1*vi_diff.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2016 Feb 12 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Differences between Vim and Vi *vi-differences* 8 9Throughout the help files differences between Vim and Vi/Ex are given in 10curly braces, like "{not in Vi}". This file only lists what has not been 11mentioned in other files and gives an overview. 12 13Vim is mostly POSIX 1003.2-1 compliant. The only command known to be missing 14is ":open". There are probably a lot of small differences (either because Vim 15is missing something or because Posix is beside the mark). 16 171. Simulated command |simulated-command| 182. Missing options |missing-options| 193. Limits |limits| 204. The most interesting additions |vim-additions| 215. Other vim features |other-features| 226. Command-line arguments |cmdline-arguments| 237. 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 67============================================================================== 683. Limits *limits* 69 70Vim has only a few limits for the files that can be edited {Vi: can not handle 71<Nul> characters and characters above 128, has limited line length, many other 72limits}. 73 *E340* 74Maximum line length On machines with 16-bit ints (Amiga and MS-DOS real 75 mode): 32767, otherwise 2147483647 characters. 76 Longer lines are split. 77Maximum number of lines 2147483647 lines. 78Maximum file size 2147483647 bytes (2 Gbyte) when a long integer is 79 32 bits. Much more for 64 bit longs. Also limited 80 by available disk space for the |swap-file|. 81 *E75* 82Length of a file path Unix and Win32: 1024 characters, otherwise 256 83 characters (or as much as the system supports). 84Length of an expanded string option 85 Unix and Win32: 1024 characters, otherwise 256 86 characters 87Maximum display width Unix and Win32: 1024 characters, otherwise 255 88 characters 89Maximum lhs of a mapping 50 characters. 90Number of different highlighting types: over 30000 91Range of a Number variable: -2147483648 to 2147483647 (might be more on 64 92 bit systems) 93Maximum length of a line in a tags file: 512 bytes. 94 95Information for undo and text in registers is kept in memory, thus when making 96(big) changes the amount of (virtual) memory available limits the number of 97undo levels and the text that can be kept in registers. Other things are also 98kept in memory: Command-line history, error messages for Quickfix mode, etc. 99 100Memory usage limits 101------------------- 102 103The option 'maxmem' ('mm') is used to set the maximum memory used for one 104buffer (in kilobytes). 'maxmemtot' is used to set the maximum memory used for 105all buffers (in kilobytes). The defaults depend on the system used. For the 106Amiga and MS-DOS, 'maxmemtot' is set depending on the amount of memory 107available. 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-DOS in real-mode (no additional drivers required). 137 - In protected mode on Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS (DPMI driver required). 138 - Windows 95 and Windows NT, with support for long file names. 139 - OS/2 (needs emx.dll) 140 - Atari MiNT 141 - VMS 142 - BeOS 143 - Macintosh 144 - Risc OS 145 - IBM OS/390 146 Note that on some systems features need to be disabled to reduce 147 resource usage, esp. on MS-DOS. For some outdated systems you need to 148 use an older Vim version. 149 150Multi level undo. |undo| 151 'u' goes backward in time, 'CTRL-R' goes forward again. Set option 152 'undolevels' to the number of changes to be remembered (default 1000). 153 Set 'undolevels' to 0 for a Vi-compatible one level undo. Set it to 154 -1 for no undo at all. 155 When all changes in a buffer have been undone, the buffer is not 156 considered changed anymore. You can exit it with :q, without <!>. 157 When undoing a few changes and then making a new change Vim will 158 create a branch in the undo tree. This means you can go back to any 159 state of the text, there is no risk of a change causing text to be 160 lost forever. |undo-tree| 161 162Graphical User Interface (GUI). |gui| 163 Included support for GUI: menu's, mouse, scrollbars, etc. You can 164 define your own menus. Better support for CTRL/SHIFT/ALT keys in 165 combination with special keys and mouse. Supported for various 166 platforms, such as X11 (with Motif and Athena interfaces), GTK, Win32 167 (Windows 95 and later), BeOS, Amiga and Macintosh. 168 169Multiple windows and buffers. |windows.txt| 170 Vim can split the screen into several windows, each editing a 171 different buffer or the same buffer at a different location. Buffers 172 can still be loaded (and changed) but not displayed in a window. This 173 is called a hidden buffer. Many commands and options have been added 174 for this facility. 175 Vim can also use multiple tab pages, each with one or more windows. A 176 line with tab labels can be used to quickly switch between these pages. 177 |tab-page| 178 179Syntax highlighting. |:syntax| 180 Vim can highlight keywords, patterns and other things. This is 181 defined by a number of |:syntax| commands, and can be made to 182 highlight most languages and file types. A number of files are 183 included for highlighting the most common languages, like C, C++, 184 Java, Pascal, Makefiles, shell scripts, etc. The colors used for 185 highlighting can be defined for ordinary terminals, color terminals 186 and the GUI with the |:highlight| command. A convenient way to do 187 this is using a |:colorscheme| command. 