1*starting.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2009 Dec 31 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Starting Vim *starting* 8 91. Vim arguments |vim-arguments| 102. Vim on the Amiga |starting-amiga| 113. Running eVim |evim-keys| 124. Initialization |initialization| 135. $VIM and $VIMRUNTIME |$VIM| 146. Suspending |suspend| 157. Saving settings |save-settings| 168. Views and Sessions |views-sessions| 179. The viminfo file |viminfo-file| 18 19============================================================================== 201. Vim arguments *vim-arguments* 21 22Most often, Vim is started to edit a single file with the command 23 24 vim filename *-vim* 25 26More generally, Vim is started with: 27 28 vim [option | filename] .. 29 30Option arguments and file name arguments can be mixed, and any number of them 31can be given. However, watch out for options that take an argument. 32 33For compatibility with various Vi versions, see |cmdline-arguments|. 34 35Exactly one out of the following five items may be used to choose how to 36start editing: 37 38 *-file* *---* 39filename One or more file names. The first one will be the current 40 file and read into the buffer. The cursor will be positioned 41 on the first line of the buffer. 42 To avoid a file name starting with a '-' being interpreted as 43 an option, precede the arglist with "--", e.g.: > 44 vim -- -filename 45< All arguments after the "--" will be interpreted as file names, 46 no other options or "+command" argument can follow. 47 48 *--* 49- This argument can mean two things, depending on whether Ex 50 mode is to be used. 51 52 Starting in Normal mode: > 53 vim - 54 ex -v - 55< Start editing a new buffer, which is filled with text 56 that is read from stdin. The commands that would normally be 57 read from stdin will now be read from stderr. Example: > 58 find . -name "*.c" -print | vim - 59< The buffer will be marked modified, because it contains text 60 that needs to be saved. Except when in readonly mode, then 61 the buffer is not marked modified. Example: > 62 ls | view - 63< 64 Starting in Ex mode: > 65 ex - 66 vim -e - 67 exim - 68 vim -E 69< Start editing in silent mode. See |-s-ex|. 70 71 *-t* *-tag* 72-t {tag} A tag. "tag" is looked up in the tags file, the associated 73 file becomes the current file, and the associated command is 74 executed. Mostly this is used for C programs, in which case 75 "tag" often is a function name. The effect is that the file 76 containing that function becomes the current file and the 77 cursor is positioned on the start of the function (see 78 |tags|). 79 80 *-q* *-qf* 81-q [errorfile] QuickFix mode. The file with the name [errorfile] is read 82 and the first error is displayed. See |quickfix|. 83 If [errorfile] is not given, the 'errorfile' option is used 84 for the file name. See 'errorfile' for the default value. 85 {not in Vi} 86 87(nothing) Without one of the four items above, Vim will start editing a 88 new buffer. It's empty and doesn't have a file name. 89 90 91The startup mode can be changed by using another name instead of "vim", which 92is equal to giving options: 93ex vim -e Start in Ex mode (see |Ex-mode|). *ex* 94exim vim -E Start in improved Ex mode (see |Ex-mode|). *exim* 95 (normally not installed) 96view vim -R Start in read-only mode (see |-R|). *view* 97gvim vim -g Start the GUI (see |gui|). *gvim* 98gex vim -eg Start the GUI in Ex mode. *gex* 99gview vim -Rg Start the GUI in read-only mode. *gview* 100rvim vim -Z Like "vim", but in restricted mode (see |-Z|) *rvim* 101rview vim -RZ Like "view", but in restricted mode. *rview* 102rgvim vim -gZ Like "gvim", but in restricted mode. *rgvim* 103rgview vim -RgZ Like "gview", but in restricted mode. *rgview* 104evim vim -y Easy Vim: set 'insertmode' (see |-y|) *evim* 105eview vim -yR Like "evim" in read-only mode *eview* 106vimdiff vim -d Start in diff mode |diff-mode| 107gvimdiff vim -gd Start in diff mode |diff-mode| 108 109Additional characters may follow, they are ignored. For example, you can have 110"gvim-5" to start the GUI. You must have an executable by that name then, of 111course. 112 113On Unix, you would normally have one executable called Vim, and links from the 114different startup-names to that executable. If your system does not support 115links and you do not want to have several copies of the executable, you could 116use an alias instead. For example: > 117 alias view vim -R 118 alias gvim vim -g 119< 120 *startup-options* 121The option arguments may be given in any order. Single-letter options can be 122combined after one dash. There can be no option arguments after the "--" 123argument. 124 125On VMS all option arguments are assumed to be lowercase, unless preceded with 126a slash. Thus "-R" means recovery and "-/R" readonly. 127 128--help *-h* *--help* 129-h Give usage (help) message and exit. {not in Vi} 130 See |info-message| about capturing the text. 131 132 *--version* 133--version Print version information and exit. Same output as for 134 |:version| command. {not in Vi} 135 See |info-message| about capturing the text. 136 137 *--noplugin* 138--noplugin Skip loading plugins. Resets the 'loadplugins' option. 139 {not in Vi} 140 Note that the |-u| argument may also disable loading plugins: 141 argument load vimrc files load plugins ~ 142 (nothing) yes yes 143 -u NONE no no 144 -u NORC no yes 145 --noplugin yes no 146 147--startuptime {fname} *--startuptime* 148 During startup write timing messages to the file {fname}. 149 This can be used to find out where time is spent while loading 150 your .vimrc, plugins and opening the first file. 151 When {fname} already exists new messages are appended. 152 (Only available when compiled with the |+startuptime| 153 feature). 154 155 *--literal* 156--literal Take file names literally, don't expand wildcards. Not needed 157 for Unix, because Vim always takes file names literally (the 158 shell expands wildcards). 159 Applies to all the names, also the ones that come before this 160 argument. 161 162 *-+* 163+[num] The cursor will be positioned on line "num" for the first 164 file being edited. If "num" is missing, the cursor will be 165 positioned on the last line. 166 167 *-+/* 168+/{pat} The cursor will be positioned on the first line containing 169 "pat" in the first file being edited (see |pattern| for the 170 available search patterns). 171 172+{command} *-+c* *-c* 173-c {command} {command} will be executed after the first file has been 174 read (and after autocommands and modelines for that file have 175 been processed). "command" is interpreted as an Ex command. 176 If the "command" contains spaces, it must be enclosed in 177 double quotes (this depends on the shell that is used). 178 Example: > 179 vim "+set si" main.c 180 vim "+find stdio.h" 181 vim -c "set ff=dos" -c wq mine.mak 182< 183 Note: You can use up to 10 "+" or "-c" arguments in a Vim 184 command. They are executed in the order given. A "-S" 185 argument counts as a "-c" argument as well. 186 {Vi only allows one command} 187 188--cmd {command} *--cmd* 189 {command} will be executed before processing any vimrc file. 190 Otherwise it acts like -c {command}. You can use up to 10 of 191 these commands, independently from "-c" commands. 192 {not in Vi} 193 194 *-S* 195-S {file} The {file} will be sourced after the first file has been read. 196 This is an easy way to do the equivalent of: > 197 -c "source {file}" 198< It can be mixed with "-c" arguments and repeated like "-c". 199 The limit of 10 "-c" arguments applies here as well. 200 {file} cannot start with a "-". 201 {not in Vi} 202 203-S Works like "-S Session.vim". Only when used as the last 204 argument or when another "-" option follows. 205 206 *-r* 207-r Recovery mode. Without a file name argument, a list of 208 existing swap files is given. With a file name, a swap file 209 is read to recover a crashed editing session. See 210 |crash-recovery|. 211 212 *-L* 213-L Same as -r. {only in some versions of Vi: "List recoverable 214 edit sessions"} 215 216 *-R* 217-R Readonly mode. The 'readonly' option will be set for all the 218 files being edited. You can still edit the buffer, but will 219 be prevented from accidentally overwriting a file. If you 220 forgot that you are in View mode and did make some changes, 221 you can overwrite a file by adding an exclamation mark to 222 the Ex command, as in ":w!". The 'readonly' option can be 223 reset with ":set noro" (see the options chapter, |options|). 224 Subsequent edits will not be done in readonly mode. Calling 225 the executable "view" has the same effect as the -R argument. 226 The 'updatecount' option will be set to 10000, meaning that 227 the swap file will not be updated automatically very often. 