1*vi_diff.txt* For Vim version 8.2. Last change: 2021 Jan 21 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Differences between Vim and Vi *vi-differences* 8 9This file lists the differences between Vim and Vi/Ex and gives an overview of 10what is in Vim that is not in Vi. 11 12Vim is mostly POSIX 1003.2-1 compliant. The only command known to be missing 13is ":open". There are probably a lot of small differences (either because Vim 14is missing something or because Posix is beside the mark). 15 161. Simulated command |simulated-command| 172. Missing options |missing-options| 183. Limits |limits| 194. The most interesting additions |vim-additions| 205. Other vim features |other-features| 216. Supported Vi features |vi-features| 227. Command-line arguments |cmdline-arguments| 238. POSIX compliance |posix-compliance| 24 25============================================================================== 261. Simulated command *simulated-command* 27 28This command is in Vi, but Vim only simulates it: 29 30 *:o* *:op* *:open* 31:[range]o[pen] Works like |:visual|: end Ex mode. 32 {Vi: start editing in open mode} 33 34:[range]o[pen] /pattern/ As above, additionally move the cursor to the 35 column where "pattern" matches in the cursor 36 line. 37 38Vim does not support open mode, since it's not really useful. For those 39situations where ":open" would start open mode Vim will leave Ex mode, which 40allows executing the same commands, but updates the whole screen instead of 41only one line. 42 43============================================================================== 442. Missing options *missing-options* 45 46These options are in the Unix Vi, but not in Vim. If you try to set one of 47them you won't get an error message, but the value is not used and cannot be 48printed. 49 50autoprint (ap) boolean (default on) *'autoprint'* *'ap'* 51beautify (bf) boolean (default off) *'beautify'* *'bf'* 52flash (fl) boolean (default ??) *'flash'* *'fl'* 53graphic (gr) boolean (default off) *'graphic'* *'gr'* 54hardtabs (ht) number (default 8) *'hardtabs'* *'ht'* 55 number of spaces that a <Tab> moves on the display 56mesg boolean (default on) *'mesg'* 57novice boolean (default off) *'novice'* 58open boolean (default on) *'open'* 59optimize (op) boolean (default off) *'optimize'* *'op'* 60redraw boolean (default off) *'redraw'* 61slowopen (slow) boolean (default off) *'slowopen'* *'slow'* 62sourceany boolean (default off) *'sourceany'* 63w300 number (default 23) *'w300'* 64w1200 number (default 23) *'w1200'* 65w9600 number (default 23) *'w9600'* 66 67Vi did not allow for changing the termcap entries, you would have to exit Vi, 68edit the termcap entry and try again. Vim has the |terminal-options|. 69 70============================================================================== 713. Limits *limits* 72 73Vim has only a few limits for the files that can be edited {Vi: can not handle 74<Nul> characters and characters above 128, has limited line length, many other 75limits}. 76 77Maximum line length 2147483647 characters. Longer lines are split. 78Maximum number of lines 2147483647 lines. 79Maximum file size 2147483647 bytes (2 Gbyte) when a long integer is 80 32 bits. Much more for 64 bit longs. Also limited 81 by available disk space for the |swap-file|. 82 *E75* 83Length of a file path Unix and Win32: 1024 characters, otherwise 256 84 characters (or as much as the system supports). 85Length of an expanded string option 86 Unix and Win32: 1024 characters, otherwise 256 87 characters 88Maximum display width Unix and Win32: 1024 characters, otherwise 255 89 characters 90Maximum lhs of a mapping 50 characters. 91Number of different highlighting types: over 30000 92Range of a Number variable: -2147483648 to 2147483647 (might be more on 64 93 bit systems) 94Maximum length of a line in a tags file: 512 bytes. 95 96Information for undo and text in registers is kept in memory, thus when making 97(big) changes the amount of (virtual) memory available limits the number of 98undo levels and the text that can be kept in registers. Other things are also 99kept in memory: Command-line history, error messages for Quickfix mode, etc. 100 101Memory usage limits 102------------------- 103 104The option 'maxmem' ('mm') is used to set the maximum memory used for one 105buffer (in kilobytes). 'maxmemtot' is used to set the maximum memory used for 106all buffers (in kilobytes). The defaults depend on the system used. For the 107Amiga, 'maxmemtot' is set depending on the amount of memory available. 108These are not hard limits, but tell Vim when to move text into a swap file. 109If you don't like Vim to swap to a file, set 'maxmem' and 'maxmemtot' to a 110very large value. The swap file will then only be used for recovery. If you 111don't want a swap file at all, set 'updatecount' to 0, or use the "-n" 112argument when starting Vim. 113 114============================================================================== 1154. The most interesting additions *vim-additions* 116 117Vi compatibility. |'compatible'| 118 Although Vim is 99% Vi compatible, some things in Vi can be 119 considered to be a bug, or at least need improvement. But still, Vim 120 starts in a mode which behaves like the "real" Vi as much as possible. 121 To make Vim behave a little bit better, try resetting the 'compatible' 122 option: 123 :set nocompatible 124 Or start Vim with the "-N" argument: 125 vim -N 126 Vim starts with 'nocompatible' automatically if you have a .vimrc 127 file. See |startup|. 128 The 'cpoptions' option can be used to set Vi compatibility on/off for 129 a number of specific items. 130 131Support for different systems. 132 Vim can be used on: 133 - All Unix systems (it works on all systems it was tested on, although 134 the GUI and Perl interface may not work everywhere). 135 - Amiga (500, 1000, 1200, 2000, 3000, 4000, ...). 136 - MS-Windows 137 - VMS 138 - Macintosh 139 - IBM OS/390 140 Note that on some systems features need to be disabled to reduce 141 resource usage. For some outdated systems you need to use an older 142 Vim version. 143 144Multi level persistent undo. |undo| 145 'u' goes backward in time, 'CTRL-R' goes forward again. Set option 146 'undolevels' to the number of changes to be remembered (default 1000). 147 Set 'undolevels' to 0 for a Vi-compatible one level undo. Set it to 148 -1 for no undo at all. 149 When all changes in a buffer have been undone, the buffer is not 150 considered changed anymore. You can exit it with :q, without <!>. 151 When undoing a few changes and then making a new change Vim will 152 create a branch in the undo tree. This means you can go back to any 153 state of the text, there is no risk of a change causing text to be 154 lost forever. |undo-tree| 155 The undo information is stored in a file when the 'undofile' option is 156 set. This means you can exit Vim, start Vim on a previously edited 157 file and undo changes that were made before exiting Vim. 158 159Graphical User Interface (GUI). |gui| 160 Included support for GUI: menu's, mouse, scrollbars, etc. You can 161 define your own menus. Better support for CTRL/SHIFT/ALT keys in 162 combination with special keys and mouse. Supported for various 163 platforms, such as X11 (with Motif and Athena interfaces), GTK, Win32 164 (Windows XP and later), Amiga and Macintosh. 165 166Multiple windows and buffers. |windows.txt| 167 Vim can split the screen into several windows, each editing a 168 different buffer or the same buffer at a different location. Buffers 169 can still be loaded (and changed) but not displayed in a window. This 170 is called a hidden buffer. Many commands and options have been added 171 for this facility. 