188 The highlighted text can be exported as HTML. |convert-to-HTML| 189 Other items that can be highlighted are matches with the search string 190 |'hlsearch'|, matching parens |matchparen| and the cursor line and 191 column |'cursorline'| |'cursorcolumn'|. 192 193Spell checking. |spell| 194 When the 'spell' option is set Vim will highlight spelling mistakes. 195 About 50 languages are currently supported, selected with the 196 'spelllang' option. In source code only comments and strings are 197 checked for spelling. 198 199Folding. |folding| 200 A range of lines can be shown as one "folded" line. This allows 201 overviewing a file and moving blocks of text around quickly. 202 Folds can be created manually, from the syntax of the file, by indent, 203 etc. 204 205Diff mode. |diff| 206 Vim can show two versions of a file with the differences highlighted. 207 Parts of the text that are equal are folded away. Commands can be 208 used to move text from one version to the other. 209 210Plugins. |add-plugin| 211 The functionality can be extended by dropping a plugin file in the 212 right directory. That's an easy way to start using Vim scripts 213 written by others. Plugins can be for all kind of files, or 214 specifically for a filetype. 215 216Repeat a series of commands. |q| 217 "q{c}" starts recording typed characters into named register {c}. 218 A subsequent "q" stops recording. The register can then be executed 219 with the "@{c}" command. This is very useful to repeat a complex 220 action. 221 222Flexible insert mode. |ins-special-special| 223 The arrow keys can be used in insert mode to move around in the file. 224 This breaks the insert in two parts as far as undo and redo is 225 concerned. 226 227 CTRL-O can be used to execute a single Normal mode command. This is 228 almost the same as hitting <Esc>, typing the command and doing |a|. 229 230Visual mode. |Visual-mode| 231 Visual mode can be used to first highlight a piece of text and then 232 give a command to do something with it. This is an (easy to use) 233 alternative to first giving the operator and then moving to the end of 234 the text to be operated upon. 235 |v| and |V| are used to start Visual mode. |v| works on characters 236 and |V| on lines. Move the cursor to extend the Visual area. It is 237 shown highlighted on the screen. By typing "o" the other end of the 238 Visual area can be moved. The Visual area can be affected by an 239 operator: 240 d delete 241 c change 242 y yank 243 > or < insert or delete indent 244 ! filter through external program 245 = filter through indent 246 : start |:| command for the Visual lines. 247 gq format text to 'textwidth' columns 248 J join lines 249 ~ swap case 250 u make lowercase 251 U make uppercase 252 253Block operators. |visual-block| 254 With Visual mode a rectangular block of text can be selected. Start 255 Visual mode with CTRL-V. The block can be deleted ("d"), yanked ("y") 256 or its case can be changed ("~", "u" and "U"). A deleted or yanked 257 block can be put into the text with the "p" and "P" commands. 258 259Help system. |:help| 260 Help is displayed in a window. The usual commands can be used to 261 move around, search for a string, etc. Tags can be used to jump 262 around in the help files, just like hypertext links. The |:help| 263 command takes an argument to quickly jump to the info on a subject. 264 <F1> is the quick access to the help system. The name of the help 265 index file can be set with the 'helpfile' option. 266 267Command-line editing and history. |cmdline-editing| 268 You can insert or delete at any place in the command-line using the 269 cursor keys. The right/left cursor keys can be used to move 270 forward/backward one character. The shifted right/left cursor keys 271 can be used to move forward/backward one word. CTRL-B/CTRL-E can be 272 used to go to the begin/end of the command-line. 273 |cmdline-history| 274 The command-lines are remembered. The up/down cursor keys can be used 275 to recall previous command-lines. The 'history' option can be set to 276 the number of lines that will be remembered. There is a separate 277 history for commands and for search patterns. 278 279Command-line completion. |cmdline-completion| 280 While entering a command-line (on the bottom line of the screen) 281 <Tab> can be typed to complete 282 what example ~ 283 - command :e<Tab> 284 - tag :ta scr<Tab> 285 - option :set sc<Tab> 286 - option value :set hf=<Tab> 287 - file name :e ve<Tab> 288 - etc. 289 290 If there are multiple matches, CTRL-N (next) and CTRL-P (previous) 291 will walk through the matches. <Tab> works like CTRL-N, but wraps 292 around to the first match. 293 294 The 'wildchar' option can be set to the character for command-line 295 completion, <Tab> is the default. CTRL-D can be typed after an 296 (incomplete) wildcard; all matches will be listed. CTRL-A will insert 297 all matches. CTRL-L will insert the longest common part of the 298 matches. 