1*vi_diff.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2010 Jul 20 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 (more on 64 bit 92 systems) 93 94Information for undo and text in registers is kept in memory, thus when making 95(big) changes the amount of (virtual) memory available limits the number of 96undo levels and the text that can be kept in registers. Other things are also 97kept in memory: Command-line history, error messages for Quickfix mode, etc. 98 99Memory usage limits 100------------------- 101 102The option 'maxmem' ('mm') is used to set the maximum memory used for one 103buffer (in kilobytes). 'maxmemtot' is used to set the maximum memory used for 104all buffers (in kilobytes). The defaults depend on the system used. For the 105Amiga and MS-DOS, 'maxmemtot' is set depending on the amount of memory 106available. 107These are not hard limits, but tell Vim when to move text into a swap file. 108If you don't like Vim to swap to a file, set 'maxmem' and 'maxmemtot' to a 109very large value. The swap file will then only be used for recovery. If you 110don't want a swap file at all, set 'updatecount' to 0, or use the "-n" 111argument when starting Vim. 112 113============================================================================== 1144. The most interesting additions *vim-additions* 115 116Vi compatibility. |'compatible'| 117 Although Vim is 99% Vi compatible, some things in Vi can be 118 considered to be a bug, or at least need improvement. But still, Vim 119 starts in a mode which behaves like the "real" Vi as much as possible. 120 To make Vim behave a little bit better, try resetting the 'compatible' 121 option: 122 :set nocompatible 123 Or start Vim with the "-N" argument: 124 vim -N 125 Vim starts with 'nocompatible' automatically if you have a .vimrc 126 file. See |startup|. 127 The 'cpoptions' option can be used to set Vi compatibility on/off for 128 a number of specific items. 129 130Support for different systems. 131 Vim can be used on: 132 - All Unix systems (it works on all systems it was tested on, although 133 the GUI and Perl interface may not work everywhere). 134 - Amiga (500, 1000, 1200, 2000, 3000, 4000, ...). 135 - MS-DOS in real-mode (no additional drivers required). 136 - In protected mode on Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS (DPMI driver required). 137 - Windows 95 and Windows NT, with support for long file names. 138 - OS/2 (needs emx.dll) 139 - Atari MiNT 140 - VMS 141 - BeOS 142 - Macintosh 143 - Risc OS 144 - IBM OS/390 145 Note that on some systems features need to be disabled to reduce 146 resource usage, esp. on MS-DOS. For some outdated systems you need to 147 use an older Vim version. 148 149Multi level undo. |undo| 150 'u' goes backward in time, 'CTRL-R' goes forward again. Set option 151 'undolevels' to the number of changes to be remembered (default 1000). 152 Set 'undolevels' to 0 for a vi-compatible one level undo. Set it to 153 -1 for no undo at all. 154 When all changes in a buffer have been undone, the buffer is not 155 considered changed anymore. You can exit it with :q, without <!>. 156 When undoing a few changes and then making a new change Vim will 157 create a branch in the undo tree. This means you can go back to any 158 state of the text, there is no risk of a change causing text to be 159 lost forever. |undo-tree| 160 161Graphical User Interface (GUI). |gui| 162 Included support for GUI: menu's, mouse, scrollbars, etc. You can 163 define your own menus. Better support for CTRL/SHIFT/ALT keys in 164 combination with special keys and mouse. Supported for various 165 platforms, such as X11 (with Motif and Athena interfaces), GTK, Win32 166 (Windows 95 and later), BeOS, Amiga and Macintosh. 167 168Multiple windows and buffers. |windows.txt| 169 Vim can split the screen into several windows, each editing a 170 different buffer or the same buffer at a different location. Buffers 171 can still be loaded (and changed) but not displayed in a window. This 172 is called a hidden buffer. Many commands and options have been added 173 for this facility. 174 Vim can also use multiple tab pages, each with one or more windows. A 175 line with tab labels can be used to quickly switch between these pages. 176 |tab-page| 177 178Syntax highlighting. |:syntax| 179 Vim can highlight keywords, patterns and other things. This is 180 defined by a number of |:syntax| commands, and can be made to 181 highlight most languages and file types. A number of files are 182 included for highlighting the most common languages, like C, C++, 183 Java, Pascal, Makefiles, shell scripts, etc. The colors used for 184 highlighting can be defined for ordinary terminals, color terminals 185 and the GUI with the |:highlight| command. A convenient way to do 186 this is using a |:colorscheme| command. 187 The highlighted text can be exported as HTML. |convert-to-HTML| 188 Other items that can be highlighted are matches with the search string 189 |'hlsearch'|, matching parens |matchparen| and the cursor line and 190 column |'cursorline'| |'cursorcolumn'|. 