172 Vim can also use multiple tab pages, each with one or more windows. A 173 line with tab labels can be used to quickly switch between these pages. 174 |tab-page| 175 176Terminal window. |:terminal| 177 Vim can create a window in which a terminal emulator runs. This can 178 be used to execute an arbitrary command, a shell or a debugger. 179 180Syntax highlighting. |:syntax| 181 Vim can highlight keywords, patterns and other things. This is 182 defined by a number of |:syntax| commands, and can be made to 183 highlight most languages and file types. A number of files are 184 included for highlighting the most common languages, like C, C++, 185 Java, Pascal, Makefiles, shell scripts, etc. The colors used for 186 highlighting can be defined for ordinary terminals, color terminals 187 and the GUI with the |:highlight| command. A convenient way to do 188 this is using a |:colorscheme| command. 189 The highlighted text can be exported as HTML. |convert-to-HTML| 190 Other items that can be highlighted are matches with the search string 191 |'hlsearch'|, matching parens |matchparen| and the cursor line and 192 column |'cursorline'| |'cursorcolumn'|. 193 194Text properties |textprop.txt| 195 Vim supports highlighting text by a plugin. Property types can be 196 specified with |prop_type_add()| and properties can be placed with 197 |prop_add()|. 198 199Spell checking. |spell| 200 When the 'spell' option is set Vim will highlight spelling mistakes. 201 About 50 languages are currently supported, selected with the 202 'spelllang' option. In source code only comments and strings are 203 checked for spelling. 204 205Folding. |folding| 206 A range of lines can be shown as one "folded" line. This allows 207 overviewing a file and moving blocks of text around quickly. 208 Folds can be created manually, from the syntax of the file, by indent, 209 etc. 210 211Diff mode. |diff| 212 Vim can show two versions of a file with the differences highlighted. 213 Parts of the text that are equal are folded away. Commands can be 214 used to move text from one version to the other. 215 216Plugins. |add-plugin| 217 The functionality can be extended by dropping a plugin file in the 218 right directory. That's an easy way to start using Vim scripts 219 written by others. Plugins can be for all kind of files, or 220 specifically for a filetype. 221 Packages make this even easier. |packages| 222 223Asynchronous communication and timers. |channel| |job| |timer| 224 Vim can exchange messages with other processes in the background. 225 This makes it possible to have servers do work and send back the 226 results to Vim. |channel| 227 Vim can start a job, communicate with it and stop it. |job| 228 Timers can fire once or repeatedly and invoke a function to do any 229 work. |timer| 230 231Repeat a series of commands. |q| 232 "q{c}" starts recording typed characters into named register {c}. 233 A subsequent "q" stops recording. The register can then be executed 234 with the "@{c}" command. This is very useful to repeat a complex 235 action. 236 237Flexible insert mode. |ins-special-special| 238 The arrow keys can be used in insert mode to move around in the file. 239 This breaks the insert in two parts as far as undo and redo is 240 concerned. 241 242 CTRL-O can be used to execute a single Normal mode command. This is 243 almost the same as hitting <Esc>, typing the command and doing |a|. 244 245Visual mode. |Visual-mode| 246 Visual mode can be used to first highlight a piece of text and then 247 give a command to do something with it. This is an (easy to use) 248 alternative to first giving the operator and then moving to the end of 249 the text to be operated upon. 250 |v| and |V| are used to start Visual mode. |v| works on characters 251 and |V| on lines. Move the cursor to extend the Visual area. It is 252 shown highlighted on the screen. By typing "o" the other end of the 253 Visual area can be moved. The Visual area can be affected by an 254 operator: 255 d delete 256 c change 257 y yank 258 > or < insert or delete indent 259 ! filter through external program 260 = filter through indent 261 : start |:| command for the Visual lines. 262 gq format text to 'textwidth' columns 263 J join lines 264 ~ swap case 265 u make lowercase 266 U make uppercase 267 {Vi has no Visual mode, the name "visual" is used for Normal mode, to 268 distinguish it from Ex mode} 269 270Block operators. |visual-block| 271 With Visual mode a rectangular block of text can be selected. Start 272 Visual mode with CTRL-V. The block can be deleted ("d"), yanked ("y") 273 or its case can be changed ("~", "u" and "U"). A deleted or yanked 274 block can be put into the text with the "p" and "P" commands. 275 276Help system. |:help| 277 Help is displayed in a window. The usual commands can be used to 278 move around, search for a string, etc. Tags can be used to jump 279 around in the help files, just like hypertext links. The |:help| 280 command takes an argument to quickly jump to the info on a subject. 281 <F1> is the quick access to the help system. The name of the help 282 index file can be set with the 'helpfile' option. 283 284Command-line editing and history. |cmdline-editing| 285 You can insert or delete at any place in the command-line using the 286 cursor keys. The right/left cursor keys can be used to move 287 forward/backward one character. The shifted right/left cursor keys 288 can be used to move forward/backward one word. CTRL-B/CTRL-E can be 289 used to go to the begin/end of the command-line. 290 {Vi: can only alter the last character in the line} 291 {Vi: when hitting <Esc> the command-line is executed. This is 292 unexpected for most people; therefore it was changed in Vim. But when 293 the <Esc> is part of a mapping, the command-line is executed. If you 294 want the Vi behaviour also when typing <Esc>, use ":cmap ^V<Esc> 295 ^V^M"} 296 |cmdline-history| 297 The command-lines are remembered. The up/down cursor keys can be used 298 to recall previous command-lines. The 'history' option can be set to 299 the number of lines that will be remembered. There is a separate 300 history for commands and for search patterns. 301 302Command-line completion. |cmdline-completion| 303 While entering a command-line (on the bottom line of the screen) 304 <Tab> can be typed to complete 305 what example ~ 306 - command :e<Tab> 307 - tag :ta scr<Tab> 308 - option :set sc<Tab> 309 - option value :set hf=<Tab> 310 - file name :e ve<Tab> 311 - etc. 312 313 If there are multiple matches, CTRL-N (next) and CTRL-P (previous) 314 will walk through the matches. <Tab> works like CTRL-N, but wraps 315 around to the first match. 316 317 The 'wildchar' option can be set to the character for command-line 318 completion, <Tab> is the default. CTRL-D can be typed after an 319 (incomplete) wildcard; all matches will be listed. CTRL-A will insert 320 all matches. CTRL-L will insert the longest common part of the 321 matches. 