Vim V7.4 User Manual Bram Moolenaar

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usr_doc.txt

Page 1

*usr_toc.txt*

For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2010 Jul 20

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Table Of Contents

*user−manual*

==============================================================================
Overview
Getting Started
|usr_01.txt| About the manuals
|usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim
|usr_03.txt| Moving around
|usr_04.txt| Making small changes
|usr_05.txt| Set your settings
|usr_06.txt| Using syntax highlighting
|usr_07.txt| Editing more than one file
|usr_08.txt| Splitting windows
|usr_09.txt| Using the GUI
|usr_10.txt| Making big changes
|usr_11.txt| Recovering from a crash
|usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
Editing Effectively
|usr_20.txt| Typing command−line commands quickly
|usr_21.txt| Go away and come back
|usr_22.txt| Finding the file to edit
|usr_23.txt| Editing other files
|usr_24.txt| Inserting quickly
|usr_25.txt| Editing formatted text
|usr_26.txt| Repeating
|usr_27.txt| Search commands and patterns
|usr_28.txt| Folding
|usr_29.txt| Moving through programs
|usr_30.txt| Editing programs
|usr_31.txt| Exploiting the GUI
|usr_32.txt| The undo tree
Tuning Vim
|usr_40.txt|
|usr_41.txt|
|usr_42.txt|
|usr_43.txt|
|usr_44.txt|
|usr_45.txt|

Make new commands
Write a Vim script
Add new menus
Using filetypes
Your own syntax highlighted
Select your language

Making Vim Run
|usr_90.txt| Installing Vim
Reference manual
|reference_toc|

More detailed information for all commands

The user manual is available as a single, ready to print HTML and PDF file
here:
http://vimdoc.sf.net
==============================================================================
Getting Started
Read this from start to end to learn the essential commands.
|usr_01.txt|

About the
|01.1|
|01.2|
|01.3|

manuals
Two manuals
Vim installed
Using the Vim tutor

usr_doc.txt

Page 2
|01.4|

Copyright

|usr_02.txt|

The first
|02.1|
|02.2|
|02.3|
|02.4|
|02.5|
|02.6|
|02.7|
|02.8|

steps in Vim
Running Vim for the First Time
Inserting text
Moving around
Deleting characters
Undo and Redo
Other editing commands
Getting out
Finding help

|usr_03.txt|

Moving around
|03.1| Word movement
|03.2| Moving to the start or end of a line
|03.3| Moving to a character
|03.4| Matching a paren
|03.5| Moving to a specific line
|03.6| Telling where you are
|03.7| Scrolling around
|03.8| Simple searches
|03.9| Simple search patterns
|03.10| Using marks

|usr_04.txt|

Making small changes
|04.1| Operators and motions
|04.2| Changing text
|04.3| Repeating a change
|04.4| Visual mode
|04.5| Moving text
|04.6| Copying text
|04.7| Using the clipboard
|04.8| Text objects
|04.9| Replace mode
|04.10| Conclusion

|usr_05.txt|

Set your settings
|05.1| The vimrc file
|05.2| The example vimrc file explained
|05.3| Simple mappings
|05.4| Adding a plugin
|05.5| Adding a help file
|05.6| The option window
|05.7| Often used options

|usr_06.txt|

Using syntax highlighting
|06.1| Switching it on
|06.2| No or wrong colors?
|06.3| Different colors
|06.4| With colors or without colors
|06.5| Printing with colors
|06.6| Further reading

|usr_07.txt|

Editing more than one file
|07.1| Edit another file
|07.2| A list of files
|07.3| Jumping from file to file
|07.4| Backup files
|07.5| Copy text between files
|07.6| Viewing a file
|07.7| Changing the file name

|usr_08.txt|

Splitting
|08.1|
|08.2|
|08.3|

windows
Split a window
Split a window on another file
Window size

usr_doc.txt

Page 3
|08.4|
|08.5|
|08.6|
|08.7|
|08.8|

Vertical splits
Moving windows
Commands for all windows
Viewing differences with vimdiff
Various

|usr_09.txt|

Using the
|09.1|
|09.2|
|09.3|
|09.4|

GUI
Parts of the GUI
Using the mouse
The clipboard
Select mode

|usr_10.txt|

Making big changes
|10.1| Record and playback commands
|10.2| Substitution
|10.3| Command ranges
|10.4| The global command
|10.5| Visual block mode
|10.6| Reading and writing part of a file
|10.7| Formatting text
|10.8| Changing case
|10.9| Using an external program

|usr_11.txt|

Recovering from a crash
|11.1| Basic recovery
|11.2| Where is the swap file?
|11.3| Crashed or not?
|11.4| Further reading

|usr_12.txt|

Clever tricks
|12.1| Replace a word
|12.2| Change "Last, First" to "First Last"
|12.3| Sort a list
|12.4| Reverse line order
|12.5| Count words
|12.6| Find a man page
|12.7| Trim blanks
|12.8| Find where a word is used

==============================================================================
Editing Effectively
Subjects that can be read independently.
|usr_20.txt|

Typing command−line commands quickly
|20.1| Command line editing
|20.2| Command line abbreviations
|20.3| Command line completion
|20.4| Command line history
|20.5| Command line window

|usr_21.txt|

Go away and come back
|21.1| Suspend and resume
|21.2| Executing shell commands
|21.3| Remembering information; viminfo
|21.4| Sessions
|21.5| Views
|21.6| Modelines

|usr_22.txt|

Finding the file to edit
|22.1| The file explorer
|22.2| The current directory
|22.3| Finding a file
|22.4| The buffer list

|usr_23.txt|

Editing other files

usr_doc.txt

Page 4
|23.1|
|23.2|
|23.3|
|23.4|
|23.5|

DOS, Mac and Unix files
Files on the internet
Encryption
Binary files
Compressed files

|usr_24.txt|

Inserting
|24.1|
|24.2|
|24.3|
|24.4|
|24.5|
|24.6|
|24.7|
|24.8|
|24.9|
|24.10|

quickly
Making corrections
Showing matches
Completion
Repeating an insert
Copying from another line
Inserting a register
Abbreviations
Entering special characters
Digraphs
Normal mode commands

|usr_25.txt|

Editing formatted text
|25.1| Breaking lines
|25.2| Aligning text
|25.3| Indents and tabs
|25.4| Dealing with long lines
|25.5| Editing tables

|usr_26.txt|

Repeating
|26.1|
|26.2|
|26.3|
|26.4|

Repeating with Visual mode
Add and subtract
Making a change in many files
Using Vim from a shell script

|usr_27.txt|

Search commands and patterns
|27.1| Ignoring case
|27.2| Wrapping around the file end
|27.3| Offsets
|27.4| Matching multiple times
|27.5| Alternatives
|27.6| Character ranges
|27.7| Character classes
|27.8| Matching a line break
|27.9| Examples

|usr_28.txt|

Folding
|28.1|
|28.2|
|28.3|
|28.4|
|28.5|
|28.6|
|28.7|
|28.8|
|28.9|
|28.10|

What is folding?
Manual folding
Working with folds
Saving and restoring folds
Folding by indent
Folding with markers
Folding by syntax
Folding by expression
Folding unchanged lines
Which fold method to use?

|usr_29.txt|

Moving through programs
|29.1| Using tags
|29.2| The preview window
|29.3| Moving through a program
|29.4| Finding global identifiers
|29.5| Finding local identifiers

|usr_30.txt|

Editing programs
|30.1| Compiling
|30.2| Indenting C files
|30.3| Automatic indenting
|30.4| Other indenting

usr_doc.txt

Page 5
|30.5|
|30.6|

Tabs and spaces
Formatting comments

|usr_31.txt|

Exploiting the GUI
|31.1| The file browser
|31.2| Confirmation
|31.3| Menu shortcuts
|31.4| Vim window position and size
|31.5| Various

|usr_32.txt|

The undo tree
|32.1| Undo up to a file write
|32.2| Numbering changes
|32.3| Jumping around the tree
|32.4| Time travelling

==============================================================================
Tuning Vim
Make Vim work as you like it.
|usr_40.txt|

Make new commands
|40.1| Key mapping
|40.2| Defining command−line commands
|40.3| Autocommands

|usr_41.txt|

Write a Vim script
|41.1| Introduction
|41.2| Variables
|41.3| Expressions
|41.4| Conditionals
|41.5| Executing an expression
|41.6| Using functions
|41.7| Defining a function
|41.8| Lists and Dictionaries
|41.9| Exceptions
|41.10| Various remarks
|41.11| Writing a plugin
|41.12| Writing a filetype plugin
|41.13| Writing a compiler plugin
|41.14| Writing a plugin that loads quickly
|41.15| Writing library scripts
|41.16| Distributing Vim scripts

|usr_42.txt|

Add new menus
|42.1| Introduction
|42.2| Menu commands
|42.3| Various
|42.4| Toolbar and popup menus

|usr_43.txt|

Using filetypes
|43.1| Plugins for a filetype
|43.2| Adding a filetype

|usr_44.txt|

Your own syntax highlighted
|44.1| Basic syntax commands
|44.2| Keywords
|44.3| Matches
|44.4| Regions
|44.5| Nested items
|44.6| Following groups
|44.7| Other arguments
|44.8| Clusters
|44.9| Including another syntax file
|44.10| Synchronizing
|44.11| Installing a syntax file

usr_doc.txt

Page 6
|44.12| Portable syntax file layout

|usr_45.txt|

Select your language
|45.1| Language for Messages
|45.2| Language for Menus
|45.3| Using another encoding
|45.4| Editing files with a different encoding
|45.5| Entering language text

==============================================================================
Making Vim Run
Before you can use Vim.
|usr_90.txt|

Installing Vim
|90.1| Unix
|90.2| MS−Windows
|90.3| Upgrading
|90.4| Common installation issues
|90.5| Uninstalling Vim

==============================================================================
Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_01.txt*

Page 7
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2010 Nov 03

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
About the manuals
This chapter introduces the manuals available with Vim.
conditions under which the commands are explained.
|01.1|
|01.2|
|01.3|
|01.4|

Read this to know the

Two manuals
Vim installed
Using the Vim tutor
Copyright

Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*01.1* Two manuals
The Vim documentation consists of two parts:
1. The User manual
Task oriented explanations, from simple to complex.
end like a book.

Reads from start to

2. The Reference manual
Precise description of how everything in Vim works.
The notation used in these manuals is explained here: |notation|
JUMPING AROUND
The text contains hyperlinks between the two parts, allowing you to quickly
jump between the description of an editing task and a precise explanation of
the commands and options used for it. Use these two commands:
Press
Press

CTRL−]
CTRL−O

to jump to a subject under the cursor.
to jump back (repeat to go further back).

Many links are in vertical bars, like this: |bars|. The bars themselves may
be hidden or invisible, see below. An option name, like 'number', a command
in double quotes like ":write" and any other word can also be used as a link.
Try it out: Move the cursor to CTRL−] and press CTRL−] on it.
Other subjects can be found with the ":help" command, see |help.txt|.
The bars and stars are usually hidden with the |conceal| feature. They also
use |hl−Ignore|, using the same color for the text as the background. You can
make them visible with:
:set conceallevel=0
:hi link HelpBar Normal
:hi link HelpStar Normal
==============================================================================
*01.2* Vim installed
Most of the manuals assume that Vim has been properly installed. If you
didn't do that yet, or if Vim doesn't run properly (e.g., files can't be found
or in the GUI the menus do not show up) first read the chapter on
installation: |usr_90.txt|.
*not−compatible*
The manuals often assume you are using Vim with Vi−compatibility switched

usr_doc.txt

Page 8

off. For most commands this doesn't matter, but sometimes it is important,
e.g., for multi−level undo. An easy way to make sure you are using a nice
setup is to copy the example vimrc file. By doing this inside Vim you don't
have to check out where it is located. How to do this depends on the system
you are using:
Unix:

:!cp −i $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim ~/.vimrc
MS−DOS, MS−Windows, OS/2:
:!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/_vimrc
Amiga:
:!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/.vimrc
If the file already exists you probably want to keep it.
If you start Vim now, the 'compatible' option should be off.
with this command:

You can check it

:set compatible?
If it responds with "nocompatible" you are doing well. If the response is
"compatible" you are in trouble. You will have to find out why the option is
still set. Perhaps the file you wrote above is not found. Use this command
to find out:

:scriptnames
If your file is not in the list, check its location and name. If it is in the
list, there must be some other place where the 'compatible' option is switched
back on.
For more info see |vimrc| and |compatible−default|.

Note:
This manual is about using Vim in the normal way. There is an
alternative called "evim" (easy Vim). This is still Vim, but used in
a way that resembles a click−and−type editor like Notepad. It always
stays in Insert mode, thus it feels very different. It is not
explained in the user manual, since it should be mostly self
explanatory. See |evim−keys| for details.
==============================================================================
*01.3* Using the Vim tutor
*tutor* *vimtutor*
Instead of reading the text (boring!) you can use the vimtutor to learn your
first Vim commands. This is a 30 minute tutorial that teaches the most basic
Vim functionality hands−on.
On Unix, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start it from the shell:

vimtutor
On MS−Windows you can find it in the Program/Vim menu.
vimtutor.bat in the $VIMRUNTIME directory.

Or execute

This will make a copy of the tutor file, so that you can edit it without
the risk of damaging the original.
There are a few translated versions of the tutor. To find out if yours is
available, use the two−letter language code. For French:

vimtutor fr
On Unix, if you prefer using the GUI version of Vim, use "gvimtutor" or
"vimtutor −g" instead of "vimtutor".
For OpenVMS, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start vimtutor from a

usr_doc.txt

Page 9

VMS prompt with:

@VIM:vimtutor
Optionally add the two−letter language code as above.
On other systems, you have to do a little work:
1. Copy the tutor file.

You can do this with Vim (it knows where to find it):

vim −u NONE −c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor' −c 'w! TUTORCOPY' −c 'q'
This will write the file "TUTORCOPY" in the current directory. To use a
translated version of the tutor, append the two−letter language code to the
filename. For French:

vim −u NONE −c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor.fr' −c 'w! TUTORCOPY' −c 'q'
2. Edit the copied file with Vim:

vim −u NONE −c "set nocp" TUTORCOPY
The extra arguments make sure Vim is started in a good mood.
3. Delete the copied file when you are finished with it:

del TUTORCOPY
==============================================================================
*01.4* Copyright
*manual−copyright*
The Vim user manual and reference manual are Copyright (c) 1988−2003 by Bram
Moolenaar. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and
conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later. The
latest version is presently available at:
http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/
People who contribute to the manuals must agree with the above copyright
notice.
*frombook*
Parts of the user manual come from the book "Vi IMproved − Vim" by Steve
Oualline (published by New Riders Publishing, ISBN: 0735710015). The Open
Publication License applies to this book. Only selected parts are included
and these have been modified (e.g., by removing the pictures, updating the
text for Vim 6.0 and later, fixing mistakes). The omission of the |frombook|
tag does not mean that the text does not come from the book.
Many thanks to Steve Oualline and New Riders for creating this book and
publishing it under the OPL! It has been a great help while writing the user
manual. Not only by providing literal text, but also by setting the tone and
style.
If you make money through selling the manuals, you are strongly encouraged to
donate part of the profit to help AIDS victims in Uganda. See |iccf|.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_02.txt|

The first steps in Vim

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_02.txt*

Page 10
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2010 Jul 20

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
The first steps in Vim
This chapter provides just enough information to edit a file with Vim.
well or fast, but you can edit. Take some time to practice with these
commands, they form the base for what follows.
|02.1|
|02.2|
|02.3|
|02.4|
|02.5|
|02.6|
|02.7|
|02.8|

Not

Running Vim for the First Time
Inserting text
Moving around
Deleting characters
Undo and Redo
Other editing commands
Getting out
Finding help

Next chapter: |usr_03.txt| Moving around
Previous chapter: |usr_01.txt| About the manuals
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*02.1* Running Vim for the First Time
To start Vim, enter this command:

gvim file.txt
In UNIX you can type this at any command prompt. If you are running Microsoft
Windows, open an MS−DOS prompt window and enter the command.
In either case, Vim starts editing a file called file.txt. Because this
is a new file, you get a blank window. This is what your screen will look
like:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|#
|
|~
|
|~
|
|~
|
|~
|
|"file.txt" [New file]
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
('#" is the cursor position.)
The tilde (~) lines indicate lines not in the file. In other words, when Vim
runs out of file to display, it displays tilde lines. At the bottom of the
screen, a message line indicates the file is named file.txt and shows that you
are creating a new file. The message information is temporary and other
information overwrites it.
THE VIM COMMAND
The gvim command causes the editor to create a new window for editing.
use this command:

If you

vim file.txt
the editing occurs inside your command window. In other words, if you are
running inside an xterm, the editor uses your xterm window. If you are using
an MS−DOS command prompt window under Microsoft Windows, the editing occurs
inside this window. The text in the window will look the same for both

usr_doc.txt
versions, but with gvim you have extra features, like a menu bar.
that later.

Page 11
More about

==============================================================================
*02.2* Inserting text
The Vim editor is a modal editor. That means that the editor behaves
differently, depending on which mode you are in. The two basic modes are
called Normal mode and Insert mode. In Normal mode the characters you type
are commands. In Insert mode the characters are inserted as text.
Since you have just started Vim it will be in Normal mode. To start Insert
mode you type the "i" command (i for Insert). Then you can enter
the text. It will be inserted into the file. Do not worry if you make
mistakes; you can correct them later. To enter the following programmer's
limerick, this is what you type:

iA very intelligent turtle
Found programming UNIX a hurdle
After typing "turtle" you press the  key to start a new line. Finally
you press the  key to stop Insert mode and go back to Normal mode. You
now have two lines of text in your Vim window:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|A very intelligent turtle
|
|Found programming UNIX a hurdle
|
|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
WHAT IS THE MODE?
To be able to see what mode you are in, type this command:

:set showmode
You will notice that when typing the colon Vim moves the cursor to the last
line of the window. That's where you type colon commands (commands that start
with a colon). Finish this command by pressing the  key (all commands
that start with a colon are finished this way).
Now, if you type the "i" command Vim will display −−INSERT−− at the bottom
of the window. This indicates you are in Insert mode.
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|A very intelligent turtle
|
|Found programming UNIX a hurdle
|
|~
|
|~
|
|−− INSERT −−
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
If you press  to go back to Normal mode the last line will be made blank.
GETTING OUT OF TROUBLE
One of the problems for Vim novices is mode confusion, which is caused by
forgetting which mode you are in or by accidentally typing a command that
switches modes. To get back to Normal mode, no matter what mode you are in,
press the  key. Sometimes you have to press it twice. If Vim beeps back
at you, you already are in Normal mode.
==============================================================================
*02.3* Moving around

usr_doc.txt

Page 12

After you return to Normal mode, you can move around by using these keys:
h
j
k
l

left
down
up
right

*hjkl*

At first, it may appear that these commands were chosen at random. After all,
who ever heard of using l for right? But actually, there is a very good
reason for these choices: Moving the cursor is the most common thing you do in
an editor, and these keys are on the home row of your right hand. In other
words, these commands are placed where you can type them the fastest
(especially when you type with ten fingers).