191 192Spell checking. |spell| 193 When the 'spell' option is set Vim will highlight spelling mistakes. 194 About 40 languages are currently supported, selected with the 195 'spelllang' option. In source code only comments and strings are 196 checked for spelling. 197 198Folding. |folding| 199 A range of lines can be shown as one "folded" line. This allows 200 overviewing a file and moving blocks of text around quickly. 201 Folds can be created manually, from the syntax of the file, by indent, 202 etc. 203 204Diff mode. |diff| 205 Vim can show two versions of a file with the differences highlighted. 206 Parts of the text that are equal are folded away. Commands can be 207 used to move text from one version to the other. 208 209Plugins. |add-plugin| 210 The functionality can be extended by dropping a plugin file in the 211 right directory. That's an easy way to start using Vim scripts 212 written by others. Plugins can be for all kind of files, or 213 specifically for a filetype. 214 215Repeat a series of commands. |q| 216 "q{c}" starts recording typed characters into named register {c}. 217 A subsequent "q" stops recording. The register can then be executed 218 with the "@{c}" command. This is very useful to repeat a complex 219 action. 220 221Flexible insert mode. |ins-special-special| 222 The arrow keys can be used in insert mode to move around in the file. 223 This breaks the insert in two parts as far as undo and redo is 224 concerned. 225 226 CTRL-O can be used to execute a single Normal mode command. This is 227 almost the same as hitting <Esc>, typing the command and doing |a|. 228 229Visual mode. |Visual-mode| 230 Visual mode can be used to first highlight a piece of text and then 231 give a command to do something with it. This is an (easy to use) 232 alternative to first giving the operator and then moving to the end of 233 the text to be operated upon. 234 |v| and |V| are used to start Visual mode. |v| works on characters 235 and |V| on lines. Move the cursor to extend the Visual area. It is 236 shown highlighted on the screen. By typing "o" the other end of the 237 Visual area can be moved. The Visual area can be affected by an 238 operator: 239 d delete 240 c change 241 y yank 242 > or < insert or delete indent 243 ! filter through external program 244 = filter through indent 245 : start |:| command for the Visual lines. 246 gq format text to 'textwidth' columns 247 J join lines 248 ~ swap case 249 u make lowercase 250 U make uppercase 251 252Block operators. |visual-block| 253 With Visual mode a rectangular block of text can be selected. Start 254 Visual mode with CTRL-V. The block can be deleted ("d"), yanked ("y") 255 or its case can be changed ("~", "u" and "U"). A deleted or yanked 256 block can be put into the text with the "p" and "P" commands. 257 258Help system. |:help| 259 Help is displayed in a window. The usual commands can be used to 260 move around, search for a string, etc. Tags can be used to jump 261 around in the help files, just like hypertext links. The |:help| 262 command takes an argument to quickly jump to the info on a subject. 263 <F1> is the quick access to the help system. The name of the help 264 index file can be set with the 'helpfile' option. 265 266Command-line editing and history. |cmdline-editing| 267 You can insert or delete at any place in the command-line using the 268 cursor keys. The right/left cursor keys can be used to move 269 forward/backward one character. The shifted right/left cursor keys 270 can be used to move forward/backward one word. CTRL-B/CTRL-E can be 271 used to go to the begin/end of the command-line. 272 |cmdline-history| 273 The command-lines are remembered. The up/down cursor keys can be used 274 to recall previous command-lines. The 'history' option can be set to 275 the number of lines that will be remembered. There is a separate 276 history for commands and for search patterns. 277 278Command-line completion. |cmdline-completion| 279 While entering a command-line (on the bottom line of the screen) 280 <Tab> can be typed to complete 281 what example ~ 282 - command :e<Tab> 283 - tag :ta scr<Tab> 284 - option :set sc<Tab> 285 - option value :set hf=<Tab> 286 - file name :e ve<Tab> 287 - etc. 288 289 If there are multiple matches, CTRL-N (next) and CTRL-P (previous) 290 will walk through the matches. <Tab> works like CTRL-N, but wraps 291 around to the first match. 292 293 The 'wildchar' option can be set to the character for command-line 294 completion, <Tab> is the default. CTRL-D can be typed after an 295 (incomplete) wildcard; all matches will be listed. CTRL-A will insert 296 all matches. CTRL-L will insert the longest common part of the 297 matches. 