322 323Insert-mode completion. |ins-completion| 324 In Insert mode the CTRL-N and CTRL-P keys can be used to complete a 325 word that appears elsewhere. |i_CTRL-N| 326 With CTRL-X another mode is entered, through which completion can be 327 done for: 328 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-F| file names 329 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K| words from 'dictionary' files 330 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T| words from 'thesaurus' files 331 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I| words from included files 332 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L| whole lines 333 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]| words from the tags file 334 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D| definitions or macros 335 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O| Omni completion: clever completion 336 specifically for a file type 337 etc. 338 339Long line support. |'wrap'| |'linebreak'| 340 If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap and only part 341 of them will be shown. When the cursor is moved to a part that is not 342 shown, the screen will scroll horizontally. The minimum number of 343 columns to scroll can be set with the 'sidescroll' option. The |zh| 344 and |zl| commands can be used to scroll sideways. 345 Alternatively, long lines are broken in between words when the 346 'linebreak' option is set. This allows editing a single-line 347 paragraph conveniently (e.g. when the text is later read into a DTP 348 program). Move the cursor up/down with the |gk| and |gj| commands. 349 350Text formatting. |formatting| 351 The 'textwidth' option can be used to automatically limit the line 352 length. This supplements the 'wrapmargin' option of Vi, which was not 353 very useful. The |gq| operator can be used to format a piece of text 354 (for example, |gqap| formats the current paragraph). Commands for 355 text alignment: |:center|, |:left| and |:right|. 356 357Extended search patterns. |pattern| 358 There are many extra items to match various text items. Examples: 359 A "\n" can be used in a search pattern to match a line break. 360 "x\{2,4}" matches "x" 2 to 4 times. 361 "\s" matches a white space character. 362 363Directory, remote and archive browsing. |netrw| 364 Vim can browse the file system. Simply edit a directory. Move around 365 in the list with the usual commands and press <Enter> to go to the 366 directory or file under the cursor. 367 This also works for remote files over ftp, http, ssh, etc. 368 Zip and tar archives can also be browsed. |tar| |zip| 369 370Edit-compile-edit speedup. |quickfix| 371 The |:make| command can be used to run the compilation and jump to the 372 first error. A file with compiler error messages is interpreted. Vim 373 jumps to the first error. 374 375 Each line in the error file is scanned for the name of a file, line 376 number and error message. The 'errorformat' option can be set to a 377 list of scanf-like strings to handle output from many compilers. 378 379 The |:cn| command can be used to jump to the next error. 380 |:cl| lists all the error messages. Other commands are available. 381 The 'makeef' option has the name of the file with error messages. 382 The 'makeprg' option contains the name of the program to be executed 383 with the |:make| command. 384 The 'shellpipe' option contains the string to be used to put the 385 output of the compiler into the errorfile. 386 387Finding matches in files. |:vimgrep| 388 Vim can search for a pattern in multiple files. This uses the 389 advanced Vim regexp pattern, works on all systems and also works to 390 search in compressed files. 391 392Improved indenting for programs. |'cindent'| 393 When the 'cindent' option is on the indent of each line is 394 automatically adjusted. C syntax is mostly recognized. The indent 395 for various styles can be set with 'cinoptions'. The keys to trigger 396 indenting can be set with 'cinkeys'. 397 398 Comments can be automatically formatted. The 'comments' option can be 399 set to the characters that start and end a comment. This works best 400 for C code, but also works for e-mail (">" at start of the line) and 401 other types of text. The |=| operator can be used to re-indent 402 lines. 403 404 For many other languages an indent plugin is present to support 405 automatic indenting. |30.3| 406 407Searching for words in included files. |include-search| 408 The |[i| command can be used to search for a match of the word under 409 the cursor in the current and included files. The 'include' option 410 can be set to a pattern that describes a command to include a file 411 (the default is for C programs). 412 The |[I| command lists all matches, the |[_CTRL-I| command jumps to 413 a match. 414 The |[d|, |[D| and |[_CTRL-D| commands do the same, but only for 415 lines where the pattern given with the 'define' option matches. 416 417Automatic commands. |autocommand| 418 Commands can be automatically executed when reading a file, writing a 419 file, jumping to another buffer, etc., depending on the file name. 420 This is useful to set options and mappings for C programs, 421 documentation, plain text, e-mail, etc. This also makes it possible 422 to edit compressed files. 423 424Scripts and Expressions. |expression| 425 Commands have been added to form up a powerful script language. 426 |:if| Conditional execution, which can be used for example 427 to set options depending on the value of $TERM. 428 |:while| Repeat a number of commands. 429 |:for| Loop over a list. 430 |:echo| Print the result of an expression. 431 |:let| Assign a value to an internal variable, option, etc. 432 Variable types are Number, String, List and Dictionary. 433 |:execute| Execute a command formed by an expression. 434 |:try| Catch exceptions. 435 etc., etc. See |eval|. 436 Debugging and profiling are supported. |debug-scripts| |profile| 437 If this is not enough, an interface is provided to |Python|, |Ruby|, 438 |Tcl|, |Lua|, |Perl| and |MzScheme|. 439 440Viminfo. |viminfo-file| 441 The command-line history, marks and registers can be stored in a file 442 that is read on startup. This can be used to repeat a search command 443 or command-line command after exiting and restarting Vim. It is also 444 possible to jump right back to where the last edit stopped with |'0|. 445 The 'viminfo' option can be set to select which items to store in the 446 .viminfo file. This is off by default. 447 448Printing. |printing| 449 The |:hardcopy| command sends text to the printer. This can include 450 syntax highlighting. 451 452Mouse support. |mouse-using| 453 The mouse is supported in the GUI version, in an xterm for Unix, for 454 BSDs with sysmouse, for Linux with gpm, and Win32. It can be used to 455 position the cursor, select the visual area, paste a register, etc. 456 457Usage of key names. |<>| |key-notation| 458 Special keys now all have a name like <Up>, <End>, etc. 459 This name can be used in mappings, to make it easy to edit them. 460 461Editing binary files. |edit-binary| 462 Vim can edit binary files. You can change a few characters in an 463 executable file, without corrupting it. Vim doesn't remove NUL 464 characters (they are represented as <NL> internally). 465 |-b| command-line argument to start editing a binary file 466 |'binary'| Option set by |-b|. Prevents adding an <EOL> for the 467 last line in the file. 468 469Multi-language support. |multi-lang| 470 Files in double-byte or multibyte encodings can be edited. There is 471 UTF-8 support to be able to edit various languages at the same time, 472 without switching fonts. |UTF-8| 473 Messages and menus are available in different languages. 474 475Move cursor beyond lines. 476 When the 'virtualedit' option is set the cursor can move all over the 477 screen, also where there is no text. This is useful to edit tables 478 and figures easily. 479 480============================================================================== 4815. Other vim features *other-features* 482 483A random collection of nice extra features. 484 485 486When Vim is started with "-s scriptfile", the characters read from 487"scriptfile" are treated as if you typed them. If end of file is reached 488before the editor exits, further characters are read from the console. 