1*intro.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2010 Jul 20 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Introduction to Vim *ref* *reference* 8 91. Introduction |intro| 102. Vim on the internet |internet| 113. Credits |credits| 124. Notation |notation| 135. Modes, introduction |vim-modes-intro| 146. Switching from mode to mode |mode-switching| 157. The window contents |window-contents| 168. Definitions |definitions| 17 18============================================================================== 191. Introduction *intro* 20 21Vim stands for Vi IMproved. It used to be Vi IMitation, but there are so many 22improvements that a name change was appropriate. Vim is a text editor which 23includes almost all the commands from the Unix program "Vi" and a lot of new 24ones. It is very useful for editing programs and other plain text. 25 All commands are given with the keyboard. This has the advantage that you 26can keep your fingers on the keyboard and your eyes on the screen. For those 27who want it, there is mouse support and a GUI version with scrollbars and 28menus (see |gui.txt|). 29 30An overview of this manual can be found in the file "help.txt", |help.txt|. 31It can be accessed from within Vim with the <Help> or <F1> key and with the 32|:help| command (just type ":help", without the bars or quotes). 33 The 'helpfile' option can be set to the name of the help file, in case it 34is not located in the default place. You can jump to subjects like with tags: 35Use CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor, use CTRL-T to jump back. 36 37Throughout this manual the differences between Vi and Vim are mentioned in 38curly braces, like this: {Vi does not have on-line help}. See |vi_diff.txt| 39for a summary of the differences between Vim and Vi. 40 41This manual refers to Vim on various machines. There may be small differences 42between different computers and terminals. Besides the remarks given in this 43document, there is a separate document for each supported system, see 44|sys-file-list|. 45 46 *pronounce* 47Vim is pronounced as one word, like Jim, not vi-ai-em. It's written with a 48capital, since it's a name, again like Jim. 49 50This manual is a reference for all the Vim commands and options. This is not 51an introduction to the use of Vi or Vim, it gets a bit complicated here and 52there. For beginners, there is a hands-on |tutor|. To learn using Vim, read 53the user manual |usr_toc.txt|. 54 55 *book* 56There are many books on Vi that contain a section for beginners. There are 57two books I can recommend: 58 59 "Vim - Vi Improved" by Steve Oualline 60 61This is the very first book completely dedicated to Vim. It is very good for 62beginners. The most often used commands are explained with pictures and 63examples. The less often used commands are also explained, the more advanced 64features are summarized. There is a comprehensive index and a quick 65reference. Parts of this book have been included in the user manual 66|frombook|. 67Published by New Riders Publishing. ISBN: 0735710015 68For more information try one of these: 69 http://iccf-holland.org/click5.html 70 http://www.vim.org/iccf/click5.html 71 72 "Learning the Vi editor" by Linda Lamb and Arnold Robbins 73 74This is a book about Vi that includes a chapter on Vim (in the sixth edition). 75The first steps in Vi are explained very well. The commands that Vim adds are 76only briefly mentioned. There is also a German translation. 77Published by O'Reilly. ISBN: 1-56592-426-6. 78 79============================================================================== 802. Vim on the internet *internet* 81 82 *www* *WWW* *faq* *FAQ* *distribution* *download* 83The Vim pages contain the most recent information about Vim. They also 84contain links to the most recent version of Vim. The FAQ is a list of 85Frequently Asked Questions. Read this if you have problems. 86 87 VIM home page: http://www.vim.org/ 88 VIM FAQ: http://vimdoc.sf.net/ 89 Downloading: ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/MIRRORS 90 91 92Usenet News group where Vim is discussed: *news* *usenet* 93 comp.editors 94This group is also for other editors. If you write about Vim, don't forget to 95mention that. 96 97 *mail-list* *maillist* 98There are several mailing lists for Vim: 99<vim@vim.org> 100 For discussions about using existing versions of Vim: Useful mappings, 101 questions, answers, where to get a specific version, etc. There are 102 quite a few people watching this list and answering questions, also 103 for beginners. Don't hesitate to ask your question here. 104<vim-dev@vim.org> *vim-dev* *vimdev* 105 For discussions about changing Vim: New features, porting, patches, 106 beta-test versions, etc. 107<vim-announce@vim.org> *vim-announce* 108 Announcements about new versions of Vim; also for beta-test versions 109 and ports to different systems. This is a read-only list. 110<vim-multibyte@vim.org> *vim-multibyte* 111 For discussions about using and improving the multi-byte aspects of 112 Vim. 113<vim-mac@vim.org> *vim-mac* 114 For discussions about using and improving the Macintosh version of 115 Vim. 116 117See http://www.vim.org/maillist.php for the latest information. 