1*usr_01.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2008 May 07 2 3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar 4 5 About the manuals 6 7 8This chapter introduces the manuals available with Vim. Read this to know the 9conditions under which the commands are explained. 10 11|01.1| Two manuals 12|01.2| Vim installed 13|01.3| Using the Vim tutor 14|01.4| Copyright 15 16 Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim 17Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| 18 19============================================================================== 20*01.1* Two manuals 21 22The Vim documentation consists of two parts: 23 241. The User manual 25 Task oriented explanations, from simple to complex. Reads from start to 26 end like a book. 27 282. The Reference manual 29 Precise description of how everything in Vim works. 30 31The notation used in these manuals is explained here: |notation| 32 33 34JUMPING AROUND 35 36The text contains hyperlinks between the two parts, allowing you to quickly 37jump between the description of an editing task and a precise explanation of 38the commands and options used for it. Use these two commands: 39 40 Press CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor. 41 Press CTRL-O to jump back (repeat to go further back). 42 43Many links are in vertical bars, like this: |bars|. An option name, like 44'number', a command in double quotes like ":write" and any other word can also 45be used as a link. Try it out: Move the cursor to CTRL-] and press CTRL-] 46on it. 47 48Other subjects can be found with the ":help" command, see |help.txt|. 49 50============================================================================== 51*01.2* Vim installed 52 53Most of the manuals assume that Vim has been properly installed. If you 54didn't do that yet, or if Vim doesn't run properly (e.g., files can't be found 55or in the GUI the menus do not show up) first read the chapter on 56installation: |usr_90.txt|. 57 *not-compatible* 58The manuals often assume you are using Vim with Vi-compatibility switched 59off. For most commands this doesn't matter, but sometimes it is important, 60e.g., for multi-level undo. An easy way to make sure you are using a nice 61setup is to copy the example vimrc file. By doing this inside Vim you don't 62have to check out where it is located. How to do this depends on the system 63you are using: 64 65Unix: > 66 :!cp -i $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim ~/.vimrc 67MS-DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2: > 68 :!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/_vimrc 69Amiga: > 70 :!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/.vimrc 71 72If the file already exists you probably want to keep it. 73 74If you start Vim now, the 'compatible' option should be off. You can check it 75with this command: > 76 77 :set compatible? 78 79If it responds with "nocompatible" you are doing well. If the response is 80"compatible" you are in trouble. You will have to find out why the option is 81still set. Perhaps the file you wrote above is not found. Use this command 82to find out: > 83 84 :scriptnames 85 86If your file is not in the list, check its location and name. If it is in the 87list, there must be some other place where the 'compatible' option is switched 88back on. 89 90For more info see |vimrc| and |compatible-default|. 91 92 Note: 93 This manual is about using Vim in the normal way. There is an 94 alternative called "evim" (easy Vim). This is still Vim, but used in 95 a way that resembles a click-and-type editor like Notepad. It always 96 stays in Insert mode, thus it feels very different. It is not 97 explained in the user manual, since it should be mostly self 98 explanatory. See |evim-keys| for details. 99 100============================================================================== 101*01.3* Using the Vim tutor *tutor* *vimtutor* 102 103Instead of reading the text (boring!) you can use the vimtutor to learn your 104first Vim commands. This is a 30 minute tutorial that teaches the most basic 105Vim functionality hands-on. 106 107On Unix, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start it from the shell: 108> 109 vimtutor 110 111On MS-Windows you can find it in the Program/Vim menu. Or execute 112vimtutor.bat in the $VIMRUNTIME directory. 113 114This will make a copy of the tutor file, so that you can edit it without 115the risk of damaging the original. 116 There are a few translated versions of the tutor. To find out if yours is 117available, use the two-letter language code. For French: > 118 119 vimtutor fr 120 121On Unix, if you prefer using the GUI version of Vim, use "gvimtutor" or 122"vimtutor -g" instead of "vimtutor". 123 124For OpenVMS, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start vimtutor from a 125VMS prompt with: > 126 127 @VIM:vimtutor 128 129Optionally add the two-letter language code as above. 130 131 132On other systems, you have to do a little work: 133 1341. Copy the tutor file. You can do this with Vim (it knows where to find it): 135> 136 vim -u NONE -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q' 137< 138 This will write the file "TUTORCOPY" in the current directory. To use a 139translated version of the tutor, append the two-letter language code to the 140filename. For French: 141> 142 vim -u NONE -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor.fr' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q' 143< 1442. Edit the copied file with Vim: 145> 146 vim -u NONE -c "set nocp" TUTORCOPY 147< 148 The extra arguments make sure Vim is started in a good mood. 149 1503. Delete the copied file when you are finished with it: 151> 152 del TUTORCOPY 153< 154============================================================================== 155*01.4* Copyright *manual-copyright* 156 157The Vim user manual and reference manual are Copyright (c) 1988-2003 by Bram 158Moolenaar. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and 159conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later. The 160latest version is presently available at: 161 http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/ 162 163People who contribute to the manuals must agree with the above copyright 164notice. 165 *frombook* 166Parts of the user manual come from the book "Vi IMproved - Vim" by Steve 167Oualline (published by New Riders Publishing, ISBN: 0735710015). The Open 168Publication License applies to this book. Only selected parts are included 169and these have been modified (e.g., by removing the pictures, updating the 170text for Vim 6.0 and later, fixing mistakes). The omission of the |frombook| 171tag does not mean that the text does not come from the book. 172 173Many thanks to Steve Oualline and New Riders for creating this book and 174publishing it under the OPL! It has been a great help while writing the user 175manual. Not only by providing literal text, but also by setting the tone and 176style. 177 178If you make money through selling the manuals, you are strongly encouraged to 179donate part of the profit to help AIDS victims in Uganda. See |iccf|. 180 181============================================================================== 182 183Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim 184 185Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 186