298 299Insert-mode completion. |ins-completion| 300 In Insert mode the CTRL-N and CTRL-P keys can be used to complete a 301 word that appears elsewhere. |i_CTRL-N| 302 With CTRL-X another mode is entered, through which completion can be 303 done for: 304 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-F| file names 305 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K| words from 'dictionary' files 306 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T| words from 'thesaurus' files 307 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I| words from included files 308 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L| whole lines 309 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]| words from the tags file 310 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D| definitions or macros 311 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O| Omni completion: clever completion 312 specifically for a file type 313 etc. 314 315Long line support. |'wrap'| |'linebreak'| 316 If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap and only part 317 of them will be shown. When the cursor is moved to a part that is not 318 shown, the screen will scroll horizontally. The minimum number of 319 columns to scroll can be set with the 'sidescroll' option. The |zh| 320 and |zl| commands can be used to scroll sideways. 321 Alternatively, long lines are broken in between words when the 322 'linebreak' option is set. This allows editing a single-line 323 paragraph conveniently (e.g. when the text is later read into a DTP 324 program). Move the cursor up/down with the |gk| and |gj| commands. 325 326Text formatting. |formatting| 327 The 'textwidth' option can be used to automatically limit the line 328 length. This supplements the 'wrapmargin' option of Vi, which was not 329 very useful. The |gq| operator can be used to format a piece of text 330 (for example, |gqap| formats the current paragraph). Commands for 331 text alignment: |:center|, |:left| and |:right|. 332 333Extended search patterns. |pattern| 334 There are many extra items to match various text items. Examples: 335 A "\n" can be used in a search pattern to match a line break. 336 "x\{2,4}" matches "x" 2 to 4 times. 337 "\s" matches a white space character. 338 339Directory, remote and archive browsing. |netrw| 340 Vim can browse the file system. Simply edit a directory. Move around 341 in the list with the usual commands and press <Enter> to go to the 342 directory or file under the cursor. 343 This also works for remote files over ftp, http, ssh, etc. 344 Zip and tar archives can also be browsed. |tar| |zip| 345 346Edit-compile-edit speedup. |quickfix| 347 The |:make| command can be used to run the compilation and jump to the 348 first error. A file with compiler error messages is interpreted. Vim 349 jumps to the first error. 350 351 Each line in the error file is scanned for the name of a file, line 352 number and error message. The 'errorformat' option can be set to a 353 list of scanf-like strings to handle output from many compilers. 354 355 The |:cn| command can be used to jump to the next error. 356 |:cl| lists all the error messages. Other commands are available. 357 The 'makeef' option has the name of the file with error messages. 358 The 'makeprg' option contains the name of the program to be executed 359 with the |:make| command. 360 The 'shellpipe' option contains the string to be used to put the 361 output of the compiler into the errorfile. 362 363Finding matches in files. |:vimgrep| 364 Vim can search for a pattern in multiple files. This uses the 365 advanced Vim regexp pattern, works on all systems and also works to 366 search in compressed files. 367 368Improved indenting for programs. |'cindent'| 369 When the 'cindent' option is on the indent of each line is 370 automatically adjusted. C syntax is mostly recognized. The indent 371 for various styles can be set with 'cinoptions'. The keys to trigger 372 indenting can be set with 'cinkeys'. 373 374 Comments can be automatically formatted. The 'comments' option can be 375 set to the characters that start and end a comment. This works best 376 for C code, but also works for e-mail (">" at start of the line) and 377 other types of text. The |=| operator can be used to re-indent 378 lines. 379 380 For many other languages an indent plugin is present to support 381 automatic indenting. |30.3| 382 383Searching for words in included files. |include-search| 384 The |[i| command can be used to search for a match of the word under 385 the cursor in the current and included files. The 'include' option 386 can be set to a pattern that describes a command to include a file 387 (the default is for C programs). 388 The |[I| command lists all matches, the |[_CTRL-I| command jumps to 389 a match. 390 The |[d|, |[D| and |[_CTRL-D| commands do the same, but only for 391 lines where the pattern given with the 'define' option matches. 392 393Automatic commands. |autocommand| 394 Commands can be automatically executed when reading a file, writing a 395 file, jumping to another buffer, etc., depending on the file name. 396 This is useful to set options and mappings for C programs, 397 documentation, plain text, e-mail, etc. This also makes it possible 398 to edit compressed files. 399 400Scripts and Expressions. |expression| 401 Commands have been added to form up a powerful script language. 402 |:if| Conditional execution, which can be used for example 403 to set options depending on the value of $TERM. 404 |:while| Repeat a number of commands. 405 |:for| Loop over a list. 406 |:echo| Print the result of an expression. 