118 119NOTE: 120- You can only send messages to these lists if you have subscribed! 121- You need to send the messages from the same location as where you subscribed 122 from (to avoid spam mail). 123- Maximum message size is 40000 characters. 124 125 *subscribe-maillist* 126If you want to join, send a message to 127 <vim-subscribe@vim.org> 128Make sure that your "From:" address is correct. Then the list server will 129give you help on how to subscribe. 130 131 *maillist-archive* 132For more information and archives look on the Vim maillist page: 133http://www.vim.org/maillist.php 134 135 136Bug reports: *bugs* *bug-reports* *bugreport.vim* 137 138Send bug reports to: Vim bugs <bugs@vim.org> 139This is not a maillist but the message is redirected to the Vim maintainer. 140Please be brief; all the time that is spent on answering mail is subtracted 141from the time that is spent on improving Vim! Always give a reproducible 142example and try to find out which settings or other things influence the 143appearance of the bug. Try different machines, if possible. Send me patches 144if you can! 145 146It will help to include information about the version of Vim you are using and 147your setup. You can get the information with this command: > 148 :so $VIMRUNTIME/bugreport.vim 149This will create a file "bugreport.txt" in the current directory, with a lot 150of information of your environment. Before sending this out, check if it 151doesn't contain any confidential information! 152 153If Vim crashes, please try to find out where. You can find help on this here: 154|debug.txt|. 155 156In case of doubt or when you wonder if the problem has already been fixed but 157you can't find a fix for it, become a member of the vim-dev maillist and ask 158your question there. |maillist| 159 160 *year-2000* *Y2K* 161Since Vim internally doesn't use dates for editing, there is no year 2000 162problem to worry about. Vim does use the time in the form of seconds since 163January 1st 1970. It is used for a time-stamp check of the edited file and 164the swap file, which is not critical and should only cause warning messages. 165 166There might be a year 2038 problem, when the seconds don't fit in a 32 bit int 167anymore. This depends on the compiler, libraries and operating system. 168Specifically, time_t and the ctime() function are used. And the time_t is 169stored in four bytes in the swap file. But that's only used for printing a 170file date/time for recovery, it will never affect normal editing. 171 172The Vim strftime() function directly uses the strftime() system function. 173localtime() uses the time() system function. getftime() uses the time 174returned by the stat() system function. If your system libraries are year 1752000 compliant, Vim is too. 176 177The user may create scripts for Vim that use external commands. These might 178introduce Y2K problems, but those are not really part of Vim itself. 179 180============================================================================== 1813. Credits *credits* *author* *Bram* *Moolenaar* 182 183Most of Vim was written by Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org>. 184 185Parts of the documentation come from several Vi manuals, written by: 186 W.N. Joy 187 Alan P.W. Hewett 188 Mark Horton 189 190The Vim editor is based on Stevie and includes (ideas from) other software, 191worked on by the people mentioned here. Other people helped by sending me 192patches, suggestions and giving feedback about what is good and bad in Vim. 193 194Vim would never have become what it is now, without the help of these people! 195 196 Ron Aaron Win32 GUI changes 197 Mohsin Ahmed encryption 198 Zoltan Arpadffy work on VMS port 199 Tony Andrews Stevie 200 Gert van Antwerpen changes for DJGPP on MS-DOS 201 Berkeley DB(3) ideas for swap file implementation 202 Keith Bostic Nvi 203 Walter Briscoe Makefile updates, various patches 204 Ralf Brown SPAWNO library for MS-DOS 205 Robert Colon many useful remarks 206 Marcin Dalecki GTK+ GUI port, toolbar icons, gettext() 207 Kayhan Demirel sent me news in Uganda 208 Chris & John Downey xvi (ideas for multi-windows version) 209 Henk Elbers first VMS port 210 Daniel Elstner GTK+ 2 port 211 Eric Fischer Mac port, 'cindent', and other improvements 212 Benji Fisher Answering lots of user questions 213 Bill Foster Athena GUI port 214 Google Lets me work on Vim one day a week 215 Loic Grenie xvim (ideas for multi windows version) 216 Sven Guckes Vim promoter and previous WWW page maintainer 217 Darren Hiebert Exuberant ctags 218 Jason Hildebrand GTK+ 2 port 219 Bruce Hunsaker improvements for VMS port 220 Andy Kahn Cscope