1*usr_07.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2006 Apr 24 2 3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar 4 5 Editing more than one file 6 7 8No matter how many files you have, you can edit them without leaving Vim. 9Define a list of files to work on and jump from one to the other. Copy text 10from one file and put it in another one. 11 12|07.1| Edit another file 13|07.2| A list of files 14|07.3| Jumping from file to file 15|07.4| Backup files 16|07.5| Copy text between files 17|07.6| Viewing a file 18|07.7| Changing the file name 19 20 Next chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows 21 Previous chapter: |usr_06.txt| Using syntax highlighting 22Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| 23 24============================================================================== 25*07.1* Edit another file 26 27So far you had to start Vim for every file you wanted to edit. There is a 28simpler way. To start editing another file, use this command: > 29 30 :edit foo.txt 31 32You can use any file name instead of "foo.txt". Vim will close the current 33file and open the new one. If the current file has unsaved changes, however, 34Vim displays an error message and does not open the new file: 35 36 E37: No write since last change (use ! to override) ~ 37 38 Note: 39 Vim puts an error ID at the start of each error message. If you do 40 not understand the message or what caused it, look in the help system 41 for this ID. In this case: > 42 43 :help E37 44 45At this point, you have a number of alternatives. You can write the file 46using this command: > 47 48 :write 49 50Or you can force Vim to discard your changes and edit the new file, using the 51force (!) character: > 52 53 :edit! foo.txt 54 55If you want to edit another file, but not write the changes in the current 56file yet, you can make it hidden: > 57 58 :hide edit foo.txt 59 60The text with changes is still there, but you can't see it. This is further 61explained in section |22.4|: The buffer list. 62 63============================================================================== 64*07.2* A list of files 65 66You can start Vim to edit a sequence of files. For example: > 67 68 vim one.c two.c three.c 69 70This command starts Vim and tells it that you will be editing three files. 71Vim displays just the first file. After you have done your thing in this 72file, to edit the next file you use this command: > 73 74 :next 75 76If you have unsaved changes in the current file, you will get an error 77message and the ":next" will not work. This is the same problem as with 78":edit" mentioned in the previous section. To abandon the changes: > 79 80 :next! 81 82But mostly you want to save the changes and move on to the next file. There 83is a special command for this: > 84 85 :wnext 86 87This does the same as using two separate commands: > 88 89 :write 90 :next 91 92 93WHERE AM I? 94 95To see which file in the argument list you are editing, look in the window 96title. It should show something like "(2 of 3)". This means you are editing 97the second file out of three files. 98 If you want to see the list of files, use this command: > 99 100 :args 101 102This is short for "arguments". The output might look like this: 103 104 one.c [two.c] three.c ~ 105 106These are the files you started Vim with. The one you are currently editing, 107"two.c", is in square brackets. 108 109 110MOVING TO OTHER ARGUMENTS 111 112To go back one file: > 113 114 :previous 115 116This is just like the ":next" command, except that it moves in the other 117direction. Again, there is a shortcut command for when you want to write the 118file first: > 119 120 :wprevious 121 122To move to the very last file in the list: > 123 124 :last 125 126And to move back to the first one again: > 127 128 :first 129 130There is no ":wlast" or ":wfirst" command though! 131 132You can use a count for ":next" and ":previous". To skip two files forward: > 133 134 :2next 135 136 137AUTOMATIC WRITING 138 139When moving around the files and making changes, you have to remember to use 140":write". Otherwise you will get an error message. If you are sure you 141always want to write modified files, you can tell Vim to automatically write 142them: > 143 144 :set autowrite 145 146When you are editing a file which you may not want to write, switch it off 147again: > 148 149 :set noautowrite 150 151 152EDITING ANOTHER LIST OF FILES 153 154You can redefine the list of files without the need to exit Vim and start it 155again. Use this command to edit three other files: > 156 157 :args five.c six.c seven.h 158 159Or use a wildcard, like it's used in the shell: > 160 161 :args *.txt 162 163Vim will take you to the first file in the list. Again, if the current file 164has changes, you can either write the file first, or use ":args!" (with ! 165added) to abandon the changes. 166 167 168DID YOU EDIT THE LAST FILE? 169 *arglist-quit* 170When you use a list of files, Vim assumes you want to edit them all. To 171protect you from exiting too early, you will get this error when you didn't 172edit the last file in the list yet: 173 174 E173: 46 more files to edit ~ 175 176If you really want to exit, just do it again. Then it will work (but not when 177you did other commands in between). 