriting a file that is being edited by Vim. This 308happens when you use ":w! filename" and a swapfile is found. 309- If the swapfile was left over from an old crashed edit session you may want 310 to delete the swapfile. Edit {filename} to find out information about the 311 swapfile. 312- If you want to write anyway prepend ":silent!" to the command. For example: > 313 :silent! w! /tmp/test 314< The special command is needed, since you already added the ! for overwriting 315 an existing file. 316 317 *E139* > 318 File is loaded in another buffer 319 320You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another 321buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file. 322 323 *E142* > 324 File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option 325 326The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file 327generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument. 328You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write". 329 330 *E25* > 331 GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time 332 333You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore 334"gvim" and ":gui" don't work. 335 336 *E49* > 337 Invalid scroll size 338 339This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or 340'scrolloff' options. 341 342 *E17* > 343 "{filename}" is a directory 344 345You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible. 346You probably need to append a file name. 347 348 *E19* > 349 Mark has invalid line number 350 351You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can 352happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has 353deleted lines from it. 354 355 *E219* *E220* > 356 Missing {. 357 Missing }. 358 359Using a {} construct in a file name, but there is a { without a matching } or 360the other way around. It should be used like this: {foo,bar}. This matches 361"foo" and "bar". 362 363 *E315* > 364 ml_get: invalid lnum: {number} 365 366This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be 367reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|. 368 369 *E173* > 370 {number} more files to edit 371 372You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been 373edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more 374files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it 375again and it will work. 376 377 *E23* *E194* > 378 No alternate file 379 No alternate file name to substitute for '#' 380 381The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|. 382 383 *E32* > 384 No file name 385 386The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the 387buffer a name with ":file fname". 388 389 *E141* > 390 No file name for buffer {number} 391 392One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it 393cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: > 394 :buffer {number} 395 :file {filename} 396< 397 *E33* > 398 No previous substitute regular expression 399 400When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously 401used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has 402been used yet. See |/~|. This also happens when using ":s/pat/%/", where the 403"%" stands for the previous substitute string. 404 405 *E35* > 406 No previous regular expression 407 408When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But 409that is not possible if there was no previous search. 410 411 *E24* > 412 No such abbreviation 413 414You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an 415existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message: 416":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space. 417 418> 419 /dev/dsp: No such file or directory 420 421Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio 422device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error. 423 424 *E31* > 425 No such mapping 426 427You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing 428mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap", 429":unmap!", etc. A few hints: 430- Check for trailing white space. 431- If the mapping is buffer-local you need to use ":unmap <buffer>". 432 |:map-<buffer>| 433 434 *E37* *E89* > 435 No write since last change (add ! to override) 436 No write since last change for buffer {N} (add ! to override) 437 438You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from 439losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you 440are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by 441adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: > 442 :e other_file 443changes to: > 444 :e! other_file 445< 446 *E162* > 447 No write since last change for buffer "{name}" 448 449This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You 450will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to 451abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you 452don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten 453about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set. 454 455> 456 [No write since last change] 457 458This appears when executing a shell command while at least one buffer was 459changed. To avoid the message reset the 'warn' option. 460 461 *E38* > 462 Null argument 463 464Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know 465how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs| 466 467 *E41* *E82* *E83* *E342* > 468 Out of memory! 469 Out of memory! (allocating {number} bytes) 470 Cannot allocate any buffer, exiting... 471 Cannot allocate buffer, using other one... 472 473Oh, oh. You must have been doing something complicated, or some other program 474is consuming your memory. Be careful! Vim is not completely prepared for an 475out-of-memory situation. First make sure that any changes are saved. Then 476try to solve the memory shortage. To stay on the safe side, exit Vim and 477start again. 478 479Buffers are only partly kept in memory, thus editing a very large file is 480unlikely to cause an out-of-memory situation. Undo information is completely 481in memory, you can reduce that with these options: 482- 'undolevels' Set to a low value, or to -1 to disable undo completely. This 483 helps for a change that affects all lines. 484- 'undoreload' Set to zero to disable. 485 486 *E339* > 487 Pattern too long 488 489This happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is 490longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern. 491It also happens when the offset of a rule doesn't fit in the space available. 492Try simplifying the pattern. 493 494 *E45* > 495 'readonly' option is set (add ! to override) 496 497You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the 498file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just 499after the command you used. Example: > 500 :w 501changes to: > 502 :w! 503< 504 *E294* *E295* *E301* > 505 Read error in swap file 506 Seek error in swap file read 507 Oops, lost the swap file!!! 508 509Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The 510text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you 511write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for 512differences. 