support, GTK+ GUI port 221 Oezguer Kesim Maintainer of Vim Mailing Lists 222 Axel Kielhorn work on the Macintosh port 223 Steve Kirkendall Elvis 224 Roger Knobbe original port to Windows NT 225 Sergey Laskavy Vim's help from Moscow 226 Felix von Leitner Previous maintainer of Vim Mailing Lists 227 David Leonard Port of Python extensions to Unix 228 Avner Lottem Edit in right-to-left windows 229 Flemming Madsen X11 client-server, various features and patches 230 Tony Mechelynck answers many user questions 231 Paul Moore Python interface extensions, many patches 232 Katsuhito Nagano Work on multi-byte versions 233 Sung-Hyun Nam Work on multi-byte versions 234 Vince Negri Win32 GUI and generic console enhancements 235 Steve Oualline Author of the first Vim book |frombook| 236 Dominique Pelle valgrind reports and many fixes 237 A.Politz Many bug reports and some fixes 238 George V. Reilly Win32 port, Win32 GUI start-off 239 Stephen Riehm bug collector 240 Stefan Roemer various patches and help to users 241 Ralf Schandl IBM OS/390 port 242 Olaf Seibert DICE and BeBox version, regexp improvements 243 Mortaza Shiran Farsi patches 244 Peter da Silva termlib 245 Paul Slootman OS/2 port 246 Henry Spencer regular expressions 247 Dany St-Amant Macintosh port 248 Tim Thompson Stevie 249 G. R. (Fred) Walter Stevie 250 Sven Verdoolaege Perl interface 251 Robert Webb Command-line completion, GUI versions, and 252 lots of patches 253 Ingo Wilken Tcl interface 254 Mike Williams PostScript printing 255 Juergen Weigert Lattice version, AUX improvements, UNIX and 256 MS-DOS ports, autoconf 257 Stefan 'Sec' Zehl Maintainer of vim.org 258 259I wish to thank all the people that sent me bug reports and suggestions. The 260list is too long to mention them all here. Vim would not be the same without 261the ideas from all these people: They keep Vim alive! 262 263 264In this documentation there are several references to other versions of Vi: 265 *Vi* *vi* 266Vi "the original". Without further remarks this is the version 267 of Vi that appeared in Sun OS 4.x. ":version" returns 268 "Version 3.7, 6/7/85". Sometimes other versions are referred 269 to. Only runs under Unix. Source code only available with a 270 license. More information on Vi can be found through: 271 http://vi-editor.org [doesn't currently work...] 272 *Posix* 273Posix From the IEEE standard 1003.2, Part 2: Shell and utilities. 274 Generally known as "Posix". This is a textual description of 275 how Vi is supposed to work. 276 See |posix-compliance|. 277 *Nvi* 278Nvi The "New" Vi. The version of Vi that comes with BSD 4.4 and FreeBSD. 279 Very good compatibility with the original Vi, with a few extensions. 280 The version used is 1.79. ":version" returns "Version 1.79 281 (10/23/96)". There has been no release the last few years, although 282 there is a development version 1.81. 283 Source code is freely available. 284 *Elvis* 285Elvis Another Vi clone, made by Steve Kirkendall. Very compact but isn't 286 as flexible as Vim. 287 The version used is 2.1. It is still being developed. Source code is 288 freely available. 289 290============================================================================== 2914. Notation *notation* 292 293When syntax highlighting is used to read this, text that is not typed 294literally is often highlighted with the Special group. These are items in [], 295{} and <>, and CTRL-X. 296 297Note that Vim uses all possible characters in commands. Sometimes the [], {} 298and <> are part of what you type, the context should make this clear. 299 300 301[] Characters in square brackets are optional. 302 303 *count* *[count]* *E489* 304[count] An optional number that may precede the command to multiply 305 or iterate the command. If no number is given, a count of one 306 is used, unless otherwise noted. Note that in this manual the 307 [count] is not mentioned in the description of the command, 308 but only in the explanation. This was done to make the 309 commands easier to look up. If the 'showcmd' option is on, 310 the (partially) entered count is shown at the bottom of the 311 window. You can use <Del> to erase the last digit (|N<Del>|). 312 313 *[quotex]* 314["x] An optional register designation where text can be stored. 315 See |registers|. The x is a single character between 'a' and 316 'z' or 'A' and 'Z' or '"', and in some cases (with the put 317 command) between '0' and '9', '%', '#', or others. The 318 uppercase and lowercase letter designate the same register, 319 but the lowercase letter is used to overwrite the previous 320 register contents, while the uppercase letter is used to 321 append to the previous register contents. Without the ""x" or 322 with """" the stored text is put into the unnamed register. 323 324 *{}* 325{} Curly braces denote parts of the command which must appear, 326 but which can take a number of different values. The 327 differences between Vim and Vi are also given in curly braces 328 (this will be clear from the context). 