299 300Insert-mode completion. |ins-completion| 301 In Insert mode the CTRL-N and CTRL-P keys can be used to complete a 302 word that appears elsewhere. |i_CTRL-N| 303 With CTRL-X another mode is entered, through which completion can be 304 done for: 305 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-F| file names 306 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K| words from 'dictionary' files 307 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T| words from 'thesaurus' files 308 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I| words from included files 309 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L| whole lines 310 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]| words from the tags file 311 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D| definitions or macros 312 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O| Omni completion: clever completion 313 specifically for a file type 314 etc. 315 316Long line support. |'wrap'| |'linebreak'| 317 If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap and only part 318 of them will be shown. When the cursor is moved to a part that is not 319 shown, the screen will scroll horizontally. The minimum number of 320 columns to scroll can be set with the 'sidescroll' option. The |zh| 321 and |zl| commands can be used to scroll sideways. 322 Alternatively, long lines are broken in between words when the 323 'linebreak' option is set. This allows editing a single-line 324 paragraph conveniently (e.g. when the text is later read into a DTP 325 program). Move the cursor up/down with the |gk| and |gj| commands. 326 327Text formatting. |formatting| 328 The 'textwidth' option can be used to automatically limit the line 329 length. This supplements the 'wrapmargin' option of Vi, which was not 330 very useful. The |gq| operator can be used to format a piece of text 331 (for example, |gqap| formats the current paragraph). Commands for 332 text alignment: |:center|, |:left| and |:right|. 333 334Extended search patterns. |pattern| 335 There are many extra items to match various text items. Examples: 336 A "\n" can be used in a search pattern to match a line break. 337 "x\{2,4}" matches "x" 2 to 4 times. 338 "\s" matches a white space character. 339 340Directory, remote and archive browsing. |netrw| 341 Vim can browse the file system. Simply edit a directory. Move around 342 in the list with the usual commands and press <Enter> to go to the 343 directory or file under the cursor. 344 This also works for remote files over ftp, http, ssh, etc. 345 Zip and tar archives can also be browsed. |tar| |zip| 346 347Edit-compile-edit speedup. |quickfix| 348 The |:make| command can be used to run the compilation and jump to the 349 first error. A file with compiler error messages is interpreted. Vim 350 jumps to the first error. 351 352 Each line in the error file is scanned for the name of a file, line 353 number and error message. The 'errorformat' option can be set to a 354 list of scanf-like strings to handle output from many compilers. 355 356 The |:cn| command can be used to jump to the next error. 357 |:cl| lists all the error messages. Other commands are available. 358 The 'makeef' option has the name of the file with error messages. 359 The 'makeprg' option contains the name of the program to be executed 360 with the |:make| command. 361 The 'shellpipe' option contains the string to be used to put the 362 output of the compiler into the errorfile. 363 364Finding matches in files. |:vimgrep| 365 Vim can search for a pattern in multiple files. This uses the 366 advanced Vim regexp pattern, works on all systems and also works to 367 search in compressed files. 368 369Improved indenting for programs. |'cindent'| 370 When the 'cindent' option is on the indent of each line is 371 automatically adjusted. C syntax is mostly recognized. The indent 372 for various styles can be set with 'cinoptions'. The keys to trigger 373 indenting can be set with 'cinkeys'. 374 375 Comments can be automatically formatted. The 'comments' option can be 376 set to the characters that start and end a comment. This works best 377 for C code, but also works for e-mail (">" at start of the line) and 378 other types of text. The |=| operator can be used to re-indent 379 lines. 380 381 For many other languages an indent plugin is present to support 382 automatic indenting. |30.3| 383 384Searching for words in included files. |include-search| 385 The |[i| command can be used to search for a match of the word under 386 the cursor in the current and included files. The 'include' option 387 can be set to a pattern that describes a command to include a file 388 (the default is for C programs). 389 The |[I| command lists all matches, the |[_CTRL-I| command jumps to 390 a match. 391 The |[d|, |[D| and |[_CTRL-D| commands do the same, but only for 392 lines where the pattern given with the 'define' option matches. 393 394Automatic commands. |autocommand| 395 Commands can be automatically executed when reading a file, writing a 396 file, jumping to another buffer, etc., depending on the file name. 397 This is useful to set options and mappings for C programs, 398 documentation, plain text, e-mail, etc. This also makes it possible 399 to edit compressed files. 