178 179============================================================================== 180*07.3* Jumping from file to file 181 182To quickly jump between two files, press CTRL-^ (on English-US keyboards the ^ 183is above the 6 key). Example: > 184 185 :args one.c two.c three.c 186 187You are now in one.c. > 188 189 :next 190 191Now you are in two.c. Now use CTRL-^ to go back to one.c. Another CTRL-^ and 192you are back in two.c. Another CTRL-^ and you are in one.c again. If you now 193do: > 194 195 :next 196 197You are in three.c. Notice that the CTRL-^ command does not change the idea 198of where you are in the list of files. Only commands like ":next" and 199":previous" do that. 200 201The file you were previously editing is called the "alternate" file. When you 202just started Vim CTRL-^ will not work, since there isn't a previous file. 203 204 205PREDEFINED MARKS 206 207After jumping to another file, you can use two predefined marks which are very 208useful: > 209 210 `" 211 212This takes you to the position where the cursor was when you left the file. 213Another mark that is remembered is the position where you made the last 214change: > 215 216 `. 217 218Suppose you are editing the file "one.txt". Somewhere halfway the file you 219use "x" to delete a character. Then you go to the last line with "G" and 220write the file with ":w". You edit several other files, and then use ":edit 221one.txt" to come back to "one.txt". If you now use `" Vim jumps to the last 222line of the file. Using `. takes you to the position where you deleted the 223character. Even when you move around in the file `" and `. will take you to 224the remembered position. At least until you make another change or leave the 225file. 226 227 228FILE MARKS 229 230In chapter 4 was explained how you can place a mark in a file with "mx" and 231jump to that position with "`x". That works within one file. If you edit 232another file and place marks there, these are specific for that file. Thus 233each file has its own set of marks, they are local to the file. 234 So far we were using marks with a lowercase letter. There are also marks 235with an uppercase letter. These are global, they can be used from any file. 236For example suppose that we are editing the file "foo.txt". Go to halfway the 237file ("50%") and place the F mark there (F for foo): > 238 239 50%mF 240 241Now edit the file "bar.txt" and place the B mark (B for bar) at its last line: 242> 243 GmB 244 245Now you can use the "'F" command to jump back to halfway foo.txt. Or edit yet 246another file, type "'B" and you are at the end of bar.txt again. 247 248The file marks are remembered until they are placed somewhere else. Thus you 249can place the mark, do hours of editing and still be able to jump back to that 250mark. 251 It's often useful to think of a simple connection between the mark letter 252and where it is placed. For example, use the H mark in a header file, M in 253a Makefile and C in a C code file. 254 255To see where a specific mark is, give an argument to the ":marks" command: > 256 257 :marks M 258 259You can also give several arguments: > 260 261 :marks MCP 262 263Don't forget that you can use CTRL-O and CTRL-I to jump to older and newer 264positions without placing marks there. 265 266============================================================================== 267*07.4* Backup files 268 269Usually Vim does not produce a backup file. If you want to have one, all you 270need to do is execute the following command: > 271 272 :set backup 273 274The name of the backup file is the original file with a ~ added to the end. 275If your file is named data.txt, for example, the backup file name is 276data.txt~. 277 If you do not like the fact that the backup files end with ~, you can 278change the extension: > 279 280 :set backupext=.bak 281 282This will use data.txt.bak instead of data.txt~. 283 Another option that matters here is 'backupdir'. It specifies where the 284backup file is written. The default, to write the backup in the same 285directory as the original file, will mostly be the right thing. 286 287 Note: 288 When the 'backup' option isn't set but the 'writebackup' is, Vim will 289 still create a backup file. However, it is deleted as soon as writing 290 the file was completed successfully. This functions as a safety 291 against losing your original file when writing fails in some way (disk 292 full is the most common cause; being hit by lightning might be 293 another, although less common). 294 295 296KEEPING THE ORIGINAL FILE 297 298If you are editing source files, you might want to keep the file before you 299make any changes. But the backup file will be overwritten each time you write 300the file. Thus it only contains the previous version, not the first one. 301 To make Vim keep the original file, set the 'patchmode' option. This 302specifies the extension used for the first backup of a changed file. Usually 303you would do this: > 304 305 :set patchmode=.orig 306 307When you now edit the file data.txt for the first time, make changes and write 308the file, Vim will keep a copy of the unchanged file under the name 309"data.txt.orig". 310 If you make further changes to the file, Vim will notice that 311"data.txt.orig" already exists and leave it alone. Further backup files will 312then be called "data.txt~" (or whatever you specified with 'backupext'). 313 If you leave 'patchmode' empty (that is the default), the original file 314will not be kept. 315 316============================================================================== 317*07.5* Copy text between files 318 319This explains how to copy text from one file to another. Let's start with a 320simple example. Edit the file that contains the text you want to copy. Move 321the cursor to the start of the text and press "v". This starts Visual mode. 322Now move the cursor to the end of the text and press "y". This yanks (copies) 323the selected text. 324 To copy the above paragraph, you would do: > 325 326 :edit thisfile 327 /This 328 vjjjj$y 329 330Now edit the file you want to put the text in. Move the cursor to the 331character where you want the text to appear after. Use "p" to put the text 332there. > 333 :edit otherfile 334 /There 335 p 336 337Of course you can use many other commands to yank the text. For example, to 338select whole lines start Visual mode with "V". Or use CTRL-V to select a 339rectangular block. Or use "Y" to yank a single line, "yaw" to yank-a-word, 340etc. 341 The "p" command puts the text after the cursor. Use "P" to put the text 342before the cursor. Notice that Vim remembers if you yanked a whole line or a 343block, and puts it back that way. 344 345 346USING REGISTERS 347 348When you want to copy several pieces of text from one file to another, having 349to switch between the files and writing the target file takes a lot of time. 350To avoid this, copy each piece of text to its own register. 