228 229 *-m* 230-m Modifications not allowed to be written. The 'write' option 231 will be reset, so that writing files is disabled. However, 232 the 'write' option can be set to enable writing again. 233 {not in Vi} 234 235 *-M* 236-M Modifications not allowed. The 'modifiable' option will be 237 reset, so that changes are not allowed. The 'write' option 238 will be reset, so that writing files is disabled. However, 239 the 'modifiable' and 'write' options can be set to enable 240 changes and writing. 241 {not in Vi} 242 243 *-Z* *restricted-mode* *E145* 244-Z Restricted mode. All commands that make use of an external 245 shell are disabled. This includes suspending with CTRL-Z, 246 ":sh", filtering, the system() function, backtick expansion, 247 etc. 248 {not in Vi} 249 250 *-g* 251-g Start Vim in GUI mode. See |gui|. {not in Vi} 252 253 *-v* 254-v Start Ex in Vi mode. Only makes a difference when the 255 executable is called "ex" or "gvim". For gvim the GUI is not 256 started if possible. 257 258 *-e* 259-e Start Vim in Ex mode |Q|. Only makes a difference when the 260 executable is not called "ex". 261 262 *-E* 263-E Start Vim in improved Ex mode |gQ|. Only makes a difference 264 when the executable is not called "exim". 265 {not in Vi} 266 267 *-s-ex* 268-s Silent or batch mode. Only when Vim was started as "ex" or 269 when preceded with the "-e" argument. Otherwise see |-s|, 270 which does take an argument while this use of "-s" doesn't. 271 To be used when Vim is used to execute Ex commands from a file 272 instead of a terminal. Switches off most prompts and 273 informative messages. Also warnings and error messages. 274 The output of these commands is displayed (to stdout): 275 :print 276 :list 277 :number 278 :set to display option values. 279 When 'verbose' is non-zero messages are printed (for 280 debugging, to stderr). 281 'term' and $TERM are not used. 282 If Vim appears to be stuck try typing "qa!<Enter>". You don't 283 get a prompt thus you can't see Vim is waiting for you to type 284 something. 285 Initializations are skipped (except the ones given with the 286 "-u" argument). 287 Example: > 288 vim -e -s < thefilter thefile 289< 290 *-b* 291-b Binary mode. File I/O will only recognize <NL> to separate 292 lines. The 'expandtab' option will be reset. The 'textwidth' 293 option is set to 0. 'modeline' is reset. The 'binary' option 294 is set. This is done after reading the vimrc/exrc files but 295 before reading any file in the arglist. See also 296 |edit-binary|. {not in Vi} 297 298 *-l* 299-l Lisp mode. Sets the 'lisp' and 'showmatch' options on. 300 301 *-A* 302-A Arabic mode. Sets the 'arabic' option on. (Only when 303 compiled with the |+arabic| features (which include 304 |+rightleft|), otherwise Vim gives an error message 305 and exits.) {not in Vi} 306 307 *-F* 308-F Farsi mode. Sets the 'fkmap' and 'rightleft' options on. 309 (Only when compiled with |+rightleft| and |+farsi| features, 310 otherwise Vim gives an error message and exits.) {not in Vi} 311 312 *-H* 313-H Hebrew mode. Sets the 'hkmap' and 'rightleft' options on. 314 (Only when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature, otherwise 315 Vim gives an error message and exits.) {not in Vi} 316 317 *-V* *verbose* 318-V[N] Verbose. Sets the 'verbose' option to [N] (default: 10). 319 Messages will be given for each file that is ":source"d and 320 for reading or writing a viminfo file. Can be used to find 321 out what is happening upon startup and exit. {not in Vi} 322 Example: > 323 vim -V8 foobar 324 325-V[N]{filename} 326 Like -V and set 'verbosefile' to {filename}. The result is 327 that messages are not displayed but written to the file 328 {filename}. {filename} must not start with a digit. 329 Example: > 330 vim -V20vimlog foobar 331< 332 *-D* 333-D Debugging. Go to debugging mode when executing the first 334 command from a script. |debug-mode| 335 {not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} 336 {not in Vi} 337 338 *-C* 339-C Compatible mode. Sets the 'compatible' option. You can use 340 this to get 'compatible', even though a .vimrc file exists. 341 Keep in mind that the command ":set nocompatible" in some 342 plugin or startup script overrules this, so you may end up 343 with 'nocompatible' anyway. To find out, use: > 344 :verbose set compatible? 345< Several plugins won't work with 'compatible' set. You may 346 want to set it after startup this way: > 347 vim "+set cp" filename 348< Also see |compatible-default|. {not in Vi} 349 350 *-N* 351-N Not compatible mode. Resets the 'compatible' option. You can 352 use this to get 'nocompatible', when there is no .vimrc file 353 or when using "-u NONE". 354 Also see |compatible-default|. {not in Vi} 355 356 *-y* *easy* 357-y Easy mode. Implied for |evim| and |eview|. Starts with 358 'insertmode' set and behaves like a click-and-type editor. 359 This sources the script $VIMRUNTIME/evim.vim. Mappings are 360 set up to work like most click-and-type editors, see 361 |evim-keys|. The GUI is started when available. 362 {not in Vi} 363 364 *-n* 365-n No swap file will be used. Recovery after a crash will be 366 impossible. Handy if you want to view or edit a file on a 367 very slow medium (e.g., a floppy). 368 Can also be done with ":set updatecount=0". You can switch it 369 on again by setting the 'updatecount' option to some value, 370 e.g., ":set uc=100". 371 NOTE: Don't combine -n with -b, making -nb, because that has a 372 different meaning: |-nb|. 373 'updatecount' is set to 0 AFTER executing commands from a 374 vimrc file, but before the GUI initializations. Thus it 375 overrides a setting for 'updatecount' in a vimrc file, but not 376 in a gvimrc file. See |startup|. 377 When you want to reduce accesses to the disk (e.g., for a 378 laptop), don't use "-n", but set 'updatetime' and 379 'updatecount' to very big numbers, and type ":preserve" when 380 you want to save your work. This way you keep the possibility 381 for crash recovery. 382 {not in Vi} 383 384 *-o* 385-o[N] Open N windows, split horizontally. If [N] is not given, 386 one window is opened for every file given as argument. If 387 there is not enough room, only the first few files get a 388 window. If there are more windows than arguments, the last 389 few windows will be editing an empty file. 390 {not in Vi} 391 392 *-O* 393-O[N] Open N windows, split vertically. Otherwise it's like -o. 394 If both the -o and the -O option are given, the last one on 395 the command line determines how the windows will be split. 396 {not in Vi} 397 398 *-p* 399-p[N] Open N tab pages. If [N] is not given, one tab page is opened 400 for every file given as argument. The maximum is set with 401 'tabpagemax' pages (default 10). If there are more tab pages 402 than arguments, the last few tab pages will be editing an 403 empty file. Also see |tabpage|. 404 {not in Vi} 405 406 *-T* 407-T {terminal} Set the terminal type to "terminal". This influences the 408 codes that Vim will send to your terminal. This is normally 409 not needed, because Vim will be able to find out what type 410 of terminal you are using. (See |terminal-info|.) {not in Vi} 411 412 *-d* 413-d Start in diff mode, like |vimdiff|. 414 {not in Vi} {not available when compiled without the |+diff| 415 feature} 416 417-d {device} Only on the Amiga and when not compiled with the |+diff| 418 feature. Works like "-dev". 419 *-dev* 420-dev {device} Only on the Amiga: The {device} is opened to be used for 421 editing. 422 Normally you would use this to set the window position and 423 size: "-d con:x/y/width/height", e.g., 424 "-d con:30/10/600/150". But you can also use it to start 425 editing on another device, e.g., AUX:. {not in Vi} 426 *-f* 427-f Amiga: Do not restart Vim to open a new window. This 428 option should be used when Vim is started by a program that 429 will wait for the edit session to finish (e.g., mail or 430 readnews). See |amiga-window|. 431 432 GUI: Do not disconnect from the program that started Vim. 433 'f' stands for "foreground". If omitted, the GUI forks a new 434 process and exits the current one. "-f" should be used when 435 gvim is started by a program that will wait for the edit 436 session to finish (e.g., mail or readnews). If you want gvim 437 never to fork, include 'f' in 'guioptions' in your |gvimrc|. 438 Careful: You can use "-gf" to start the GUI in the foreground, 439 but "-fg" is used to specify the foreground color. |gui-fork| 440 {not in Vi} 441 442 *--nofork* 443--nofork GUI: Do not fork. Same as |-f|. 444 *-u* *E282* 445-u {vimrc} The file {vimrc} is read for initializations. Most other 446 initializations are skipped; see |initialization|. This can 447 be used to start Vim in a special mode, with special 448 mappings and settings. A shell alias can be used to make 449 this easy to use. For example: > 450 alias vimc vim -u ~/.c_vimrc !