407 |:let| Assign a value to an internal variable, option, etc. 408 Variable types are Number, String, List and Dictionary. 409 |:execute| Execute a command formed by an expression. 410 |:try| Catch exceptions. 411 etc., etc. See |eval|. 412 Debugging and profiling are supported. |debug-scripts| |profile| 413 If this is not enough, an interface is provided to |Python|, |Ruby|, 414 |Tcl|, |Lua|, |Perl| and |MzScheme|. 415 416Viminfo. |viminfo-file| 417 The command-line history, marks and registers can be stored in a file 418 that is read on startup. This can be used to repeat a search command 419 or command-line command after exiting and restarting Vim. It is also 420 possible to jump right back to where the last edit stopped with |'0|. 421 The 'viminfo' option can be set to select which items to store in the 422 .viminfo file. This is off by default. 423 424Printing. |printing| 425 The |:hardcopy| command sends text to the printer. This can include 426 syntax highlighting. 427 428Mouse support. |mouse-using| 429 The mouse is supported in the GUI version, in an xterm for Unix, for 430 BSDs with sysmouse, for Linux with gpm, for MS-DOS, and Win32. It 431 can be used to position the cursor, select the visual area, paste a 432 register, etc. 433 434Usage of key names. |<>| |key-notation| 435 Special keys now all have a name like <Up>, <End>, etc. 436 This name can be used in mappings, to make it easy to edit them. 437 438Editing binary files. |edit-binary| 439 Vim can edit binary files. You can change a few characters in an 440 executable file, without corrupting it. Vim doesn't remove NUL 441 characters (they are represented as <NL> internally). 442 |-b| command-line argument to start editing a binary file 443 |'binary'| Option set by |-b|. Prevents adding an <EOL> for the 444 last line in the file. 445 446Multi-language support. |multi-lang| 447 Files in double-byte or multi-byte encodings can be edited. There is 448 UTF-8 support to be able to edit various languages at the same time, 449 without switching fonts. |UTF-8| 450 Messages and menus are available in different languages. 451 452Move cursor beyond lines. 453 When the 'virtualedit' option is set the cursor can move all over the 454 screen, also where there is no text. This is useful to edit tables 455 and figures easily. 456 457============================================================================== 4585. Other vim features *other-features* 459 460A random collection of nice extra features. 461 462 463When Vim is started with "-s scriptfile", the characters read from 464"scriptfile" are treated as if you typed them. If end of file is reached 465before the editor exits, further characters are read from the console. 466 467The "-w" option can be used to record all typed characters in a script file. 468This file can then be used to redo the editing, possibly on another file or 469after changing some commands in the script file. 470 471The "-o" option opens a window for each argument. "-o4" opens four windows. 472 473Vi requires several termcap entries to be able to work full-screen. Vim only 474requires the "cm" entry (cursor motion). 475 476 477In command mode: 478 479When the 'showcmd' option is set, the command characters are shown in the last 480line of the screen. They are removed when the command is finished. 481 482If the 'ruler' option is set, the current cursor position is shown in the 483last line of the screen. 484 485"U" still works after having moved off the last changed line and after "u". 486 487Characters with the 8th bit set are displayed. The characters between '~' and 4880xa0 are displayed as "~?", "~@", "~A", etc., unless they are included in the 489'isprint' option. 490 491"][" goes to the next ending of a C function ('}' in column 1). 492"[]" goes to the previous ending of a C function ('}' in column 1). 493 494"]f", "[f" and "gf" start editing the file whose name is under the cursor. 495CTRL-W f splits the window and starts editing the file whose name is under 496the cursor. 497 498"*" searches forward for the identifier under the cursor, "#" backward. 499"K" runs the program defined by the 'keywordprg' option, with the identifier 500under the cursor as argument. 501 502"%" can be preceded with a count. The cursor jumps to the line that 503percentage down in the file. The normal "%" function to jump to the matching 504brace skips braces inside quotes. 505 506With the CTRL-] command, the cursor may be in the middle of the identifier. 507 508The used tags are remembered. Commands that can be used with the tag stack 509are CTRL-T, ":pop" and ":tag". ":tags" lists the tag stack. 510 511The 'tags' option can be set to a list of tag file names. Thus multiple 512tag files can be used. For file names that start with "./", the "./" is 513replaced with the path of the current file. This makes it possible to use a 514tags file in the same directory as the file being edited. 515 516Previously used file names are remembered in the alternate file name list. 517CTRL-^ accepts a count, which is an index in this list. 518":files" command shows the list of alternate file names. 