329 330 *{char1-char2}* 331{char1-char2} A single character from the range char1 to char2. For 332 example: {a-z} is a lowercase letter. Multiple ranges may be 333 concatenated. For example, {a-zA-Z0-9} is any alphanumeric 334 character. 335 336 *{motion}* *movement* 337{motion} A command that moves the cursor. These are explained in 338 |motion.txt|. Examples: 339 w to start of next word 340 b to begin of current word 341 4j four lines down 342 /The<CR> to next occurrence of "The" 343 This is used after an |operator| command to move over the text 344 that is to be operated upon. 345 - If the motion includes a count and the operator also has a 346 count, the two counts are multiplied. For example: "2d3w" 347 deletes six words. 348 - The motion can be backwards, e.g. "db" to delete to the 349 start of the word. 350 - The motion can also be a mouse click. The mouse is not 351 supported in every terminal though. 352 - The ":omap" command can be used to map characters while an 353 operator is pending. 354 - Ex commands can be used to move the cursor. This can be 355 used to call a function that does some complicated motion. 356 The motion is always characterwise exclusive, no matter 357 what ":" command is used. This means it's impossible to 358 include the last character of a line without the line break 359 (unless 'virtualedit' is set). 360 If the Ex command changes the text before where the operator 361 starts or jumps to another buffer the result is 362 unpredictable. It is possible to change the text further 363 down. Jumping to another buffer is possible if the current 364 buffer is not unloaded. 365 366 *{Visual}* 367{Visual} A selected text area. It is started with the "v", "V", or 368 CTRL-V command, then any cursor movement command can be used 369 to change the end of the selected text. 370 This is used before an |operator| command to highlight the 371 text that is to be operated upon. 372 See |Visual-mode|. 373 374 *<character>* 375<character> A special character from the table below, optionally with 376 modifiers, or a single ASCII character with modifiers. 377 378 *'character'* 379'c' A single ASCII character. 380 381 *CTRL-{char}* 382CTRL-{char} {char} typed as a control character; that is, typing {char} 383 while holding the CTRL key down. The case of {char} does not 384 matter; thus CTRL-A and CTRL-a are equivalent. But on some 385 terminals, using the SHIFT key will produce another code, 386 don't use it then. 387 388 *'option'* 389'option' An option, or parameter, that can be set to a value, is 390 enclosed in single quotes. See |options|. 391 392 *quotecommandquote* 393"command" A reference to a command that you can type is enclosed in 394 double quotes. 395 396 *key-notation* *key-codes* *keycodes* 397These names for keys are used in the documentation. They can also be used 398with the ":map" command (insert the key name by pressing CTRL-K and then the 399key you want the name for). 400 401notation meaning equivalent decimal value(s) ~ 402----------------------------------------------------------------------- 403<Nul> zero CTRL-@ 0 (stored as 10) *<Nul>* 404<BS> backspace CTRL-H 8 *backspace* 405<Tab> tab CTRL-I 9 *tab* *Tab* 406 *linefeed* 407<NL> linefeed CTRL-J 10 (used for <Nul>) 408<FF> formfeed CTRL-L 12 *formfeed* 409<CR> carriage return CTRL-M 13 *carriage-return* 410<Return> same as <CR> *<Return>* 411<Enter> same as <CR> *<Enter>* 412<Esc> escape CTRL-[ 27 *escape* *<Esc>* 413<Space> space 32 *space* 414<lt> less-than < 60 *<lt>* 415<Bslash> backslash \ 92 *backslash* *<Bslash>* 416<Bar> vertical bar | 124 *<Bar>* 417<Del> delete 127 418<CSI> command sequence intro ALT-Esc 155 *<CSI>* 419<xCSI> CSI when typed in the GUI *<xCSI>* 420 421<EOL> end-of-line (can be <CR>, <LF> or <CR><LF>, 422 depends on system and 'fileformat') *<EOL>* 423 424<Up> cursor-up *cursor-up* *cursor_up* 425<Down> cursor-down *cursor-down* *cursor_down* 426<Left> cursor-left *cursor-left* *cursor_left* 427<Right> cursor-right *cursor-right* *cursor_right* 428<S-Up> shift-cursor-up 429<S-Down> shift-cursor-down 430<S-Left> shift-cursor-left 431<S-Right> shift-cursor-right 432<C-Left> control-cursor-left 433<C-Right> control-cursor-right 434<F1> - <F12> function keys 1 to 12 *function_key* *function-key* 435<S-F1> - <S-F12> shift-function keys 1 to 12 *<S-F1>* 436<Help> help key 437<Undo> undo key 438<Insert> insert key 439<Home> home *home* 440<End> end *end* 441<PageUp> page-up *page_up* *page-up* 442<PageDown> page-down *page_down* *page-down* 443<kHome> keypad home (upper left) *keypad-home* 444<kEnd> keypad end (lower left) *keypad-end* 445<kPageUp> keypad page-up (upper right) *keypad-page-up* 446<kPageDown> keypad page-down (lower right) *keypad-page-down* 447<kPlus> keypad + *keypad-plus* 448<kMinus> keypad - *keypad-minus* 449<kMultiply> keypad * *keypad-multiply* 450<kDivide> keypad / *keypad-divide* 451<kEnter> keypad Enter *keypad-enter* 452<kPoint> keypad Decimal point *keypad-point* 453<k0> - <k9> keypad 0 to 9 *keypad-0* *keypad-9* 454<S-...