* 451< Also consider using autocommands; see |autocommand|. 452 When {vimrc} is equal to "NONE" (all uppercase), all 453 initializations from files and environment variables are 454 skipped, including reading the |gvimrc| file when the GUI 455 starts. Loading plugins is also skipped. 456 When {vimrc} is equal to "NORC" (all uppercase), this has the 457 same effect as "NONE", but loading plugins is not skipped. 458 Using the "-u" argument has the side effect that the 459 'compatible' option will be on by default. This can have 460 unexpected effects. See |'compatible'|. 461 {not in Vi} 462 463 *-U* *E230* 464-U {gvimrc} The file {gvimrc} is read for initializations when the GUI 465 starts. Other GUI initializations are skipped. When {gvimrc} 466 is equal to "NONE", no file is read for GUI initializations at 467 all. |gui-init| 468 Exception: Reading the system-wide menu file is always done. 469 {not in Vi} 470 471 *-i* 472-i {viminfo} The file "viminfo" is used instead of the default viminfo 473 file. If the name "NONE" is used (all uppercase), no viminfo 474 file is read or written, even if 'viminfo' is set or when 475 ":rv" or ":wv" are used. See also |viminfo-file|. 476 {not in Vi} 477 478 *-x* 479-x Use encryption to read/write files. Will prompt for a key, 480 which is then stored in the 'key' option. All writes will 481 then use this key to encrypt the text. The '-x' argument is 482 not needed when reading a file, because there is a check if 483 the file that is being read has been encrypted, and Vim asks 484 for a key automatically. |encryption| 485 486 *-X* 487-X Do not try connecting to the X server to get the current 488 window title and copy/paste using the X clipboard. This 489 avoids a long startup time when running Vim in a terminal 490 emulator and the connection to the X server is slow. 491 See |--startuptime| to find out if affects you. 492 Only makes a difference on Unix or VMS, when compiled with the 493 |+X11| feature. Otherwise it's ignored. 494 To disable the connection only for specific terminals, see the 495 'clipboard' option. 496 When the X11 Session Management Protocol (XSMP) handler has 497 been built in, the -X option also disables that connection as 498 it, too, may have undesirable delays. 499 When the connection is desired later anyway (e.g., for 500 client-server messages), call the |serverlist()| function. 501 This does not enable the XSMP handler though. 502 {not in Vi} 503 504 *-s* 505-s {scriptin} The script file "scriptin" is read. The characters in the 506 file are interpreted as if you had typed them. The same can 507 be done with the command ":source! {scriptin}". If the end 508 of the file is reached before the editor exits, further 509 characters are read from the keyboard. Only works when not 510 started in Ex mode, see |-s-ex|. See also |complex-repeat|. 511 {not in Vi} 512 513 *-w_nr* 514-w {number} 515-w{number} Set the 'window' option to {number}. 516 517 *-w* 518-w {scriptout} All the characters that you type are recorded in the file 519 "scriptout", until you exit Vim. This is useful if you want 520 to create a script file to be used with "vim -s" or 521 ":source!". When the "scriptout" file already exists, new 522 characters are appended. See also |complex-repeat|. 523 {scriptout} cannot start with a digit. 524 {not in Vi} 525 526 *-W* 527-W {scriptout} Like -w, but do not append, overwrite an existing file. 528 {not in Vi} 529 530--remote [+{cmd}] {file} ... 531 Open the {file} in another Vim that functions as a server. 532 Any non-file arguments must come before this. 533 See |--remote|. {not in Vi} 534 535--remote-silent [+{cmd}] {file} ... 536 Like --remote, but don't complain if there is no server. 537 See |--remote-silent|. {not in Vi} 538 539--remote-wait [+{cmd}] {file} ... 540 Like --remote, but wait for the server to finish editing the 541 file(s). 542 See |--remote-wait|. {not in Vi} 543 544--remote-wait-silent [+{cmd}] {file} ... 545 Like --remote-wait, but don't complain if there is no server. 546 See |--remote-wait-silent|. {not in Vi} 547 548--servername {name} 549 Specify the name of the Vim server to send to or to become. 550 See |--servername|. {not in Vi} 551 552--remote-send {keys} 553 Send {keys} to a Vim server and exit. 554 See |--remote-send|. {not in Vi} 555 556--remote-expr {expr} 557 Evaluate {expr} in another Vim that functions as a server. 558 The result is printed on stdout. 559 See |--remote-expr|. {not in Vi} 560 561--serverlist Output a list of Vim server names and exit. See 562 |--serverlist|. {not in Vi} 563 564--socketid {id} *--socketid* 565 GTK+ GUI Vim only. Make gvim try to use GtkPlug mechanism, so 566 that it runs inside another window. See |gui-gtk-socketid| 567 for details. {not in Vi} 568 569--windowid {id} *--windowid* 570 Win32 GUI Vim only. Make gvim try to use the window {id} as a 571 parent, so that it runs inside that window. See 572 |gui-w32-windowid| for details. {not in Vi} 573 574--echo-wid *--echo-wid* 575 GTK+ GUI Vim only. Make gvim echo the Window ID on stdout, 576 which can be used to run gvim in a kpart widget. The format 577 of the output is: > 578 WID: 12345\n 579< {not in Vi} 580 581--role {role} *--role* 582 GTK+ 2 GUI only. Set the role of the main window to {role}. 583 The window role can be used by a window manager to uniquely 584 identify a window, in order to restore window placement and 585 such. The --role argument is passed automatically when 586 restoring the session on login. See |gui-gnome-session| 587 {not in Vi} 588 589-P {parent-title} *-P* *MDI* *E671* *E672* 590 Win32 only: Specify the title of the parent application. When 591 possible, Vim will run in an MDI window inside the 592 application. 593 {parent-title} must appear in the window title of the parent 594 application. Make sure that it is specific enough. 595 Note that the implementation is still primitive. It won't 596 work with all applications and the menu doesn't work. 597 598-nb *-nb* 599-nb={fname} 600-nb:{hostname}:{addr}:{password} 601 Attempt connecting to Netbeans and become an editor server for 602 it. The second form specifies a file to read connection info 603 from. The third form specifies the hostname, address and 604 password for connecting to Netbeans. |netbeans-run| 605 {only available when compiled with the |+netbeans_intg| 606 feature; if not then -nb will make Vim exit} 607 608If the executable is called "view", Vim will start in Readonly mode. This is 609useful if you can make a hard or symbolic link from "view" to "vim". 610Starting in Readonly mode can also be done with "vim -R". 611 612If the executable is called "ex", Vim will start in "Ex" mode. This means it 613will accept only ":" commands. But when the "-v" argument is given, Vim will 614start in Normal mode anyway. 615 616Additional arguments are available on unix like systems when compiled with 617X11 GUI support. See |gui-resources|. 618 619============================================================================== 6202. Vim on the Amiga *starting-amiga* 621 622Starting Vim from the Workbench *workbench* 623------------------------------- 624 625Vim can be started from the Workbench by clicking on its icon twice. It will 626then start with an empty buffer. 627 628Vim can be started to edit one or more files by using a "Project" icon. The 629"Default Tool" of the icon must be the full pathname of the Vim executable. 630The name of the ".info" file must be the same as the name of the text file. 631By clicking on this icon twice, Vim will be started with the file name as 632current file name, which will be read into the buffer (if it exists). You can 633edit multiple files by pressing the shift key while clicking on icons, and 634clicking twice on the last one. The "Default Tool" for all these icons must 635be the same. 636 637It is not possible to give arguments to Vim, other than file names, from the 638workbench. 639 640Vim window *amiga-window* 641---------- 642 643Vim will run in the CLI window where it was started. If Vim was started with 644the "run" or "runback" command, or if Vim was started from the workbench, it 645will open a window of its own. 646 647Technical detail: 648 To open the new window a little trick is used. As soon as Vim 649 recognizes that it does not run in a normal CLI window, it will 650 create a script file in "t:". This script file contains the same 651 command as the one Vim was started with, and an "endcli" command. 