519"#<N>" is replaced with the <N>th alternate file name in the list. 520"#<" is replaced with the current file name without extension. 521 522Search patterns have more features. The <NL> character is seen as part of the 523search pattern and the substitute string of ":s". Vi sees it as the end of 524the command. 525 526Searches can put the cursor on the end of a match and may include a character 527offset. 528 529Count added to "~", ":next", ":Next", "n" and "N". 530 531The command ":next!" with 'autowrite' set does not write the file. In vi the 532file was written, but this is considered to be a bug, because one does not 533expect it and the file is not written with ":rewind!". 534 535In Vi when entering a <CR> in replace mode deletes a character only when 'ai' 536is set (but does not show it until you hit <Esc>). Vim always deletes a 537character (and shows it immediately). 538 539Added :wnext command. Same as ":write" followed by ":next". 540 541The ":w!" command always writes, also when the file is write protected. In Vi 542you would have to do ":!chmod +w %" and ":set noro". 543 544When 'tildeop' has been set, "~" is an operator (must be followed by a 545movement command). 546 547With the "J" (join) command you can reset the 'joinspaces' option to have only 548one space after a period (Vi inserts two spaces). 549 550"cw" can be used to change white space formed by several characters (Vi is 551confusing: "cw" only changes one space, while "dw" deletes all white space). 552 553"o" and "O" accept a count for repeating the insert (Vi clears a part of 554display). 555 556Flags after Ex commands not supported (no plans to include it). 557 558On non-UNIX systems ":cd" command shows current directory instead of going to 559the home directory (there isn't one). ":pwd" prints the current directory on 560all systems. 561 562After a ":cd" command the file names (in the argument list, opened files) 563still point to the same files. In Vi ":cd" is not allowed in a changed file; 564otherwise the meaning of file names change. 565 566":source!" command reads Vi commands from a file. 567 568":mkexrc" command writes current modified options and mappings to a ".exrc" 569file. ":mkvimrc" writes to a ".vimrc" file. 570 571No check for "tail recursion" with mappings. This allows things like 572":map! foo ^]foo". 573 574When a mapping starts with number, vi loses the count typed before it (e.g. 575when using the mapping ":map g 4G" the command "7g" goes to line 4). This is 576considered a vi bug. Vim concatenates the counts (in the example it becomes 577"74G"), as most people would expect. 578 579The :put! command inserts the contents of a register above the current line. 580 581The "p" and "P" commands of vi cannot be repeated with "." when the putted 582text is less than a line. In Vim they can always be repeated. 583 584":noremap" command can be used to enter a mapping that will not be remapped. 585This is useful to exchange the meaning of two keys. ":cmap", ":cunmap" and 586":cnoremap" can be used for mapping in command-line editing only. ":imap", 587":iunmap" and ":inoremap" can be used for mapping in insert mode only. 588Similar commands exist for abbreviations: ":noreabbrev", ":iabbrev" 589":cabbrev", ":iunabbrev", ":cunabbrev", ":inoreabbrev", ":cnoreabbrev". 590 591In Vi the command ":map foo bar" would remove a previous mapping 592":map bug foo". This is considered a bug, so it is not included in Vim. 593":unmap! foo" does remove ":map! bug foo", because unmapping would be very 594difficult otherwise (this is vi compatible). 595 596The ':' register contains the last command-line. 597The '%' register contains the current file name. 598The '.' register contains the last inserted text. 599 600":dis" command shows the contents of the yank registers. 601 602CTRL-O/CTRL-I can be used to jump to older/newer positions. These are the 603same positions as used with the '' command, but may be in another file. The 604":jumps" command lists the older positions. 605 606If the 'shiftround' option is set, an indent is rounded to a multiple of 607'shiftwidth' with ">" and "<" commands. 608 609The 'scrolljump' option can be set to the minimum number of lines to scroll 610when the cursor gets off the screen. Use this when scrolling is slow. 611 612The 'scrolloff' option can be set to the minimum number of lines to keep 613above and below the cursor. This gives some context to where you are 614editing. When set to a large number the cursor line is always in the middle 615of the window. 616 617Uppercase marks can be used to jump between files. The ":marks" command lists 618all currently set marks. The commands "']" and "`]" jump to the end of the 619previous operator or end of the text inserted with the put command. "'[" and 620"`[" do jump to the start. 621 622The 'shelltype' option can be set to reflect the type of shell used on the 623Amiga. 624 625The 'highlight' option can be set for the highlight mode to be used for 626several commands. 