Note:
You can also move the cursor by using the arrow keys. If you do,
however, you greatly slow down your editing because to press the arrow
keys, you must move your hand from the text keys to the arrow keys.
Considering that you might be doing it hundreds of times an hour, this
can take a significant amount of time.
Also, there are keyboards which do not have arrow keys, or which
locate them in unusual places; therefore, knowing the use of the hjkl
keys helps in those situations.
One way to remember these commands is that h is on the left, l is on the
right and j points down. In a picture:

k
h

l
j

The best way to learn these commands is by using them. Use the "i" command to
insert some more lines of text. Then use the hjkl keys to move around and
insert a word somewhere. Don't forget to press  to go back to Normal
mode. The |vimtutor| is also a nice way to learn by doing.
For Japanese users, Hiroshi Iwatani suggested using this:

Huan Ho
(Yellow river)

Komsomolsk
^
|
<−−− −−−> Los Angeles
|
v
Java (the island, not the programming language)

==============================================================================
*02.4* Deleting characters
To delete a character, move the cursor over it and type "x". (This is a
throwback to the old days of the typewriter, when you deleted things by typing
xxxx over them.) Move the cursor to the beginning of the first line, for
example, and type xxxxxxx (seven x's) to delete "A very ". The result should
look like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|intelligent turtle
|
|Found programming UNIX a hurdle
|
|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
Now you can insert new text, for example by typing:

usr_doc.txt

Page 13

iA young 
This begins an insert (the i), inserts the words "A young", and then exits
insert mode (the final ). The result:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|A young intelligent turtle
|
|Found programming UNIX a hurdle
|
|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
DELETING A LINE
To delete a whole line use the "dd" command.
then move up to fill the gap:

The following line will

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|Found programming UNIX a hurdle
|
|~
|
|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
DELETING A LINE BREAK
In Vim you can join two lines together, which means that the line break
between them is deleted. The "J" command does this.
Take these two lines:
A young intelligent
turtle
Move the cursor to the first line and press "J":
A young intelligent turtle
==============================================================================
*02.5* Undo and Redo
Suppose you delete too much. Well, you can type it in again, but an easier
way exists. The "u" command undoes the last edit. Take a look at this in
action: After using "dd" to delete the first line, "u" brings it back.
Another one: Move the cursor to the A in the first line:
A young intelligent turtle
Now type xxxxxxx to delete "A young".

The result is as follows:

intelligent turtle
Type "u" to undo the last delete.
restores the character.

That delete removed the g, so the undo

g intelligent turtle
The next u command restores the next−to−last character deleted:
ng intelligent turtle
The next u command gives you the u, and so on:

usr_doc.txt

Page 14

ung intelligent turtle
oung intelligent turtle
young intelligent turtle
young intelligent turtle
A young intelligent turtle

Note:
If you type "u" twice, and the result is that you get the same text
back, you have Vim configured to work Vi compatible. Look here to fix
this: |not−compatible|.
This text assumes you work "The Vim Way". You might prefer to use
the good old Vi way, but you will have to watch out for small
differences in the text then.
REDO
If you undo too many times, you can press CTRL−R (redo) to reverse the
preceding command. In other words, it undoes the undo. To see this in
action, press CTRL−R twice. The character A and the space after it disappear:
young intelligent turtle
There's a special version of the undo command, the "U" (undo line) command.
The undo line command undoes all the changes made on the last line that was
edited. Typing this command twice cancels the preceding "U".
A very intelligent turtle
xxxx

Delete very

A intelligent turtle
xxxxxx

Delete turtle

A intelligent
Restore line with "U"
A very intelligent turtle
Undo "U" with "u"
A intelligent
The "U" command is a change by itself, which the "u" command undoes and CTRL−R
redoes. This might be a bit confusing. Don't worry, with "u" and CTRL−R you
can go to any of the situations you had. More about that in section |32.2|.
==============================================================================
*02.6* Other editing commands
Vim has a large number of commands to change the text.
Here are a few often used ones.

See |Q_in| and below.

APPENDING
The "i" command inserts a character before the character under the cursor.
That works fine; but what happens if you want to add stuff to the end of the
line? For that you need to insert text after the cursor. This is done with
the "a" (append) command.
For example, to change the line
and that's not saying much for the turtle.
to
and that's not saying much for the turtle!!!
move the cursor over to the dot at the end of the line. Then type "x" to
delete the period. The cursor is now positioned at the end of the line on the
e in turtle. Now type

usr_doc.txt

Page 15

a!!!
to append three exclamation points after the e in turtle:
and that's not saying much for the turtle!!!
OPENING UP A NEW LINE
The "o" command creates a new, empty line below the cursor and puts Vim in
Insert mode. Then you can type the text for the new line.
Suppose the cursor is somewhere in the first of these two lines:
A very intelligent turtle
Found programming UNIX a hurdle
If you now use the "o" command and type new text:

oThat liked using Vim
The result is:
A very intelligent turtle
That liked using Vim
Found programming UNIX a hurdle
The "O" command (uppercase) opens a line above the cursor.
USING A COUNT
Suppose you want to move up nine lines. You can type "kkkkkkkkk" or you can
enter the command "9k". In fact, you can precede many commands with a number.
Earlier in this chapter, for instance, you added three exclamation points to
the end of a line by typing "a!!!". Another way to do this is to use the
command "3a!". The count of 3 tells the command that follows to triple
its effect. Similarly, to delete three characters, use the command "3x". The
count always comes before the command it applies to.
==============================================================================
*02.7* Getting out
To exit, use the "ZZ" command.

This command writes the file and exits.

Note:
Unlike many other editors, Vim does not automatically make a backup
file. If you type "ZZ", your changes are committed and there's no
turning back. You can configure the Vim editor to produce backup
files, see |07.4|.
DISCARDING CHANGES
Sometimes you will make a sequence of changes and suddenly realize you were
better off before you started. Not to worry; Vim has a
quit−and−throw−things−away command. It is:

:q!
Don't forget to press  to finish the command.
For those of you interested in the details, the three parts of this command
are the colon (:), which enters Command−line mode; the q command, which tells
the editor to quit; and the override command modifier (!).
The override command modifier is needed because Vim is reluctant to throw
away changes. If you were to just type ":q", Vim would display an error

usr_doc.txt
message and refuse to exit:
E37: No write since last change (use ! to override)
By specifying the override, you are in effect telling Vim, "I know that what
I'm doing looks stupid, but I'm a big boy and really want to do this."
If you want to continue editing with Vim: The ":e!" command reloads the
original version of the file.
==============================================================================
*02.8* Finding help
Everything you always wanted to know can be found in the Vim help files.
Don't be afraid to ask!
To get generic help use this command:

:help
You could also use the first function key . If your keyboard has a 
key it might work as well.
If you don't supply a subject, ":help" displays the general help window.
The creators of Vim did something very clever (or very lazy) with the help
system: They made the help window a normal editing window. You can use all
the normal Vim commands to move through the help information. Therefore h, j,
k, and l move left, down, up and right.
To get out of the help window, use the same command you use to get out of
the editor: "ZZ". This will only close the help window, not exit Vim.
As you read the help text, you will notice some text enclosed in vertical bars
(for example, |help|). This indicates a hyperlink. If you position the
cursor anywhere between the bars and press CTRL−] (jump to tag), the help
system takes you to the indicated subject. (For reasons not discussed here,
the Vim terminology for a hyperlink is tag. So CTRL−] jumps to the location
of the tag given by the word under the cursor.)
After a few jumps, you might want to go back. CTRL−T (pop tag) takes you
back to the preceding position. CTRL−O (jump to older position) also works
nicely here.
At the top of the help screen, there is the notation *help.txt*. This name
between "*" characters is used by the help system to define a tag (hyperlink
destination).
See |29.1| for details about using tags.
To get help on a given subject, use the following command:

:help {subject}
To get help on the "x" command, for example, enter the following:

:help x
To find out how to delete text, use this command:

:help deleting
To get a complete index of all Vim commands, use the following command:

:help index
When you need to get help for a control character command (for example,
CTRL−A), you need to spell it with the prefix "CTRL−".

:help CTRL−A
The Vim editor has many different modes. By default, the help system displays
the normal−mode commands. For example, the following command displays help

Page 16

usr_doc.txt

Page 17

for the normal−mode CTRL−H command:

:help CTRL−H
To identify other modes, use a mode prefix.
insert−mode version of a command, use "i_".
following command:

If you want the help for the
For CTRL−H this gives you the

:help i_CTRL−H
When you start the Vim editor, you can use several command−line arguments.
These all begin with a dash (−). To find what the −t argument does, for
example, use the command:

:help −t
The Vim editor has a number of options that enable you to configure and
customize the editor. If you want help for an option, you need to enclose it
in single quotation marks. To find out what the 'number' option does, for
example, use the following command:

:help 'number'
The table with all mode prefixes can be found here: |help−context|.
Special keys are enclosed in angle brackets. To find help on the up−arrow key
in Insert mode, for instance, use this command:

:help i_
If you see an error message that you don't understand, for example:
E37: No write since last change (use ! to override)
You can use the error ID at the start to find help about it:

:help E37
Summary:

*help−summary*

:help

:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help
:help

Gives you very general help. Scroll down to see a list of all
helpfiles, including those added locally (i.e. not distributed
with Vim).
user−toc.txt
Table of contents of the User Manual.
:subject
Ex−command "subject", for instance the following:
:help
Help on getting help.
abc
normal−mode command "abc".
CTRL−B
Control key  in Normal mode.
i_abc
i_CTRL−B
The same in Insert mode.
v_abc
v_CTRL−B
The same in Visual mode.
c_abc
c_CTRL−B
The same in Command−line mode.
'subject'
Option 'subject'.
subject()

usr_doc.txt

Page 18

Function "subject".
:help −subject
Command−line option "−subject".
:help +subject
Compile−time feature "+subject".
:help EventName
Autocommand event "EventName".
:help digraphs.txt
The top of the helpfile "digraph.txt".
Similarly for any other helpfile.
:help pattern
Find a help tag starting with "pattern". Repeat  for
others.
:help pattern
See all possible help tag matches "pattern" at once.
:helpgrep pattern
Search the whole text of all help files for pattern "pattern".
Jumps to the first match. Jump to other matches with:
:cn
next match
:cprev
:cN
previous match
:cfirst
:clast
first or last match
:copen
:cclose
open/close the quickfix window; press  to jump
to the item under the cursor
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_03.txt|

Moving around

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_03.txt*

Page 19
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Jun 21

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Moving around
Before you can insert or delete text the cursor has to be moved to the right
place. Vim has a large number of commands to position the cursor. This
chapter shows you how to use the most important ones. You can find a list of
these commands below |Q_lr|.
|03.1|
|03.2|
|03.3|
|03.4|
|03.5|
|03.6|
|03.7|
|03.8|
|03.9|
|03.10|

Word movement
Moving to the start or end of a line
Moving to a character
Matching a parenthesis
Moving to a specific line
Telling where you are
Scrolling around
Simple searches
Simple search patterns
Using marks

Next chapter: |usr_04.txt| Making small changes
Previous chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*03.1* Word movement
To move the cursor forward one word, use the "w" command. Like most Vim
commands, you can use a numeric prefix to move past multiple words. For
example, "3w" moves three words. This figure shows how it works:
This is a line with example text
−−−>−−>−>−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
w w w
3w
Notice that "w" moves to the start of the next word if it already is at the
start of a word.
The "b" command moves backward to the start of the previous word:
This is a line with example text
<−−−−<−−<−<−−−−−−−−−<−−−
b
b b
2b
b
There is also the "e" command that moves to the next end of a word and "ge",
which moves to the previous end of a word:
This is a line with example text
<−
<−−− −−−−−>
−−−−>
ge
ge
e
e
If you are at the last word of a line, the "w" command will take you to the
first word in the next line. Thus you can use this to move through a
paragraph, much faster than using "l". "b" does the same in the other
direction.
A word ends at a non−word character, such as a ".", "−" or ")". To change
what Vim considers to be a word, see the 'iskeyword' option.
It is also possible to move by white−space separated WORDs. This is not a
word in the normal sense, that's why the uppercase is used. The commands for
moving by WORDs are also uppercase, as this figure shows:
ge

b

w

e

usr_doc.txt

Page 20

<−
<−
−−−>
−−−>
This is−a line, with special/separated/words (and some more).
<−−−−− <−−−−−
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
−−−−−>
gE
B
W
E
With this mix of lowercase and uppercase commands, you can quickly move
forward and backward through a paragraph.
==============================================================================
*03.2* Moving to the start or end of a line
The "$" command moves the cursor to the end of a line.
an  key it will do the same thing.

If your keyboard has

The "^" command moves to the first non−blank character of the line. The "0"
command (zero) moves to the very first character of the line. The  key
does the same thing. In a picture:
^
<−−−−−−−−−−−−
.....This is a line with example text
<−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
0
$
(the "....." indicates blanks here)
The "$" command takes a count, like most movement commands. But moving to
the end of the line several times doesn't make sense. Therefore it causes the
editor to move to the end of another line. For example, "1$" moves you to
the end of the first line (the one you're on), "2$" to the end of the next
line, and so on.
The "0" command doesn't take a count argument, because the "0" would be
part of the count. Unexpectedly, using a count with "^" doesn't have any
effect.
==============================================================================
*03.3* Moving to a character
One of the most useful movement commands is
command. The command "fx" searches forward
character x. Hint: "f" stands for "Find".
For example, you are at the beginning of
want to go to the h of human. Just execute
will be positioned over the h:

the single−character search
in the line for the single
the following line. Suppose you
the command "fh" and the cursor

To err is human. To really foul up you need a computer.
−−−−−−−−−−>−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
fh
fy
This also shows that the command "fy" moves to the end of the word really.
You can specify a count; therefore, you can go to the "l" of "foul" with
"3fl":
To err is human. To really foul up you need a computer.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
3fl
The "F" command searches to the left:
To err is human. To really foul up you need a computer.
<−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
Fh
The "tx" command works like the "fx" command, except it stops one character
before the searched character. Hint: "t" stands for "To". The backward
version of this command is "Tx".

usr_doc.txt

Page 21

To err is human. To really foul up you need a computer.
<−−−−−−−−−−−− −−−−−−−−−−−−−>
Th
tn
These four commands can be repeated with ";". "," repeats in the other
direction. The cursor is never moved to another line. Not even when the
sentence continues.
Sometimes you will start a search, only to realize that you have typed the
wrong command. You type "f" to search backward, for example, only to realize
that you really meant "F". To abort a search, press . So "f" is an
aborted forward search and doesn't do anything. Note:  cancels most
operations, not just searches.
==============================================================================
*03.4* Matching a parenthesis
When writing a program you often end up with nested () constructs. Then the
"%" command is very handy: It moves to the matching paren. If the cursor is
on a "(" it will move to the matching ")". If it's on a ")" it will move to
the matching "(".
%
<−−−−−>
if (a == (b * c) / d)
<−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
%
This also works for [] and {} pairs.
'matchpairs' option.)

(This can be defined with the

When the cursor is not on a useful character, "%" will search forward to find
one. Thus if the cursor is at the start of the line of the previous example,
"%" will search forward and find the first "(". Then it moves to its match:
if (a == (b * c) / d)
−−−+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
%
==============================================================================
*03.5* Moving to a specific line
If you are a C or C++ programmer, you are familiar with error messages such as
the following:
prog.c:33: j

undeclared (first use in this function)

This tells you that you might want to fix something on line 33. So how do you
find line 33? One way is to do "9999k" to go to the top of the file and "32j"
to go down thirty two lines. It is not a good way, but it works. A much
better way of doing things is to use the "G" command. With a count, this
command positions you at the given line number. For example, "33G" puts you
on line 33. (For a better way of going through a compiler's error list, see
|usr_30.txt|, for information on the :make command.)
With no argument, "G" positions you at the end of the file. A quick way to
go to the start of a file use "gg". "1G" will do the same, but is a tiny bit
more typing.

7G

|
|
|
|
|
|
V

first line of a file
text text text text
text text text text
text text text text
text text text text
text text text text
text text text text

^
|
|
|
|

gg

usr_doc.txt

Page 22
text text text text
text text text text
last line of a file

|
|
V

G

Another way to move to a line is using the "%" command with a count. For
example "50%" moves you to halfway the file. "90%" goes to near the end.
The previous assumes that you want to move to a line in the file, no matter if
it's currently visible or not. What if you want to move to one of the lines
you can see? This figure shows the three commands you can use:
H −−>

M −−>

L −−>

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| text sample text
|
| sample text
|
| text sample text
|
| sample text
|
| text sample text
|
| sample text
|
| text sample text
|
| sample text
|
| text sample text
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

Hints: "H" stands for Home, "M" for Middle and "L" for Last.
==============================================================================
*03.6* Telling where you are
To see where you are in a file, there are three ways:
1.

Use the CTRL−G command.
option is off):

You get a message like this (assuming the 'ruler'

"usr_03.txt" line 233 of 650 −−35%−− col 45−52
This shows the name of the file you are editing, the line number where the
cursor is, the total number of lines, the percentage of the way through
the file and the column of the cursor.
Sometimes you will see a split column number. For example, "col 2−9".
This indicates that the cursor is positioned on the second character, but
because character one is a tab, occupying eight spaces worth of columns,
the screen column is 9.
2.

Set the 'number' option.
every line:

This will display a line number in front of

:set number
To switch this off again:

:set nonumber
Since 'number' is a boolean option, prepending "no" to its name has the
effect of switching it off. A boolean option has only these two values,
it is either on or off.
Vim has many options. Besides the boolean ones there are options with
a numerical value and string options. You will see examples of this where
they are used.
3.

Set the 'ruler' option. This will display the cursor position in the
lower right corner of the Vim window:

:set ruler
Using the 'ruler' option has the advantage that it doesn't take much room,
thus there is more space for your text.

usr_doc.txt

Page 23

==============================================================================
*03.7* Scrolling around
The CTRL−U command scrolls down half a screen of text. Think of looking
through a viewing window at the text and moving this window up by half the
height of the window. Thus the window moves up over the text, which is
backward in the file. Don't worry if you have a little trouble remembering
which end is up. Most users have the same problem.
The CTRL−D command moves the viewing window down half a screen in the file,
thus scrolls the text up half a screen.