400 401Scripts and Expressions. |expression| 402 Commands have been added to form up a powerful script language. 403 |:if| Conditional execution, which can be used for example 404 to set options depending on the value of $TERM. 405 |:while| Repeat a number of commands. 406 |:for| Loop over a list. 407 |:echo| Print the result of an expression. 408 |:let| Assign a value to an internal variable, option, etc. 409 Variable types are Number, String, List and Dictionary. 410 |:execute| Execute a command formed by an expression. 411 |:try| Catch exceptions. 412 etc., etc. See |eval|. 413 Debugging and profiling are supported. |debug-scripts| |profile| 414 If this is not enough, an interface is provided to |Python|, |Ruby|, 415 |Tcl|, |Lua|, |Perl| and |MzScheme|. 416 417Viminfo. |viminfo-file| 418 The command-line history, marks and registers can be stored in a file 419 that is read on startup. This can be used to repeat a search command 420 or command-line command after exiting and restarting Vim. It is also 421 possible to jump right back to where the last edit stopped with |'0|. 422 The 'viminfo' option can be set to select which items to store in the 423 .viminfo file. This is off by default. 424 425Printing. |printing| 426 The |:hardcopy| command sends text to the printer. This can include 427 syntax highlighting. 428 429Mouse support. |mouse-using| 430 The mouse is supported in the GUI version, in an xterm for Unix, for 431 BSDs with sysmouse, for Linux with gpm, for MS-DOS, and Win32. It 432 can be used to position the cursor, select the visual area, paste a 433 register, etc. 434 435Usage of key names. |<>| |key-notation| 436 Special keys now all have a name like <Up>, <End>, etc. 437 This name can be used in mappings, to make it easy to edit them. 438 439Editing binary files. |edit-binary| 440 Vim can edit binary files. You can change a few characters in an 441 executable file, without corrupting it. Vim doesn't remove NUL 442 characters (they are represented as <NL> internally). 443 |-b| command-line argument to start editing a binary file 444 |'binary'| Option set by |-b|. Prevents adding an <EOL> for the 445 last line in the file. 446 447Multi-language support. |multi-lang| 448 Files in double-byte or multi-byte encodings can be edited. There is 449 UTF-8 support to be able to edit various languages at the same time, 450 without switching fonts. |UTF-8| 451 Messages and menus are available in different languages. 452 453Move cursor beyond lines. 454 When the 'virtualedit' option is set the cursor can move all over the 455 screen, also where there is no text. This is useful to edit tables 456 and figures easily. 457 458============================================================================== 4595. Other vim features *other-features* 460 461A random collection of nice extra features. 462 463 464When Vim is started with "-s scriptfile", the characters read from 465"scriptfile" are treated as if you typed them. If end of file is reached 466before the editor exits, further characters are read from the console. 467 468The "-w" option can be used to record all typed characters in a script file. 469This file can then be used to redo the editing, possibly on another file or 470after changing some commands in the script file. 471 472The "-o" option opens a window for each argument. "-o4" opens four windows. 473 474Vi requires several termcap entries to be able to work full-screen. Vim only 475requires the "cm" entry (cursor motion). 476 477 478In command mode: 479 480When the 'showcmd' option is set, the command characters are shown in the last 481line of the screen. They are removed when the command is finished. 482 483If the 'ruler' option is set, the current cursor position is shown in the 484last line of the screen. 485 486"U" still works after having moved off the last changed line and after "u". 487 488Characters with the 8th bit set are displayed. The characters between '~' and 4890xa0 are displayed as "~?", "~@", "~A", etc., unless they are included in the 490'isprint' option. 491 492"][" goes to the next ending of a C function ('}' in column 1). 493"[]" goes to the previous ending of a C function ('}' in column 1). 494 495"]f", "[f" and "gf" start editing the file whose name is under the cursor. 496CTRL-W f splits the window and starts editing the file whose name is under 497the cursor. 498 499"*" searches forward for the identifier under the cursor, "#" backward. 500"K" runs the program defined by the 'keywordprg' option, with the identifier 501under the cursor as argument. 502 503"%" can be preceded with a count. The cursor jumps to the line that 504percentage down in the file. The normal "%" function to jump to the matching 505brace skips braces inside quotes. 506 507With the CTRL-] command, the cursor may be in the middle of the identifier. 508 509The used tags are remembered. Commands that can be used with the tag stack 510are CTRL-T, ":pop" and ":tag". ":tags" lists the tag stack. 511 512The 'tags' option can be set to a list of tag file names. Thus multiple 513tag files can be used. For file names that start with "./", the "./" is 514replaced with the path of the current file. This makes it possible to use a 515tags file in the same directory as the file being edited. 