> shift-key *shift* *<S-* 455<C-...> control-key *control* *ctrl* *<C-* 456<M-...> alt-key or meta-key *meta* *alt* *<M-* 457<A-...> same as <M-...> *<A-* 458<D-...> command-key (Macintosh only) *<D-* 459<t_xx> key with "xx" entry in termcap 460----------------------------------------------------------------------- 461 462Note: The shifted cursor keys, the help key, and the undo key are only 463available on a few terminals. On the Amiga, shifted function key 10 produces 464a code (CSI) that is also used by key sequences. It will be recognized only 465after typing another key. 466 467Note: There are two codes for the delete key. 127 is the decimal ASCII value 468for the delete key, which is always recognized. Some delete keys send another 469value, in which case this value is obtained from the termcap entry "kD". Both 470values have the same effect. Also see |:fixdel|. 471 472Note: The keypad keys are used in the same way as the corresponding "normal" 473keys. For example, <kHome> has the same effect as <Home>. If a keypad key 474sends the same raw key code as its non-keypad equivalent, it will be 475recognized as the non-keypad code. For example, when <kHome> sends the same 476code as <Home>, when pressing <kHome> Vim will think <Home> was pressed. 477Mapping <kHome> will not work then. 478 479 *<>* 480Examples are often given in the <> notation. Sometimes this is just to make 481clear what you need to type, but often it can be typed literally, e.g., with 482the ":map" command. The rules are: 483 1. Any printable characters are typed directly, except backslash and '<' 484 2. A backslash is represented with "\\", double backslash, or "<Bslash>". 485 3. A real '<' is represented with "\<" or "<lt>". When there is no 486 confusion possible, a '<' can be used directly. 487 4. "<key>" means the special key typed. This is the notation explained in 488 the table above. A few examples: 489 <Esc> Escape key 490 <C-G> CTRL-G 491 <Up> cursor up key 492 <C-LeftMouse> Control- left mouse click 493 <S-F11> Shifted function key 11 494 <M-a> Meta- a ('a' with bit 8 set) 495 <M-A> Meta- A ('A' with bit 8 set) 496 <t_kd> "kd" termcap entry (cursor down key) 497 498If you want to use the full <> notation in Vim, you have to make sure the '<' 499flag is excluded from 'cpoptions' (when 'compatible' is not set, it already is 500by default). > 501 :set cpo-=< 502The <> notation uses <lt> to escape the special meaning of key names. Using a 503backslash also works, but only when 'cpoptions' does not include the 'B' flag. 504 505Examples for mapping CTRL-H to the six characters "<Home>": > 506 :imap <C-H> \<Home> 507 :imap <C-H> <lt>Home> 508The first one only works when the 'B' flag is not in 'cpoptions'. The second 509one always works. 510To get a literal "<lt>" in a mapping: > 511 :map <C-L> <lt>lt> 512 513For mapping, abbreviation and menu commands you can then copy-paste the 514examples and use them directly. Or type them literally, including the '<' and 515'>' characters. This does NOT work for other commands, like ":set" and 516":autocmd"! 517 518============================================================================== 5195. Modes, introduction *vim-modes-intro* *vim-modes* 520 521Vim has six BASIC modes: 522 523 *Normal* *Normal-mode* *command-mode* 524Normal mode In Normal mode you can enter all the normal editor 525 commands. If you start the editor you are in this 526 mode (unless you have set the 'insertmode' option, 527 see below). This is also known as command mode. 528 529Visual mode This is like Normal mode, but the movement commands 530 extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement 531 command is used, it is executed for the highlighted 532 area. See |Visual-mode|. 533 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VISUAL --" is shown 534 at the bottom of the window. 535 536Select mode This looks most like the MS-Windows selection mode. 537 Typing a printable character deletes the selection 538 and starts Insert mode. See |Select-mode|. 539 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- SELECT --" is shown 540 at the bottom of the window. 541 542Insert mode In Insert mode the text you type is inserted into the 543 buffer. See |Insert-mode|. 544 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- INSERT --" is shown 545 at the bottom of the window. 