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| some text
|
|
|
| 123456
|
| 7890
|
|
|
| example
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

CTRL−U

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
−−> |
|
| 123456
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

CTRL−D −−>

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| 7890
|
|
|
| example
|
| example
|
| example
|
| example
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

To scroll one line at a time use CTRL−E (scroll up) and CTRL−Y (scroll down).
Think of CTRL−E to give you one line Extra. (If you use MS−Windows compatible
key mappings CTRL−Y will redo a change instead of scroll.)
To scroll forward by a whole screen (except for two lines) use CTRL−F. The
other way is backward, CTRL−B is the command to use. Fortunately CTRL−F is
Forward and CTRL−B is Backward, that's easy to remember.
A common issue is that after moving down many lines with "j" your cursor is at
the bottom of the screen. You would like to see the context of the line with
the cursor. That's done with the "zz" command.
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
| line with cursor |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

zz

−−>

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
| line with cursor |
| some text
|
| some text
|
| some text
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

The "zt" command puts the cursor line at the top, "zb" at the bottom. There
are a few more scrolling commands, see |Q_sc|. To always keep a few lines of
context around the cursor, use the 'scrolloff' option.
==============================================================================
*03.8* Simple searches
To search for a string, use the "/string" command.
for example, use the command:

To find the word include,

/include
You will notice that when you type the "/" the cursor jumps to the last line
of the Vim window, like with colon commands. That is where you type the word.

usr_doc.txt

Page 24

You can press the backspace key (backarrow or ) to make corrections.
the  and  cursor keys when necessary.
Pressing  executes the command.

Use

Note:
The characters .*[]^%/\?~$ have special meanings. If you want to use
them in a search you must put a \ in front of them. See below.
To find the next occurrence of the same string use the "n" command.
to find the first #include after the cursor:

Use this

/#include
And then type "n" several times. You will move to each #include in the text.
You can also use a count if you know which match you want. Thus "3n" finds
the third match. Using a count with "/" doesn't work.
The "?" command works like "/" but searches backwards:

?word
The "N" command repeats the last search the opposite direction. Thus using
"N" after a "/" command search backwards, using "N" after "?" searches
forward.
IGNORING CASE
Normally you have to type exactly what you want to find. If you don't care
about upper or lowercase in a word, set the 'ignorecase' option:

:set ignorecase
If you now search for "word", it will also match "Word" and "WORD".
case again:

To match

:set noignorecase
HISTORY
Suppose you do three searches:

/one
/two
/three
Now let's start searching by typing a simple "/" without pressing . If
you press  (the cursor key), Vim puts "/three" on the command line.
Pressing  at this point searches for three. If you do not press
, but press  instead, Vim changes the prompt to "/two". Another
press of  moves you to "/one".
You can also use the  cursor key to move through the history of
search commands in the other direction.
If you know what a previously used pattern starts with, and you want to use it
again, type that character before pressing . With the previous example,
you can type "/o" and Vim will put "/one" on the command line.
The commands starting with ":" also have a history. That allows you to recall
a previous command and execute it again. These two histories are separate.
SEARCHING FOR A WORD IN THE TEXT
Suppose you see the word "TheLongFunctionName" in the text and you want to

usr_doc.txt

Page 25

find the next occurrence of it. You could type "/TheLongFunctionName", but
that's a lot of typing. And when you make a mistake Vim won't find it.
There is an easier way: Position the cursor on the word and use the "*"
command. Vim will grab the word under the cursor and use it as the search
string.
The "#" command does the same in the other direction. You can prepend a
count: "3*" searches for the third occurrence of the word under the cursor.
SEARCHING FOR WHOLE WORDS
If you type "/the" it will also match "there".
in "the" use:

To only find words that end

/the\>
The "\>" item is a special marker that only matches at the end of a word.
Similarly "\<" only matches at the begin of a word. Thus to search for the
word "the" only:

/\
This does not match "there" or "soothe". Notice that the "*" and "#" commands
use these start−of−word and end−of−word markers to only find whole words (you
can use "g*" and "g#" to match partial words).
HIGHLIGHTING MATCHES
While editing a program you see a variable called "nr". You want to check
where it's used. You could move the cursor to "nr" and use the "*" command
and press "n" to go along all the matches.
There is another way. Type this command:

:set hlsearch
If you now search for "nr", Vim will highlight all matches. That is a very
good way to see where the variable is used, without the need to type commands.
To switch this off:

:set nohlsearch
Then you need to switch it on again if you want to use it for the next search
command. If you only want to remove the highlighting, use this command:

:nohlsearch
This doesn't reset the option. Instead, it disables the highlighting. As
soon as you execute a search command, the highlighting will be used again.
Also for the "n" and "N" commands.
TUNING SEARCHES
There are a few options that change how searching works.
essential ones:

These are the

:set incsearch
This makes Vim display the match for the string while you are still typing it.
Use this to check if the right match will be found. Then press  to
really jump to that location. Or type more to change the search string.

:set nowrapscan
This stops the search at the end of the file.

Or, when you are searching

usr_doc.txt
backwards, at the start of the file. The 'wrapscan' option is on by default,
thus searching wraps around the end of the file.
INTERMEZZO
If you like one of the options mentioned before, and set it each time you use
Vim, you can put the command in your Vim startup file.
Edit the file, as mentioned at |not−compatible|. Or use this command to
find out where it is:

:scriptnames
Edit the file, for example with:

:edit ~/.vimrc
Then add a line with the command to set the option, just like you typed it in
Vim. Example:

Go:set hlsearch
"G" moves to the end of the file. "o" starts a new line, where you type the
":set" command. You end insert mode with . Then write the file:

ZZ
If you now start Vim again, the 'hlsearch' option will already be set.
==============================================================================
*03.9* Simple search patterns
The Vim editor uses regular expressions to specify what to search for.
Regular expressions are an extremely powerful and compact way to specify a
search pattern. Unfortunately, this power comes at a price, because regular
expressions are a bit tricky to specify.
In this section we mention only a few essential ones. More about search
patterns and commands in chapter 27 |usr_27.txt|. You can find the full
explanation here: |pattern|.
BEGINNING AND END OF A LINE
The ^ character matches the beginning of a line. On an English−US keyboard
you find it above the 6. The pattern "include" matches the word include
anywhere on the line. But the pattern "^include" matches the word include
only if it is at the beginning of a line.
The $ character matches the end of a line. Therefore, "was$" matches the
word was only if it is at the end of a line.
Let's mark the places where "the" matches in this example line with "x"s:
the solder holding one of the chips melted and the
xxx
xxx
xxx
Using "/the$" we find this match:
the solder holding one of the chips melted and the
xxx
And with "/^the" we find this one:
the solder holding one of the chips melted and the
xxx
You can try searching with "/^the$", it will only match a single line
consisting of "the". White space does matter here, thus if a line contains a

Page 26

usr_doc.txt

Page 27

space after the word, like "the ", the pattern will not match.
MATCHING ANY SINGLE CHARACTER
The . (dot) character matches any existing character. For example, the
pattern "c.m" matches a string whose first character is a c, whose second
character is anything, and whose the third character is m. Example:
We use a computer that became the cummin winter.
xxx
xxx
xxx
MATCHING SPECIAL CHARACTERS
If you really want to match a dot, you must avoid its special meaning by
putting a backslash before it.
If you search for "ter.", you will find these matches:
We use a computer that became the cummin winter.
xxxx
xxxx
Searching for "ter\." only finds the second match.
==============================================================================
*03.10* Using marks
When you make a jump to a position with the "G" command, Vim remembers the
position from before this jump. This position is called a mark. To go back
where you came from, use this command:

``
This ` is a backtick or open single−quote character.
If you use the same command a second time you will jump back again. That's
because the ` command is a jump itself, and the position from before this jump
is remembered.
Generally, every time you do a command that can move the cursor further than
within the same line, this is called a jump. This includes the search
commands "/" and "n" (it doesn't matter how far away the match is). But not
the character searches with "fx" and "tx" or the word movements "w" and "e".
Also, "j" and "k" are not considered to be a jump. Even when you use a
count to make them move the cursor quite a long way away.
The `` command jumps back and forth, between two points. The CTRL−O command
jumps to older positions (Hint: O for older). CTRL−I then jumps back to newer
positions (Hint: I is just next to O on the keyboard). Consider this sequence
of commands:

33G
/^The
CTRL−O
You first jump to line 33, then search for a line that starts with "The".
Then with CTRL−O you jump back to line 33. Another CTRL−O takes you back to
where you started. If you now use CTRL−I you jump to line 33 again. And
to the match for "The" with another CTRL−I.
|
|
|
V
|
/^The |
33G

example
example
example
line 33
example
example

text
text
text
text
text
text

^
|
|
^
|
|

CTRL−O

CTRL−O

|
| CTRL−I
|
V
|
| CTRL−I

usr_doc.txt

Page 28
V

There you are
example text

|

V

Note:
CTRL−I is the same as .
The ":jumps" command gives a list of positions you jumped to.
you used last is marked with a ">".

The entry which

*bookmark*

NAMED MARKS

Vim enables you to place your own marks in the text. The command "ma" marks
the place under the cursor as mark a. You can place 26 marks (a through z) in
your text. You can't see them, it's just a position that Vim remembers.
To go to a mark, use the command `{mark}, where {mark} is the mark letter.
Thus to move to the a mark:

`a
The command 'mark (single quotation mark, or apostrophe) moves you to the
beginning of the line containing the mark. This differs from the `mark
command, which moves you to marked column.
The marks can be very useful when working on two related parts in a file.
Suppose you have some text near the start of the file you need to look at,
while working on some text near the end of the file.
Move to the text at the start and place the s (start) mark there:

ms
Then move to the text you want to work on and put the e (end) mark there:

me
Now you can move around, and when you want to look at the start of the file,
you use this to jump there:

's
Then you can use '' to jump back to where you were, or 'e to jump to the text
you were working on at the end.
There is nothing special about using s for start and e for end, they are
just easy to remember.
You can use this command to get a list of marks:

:marks
You will notice a few special marks.
'
"
[
]

These include:

The cursor position before doing a jump
The cursor position when last editing the file
Start of the last change
End of the last change

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_04.txt|

Making small changes

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_04.txt*

Page 29
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2008 Sep 06

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Making small changes
This chapter shows you several ways of making corrections and moving text
around. It teaches you the three basic ways to change text: operator−motion,
Visual mode and text objects.
|04.1|
|04.2|
|04.3|
|04.4|
|04.5|
|04.6|
|04.7|
|04.8|
|04.9|
|04.10|

Operators and motions
Changing text
Repeating a change
Visual mode
Moving text
Copying text
Using the clipboard
Text objects
Replace mode
Conclusion

Next chapter: |usr_05.txt| Set your settings
Previous chapter: |usr_03.txt| Moving around
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*04.1* Operators and motions
In chapter 2 you learned the "x" command to delete a single character. And
using a count: "4x" deletes four characters.
The "dw" command deletes a word. You may recognize the "w" command as the
move word command. In fact, the "d" command may be followed by any motion
command, and it deletes from the current location to the place where the
cursor winds up.
The "4w" command, for example, moves the cursor over four words. The d4w
command deletes four words.
To err is human. To really foul up you need a computer.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
d4w
To err is human. you need a computer.
Vim only deletes up to the position where the motion takes the cursor. That's
because Vim knows that you probably don't want to delete the first character
of a word. If you use the "e" command to move to the end of a word, Vim
guesses that you do want to include that last character:
To err is human. you need a computer.
−−−−−−−−>
d2e
To err is human. a computer.
Whether the character under the cursor is included depends on the command you
used to move to that character. The reference manual calls this "exclusive"
when the character isn't included and "inclusive" when it is.
The "$" command moves to the end of a line. The "d$" command deletes from the
cursor to the end of the line. This is an inclusive motion, thus the last
character of the line is included in the delete operation:
To err is human. a computer.
−−−−−−−−−−−−>

usr_doc.txt

Page 30
d$

To err is human
There is a pattern here: operator−motion. You first type an operator command.
For example, "d" is the delete operator. Then you type a motion command like
"4l" or "w". This way you can operate on any text you can move over.
==============================================================================
*04.2* Changing text
Another operator is "c", change. It acts just like the "d" operator, except
it leaves you in Insert mode. For example, "cw" changes a word. Or more
specifically, it deletes a word and then puts you in Insert mode.
To err is human
−−−−−−−>
c2wbe
To be human
This "c2wbe" contains these bits:
c
2w
be


the change operator
move two words (they are deleted and Insert mode started)
insert this text
back to Normal mode

If you have paid attention, you will have noticed something strange: The space
before "human" isn't deleted. There is a saying that for every problem there
is an answer that is simple, clear, and wrong. That is the case with the
example used here for the "cw" command. The c operator works just like the
d operator, with one exception: "cw". It actually works like "ce", change to
end of word. Thus the space after the word isn't included. This is an
exception that dates back to the old Vi. Since many people are used to it
now, the inconsistency has remained in Vim.
MORE CHANGES
Like "dd" deletes a whole line, "cc" changes a whole line.
existing indent (leading white space) though.

It keeps the

Just like "d$" deletes until the end of the line, "c$" changes until the end
of the line. It's like doing "d$" to delete the text and then "a" to start
Insert mode and append new text.
SHORTCUTS
Some operator−motion commands are used so often that they have been given a
single letter command:
x
X
D
C
s
S

stands
stands
stands
stands
stands
stands

for
for
for
for
for
for

dl
dh
d$
c$
cl
cc

(delete
(delete
(delete
(change
(change
(change

character under the cursor)
character left of the cursor)
to end of the line)
to end of the line)
one character)
a whole line)

WHERE TO PUT THE COUNT
The commands "3dw" and "d3w" delete three words. If you want to get really
picky about things, the first command, "3dw", deletes one word three times;
the command "d3w" deletes three words once. This is a difference without a

usr_doc.txt

Page 31

distinction. You can actually put in two counts, however. For example,
"3d2w" deletes two words, repeated three times, for a total of six words.
REPLACING WITH ONE CHARACTER
The "r" command is not an operator. It waits for you to type a character, and
will replace the character under the cursor with it. You could do the same
with "cl" or with the "s" command, but with "r" you don't have to press 
there is somerhing grong here
rT
rt
rw
There is something wrong here
Using a count with "r" causes that many characters to be replaced with the
same character. Example:
There is something wrong here
5rx
There is something xxxxx here
To replace a character with a line break use "r". This deletes one
character and inserts a line break. Using a count here only applies to the
number of characters deleted: "4r" replaces four characters with one
line break.
==============================================================================
*04.3* Repeating a change
The "." command is one of the most simple yet powerful commands in Vim. It
repeats the last change. For instance, suppose you are editing an HTML file
and want to delete all the  tags. You position the cursor on the first
and delete the  with the command "df>". You then go to the < of the next
 and kill it using the "." command. The "." command executes the last
change command (in this case, "df>"). To delete another tag, position the
cursor on the < and use the "." command.
f<
df>
f<
.
f<
.

find first <
delete to >
find next <
repeat df>
find next <
repeat df>

To generate a table of contents
−−−>
−−>
−−−−−−−−−>
−−−>
−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
−−>

The "." command works for all changes you make, except for the "u" (undo),
CTRL−R (redo) and commands that start with a colon (:).
Another example: You want to change the word "four" to "five". It appears
several times in your text. You can do this quickly with this sequence of
commands:
/four
cwfive
n
.
n
.

find the first string "four"
change the word to "five"
find the next "four"
repeat the change to "five'
find the next "four"
repeat the change
etc.

==============================================================================
*04.4* Visual mode
To delete simple items the operator−motion changes work quite well.

But often

usr_doc.txt

Page 32

it's not so easy to decide which command will move over the text you want to
change. Then you can use Visual mode.
You start Visual mode by pressing "v". You move the cursor over the text you
want to work on. While you do this, the text is highlighted. Finally type
the operator command.
For example, to delete from halfway one word to halfway another word:
This is an examination sample of visual mode
−−−−−−−−−−>
velllld
This is an example of visual mode
When doing this you don't really have to count how many times you have to
press "l" to end up in the right position. You can immediately see what text
will be deleted when you press "d".
If at any time you decide you don't want to do anything with the highlighted
text, just press  and Visual mode will stop without doing anything.
SELECTING LINES
If you want to work on whole lines, use "V" to start Visual mode. You will
see right away that the whole line is highlighted, without moving around.
When you move left or right nothing changes. When you move up or down the
selection is extended whole lines at a time.
For example, select three lines with "Vjj":
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| text more text
|
>> | more text more text
| |
selected lines >> | text text text
| | Vjj
>> | text more
| V
| more text more
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
SELECTING BLOCKS
If you want to work on a rectangular block of characters, use CTRL−V to start
Visual mode. This is very useful when working on tables.
name
pierre
john
steve

Q1
123
0
392

Q2
455
90
63

Q3
234
39
334

To delete the middle "Q2" column, move the cursor to the "Q" of "Q2". Press
CTRL−V to start blockwise Visual mode. Now move the cursor three lines down
with "3j" and to the next word with "w". You can see the first character of
the last column is included. To exclude it, use "h". Now press "d" and the
middle column is gone.
GOING TO THE OTHER SIDE
If you have selected some text in Visual mode, and discover that you need to
change the other end of the selection, use the "o" command (Hint: o for other
end). The cursor will go to the other end, and you can move the cursor to
change where the selection starts. Pressing "o" again brings you back to the
other end.
When using blockwise selection, you have four corners. "o" only takes you to
one of the other corners, diagonally. Use "O" to move to the other corner in

usr_doc.txt

Page 33

the same line.

Note that "o" and "O" in Visual mode work very differently from Normal mode,
where they open a new line below or above the cursor.
==============================================================================
*04.5* Moving text
When you delete something with the "d", "x", or another command, the text is
saved. You can paste it back by using the p command. (The Vim name for
this is put).
Take a look at how this works. First you will delete an entire line, by
putting the cursor on the line you want to delete and typing "dd". Now you
move the cursor to where you want to put the line and use the "p" (put)
command. The line is inserted on the line below the cursor.
a line
line 2
line 3

a line
line 3

dd

p

a line
line 3
line 2

Because you deleted an entire line, the "p" command placed the text line below
the cursor. If you delete part of a line (a word, for instance), the "p"
command puts it just after the cursor.
Some more boring try text to out commands.
−−−−>
dw
Some more boring text to out commands.
−−−−−−−>
welp
Some more boring text to try out commands.
MORE ON PUTTING
The "P" command puts text like "p", but before the cursor. When you deleted a
whole line with "dd", "P" will put it back above the cursor. When you deleted
a word with "dw", "P" will put it back just before the cursor.
You can repeat putting as many times as you like.

The same text will be used.