652 This script file is then executed with a "newcli" command (the "c:run" 653 and "c:newcli" commands are required for this to work). The script 654 file will hang around until reboot, or until you delete it. This 655 method is required to get the ":sh" and ":!" commands to work 656 correctly. But when Vim was started with the -f option (foreground 657 mode), this method is not used. The reason for this is that 658 when a program starts Vim with the -f option it will wait for Vim to 659 exit. With the script trick, the calling program does not know when 660 Vim exits. The -f option can be used when Vim is started by a mail 661 program which also waits for the edit session to finish. As a 662 consequence, the ":sh" and ":!" commands are not available when the 663 -f option is used. 664 665Vim will automatically recognize the window size and react to window 666resizing. Under Amiga DOS 1.3, it is advised to use the fastfonts program, 667"FF", to speed up display redrawing. 668 669============================================================================== 6703. Running eVim *evim-keys* 671 672EVim runs Vim as click-and-type editor. This is very unlike the original Vi 673idea. But it helps for people that don't use Vim often enough to learn the 674commands. Hopefully they will find out that learning to use Normal mode 675commands will make their editing much more effective. 676 677In Evim these options are changed from their default value: 678 679 :set nocompatible Use Vim improvements 680 :set insertmode Remain in Insert mode most of the time 681 :set hidden Keep invisible buffers loaded 682 :set backup Keep backup files (not for VMS) 683 :set backspace=2 Backspace over everything 684 :set autoindent auto-indent new lines 685 :set history=50 keep 50 lines of Ex commands 686 :set ruler show the cursor position 687 :set incsearch show matches halfway typing a pattern 688 :set mouse=a use the mouse in all modes 689 :set hlsearch highlight all matches for a search pattern 690 :set whichwrap+=<,>,[,] <Left> and <Right> wrap around line breaks 691 :set guioptions-=a non-Unix only: don't do auto-select 692 693Key mappings: 694 <Down> moves by screen lines rather than file lines 695 <Up> idem 696 Q does "gq", formatting, instead of Ex mode 697 <BS> in Visual mode: deletes the selection 698 CTRL-X in Visual mode: Cut to clipboard 699 <S-Del> idem 700 CTRL-C in Visual mode: Copy to clipboard 701 <C-Insert> idem 702 CTRL-V Pastes from the clipboard (in any mode) 703 <S-Insert> idem 704 CTRL-Q do what CTRL-V used to do 705 CTRL-Z undo 706 CTRL-Y redo 707 <M-Space> system menu 708 CTRL-A select all 709 <C-Tab> next window, CTRL-W w 710 <C-F4> close window, CTRL-W c 711 712Additionally: 713- ":behave mswin" is used |:behave| 714- syntax highlighting is enabled 715- filetype detection is enabled, filetype plugins and indenting is enabled 716- in a text file 'textwidth' is set to 78 717 718One hint: If you want to go to Normal mode to be able to type a sequence of 719commands, use CTRL-L. |i_CTRL-L| 720 721============================================================================== 7224. Initialization *initialization* *startup* 723 724This section is about the non-GUI version of Vim. See |gui-fork| for 725additional initialization when starting the GUI. 726 727At startup, Vim checks environment variables and files and sets values 728accordingly. Vim proceeds in this order: 729 7301. Set the 'shell' and 'term' option *SHELL* *COMSPEC* *TERM* 731 The environment variable SHELL, if it exists, is used to set the 732 'shell' option. On MS-DOS and Win32, the COMSPEC variable is used 733 if SHELL is not set. 734 The environment variable TERM, if it exists, is used to set the 'term' 735 option. However, 'term' will change later when starting the GUI (step 736 8 below). 737 7382. Process the arguments 739 The options and file names from the command that start Vim are 740 inspected. Buffers are created for all files (but not loaded yet). 741 The |-V| argument can be used to display or log what happens next, 742 useful for debugging the initializations. 743 7443. Execute Ex commands, from environment variables and/or files 745 An environment variable is read as one Ex command line, where multiple 746 commands must be separated with '|' or "<NL>". 747 *vimrc* *exrc* 748 A file that contains initialization commands is called a "vimrc" file. 749 Each line in a vimrc file is executed as an Ex command line. It is 750 sometimes also referred to as "exrc" file. They are the same type of 751 file, but "exrc" is what Vi always used, "vimrc" is a Vim specific 752 name. Also see |vimrc-intro|. 753 754 Recommended place for your personal initializations: 755 Unix $HOME/.vimrc 756 OS/2 $HOME/.vimrc or $VIM/.vimrc (or _vimrc) 757 MS-DOS and Win32 $HOME/_vimrc or $VIM/_vimrc 758 Amiga s:.vimrc or $VIM/.vimrc 759 760 If Vim was started with "-u filename", the file "filename" is used. 761 All following initializations until 4. are skipped. 762 "vim -u NORC" can be used to skip these initializations without 763 reading a file. "vim -u NONE" also skips loading plugins. |-u| 764 765 If Vim was started in Ex mode with the "-s" argument, all following 766 initializations until 4. are skipped. Only the "-u" option is 767 interpreted. 768 *evim.vim* 769 a. If vim was started as |evim| or |eview| or with the |-y| argument, the 770 script $VIMRUNTIME/evim.vim will be loaded. 771 *system-vimrc* 772 b. For Unix, MS-DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2, VMS, Macintosh, RISC-OS and Amiga 773 the system vimrc file is read for initializations. The path of this 774 file is shown with the ":version" command. Mostly it's "$VIM/vimrc". 775 Note that this file is ALWAYS read in 'compatible' mode, since the 776 automatic resetting of 'compatible' is only done later. Add a ":set 777 nocp" command if you like. 778 For the Macintosh the $VIMRUNTIME/macmap.vim is read. 779 780 *VIMINIT* *.vimrc* *_vimrc* *EXINIT* *.exrc* *_exrc* *$MYVIMRC* 781 c. Four places are searched for initializations. The first that exists 782 is used, the others are ignored. The $MYVIMRC environment variable is 783 set to the file that was first found, unless $MYVIMRC was already set 784 and when using VIMINIT. 785 - The environment variable VIMINIT (see also |compatible-default|) (*) 786 The value of $VIMINIT is used as an Ex command line. 787 - The user vimrc file(s): 788 "$HOME/.vimrc" (for Unix and OS/2) (*) 789 "s:.vimrc" (for Amiga) (*) 790 "home:.vimrc" (for Amiga) (*) 791 "$VIM/.vimrc" (for OS/2 and Amiga) (*) 792 "$HOME/_vimrc" (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*) 793 "$VIM/_vimrc" (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*) 794 Note: For Unix, OS/2 and Amiga, when ".vimrc" does not exist, 795 "_vimrc" is also tried, in case an MS-DOS compatible file 796 system is used. For MS-DOS and Win32 ".vimrc" is checked 797 after "_vimrc", in case long file names are used. 798 Note: For MS-DOS and Win32, "$HOME" is checked first. If no 799 "_vimrc" or ".vimrc" is found there, "$VIM" is tried. 800 See |$VIM| for when $VIM is not set. 801 - The environment variable EXINIT. 802 The value of $EXINIT is used as an Ex command line. 803 - The user exrc file(s). Same as for the user vimrc file, but with 804 "vimrc" replaced by "exrc". But only one of ".exrc" and "_exrc" is 805 used, depending on the system. And without the (*)! 806 807 d. If the 'exrc' option is on (which is not the default), the current 808 directory is searched for three files. The first that exists is used, 809 the others are ignored. 810 - The file ".vimrc" (for Unix, Amiga and OS/2) (*) 811 "_vimrc" (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*) 812 - The file "_vimrc" (for Unix, Amiga and OS/2) (*) 813 ".vimrc" (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*) 814 - The file ".exrc" (for Unix, Amiga and OS/2) 815 "_exrc" (for MS-DOS and Win32) 816 817 (*) Using this file or environment variable will cause 'compatible' to be 818 off by default. See |compatible-default|. 819 8204. Load the plugin scripts. *load-plugins* 821 This does the same as the command: > 822 :runtime! plugin/**/*.vim 823< The result is that all directories in the 'runtimepath' option will be 824 searched for the "plugin" sub-directory and all files ending in ".vim" 825 will be sourced (in alphabetical order per directory), also in 826 subdirectories. 827 Loading plugins won't be done when: 828 - The 'loadplugins' option was reset in a vimrc file. 829 - The |--noplugin| command line argument is used. 830 - The "-u NONE" command line argument is used |-u|. 831 - When Vim was compiled without the |+eval| feature. 832 Note that using "-c 'set noloadplugins'" doesn't work, because the 833 commands from the command line have not been executed yet. You can 834 use "--cmd 'set noloadplugins'" |--cmd|. 