546 547Command-line mode In Command-line mode (also called Cmdline mode) you 548Cmdline mode can enter one line of text at the bottom of the 549 window. This is for the Ex commands, ":", the pattern 550 search commands, "?" and "/", and the filter command, 551 "!". |Cmdline-mode| 552 553Ex mode Like Command-line mode, but after entering a command 554 you remain in Ex mode. Very limited editing of the 555 command line. |Ex-mode| 556 557There are six ADDITIONAL modes. These are variants of the BASIC modes: 558 559 *Operator-pending* *Operator-pending-mode* 560Operator-pending mode This is like Normal mode, but after an operator 561 command has started, and Vim is waiting for a {motion} 562 to specify the text that the operator will work on. 563 564Replace mode Replace mode is a special case of Insert mode. You 565 can do the same things as in Insert mode, but for 566 each character you enter, one character of the existing 567 text is deleted. See |Replace-mode|. 568 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- REPLACE --" is 569 shown at the bottom of the window. 570 571Virtual Replace mode Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but 572 instead of file characters you are replacing screen 573 real estate. See |Virtual-Replace-mode|. 574 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VREPLACE --" is 575 shown at the bottom of the window. 576 577Insert Normal mode Entered when CTRL-O given in Insert mode. This is 578 like Normal mode, but after executing one command Vim 579 returns to Insert mode. 580 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) --" is 581 shown at the bottom of the window. 582 583Insert Visual mode Entered when starting a Visual selection from Insert 584 mode, e.g., by using CTRL-O and then "v", "V" or 585 CTRL-V. When the Visual selection ends, Vim returns 586 to Insert mode. 587 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) VISUAL --" 588 is shown at the bottom of the window. 589 590Insert Select mode Entered when starting Select mode from Insert mode. 591 E.g., by dragging the mouse or <S-Right>. 592 When the Select mode ends, Vim returns to Insert mode. 593 If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) SELECT --" 594 is shown at the bottom of the window. 595 596============================================================================== 5976. Switching from mode to mode *mode-switching* 598 599If for any reason you do not know which mode you are in, you can always get 600back to Normal mode by typing <Esc> twice. This doesn't work for Ex mode 601though, use ":visual". 602You will know you are back in Normal mode when you see the screen flash or 603hear the bell after you type <Esc>. However, when pressing <Esc> after using 604CTRL-O in Insert mode you get a beep but you are still in Insert mode, type 605<Esc> again. 606 607 *i_esc* 608 TO mode ~ 609 Normal Visual Select Insert Replace Cmd-line Ex ~ 610FROM mode ~ 611Normal v V ^V *4 *1 R gR : / ? ! Q 612Visual *2 ^G c C -- : -- 613Select *5 ^O ^G *6 -- -- -- 614Insert <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- 615Replace <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- 616Command-line *3 -- -- :start -- -- 617Ex :vi -- -- -- -- -- 618 619- NA 620-- not possible 621 622*1 Go from Normal mode to Insert mode by giving the command "i", "I", "a", 623 "A", "o", "O", "c", "C", "s" or S". 624*2 Go from Visual mode to Normal mode by giving a non-movement command, which 625 causes the command to be executed, or by hitting <Esc> "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" 626 (see |v_v|), which just stops Visual mode without side effects. 627*3 Go from Command-line mode to Normal mode by: 628 - Hitting <CR> or <NL>, which causes the entered command to be executed. 629 - Deleting the complete line (e.g., with CTRL-U) and giving a final <BS>. 630 - Hitting CTRL-C or <Esc>, which quits the command-line without executing 631 the command. 632 In the last case <Esc> may be the character defined with the 'wildchar' 633 option, in which case it will start command-line completion. You can 634 ignore that and type <Esc> again. {Vi: when hitting <Esc> the command-line 635 is executed. This is unexpected for most people; therefore it was changed 636 in Vim. But when the <Esc> is part of a mapping, the command-line is 637 executed. If you want the Vi behaviour also when typing <Esc>, use ":cmap 638 ^V<Esc> ^V^M"} 639*4 Go from Normal to Select mode by: 640 - use the mouse to select text while 'selectmode' contains "mouse" 641 - use a non-printable command to move the cursor while keeping the Shift 642 key pressed, and the 'selectmode' option contains "key" 643 - use "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" while 'selectmode' contains "cmd" 644 - use "gh", "gH" or "g CTRL-H" |g_CTRL-H| 645*5 Go from Select mode to Normal mode by using a non-printable command to move 646 the cursor, without keeping the Shift key pressed. 647*6 Go from Select mode to Insert mode by typing a printable character. The 648 selection is deleted and the character is inserted. 649 650If the 'insertmode' option is on, editing a file will start in Insert mode. 651 652 *CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* 653Additionally the command CTRL-\ CTRL-N or <C-\><C-N> can be used to go to 654Normal mode from any other mode. This can be used to make sure Vim is in 655Normal mode, without causing a beep like <Esc> would. However, this does not 656work in Ex mode. When used after a command that takes an argument, such as 657|f| or |m|, the timeout set with 'ttimeoutlen' applies. 