You can use a count with "p" and "P". The text will be repeated as many times
as specified with the count. Thus "dd" and then "3p" puts three copies of the
same deleted line.
SWAPPING TWO CHARACTERS
Frequently when you are typing, your fingers get ahead of your brain (or the
other way around?). The result is a typo such as "teh" for "the". Vim
makes it easy to correct such problems. Just put the cursor on the e of "teh"
and execute the command "xp". This works as follows: "x" deletes the
character e and places it in a register. "p" puts the text after the cursor,
which is after the h.
teh
x

th
p

the

==============================================================================
*04.6* Copying text
To copy text from one place to another, you could delete it, use "u" to undo
the deletion and then "p" to put it somewhere else. There is an easier way:
yanking. The "y" operator copies text into a register. Then a "p" command

usr_doc.txt

Page 34

can be used to put it.
Yanking is just a Vim name for copying. The "c" letter was already used
for the change operator, and "y" was still available. Calling this
operator "yank" made it easier to remember to use the "y" key.
Since "y" is an operator, you use "yw" to yank a word.
usual. To yank two words use "y2w". Example:

A count is possible as

let sqr = LongVariable *
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
y2w
let sqr = LongVariable *
p
let sqr = LongVariable * LongVariable
Notice that "yw" includes the white space after a word.
this, use "ye".

If you don't want

The "yy" command yanks a whole line, just like "dd" deletes a whole line.
Unexpectedly, while "D" deletes from the cursor to the end of the line, "Y"
works like "yy", it yanks the whole line. Watch out for this inconsistency!
Use "y$" to yank to the end of the line.
a text line
line 2
last line

yy

a text line
line 2
last line

p

a text line
line 2
a text line
last line

==============================================================================
*04.7* Using the clipboard
If you are using the GUI version of Vim (gvim), you can find the "Copy" item
in the "Edit" menu. First select some text with Visual mode, then use the
Edit/Copy menu. The selected text is now copied to the clipboard. You can
paste the text in other programs. In Vim itself too.
If you have copied text to the clipboard in another application, you can paste
it in Vim with the Edit/Paste menu. This works in Normal mode and Insert
mode. In Visual mode the selected text is replaced with the pasted text.
The "Cut" menu item deletes the text before it's put on the clipboard. The
"Copy", "Cut" and "Paste" items are also available in the popup menu (only
when there is a popup menu, of course). If your Vim has a toolbar, you can
also find these items there.
If you are not using the GUI, or if you don't like using a menu, you have to
use another way. You use the normal "y" (yank) and "p" (put) commands, but
prepend "* (double−quote star) before it. To copy a line to the clipboard:

"*yy
To put text from the clipboard back into the text:

"*p
This only works on versions of Vim that include clipboard support.
the clipboard in section |09.3| and here: |clipboard|.

More about

==============================================================================
*04.8* Text objects
If the cursor is in the middle of a word and you want to delete that word, you
need to move back to its start before you can do "dw". There is a simpler way
to do this: "daw".

usr_doc.txt

Page 35

this is some example text.
daw
this is some text.
The "d" of "daw" is the delete operator. "aw" is a text object. Hint: "aw"
stands for "A Word". Thus "daw" is "Delete A Word". To be precise, the white
space after the word is also deleted (the white space before the word at the
end of the line).
Using text objects is the third way to make changes in Vim. We already had
operator−motion and Visual mode. Now we add operator−text object.
It is very similar to operator−motion, but instead of operating on the text
between the cursor position before and after a movement command, the text
object is used as a whole. It doesn't matter where in the object the cursor
was.
To change a whole sentence use "cis".

Take this text:

Hello there. This
is an example. Just
some text.
Move to the start of the second line, on "is an".
Hello there.
some text.

Now use "cis":

Just

The cursor is in between the blanks in the first line.
sentence "Another line.":
Hello there.
some text.

Another line.

Now you type the new

Just

"cis" consists of the "c" (change) operator and the "is" text object. This
stands for "Inner Sentence". There is also the "as" (a sentence) object. The
difference is that "as" includes the white space after the sentence and "is"
doesn't. If you would delete a sentence, you want to delete the white space
at the same time, thus use "das". If you want to type new text the white
space can remain, thus you use "cis".
You can also use text objects in Visual mode. It will include the text object
in the Visual selection. Visual mode continues, thus you can do this several
times. For example, start Visual mode with "v" and select a sentence with
"as". Now you can repeat "as" to include more sentences. Finally you use an
operator to do something with the selected sentences.
You can find a long list of text objects here: |text−objects|.
==============================================================================
*04.9* Replace mode
The "R" command causes Vim to enter replace mode. In this mode, each
character you type replaces the one under the cursor. This continues until
you type .
In this example you start Replace mode on the first "t" of "text":
This is text.
Rinteresting.
This is interesting.
You may have noticed that this command replaced 5 characters in the line with
twelve others. The "R" command automatically extends the line if it runs out
of characters to replace. It will not continue on the next line.

usr_doc.txt

Page 36

You can switch between Insert mode and Replace mode with the  key.
When you use  (backspace) to make correction, you will notice that the
old text is put back. Thus it works like an undo command for the last typed
character.
==============================================================================
*04.10* Conclusion
The operators, movement commands and text objects give you the possibility to
make lots of combinations. Now that you know how it works, you can use N
operators with M movement commands to make N * M commands!
You can find a list of operators here: |operator|
For example, there are many other ways to delete pieces of text.
few often used ones:
x
X
D
dw
db
diw
daw
dG
dgg

delete
delete
delete
delete
delete
delete
delete
delete
delete

Here are a

character under the cursor (short for "dl")
character before the cursor (short for "dh")
from cursor to end of line (short for "d$")
from cursor to next start of word
from cursor to previous start of word
word under the cursor (excluding white space)
word under the cursor (including white space)
until the end of the file
until the start of the file

If you use "c" instead of "d" they become change commands.
yank the text. And so forth.

And with "y" you

There are a few often used commands to make changes that didn't fit somewhere
else:
~

change case of the character under the cursor, and move the
cursor to the next character. This is not an operator (unless
'tildeop' is set), thus you can't use it with a motion
command. It does work in Visual mode and changes case for
all the selected text then.

I

Start Insert mode after moving the cursor to the first
non−blank in the line.

A

Start Insert mode after moving the cursor to the end of the
line.

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_05.txt|

Set your settings

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_05.txt*

Page 37
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2012 Nov 20

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Set your settings
Vim can be tuned to work like you want it to. This chapter shows you how to
make Vim start with options set to different values. Add plugins to extend
Vim's capabilities. Or define your own macros.
|05.1|
|05.2|
|05.3|
|05.4|
|05.5|
|05.6|
|05.7|

The vimrc file
The example vimrc file explained
Simple mappings
Adding a plugin
Adding a help file
The option window
Often used options

Next chapter: |usr_06.txt| Using syntax highlighting
Previous chapter: |usr_04.txt| Making small changes
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*05.1* The vimrc file
*vimrc−intro*
You probably got tired of typing commands that you use very often. To start
Vim with all your favorite option settings and mappings, you write them in
what is called the vimrc file. Vim executes the commands in this file when it
starts up.
If you already have a vimrc file (e.g., when your sysadmin has one setup for
you), you can edit it this way:

:edit $MYVIMRC
If you don't have a vimrc file yet, see |vimrc| to find out where you can
create a vimrc file. Also, the ":version" command mentions the name of the
"user vimrc file" Vim looks for.
For Unix and Macintosh this file is always used and is recommended:
~/.vimrc
For MS−DOS and MS−Windows you can use one of these:
$HOME/_vimrc
$VIM/_vimrc
The vimrc file can contain all the commands that you type after a colon. The
most simple ones are for setting options. For example, if you want Vim to
always start with the 'incsearch' option on, add this line your vimrc file:

set incsearch
For this new line to take effect you need to exit Vim and start it again.
Later you will learn how to do this without exiting Vim.
This chapter only explains the most basic items.
to write a Vim script file: |usr_41.txt|.

For more information on how

==============================================================================
*05.2* The example vimrc file explained
*vimrc_example.vim*
In the first chapter was explained how the example vimrc (included in the

usr_doc.txt

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Vim distribution) file can be used to make Vim startup in not−compatible mode
(see |not−compatible|). The file can be found here:
$VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim
In this section we will explain the various commands used in this file. This
will give you hints about how to set up your own preferences. Not everything
will be explained though. Use the ":help" command to find out more.

set nocompatible
As mentioned in the first chapter, these manuals explain Vim working in an
improved way, thus not completely Vi compatible. Setting the 'compatible'
option off, thus 'nocompatible' takes care of this.

set backspace=indent,eol,start
This specifies where in Insert mode the  is allowed to delete the
character in front of the cursor. The three items, separated by commas, tell
Vim to delete the white space at the start of the line, a line break and the
character before where Insert mode started.

set autoindent
This makes Vim use the indent of the previous line for a newly created line.
Thus there is the same amount of white space before the new line. For example
when pressing  in Insert mode, and when using the "o" command to open a
new line.

if has("vms")
set nobackup
else
set backup
endif
This tells Vim to keep a backup copy of a file when overwriting it. But not
on the VMS system, since it keeps old versions of files already. The backup
file will have the same name as the original file with "~" added. See |07.4|

set history=50
Keep 50 commands and 50 search patterns in the history.
you want to remember fewer or more lines.

Use another number if

set ruler
Always display the current cursor position in the lower right corner of the
Vim window.

set showcmd
Display an incomplete command in the lower right corner of the Vim window,
left of the ruler. For example, when you type "2f", Vim is waiting for you to
type the character to find and "2f" is displayed. When you press "w" next,
the "2fw" command is executed and the displayed "2f" is removed.
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|text in the Vim window
|
|~
|

usr_doc.txt

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|~
|
|−− VISUAL −−
2f
43,8
17% |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^
'showmode'
'showcmd' 'ruler'

set incsearch
Display the match for a search pattern when halfway typing it.

map Q gq
This defines a key mapping. More about that in the next section. This
defines the "Q" command to do formatting with the "gq" operator. This is how
it worked before Vim 5.0. Otherwise the "Q" command starts Ex mode, but you
will not need it.

vnoremap _g y:exe "grep /" . escape(@", '\\/') . "/ *.c *.h"
This mapping yanks the visually selected text and searches for it in C files.
This is a complicated mapping. You can see that mappings can be used to do
quite complicated things. Still, it is just a sequence of commands that are
executed like you typed them.

if &t_Co > 2 || has("gui_running")
syntax on
set hlsearch
endif
This switches on syntax highlighting, but only if colors are available. And
the 'hlsearch' option tells Vim to highlight matches with the last used search
pattern. The "if" command is very useful to set options only when some
condition is met. More about that in |usr_41.txt|.
*vimrc−filetype*

filetype plugin indent on
This switches on three very clever mechanisms:
1. Filetype detection.
Whenever you start editing a file, Vim will try to figure out what kind of
file this is. When you edit "main.c", Vim will see the ".c" extension and
recognize this as a "c" filetype. When you edit a file that starts with
"#!/bin/sh", Vim will recognize it as a "sh" filetype.
The filetype detection is used for syntax highlighting and the other two
items below.
See |filetypes|.
2. Using filetype plugin files
Many different filetypes are edited with different options. For example,
when you edit a "c" file, it's very useful to set the 'cindent' option to
automatically indent the lines. These commonly useful option settings are
included with Vim in filetype plugins. You can also add your own, see
|write−filetype−plugin|.
3. Using indent files
When editing programs, the indent of a line can often be computed
automatically. Vim comes with these indent rules for a number of
filetypes. See |:filetype−indent−on| and 'indentexpr'.

autocmd FileType text setlocal textwidth=78

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This makes Vim break text to avoid lines getting longer than 78 characters.
But only for files that have been detected to be plain text. There are
actually two parts here. "autocmd FileType text" is an autocommand. This
defines that when the file type is set to "text" the following command is
automatically executed. "setlocal textwidth=78" sets the 'textwidth' option
to 78, but only locally in one file.
*restore−cursor*
autocmd BufReadPost *
\ if line("'\"") > 1 && line("'\"") <= line("$") |
\
exe "normal! g`\"" |
\ endif
Another autocommand. This time it is used after reading any file. The
complicated stuff after it checks if the '" mark is defined, and jumps to it
if so. The backslash at the start of a line is used to continue the command
from the previous line. That avoids a line getting very long.
See |line−continuation|. This only works in a Vim script file, not when
typing commands at the command−line.
==============================================================================
*05.3* Simple mappings
A mapping enables you
for example, that you
other words, you need
the :map command, you
is as follows:

to bind a set of Vim commands to a single key. Suppose,
need to surround certain words with curly braces. In
to change a word such as "amount" into "{amount}". With
can tell Vim that the F5 key does this job. The command

:map  i{ea}
Note:
When entering this command, you must enter  by typing four
characters. Similarly,  is not entered by pressing the 
key, but by typing five characters. Watch out for this difference
when reading the manual!
Let's break this down:

The F5 function key. This is the trigger key that causes the
command to be executed as the key is pressed.
i{

Insert the { character.

The  key ends Insert mode.

e

Move to the end of the word.

a}

Append the } to the word.

After you execute the ":map" command, all you have to do to put {} around a
word is to put the cursor on the first character and press F5.
In this example, the trigger is a single key; it can be any string. But when
you use an existing Vim command, that command will no longer be available.
You better avoid that.
One key that can be used with mappings is the backslash. Since you
probably want to define more than one mapping, add another character. You
could map "\p" to add parentheses around a word, and "\c" to add curly braces,
for example:

:map \p i(ea)
:map \c i{ea}
You need to type the \ and the p quickly after another, so that Vim knows they
belong together.
The ":map" command (with no arguments) lists your current mappings. At
least the ones for Normal mode. More about mappings in section |40.1|.

usr_doc.txt

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==============================================================================
*05.4* Adding a plugin
*add−plugin* *plugin*
Vim's functionality can be extended by adding plugins. A plugin is nothing
more than a Vim script file that is loaded automatically when Vim starts. You
can add a plugin very easily by dropping it in your plugin directory.
{not available when Vim was compiled without the |+eval| feature}
There are two types of plugins:
global plugin: Used for all kinds of files
filetype plugin: Only used for a specific type of file
The global plugins will be discussed first, then the filetype ones
|add−filetype−plugin|.
GLOBAL PLUGINS

*standard−plugin*

When you start Vim, it will automatically load a number of global plugins.
You don't have to do anything for this. They add functionality that most
people will want to use, but which was implemented as a Vim script instead of
being compiled into Vim. You can find them listed in the help index
|standard−plugin−list|. Also see |load−plugins|.
*add−global−plugin*
You can add a global plugin to add functionality that will always be present
when you use Vim. There are only two steps for adding a global plugin:
1. Get a copy of the plugin.
2. Drop it in the right directory.
GETTING A GLOBAL PLUGIN
Where can you find plugins?
− Some come with Vim. You can find them in the directory $VIMRUNTIME/macros
and its sub−directories.
− Download from the net. There is a large collection on http://www.vim.org.
− They are sometimes posted in a Vim |maillist|.
− You could write one yourself, see |write−plugin|.
Some plugins come as a vimball archive, see |vimball|.
Some plugins can be updated automatically, see |getscript|.
USING A GLOBAL PLUGIN
First read the text in the plugin itself to check for any special conditions.
Then copy the file to your plugin directory:
system
Unix
PC and OS/2
Amiga
Macintosh
Mac OS X
RISC−OS

plugin directory
~/.vim/plugin/
$HOME/vimfiles/plugin or $VIM/vimfiles/plugin
s:vimfiles/plugin
$VIM:vimfiles:plugin
~/.vim/plugin/
Choices:vimfiles.plugin

Example for Unix (assuming you didn't have a plugin directory yet):

mkdir ~/.vim
mkdir ~/.vim/plugin
cp /usr/local/share/vim/vim60/macros/justify.vim ~/.vim/plugin
That's all!

Now you can use the commands defined in this plugin to justify

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text.
Instead of putting plugins directly into the plugin/ directory, you may
better organize them by putting them into subdirectories under plugin/.
As an example, consider using "~/.vim/plugin/perl/*.vim" for all your Perl
plugins.
FILETYPE PLUGINS

*add−filetype−plugin* *ftplugins*

The Vim distribution comes with a set of plugins for different filetypes that
you can start using with this command:

:filetype plugin on
That's all!

See |vimrc−filetype|.

If you are missing a plugin for a filetype you are using, or you found a
better one, you can add it. There are two steps for adding a filetype plugin:
1. Get a copy of the plugin.
2. Drop it in the right directory.
GETTING A FILETYPE PLUGIN
You can find them in the same places as the global plugins. Watch out if the
type of file is mentioned, then you know if the plugin is a global or a
filetype one. The scripts in $VIMRUNTIME/macros are global ones, the filetype
plugins are in $VIMRUNTIME/ftplugin.
USING A FILETYPE PLUGIN

*ftplugin−name*

You can add a filetype plugin by dropping it in the right directory. The
name of this directory is in the same directory mentioned above for global
plugins, but the last part is "ftplugin". Suppose you have found a plugin for
the "stuff" filetype, and you are on Unix. Then you can move this file to the
ftplugin directory:

mv thefile ~/.vim/ftplugin/stuff.vim
If that file already exists you already have a plugin for "stuff". You might
want to check if the existing plugin doesn't conflict with the one you are
adding. If it's OK, you can give the new one another name:

mv thefile ~/.vim/ftplugin/stuff_too.vim
The underscore is used to separate the name of the filetype from the rest,
which can be anything. If you use "otherstuff.vim" it wouldn't work, it would
be loaded for the "otherstuff" filetype.
On MS−DOS you cannot use long filenames. You would run into trouble if you
add a second plugin and the filetype has more than six characters. You can
use an extra directory to get around this:

mkdir $VIM/vimfiles/ftplugin/fortran
copy thefile $VIM/vimfiles/ftplugin/fortran/too.vim
The generic names for the filetype plugins are:

ftplugin/.vim
ftplugin/_.vim
ftplugin//.vim
Here "" can be any name that you prefer.
Examples for the "stuff" filetype on Unix:

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~/.vim/ftplugin/stuff.vim
~/.vim/ftplugin/stuff_def.vim
~/.vim/ftplugin/stuff/header.vim
The  part is the name of the filetype the plugin is to be used for.
Only files of this filetype will use the settings from the plugin. The 
part of the plugin file doesn't matter, you can use it to have several plugins
for the same filetype. Note that it must end in ".vim".
Further reading:
|filetype−plugins|
|load−plugins|
|ftplugin−overrule|
|write−plugin|
|plugin−details|
|new−filetype|

Documentation for the filetype plugins and information
about how to avoid that mappings cause problems.
When the global plugins are loaded during startup.
Overruling the settings from a global plugin.
How to write a plugin script.
For more information about using plugins or when your
plugin doesn't work.
How to detect a new file type.