627 628The CTRL-A (add) and CTRL-X (subtract) commands are new. The count to the 629command (default 1) is added to/subtracted from the number at or after the 630cursor. That number may be decimal, octal (starts with a '0') or hexadecimal 631(starts with '0x'). Very useful in macros. 632 633With the :set command the prefix "inv" can be used to invert boolean options. 634 635In both Vi and Vim you can create a line break with the ":substitute" command 636by using a CTRL-M. For Vi this means you cannot insert a real CTRL-M in the 637text. With Vim you can put a real CTRL-M in the text by preceding it with a 638CTRL-V. 639 640 641In Insert mode: 642 643If the 'revins' option is set, insert happens backwards. This is for typing 644Hebrew. When inserting normal characters the cursor will not be shifted and 645the text moves rightwards. Backspace, CTRL-W and CTRL-U will also work in 646the opposite direction. CTRL-B toggles the 'revins' option. In replace mode 647'revins' has no effect. Only when enabled at compile time. 648 649The backspace key can be used just like CTRL-D to remove auto-indents. 650 651You can backspace, CTRL-U and CTRL-W over line breaks if the 'backspace' (bs) 652option includes "eol". You can backspace over the start of insert if the 653'backspace' option includes "start". 654 655When the 'paste' option is set, a few option are reset and mapping in insert 656mode and abbreviation are disabled. This allows for pasting text in windowing 657systems without unexpected results. When the 'paste' option is reset, the old 658option values are restored. 659 660CTRL-T/CTRL-D always insert/delete an indent in the current line, no matter 661what column the cursor is in. 662 663CTRL-@ (insert previously inserted text) works always (Vi: only when typed as 664first character). 665 666CTRL-A works like CTRL-@ but does not leave insert mode. 667 668CTRL-R {0-9a-z..} can be used to insert the contents of a register. 669 670When the 'smartindent' option is set, C programs will be better auto-indented. 671With 'cindent' even more. 672 673CTRL-Y and CTRL-E can be used to copy a character from above/below the 674current cursor position. 675 676After CTRL-V you can enter a three digit decimal number. This byte value is 677inserted in the text as a single character. Useful for international 678characters that are not on your keyboard. 679 680When the 'expandtab' (et) option is set, a <Tab> is expanded to the 681appropriate number of spaces. 682 683The window always reflects the contents of the buffer (Vi does not do this 684when changing text and in some other cases). 685 686If Vim is compiled with DIGRAPHS defined, digraphs are supported. A set of 687normal digraphs is included. They are shown with the ":digraph" command. 688More can be added with ":digraph {char1}{char2} {number}". A digraph is 689entered with "CTRL-K {char1} {char2}" or "{char1} BS {char2}" (only when 690'digraph' option is set). 691 692When repeating an insert, e.g. "10atest <Esc>" vi would only handle wrapmargin 693for the first insert. Vim does it for all. 694 695A count to the "i" or "a" command is used for all the text. Vi uses the count 696only for one line. "3iabc<NL>def<Esc>" would insert "abcabcabc<NL>def" in Vi 697but "abc<NL>defabc<NL>defabc<NL>def" in Vim. 698 699 700In Command-line mode: 701 702<Esc> terminates the command-line without executing it. In vi the command 703line would be executed, which is not what most people expect (hitting <Esc> 704should always get you back to command mode). To avoid problems with some 705obscure macros, an <Esc> in a macro will execute the command. If you want a 706typed <Esc> to execute the command like vi does you can fix this with 707 ":cmap ^V<Esc> ^V<CR>" 708 709General: 710 711The 'ttimeout' option is like 'timeout', but only works for cursor and 712function keys, not for ordinary mapped characters. The 'timeoutlen' option 713gives the number of milliseconds that is waited for. If the 'esckeys' option 714is not set, cursor and function keys that start with <Esc> are not recognized 715in insert mode. 716 717There is an option for each terminal string. Can be used when termcap is not 718supported or to change individual strings. 719 720The 'fileformat' option can be set to select the <EOL>: "dos" <CR><NL>, "unix" 721<NL> or "mac" <CR>. 722When the 'fileformats' option is not empty, Vim tries to detect the type of 723<EOL> automatically. The 'fileformat' option is set accordingly. 724 725On systems that have no job control (older Unix systems and non-Unix systems) 726the CTRL-Z, ":stop" or ":suspend" command starts a new shell. 727 728If Vim is started on the Amiga without an interactive window for output, a 729window is opened (and :sh still works). You can give a device to use for 730editing with the |-d| argument, e.g. "-d con:20/20/600/150". 731 732The 'columns' and 'lines' options are used to set or get the width and height 733of the display. 734 735Option settings are read from the first and last few lines of the file. 736Option 'modelines' determines how many lines are tried (default is 5). Note 737that this is different from the Vi versions that can execute any Ex command 738in a modeline (a major security problem). |trojan-horse| 739 740If the 'insertmode' option is set (e.g. in .exrc), Vim starts in insert mode. 741And it comes back there, when pressing <Esc>. 