489 490The "-w" option can be used to record all typed characters in a script file. 491This file can then be used to redo the editing, possibly on another file or 492after changing some commands in the script file. 493 494The "-o" option opens a window for each argument. "-o4" opens four windows. 495 496Vi requires several termcap entries to be able to work full-screen. Vim only 497requires the "cm" entry (cursor motion). 498 499 500In command mode: 501 502When the 'showcmd' option is set, the command characters are shown in the last 503line of the screen. They are removed when the command is finished. 504 505If the 'ruler' option is set, the current cursor position is shown in the 506last line of the screen. 507 508"U" still works after having moved off the last changed line and after "u". 509 510Characters with the 8th bit set are displayed. The characters between '~' and 5110xa0 are displayed as "~?", "~@", "~A", etc., unless they are included in the 512'isprint' option. 513 514"][" goes to the next ending of a C function ('}' in column 1). 515"[]" goes to the previous ending of a C function ('}' in column 1). 516 517"]f", "[f" and "gf" start editing the file whose name is under the cursor. 518CTRL-W f splits the window and starts editing the file whose name is under 519the cursor. 520 521"*" searches forward for the identifier under the cursor, "#" backward. 522"K" runs the program defined by the 'keywordprg' option, with the identifier 523under the cursor as argument. 524 525"%" can be preceded with a count. The cursor jumps to the line that 526percentage down in the file. The normal "%" function to jump to the matching 527brace skips braces inside quotes. 528 529With the CTRL-] command, the cursor may be in the middle of the identifier. 530 531The used tags are remembered. Commands that can be used with the tag stack 532are CTRL-T, ":pop" and ":tag". ":tags" lists the tag stack. 533 534Vi uses 'wrapscan' when searching for a tag. When jumping to a tag Vi starts 535searching in line 2 of another file. It does not find a tag in line 1 of 536another file when 'wrapscan' is not set. 537 538The 'tags' option can be set to a list of tag file names. Thus multiple 539tag files can be used. For file names that start with "./", the "./" is 540replaced with the path of the current file. This makes it possible to use a 541tags file in the same directory as the file being edited. 542{Vi: always uses binary search in some versions} 543{Vi does not have the security prevention for commands in tag files} 544 545Previously used file names are remembered in the alternate file name list. 546CTRL-^ accepts a count, which is an index in this list. 547":files" command shows the list of alternate file names. 548"#<N>" is replaced with the <N>th alternate file name in the list. 549"#<" is replaced with the current file name without extension. 550 551Search patterns have more features. The <NL> character is seen as part of the 552search pattern and the substitute string of ":s". Vi sees it as the end of 553the command. 554 555Searches can put the cursor on the end of a match and may include a character 556offset. 557 558Count added to "~", ":next", ":Next", "n" and "N". 559 560The command ":next!" with 'autowrite' set does not write the file. In vi the 561file was written, but this is considered to be a bug, because one does not 562expect it and the file is not written with ":rewind!". 563 564In Vi when entering a <CR> in replace mode deletes a character only when 'ai' 565is set (but does not show it until you hit <Esc>). Vim always deletes a 566character (and shows it immediately). 567 568Added :wnext command. Same as ":write" followed by ":next". 569 570The ":w!" command always writes, also when the file is write protected. In Vi 571you would have to do ":!chmod +w %:S" and ":set noro". 572 573When 'tildeop' has been set, "~" is an operator (must be followed by a 574movement command). 575 576With the "J" (join) command you can reset the 'joinspaces' option to have only 577one space after a period (Vi inserts two spaces). 578 579"cw" can be used to change white space formed by several characters (Vi is 580confusing: "cw" only changes one space, while "dw" deletes all white space). 581{Vi: "cw" when on a blank followed by other blanks changes only the first 582blank; this is probably a bug, because "dw" deletes all the blanks} 583 584"o" and "O" accept a count for repeating the insert (Vi clears a part of 585display). 586 587Flags after Ex commands not supported (no plans to include it). 588 589On non-UNIX systems ":cd" command shows current directory instead of going to 590the home directory (there isn't one). ":pwd" prints the current directory on 591all systems. 592 593After a ":cd" command the file names (in the argument list, opened files) 594still point to the same files. In Vi ":cd" is not allowed in a changed file; 595otherwise the meaning of file names change. 596 597":source!" command reads Vi commands from a file. 598 599":mkexrc" command writes current modified options and mappings to a ".exrc" 600file. ":mkvimrc" writes to a ".vimrc" file. 601 602No check for "tail recursion" with mappings. This allows things like 603":map! foo ^]foo". 604 605When a mapping starts with number, vi loses the count typed before it (e.g. 606when using the mapping ":map g 4G" the command "7g" goes to line 4). This is 607considered a vi bug. Vim concatenates the counts (in the example it becomes 608"74G"), as most people would expect. 609 610The :put! command inserts the contents of a register above the current line. 611 612The "p" and "P" commands of vi cannot be repeated with "." when the putted 613text is less than a line. In Vim they can always be repeated. 614 615":noremap" command can be used to enter a mapping that will not be remapped. 616This is useful to exchange the meaning of two keys. ":cmap", ":cunmap" and 617":cnoremap" can be used for mapping in command-line editing only. ":imap", 618":iunmap" and ":inoremap" can be used for mapping in insert mode only. 619Similar commands exist for abbreviations: ":noreabbrev", ":iabbrev" 620":cabbrev", ":iunabbrev", ":cunabbrev", ":inoreabbrev", ":cnoreabbrev". 621 622In Vi the command ":map foo bar" would remove a previous mapping 623":map bug foo". This is considered a bug, so it is not included in Vim. 624":unmap! foo" does remove ":map! bug foo", because unmapping would be very 625difficult otherwise (this is vi compatible). 626 627The ':' register contains the last command-line. 628The '%' register contains the current file name. 629The '.' register contains the last inserted text. 630 631":dis" command shows the contents of the yank registers. 632 633CTRL-O/CTRL-I can be used to jump to older/newer positions. These are the 634same positions as used with the '' command, but may be in another file. The 635":jumps" command lists the older positions. 636 637If the 'shiftround' option is set, an indent is rounded to a multiple of 638'shiftwidth' with ">" and "<" commands. 639 640The 'scrolljump' option can be set to the minimum number of lines to scroll 641when the cursor gets off the screen. Use this when scrolling is slow. 642 643The 'scrolloff' option can be set to the minimum number of lines to keep 644above and below the cursor. This gives some context to where you are 645editing. When set to a large number the cursor line is always in the middle 646of the window. 