==============================================================================
*05.5* Adding a help file
*add−local−help* *matchit−install*
If you are lucky, the plugin you installed also comes with a help file. We
will explain how to install the help file, so that you can easily find help
for your new plugin.
Let us use the "matchit.vim" plugin as an example (it is included with
Vim). This plugin makes the "%" command jump to matching HTML tags,
if/else/endif in Vim scripts, etc. Very useful, although it's not backwards
compatible (that's why it is not enabled by default).
This plugin comes with documentation: "matchit.txt". Let's first copy the
plugin to the right directory. This time we will do it from inside Vim, so
that we can use $VIMRUNTIME. (You may skip some of the "mkdir" commands if
you already have the directory.)

:!mkdir ~/.vim
:!mkdir ~/.vim/plugin
:!cp $VIMRUNTIME/macros/matchit.vim ~/.vim/plugin
The "cp" command is for Unix, on MS−DOS you can use "copy".
Now create a "doc" directory in one of the directories in 'runtimepath'.

:!mkdir ~/.vim/doc
Copy the help file to the "doc" directory.

:!cp $VIMRUNTIME/macros/matchit.txt ~/.vim/doc
Now comes the trick, which allows you to jump to the subjects in the new help
file: Generate the local tags file with the |:helptags| command.

:helptags ~/.vim/doc
Now you can use the

:help g%
command to find help for "g%" in the help file you just added.
entry for the local help file when you do:

You can see an

:help local−additions
The title lines from the local help files are automagically added to this
section. There you can see which local help files have been added and jump to

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them through the tag.
For writing a local help file, see |write−local−help|.
==============================================================================
*05.6* The option window
If you are looking for an option that does what you want, you can search in
the help files here: |options|. Another way is by using this command:

:options
This opens a new window, with a list of options with a one−line explanation.
The options are grouped by subject. Move the cursor to a subject and press
 to jump there. Press  again to jump back. Or use CTRL−O.
You can change the value of an option. For example, move to the "displaying
text" subject. Then move the cursor down to this line:
set wrap

nowrap

When you hit , the line will change to:
set nowrap

wrap

The option has now been switched off.
Just above this line is a short description of the 'wrap' option. Move the
cursor one line up to place it in this line. Now hit  and you jump to
the full help on the 'wrap' option.
For options that take a number or string argument you can edit the value.
Then press  to apply the new value. For example, move the cursor a few
lines up to this line:
set so=0
Position the cursor on the zero with "$". Change it into a five with "r5".
Then press  to apply the new value. When you now move the cursor
around you will notice that the text starts scrolling before you reach the
border. This is what the 'scrolloff' option does, it specifies an offset
from the window border where scrolling starts.
==============================================================================
*05.7* Often used options
There are an awful lot of options. Most of them you will hardly ever use.
Some of the more useful ones will be mentioned here. Don't forget you can
find more help on these options with the ":help" command, with single quotes
before and after the option name. For example:

:help 'wrap'
In case you have messed up an option value, you can set it back to the
default by putting an ampersand (&) after the option name. Example:

:set iskeyword&
NOT WRAPPING LINES
Vim normally wraps long lines, so that you can see all of the text. Sometimes
it's better to let the text continue right of the window. Then you need to
scroll the text left−right to see all of a long line. Switch wrapping off
with this command:

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:set nowrap
Vim will automatically scroll the text when you move to text that is not
displayed. To see a context of ten characters, do this:

:set sidescroll=10
This doesn't change the text in the file, only the way it is displayed.
WRAPPING MOVEMENT COMMANDS
Most commands for moving around will stop moving at the start and end of a
line. You can change that with the 'whichwrap' option. This sets it to the
default value:

:set whichwrap=b,s
This allows the  key, when used in the first position of a line, to move
the cursor to the end of the previous line. And the  key moves from
the end of a line to the start of the next one.
To allow the cursor keys  and  to also wrap, use this command:

:set whichwrap=b,s,<,>
To let  and  do this in

This is still only for Normal mode.
Insert mode as well:

:set whichwrap=b,s,<,>,[,]
There are a few other flags that can be added, see 'whichwrap'.
VIEWING TABS
When there are tabs in a file, you cannot see where they are.
visible:

To make them

:set list
Now every tab is displayed as ^I. And a $ is displayed at the end of each
line, so that you can spot trailing spaces that would otherwise go unnoticed.
A disadvantage is that this looks ugly when there are many Tabs in a file.
If you have a color terminal, or are using the GUI, Vim can show the spaces
and tabs as highlighted characters. Use the 'listchars' option:

:set listchars=tab:>−,trail:−
Now every tab will be displayed as ">−−−" (with more or less "−") and trailing
white space as "−". Looks a lot better, doesn't it?
KEYWORDS
The 'iskeyword' option specifies which characters can appear in a word:

:set iskeyword
iskeyword=@,48−57,_,192−255
The "@" stands for all alphabetic letters. "48−57" stands for ASCII
characters 48 to 57, which are the numbers 0 to 9. "192−255" are the
printable latin characters.
Sometimes you will want to include a dash in keywords, so that commands
like "w" consider "upper−case" to be one word. You can do it like this:

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:set iskeyword+=−
:set iskeyword
iskeyword=@,48−57,_,192−255,−
If you look at the new value, you will see that Vim has added a comma for you.
To remove a character use "−=". For example, to remove the underscore:

:set iskeyword−=_
:set iskeyword
iskeyword=@,48−57,192−255,−
This time a comma is automatically deleted.
ROOM FOR MESSAGES
When Vim starts there is one line at the bottom that is used for messages.
When a message is long, it is either truncated, thus you can only see part of
it, or the text scrolls and you have to press  to continue.
You can set the 'cmdheight' option to the number of lines used for
messages. Example:

:set cmdheight=3
This does mean there is less room to edit text, thus it's a compromise.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_06.txt|

Using syntax highlighting

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_06.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2009 Oct 28

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Using syntax highlighting
Black and white text is boring. With colors your file comes to life. This
not only looks nice, it also speeds up your work. Change the colors used for
the different sorts of text. Print your text, with the colors you see on the
screen.
|06.1|
|06.2|
|06.3|
|06.4|
|06.5|
|06.6|

Switching it on
No or wrong colors?
Different colors
With colors or without colors
Printing with colors
Further reading

Next chapter: |usr_07.txt| Editing more than one file
Previous chapter: |usr_05.txt| Set your settings
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*06.1* Switching it on
It all starts with one simple command:

:syntax enable
That should work in most situations to get color in your files. Vim will
automagically detect the type of file and load the right syntax highlighting.
Suddenly comments are blue, keywords brown and strings red. This makes it
easy to overview the file. After a while you will find that black&white text
slows you down!
If you always want to use syntax highlighting, put the ":syntax enable"
command in your |vimrc| file.
If you want syntax highlighting only when the terminal supports colors, you
can put this in your |vimrc| file:

if &t_Co > 1
syntax enable
endif
If you want syntax highlighting only in the GUI version, put the ":syntax
enable" command in your |gvimrc| file.
==============================================================================
*06.2* No or wrong colors?
There can be a number of reasons why you don't see colors:
− Your terminal does not support colors.
Vim will use bold, italic and underlined text, but this doesn't look
very nice. You probably will want to try to get a terminal with
colors. For Unix, I recommend the xterm from the XFree86 project:
|xfree−xterm|.
− Your terminal does support colors, but Vim doesn't know this.
Make sure your $TERM setting is correct. For example, when using an
xterm that supports colors:

setenv TERM xterm−color

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or (depending on your shell):

TERM=xterm−color; export TERM
The terminal name must match the terminal you are using. If it
still doesn't work, have a look at |xterm−color|, which shows a few
ways to make Vim display colors (not only for an xterm).
− The file type is not recognized.
Vim doesn't know all file types, and sometimes it's near to impossible
to tell what language a file uses. Try this command:

:set filetype
If the result is "filetype=" then the problem is indeed that Vim
doesn't know what type of file this is. You can set the type
manually:

:set filetype=fortran
To see which types are available, look in the directory
$VIMRUNTIME/syntax. For the GUI you can use the Syntax menu.
Setting the filetype can also be done with a |modeline|, so that the
file will be highlighted each time you edit it. For example, this
line can be used in a Makefile (put it near the start or end of the
file):

# vim: syntax=make
You might know how to detect the file type yourself. Often the file
name extension (after the dot) can be used.
See |new−filetype| for how to tell Vim to detect that file type.
− There is no highlighting for your file type.
You could try using a similar file type by manually setting it as
mentioned above. If that isn't good enough, you can write your own
syntax file, see |mysyntaxfile|.
Or the colors could be wrong:
− The colored text is very hard to read.
Vim guesses the background color that you are using. If it is black
(or another dark color) it will use light colors for text. If it is
white (or another light color) it will use dark colors for text. If
Vim guessed wrong the text will be hard to read. To solve this, set
the 'background' option. For a dark background:

:set background=dark
And for a light background:

:set background=light
Make sure you put this _before_ the ":syntax enable" command,
otherwise the colors will already have been set. You could do
":syntax reset" after setting 'background' to make Vim set the default
colors again.
− The colors are wrong when scrolling bottom to top.
Vim doesn't read the whole file to parse the text. It starts parsing
wherever you are viewing the file. That saves a lot of time, but
sometimes the colors are wrong. A simple fix is hitting CTRL−L. Or
scroll back a bit and then forward again.
For a real fix, see |:syn−sync|. Some syntax files have a way to make

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it look further back, see the help for the specific syntax file.
example, |tex.vim| for the TeX syntax.

For

==============================================================================
*06.3* Different colors
*:syn−default−override*
If you don't like the default colors, you can select another color scheme.
the GUI use the Edit/Color Scheme menu. You can also type the command:

In

:colorscheme evening
"evening" is the name of the color scheme. There are several others you might
want to try out. Look in the directory $VIMRUNTIME/colors.
When you found the color scheme that you like, add the ":colorscheme" command
to your |vimrc| file.
You could also write your own color scheme.
1. Select a color scheme that comes close.
directory. For Unix, this should work:

This is how you do it:
Copy this file to your own Vim

!mkdir ~/.vim/colors
!cp $VIMRUNTIME/colors/morning.vim ~/.vim/colors/mine.vim
This is done from Vim, because it knows the value of $VIMRUNTIME.
2. Edit the color scheme file.
term
cterm
ctermfg
ctermbg
gui
guifg
guibg

These entries are useful:

attributes
attributes
foreground
background
attributes
foreground
background

in a B&W terminal
in a color terminal
color in a color terminal
color in a color terminal
in the GUI
color in the GUI
color in the GUI

For example, to make comments green:

:highlight Comment ctermfg=green guifg=green
Attributes you can use for "cterm" and "gui" are "bold" and "underline".
If you want both, use "bold,underline". For details see the |:highlight|
command.
3. Tell Vim to always use your color scheme.

Put this line in your |vimrc|:

colorscheme mine
If you want to see what the most often used color combinations look like, use
this command:

:runtime syntax/colortest.vim
You will see text in various color combinations.
readable and look nice.

You can check which ones are

==============================================================================
*06.4* With colors or without colors
Displaying text in color takes a lot of effort. If you find the displaying
too slow, you might want to disable syntax highlighting for a moment:

:syntax clear
When editing another file (or the same one) the colors will come back.

usr_doc.txt

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*:syn−off*

If you want to stop highlighting completely use:

:syntax off
This will completely disable syntax highlighting and remove it immediately for
all buffers.
*:syn−manual*
If you want syntax highlighting only for specific files, use this:

:syntax manual
This will enable the syntax highlighting, but not switch it on automatically
when starting to edit a buffer. To switch highlighting on for the current
buffer, set the 'syntax' option:

:set syntax=ON
==============================================================================
*06.5* Printing with colors
*syntax−printing*
In the MS−Windows version you can print the current file with this command:

:hardcopy
You will get the usual printer dialog, where you can select the printer and a
few settings. If you have a color printer, the paper output should look the
same as what you see inside Vim. But when you use a dark background the
colors will be adjusted to look good on white paper.
There are several options that change the way Vim prints:
'printdevice'
'printheader'
'printfont'
'printoptions'
To print only a range of lines,
type the command:

use Visual mode to select the lines and then

v100j:hardcopy
"v" starts Visual mode. "100j" moves a hundred lines down, they will be
highlighted. Then ":hardcopy" will print those lines. You can use other
commands to move in Visual mode, of course.
This also works on Unix, if you have a PostScript printer. Otherwise, you
will have to do a bit more work. You need to convert the text to HTML first,
and then print it from a web browser.
Convert the current file to HTML with this command:

:TOhtml
In case that doesn't work:

:source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/2html.vim
You will see it crunching away, this can take quite a while for a large file.
Some time later another window shows the HTML code. Now write this somewhere
(doesn't matter where, you throw it away later):

:write main.c.html
Open this file in your favorite browser and print it from there.

If all goes

usr_doc.txt

Page 51

well, the output should look exactly as it does in Vim. See |2html.vim| for
details. Don't forget to delete the HTML file when you are done with it.
Instead of printing, you could also put the HTML file on a web server, and let
others look at the colored text.
==============================================================================
*06.6* Further reading
|usr_44.txt|
|syntax|

Your own syntax highlighted.
All the details.

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_07.txt|

Editing more than one file

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_07.txt*

Page 52
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Apr 24

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Editing more than one file
No matter how many files you have, you can edit them without leaving Vim.
Define a list of files to work on and jump from one to the other. Copy text
from one file and put it in another one.
|07.1|
|07.2|
|07.3|
|07.4|
|07.5|
|07.6|
|07.7|

Edit another file
A list of files
Jumping from file to file
Backup files
Copy text between files
Viewing a file
Changing the file name

Next chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows
Previous chapter: |usr_06.txt| Using syntax highlighting
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*07.1* Edit another file
So far you had to start Vim for every file you wanted to edit.
simpler way. To start editing another file, use this command:

There is a

:edit foo.txt
You can use any file name instead of "foo.txt". Vim will close the current
file and open the new one. If the current file has unsaved changes, however,
Vim displays an error message and does not open the new file:
E37: No write since last change (use ! to override)

Note:
Vim puts an error ID at the start of each error message. If you do
not understand the message or what caused it, look in the help system
for this ID. In this case:
:help E37
At this point, you have a number of alternatives.
using this command:

You can write the file

:write
Or you can force Vim to discard your changes and edit the new file, using the
force (!) character:

:edit! foo.txt
If you want to edit another file, but not write the changes in the current
file yet, you can make it hidden:

:hide edit foo.txt
The text with changes is still there, but you can't see it.
explained in section |22.4|: The buffer list.

This is further

==============================================================================
*07.2* A list of files

usr_doc.txt

Page 53

You can start Vim to edit a sequence of files.

For example:

vim one.c two.c three.c
This command starts Vim and tells it that you will be editing three files.
Vim displays just the first file. After you have done your thing in this
file, to edit the next file you use this command:

:next
If you have unsaved changes in the current file, you will get an error
message and the ":next" will not work. This is the same problem as with
":edit" mentioned in the previous section. To abandon the changes:

:next!
But mostly you want to save the changes and move on to the next file.
is a special command for this:

There

:wnext
This does the same as using two separate commands:

:write
:next
WHERE AM I?
To see which file in the argument list you are editing, look in the window
title. It should show something like "(2 of 3)". This means you are editing
the second file out of three files.
If you want to see the list of files, use this command:

:args
This is short for "arguments".

The output might look like this:

one.c [two.c] three.c
These are the files you started Vim with.
"two.c", is in square brackets.

The one you are currently editing,

MOVING TO OTHER ARGUMENTS
To go back one file:

:previous
This is just like the ":next" command, except that it moves in the other
direction. Again, there is a shortcut command for when you want to write the
file first:

:wprevious
To move to the very last file in the list:

:last
And to move back to the first one again:

:first
There is no ":wlast" or ":wfirst" command though!

usr_doc.txt

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You can use a count for ":next" and ":previous".

To skip two files forward:

:2next
AUTOMATIC WRITING
When moving around the files and making changes, you have to remember to use
":write". Otherwise you will get an error message. If you are sure you
always want to write modified files, you can tell Vim to automatically write
them:

:set autowrite
When you are editing a file which you may not want to write, switch it off
again:

:set noautowrite
EDITING ANOTHER LIST OF FILES
You can redefine the list of files without the need to exit Vim and start it
again. Use this command to edit three other files:

:args five.c six.c seven.h
Or use a wildcard, like it's used in the shell:

:args *.txt
Vim will take you to the first file in the list. Again, if the current file
has changes, you can either write the file first, or use ":args!" (with !
added) to abandon the changes.
DID YOU EDIT THE LAST FILE?
*arglist−quit*
When you use a list of files, Vim assumes you want to edit them all. To
protect you from exiting too early, you will get this error when you didn't
edit the last file in the list yet:
E173: 46 more files to edit
If you really want to exit, just do it again.
you did other commands in between).

Then it will work (but not when

==============================================================================
*07.3* Jumping from file to file
To quickly jump between two files, press CTRL−^ (on English−US keyboards the ^
is above the 6 key). Example:

:args one.c two.c three.c
You are now in one.c.

:next
Now you are in two.c. Now use CTRL−^ to go back to one.c. Another CTRL−^ and
you are back in two.c. Another CTRL−^ and you are in one.c again. If you now
do:

:next
You are in three.c.

Notice that the CTRL−^ command does not change the idea

usr_doc.txt
of where you are in the list of files.
":previous" do that.

Page 55
Only commands like ":next" and

The file you were previously editing is called the "alternate" file. When you
just started Vim CTRL−^ will not work, since there isn't a previous file.
PREDEFINED MARKS
After jumping to another file, you can use two predefined marks which are very
useful:

`"
This takes you to the position where the cursor was when you left the file.
Another mark that is remembered is the position where you made the last
change:

`.
Suppose you are editing the file "one.txt". Somewhere halfway the file you
use "x" to delete a character. Then you go to the last line with "G" and
write the file with ":w". You edit several other files, and then use ":edit
one.txt" to come back to "one.txt". If you now use `" Vim jumps to the last
line of the file. Using `. takes you to the position where you deleted the
character. Even when you move around in the file `" and `. will take you to
the remembered position. At least until you make another change or leave the
file.
FILE MARKS
In chapter 4 was explained how you can place a mark in a file with "mx" and
jump to that position with "`x". That works within one file. If you edit
another file and place marks there, these are specific for that file. Thus
each file has its own set of marks, they are local to the file.
So far we were using marks with a lowercase letter. There are also marks
with an uppercase letter. These are global, they can be used from any file.
For example suppose that we are editing the file "foo.txt". Go to halfway the
file ("50%") and place the F mark there (F for foo):

50%mF
Now edit the file "bar.txt" and place the B mark (B for bar) at its last line:

GmB
Now you can use the "'F" command to jump back to halfway foo.txt.
another file, type "'B" and you are at the end of bar.txt again.