835 8365. Set 'shellpipe' and 'shellredir' 837 The 'shellpipe' and 'shellredir' options are set according to the 838 value of the 'shell' option, unless they have been set before. 839 This means that Vim will figure out the values of 'shellpipe' and 840 'shellredir' for you, unless you have set them yourself. 841 8426. Set 'updatecount' to zero, if "-n" command argument used 843 8447. Set binary options 845 If the "-b" flag was given to Vim, the options for binary editing will 846 be set now. See |-b|. 847 8488. Perform GUI initializations 849 Only when starting "gvim", the GUI initializations will be done. See 850 |gui-init|. 851 8529. Read the viminfo file 853 If the 'viminfo' option is not empty, the viminfo file is read. See 854 |viminfo-file|. 855 85610. Read the quickfix file 857 If the "-q" flag was given to Vim, the quickfix file is read. If this 858 fails, Vim exits. 859 86011. Open all windows 861 When the |-o| flag was given, windows will be opened (but not 862 displayed yet). 863 When the |-p| flag was given, tab pages will be created (but not 864 displayed yet). 865 When switching screens, it happens now. Redrawing starts. 866 If the "-q" flag was given to Vim, the first error is jumped to. 867 Buffers for all windows will be loaded. 868 86912. Execute startup commands 870 If a "-t" flag was given to Vim, the tag is jumped to. 871 The commands given with the |-c| and |+cmd| arguments are executed. 872 If the 'insertmode' option is set, Insert mode is entered. 873 The |VimEnter| autocommands are executed. 874 875Some hints on using initializations: 876 877Standard setup: 878Create a vimrc file to set the default settings and mappings for all your edit 879sessions. Put it in a place so that it will be found by 3b: 880 ~/.vimrc (Unix and OS/2) 881 s:.vimrc (Amiga) 882 $VIM\_vimrc (MS-DOS and Win32) 883Note that creating a vimrc file will cause the 'compatible' option to be off 884by default. See |compatible-default|. 885 886Local setup: 887Put all commands that you need for editing a specific directory only into a 888vimrc file and place it in that directory under the name ".vimrc" ("_vimrc" 889for MS-DOS and Win32). NOTE: To make Vim look for these special files you 890have to turn on the option 'exrc'. See |trojan-horse| too. 891 892System setup: 893This only applies if you are managing a Unix system with several users and 894want to set the defaults for all users. Create a vimrc file with commands 895for default settings and mappings and put it in the place that is given with 896the ":version" command. 897 898Saving the current state of Vim to a file: 899Whenever you have changed values of options or when you have created a 900mapping, then you may want to save them in a vimrc file for later use. See 901|save-settings| about saving the current state of settings to a file. 902 903Avoiding setup problems for Vi users: 904Vi uses the variable EXINIT and the file "~/.exrc". So if you do not want to 905interfere with Vi, then use the variable VIMINIT and the file "vimrc" instead. 906 907Amiga environment variables: 908On the Amiga, two types of environment variables exist. The ones set with the 909DOS 1.3 (or later) setenv command are recognized. See the AmigaDos 1.3 910manual. The environment variables set with the old Manx Set command (before 911version 5.0) are not recognized. 912 913MS-DOS line separators: 914On MS-DOS-like systems (MS-DOS itself, Win32, and OS/2), Vim assumes that all 915the vimrc files have <CR> <NL> pairs as line separators. This will give 916problems if you have a file with only <NL>s and have a line like 917":map xx yy^M". The trailing ^M will be ignored. 918 919 *compatible-default* 920When Vim starts, the 'compatible' option is on. This will be used when Vim 921starts its initializations. But as soon as a user vimrc file is found, or a 922vimrc file in the current directory, or the "VIMINIT" environment variable is 923set, it will be set to 'nocompatible'. This has the side effect of setting or 924resetting other options (see 'compatible'). But only the options that have 925not been set or reset will be changed. This has the same effect like the 926value of 'compatible' had this value when starting Vim. Note that this 927doesn't happen for the system-wide vimrc file nor when Vim was started with 928the |-u| command line argument. It does also happen for gvimrc files. The 929$MYVIMRC or $MYGVIMRC file will be set to the first found vimrc and/or gvimrc 930file. 931 932But there is a side effect of setting or resetting 'compatible' at the moment 933a .vimrc file is found: Mappings are interpreted the moment they are 934encountered. This makes a difference when using things like "<CR>". If the 935mappings depend on a certain value of 'compatible', set or reset it before 936giving the mapping. 937 938The above behavior can be overridden in these ways: 939- If the "-N" command line argument is given, 'nocompatible' will be used, 940 even when no vimrc file exists. 941- If the "-C" command line argument is given, 'compatible' will be used, even 942 when a vimrc file exists. 943- If the "-u {vimrc}" argument is used, 'compatible' will be used. 944- When the name of the executable ends in "ex", then this works like the "-C" 945 argument was given: 'compatible' will be used, even when a vimrc file 946 exists. This has been done to make Vim behave like "ex", when it is started 947 as "ex". 948 949Avoiding trojan horses: *trojan-horse* 950While reading the "vimrc" or the "exrc" file in the current directory, some 951commands can be disabled for security reasons by setting the 'secure' option. 952This is always done when executing the command from a tags file. Otherwise it 953would be possible that you accidentally use a vimrc or tags file that somebody 954else created and contains nasty commands. The disabled commands are the ones 955that start a shell, the ones that write to a file, and ":autocmd". The ":map" 956commands are echoed, so you can see which keys are being mapped. 957 If you want Vim to execute all commands in a local vimrc file, you 958can reset the 'secure' option in the EXINIT or VIMINIT environment variable or 959in the global "exrc" or "vimrc" file. This is not possible in "vimrc" or 960"exrc" in the current directory, for obvious reasons. 961 On Unix systems, this only happens if you are not the owner of the 962vimrc file. Warning: If you unpack an archive that contains a vimrc or exrc 963file, it will be owned by you. You won't have the security protection. Check 964the vimrc file before you start Vim in that directory, or reset the 'exrc' 965option. Some Unix systems allow a user to do "chown" on a file. This makes 966it possible for another user to create a nasty vimrc and make you the owner. 967Be careful! 968 When using tag search commands, executing the search command (the last 969part of the line in the tags file) is always done in secure mode. This works 970just like executing a command from a vimrc/exrc in the current directory. 971 972 *slow-start* 973If Vim takes a long time to start up, use the |--startuptime| argument to find 974out what happens. There are a few common causes: 975- If the Unix version was compiled with the GUI and/or X11 (check the output 976 of ":version" for "+GUI" and "+X11"), it may need to load shared libraries 977 and connect to the X11 server. Try compiling a version with GUI and X11 978 disabled. This also should make the executable smaller. 979 Use the |-X| command line argument to avoid connecting to the X server when 980 running in a terminal. 981- If you have "viminfo" enabled, the loading of the viminfo file may take a 982 while. You can find out if this is the problem by disabling viminfo for a 983 moment (use the Vim argument "-i NONE", |-i|). Try reducing the number of 984 lines stored in a register with ":set viminfo='20,<50,s10". |viminfo-file|. 985 986 *:intro* 987When Vim starts without a file name, an introductory message is displayed (for 988those who don't know what Vim is). It is removed as soon as the display is 989redrawn in any way. To see the message again, use the ":intro" command (if 990there is not enough room, you will see only part of it). 991 To avoid the intro message on startup, add the 'I' flag to 'shortmess'. 992 993 *info-message* 994The |--help| and |--version| arguments cause Vim to print a message and then 995exit. Normally the message is sent to stdout, thus can be redirected to a 996file with: > 997 998 vim --help >file 999 1000From inside Vim: > 1001 1002 :read !vim --help 1003 1004When using gvim, it detects that it might have been started from the desktop, 1005without a terminal to show messages on. This is detected when both stdout and 1006stderr are not a tty. This breaks the ":read" command, as used in the example 1007above. To make it work again, set 'shellredir' to ">" instead of the default 1008">&": > 1009 1010 :set shellredir=> 1011 :read !gvim --help 1012 1013This still won't work for systems where gvim does not use stdout at all 1014though. 