742 743Undo information is kept in memory. Available memory limits the number and 744size of change that can be undone. This may be a problem with MS-DOS, is 745hardly a problem on the Amiga and almost never with Unix and Win32. 746 747If the 'backup' or 'writebackup' option is set: Before a file is overwritten, 748a backup file (.bak) is made. If the "backup" option is set it is left 749behind. 750 751Vim creates a file ending in ".swp" to store parts of the file that have been 752changed or that do not fit in memory. This file can be used to recover from 753an aborted editing session with "vim -r file". Using the swap file can be 754switched off by setting the 'updatecount' option to 0 or starting Vim with 755the "-n" option. Use the 'directory' option for placing the .swp file 756somewhere else. 757 758Vim is able to work correctly on filesystems with 8.3 file names, also when 759using messydos or crossdos filesystems on the Amiga, or any 8.3 mounted 760filesystem under Unix. See |'shortname'|. 761 762Error messages are shown at least one second (Vi overwrites error messages). 763 764If Vim gives the |hit-enter| prompt, you can hit any key. Characters other 765than <CR>, <NL> and <Space> are interpreted as the (start of) a command. (Vi 766only accepts a command starting with ':'). 767 768The contents of the numbered and unnamed registers is remembered when 769changing files. 770 771The "No lines in buffer" message is a normal message instead of an error 772message, since that may cause a mapping to be aborted. 773 774The AUX: device of the Amiga is supported. 775 776============================================================================== 7776. Command-line arguments *cmdline-arguments* 778 779Different versions of Vi have different command-line arguments. This can be 780confusing. To help you, this section gives an overview of the differences. 781 782Five variants of Vi will be considered here: 783 Elvis Elvis version 2.1b 784 Nvi Nvi version 1.79 785 Posix Posix 1003.2 786 Vi Vi version 3.7 (for Sun 4.1.x) 787 Vile Vile version 7.4 (incomplete) 788 Vim Vim version 5.2 789 790Only Vim is able to accept options in between and after the file names. 791 792+{command} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Same as "-c {command}". 793 794- Nvi, Posix, Vi: Run Ex in batch mode. 795 Vim: Read file from stdin (use -s for batch mode). 796 797-- Vim: End of options, only file names are following. 798 799--cmd {command} Vim: execute {command} before sourcing vimrc files. 800 801--echo-wid Vim: GTK+ echoes the Window ID on stdout 802 803--help Vim: show help message and exit. 804 805--literal Vim: take file names literally, don't expand wildcards. 806 807--nofork Vim: same as |-f| 808 809--noplugin[s] Vim: Skip loading plugins. 810 811--remote Vim: edit the files in another Vim server 812 813--remote-expr {expr} Vim: evaluate {expr} in another Vim server 814 815--remote-send {keys} Vim: send {keys} to a Vim server and exit 816 817--remote-silent {file} Vim: edit the files in another Vim server if possible 818 819--remote-wait Vim: edit the files in another Vim server and wait for it 820 821--remote-wait-silent Vim: like --remote-wait, no complaints if not possible 822 823--role {role} Vim: GTK+ 2: set role of main window 824 825--serverlist Vim: Output a list of Vim servers and exit 826 827--servername {name} Vim: Specify Vim server name 828 829--socketid {id} Vim: GTK window socket to run Vim in 830 831--windowid {id} Vim: Win32 window ID to run Vim in 832 833--version Vim: show version message and exit. 834 835-? Vile: print usage summary and exit. 836 837-a Elvis: Load all specified file names into a window (use -o for 838 Vim). 839 840-A Vim: Start in Arabic mode (when compiled with Arabic). 841 842-b {blksize} Elvis: Use {blksize} blocksize for the session file. 843-b Vim: set 'binary' mode. 844 845-C Vim: Compatible mode. 846 847-c {command} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vim: run {command} as an Ex command after 848 loading the edit buffer. 849 Vim: allow up to 10 "-c" arguments 850 851-d {device} Vim: Use {device} for I/O (Amiga only). {only when compiled 852 without the |+diff| feature} 853-d Vim: start with 'diff' set. |vimdiff| 854 855-dev {device} Vim: Use {device} for I/O (Amiga only). 856 857-D Vim: debug mode. 858 859-e Elvis, Nvi, Vim: Start in Ex mode, as if the executable is 860 called "ex". 861 862-E Vim: Start in improved Ex mode |gQ|, like "exim". 863 864-f Vim: Run GUI in foreground (Amiga: don't open new window). 865-f {session} Elvis: Use {session} as the session file. 866 867-F Vim: Start in Farsi mode (when compiled with Farsi). 868 Nvi: Fast start, don't read the entire file when editing 869 starts. 870 871-G {gui} Elvis: Use the {gui} as user interface. 872 873-g Vim: Start GUI. 874-g N Vile: start editing at line N 875 876-h Vim: Give help message. 877 Vile: edit the help file 878 879-H Vim: start Hebrew mode (when compiled with it). 