Or edit yet

The file marks are remembered until they are placed somewhere else. Thus you
can place the mark, do hours of editing and still be able to jump back to that
mark.
It's often useful to think of a simple connection between the mark letter
and where it is placed. For example, use the H mark in a header file, M in
a Makefile and C in a C code file.
To see where a specific mark is, give an argument to the ":marks" command:

:marks M
You can also give several arguments:

:marks MCP
Don't forget that you can use CTRL−O and CTRL−I to jump to older and newer

usr_doc.txt
positions without placing marks there.
==============================================================================
*07.4* Backup files
Usually Vim does not produce a backup file. If you want to have one, all you
need to do is execute the following command:

:set backup
The name of the backup file is the original file with a ~ added to the end.
If your file is named data.txt, for example, the backup file name is
data.txt~.
If you do not like the fact that the backup files end with ~, you can
change the extension:

:set backupext=.bak
This will use data.txt.bak instead of data.txt~.
Another option that matters here is 'backupdir'. It specifies where the
backup file is written. The default, to write the backup in the same
directory as the original file, will mostly be the right thing.

Note:
When the 'backup' option isn't set but the 'writebackup' is, Vim will
still create a backup file. However, it is deleted as soon as writing
the file was completed successfully. This functions as a safety
against losing your original file when writing fails in some way (disk
full is the most common cause; being hit by lightning might be
another, although less common).
KEEPING THE ORIGINAL FILE
If you are editing source files, you might want to keep the file before you
make any changes. But the backup file will be overwritten each time you write
the file. Thus it only contains the previous version, not the first one.
To make Vim keep the original file, set the 'patchmode' option. This
specifies the extension used for the first backup of a changed file. Usually
you would do this:

:set patchmode=.orig
When you now edit the file data.txt for the first time, make changes and write
the file, Vim will keep a copy of the unchanged file under the name
"data.txt.orig".
If you make further changes to the file, Vim will notice that
"data.txt.orig" already exists and leave it alone. Further backup files will
then be called "data.txt~" (or whatever you specified with 'backupext').
If you leave 'patchmode' empty (that is the default), the original file
will not be kept.
==============================================================================
*07.5* Copy text between files
This explains how to copy text from one file to another. Let's start with a
simple example. Edit the file that contains the text you want to copy. Move
the cursor to the start of the text and press "v". This starts Visual mode.
Now move the cursor to the end of the text and press "y". This yanks (copies)
the selected text.
To copy the above paragraph, you would do:

:edit thisfile
/This
vjjjj$y

Page 56

usr_doc.txt

Page 57

Now edit the file you want to put the text in. Move the cursor to the
character where you want the text to appear after. Use "p" to put the text
there.
:edit otherfile
/There
p
Of course you can use many other commands to yank the text. For example, to
select whole lines start Visual mode with "V". Or use CTRL−V to select a
rectangular block. Or use "Y" to yank a single line, "yaw" to yank−a−word,
etc.
The "p" command puts the text after the cursor. Use "P" to put the text
before the cursor. Notice that Vim remembers if you yanked a whole line or a
block, and puts it back that way.
USING REGISTERS
When you want to copy several pieces of text from one file to another, having
to switch between the files and writing the target file takes a lot of time.
To avoid this, copy each piece of text to its own register.
A register is a place where Vim stores text. Here we will use the
registers named a to z (later you will find out there are others). Let's copy
a sentence to the f register (f for First):

"fyas
The "yas" command yanks a sentence like before. It's the "f that tells Vim
the text should be place in the f register. This must come just before the
yank command.
Now yank three whole lines to the l register (l for line):

"l3Y
The count could be before the "l just as well.
b (for block) register:

To yank a block of text to the

CTRL−Vjjww"by
Notice that the register specification "b is just before the "y" command.
This is required. If you would have put it before the "w" command, it would
not have worked.
Now you have three pieces of text in the f, l and b registers. Edit
another file, move around and place the text where you want it:

"fp
Again, the register specification "f comes before the "p" command.
You can put the registers in any order. And the text stays in the register
until you yank something else into it. Thus you can put it as many times as
you like.
When you delete text, you can also specify a register. Use this to move
several pieces of text around. For example, to delete−a−word and write it in
the w register:

"wdaw
Again, the register specification comes before the delete command "d".
APPENDING TO A FILE
When collecting lines of text into one file, you can use this command:

:write >> logfile

usr_doc.txt
This will write the text of the current file to the end of "logfile". Thus it
is appended. This avoids that you have to copy the lines, edit the log file
and put them there. Thus you save two steps. But you can only append to the
end of a file.
To append only a few lines, select them in Visual mode before typing
":write". In chapter 10 you will learn other ways to select a range of lines.
==============================================================================
*07.6* Viewing a file
Sometimes you only want to see what a file contains, without the intention to
ever write it back. There is the risk that you type ":w" without thinking and
overwrite the original file anyway. To avoid this, edit the file read−only.
To start Vim in readonly mode, use this command:

vim −R file
On Unix this command should do the same thing:

view file
You are now editing "file" in read−only mode. When you try using ":w" you
will get an error message and the file won't be written.
When you try to make a change to the file Vim will give you a warning:
W10: Warning: Changing a readonly file
The change will be done though. This allows for formatting the file, for
example, to be able to read it easily.
If you make changes to a file and forgot that it was read−only, you can
still write it. Add the ! to the write command to force writing.
If you really want to forbid making changes in a file, do this:

vim −M file
Now every attempt to change the text will fail. The help files are like this,
for example. If you try to make a change you get this error message:
E21: Cannot make changes, 'modifiable' is off
You could use the −M argument to setup Vim to work in a viewer mode. This is
only voluntary though, since these commands will remove the protection:

:set modifiable
:set write
==============================================================================
*07.7* Changing the file name
A clever way to start editing a new file is by using an existing file that
contains most of what you need. For example, you start writing a new program
to move a file. You know that you already have a program that copies a file,
thus you start with:

:edit copy.c
You can delete the stuff you don't need. Now you need to save the file under
a new name. The ":saveas" command can be used for this:

:saveas move.c
Vim will write the file under the given name, and edit that file. Thus the
next time you do ":write", it will write "move.c". "copy.c" remains
unmodified.

Page 58

usr_doc.txt

Page 59

When you want to change the name of the file you are editing, but don't
want to write the file, you can use this command:

:file move.c
Vim will mark the file as "not edited". This means that Vim knows this is not
the file you started editing. When you try to write the file, you might get
this message:
E13: File exists (use ! to override)
This protects you from accidentally overwriting another file.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_08.txt|

Splitting windows

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_08.txt*

Page 60
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Jul 18

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Splitting windows
Display two different files above each other. Or view two locations in the
file at the same time. See the difference between two files by putting them
side by side. All this is possible with split windows.
|08.1|
|08.2|
|08.3|
|08.4|
|08.5|
|08.6|
|08.7|
|08.8|
|08.9|

Split a window
Split a window on another file
Window size
Vertical splits
Moving windows
Commands for all windows
Viewing differences with vimdiff
Various
Tab pages

Next chapter: |usr_09.txt| Using the GUI
Previous chapter: |usr_07.txt| Editing more than one file
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*08.1* Split a window
The easiest way to open a new window is to use the following command:

:split
This command splits the screen into two windows and leaves the cursor in the
top one:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|/* file one.c */
|
|~
|
|~
|
|one.c=============================|
|/* file one.c */
|
|~
|
|one.c=============================|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
What you see here is two windows on the same file. The line with
that status line. It displays information about the window above
practice the status line will be in reverse video.)
The two windows allow you to view two parts of the same file.
you could make the top window show the variable declarations of a
the bottom one the code that uses these variables.

"====" is
it. (In
For example,
program, and

The CTRL−W w command can be used to jump between the windows. If you are in
the top window, CTRL−W w jumps to the window below it. If you are in the
bottom window it will jump to the first window. (CTRL−W CTRL−W does the same
thing, in case you let go of the CTRL key a bit later.)
CLOSE THE WINDOW
To close a window, use the command:

:close

usr_doc.txt
Actually, any command that quits editing a file works, like ":quit" and "ZZ".
But ":close" prevents you from accidentally exiting Vim when you close the
last window.
CLOSING ALL OTHER WINDOWS
If you have opened a whole bunch of windows, but now want to concentrate on
one of them, this command will be useful:

:only
This closes all windows, except for the current one. If any of the other
windows has changes, you will get an error message and that window won't be
closed.
==============================================================================
*08.2* Split a window on another file
The following command opens a second window and starts editing the given file:

:split two.c
If you were editing one.c, then the result looks like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|/* file two.c */
|
|~
|
|~
|
|two.c=============================|
|/* file one.c */
|
|~
|
|one.c=============================|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
To open a window on a new, empty file, use this:

:new
You can repeat the ":split" and ":new" commands to create as many windows as
you like.
==============================================================================
*08.3* Window size
The ":split" command can take a number argument. If specified, this will be
the height of the new window. For example, the following opens a new window
three lines high and starts editing the file alpha.c:

:3split alpha.c
For existing windows you can change the size in several ways. When you have a
working mouse, it is easy: Move the mouse pointer to the status line that
separates two windows, and drag it up or down.
To increase the size of a window:

CTRL−W +
To decrease it:

CTRL−W −
Both of these commands take a count and increase or decrease the window size
by that many lines. Thus "4 CTRL−W +" make the window four lines higher.

Page 61

usr_doc.txt

Page 62

To set the window height to a specified number of lines:

{height}CTRL−W _
That's: a number {height}, CTRL−W and then an underscore (the − key with Shift
on English−US keyboards).
To make a window as high as it can be, use the CTRL−W _ command without a
count.
USING THE MOUSE
In Vim you can do many things very quickly from the keyboard. Unfortunately,
the window resizing commands require quite a bit of typing. In this case,
using the mouse is faster. Position the mouse pointer on a status line. Now
press the left mouse button and drag. The status line will move, thus making
the window on one side higher and the other smaller.
OPTIONS
The 'winheight' option can be set to a minimal desired height of a window and
'winminheight' to a hard minimum height.
Likewise, there is 'winwidth' for the minimal desired width and
'winminwidth' for the hard minimum width.
The 'equalalways' option, when set, makes Vim equalize the windows sizes
when a window is closed or opened.
==============================================================================
*08.4* Vertical splits
The ":split" command creates the new window above the current one.
the window appear at the left side, use:

To make

:vsplit
or:

:vsplit two.c
The result looks something like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|/* file two.c */
|/* file one.c */ |
|~
|~
|
|~
|~
|
|~
|~
|
|two.c===============one.c=============|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
Actually, the | lines in the middle will be in reverse video. This is called
the vertical separator. It separates the two windows left and right of it.
There is also the ":vnew" command, to open a vertically split window on a new,
empty file. Another way to do this:

:vertical new
The ":vertical" command can be inserted before another command that splits a
window. This will cause that command to split the window vertically instead
of horizontally. (If the command doesn't split a window, it works
unmodified.)
MOVING BETWEEN WINDOWS

usr_doc.txt

Page 63

Since you can split windows horizontally and vertically as much as you like,
you can create almost any layout of windows. Then you can use these commands
to move between them:

CTRL−W
CTRL−W
CTRL−W
CTRL−W

h
j
k
l

CTRL−W t
CTRL−W b

move
move
move
move

to
to
to
to

the
the
the
the

window
window
window
window

on the left
below
above
on the right

move to the TOP window
move to the BOTTOM window

You will notice the same letters as used for moving the cursor.
cursor keys can also be used, if you like.
More commands to move to other windows: |Q_wi|.

And the

==============================================================================
*08.5* Moving windows
You have split a few windows, but now they are in the wrong place. Then you
need a command to move the window somewhere else. For example, you have three
windows like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|/* file two.c */
|
|~
|
|~
|
|two.c=============================|
|/* file three.c */
|
|~
|
|~
|
|three.c===========================|
|/* file one.c */
|
|~
|
|one.c=============================|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
Clearly the last one should be at the top.
and the type this command:

Go to that window (using CTRL−W w)

CTRL−W K
This uses the uppercase letter K. What happens is that the window is moved to
the very top. You will notice that K is again used for moving upwards.
When you have vertical splits, CTRL−W K will move the current window to the
top and make it occupy the full width of the Vim window. If this is your
layout:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|/* two.c */ |/* three.c */ |/* one.c */ |
|~
|~
|~
|
|~
|~
|~
|
|~
|~
|~
|
|~
|~
|~
|
|~
|~
|~
|
|two.c=========three.c=========one.c========|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
Then using CTRL−W K in the middle window (three.c) will result in:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|/* three.c */
|
|~
|

usr_doc.txt

Page 64

|~
|
|three.c====================================|
|/* two.c */
|/* one.c */
|
|~
|~
|
|two.c==================one.c===============|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
The other three similar commands (you can probably guess these now):

CTRL−W H
CTRL−W J
CTRL−W L

move window to the far left
move window to the bottom
move window to the far right

==============================================================================
*08.6* Commands for all windows
When you have several windows open and you want to quit Vim, you can close
each window separately. A quicker way is using this command:

:qall
This stands for "quit all". If any of the windows contain changes, Vim will
not exit. The cursor will automatically be positioned in a window with
changes. You can then either use ":write" to save the changes, or ":quit!" to
throw them away.
If you know there are windows with changes, and you want to save all these
changes, use this command:

:wall
This stands for "write all". But actually, it only writes files with
changes. Vim knows it doesn't make sense to write files that were not
changed.
And then there is the combination of ":qall" and ":wall": the "write and
quit all" command:

:wqall
This writes all modified files and quits Vim.
Finally, there is a command that quits Vim and throws away all changes:

:qall!
Be careful, there is no way to undo this command!
OPENING A WINDOW FOR ALL ARGUMENTS
To make Vim open a window for each file, start it with the "−o" argument:

vim −o one.txt two.txt three.txt
This results in:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|file one.txt
|
|~
|
|one.txt========================|
|file two.txt
|
|~
|
|two.txt========================|
|file three.txt
|
|~
|
|three.txt======================|

usr_doc.txt

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|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
The "−O" argument is used to get vertically split windows.
When Vim is already running, the ":all" command opens a window for each
file in the argument list. ":vertical all" does it with vertical splits.
==============================================================================
*08.7* Viewing differences with vimdiff
There is a special way to start Vim, which shows the differences between two
files. Let's take a file "main.c" and insert a few characters in one line.
Write this file with the 'backup' option set, so that the backup file
"main.c~" will contain the previous version of the file.
Type this command in a shell (not in Vim):

vimdiff main.c~ main.c
Vim will start, with two windows side by side. You will only see the line
in which you added characters, and a few lines above and below it.
VV
VV
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|+ +−−123 lines: /* a|+ +−−123 lines: /* a|
| text
| text
|
| text
| text
|
| text
| text
|
| text
| changed text
|
| text
| text
|
| text
| −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−|
| text
| text
|
| text
| text
|
| text
| text
|
|+ +−−432 lines: text|+ +−−432 lines: text|
| ~
| ~
|
| ~
| ~
|
|main.c~==============main.c==============|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

<− fold

<− changed line
<− deleted line

<− fold

(This picture doesn't show the highlighting, use the vimdiff command for a
better look.)
The lines that were not modified have been collapsed into one line. This is
called a closed fold. They are indicated in the picture with "<− fold". Thus
the single fold line at the top stands for 123 text lines. These lines are
equal in both files.
The line marked with "<− changed line" is highlighted, and the inserted
text is displayed with another color. This clearly shows what the difference
is between the two files.
The line that was deleted is displayed with "−−−" in the main.c window.
See the "<− deleted line" marker in the picture. These characters are not
really there. They just fill up main.c, so that it displays the same number
of lines as the other window.
THE FOLD COLUMN
Each window has a column on the left with a slightly different background. In
the picture above these are indicated with "VV". You notice there is a plus
character there, in front of each closed fold. Move the mouse pointer to that
plus and click the left button. The fold will open, and you can see the text
that it contains.
The fold column contains a minus sign for an open fold. If you click on
this −, the fold will close.
Obviously, this only works when you have a working mouse. You can also use

usr_doc.txt

Page 66

"zo" to open a fold and "zc" to close it.
DIFFING IN VIM
Another way to start in diff mode can be done from inside Vim.
"main.c" file, then make a split and show the differences:

Edit the

:edit main.c
:vertical diffsplit main.c~
The ":vertical" command is used to make the window split vertically.
omit this, you will get a horizontal split.

If you

If you have a patch or diff file, you can use the third way to start diff
mode. First edit the file to which the patch applies. Then tell Vim the name
of the patch file:

:edit main.c
:vertical diffpatch main.c.diff
WARNING: The patch file must contain only one patch, for the file you are
editing. Otherwise you will get a lot of error messages, and some files might
be patched unexpectedly.
The patching will only be done to the copy of the file in Vim. The file on
your harddisk will remain unmodified (until you decide to write the file).
SCROLL BINDING
When the files have more changes, you can scroll in the usual way. Vim will
try to keep both the windows start at the same position, so you can easily see
the differences side by side.
When you don't want this for a moment, use this command:

:set noscrollbind
JUMPING TO CHANGES
When you have disabled folding in some way, it may be difficult to find the
changes. Use this command to jump forward to the next change:

]c
To go the other way use:

[c
Prepended a count to jump further away.
REMOVING CHANGES
You can move text from one window to the other. This either removes
differences or adds new ones. Vim doesn't keep the highlighting updated in
all situations. To update it use this command:

:diffupdate
To remove a difference, you can move the text in a highlighted block from one
window to another. Take the "main.c" and "main.c~" example above. Move the
cursor to the left window, on the line that was deleted in the other window.
Now type this command:

dp

usr_doc.txt

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The change will be removed by putting the text of the current window in the
other window. "dp" stands for "diff put".
You can also do it the other way around. Move the cursor to the right
window, to the line where "changed" was inserted. Now type this command:

do
The change will
Since there are
"do" stands for
has a different

now be removed by getting the text from the other window.
no changes left now, Vim puts all text in a closed fold.
"diff obtain". "dg" would have been better, but that already
meaning ("dgg" deletes from the cursor until the first line).