1015 1016============================================================================== 10175. $VIM and $VIMRUNTIME 1018 *$VIM* 1019The environment variable "$VIM" is used to locate various user files for Vim, 1020such as the user startup script ".vimrc". This depends on the system, see 1021|startup|. 1022 1023To avoid the need for every user to set the $VIM environment variable, Vim 1024will try to get the value for $VIM in this order: 10251. The value defined by the $VIM environment variable. You can use this to 1026 make Vim look in a specific directory for its support files. Example: > 1027 setenv VIM /home/paul/vim 10282. The path from 'helpfile' is used, unless it contains some environment 1029 variable too (the default is "$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt": chicken-egg 1030 problem). The file name ("help.txt" or any other) is removed. Then 1031 trailing directory names are removed, in this order: "doc", "runtime" and 1032 "vim{version}" (e.g., "vim54"). 10333. For MSDOS, Win32 and OS/2 Vim tries to use the directory name of the 1034 executable. If it ends in "/src", this is removed. This is useful if you 1035 unpacked the .zip file in some directory, and adjusted the search path to 1036 find the vim executable. Trailing directory names are removed, in this 1037 order: "runtime" and "vim{version}" (e.g., "vim54"). 10384. For Unix the compile-time defined installation directory is used (see the 1039 output of ":version"). 1040 1041Once Vim has done this once, it will set the $VIM environment variable. To 1042change it later, use a ":let" command like this: > 1043 :let $VIM = "/home/paul/vim/" 1044< 1045 *$VIMRUNTIME* 1046The environment variable "$VIMRUNTIME" is used to locate various support 1047files, such as the on-line documentation and files used for syntax 1048highlighting. For example, the main help file is normally 1049"$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt". 1050You don't normally set $VIMRUNTIME yourself, but let Vim figure it out. This 1051is the order used to find the value of $VIMRUNTIME: 10521. If the environment variable $VIMRUNTIME is set, it is used. You can use 1053 this when the runtime files are in an unusual location. 10542. If "$VIM/vim{version}" exists, it is used. {version} is the version 1055 number of Vim, without any '-' or '.'. For example: "$VIM/vim54". This is 1056 the normal value for $VIMRUNTIME. 10573. If "$VIM/runtime" exists, it is used. 10584. The value of $VIM is used. This is for backwards compatibility with older 1059 versions. 10605. When the 'helpfile' option is set and doesn't contain a '$', its value is 1061 used, with "doc/help.txt" removed from the end. 1062 1063For Unix, when there is a compiled-in default for $VIMRUNTIME (check the 1064output of ":version"), steps 2, 3 and 4 are skipped, and the compiled-in 1065default is used after step 5. This means that the compiled-in default 1066overrules the value of $VIM. This is useful if $VIM is "/etc" and the runtime 1067files are in "/usr/share/vim/vim54". 1068 1069Once Vim has done this once, it will set the $VIMRUNTIME environment variable. 1070To change it later, use a ":let" command like this: > 1071 :let $VIMRUNTIME = "/home/piet/vim/vim54" 1072 1073In case you need the value of $VIMRUNTIME in a shell (e.g., for a script that 1074greps in the help files) you might be able to use this: > 1075 1076 VIMRUNTIME=`vim -e -T dumb --cmd 'exe "set t_cm=\<C-M>"|echo $VIMRUNTIME|quit' | tr -d '\015' ` 1077 1078============================================================================== 10796. Suspending *suspend* 1080 1081 *iconize* *iconise* *CTRL-Z* *v_CTRL-Z* 1082CTRL-Z Suspend Vim, like ":stop". 1083 Works in Normal and in Visual mode. In Insert and 1084 Command-line mode, the CTRL-Z is inserted as a normal 1085 character. In Visual mode Vim goes back to Normal 1086 mode. 1087 Note: if CTRL-Z undoes a change see |mswin.vim|. 1088 1089 1090:sus[pend][!] or *:sus* *:suspend* *:st* *:stop* 1091:st[op][!] Suspend Vim. 1092 If the '!' is not given and 'autowrite' is set, every 1093 buffer with changes and a file name is written out. 1094 If the '!' is given or 'autowrite' is not set, changed 1095 buffers are not written, don't forget to bring Vim 1096 back to the foreground later! 1097 1098In the GUI, suspending is implemented as iconising gvim. In Windows 95/NT, 1099gvim is minimized. 1100 1101On many Unix systems, it is possible to suspend Vim with CTRL-Z. This is only 1102possible in Normal and Visual mode (see next chapter, |vim-modes|). Vim will 1103continue if you make it the foreground job again. On other systems, CTRL-Z 1104will start a new shell. This is the same as the ":sh" command. Vim will 1105continue if you exit from the shell. 1106 1107In X-windows the selection is disowned when Vim suspends. this means you 1108can't paste it in another application (since Vim is going to sleep an attempt 1109to get the selection would make the program hang). 1110 1111============================================================================== 11127. Saving settings *save-settings* 1113 1114Mostly you will edit your vimrc files manually. This gives you the greatest 1115flexibility. There are a few commands to generate a vimrc file automatically. 1116You can use these files as they are, or copy/paste lines to include in another 1117vimrc file. 1118 1119 *:mk* *:mkexrc* 1120:mk[exrc] [file] Write current key mappings and changed options to 1121 [file] (default ".exrc" in the current directory), 1122 unless it already exists. {not in Vi} 1123 1124:mk[exrc]! [file] Always write current key mappings and changed 1125 options to [file] (default ".exrc" in the current 1126 directory). {not in Vi} 1127 1128 *:mkv* *:mkvimrc* 1129:mkv[imrc][!] [file] Like ":mkexrc", but the default is ".vimrc" in the 1130 current directory. The ":version" command is also 1131 written to the file. {not in Vi} 1132 1133These commands will write ":map" and ":set" commands to a file, in such a way 1134that when these commands are executed, the current key mappings and options 1135will be set to the same values. The options 'columns', 'endofline', 1136'fileformat', 'key', 'lines', 'modified', 'scroll', 'term', 'textmode', 1137'ttyfast' and 'ttymouse' are not included, because these are terminal or file 1138dependent. Note that the options 'binary', 'paste' and 'readonly' are 1139included, this might not always be what you want. 1140 1141When special keys are used in mappings, The 'cpoptions' option will be 1142temporarily set to its Vim default, to avoid the mappings to be 1143misinterpreted. This makes the file incompatible with Vi, but makes sure it 1144can be used with different terminals. 1145 1146Only global mappings are stored, not mappings local to a buffer. 1147 1148A common method is to use a default ".vimrc" file, make some modifications 1149with ":map" and ":set" commands and write the modified file. First read the 1150default ".vimrc" in with a command like ":source ~piet/.vimrc.Cprogs", change 1151the settings and then save them in the current directory with ":mkvimrc!". If 1152you want to make this file your default .vimrc, move it to your home directory 1153(on Unix), s: (Amiga) or $VIM directory (MS-DOS). You could also use 1154autocommands |autocommand| and/or modelines |modeline|. 1155 1156 *vimrc-option-example* 1157If you only want to add a single option setting to your vimrc, you can use 1158these steps: 11591. Edit your vimrc file with Vim. 11602. Play with the option until it's right. E.g., try out different values for 1161 'guifont'. 11623. Append a line to set the value of the option, using the expression register 1163 '=' to enter the value. E.g., for the 'guifont' option: > 1164 o:set guifont=<C-R>=&guifont<CR><Esc> 1165< [<C-R> is a CTRL-R, <CR> is a return, <Esc> is the escape key] 1166 You need to escape special characters, esp. spaces. 1167 1168Note that when you create a .vimrc file, this can influence the 'compatible' 1169option, which has several side effects. See |'compatible'|. 1170":mkvimrc", ":mkexrc" and ":mksession" write the command to set or reset the 1171'compatible' option to the output file first, because of these side effects. 1172 1173============================================================================== 11748. Views and Sessions *views-sessions* 1175 1176This is introduced in sections |21.4| and |21.5| of the user manual. 