647 648Uppercase marks can be used to jump between files. The ":marks" command lists 649all currently set marks. The commands "']" and "`]" jump to the end of the 650previous operator or end of the text inserted with the put command. "'[" and 651"`[" do jump to the start. {Vi: no uppercase marks} 652 653The 'shelltype' option can be set to reflect the type of shell used on the 654Amiga. 655 656The 'highlight' option can be set for the highlight mode to be used for 657several commands. 658 659The CTRL-A (add) and CTRL-X (subtract) commands are new. The count to the 660command (default 1) is added to/subtracted from the number at or after the 661cursor. That number may be decimal, octal (starts with a '0') or hexadecimal 662(starts with '0x'). Very useful in macros. 663 664With the :set command the prefix "inv" can be used to invert boolean options. 665 666In both Vi and Vim you can create a line break with the ":substitute" command 667by using a CTRL-M. For Vi this means you cannot insert a real CTRL-M in the 668text. With Vim you can put a real CTRL-M in the text by preceding it with a 669CTRL-V. 670 671 672In Insert mode: 673 674If the 'revins' option is set, insert happens backwards. This is for typing 675Hebrew. When inserting normal characters the cursor will not be shifted and 676the text moves rightwards. Backspace, CTRL-W and CTRL-U will also work in 677the opposite direction. CTRL-B toggles the 'revins' option. In replace mode 678'revins' has no effect. Only when enabled at compile time. 679 680The backspace key can be used just like CTRL-D to remove auto-indents. 681 682You can backspace, CTRL-U and CTRL-W over line breaks if the 'backspace' (bs) 683option includes "eol". You can backspace over the start of insert if the 684'backspace' option includes "start". 685 686When the 'paste' option is set, a few options are reset and mapping in insert 687mode and abbreviation are disabled. This allows for pasting text in windowing 688systems without unexpected results. When the 'paste' option is reset, the old 689option values are restored. 690 691CTRL-T/CTRL-D always insert/delete an indent in the current line, no matter 692what column the cursor is in. 693 694CTRL-@ (insert previously inserted text) works always (Vi: only when typed as 695first character). 696 697CTRL-A works like CTRL-@ but does not leave insert mode. 698 699CTRL-R {register} can be used to insert the contents of a register. 700 701When the 'smartindent' option is set, C programs will be better auto-indented. 702With 'cindent' even more. 703 704CTRL-Y and CTRL-E can be used to copy a character from above/below the 705current cursor position. 706 707After CTRL-V you can enter a three digit decimal number. This byte value is 708inserted in the text as a single character. Useful for international 709characters that are not on your keyboard. 710 711When the 'expandtab' (et) option is set, a <Tab> is expanded to the 712appropriate number of spaces. 713 714The window always reflects the contents of the buffer (Vi does not do this 715when changing text and in some other cases). 716 717If Vim is compiled with DIGRAPHS defined, digraphs are supported. A set of 718normal digraphs is included. They are shown with the ":digraph" command. 719More can be added with ":digraph {char1}{char2} {number}". A digraph is 720entered with "CTRL-K {char1} {char2}" or "{char1} BS {char2}" (only when 721'digraph' option is set). 722 723When repeating an insert, e.g. "10atest <Esc>" vi would only handle wrapmargin 724for the first insert. Vim does it for all. 725 726A count to the "i" or "a" command is used for all the text. Vi uses the count 727only for one line. "3iabc<NL>def<Esc>" would insert "abcabcabc<NL>def" in Vi 728but "abc<NL>defabc<NL>defabc<NL>def" in Vim. 729 730 731In Command-line mode: 732 733<Esc> terminates the command-line without executing it. In vi the command 734line would be executed, which is not what most people expect (hitting <Esc> 735should always get you back to command mode). To avoid problems with some 736obscure macros, an <Esc> in a macro will execute the command. If you want a 737typed <Esc> to execute the command like vi does you can fix this with 738 ":cmap ^V<Esc> ^V<CR>" 739 740General: 741 742The 'ttimeout' option is like 'timeout', but only works for cursor and 743function keys, not for ordinary mapped characters. The 'timeoutlen' option 744gives the number of milliseconds that is waited for. If the 'esckeys' option 745is not set, cursor and function keys that start with <Esc> are not recognized 746in insert mode. 747 748There is an option for each terminal string. Can be used when termcap is not 749supported or to change individual strings. 750 751The 'fileformat' option can be set to select the <EOL>: "dos" <CR><NL>, "unix" 752<NL> or "mac" <CR>. 753When the 'fileformats' option is not empty, Vim tries to detect the type of 754<EOL> automatically. The 'fileformat' option is set accordingly. 755 756On systems that have no job control (older Unix systems and non-Unix systems) 757the CTRL-Z, ":stop" or ":suspend" command starts a new shell. 758 759If Vim is started on the Amiga without an interactive window for output, a 760window is opened (and :sh still works). You can give a device to use for 761editing with the |-d| argument, e.g. "-d con:20/20/600/150". 762 763The 'columns' and 'lines' options are used to set or get the width and height 764of the display. 765 766Option settings are read from the first and last few lines of the file. 767Option 'modelines' determines how many lines are tried (default is 5). Note 768that this is different from the Vi versions that can execute any Ex command 769in a modeline (a major security problem). |trojan-horse| 770 771If the 'insertmode' option is set (e.g. in .exrc), Vim starts in insert mode. 772And it comes back there, when pressing <Esc>. 773 774Undo information is kept in memory. Available memory limits the number and 775size of change that can be undone. This is hardly a problem on the Amiga and 776almost never with Unix and Win32. 777 778If the 'backup' or 'writebackup' option is set: Before a file is overwritten, 779a backup file (.bak) is made. If the "backup" option is set it is left 780behind. 781 782Vim creates a file ending in ".swp" to store parts of the file that have been 783changed or that do not fit in memory. This file can be used to recover from 784an aborted editing session with "vim -r file". Using the swap file can be 785switched off by setting the 'updatecount' option to 0 or starting Vim with 786the "-n" option. Use the 'directory' option for placing the .swp file 787somewhere else. 788 789Vim is able to work correctly on filesystems with 8.3 file names, also when 790using messydos or crossdos filesystems on the Amiga, or any 8.3 mounted 791filesystem under Unix. See |'shortname'|. 792 793Error messages are shown at least one second (Vi overwrites error messages). 794 795If Vim gives the |hit-enter| prompt, you can hit any key. Characters other 796than <CR>, <NL> and <Space> are interpreted as the (start of) a command. 797{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted} 798 799The contents of the numbered and unnamed registers is remembered when 800changing files. 801 802The "No lines in buffer" message is a normal message instead of an error 803message, since that may cause a mapping to be aborted. 804{Vi: error messages may be overwritten with other messages before you have a 805chance to read them} 806 807The AUX: device of the Amiga is supported. 808 809============================================================================== 8106. Supported Vi features *vi-features* 811 812Vim supports nearly all Vi commands and mostly in the same way. That is when 813the 'compatible' option is set and 'cpoptions' contains all flags. What the 814effect is of resetting 'compatible' and removing flags from 'cpoptions' can be 815found at the help for the specific command. 