For details about diff mode, see |vimdiff|.
==============================================================================
*08.8* Various
The 'laststatus' option can be used to specify when the last window has a
statusline:
0
1
2

never
only when there are split windows (the default)
always

Many commands that edit another file have a variant that splits the window.
For Command−line commands this is done by prepending an "s". For example:
":tag" jumps to a tag, ":stag" splits the window and jumps to a
tag.
For Normal mode commands a CTRL−W is prepended. CTRL−^ jumps to the
alternate file, CTRL−W CTRL−^ splits the window and edits the alternate file.
The 'splitbelow' option can be set to make a new window appear below the
current window. The 'splitright' option can be set to make a vertically split
window appear right of the current window.
When splitting a window you can prepend a modifier command to tell where the
window is to appear:
:leftabove {cmd}
:aboveleft {cmd}
:rightbelow {cmd}
:belowright {cmd}
:topleft {cmd}
:botright {cmd}

left or above the current window
idem
right or below the current window
idem
at the top or left of the Vim window
at the bottom or right of the Vim window

==============================================================================
*08.9* Tab pages
You will have noticed that windows never overlap. That means you quickly run
out of screen space. The solution for this is called Tab pages.
Assume you are editing "thisfile".

To create a new tab page use this command:

:tabedit thatfile
This will edit the file "thatfile" in a window that occupies the whole Vim
window. And you will notice a bar at the top with the two file names:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| thisfile | /thatfile/ __________X|
|/* thatfile */
|
|that
|
|that
|
|~
|

(thatfile is bold)

usr_doc.txt

Page 68

|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
You now have two tab pages. The first one has a window for "thisfile" and the
second one a window for "thatfile". It's like two pages that are on top of
eachother, with a tab sticking out of each page showing the file name.
Now use the mouse to click on "thisfile" in the top line.
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| /thisfile/ | thatfile __________X|
|/* thisfile */
|
|this
|
|this
|
|~
|
|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

The result is

(thisfile is bold)

Thus you can switch between tab pages by clicking on the label in the top
line. If you don't have a mouse or don't want to use it, you can use the "gt"
command. Mnemonic: Goto Tab.
Now let's create another tab page with the command:

:tab split
This makes a new tab page with one window that is editing the same buffer as
the window we were in:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| thisfile | /thisfile/ | thatfile __X|
|/* thisfile */
|
|this
|
|this
|
|~
|
|~
|
|~
|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

(thisfile is bold)

You can put ":tab" before any Ex command that opens a window.
be opened in a new tab page. Another example:

The window will

:tab help gt
Will show the help text for "gt" in a new tab page.
A few more things you can do with tab pages:
− click with the mouse in the space after the last label
The next tab page will be selected, like with "gt".
− click with the mouse on the "X" in the top right corner
The current tab page will be closed. Unless there are unsaved
changes in the current tab page.
− double click with the mouse in the top line
A new tab page will be created.
− the "tabonly" command
Closes all tab pages except the current one.
changes in other tab pages.

Unless there are unsaved

usr_doc.txt

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For more information about tab pages see |tab−page|.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_09.txt|

Using the GUI

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_09.txt*

Page 70
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Apr 24

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Using the GUI
Vim works in an ordinary terminal. GVim can do the same things and a few
more. The GUI offers menus, a toolbar, scrollbars and other items. This
chapter is about these extra things that the GUI offers.
|09.1|
|09.2|
|09.3|
|09.4|

Parts of the GUI
Using the mouse
The clipboard
Select mode

Next chapter: |usr_10.txt| Making big changes
Previous chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*09.1* Parts of the GUI
You might have an icon on your desktop that starts gVim.
these commands should do it:

Otherwise, one of

gvim file.txt
vim −g file.txt
If this doesn't work you don't have a version of Vim with GUI support. You
will have to install one first.
Vim will open a window and display "file.txt" in it. What the window looks
like depends on the version of Vim. It should resemble the following picture
(for as far as this can be shown in ASCII!).
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| file.txt + (~/dir) − VIM
X |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| File Edit Tools Syntax Buffers Window Help
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| aaa bbb ccc ddd eee fff ggg hhh iii jjj
|
| aaa bbb ccc ddd eee fff ggg hhh iii jjj
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
| file text
| ^ |
| ~
| # |
| ~
| # |
| ~
| # |
| ~
| # |
| ~
| # |
|
| V |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

<− window title
<− menubar
<− toolbar

<− scrollbar

The largest space is occupied by the file text. This shows the file in the
same way as in a terminal. With some different colors and another font
perhaps.
THE WINDOW TITLE
At the very top is the window title. This is drawn by your window system.
Vim will set the title to show the name of the current file. First comes the
name of the file. Then some special characters and the directory of the file
in parens. These special character can be present:
−

The file cannot be modified (e.g., a help file)

usr_doc.txt
+
=
=+

Page 71
The file contains changes
The file is read−only
The file is read−only, contains changes anyway

If nothing is shown you have an ordinary, unchanged file.
THE MENUBAR
You know how menus work, right? Vim has the usual items, plus a few more.
Browse them to get an idea of what you can use them for. A relevant submenu
is Edit/Global Settings. You will find these entries:
Toggle
Toggle
Toggle
Toggle

Toolbar
Bottom Scrollbar
Left Scrollbar
Right Scrollbar

make
make
make
make

the toolbar
a scrollbar
a scrollbar
a scrollbar

appear/disappear
appear/disappear at the bottom
appear/disappear at the left
appear/disappear at the right

On most systems you can tear−off the menus. Select the top item of the menu,
the one that looks like a dashed line. You will get a separate window with
the items of the menu. It will hang around until you close the window.
THE TOOLBAR
This contains icons for the most often used actions. Hopefully the icons are
self−explanatory. There are tooltips to get an extra hint (move the mouse
pointer to the icon without clicking and don't move it for a second).
The "Edit/Global Settings/Toggle Toolbar" menu item can be used to make the
toolbar disappear. If you never want a toolbar, use this command in your
vimrc file:

:set guioptions−=T
This removes the 'T' flag from the 'guioptions' option. Other parts of the
GUI can also be enabled or disabled with this option. See the help for it.
THE SCROLLBARS
By default there is one scrollbar on the right. It does the obvious thing.
When you split the window, each window will get its own scrollbar.
You can make a horizontal scrollbar appear with the menu item
Edit/Global Settings/Toggle Bottom Scrollbar. This is useful in diff mode, or
when the 'wrap' option has been reset (more about that later).
When there are vertically split windows, only the windows on the right side
will have a scrollbar. However, when you move the cursor to a window on the
left, it will be this one the that scrollbar controls. This takes a bit of
time to get used to.
When you work with vertically split windows, consider adding a scrollbar on
the left. This can be done with a menu item, or with the 'guioptions' option:

:set guioptions+=l
This adds the 'l' flag to 'guioptions'.
==============================================================================
*09.2* Using the mouse
Standards are wonderful. In Microsoft Windows, you can use the mouse to
select text in a standard manner. The X Window system also has a standard
system for using the mouse. Unfortunately, these two standards are not the
same.
Fortunately, you can customize Vim. You can make the behavior of the mouse

usr_doc.txt

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work like an X Window system mouse or a Microsoft Windows mouse.
command makes the mouse behave like an X Window mouse:

The following

:behave xterm
The following command makes the mouse work like a Microsoft Windows mouse:

:behave mswin
The default behavior of the mouse on UNIX systems is xterm. The default
behavior on a Microsoft Windows system is selected during the installation
process. For details about what the two behaviors are, see |:behave|. Here
follows a summary.
XTERM MOUSE BEHAVIOR
Left mouse click
Left mouse drag
Middle mouse click
Right mouse click

position the cursor
select text in Visual mode
paste text from the clipboard
extend the selected text until the mouse
pointer

MSWIN MOUSE BEHAVIOR
Left mouse click
Left mouse drag
Left mouse click, with Shift
Middle mouse click
Right mouse click
The mouse can be further tuned.
the way how the mouse works:
'mouse'
'mousemodel'
'mousetime'
'mousehide'
'selectmode'

position the cursor
select text in Select mode (see |09.4|)
extend the selected text until the mouse
pointer
paste text from the clipboard
display a pop−up menu
Check out these options if you want to change
in which mode the mouse is used by Vim
what effect a mouse click has
time between clicks for a double−click
hide the mouse while typing
whether the mouse starts Visual or Select mode

==============================================================================
*09.3* The clipboard
In section |04.7| the basic use of the clipboard was explained. There is one
essential thing to explain about X−windows: There are actually two places to
exchange text between programs. MS−Windows doesn't have this.
In X−Windows there is the "current selection". This is the text that is
currently highlighted. In Vim this is the Visual area (this assumes you are
using the default option settings). You can paste this selection in another
application without any further action.
For example, in this text select a few words with the mouse. Vim will
switch to Visual mode and highlight the text. Now start another gVim, without
a file name argument, so that it displays an empty window. Click the middle
mouse button. The selected text will be inserted.
The "current selection" will only remain valid until some other text is
selected. After doing the paste in the other gVim, now select some characters
in that window. You will notice that the words that were previously selected
in the other gVim window are displayed differently. This means that it no
longer is the current selection.
You don't need to select text with the mouse, using the keyboard commands for

usr_doc.txt

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Visual mode works just as well.
THE REAL CLIPBOARD
Now for the other place with which text can be exchanged. We call this the
"real clipboard", to avoid confusion. Often both the "current selection" and
the "real clipboard" are called clipboard, you'll have to get used to that.
To put text on the real clipboard, select a few different words in one of
the gVims you have running. Then use the Edit/Copy menu entry. Now the text
has been copied to the real clipboard. You can't see this, unless you have
some application that shows the clipboard contents (e.g., KDE's klipper).
Now select the other gVim, position the cursor somewhere and use the
Edit/Paste menu. You will see the text from the real clipboard is inserted.
USING BOTH
This use of both the "current selection" and the "real clipboard" might sound
a bit confusing. But it is very useful. Let's show this with an example.
Use one gVim with a text file and perform these actions:
−
−
−
−
−

Select two words in Visual mode.
Use the Edit/Copy menu to get these words onto the clipboard.
Select one other word in Visual mode.
Use the Edit/Paste menu item. What will happen is that the single selected
word is replaced with the two words from the clipboard.
Move the mouse pointer somewhere else and click the middle button. You
will see that the word you just overwrote with the clipboard is inserted
here.

If you use the "current selection" and the "real clipboard" with care, you can
do a lot of useful editing with them.
USING THE KEYBOARD
If you don't like using the mouse, you can access the current selection and
the real clipboard with two registers. The "* register is for the current
selection.
To make text become the current selection, use Visual mode. For example,
to select a whole line just press "V".
To insert the current selection before the cursor:

"*P
Notice the uppercase "P".

The lowercase "p" puts the text after the cursor.

The "+ register is used for the real clipboard. For example, to copy the text
from the cursor position until the end of the line to the clipboard:

"+y$
Remember, "y" is yank, which is Vim's copy command.
To insert the contents of the real clipboard before the cursor:

"+P
It's the same as for the current selection, but uses the plus (+) register
instead of the star (*) register.
==============================================================================
*09.4* Select mode
And now something that is used more often on MS−Windows than on X−Windows.
But both can do it. You already know about Visual mode. Select mode is like

usr_doc.txt

Page 74

Visual mode, because it is also used to select text. But there is an obvious
difference: When typing text, the selected text is deleted and the typed text
replaces it.
To start working with Select mode, you must first enable it (for MS−Windows
it is probably already enabled, but you can do this anyway):

:set selectmode+=mouse
Now use the mouse to select some text. It is highlighted like in Visual mode.
Now press a letter. The selected text is deleted, and the single letter
replaces it. You are in Insert mode now, thus you can continue typing.
Since typing normal text causes the selected text to be deleted, you can not
use the normal movement commands "hjkl", "w", etc. Instead, use the shifted
function keys.  (shifted cursor left key) moves the cursor left. The
selected text is changed like in Visual mode. The other shifted cursor keys
do what you expect.  and  also work.
You can tune the way Select mode works with the 'selectmode' option.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_10.txt|

Making big changes

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_10.txt*

Page 75
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Nov 05

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Making big changes
In chapter 4 several ways to make small changes were explained. This chapter
goes into making changes that are repeated or can affect a large amount of
text. The Visual mode allows doing various things with blocks of text. Use
an external program to do really complicated things.
|10.1|
|10.2|
|10.3|
|10.4|
|10.5|
|10.6|
|10.7|
|10.8|
|10.9|

Record and playback commands
Substitution
Command ranges
The global command
Visual block mode
Reading and writing part of a file
Formatting text
Changing case
Using an external program

Next chapter: |usr_11.txt| Recovering from a crash
Previous chapter: |usr_09.txt| Using the GUI
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*10.1* Record and playback commands
The "." command repeats the preceding change. But what if you want to do
something more complex than a single change? That's where command recording
comes in. There are three steps:
1. The "q{register}" command starts recording keystrokes into the register
named {register}. The register name must be between a and z.
2. Type your commands.
3. To finish recording, press q (without any extra character).
You can now execute the macro by typing the command "@{register}".
Take a look at how to use these commands in practice.
filenames that look like this:

You have a list of

stdio.h
fcntl.h
unistd.h
stdlib.h
And what you want is the following:
#include
#include
#include
#include

"stdio.h"
"fcntl.h"
"unistd.h"
"stdlib.h"

You start by moving to the first character of the first line.
execute the following commands:
qa
^
i#include "
$
a"

Next you

Start recording a macro in register a.
Move to the beginning of the line.
Insert the string #include " at the beginning
of the line.
Move to the end of the line.
Append the character double quotation mark (")
to the end of the line.

usr_doc.txt
j
q

Page 76
Go to the next line.
Stop recording the macro.

Now that you have done the work once, you can repeat the change by typing the
command "@a" three times.
The "@a" command can be preceded by a count, which will cause the macro to
be executed that number of times. In this case you would type:

3@a
MOVE AND EXECUTE
You might have the lines you want to change in various places. Just move the
cursor to each location and use the "@a" command. If you have done that once,
you can do it again with "@@". That's a bit easier to type. If you now
execute register b with "@b", the next "@@" will use register b.
If you compare the playback method with using ".", there are several
differences. First of all, "." can only repeat one change. As seen in the
example above, "@a" can do several changes, and move around as well.
Secondly, "." can only remember the last change. Executing a register allows
you to make any changes and then still use "@a" to replay the recorded
commands. Finally, you can use 26 different registers. Thus you can remember
26 different command sequences to execute.
USING REGISTERS
The registers used for recording are the same ones you used for yank and
delete commands. This allows you to mix recording with other commands to
manipulate the registers.
Suppose you have recorded a few commands in register n. When you execute
this with "@n" you notice you did something wrong. You could try recording
again, but perhaps you will make another mistake. Instead, use this trick:
G
o
"np

{edits}
0
"ny$
dd

Go to the end of the file.
Create an empty line.
Put the text from the n register. You now see
the commands you typed as text in the file.
Change the commands that were wrong. This is
just like editing text.
Go to the start of the line.
Yank the corrected commands into the n
register.
Delete the scratch line.

Now you can execute the corrected commands with "@n". (If your recorded
commands include line breaks, adjust the last two items in the example to
include all the lines.)
APPENDING TO A REGISTER
So far we have used a lowercase letter for the register name. To append to a
register, use an uppercase letter.
Suppose you have recorded a command to change a word to register c. It
works properly, but you would like to add a search for the next word to
change. This can be done with:

qC/wordq
You start with "qC", which records to the c register and appends. Thus
writing to an uppercase register name means to append to the register with
the same letter, but lowercase.
This works both with recording and with yank and delete commands.

For

usr_doc.txt
example, you want to collect a sequence of lines into the a register.
the first line with:

Page 77
Yank

"aY
Now move to the second line, and type:

"AY
Repeat this command for all lines. The a register now contains all those
lines, in the order you yanked them.
==============================================================================
*10.2* Substitution
*find−replace*
The ":substitute" command enables you to perform string replacements on a
whole range of lines. The general form of this command is as follows:

:[range]substitute/from/to/[flags]
This command changes the "from" string to the "to" string in the lines
specified with [range]. For example, you can change "Professor" to "Teacher"
in all lines with the following command:

:%substitute/Professor/Teacher/
Note:
The ":substitute" command is almost never spelled out completely.
Most of the time, people use the abbreviated version ":s". From here
on the abbreviation will be used.
The "%" before the command specifies the command works on all lines. Without
a range, ":s" only works on the current line. More about ranges in the next
section |10.3|.
By default, the ":substitute" command changes only the first occurrence on
each line. For example, the preceding command changes the line:
Professor Smith criticized Professor Johnson today.
to:
Teacher Smith criticized Professor Johnson today.
To change every occurrence on the line, you need to add the g (global) flag.
The command:

:%s/Professor/Teacher/g
results in (starting with the original line):
Teacher Smith criticized Teacher Johnson today.
Other flags include p (print), which causes the ":substitute" command to print
out the last line it changes. The c (confirm) flag tells ":substitute" to ask
you for confirmation before it performs each substitution. Enter the
following:

:%s/Professor/Teacher/c
Vim finds the first occurrence of "Professor" and displays the text it is
about to change. You get the following prompt:

replace with Teacher (y/n/a/q/l/^E/^Y)?
At this point, you must enter one of the following answers:

usr_doc.txt
y
n
a
q
l
CTRL−E
CTRL−Y

Page 78
Yes; make this change.
No; skip this match.
All; make this change and all remaining ones without
further confirmation.
Quit; don't make any more changes.
Last; make this change and then quit.
Scroll the text one line up.
Scroll the text one line down.

The "from" part of the substitute command is actually a pattern. The same
kind as used for the search command. For example, this command only
substitutes "the" when it appears at the start of a line:

:s/^the/these/
If you are substituting with a "from" or "to" part that includes a slash, you
need to put a backslash before it. A simpler way is to use another character
instead of the slash. A plus, for example:

:s+one/two+one or two+
==============================================================================
*10.3* Command ranges
The ":substitute" command, and many other : commands, can be applied to a
selection of lines. This is called a range.
The simple form of a range is {number},{number}. For example:

:1,5s/this/that/g
Executes the substitute command on the lines 1 to 5.
The range is always placed before the command.

Line 5 is included.

A single number can be used to address one specific line:

:54s/President/Fool/
Some commands work on the whole file when you do not specify a range. To make
them work on the current line the "." address is used. The ":write" command
works like that. Without a range, it writes the whole file. To make it write
only the current line into a file:

:.write otherfile
The first line always has number one. How about the last line? The "$"
character is used for this. For example, to substitute in the lines from the
cursor to the end:

:.,$s/yes/no/
The "%" range that we used before, is actually a short way to say "1,$", from
the first to the last line.
USING A PATTERN IN A RANGE
Suppose you are editing a chapter in a book, and want to replace all
occurrences of "grey" with "gray". But only in this chapter, not in the next
one. You know that only chapter boundaries have the word "Chapter" in the
first column. This command will work then:

:?^Chapter?,/^Chapter/s=grey=gray=g
You can see a search pattern is used twice.