1177 1178 *View* *view-file* 1179A View is a collection of settings that apply to one window. You can save a 1180View and when you restore it later, the text is displayed in the same way. 1181The options and mappings in this window will also be restored, so that you can 1182continue editing like when the View was saved. 1183 1184 *Session* *session-file* 1185A Session keeps the Views for all windows, plus the global settings. You can 1186save a Session and when you restore it later the window layout looks the same. 1187You can use a Session to quickly switch between different projects, 1188automatically loading the files you were last working on in that project. 1189 1190Views and Sessions are a nice addition to viminfo-files, which are used to 1191remember information for all Views and Sessions together |viminfo-file|. 1192 1193You can quickly start editing with a previously saved View or Session with the 1194|-S| argument: > 1195 vim -S Session.vim 1196< 1197All this is {not in Vi} and {not available when compiled without the 1198|+mksession| feature}. 1199 1200 *:mks* *:mksession* 1201:mks[ession][!] [file] Write a Vim script that restores the current editing 1202 session. 1203 When [!] is included an existing file is overwritten. 1204 When [file] is omitted "Session.vim" is used. 1205 1206The output of ":mksession" is like ":mkvimrc", but additional commands are 1207added to the file. Which ones depends on the 'sessionoptions' option. The 1208resulting file, when executed with a ":source" command: 12091. Restores global mappings and options, if 'sessionoptions' contains 1210 "options". Script-local mappings will not be written. 12112. Restores global variables that start with an uppercase letter and contain 1212 at least one lowercase letter, if 'sessionoptions' contains "globals". 12133. Unloads all currently loaded buffers. 12144. Restores the current directory if 'sessionoptions' contains "curdir", or 1215 sets the current directory to where the Session file is if 'sessionoptions' 1216 contains "sesdir". 12175. Restores GUI Vim window position, if 'sessionoptions' contains "winpos". 12186. Restores screen size, if 'sessionoptions' contains "resize". 12197. Reloads the buffer list, with the last cursor positions. If 1220 'sessionoptions' contains "buffers" then all buffers are restored, 1221 including hidden and unloaded buffers. Otherwise only buffers in windows 1222 are restored. 12238. Restores all windows with the same layout. If 'sessionoptions' contains 1224 "help", help windows are restored. If 'sessionoptions' contains "blank", 1225 windows editing a buffer without a name will be restored. 1226 If 'sessionoptions' contains "winsize" and no (help/blank) windows were 1227 left out, the window sizes are restored (relative to the screen size). 1228 Otherwise, the windows are just given sensible sizes. 12299. Restores the Views for all the windows, as with |:mkview|. But 1230 'sessionoptions' is used instead of 'viewoptions'. 123110. If a file exists with the same name as the Session file, but ending in 1232 "x.vim" (for eXtra), executes that as well. You can use *x.vim files to 1233 specify additional settings and actions associated with a given Session, 1234 such as creating menu items in the GUI version. 1235 1236After restoring the Session, the full filename of your current Session is 1237available in the internal variable "v:this_session" |this_session-variable|. 1238An example mapping: > 1239 :nmap <F2> :wa<Bar>exe "mksession! " . v:this_session<CR>:so ~/sessions/ 1240This saves the current Session, and starts off the command to load another. 1241 1242A session includes all tab pages, unless "tabpages" was removed from 1243'sessionoptions'. |tab-page| 1244 1245The |SessionLoadPost| autocmd event is triggered after a session file is 1246loaded/sourced. 1247 *SessionLoad-variable* 1248While the session file is loading the SessionLoad global variable is set to 1. 1249Plugins can use this to postpone some work until the SessionLoadPost event is 1250triggered. 1251 1252 *:mkvie* *:mkview* 1253:mkvie[w][!] [file] Write a Vim script that restores the contents of the 1254 current window. 1255 When [!] is included an existing file is overwritten. 1256 When [file] is omitted or is a number from 1 to 9, a 1257 name is generated and 'viewdir' prepended. When the 1258 last directory name in 'viewdir' does not exist, this 1259 directory is created. 1260 An existing file is always overwritten then. Use 1261 |:loadview| to load this view again. 1262 When [file] is the name of a file ('viewdir' is not 1263 used), a command to edit the file is added to the 1264 generated file. 1265 1266The output of ":mkview" contains these items: 12671. The argument list used in the window. When the global argument list is 1268 used it is reset to the global list. 1269 The index in the argument list is also restored. 12702. The file being edited in the window. If there is no file, the window is 1271 made empty. 12723. Restore mappings, abbreviations and options local to the window if 1273 'viewoptions' contains "options" or "localoptions". For the options it 1274 restores only values that are local to the current buffer and values local 1275 to the window. 1276 When storing the view as part of a session and "options" is in 1277 'sessionoptions', global values for local options will be stored too. 12784. Restore folds when using manual folding and 'viewoptions' contains 1279 "folds". Restore manually opened and closed folds. 12805. The scroll position and the cursor position in the file. Doesn't work very 1281 well when there are closed folds. 12826. The local current directory, if it is different from the global current 1283 directory. 1284 1285Note that Views and Sessions are not perfect: 1286- They don't restore everything. For example, defined functions, autocommands 1287 and ":syntax on" are not included. Things like register contents and 1288 command line history are in viminfo, not in Sessions or Views. 1289- Global option values are only set when they differ from the default value. 1290 When the current value is not the default value, loading a Session will not 1291 set it back to the default value. Local options will be set back to the 1292 default value though. 1293- Existing mappings will be overwritten without warning. An existing mapping 1294 may cause an error for ambiguity. 1295- When storing manual folds and when storing manually opened/closed folds, 1296 changes in the file between saving and loading the view will mess it up. 1297- The Vim script is not very efficient. But still faster than typing the 1298 commands yourself! 1299 1300 *:lo* *:loadview* 1301:lo[adview] [nr] Load the view for the current file. When [nr] is 1302 omitted, the view stored with ":mkview" is loaded. 1303 When [nr] is specified, the view stored with ":mkview 1304 [nr]" is loaded. 1305 1306The combination of ":mkview" and ":loadview" can be used to store up to ten 1307different views of a file. These are remembered in the directory specified 1308with the 'viewdir' option. The views are stored using the file name. If a 1309file is renamed or accessed through a (symbolic) link the view will not be 1310found. 1311 1312You might want to clean up your 'viewdir' directory now and then. 1313 1314To automatically save and restore views for *.c files: > 1315 au BufWinLeave *.c mkview 1316 au BufWinEnter *.c silent loadview 1317 1318============================================================================== 13199. The viminfo file *viminfo* *viminfo-file* *E136* 1320 *E575* *E576* *E577* 1321If you exit Vim and later start it again, you would normally lose a lot of 1322information. The viminfo file can be used to remember that information, which 1323enables you to continue where you left off. 1324 1325This is introduced in section |21.3| of the user manual. 1326 1327The viminfo file is used to store: 1328- The command line history. 1329- The search string history. 1330- The input-line history. 1331- Contents of non-empty registers. 1332- Marks for several files. 1333- File marks, pointing to locations in files. 1334- Last search/substitute pattern (for 'n' and '&'). 1335- The buffer list. 1336- Global variables. 1337 1338The viminfo file is not supported when the |+viminfo| feature has been 1339disabled at compile time. 1340 1341You could also use a Session file. The difference is that the viminfo file 1342does not depend on what you are working on. There normally is only one 1343viminfo file. Session files are used to save the state of a specific editing 1344Session. You could have several Session files, one for each project you are 1345working on. Viminfo and Session files together can be used to effectively 1346enter Vim and directly start working in your desired setup. |session-file| 1347 1348 *viminfo-read* 1349When Vim is started and the 'viminfo' option is non-empty, the contents of 1350the viminfo file are read and the info can be used in the appropriate places. 