516 517Previously used file names are remembered in the alternate file name list. 518CTRL-^ accepts a count, which is an index in this list. 519":files" command shows the list of alternate file names. 520"#<N>" is replaced with the <N>th alternate file name in the list. 521"#<" is replaced with the current file name without extension. 522 523Search patterns have more features. The <NL> character is seen as part of the 524search pattern and the substitute string of ":s". Vi sees it as the end of 525the command. 526 527Searches can put the cursor on the end of a match and may include a character 528offset. 529 530Count added to "~", ":next", ":Next", "n" and "N". 531 532The command ":next!" with 'autowrite' set does not write the file. In vi the 533file was written, but this is considered to be a bug, because one does not 534expect it and the file is not written with ":rewind!". 535 536In Vi when entering a <CR> in replace mode deletes a character only when 'ai' 537is set (but does not show it until you hit <Esc>). Vim always deletes a 538character (and shows it immediately). 539 540Added :wnext command. Same as ":write" followed by ":next". 541 542The ":w!" command always writes, also when the file is write protected. In Vi 543you would have to do ":!chmod +w %:S" and ":set noro". 544 545When 'tildeop' has been set, "~" is an operator (must be followed by a 546movement command). 547 548With the "J" (join) command you can reset the 'joinspaces' option to have only 549one space after a period (Vi inserts two spaces). 550 551"cw" can be used to change white space formed by several characters (Vi is 552confusing: "cw" only changes one space, while "dw" deletes all white space). 553 554"o" and "O" accept a count for repeating the insert (Vi clears a part of 555display). 556 557Flags after Ex commands not supported (no plans to include it). 558 559On non-UNIX systems ":cd" command shows current directory instead of going to 560the home directory (there isn't one). ":pwd" prints the current directory on 561all systems. 562 563After a ":cd" command the file names (in the argument list, opened files) 564still point to the same files. In Vi ":cd" is not allowed in a changed file; 565otherwise the meaning of file names change. 566 567":source!" command reads Vi commands from a file. 568 569":mkexrc" command writes current modified options and mappings to a ".exrc" 570file. ":mkvimrc" writes to a ".vimrc" file. 571 572No check for "tail recursion" with mappings. This allows things like 573":map! foo ^]foo". 574 575When a mapping starts with number, vi loses the count typed before it (e.g. 576when using the mapping ":map g 4G" the command "7g" goes to line 4). This is 577considered a vi bug. Vim concatenates the counts (in the example it becomes 578"74G"), as most people would expect. 579 580The :put! command inserts the contents of a register above the current line. 581 582The "p" and "P" commands of vi cannot be repeated with "." when the putted 583text is less than a line. In Vim they can always be repeated. 584 585":noremap" command can be used to enter a mapping that will not be remapped. 586This is useful to exchange the meaning of two keys. ":cmap", ":cunmap" and 587":cnoremap" can be used for mapping in command-line editing only. ":imap", 588":iunmap" and ":inoremap" can be used for mapping in insert mode only. 589Similar commands exist for abbreviations: ":noreabbrev", ":iabbrev" 590":cabbrev", ":iunabbrev", ":cunabbrev", ":inoreabbrev", ":cnoreabbrev". 591 592In Vi the command ":map foo bar" would remove a previous mapping 593":map bug foo". This is considered a bug, so it is not included in Vim. 594":unmap! foo" does remove ":map! bug foo", because unmapping would be very 595difficult otherwise (this is vi compatible). 596 597The ':' register contains the last command-line. 598The '%' register contains the current file name. 599The '.' register contains the last inserted text. 600 601":dis" command shows the contents of the yank registers. 602 603CTRL-O/CTRL-I can be used to jump to older/newer positions. These are the 604same positions as used with the '' command, but may be in another file. The 605":jumps" command lists the older positions. 606 607If the 'shiftround' option is set, an indent is rounded to a multiple of 608'shiftwidth' with ">" and "<" commands. 609 610The 'scrolljump' option can be set to the minimum number of lines to scroll 611when the cursor gets off the screen. Use this when scrolling is slow. 612 613The 'scrolloff' option can be set to the minimum number of lines to keep 614above and below the cursor. This gives some context to where you are 615editing. When set to a large number the cursor line is always in the middle 616of the window. 617 618Uppercase marks can be used to jump between files. The ":marks" command lists 619all currently set marks. The commands "']" and "`]" jump to the end of the 620previous operator or end of the text inserted with the put command. "'[" and 621"`[" do jump to the start. 622 623The 'shelltype' option can be set to reflect the type of shell used on the 624Amiga. 625 626The 'highlight' option can be set for the highlight mode to be used for 627several commands. 