658 659 *CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* 660The command CTRL-\ CTRL-G or <C-\><C-G> can be used to go to Insert mode when 661'insertmode' is set. Otherwise it goes to Normal mode. This can be used to 662make sure Vim is in the mode indicated by 'insertmode', without knowing in 663what mode Vim currently is. 664 665 *Q* *mode-Ex* *Ex-mode* *Ex* *EX* *E501* 666Q Switch to "Ex" mode. This is a bit like typing ":" 667 commands one after another, except: 668 - You don't have to keep pressing ":". 669 - The screen doesn't get updated after each command. 670 - There is no normal command-line editing. 671 - Mappings and abbreviations are not used. 672 In fact, you are editing the lines with the "standard" 673 line-input editing commands (<Del> or <BS> to erase, 674 CTRL-U to kill the whole line). 675 Vim will enter this mode by default if it's invoked as 676 "ex" on the command-line. 677 Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode. 678 Note: In older versions of Vim "Q" formatted text, 679 that is now done with |gq|. But if you use the 680 |vimrc_example.vim| script "Q" works like "gq". 681 682 *gQ* 683gQ Switch to "Ex" mode like with "Q", but really behave 684 like typing ":" commands after another. All command 685 line editing, completion etc. is available. 686 Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode. 687 {not in Vi} 688 689============================================================================== 6907. The window contents *window-contents* 691 692In Normal mode and Insert/Replace mode the screen window will show the current 693contents of the buffer: What You See Is What You Get. There are two 694exceptions: 695- When the 'cpoptions' option contains '$', and the change is within one line, 696 the text is not directly deleted, but a '$' is put at the last deleted 697 character. 698- When inserting text in one window, other windows on the same text are not 699 updated until the insert is finished. 700{Vi: The screen is not always updated on slow terminals} 701 702Lines longer than the window width will wrap, unless the 'wrap' option is off 703(see below). The 'linebreak' option can be set to wrap at a blank character. 704 705If the window has room after the last line of the buffer, Vim will show '~' in 706the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: > 707 708 +-----------------------+ 709 |some line | 710 |last line | 711 |~ | 712 |~ | 713 +-----------------------+ 714 715Thus the '~' lines indicate that the end of the buffer was reached. 716 717If the last line in a window doesn't fit, Vim will indicate this with a '@' in 718the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: > 719 720 +-----------------------+ 721 |first line | 722 |second line | 723 |@ | 724 |@ | 725 +-----------------------+ 726 727Thus the '@' lines indicate that there is a line that doesn't fit in the 728window. 729 730When the "lastline" flag is present in the 'display' option, you will not see 731'@' characters at the left side of window. If the last line doesn't fit 732completely, only the part that fits is shown, and the last three characters of 733the last line are replaced with "@@@", like this: > 734 735 +-----------------------+ 736 |first line | 737 |second line | 738 |a very long line that d| 739 |oesn't fit in the wi@@@| 740 +-----------------------+ 741 742If there is a single line that is too long to fit in the window, this is a 743special situation. Vim will show only part of the line, around where the 744cursor is. There are no special characters shown, so that you can edit all 745parts of this line. 746{Vi: gives an "internal error" on lines that do not fit in the window} 747 748The '@' occasion in the 'highlight' option can be used to set special 749highlighting for the '@' and '~' characters. This makes it possible to 750distinguish them from real characters in the buffer. 751 752The 'showbreak' option contains the string to put in front of wrapped lines. 753 754 *wrap-off* 755If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap. Only the part that 756fits on the screen is shown. If the cursor is moved to a part of the line 757that is not shown, the screen is scrolled horizontally. The advantage of 758this method is that columns are shown as they are and lines that cannot fit 759on the screen can be edited. The disadvantage is that you cannot see all the 760characters of a line at once. The 'sidescroll' option can be set to the 761minimal number of columns to scroll. {Vi: has no 'wrap' option} 762 763All normal ASCII characters are displayed directly on the screen. The <Tab> 764is replaced with the number of spaces that it represents. Other non-printing 765characters are replaced with "^{char}", where {char} is the non-printing 766character with 64 added. Thus character 7 (bell) will be shown as "^G". 