816 817The help files used to mark features that are in Vim but not in Vi with {not 818in Vi}. However, since these remarks cluttered the help files we now do it 819the other way around: Below is listed what Vi already supported. Anything 820else has been added by Vim. 821 822 823The following Ex commands are supported by Vi: ~ 824 825`:abbreviate` enter abbreviation 826`:append` append text 827`:args` print the argument list 828`:cd` change directory; Vi: no "cd -" 829`:change` replace a line or series of lines 830`:chdir` change directory 831`:copy` copy lines 832`:delete` delete lines 833`:edit` edit a file 834`:exit` same as `:xit` 835`:file` show or set the current file name; Vi: without the column number 836`:global` execute commands for matching lines 837`:insert` insert text 838`:join` join lines; Vi: not :join! 839`:k` set a mark 840`:list` print lines 841`:map` show or enter a mapping 842`:mark` set a mark 843`:move` move lines 844`:Next` go to previous file in the argument list {Vi: no count} 845`:next` go to next file in the argument list {Vi: no count} 846`:number` print lines with line number 847`:open` start open mode (not implemented in Vim) 848`:pop` jump to older entry in tag stack (only in some versions) 849`:preserve` write all text to swap file {Vi: might also exit} 850`:previous` same as `:Next` {Vi: only in some versions} 851`:print` print lines 852`:put` insert contents of register in the text 853`:quit` quit Vi 854`:read` read file into the text 855`:recover` recover a file from a swap file {Vi: recovers in another way 856 and sends mail if there is something to recover} 857`:rewind` go to the first file in the argument list; no ++opt 858`:set` set option; but not `:set inv{option}`, `:set option&`, 859 `:set all&`, `:set option+=value`, `:set option^=value` 860 `:set option-=value` `:set option<` 861`:shell` escape to a shell 862`:source` read Vi or Ex commands from a file 863`:stop` suspend the editor or escape to a shell 864`:substitute` find and replace text; Vi: no '&', 'i', 's', 'r' or 'I' flag, 865 confirm prompt only supports 'y' and 'n', no highlighting 866`:suspend` same as ":stop" 867`:t` same as ":copy" 868`:tag` jump to tag 869`:unabbreviate` remove abbreviation 870`:undo` undo last change {Vi: only one level} 871`:unmap` remove mapping 872`:vglobal` execute commands for not matching lines 873`:version` print version number and other info 874`:visual` same as ":edit", but turns off "Ex" mode 875`:wq` write to a file and quit Vi 876`:write` write to a file 877`:xit` write if buffer changed and quit Vi 878`:yank` yank lines into a register 879`:z` print some lines {not in all versions of Vi} 880`:!` filter lines or execute an external command 881`:"` comment 882`:#` same as ":number" 883`:*` execute contents of a register 884`:&` repeat last ":substitute" 885`:<` shift lines one 'shiftwidth' left 886`:=` print the cursor line number 887`:>` shift lines one 'shiftwidth' right 888`:@` execute contents of a register; but not `:@`; `:@@` only in 889 some versions 890 891Common for these commands is that Vi doesn't support the ++opt argument on 892`:edit` and other commands that open a file. 893 894 895The following Normal mode commands are supported by Vi: ~ 896 897note: See the beginning of |normal-index| for the meaning of WORD, N, Nmove 898and etc in the description text. 899 900|CTRL-B| scroll N screens Backwards 901|CTRL-C| interrupt current (search) command 902|CTRL-D| scroll Down N lines (default: half a screen); Vim scrolls 903 'scroll' screen lines, Vi scrolls file lines; makes a 904 difference when lines wrap 905|CTRL-E| scroll N lines upwards (N lines Extra) 906|CTRL-F| scroll N screens Forward 907|CTRL-G| display current file name and position 908|<BS>| same as "h" 909|CTRL-H| same as "h" 910|<NL>| same as "j" 911|CTRL-J| same as "j" 912|CTRL-L| redraw screen 913|<CR>| cursor to the first CHAR N lines lower 914|CTRL-M| same as <CR> 915|CTRL-N| same as "j" 916|CTRL-P| same as "k" 917|CTRL-R| in some Vi versions: same as CTRL-L 918|CTRL-T| jump to N older Tag in tag list 919|CTRL-U| N lines Upwards (default: half a screen) {Vi used file lines 920 while Vim scrolls 'scroll' screen lines; makes a difference 921 when lines wrap} 922|CTRL-Y| scroll N lines downwards 923|CTRL-Z| suspend program (or start new shell) 924|CTRL-]| :ta to ident under cursor {Vi: identifier after the cursor} 925|CTRL-^| edit alternate file {Vi: no count} 926|<Space>| same as "l" 927|!| filter Nmove text through the {filter} command 928|!!| filter N lines through the {filter} command 929" use register {a-zA-Z0-9.%#:-"} for next delete, yank or put 930 (uppercase to append) ({.%#:} only work with put) 931|$| cursor to the end of Nth next line 932|%| find the next (curly/square) bracket on this line and go to 933 its match, or go to matching comment bracket, or go to 934 matching preprocessor directive (Vi: no count supported) 935|&| repeat last :s 936|'| jump to mark (Vi: only lowercase marks) 937|(| cursor N sentences backward 938|)| cursor N sentences forward 939|+| same as <CR> 940|,| repeat latest f, t, F or T in opposite direction N times 941|-| cursor to the first CHAR N lines higher 942|.| repeat last change with count replaced with N 943|/| search forward for the Nth occurrence of {pattern} 944|0| cursor to the first char of the line 945|:| start entering an Ex command 946|;| repeat latest f, t, F or T N times 947|<| shift Nmove lines one 'shiftwidth' leftwards 948|<<| shift N lines one 'shiftwidth' leftwards 949|=| filter Nmove lines through "indent" 950|==| filter N lines through "indent" 951|>| shift Nmove lines one 'shiftwidth' rightwards 952|>>| shift N lines one 'shiftwidth' rightwards 953|?| search backward for the Nth previous occurrence of {pattern} 954|@| execute the contents of register {a-z} N times 955 {Vi: only named registers} 956|@@| repeat the previous @{a-z} N times 957|A| append text after the end of the line N times 958|B| cursor N WORDS backward 959|C| change from the cursor position to the end of the line 960|D| delete the characters under the cursor until the end of the 961 line and N-1 more lines [into register x]; synonym for "d$" 962|E| cursor forward to the end of WORD N 963|F| cursor to the Nth occurrence of {char} to the left 964|G| cursor to line N, default last line 965|H| cursor to line N from top of screen 966|I| insert text before the first CHAR on the line N times 967|J| Join N lines; default is 2 968|L| cursor to line N from bottom of screen 969|M| cursor to middle line of screen 970|N| repeat the latest '/' or '?' N times in opposite direction 971|O| begin a new line above the cursor and insert text, repeat N 972 times {Vi: blank [count] screen lines} 973|P| put the text [from register x] before the cursor N times 974 {Vi: no count} 975|Q| switch to "Ex" mode 976|R| enter replace mode: overtype existing characters, repeat the 977 entered text N-1 times 978|S| delete N lines [into register x] and start insert; synonym for 979 "cc". 