1*usr_01.txt* For Vim version 8.2. Last change: 2019 Nov 21 2 3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar 4 5 About the manuals 6 7 8This chapter introduces the manuals available with Vim. Read this to know the 9conditions under which the commands are explained. 10 11|01.1| Two manuals 12|01.2| Vim installed 13|01.3| Using the Vim tutor 14|01.4| Copyright 15 16 Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim 17Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| 18 19============================================================================== 20*01.1* Two manuals 21 22The Vim documentation consists of two parts: 23 241. The User manual 25 Task oriented explanations, from simple to complex. Reads from start to 26 end like a book. 27 282. The Reference manual 29 Precise description of how everything in Vim works. 30 31The notation used in these manuals is explained here: |notation| 32 33 34JUMPING AROUND 35 36The text contains hyperlinks between the two parts, allowing you to quickly 37jump between the description of an editing task and a precise explanation of 38the commands and options used for it. Use these two commands: 39 40 Press CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor. 41 Press CTRL-O to jump back (repeat to go further back). 42 43Many links are in vertical bars, like this: |bars|. The bars themselves may 44be hidden or invisible; see below. An option name, like 'number', a command 45in double quotes like ":write" and any other word can also be used as a link. 46Try it out: Move the cursor to CTRL-] and press CTRL-] on it. 47 48Other subjects can be found with the ":help" command; see |help.txt|. 49 50The bars and stars are usually hidden with the |conceal| feature. They also 51use |hl-Ignore|, using the same color for the text as the background. You can 52make them visible with: > 53 :set conceallevel=0 54 :hi link HelpBar Normal 55 :hi link HelpStar Normal 56 57============================================================================== 58*01.2* Vim installed 59 60Most of the manuals assume that Vim has been properly installed. If you 61didn't do that yet, or if Vim doesn't run properly (e.g., files can't be found 62or in the GUI the menus do not show up) first read the chapter on 63installation: |usr_90.txt|. 64 *not-compatible* 65The manuals often assume you are using Vim with Vi-compatibility switched 66off. For most commands this doesn't matter, but sometimes it is important, 67e.g., for multi-level undo. An easy way to make sure you are using a nice 68setup is to copy the example vimrc file. By doing this inside Vim you don't 69have to check out where it is located. How to do this depends on the system 70you are using: 71 72Unix: > 73 :!cp -i $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim ~/.vimrc 74MS-Windows: > 75 :!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/_vimrc 76Amiga: > 77 :!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/.vimrc 78 79If the file already exists you probably want to keep it. 80 81If you start Vim now, the 'compatible' option should be off. You can check it 82with this command: > 83 84 :set compatible? 85 86If it responds with "nocompatible" you are doing well. If the response is 87"compatible" you are in trouble. You will have to find out why the option is 88still set. Perhaps the file you wrote above is not found. Use this command 89to find out: > 90 91 :scriptnames 92 93If your file is not in the list, check its location and name. If it is in the 94list, there must be some other place where the 'compatible' option is switched 95back on. 96 97For more info see |vimrc| and |compatible-default|. 98 99 Note: 100 This manual is about using Vim in the normal way. There is an 101 alternative called "evim" (easy Vim). This is still Vim, but used in 102 a way that resembles a click-and-type editor like Notepad. It always 103 stays in Insert mode, thus it feels very different. It is not 104 explained in the user manual, since it should be mostly 105 self-explanatory. See |evim-keys| for details. 106 107============================================================================== 108*01.3* Using the Vim tutor *tutor* *vimtutor* 109 110Instead of reading the text (boring!) you can use the vimtutor to learn your 111first Vim commands. This is a 30-minute tutorial that teaches the most basic 112Vim functionality hands-on. 113 114On Unix, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start it from the shell: 115> 116 vimtutor 117 118On MS-Windows you can find it in the Program/Vim menu. Or execute 119vimtutor.bat in the $VIMRUNTIME directory. 120 121This will make a copy of the tutor file, so that you can edit it without 122the risk of damaging the original. 123 There are a few translated versions of the tutor. To find out if yours is 124available, use the two-letter language code. For French: > 125 126 vimtutor fr 127 128On Unix, if you prefer using the GUI version of Vim, use "gvimtutor" or 129"vimtutor -g" instead of "vimtutor". 130 131For OpenVMS, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start vimtutor from a 132VMS prompt with: > 133 134 @VIM:vimtutor 135 136Optionally add the two-letter language code as above. 137 138 139On other systems, you have to do a little work: 140 1411. Copy the tutor file. You can do this with Vim (it knows where to find it): 142> 143 vim --clean -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q' 144< 145 This will write the file "TUTORCOPY" in the current directory. To use a 146translated version of the tutor, append the two-letter language code to the 147filename. For French: 148> 149 vim --clean -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor.fr' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q' 150< 1512. Edit the copied file with Vim: 152> 153 vim --clean TUTORCOPY 154< 155 The --clean argument makes sure Vim is started with nice defaults. 156 1573. Delete the copied file when you are finished with it: 158> 159 del TUTORCOPY 160< 161============================================================================== 162*01.4* Copyright *manual-copyright* 163 164The Vim user manual and reference manual are Copyright (c) 1988-2003 by Bram 165Moolenaar. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and 166conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later. The 167latest version is presently available at: 168 http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/ 169 170People who contribute to the manuals must agree with the above copyright 171notice. 172 *frombook* 173Parts of the user manual come from the book "Vi IMproved - Vim" by Steve 174Oualline (published by New Riders Publishing, ISBN: 0735710015). The Open 175Publication License applies to this book. Only selected parts are included 176and these have been modified (e.g., by removing the pictures, updating the 177text for Vim 6.0 and later, fixing mistakes). The omission of the |frombook| 178tag does not mean that the text does not come from the book. 179 180Many thanks to Steve Oualline and New Riders for creating this book and 181publishing it under the OPL! It has been a great help while writing the user 182manual. Not only by providing literal text, but also by setting the tone and 183style. 184 185If you make money through selling the manuals, you are strongly encouraged to 186donate part of the profit to help AIDS victims in Uganda. See |iccf|. 187 188============================================================================== 189 190Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim 191 192Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: 193