513 514 *E192* > 515 Recursive use of :normal too deep 516 517You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal" 518command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This 519example illustrates how to get this message: > 520 :map gq :normal gq<CR> 521If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again. 522 523 *E22* > 524 Scripts nested too deep 525 526Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source" 527command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue 528for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a 529recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message. 530 531 *E319* > 532 Sorry, the command is not available in this version 533 534You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are 535using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or 536disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating 537system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The 538|:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with. 539 540 *E300* > 541 Swap file already exists (symlink attack?) 542 543This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it 544already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen, 545because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else 546opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is 547attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when 548'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice). 549 550 *E432* > 551 Tags file not sorted: {file name} 552 553Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching 554can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags 555files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option. 556This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a 557tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even though the tags file is not 558properly sorted. 559 560 *E424* > 561 Too many different highlighting attributes in use 562 563Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run 564into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different 565arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted. 566 567 *E77* > 568 Too many file names 569 570When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is 571allowed for the command that was used. 572 573 *E303* > 574 Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible 575 576Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if 577Vim unexpectedly exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of 578memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option 579to avoid this error. See |swap-file|. 580 581 *E140* > 582 Use ! to write partial buffer 583 584When using a range to write part of a buffer, it is unusual to overwrite the 585original file. It is probably a mistake (e.g., when Visual mode was active 586when using ":w"), therefore Vim requires using a ! after the command, e.g.: 587":3,10w!". 588> 589 590 Warning: Cannot convert string "<Key>Escape,_Key_Cancel" to type 591 VirtualBinding 592 593Messages like this appear when starting up. This is not a Vim problem, your 594X11 configuration is wrong. You can find a hint on how to solve this here: 595http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisonintel/message/12179. 596[this URL is no longer valid] 597 598 *W10* > 599 Warning: Changing a readonly file 600 601The file is read-only and you are making a change to it anyway. You can use 602the |FileChangedRO| autocommand event to avoid this message (the autocommand 603must reset the 'readonly' option). See 'modifiable' to completely disallow 604making changes to a file. 605This message is only given for the first change after 'readonly' has been set. 606 607 *W13* > 608 Warning: File "{filename}" has been created after editing started 609 610You are editing a file in Vim when it didn't exist, but it does exist now. 611You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in Vim or the newly 612created file. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. 613 614 *W11* > 615 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started 616 617The file which you have started editing has got another timestamp and the 618contents changed (more precisely: When reading the file again with the current 619option settings and autocommands you would end up with different text). This 620probably means that some other program changed the file. You will have to 621find out what happened, and decide which version of the file you want to keep. 622Set the 'autoread' option if you want to do this automatically. 623This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. 624 625There is one situation where you get this message even though there is nothing 626wrong: If you save a file in Windows on the day the daylight saving time 627starts. It can be fixed in one of these ways: 628- Add this line in your autoexec.bat: > 629 SET TZ=-1 630< Adjust the "-1" for your time zone. 631- Disable "automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes". 632- Just write the file again the next day. Or set your clock to the next day, 633 write the file twice and set the clock back. 634 635If you get W11 all the time, you may need to disable "Acronis Active 636Protection" or register Vim as a trusted service/application. 637 638 *W12* > 639 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed and the buffer was changed in Vim as well 640 641Like the above, and the buffer for the file was changed in this Vim as well. 642You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in this Vim or the one 643on disk. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. 644 645 *W16* > 646 Warning: Mode of file "{filename}" has changed since editing started 647 648When the timestamp for a buffer was changed and the contents are still the 649same but the mode (permissions) have changed. This usually occurs when 650checking out a file from a version control system, which causes the read-only 651bit to be reset. It should be safe to reload the file. Set 'autoread' to 652automatically reload the file. 653 654 *E211* > 655 File "{filename}" no longer available 656 657The file which you have started editing has disappeared, or is no longer 658accessible. Make sure you write the buffer somewhere to avoid losing 659changes. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. 660 661 *W14* > 662 Warning: List of file names overflow 663 664You must be using an awful lot of buffers. It's now possible that two buffers 665have the same number, which causes various problems. You might want to exit 666Vim and restart it. 667 668 *E931* > 669 Buffer cannot be registered 670 671Out of memory or a duplicate buffer number. May happen after W14. Looking up 672a buffer will not always work, better restart Vim. 673 674 *E296* *E297* > 675 Seek error in swap file write 676 Write error in swap file 677 678This mostly happens when the disk is full. Vim could not write text into the 679|swap-file|. It's not directly harmful, but when Vim unexpectedly exits some 680text may be lost without recovery being possible. Vim might run out of memory 681when this problem persists. 