980|T| cursor till after Nth occurrence of {char} to the left 981|U| undo all latest changes on one line 982 {Vi: while not moved off of the last modified line} 983|W| cursor N WORDS forward 984|X| delete N characters before the cursor [into register x] 985|Y| yank N lines [into register x]; synonym for "yy" 986|ZZ| store current file if modified, and exit 987|[[| cursor N sections backward 988|]]| cursor N sections forward 989|^| cursor to the first CHAR of the line 990|_| cursor to the first CHAR N - 1 lines lower 991|`| cursor to the mark {a-zA-Z0-9} 992|a| append text after the cursor N times 993|b| cursor N words backward 994|c| delete Nmove text [into register x] and start insert 995|cc| delete N lines [into register x] and start insert 996|d| delete Nmove text [into register x] 997|dd| delete N lines [into register x] 998|e| cursor forward to the end of word N 999|f| cursor to Nth occurrence of {char} to the right 1000|h| cursor N chars to the left 1001|i| insert text before the cursor N times 1002|j| cursor N lines downward 1003|k| cursor N lines upward 1004|l| cursor N chars to the right 1005|m| set mark {A-Za-z} at cursor position 1006|n| repeat the latest '/' or '?' N times 1007|o| begin a new line below the cursor and insert text 1008 {Vi: blank [count] screen lines} 1009|p| put the text [from register x] after the cursor N times 1010 {Vi: no count} 1011|r| replace N chars with {char} {Vi: CTRL-V <CR> still replaces 1012 with a line break, cannot replace something with a <CR>} 1013|s| (substitute) delete N characters [into register x] and start 1014 insert 1015|t| cursor till before Nth occurrence of {char} to the right 1016|u| undo changes {Vi: only one level} 1017|w| cursor N words forward 1018|x| delete N characters under and after the cursor [into register 1019 x] 1020|y| yank Nmove text [into register x] 1021|yy| yank N lines [into register x] 1022|z<CR>| current line to the top 1023|z-| current line to the bottom 1024|z+| cursor on line N 1025|z^| cursor on line N 1026|{| cursor N paragraphs backward 1027| cursor to column N 1028|}| cursor N paragraphs forward 1029|~| switch case of N characters under the cursor; Vim: depends on 1030 'tildeop' {Vi: no count, no 'tildeop'} 1031|<Del>| same as "x" 1032 1033 1034The following commands are supported in Insert mode by Vi: ~ 1035 1036CTRL-@ insert previously inserted text and stop insert 1037 {Vi: only when typed as first char, only up to 128 chars} 1038CTRL-C quit insert mode, without checking for abbreviation, unless 1039 'insertmode' set. 1040CTRL-D delete one shiftwidth of indent in the current line 1041 {Vi: CTRL-D works only when used after autoindent} 1042<BS> delete character before the cursor {Vi: does not delete 1043 autoindents, does not cross lines, does not delete past start 1044 position of insert} 1045CTRL-H same as <BS> 1046<Tab> insert a <Tab> character 1047CTRL-I same as <Tab> 1048<NL> same as <CR> 1049CTRL-J same as <CR> 1050<CR> begin new line 1051CTRL-M same as <CR> 1052CTRL-T insert one shiftwidth of indent in current line {Vi: only when 1053 in indent} 1054CTRL-V {char} insert next non-digit literally {Vi: no decimal byte entry} 1055CTRL-W delete word before the cursor 1056CTRL-Z when 'insertmode' set: suspend Vi 1057<Esc> end insert mode (unless 'insertmode' set) 1058CTRL-[ same as <Esc> 10590 CTRL-D delete all indent in the current line 1060^ CTRL-D delete all indent in the current line, restore it in the next 1061 line 1062<Del> delete character under the cursor 1063 1064 1065The following options are supported by Vi: ~ 1066 1067'autoindent' 'ai' take indent for new line from previous line 1068 {Vi does this slightly differently: After the 1069 indent is deleted when typing <Esc> or <CR>, the 1070 cursor position when moving up or down is after 1071 the deleted indent; Vi puts the cursor somewhere 1072 in the deleted indent}. 1073'autowrite' 'aw' automatically write file if changed 1074'directory' 'dir' list of directory names for the swap file 1075 {Vi: directory to put temp file in, defaults to 1076 "/tmp"} 1077'edcompatible' 'ed' toggle flags of ":substitute" command 1078'errorbells' 'eb' ring the bell for error messages 1079'ignorecase' 'ic' ignore case in search patterns 1080'lines' number of lines in the display 1081'lisp' automatic indenting for Lisp {Vi: Does it a little 1082 bit differently} 1083'list' show <Tab> and <EOL> 1084'magic' changes special characters in search patterns 1085'modeline' 'ml' recognize 'modelines' at start or end of file 1086 {called modelines in some Vi versions} 1087'number' 'nu' print the line number in front of each line 1088'paragraphs' 'para' nroff macros that separate paragraphs 1089'prompt' 'prompt' enable prompt in Ex mode 1090'readonly' 'ro' disallow writing the buffer {Vim sets 'readonly' 1091 when editing a file with `:view`} 1092'remap' allow mappings to work recursively 1093'report' threshold for reporting nr. of lines changed 1094'scroll' 'scr' lines to scroll with CTRL-U and CTRL-D 1095'sections' 'sect' nroff macros that separate sections 1096'shell' 'sh' name of shell to use for external commands 1097'shiftwidth' 'sw' number of spaces to use for (auto)indent step 1098'showmatch' 'sm' briefly jump to matching bracket if insert one 1099'showmode' 'smd' message on status line to show current mode 1100'tabstop' 'ts' number of spaces that <Tab> in file uses 1101'taglength' 'tl' number of significant characters for a tag 1102'tags' 'tag' list of file names used by the tag command 1103 {Vi: default is "tags /usr/lib/tags"} 1104'tagstack' 'tgst' push tags onto the tag stack {not in all versions 1105 of Vi} 1106'term' name of the terminal 1107'terse' shorten some messages 1108'timeout' 'to' time out on mappings and key codes 1109'timeoutlen' 'tm' time for 'timeout' {only in some Vi versions} 1110'ttytype' 'tty' alias for 'term' 1111'verbose' 'vbs' give informative messages {only in some Vi 1112 versions as a boolean option} 1113'warn' warn for shell command when buffer was changed 1114'window' 'wi' nr of lines to scroll for CTRL-F and CTRL-B 1115 {Vi also uses the option to specify the number of 1116 displayed lines} 1117'wrapmargin' 'wm' chars from the right where wrapping starts 1118 {Vi: works differently and less usefully} 1119'wrapscan' 'ws' searches wrap around the end of the file 1120'writeany' 'wa' write to file with no need for "!" override 1121 1122Also see |missing-options|. 1123 1124============================================================================== 11257. Command-line arguments *cmdline-arguments* 1126 1127Different versions of Vi have different command-line arguments. This can be 1128confusing. To help you, this section gives an overview of the differences. 1129 1130Five variants of Vi will be considered here: 1131 Elvis Elvis version 2.1b 1132 Nvi Nvi version 1.79 1133 Posix Posix 1003.2 1134 Vi Vi version 3.7 (for Sun 4.1.x) 1135 Vile Vile version 7.4 (incomplete) 1136 Vim Vim version 5.2 1137 1138Only Vim is able to accept options in between and after the file names. 1139 1140+{command} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Same as "-c {command}". 1141 1142- Nvi, Posix, Vi: Run Ex in batch mode. 1143 Vim: Read file from stdin (use -s for batch mode). 1144 1145-- Vim: End of options, only file names are following. 1146 1147--cmd {command} Vim: execute {command} before sourcing vimrc files. 1148 1149--echo-wid Vim: GTK+ echoes the Window ID on stdout 1150 1151--help Vim: show help message and exit. 1152 1153--literal Vim: take file names literally, don't expand wildcards. 1154 1155--nofork Vim: same as |-f| 1156 1157--noplugin[s] Vim: Skip loading plugins. 