880 881-i Elvis: Start each window in Insert mode. 882-i {viminfo} Vim: Use {viminfo} for viminfo file. 883 884-L Vim: Same as "-r" (also in some versions of Vi). 885 886-l Nvi, Vi, Vim: Set 'lisp' and 'showmatch' options. 887 888-m Vim: Modifications not allowed to be written, resets 'write' 889 option. 890 891-M Vim: Modifications not allowed, resets 'modifiable' and the 892 'write' option. 893 894-N Vim: No-compatible mode. 895 896-n Vim: No swap file used. 897 898-nb[args] Vim: open a NetBeans interface connection 899 900-O[N] Vim: Like -o, but use vertically split windows. 901 902-o[N] Vim: Open [N] windows, or one for each file. 903 904-p[N] Vim: Open [N] tab pages, or one for each file. 905 906-P {parent-title} Win32 Vim: open Vim inside a parent application window 907 908-q {name} Vim: Use {name} for quickfix error file. 909-q{name} Vim: Idem. 910 911-R Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vile, Vim: Set the 'readonly' option. 912 913-r Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Recovery mode. 914 915-S Nvi: Set 'secure' option. 916-S {script} Vim: source script after starting up. 917 918-s Nvi, Posix, Vim: Same as "-" (silent mode), when in Ex mode. 919 Elvis: Sets the 'safer' option. 920-s {scriptin} Vim: Read from script file {scriptin}; only when not in Ex 921 mode. 922-s {pattern} Vile: search for {pattern} 923 924-t {tag} Elvis, Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Edit the file containing {tag}. 925-t{tag} Vim: Idem. 926 927-T {term} Vim: Set terminal name to {term}. 928 929-u {vimrc} Vim: Read initializations from {vimrc} file. 930 931-U {gvimrc} Vim: Read GUI initializations from {gvimrc} file. 932 933-v Nvi, Posix, Vi, Vim: Begin in Normal mode (visual mode, in Vi 934 terms). 935 Vile: View mode, no changes possible. 936 937-V Elvis, Vim: Verbose mode. 938-V{nr} Vim: Verbose mode with specified level. 939 940-w {size} Elvis, Posix, Nvi, Vi, Vim: Set value of 'window' to {size}. 941-w{size} Nvi, Vi: Same as "-w {size}". 942-w {name} Vim: Write to script file {name} (must start with non-digit). 943 944-W {name} Vim: Append to script file {name}. 945 946-x Vi, Vim: Ask for encryption key. See |encryption|. 947 948-X Vim: Don't connect to the X server. 949 950-y Vim: Start in easy mode, like |evim|. 951 952-Z Vim: restricted mode 953 954@{cmdfile} Vile: use {cmdfile} as startup file. 955 956============================================================================== 9577. POSIX compliance *posix* *posix-compliance* 958 959In 2005 the POSIX test suite was run to check the compatibility of Vim. Most 960of the test was executed properly. There are the few things where Vim 961is not POSIX compliant, even when run in Vi compatibility mode. 962 963Set the $VIM_POSIX environment variable to have 'cpoptions' include the POSIX 964flags when Vim starts up. This makes Vim run as POSIX as it can. That's 965a bit different from being Vi compatible. 966 967This is where Vim does not behave as POSIX specifies and why: 968 969 *posix-screen-size* 970 The $COLUMNS and $LINES environment variables are ignored by Vim if 971 the size can be obtained from the terminal in a more reliable way. 972 Add the '|' flag to 'cpoptions' to have $COLUMNS and $LINES overrule 973 sizes obtained in another way. 974 975 The "{" and "}" commands don't stop at a "{" in the original Vi, but 976 POSIX specifies it does. Add the '{' flag to 'cpoptions' if you want 977 it the POSIX way. 978 979 The "D", "o" and "O" commands accept a count. Also when repeated. 980 Add the '#' flag to 'cpoptions' if you want to ignore the count. 981 982 The ":cd" command fails if the current buffer is modified when the '.' 983 flag is present in 'cpoptions'. 984 985 There is no ATTENTION message, the "A" flag is added to 'shortmess'. 986 987These are remarks about running the POSIX test suite: 988- vi test 33 sometimes fails for unknown reasons 989- vi test 250 fails; behavior will be changed in a new revision 990 http://www.opengroup.org/austin/mailarchives/ag-review/msg01710.html 991- vi test 310 fails; exit code non-zero when any error occurred? 992- ex test 24 fails because test is wrong. Changed between SUSv2 and SUSv3. 993- ex tests 47, 48, 49, 72, 73 fail because .exrc file isn't read in silent 994 mode and $EXINIT isn't used. 995- ex tests 76, 78 fail because echo is used instead of printf. (fixed) 996 Also: problem with \s not changed to space. 997- ex test 355 fails because 'window' isn't used for "30z". 998- ex test 368 fails because shell command isn't echoed in silent mode. 999- ex test 394 fails because "=" command output isn't visible in silent mode. 1000- ex test 411 fails because test file is wrong, contains stray ':'. 1001- ex test 475 and 476 fail because reprint output isn't visible in silent mode. 1002- ex test 480 and 481 fail because the tags file has spaces instead of a tab. 1003- ex test 502 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. 1004- ex test 509 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. and exit code is 1005 1 instead of 2. 1006- ex test 534 fails because .exrc isn't read in silent mode. 1007 1008 1009 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 1010