682 683 *connection-refused* > 684 Xlib: connection to "<machine-name:0.0" refused by server 685 686This happens when Vim tries to connect to the X server, but the X server does 687not allow a connection. The connection to the X server is needed to be able 688to restore the title and for the xterm clipboard support. Unfortunately this 689error message cannot be avoided, except by disabling the |+xterm_clipboard| 690and |+X11| features. 691 692 *E10* > 693 \\ should be followed by /, ? or & 694 695A command line started with a backslash or the range of a command contained a 696backslash in a wrong place. This is often caused by command-line continuation 697being disabled. Remove the 'C' flag from the 'cpoptions' option to enable it. 698Or use ":set nocp". 699 700 *E471* > 701 Argument required 702 703This happens when an Ex command with mandatory argument(s) was executed, but 704no argument has been specified. 705 706 *E474* *E475* > 707 Invalid argument 708 Invalid argument: {arg} 709 710An Ex command has been executed, but an invalid argument has been specified. 711 712 *E488* > 713 Trailing characters 714 715An argument has been added to an Ex command that does not permit one. 716 717 *E477* *E478* > 718 No ! allowed 719 Don't panic! 720 721You have added a "!" after an Ex command that doesn't permit one. 722 723 *E481* > 724 No range allowed 725 726A range was specified for an Ex command that doesn't permit one. See 727|cmdline-ranges|. 728 729 *E482* *E483* > 730 Can't create file {filename} 731 Can't get temp file name 732 733Vim cannot create a temporary file. 734 735 *E484* *E485* > 736 Can't open file {filename} 737 Can't read file {filename} 738 739Vim cannot read a temporary file. Especially on Windows, this can be caused 740by wrong escaping of special characters for cmd.exe; the approach was 741changed with patch 7.3.443. Try using |shellescape()| for all shell arguments 742given to |system()|, or explicitly add escaping with ^. Also see 743'shellxquote' and 'shellxescape'. 744 745 *E464* > 746 Ambiguous use of user-defined command 747 748There are two user-defined commands with a common name prefix, and you used 749Command-line completion to execute one of them. |user-cmd-ambiguous| 750Example: > 751 :command MyCommand1 echo "one" 752 :command MyCommand2 echo "two" 753 :MyCommand 754< 755 *E492* > 756 Not an editor command 757 758You tried to execute a command that is neither an Ex command nor 759a user-defined command. 760 761 *E943* > 762 Command table needs to be updated, run 'make cmdidxs' 763 764This can only happen when changing the source code, when adding a command in 765src/ex_cmds.h. The lookup table then needs to be updated, by running: > 766 make cmdidxs 767 768============================================================================== 7693. Messages *messages* 770 771This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives: 772 773 *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return* 774 *press-return* *hit-enter-prompt* 775 776 Press ENTER or type command to continue 777 778This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read, 779and the screen is about to be redrawn: 780- After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "="). 781- Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of 782 the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output. 783 784-> Press <Enter> or <Space> to redraw the screen and continue, without that 785 key being used otherwise. 786-> Press ':' or any other Normal mode command character to start that command. 787-> Press 'k', <Up>, 'u', 'b' or 'g' to scroll back in the messages. This 788 works the same way as at the |more-prompt|. Only works when 'compatible' 789 is off and 'more' is on. 790-> Pressing 'j', 'f', 'd' or <Down> is ignored when messages scrolled off the 791 top of the screen, 'compatible' is off and 'more' is on, to avoid that 792 typing one 'j' or 'f' too many causes the messages to disappear. 793-> Press <C-Y> to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register. 794-> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used. 795-> When 'mouse' contains the 'r' flag, clicking the left mouse button works 796 like pressing <Space>. This makes it impossible to select text though. 797-> For the GUI clicking the left mouse button in the last line works like 798 pressing <Space>. 799{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted} 800 801If you accidentally hit <Enter> or <Space> and you want to see the displayed 802text then use |g<|. This only works when 'more' is set. 803 804To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts: 805- Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher. 806- Add flags to 'shortmess'. 807- Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'. 808 809If your script causes the hit-enter prompt and you don't know why, you may 810find the |v:scrollstart| variable useful. 811 812Also see 'mouse'. The hit-enter message is highlighted with the |hl-Question| 813group. 814 815 816 *more-prompt* *pager* > 817 -- More -- 818 -- More -- SPACE/d/j: screen/page/line down, b/u/k: up, q: quit 819 820This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only 821given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg| 822group. 823 824Type effect ~ 825 <CR> or <NL> or j or <Down> one more line 826 d down a page (half a screen) 827 <Space> or f or <PageDown> down a screen 828 G down all the way, until the hit-enter 829 prompt 830 831 <BS> or k or <Up> one line back (*) 832 u up a page (half a screen) (*) 833 b or <PageUp> back a screen (*) 834 g back to the start (*) 835 836 q, <Esc> or CTRL-C stop the listing 837 : stop the listing and enter a 838 command-line 839 <C-Y> yank (copy) a modeless selection to 840 the clipboard ("* and "+ registers) 841 {menu-entry} what the menu is defined to in 842 Cmdline-mode. 843 <LeftMouse> (**) next page 844 845Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed. 846 847(*) backwards scrolling is {not in Vi}. Only scrolls back to where messages 848 started to scroll. 849(**) Clicking the left mouse button only works: 850 - For the GUI: in the last line of the screen. 851 - When 'r' is included in 'mouse' (but then selecting text won't work). 852 853 854Note: The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped 855and typeahead is ignored. 856 857The |g<| command can be used to see the last page of previous command output. 858This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter 859prompt. 860 861 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: 862