1158 1159--remote Vim: edit the files in another Vim server 1160 1161--remote-expr {expr} Vim: evaluate {expr} in another Vim server 1162 1163--remote-send {keys} Vim: send {keys} to a Vim server and exit 1164 1165--remote-silent {file} Vim: edit the files in another Vim server if possible 1166 1167--remote-wait Vim: edit the files in another Vim server and wait for it 1168 1169--remote-wait-silent Vim: like --remote-wait, no complaints if not possible 1170 1171--role {role} Vim: GTK+ 2: set role of main window 1172 1173--serverlist Vim: Output a list of Vim servers and exit 1174 1175--servername {name} Vim: Specify Vim server name 1176 1177--socketid {id} Vim: GTK window socket to run Vim in 1178 1179--windowid {id} Vim: Win32 window ID to run Vim in 1180 1181--version Vim: show version message and exit. 1182 1183-? Vile: print usage summary and exit. 1184 1185-a Elvis: Load all specified file names into a window (use -o for 1186 Vim). 1187 1188-A Vim: Start in Arabic mode (when compiled with Arabic). 1189 1190-b {blksize} Elvis: Use {blksize} blocksize for the session file. 1191-b Vim: set 'binary' mode. 1192 1193-C Vim: Compatible mode. 1194 1195-c {command} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vim: run {command} as an Ex command after 1196 loading the edit buffer. 1197 Vim: allow up to 10 "-c" arguments 1198 1199-d {device} Vim: Use {device} for I/O (Amiga only). {only when compiled 1200 without the |+diff| feature} 1201-d Vim: start with 'diff' set. |vimdiff| 1202 1203-dev {device} Vim: Use {device} for I/O (Amiga only). 1204 1205-D Vim: debug mode. 1206 1207-e Elvis, Nvi, Vim: Start in Ex mode, as if the executable is 1208 called "ex". 1209 1210-E Vim: Start in improved Ex mode |gQ|, like "exim". 1211 1212-f Vim: Run GUI in foreground (Amiga: don't open new window). 1213-f {session} Elvis: Use {session} as the session file. 1214 1215-F Vim: Start in Farsi mode (when compiled with Farsi). 1216 Nvi: Fast start, don't read the entire file when editing 1217 starts. 1218 1219-G {gui} Elvis: Use the {gui} as user interface. 1220 1221-g Vim: Start GUI. 1222-g N Vile: start editing at line N 1223 1224-h Vim: Give help message. 1225 Vile: edit the help file 1226 1227-H Vim: start Hebrew mode (when compiled with it). 1228 1229-i Elvis: Start each window in Insert mode. 1230-i {viminfo} Vim: Use {viminfo} for viminfo file. 1231 1232-L Vim: Same as "-r" {only in some versions of Vi: "List 1233 recoverable edit sessions"}. 1234 1235-l Nvi, Vi, Vim: Set 'lisp' and 'showmatch' options. 1236 1237-m Vim: Modifications not allowed to be written, resets 'write' 1238 option. 1239 1240-M Vim: Modifications not allowed, resets 'modifiable' and the 1241 'write' option. 1242 1243-N Vim: No-compatible mode. 1244 1245-n Vim: No swap file used. 1246 1247-nb[args] Vim: open a NetBeans interface connection 1248 1249-O[N] Vim: Like -o, but use vertically split windows. 1250 1251-o[N] Vim: Open [N] windows, or one for each file. 1252 1253-p[N] Vim: Open [N] tab pages, or one for each file. 1254 1255-P {parent-title} Win32 Vim: open Vim inside a parent application window 1256 1257-q {name} Vim: Use {name} for quickfix error file. 1258-q{name} Vim: Idem. 1259 1260-R Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vile, Vim: Set the 'readonly' option. 1261 1262-r Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Recovery mode. 1263 1264-S Nvi: Set 'secure' option. 1265-S {script} Vim: source script after starting up. 1266 1267-s Nvi, Posix, Vim: Same as "-" (silent mode), when in Ex mode. 1268 Elvis: Sets the 'safer' option. 1269-s {scriptin} Vim: Read from script file {scriptin}; only when not in Ex 1270 mode. 1271-s {pattern} Vile: search for {pattern} 1272 1273-t {tag} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Edit the file containing {tag}. 1274-t{tag} Vim: Idem. 1275 1276-T {term} Vim: Set terminal name to {term}. 1277 1278-u {vimrc} Vim: Read initializations from {vimrc} file. 1279 1280-U {gvimrc} Vim: Read GUI initializations from {gvimrc} file. 1281 1282-v Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Begin in Normal mode (visual mode, in Vi 1283 terms). 1284 Vile: View mode, no changes possible. 1285 1286-V Elvis, Vim: Verbose mode. 1287-V{nr} Vim: Verbose mode with specified level. 1288 1289-w {size} Elvis, Posix, Nvi, Vi, Vim: Set value of 'window' to {size}. 1290-w{size} Nvi, Vi: Same as "-w {size}". 1291-w {name} Vim: Write to script file {name} (must start with non-digit). 1292 1293-W {name} Vim: Append to script file {name}. 1294 1295-x Vi, Vim: Ask for encryption key. See |encryption|. 1296 1297-X Vim: Don't connect to the X server. 1298 1299-y Vim: Start in easy mode, like |evim|. 1300 1301-Z Vim: restricted mode 1302 1303@{cmdfile} Vile: use {cmdfile} as startup file. 1304 1305============================================================================== 13068. POSIX compliance *posix* *posix-compliance* 1307 1308In 2005 the POSIX test suite was run to check the compatibility of Vim. Most 1309of the test was executed properly. There are the few things where Vim 1310is not POSIX compliant, even when run in Vi compatibility mode. 1311 *$VIM_POSIX* 1312Set the $VIM_POSIX environment variable to have 'cpoptions' include the POSIX 1313flags when Vim starts up. This makes Vim run as POSIX as it can. That's 1314a bit different from being Vi compatible. 1315 1316You can find the Posix specification for Vi here: 1317https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/vi.html 1318And the related Ex specification: 1319https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/ex.html 1320 1321This is where Vim does not behave as POSIX specifies and why: 1322 1323 *posix-screen-size* 1324 The $COLUMNS and $LINES environment variables are ignored by Vim if 1325 the size can be obtained from the terminal in a more reliable way. 1326 Add the '|' flag to 'cpoptions' to have $COLUMNS and $LINES overrule 1327 sizes obtained in another way. 1328 1329 The "{" and "}" commands don't stop at a "{" in the original Vi, but 1330 POSIX specifies it does. Add the '{' flag to 'cpoptions' if you want 1331 it the POSIX way. 1332 1333 The "D", "o" and "O" commands accept a count. Also when repeated. 1334 Add the '#' flag to 'cpoptions' if you want to ignore the count. 1335 1336 The ":cd" command fails if the current buffer is modified when the '.' 1337 flag is present in 'cpoptions'. 1338 1339 There is no ATTENTION message, the "A" flag is added to 'shortmess'. 1340 1341These are remarks about running the POSIX test suite: 1342- vi test 33 sometimes fails for unknown reasons 1343- vi test 250 fails; behavior will be changed in a new revision 1344 http://www.opengroup.org/austin/mailarchives/ag-review/msg01710.html 1345 (link no longer works, perhaps it's now: 1346 https://www.opengroup.org/sophocles/show_mail.tpl?CALLER=show_archive.tpl&source=L&listname=austin-review-l&id=1711) 1347- vi test 310 fails; exit code non-zero when any error occurred? 1348- ex test 24 fails because test is wrong. Changed between SUSv2 and SUSv3. 1349- ex tests 47, 48, 49, 72, 73 fail because .exrc file isn't read in silent 1350 mode and $EXINIT isn't used. 1351- ex tests 76, 78 fail because echo is used instead of printf. (fixed) 1352 Also: problem with \s not changed to space. 1353- ex test 355 fails because 'window' isn't used for "30z". 1354- ex test 368 fails because shell command isn't echoed in silent mode. 1355- ex test 394 fails because "=" command output isn't visible in silent mode. 1356- ex test 411 fails because test file is wrong, contains stray ':'. 1357- ex test 475 and 476 fail because reprint output isn't visible in silent mode. 1358- ex test 480 and 481 fail because the tags file has spaces instead of a tab. 1359- ex test 502 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. 1360- ex test 509 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. and exit code is 1361 1 instead of 2. 1362- ex test 534 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. 1363 1364 1365 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: 1366