1351The |v:oldfiles| variable is filled. The marks are not read in at startup 1352(but file marks are). See |initialization| for how to set the 'viminfo' 1353option upon startup. 1354 1355 *viminfo-write* 1356When Vim exits and 'viminfo' is non-empty, the info is stored in the viminfo 1357file (it's actually merged with the existing one, if one exists). The 1358'viminfo' option is a string containing information about what info should be 1359stored, and contains limits on how much should be stored (see 'viminfo'). 1360 1361Notes for Unix: 1362- The file protection for the viminfo file will be set to prevent other users 1363 from being able to read it, because it may contain any text or commands that 1364 you have worked with. 1365- If you want to share the viminfo file with other users (e.g. when you "su" 1366 to another user), you can make the file writable for the group or everybody. 1367 Vim will preserve this when writing new viminfo files. Be careful, don't 1368 allow just anybody to read and write your viminfo file! 1369- Vim will not overwrite a viminfo file that is not writable by the current 1370 "real" user. This helps for when you did "su" to become root, but your 1371 $HOME is still set to a normal user's home directory. Otherwise Vim would 1372 create a viminfo file owned by root that nobody else can read. 1373- The viminfo file cannot be a symbolic link. This is to avoid security 1374 issues. 1375 1376Marks are stored for each file separately. When a file is read and 'viminfo' 1377is non-empty, the marks for that file are read from the viminfo file. NOTE: 1378The marks are only written when exiting Vim, which is fine because marks are 1379remembered for all the files you have opened in the current editing session, 1380unless ":bdel" is used. If you want to save the marks for a file that you are 1381about to abandon with ":bdel", use ":wv". The '[' and ']' marks are not 1382stored, but the '"' mark is. The '"' mark is very useful for jumping to the 1383cursor position when the file was last exited. No marks are saved for files 1384that start with any string given with the "r" flag in 'viminfo'. This can be 1385used to avoid saving marks for files on removable media (for MS-DOS you would 1386use "ra:,rb:", for Amiga "rdf0:,rdf1:,rdf2:"). 1387The |v:oldfiles| variable is filled with the file names that the viminfo file 1388has marks for. 1389 1390 *viminfo-file-marks* 1391Uppercase marks ('A to 'Z) are stored when writing the viminfo file. The 1392numbered marks ('0 to '9) are a bit special. When the viminfo file is written 1393(when exiting or with the ":wviminfo" command), '0 is set to the current cursor 1394position and file. The old '0 is moved to '1, '1 to '2, etc. This 1395resembles what happens with the "1 to "9 delete registers. If the current 1396cursor position is already present in '0 to '9, it is moved to '0, to avoid 1397having the same position twice. The result is that with "'0", you can jump 1398back to the file and line where you exited Vim. To do that right away, try 1399using this command: > 1400 1401 vim -c "normal '0" 1402 1403In a csh compatible shell you could make an alias for it: > 1404 1405 alias lvim vim -c '"'normal "'"0'"' 1406 1407For a bash-like shell: > 1408 1409 alias lvim='vim -c "normal '\''0"' 1410 1411Use the "r" flag in 'viminfo' to specify for which files no marks should be 1412remembered. 1413 1414 1415VIMINFO FILE NAME *viminfo-file-name* 1416 1417- The default name of the viminfo file is "$HOME/.viminfo" for Unix and OS/2, 1418 "s:.viminfo" for Amiga, "$HOME\_viminfo" for MS-DOS and Win32. For the last 1419 two, when $HOME is not set, "$VIM\_viminfo" is used. When $VIM is also not 1420 set, "c:\_viminfo" is used. For OS/2 "$VIM/.viminfo" is used when $HOME is 1421 not set and $VIM is set. 1422- The 'n' flag in the 'viminfo' option can be used to specify another viminfo 1423 file name |'viminfo'|. 1424- The "-i" Vim argument can be used to set another file name, |-i|. When the 1425 file name given is "NONE" (all uppercase), no viminfo file is ever read or 1426 written. Also not for the commands below! 1427- For the commands below, another file name can be given, overriding the 1428 default and the name given with 'viminfo' or "-i" (unless it's NONE). 1429 1430 1431CHARACTER ENCODING *viminfo-encoding* 1432 1433The text in the viminfo file is encoded as specified with the 'encoding' 1434option. Normally you will always work with the same 'encoding' value, and 1435this works just fine. However, if you read the viminfo file with another 1436value for 'encoding' than what it was written with, some of the text 1437(non-ASCII characters) may be invalid. If this is unacceptable, add the 'c' 1438flag to the 'viminfo' option: > 1439 :set viminfo+=c 1440Vim will then attempt to convert the text in the viminfo file from the 1441'encoding' value it was written with to the current 'encoding' value. This 1442requires Vim to be compiled with the |+iconv| feature. Filenames are not 1443converted. 1444 1445 1446MANUALLY READING AND WRITING *viminfo-read-write* 1447 1448Two commands can be used to read and write the viminfo file manually. This 1449can be used to exchange registers between two running Vim programs: First 1450type ":wv" in one and then ":rv" in the other. Note that if the register 1451already contained something, then ":rv!" would be required. Also note 1452however that this means everything will be overwritten with information from 1453the first Vim, including the command line history, etc. 1454 1455The viminfo file itself can be edited by hand too, although we suggest you 1456start with an existing one to get the format right. It is reasonably 1457self-explanatory once you're in there. This can be useful in order to 1458create a second file, say "~/.my_viminfo" which could contain certain 1459settings that you always want when you first start Vim. For example, you 1460can preload registers with particular data, or put certain commands in the 1461command line history. A line in your .vimrc file like > 1462 :rviminfo! ~/.my_viminfo 1463can be used to load this information. You could even have different viminfos 1464for different types of files (e.g., C code) and load them based on the file 1465name, using the ":autocmd" command (see |:autocmd|). 1466 1467 *viminfo-errors* 1468When Vim detects an error while reading a viminfo file, it will not overwrite 1469that file. If there are more than 10 errors, Vim stops reading the viminfo 1470file. This was done to avoid accidentally destroying a file when the file 1471name of the viminfo file is wrong. This could happen when accidentally typing 1472"vim -i file" when you wanted "vim -R file" (yes, somebody accidentally did 1473that!). If you want to overwrite a viminfo file with an error in it, you will 1474either have to fix the error, or delete the file (while Vim is running, so 1475most of the information will be restored). 1476 1477 *:rv* *:rviminfo* *E195* 1478:rv[iminfo][!] [file] Read from viminfo file [file] (default: see above). 1479 If [!] is given, then any information that is 1480 already set (registers, marks, |v:oldfiles|, etc.) 1481 will be overwritten {not in Vi} 1482 1483 *:wv* *:wviminfo* *E137* *E138* *E574* 1484:wv[iminfo][!] [file] Write to viminfo file [file] (default: see above). 1485 The information in the file is first read in to make 1486 a merge between old and new info. When [!] is used, 1487 the old information is not read first, only the 1488 internal info is written. If 'viminfo' is empty, marks 1489 for up to 100 files will be written. 1490 When you get error "E138: Can't write viminfo file" 1491 check that no old temp files were left behind (e.g. 1492 ~/.viminf*) and that you can write in the directory of 1493 the .viminfo file. 1494 {not in Vi} 1495 1496 *:ol* *:oldfiles* 1497:ol[dfiles] List the files that have marks stored in the viminfo 1498 file. This list is read on startup and only changes 1499 afterwards with ":rviminfo!". Also see |v:oldfiles|. 1500 The number can be used with |c_#<|. 1501 {not in Vi, only when compiled with the |+eval| 1502 feature} 1503 1504:bro[wse] ol[dfiles][!] 1505 List file names as with |:oldfiles|, and then prompt 1506 for a number. When the number is valid that file from 1507 the list is edited. 1508 If you get the |press-enter| prompt you can press "q" 1509 and still get the prompt to enter a file number. 1510 Use ! to abandon a modified buffer. |abandon| 1511 {not when compiled with tiny or small features} 1512 1513 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 1514