767Characters between 127 and 160 are replaced with "~{char}", where {char} is 768the character with 64 subtracted. These characters occupy more than one 769position on the screen. The cursor can only be positioned on the first one. 770 771If you set the 'number' option, all lines will be preceded with their 772number. Tip: If you don't like wrapping lines to mix with the line numbers, 773set the 'showbreak' option to eight spaces: 774 ":set showbreak=\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ " 775 776If you set the 'list' option, <Tab> characters will not be shown as several 777spaces, but as "^I". A '$' will be placed at the end of the line, so you can 778find trailing blanks. 779 780In Command-line mode only the command-line itself is shown correctly. The 781display of the buffer contents is updated as soon as you go back to Command 782mode. 783 784The last line of the window is used for status and other messages. The 785status messages will only be used if an option is on: 786 787status message option default Unix default ~ 788current mode 'showmode' on on 789command characters 'showcmd' on off 790cursor position 'ruler' off off 791 792The current mode is "-- INSERT --" or "-- REPLACE --", see |'showmode'|. The 793command characters are those that you typed but were not used yet. {Vi: does 794not show the characters you typed or the cursor position} 795 796If you have a slow terminal you can switch off the status messages to speed 797up editing: 798 :set nosc noru nosm 799 800If there is an error, an error message will be shown for at least one second 801(in reverse video). {Vi: error messages may be overwritten with other 802messages before you have a chance to read them} 803 804Some commands show how many lines were affected. Above which threshold this 805happens can be controlled with the 'report' option (default 2). 806 807On the Amiga Vim will run in a CLI window. The name Vim and the full name of 808the current file name will be shown in the title bar. When the window is 809resized, Vim will automatically redraw the window. You may make the window as 810small as you like, but if it gets too small not a single line will fit in it. 811Make it at least 40 characters wide to be able to read most messages on the 812last line. 813 814On most Unix systems, resizing the window is recognized and handled correctly 815by Vim. {Vi: not ok} 816 817============================================================================== 8188. Definitions *definitions* 819 820 screen The whole area that Vim uses to work in. This can be 821 a terminal emulator window. Also called "the Vim 822 window". 823 window A view on a buffer. 824 825A screen contains one or more windows, separated by status lines and with the 826command line at the bottom. 827 828 +-------------------------------+ 829screen | window 1 | window 2 | 830 | | | 831 | | | 832 |= status line =|= status line =| 833 | window 3 | 834 | | 835 | | 836 |==== status line ==============| 837 |command line | 838 +-------------------------------+ 839 840The command line is also used for messages. It scrolls up the screen when 841there is not enough room in the command line. 842 843A difference is made between four types of lines: 844 845 buffer lines The lines in the buffer. This is the same as the 846 lines as they are read from/written to a file. They 847 can be thousands of characters long. 848 logical lines The buffer lines with folding applied. Buffer lines 849 in a closed fold are changed to a single logical line: 850 "+-- 99 lines folded". They can be thousands of 851 characters long. 852 window lines The lines displayed in a window: A range of logical 853 lines with wrapping, line breaks, etc. applied. They 854 can only be as long as the width of the window allows, 855 longer lines are wrapped or truncated. 856 screen lines The lines of the screen that Vim uses. Consists of 857 the window lines of all windows, with status lines 858 and the command line added. They can only be as long 859 as the width of the screen allows. When the command 860 line gets longer it wraps and lines are scrolled to 861 make room. 862 863buffer lines logical lines window lines screen lines ~ 864 8651. one 1. one 1. +-- folded 1. +-- folded 8662. two 2. +-- folded 2. five 2. five 8673. three 3. five 3. six 3. six 8684. four 4. six 4. seven 4. seven 8695. five 5. seven 5. === status line === 8706. six 6. aaa 8717. seven 7. bbb 872 8. ccc ccc c 8731. aaa 1. aaa 1. aaa 9. cc 8742. bbb 2. bbb 2. bbb 10. ddd 8753. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc c 11. ~ 8764. ddd 4. ddd 4. cc 12. === status line === 877 5. ddd 13. (command line) 878 6. ~ 879 880============================================================================== 881 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 882