351 A register is a place where Vim stores text. Here we will use the 352registers named a to z (later you will find out there are others). Let's copy 353a sentence to the f register (f for First): > 354 355 "fyas 356 357The "yas" command yanks a sentence like before. It's the "f that tells Vim 358the text should be place in the f register. This must come just before the 359yank command. 360 Now yank three whole lines to the l register (l for line): > 361 362 "l3Y 363 364The count could be before the "l just as well. To yank a block of text to the 365b (for block) register: > 366 367 CTRL-Vjjww"by 368 369Notice that the register specification "b is just before the "y" command. 370This is required. If you would have put it before the "w" command, it would 371not have worked. 372 Now you have three pieces of text in the f, l and b registers. Edit 373another file, move around and place the text where you want it: > 374 375 "fp 376 377Again, the register specification "f comes before the "p" command. 378 You can put the registers in any order. And the text stays in the register 379until you yank something else into it. Thus you can put it as many times as 380you like. 381 382When you delete text, you can also specify a register. Use this to move 383several pieces of text around. For example, to delete-a-word and write it in 384the w register: > 385 386 "wdaw 387 388Again, the register specification comes before the delete command "d". 389 390 391APPENDING TO A FILE 392 393When collecting lines of text into one file, you can use this command: > 394 395 :write >> logfile 396 397This will write the text of the current file to the end of "logfile". Thus it 398is appended. This avoids that you have to copy the lines, edit the log file 399and put them there. Thus you save two steps. But you can only append to the 400end of a file. 401 To append only a few lines, select them in Visual mode before typing 402":write". In chapter 10 you will learn other ways to select a range of lines. 403 404============================================================================== 405*07.6* Viewing a file 406 407Sometimes you only want to see what a file contains, without the intention to 408ever write it back. There is the risk that you type ":w" without thinking and 409overwrite the original file anyway. To avoid this, edit the file read-only. 410 To start Vim in readonly mode, use this command: > 411 412 vim -R file 413 414On Unix this command should do the same thing: > 415 416 view file 417 418You are now editing "file" in read-only mode. When you try using ":w" you 419will get an error message and the file won't be written. 420 When you try to make a change to the file Vim will give you a warning: 421 422 W10: Warning: Changing a readonly file ~ 423 424The change will be done though. This allows for formatting the file, for 425example, to be able to read it easily. 426 If you make changes to a file and forgot that it was read-only, you can 427still write it. Add the ! to the write command to force writing. 428 429If you really want to forbid making changes in a file, do this: > 430 431 vim -M file 432 433Now every attempt to change the text will fail. The help files are like this, 434for example. If you try to make a change you get this error message: 435 436 E21: Cannot make changes, 'modifiable' is off ~ 437 438You could use the -M argument to setup Vim to work in a viewer mode. This is 439only voluntary though, since these commands will remove the protection: > 440 441 :set modifiable 442 :set write 443 444============================================================================== 445*07.7* Changing the file name 446 447A clever way to start editing a new file is by using an existing file that 448contains most of what you need. For example, you start writing a new program 449to move a file. You know that you already have a program that copies a file, 450thus you start with: > 451 452 :edit copy.c 453 454You can delete the stuff you don't need. Now you need to save the file under 455a new name. The ":saveas" command can be used for this: > 456 457 :saveas move.c 458 459Vim will write the file under the given name, and edit that file. Thus the 460next time you do ":write", it will write "move.c". "copy.c" remains 461unmodified. 462 When you want to change the name of the file you are editing, but don't 463want to write the file, you can use this command: > 464 465 :file move.c 466 467Vim will mark the file as "not edited". This means that Vim knows this is not 468the file you started editing. When you try to write the file, you might get 469this message: 470 471 E13: File exists (use ! to override) ~ 472 473This protects you from accidentally overwriting another file. 474 475============================================================================== 476 477Next chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows 478 479Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 480