628 629The CTRL-A (add) and CTRL-X (subtract) commands are new. The count to the 630command (default 1) is added to/subtracted from the number at or after the 631cursor. That number may be decimal, octal (starts with a '0') or hexadecimal 632(starts with '0x'). Very useful in macros. 633 634With the :set command the prefix "inv" can be used to invert boolean options. 635 636In both Vi and Vim you can create a line break with the ":substitute" command 637by using a CTRL-M. For Vi this means you cannot insert a real CTRL-M in the 638text. With Vim you can put a real CTRL-M in the text by preceding it with a 639CTRL-V. 640 641 642In Insert mode: 643 644If the 'revins' option is set, insert happens backwards. This is for typing 645Hebrew. When inserting normal characters the cursor will not be shifted and 646the text moves rightwards. Backspace, CTRL-W and CTRL-U will also work in 647the opposite direction. CTRL-B toggles the 'revins' option. In replace mode 648'revins' has no effect. Only when enabled at compile time. 649 650The backspace key can be used just like CTRL-D to remove auto-indents. 651 652You can backspace, CTRL-U and CTRL-W over line breaks if the 'backspace' (bs) 653option includes "eol". You can backspace over the start of insert if the 654'backspace' option includes "start". 655 656When the 'paste' option is set, a few options are reset and mapping in insert 657mode and abbreviation are disabled. This allows for pasting text in windowing 658systems without unexpected results. When the 'paste' option is reset, the old 659option values are restored. 660 661CTRL-T/CTRL-D always insert/delete an indent in the current line, no matter 662what column the cursor is in. 663 664CTRL-@ (insert previously inserted text) works always (Vi: only when typed as 665first character). 666 667CTRL-A works like CTRL-@ but does not leave insert mode. 668 669CTRL-R {0-9a-z..} can be used to insert the contents of a register. 670 671When the 'smartindent' option is set, C programs will be better auto-indented. 672With 'cindent' even more. 673 674CTRL-Y and CTRL-E can be used to copy a character from above/below the 675current cursor position. 676 677After CTRL-V you can enter a three digit decimal number. This byte value is 678inserted in the text as a single character. Useful for international 679characters that are not on your keyboard. 680 681When the 'expandtab' (et) option is set, a <Tab> is expanded to the 682appropriate number of spaces. 683 684The window always reflects the contents of the buffer (Vi does not do this 685when changing text and in some other cases). 686 687If Vim is compiled with DIGRAPHS defined, digraphs are supported. A set of 688normal digraphs is included. They are shown with the ":digraph" command. 689More can be added with ":digraph {char1}{char2} {number}". A digraph is 690entered with "CTRL-K {char1} {char2}" or "{char1} BS {char2}" (only when 691'digraph' option is set). 692 693When repeating an insert, e.g. "10atest <Esc>" vi would only handle wrapmargin 694for the first insert. Vim does it for all. 695 696A count to the "i" or "a" command is used for all the text. Vi uses the count 697only for one line. "3iabc<NL>def<Esc>" would insert "abcabcabc<NL>def" in Vi 698but "abc<NL>defabc<NL>defabc<NL>def" in Vim. 699 700 701In Command-line mode: 702 703<Esc> terminates the command-line without executing it. In vi the command 704line would be executed, which is not what most people expect (hitting <Esc> 705should always get you back to command mode). To avoid problems with some 706obscure macros, an <Esc> in a macro will execute the command. If you want a 707typed <Esc> to execute the command like vi does you can fix this with 708 ":cmap ^V<Esc> ^V<CR>" 709 710General: 711 712The 'ttimeout' option is like 'timeout', but only works for cursor and 713function keys, not for ordinary mapped characters. The 'timeoutlen' option 714gives the number of milliseconds that is waited for. If the 'esckeys' option 715is not set, cursor and function keys that start with <Esc> are not recognized 716in insert mode. 717 718There is an option for each terminal string. Can be used when termcap is not 719supported or to change individual strings. 720 721The 'fileformat' option can be set to select the <EOL>: "dos" <CR><NL>, "unix" 722<NL> or "mac" <CR>. 723When the 'fileformats' option is not empty, Vim tries to detect the type of 724<EOL> automatically. The 'fileformat' option is set accordingly. 725 726On systems that have no job control (older Unix systems and non-Unix systems) 727the CTRL-Z, ":stop" or ":suspend" command starts a new shell. 728 729If Vim is started on the Amiga without an interactive window for output, a 730window is opened (and :sh still works). You can give a device to use for 731editing with the |-d| argument, e.g. "-d con:20/20/600/150". 732 733The 'columns' and 'lines' options are used to set or get the width and height 734of the display. 735 736Option settings are read from the first and last few lines of the file. 737Option 'modelines' determines how many lines are tried (default is 5). Note 738that this is different from the Vi versions that can execute any Ex command 739in a modeline (a major security problem). |trojan-horse| 740 741If the 'insertmode' option is set (e.g. in .exrc), Vim starts in insert mode. 742And it comes back there, when pressing <Esc>. 743 744Undo information is kept in memory. Available memory limits the number and 745size of change that can be undone. This may be a problem with MS-DOS, is 746hardly a problem on the Amiga and almost never with Unix and Win32. 747 748If the 'backup' or 'writebackup' option is set: Before a file is overwritten, 749a backup file (.bak) is made. If the "backup" option is set it is left 750behind. 751 752Vim creates a file ending in ".swp" to store parts of the file that have been 753changed or that do not fit in memory. This file can be used to recover from 754an aborted editing session with "vim -r file". Using the swap file can be 755switched off by setting the 'updatecount' option to 0 or starting Vim with 756the "-n" option. Use the 'directory' option for placing the .swp file 757somewhere else. 758 759Vim is able to work correctly on filesystems with 8.3 file names, also when 760using messydos or crossdos filesystems on the Amiga, or any 8.3 mounted 761filesystem under Unix. See |'shortname'|. 762 763Error messages are shown at least one second (Vi overwrites error messages). 764 765If Vim gives the |hit-enter| prompt, you can hit any key. Characters other 766than <CR>, <NL> and <Space> are interpreted as the (start of) a command. (Vi 767only accepts a command starting with ':'). 768 769The contents of the numbered and unnamed registers is remembered when 770changing files. 771 772The "No lines in buffer" message is a normal message instead of an error 773message, since that may cause a mapping to be aborted. 774 775The AUX: device of the Amiga is supported. 776 777============================================================================== 7786. Command-line arguments *cmdline-arguments* 779 780Different versions of Vi have different command-line arguments. This can be 781confusing. To help you, this section gives an overview of the differences. 782 783Five variants of Vi will be considered here: 784 Elvis Elvis version 2.1b 785 Nvi Nvi version 1.79 786 Posix Posix 1003.2 787 Vi Vi version 3.7 (for Sun 4.1.x) 788 Vile Vile version 7.4 (incomplete) 789 Vim Vim version 5.2 790 791Only Vim is able to accept options in between and after the file names. 792 793+{command} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Same as "-c {command}". 794 795- Nvi, Posix, Vi: Run Ex in batch mode. 796 Vim: Read file from stdin (use -s for batch mode). 797 798-- Vim: End of options, only file names are following. 799 800--cmd {command} Vim: execute {command} before sourcing vimrc files. 801 802--echo-wid Vim: GTK+ echoes the Window ID on stdout 803 804--help Vim: show help message and exit. 805 806--literal Vim: take file names literally, don't expand wildcards. 807 808--nofork Vim: same as |-f| 809 810--noplugin[s] Vim: Skip loading plugins. 811 812--remote Vim: edit the files in another Vim server 813 814--remote-expr {expr} Vim: evaluate {expr} in another Vim server 815 816--remote-send {keys} Vim: send {keys} to a Vim server and exit 817 818--remote-silent {file} Vim: edit the files in another Vim server if possible 819 820--remote-wait Vim: edit the files in another Vim server and wait for it 821 822--remote-wait-silent Vim: like --remote-wait, no complaints if not possible 823 824--role {role} Vim: GTK+ 2: set role of main window 825 826--serverlist Vim: Output a list of Vim servers and exit 827 828--servername {name} Vim: Specify Vim server name 829 830--socketid {id} Vim: GTK window socket to run Vim in 831 832--windowid {id} Vim: Win32 window ID to run Vim in 833 834--version Vim: show version message and exit. 835 836-? Vile: print usage summary and exit. 837 838-a Elvis: Load all specified file names into a window (use -o for 839 Vim). 840 841-A Vim: Start in Arabic mode (when compiled with Arabic). 842 843-b {blksize} Elvis: Use {blksize} blocksize for the session file. 844-b Vim: set 'binary' mode. 845 846-C Vim: Compatible mode. 847 848-c {command} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vim: run {command} as an Ex command after 849 loading the edit buffer. 850 Vim: allow up to 10 "-c" arguments 851 852-d {device} Vim: Use {device} for I/O (Amiga only). {only when compiled 853 without the |+diff| feature} 854-d Vim: start with 'diff' set. |vimdiff| 855 856-dev {device} Vim: Use {device} for I/O (Amiga only). 857 858-D Vim: debug mode. 859 860-e Elvis, Nvi, Vim: Start in Ex mode, as if the executable is 861 called "ex". 862 863-E Vim: Start in improved Ex mode |gQ|, like "exim". 864 865-f Vim: Run GUI in foreground (Amiga: don't open new window). 866-f {session} Elvis: Use {session} as the session file. 867 868-F Vim: Start in Farsi mode (when compiled with Farsi). 869 Nvi: Fast start, don't read the entire file when editing 870 starts. 871 872-G {gui} Elvis: Use the {gui} as user interface. 873 874-g Vim: Start GUI. 875-g N Vile: start editing at line N 876 877-h Vim: Give help message. 878 Vile: edit the help file 879 880-H Vim: start Hebrew mode (when compiled with it). 881 882-i Elvis: Start each window in Insert mode. 883-i {viminfo} Vim: Use {viminfo} for viminfo file. 884 885-L Vim: Same as "-r" (also in some versions of Vi). 886 887-l Nvi, Vi, Vim: Set 'lisp' and 'showmatch' options. 888 889-m Vim: Modifications not allowed to be written, resets 'write' 890 option. 891 892-M Vim: Modifications not allowed, resets 'modifiable' and the 893 'write' option. 894 895-N Vim: No-compatible mode. 896 897-n Vim: No swap file used. 898 899-nb[args] Vim: open a NetBeans interface connection 900 901-O[N] Vim: Like -o, but use vertically split windows. 902 903-o[N] Vim: Open [N] windows, or one for each file. 904 905-p[N] Vim: Open [N] tab pages, or one for each file. 906 907-P {parent-title} Win32 Vim: open Vim inside a parent application window 908 909-q {name} Vim: Use {name} for quickfix error file. 910-q{name} Vim: Idem. 911 912-R Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vile, Vim: Set the 'readonly' option. 913 914-r Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Recovery mode. 915 916-S Nvi: Set 'secure' option. 917-S {script} Vim: source script after starting up. 918 919-s Nvi, Posix, Vim: Same as "-" (silent mode), when in Ex mode. 920 Elvis: Sets the 'safer' option. 921-s {scriptin} Vim: Read from script file {scriptin}; only when not in Ex 922 mode. 923-s {pattern} Vile: search for {pattern} 924 925-t {tag} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Edit the file containing {tag}. 926-t{tag} Vim: Idem. 927 928-T {term} Vim: Set terminal name to {term}. 929 930-u {vimrc} Vim: Read initializations from {vimrc} file. 931 932-U {gvimrc} Vim: Read GUI initializations from {gvimrc} file. 933 934-v Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Begin in Normal mode (visual mode, in Vi 935 terms). 936 Vile: View mode, no changes possible. 937 938-V Elvis, Vim: Verbose mode. 939-V{nr} Vim: Verbose mode with specified level. 940 941-w {size} Elvis, Posix, Nvi, Vi, Vim: Set value of 'window' to {size}. 942-w{size} Nvi, Vi: Same as "-w {size}". 943-w {name} Vim: Write to script file {name} (must start with non-digit). 944 945-W {name} Vim: Append to script file {name}. 946 947-x Vi, Vim: Ask for encryption key. See |encryption|. 948 949-X Vim: Don't connect to the X server. 950 951-y Vim: Start in easy mode, like |evim|. 952 953-Z Vim: restricted mode 954 955@{cmdfile} Vile: use {cmdfile} as startup file. 956 957============================================================================== 9587. POSIX compliance *posix* *posix-compliance* 959 960In 2005 the POSIX test suite was run to check the compatibility of Vim. Most 961of the test was executed properly. There are the few things where Vim 962is not POSIX compliant, even when run in Vi compatibility mode. 963 *$VIM_POSIX* 964Set the $VIM_POSIX environment variable to have 'cpoptions' include the POSIX 965flags when Vim starts up. This makes Vim run as POSIX as it can. That's 966a bit different from being Vi compatible. 967 968This is where Vim does not behave as POSIX specifies and why: 969 970 *posix-screen-size* 971 The $COLUMNS and $LINES environment variables are ignored by Vim if 972 the size can be obtained from the terminal in a more reliable way. 973 Add the '|' flag to 'cpoptions' to have $COLUMNS and $LINES overrule 974 sizes obtained in another way. 975 976 The "{" and "}" commands don't stop at a "{" in the original Vi, but 977 POSIX specifies it does. Add the '{' flag to 'cpoptions' if you want 978 it the POSIX way. 979 980 The "D", "o" and "O" commands accept a count. Also when repeated. 981 Add the '#' flag to 'cpoptions' if you want to ignore the count. 982 983 The ":cd" command fails if the current buffer is modified when the '.' 984 flag is present in 'cpoptions'. 985 986 There is no ATTENTION message, the "A" flag is added to 'shortmess'. 987 988These are remarks about running the POSIX test suite: 989- vi test 33 sometimes fails for unknown reasons 990- vi test 250 fails; behavior will be changed in a new revision 991 http://www.opengroup.org/austin/mailarchives/ag-review/msg01710.html 992 (link no longer works, perhaps it's now: 993 https://www.opengroup.org/sophocles/show_mail.tpl?CALLER=show_archive.tpl&source=L&listname=austin-review-l&id=1711) 994- vi test 310 fails; exit code non-zero when any error occurred? 995- ex test 24 fails because test is wrong. Changed between SUSv2 and SUSv3. 996- ex tests 47, 48, 49, 72, 73 fail because .exrc file isn't read in silent 997 mode and $EXINIT isn't used. 998- ex tests 76, 78 fail because echo is used instead of printf. (fixed) 999 Also: problem with \s not changed to space. 1000- ex test 355 fails because 'window' isn't used for "30z". 1001- ex test 368 fails because shell command isn't echoed in silent mode. 1002- ex test 394 fails because "=" command output isn't visible in silent mode. 1003- ex test 411 fails because test file is wrong, contains stray ':'. 1004- ex test 475 and 476 fail because reprint output isn't visible in silent mode. 1005- ex test 480 and 481 fail because the tags file has spaces instead of a tab. 1006- ex test 502 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. 1007- ex test 509 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. and exit code is 1008 1 instead of 2. 1009- ex test 534 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. 1010 1011 1012 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 1013