The first "?^Chapter?" finds the

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line above the current position that matches this pattern. Thus the ?pattern?
range is used to search backwards. Similarly, "/^Chapter/" is used to search
forward for the start of the next chapter.
To avoid confusion with the slashes, the "=" character was used in the
substitute command here. A slash or another character would have worked as
well.
ADD AND SUBTRACT
There is a slight error in the above command: If the title of the next chapter
had included "grey" it would be replaced as well. Maybe that's what you
wanted, but what if you didn't? Then you can specify an offset.
To search for a pattern and then use the line above it:

/Chapter/−1
You can use any number instead of the 1.
match:

To address the second line below the

/Chapter/+2
The offsets can also be used with the other items in a range.
one:

Look at this

:.+3,$−5
This specifies the range that starts three lines below the cursor and ends
five lines before the last line in the file.
USING MARKS
Instead of figuring out the line numbers of certain positions, remembering them
and typing them in a range, you can use marks.
Place the marks as mentioned in chapter 3. For example, use "mt" to mark
the top of an area and "mb" to mark the bottom. Then you can use this range
to specify the lines between the marks (including the lines with the marks):

:'t,'b
VISUAL MODE AND RANGES
You can select text with Visual mode.
command, you will see this:

If you then press ":" to start a colon

:'<,'>
Now you can type the command and it will be applied to the range of lines that
was visually selected.

Note:
When using Visual mode to select part of a line, or using CTRL−V to
select a block of text, the colon commands will still apply to whole
lines. This might change in a future version of Vim.
The '< and '> are actually marks, placed at the start and end of the Visual
selection. The marks remain at their position until another Visual selection
is made. Thus you can use the "'<" command to jump to position where the
Visual area started. And you can mix the marks with other items:

:'>,$
This addresses the lines from the end of the Visual area to the end of the
file.

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A NUMBER OF LINES
When you know how many lines you want to change, you can type the number and
then ":". For example, when you type "5:", you will get:

:.,.+4
Now you can type the command you want to use.
(current line) until ".+4" (four lines down).

It will use the range "."
Thus it spans five lines.

==============================================================================
*10.4* The global command
The ":global" command is one of the more powerful features of Vim. It allows
you to find a match for a pattern and execute a command there. The general
form is:

:[range]global/{pattern}/{command}
This is similar to the ":substitute" command. But, instead of replacing the
matched text with other text, the command {command} is executed.

Note:
The command executed for ":global" must be one that starts with a
colon. Normal mode commands can not be used directly. The |:normal|
command can do this for you.
Suppose you want to change "foobar" to "barfoo", but only in C++ style
comments. These comments start with "//". Use this command:

:g+//+s/foobar/barfoo/g
This starts with ":g". That is short for ":global", just like ":s" is short
for ":substitute". Then the pattern, enclosed in plus characters. Since the
pattern we are looking for contains a slash, this uses the plus character to
separate the pattern. Next comes the substitute command that changes "foobar"
into "barfoo".
The default range for the global command is the whole file. Thus no range
was specified in this example. This is different from ":substitute", which
works on one line without a range.
The command isn't perfect, since it also matches lines where "//" appears
halfway a line, and the substitution will also take place before the "//".
Just like with ":substitute", any pattern can be used.
complicated patterns later, you can use them here.

When you learn more

==============================================================================
*10.5* Visual block mode
With CTRL−V you can start selection of a rectangular area of text.
a few commands that do something special with the text block.

There are

There is something special about using the "$" command in Visual block mode.
When the last motion command used was "$", all lines in the Visual selection
will extend until the end of the line, also when the line with the cursor is
shorter. This remains effective until you use a motion command that moves the
cursor horizontally. Thus using "j" keeps it, "h" stops it.
INSERTING TEXT
The command "I{string}" inserts the text {string} in each line, just
left of the visual block. You start by pressing CTRL−V to enter visual block
mode. Now you move the cursor to define your block. Next you type I to enter

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Insert mode, followed by the text to insert. As you type, the text appears on
the first line only.
After you press  to end the insert, the text will magically be
inserted in the rest of the lines contained in the visual selection. Example:
include
include
include
include

one
two
three
four

Move the cursor to the "o" of "one" and press CTRL−V. Move it down with "3j"
to "four". You now have a block selection that spans four lines. Now type:

Imain.
The result:
include
include
include
include

main.one
main.two
main.three
main.four

If the block spans short lines that do not extend into the block, the text is
not inserted in that line. For example, make a Visual block selection that
includes the word "long" in the first and last line of this text, and thus has
no text selected in the second line:
This is a long line
short
Any other long line
^^^^ selected block
Now use the command "Ivery ".

The result is:

This is a very long line
short
Any other very long line
In the short line no text was inserted.
If the string you insert contains a newline, the "I" acts just like a Normal
insert command and affects only the first line of the block.
The "A" command works the same way, except that it appends after the right
side of the block. And it does insert text in a short line. Thus you can
make a choice whether you do or don't want to append text to a short line.
There is one special case for "A": Select a Visual block and then use "$"
to make the block extend to the end of each line. Using "A" now will append
the text to the end of each line.
Using the same example from above, and then typing "$A XXX, you get
this result:
This is a long line XXX
short XXX
Any other long line XXX
This really requires using the "$" command. Vim remembers that it was used.
Making the same selection by moving the cursor to the end of the longest line
with other movement commands will not have the same result.
CHANGING TEXT
The Visual block "c" command deletes the block and then throws you into Insert
mode to enable you to type in a string. The string will be inserted in each

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line in the block.
Starting with the same selection of the "long" words as above, then typing
"c_LONG_", you get this:
This is a _LONG_ line
short
Any other _LONG_ line
Just like with "I" the short line is not changed.
newline in the new text.

Also, you can't enter a

The "C" command deletes text from the left edge of the block to the end of
line. It then puts you in Insert mode so that you can type in a string,
which is added to the end of each line.
Starting with the same text again, and typing "Cnew text" you get:
This is a new text
short
Any other new text
Notice that, even though only the "long" word was selected, the text after it
is deleted as well. Thus only the location of the left edge of the visual
block really matters.
Again, short lines that do not reach into the block are excluded.
Other commands that change the characters in the block:
~
U
u

swap case
make uppercase
make lowercase

(a −> A and A −> a)
(a −> A and A −> A)
(a −> a and A −> a)

FILLING WITH A CHARACTER
To fill the whole block with one character, use the "r" command. Again,
starting with the same example text from above, and then typing "rx":
This is a xxxx line
short
Any other xxxx line

Note:
If you want to include characters beyond the end of the line in the
block, check out the 'virtualedit' feature in chapter 25.
SHIFTING
The command ">" shifts the selected text to the right one shift amount,
inserting whitespace. The starting point for this shift is the left edge of
the visual block.
With the same example again, ">" gives this result:
This is a
short
Any other

long line
long line

The shift amount is specified with the 'shiftwidth' option.
use 4 spaces:

To change it to

:set shiftwidth=4
The "<" command removes one shift amount of whitespace at the left
edge of the block. This command is limited by the amount of text that is
there; so if there is less than a shift amount of whitespace available, it

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removes what it can.
JOINING LINES
The "J" command joins all selected lines together into one line. Thus it
removes the line breaks. Actually, the line break, leading white space and
trailing white space is replaced by one space. Two spaces are used after a
line ending (that can be changed with the 'joinspaces' option).
Let's use the example that we got so familiar with now. The result of
using the "J" command:
This is a long line short Any other long line
The "J" command doesn't require a blockwise selection.
"V" selection in exactly the same way.

It works with "v" and

If you don't want the white space to be changed, use the "gJ" command.
==============================================================================
*10.6* Reading and writing part of a file
When you are writing an e−mail message, you may want to include another file.
This can be done with the ":read {filename}" command. The text of the file is
put below the cursor line.
Starting with this text:
Hi John,
Here is the diff that fixes the bug:
Bye, Pierre.
Move the cursor to the second line and type:

:read patch
The file named "patch" will be inserted, with this result:
Hi John,
Here is the diff that fixes the bug:
2c2
for (i = 0; i <= length; ++i)
−−−
for (i = 0; i < length; ++i)
Bye, Pierre.
The ":read" command accepts
number of this range. Thus
the file.
What if you want to read
with the line number zero.
error message when using it

a range. The file will be put below the last line
":$r patch" appends the file "patch" at the end of
the file above the first line? This can be done
This line doesn't really exist, you will get an
with most commands. But this command is allowed:

:0read patch
The file "patch" will be put above the first line of the file.
WRITING A RANGE OF LINES
To write a range of lines to a file, the ":write" command can be used.
Without a range it writes the whole file. With a range only the specified
lines are written:

:.,$write tempo
This writes the lines from the cursor until the end of the file into the file

usr_doc.txt
"tempo". If this file already exists you will get an error message. Vim
protects you from accidentally overwriting an existing file. If you know what
you are doing and want to overwrite the file, append !:

:.,$write! tempo
CAREFUL: The ! must follow the ":write" command immediately, without white
space. Otherwise it becomes a filter command, which is explained later in
this chapter.
APPENDING TO A FILE
In the first section of this chapter was explained how to collect a number of
lines into a register. The same can be done to collect lines in a file.
Write the first line with this command:

:.write collection
Now move the cursor to the second line you want to collect, and type this:

:.write >>collection
The ">>" tells Vim the "collection" file is not to be written as a new file,
but the line must be appended at the end.
You can repeat this as many times
as you like.
==============================================================================
*10.7* Formatting text
When you are typing plain text, it's nice if the length of each line is
automatically trimmed to fit in the window. To make this happen while
inserting text, set the 'textwidth' option:

:set textwidth=72
You might remember that in the example vimrc file this command was used for
every text file. Thus if you are using that vimrc file, you were already
using it. To check the current value of 'textwidth':

:set textwidth
Now lines will be broken to take only up to 72 characters. But when you
insert text halfway a line, or when you delete a few words, the lines will get
too long or too short. Vim doesn't automatically reformat the text.
To tell Vim to format the current paragraph:

gqap
This starts with the "gq" command, which is an operator. Following is "ap",
the text object that stands for "a paragraph". A paragraph is separated from
the next paragraph by an empty line.

Note:
A blank line, which contains white space, does NOT separate
paragraphs. This is hard to notice!
Instead of "ap" you could use any motion or text object. If your paragraphs
are properly separated, you can use this command to format the whole file:

gggqG
"gg" takes you to the first line, "gq" is the format operator and "G" the
motion that jumps to the last line.
In case your paragraphs aren't clearly defined, you can format just the lines

Page 84

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you manually select. Move the cursor to the first line you want to format.
Start with the command "gqj". This formats the current line and the one below
it. If the first line was short, words from the next line will be appended.
If it was too long, words will be moved to the next line. The cursor moves to
the second line. Now you can use "." to repeat the command. Keep doing this
until you are at the end of the text you want to format.
==============================================================================
*10.8* Changing case
You have text with section headers in lowercase. You want to make the word
"section" all uppercase. Do this with the "gU" operator. Start with the
cursor in the first column:
section header

gUw
−−−−>

SECTION header

The "gu" operator does exactly the opposite:
SECTION header

guw
−−−−>

section header

You can also use "g~" to swap case. All these are operators, thus they work
with any motion command, with text objects and in Visual mode.
To make an operator work on lines you double it. The delete operator is
"d", thus to delete a line you use "dd". Similarly, "gugu" makes a whole line
lowercase. This can be shortened to "guu". "gUgU" is shortened to "gUU" and
"g~g~" to "g~~". Example:
Some GIRLS have Fun

g~~
−−−−>

sOME girls HAVE fUN

==============================================================================
*10.9* Using an external program
Vim has a very powerful set of commands, it can do anything. But there may
still be something that an external command can do better or faster.
The command "!{motion}{program}" takes a block of text and filters it
through an external program. In other words, it runs the system command
represented by {program}, giving it the block of text represented by {motion}
as input. The output of this command then replaces the selected block.
Because this summarizes badly if you are unfamiliar with UNIX filters, take
a look at an example. The sort command sorts a file. If you execute the
following command, the unsorted file input.txt will be sorted and written to
output.txt. (This works on both UNIX and Microsoft Windows.)

sort output.txt
Now do the same thing in Vim. You want to sort lines 1 through 5 of a file.
You start by putting the cursor on line 1. Next you execute the following
command:

!5G
The "!" tells Vim that you are performing a filter operation. The Vim editor
expects a motion command to follow, indicating which part of the file to
filter. The "5G" command tells Vim to go to line 5, so it now knows that it
is to filter lines 1 (the current line) through 5.
In anticipation of the filtering, the cursor drops to the bottom of the
screen and a ! prompt displays. You can now type in the name of the filter
program, in this case "sort". Therefore, your full command is as follows:

!5Gsort
The result is that the sort program is run on the first 5 lines.
of the program replaces these lines.

The output

usr_doc.txt
line
line
line
line
line
last

Page 86
55
33
11
22
44
line

−−>

line
line
line
line
line
last

11
22
33
44
55
line

The "!!" command filters the current line through a filter. In Unix the "date"
command prints the current time and date. "!!date" replaces the current
line with the output of "date". This is useful to add a timestamp to a file.
WHEN IT DOESN'T WORK
Starting a shell, sending it text and capturing the output requires that Vim
knows how the shell works exactly. When you have problems with filtering,
check the values of these options:
'shell'
'shellcmdflag'
'shellquote'
'shellxquote'
'shelltype'
'shellslash'
'shellredir'

specifies the program that Vim uses to execute
external programs.
argument to pass a command to the shell
quote to be used around the command
quote to be used around the command and redirection
kind of shell (only for the Amiga)
use forward slashes in the command (only for
MS−Windows and alikes)
string used to write the command output into a file

On Unix this is hardly ever a problem, because there are two kinds of shells:
"sh" like and "csh" like. Vim checks the 'shell' option and sets related
options automatically, depending on whether it sees "csh" somewhere in
'shell'.
On MS−Windows, however, there are many different shells and you might have
to tune the options to make filtering work. Check the help for the options
for more information.
READING COMMAND OUTPUT
To read the contents of the current directory into the file, use this:
on Unix:

:read !ls
on MS−Windows:
:read !dir
The output of the "ls" or "dir" command is captured and inserted in the text,
below the cursor. This is similar to reading a file, except that the "!" is
used to tell Vim that a command follows.
The command may have arguments. And a range can be used to tell where Vim
should put the lines:

:0read !date −u
This inserts the current time and date in UTC format at the top of the file.
(Well, if you have a date command that accepts the "−u" argument.) Note the
difference with using "!!date": that replaced a line, while ":read !date" will
insert a line.
WRITING TEXT TO A COMMAND
The Unix command "wc" counts words.

:write !wc

To count the words in the current file:

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This is the same write command as before, but instead of a file name the "!"
character is used and the name of an external command. The written text will
be passed to the specified command as its standard input. The output could
look like this:
4

47

249

The "wc" command isn't verbose.
characters.

This means you have 4 lines, 47 words and 249

Watch out for this mistake:

:write! wc
This will write the file "wc" in the current directory, with force.
space is important here!

White

REDRAWING THE SCREEN
If the external command produced an error message, the display may have been
messed up. Vim is very efficient and only redraws those parts of the screen
that it knows need redrawing. But it can't know about what another program
has written. To tell Vim to redraw the screen:

CTRL−L
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_11.txt|

Recovering from a crash

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

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*usr_11.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2010 Jul 20

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Recovering from a crash
Did your computer crash? And you just spent hours editing? Don't panic! Vim
stores enough information to be able to restore most of your work. This
chapter shows you how to get your work back and explains how the swap file is
used.
|11.1|
|11.2|
|11.3|
|11.4|

Basic recovery
Where is the swap file?
Crashed or not?
Further reading

Next chapter: |usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
Previous chapter: |usr_10.txt| Making big changes
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*11.1* Basic recovery
In most cases recovering a file is quite simple, assuming you know which file
you were editing (and the harddisk is still working). Start Vim on the file,
with the "−r" argument added:

vim −r help.txt
Vim will read the swap file (used to store text you were editing) and may read
bits and pieces of the original file. If Vim recovered your changes you will
see these messages (with different file names, of course):
Using swap file ".help.txt.swp"
Original file "~/vim/runtime/doc/help.txt"
Recovery completed. You should check if everything is OK.
(You might want to write out this file under another name
and run diff with the original file to check for changes)
You may want to delete the .swp file now.
To be on the safe side, write this file under another name:

:write help.txt.recovered
Compare the file with the original file to check if you ended up with what you
expected. Vimdiff is very useful for this |08.7|. For example:

:write help.txt.recovered
:edit #
:diffsp help.txt
Watch out for the original file to contain a more recent version (you saved
the file just before the computer crashed). And check that no lines are
missing (something went wrong that Vim could not recover).
If Vim produces warning messages when recovering, read them carefully.
This is rare though.
If the recovery resulted in text that is exactly the same as the file
contents, you will get this message:
Using swap file ".help.txt.swp"
Original file "~/vim/runtime/doc/help.txt"
Recovery completed. Buffer contents equals file contents.
You may want to delete the .swp file now.

usr_doc.txt
This usually happens if you already recovered your changes, or you wrote the
file after making changes. It is safe to delete the swap file now.
It is normal that the last few changes can not be recovered. Vim flushes the
changes to disk when you don't type for about four seconds, or after typing
about two hundred characters. This is set with the 'updatetime' and
'updatecount' options. Thus when Vim didn't get a chance to save itself when
the system went down, the changes after the last flush will be lost.
If you were editing without a file name, give an empty string as argument:

vim −r ""
You must be in the right directory, otherwise Vim can't find the swap file.
==============================================================================
*11.2* Where is the swap file?
Vim can store the swap file in several places. Normally it is in the same
directory as the original file. To find it, change to the directory of the
file, and use:

vim −r
Vim will list the swap files that it can find. It will also look in other
directories where the swap file for files in the current directory may be
located. It will not find swap files in any other directories though, it
doesn't search the directory tree.
The output could look like this:
Swap files found:
In current directory:
1.
.main.c.swp
owned by: mool
dated: Tue May 29 21:00:25 2001
file name: ~mool/vim/vim6/src/main.c
modified: YES
user name: mool
host name: masaka.moolenaar.net
process ID: 12525
In directory ~/tmp:
−− none −−
In directory /var/tmp:
−− none −−
In directory /tmp:
−− none −−
If there are several swap files that look like they may be the one you want to
use, a list is given of these swap files and you are requested to enter the
number of the one you want to use. Carefully look at the dates to decide
which one you want to use.
In case you don't know which one to use, just try them one by one and check
the resulting files if they are what you expected.
USING A SPECIFIC SWAP FILE
If you know which swap file needs to be used, you can recover by giving the
swap file name. Vim will then finds out the name of the original file from
the swap file.
Example:

vim −r .help.txt.swo
This is also handy when the swap file is in another directory than expected.
Vim recognizes files with the pattern *.s[uvw][a−z] as swap files.

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If this still does not work, see what file names Vim reports and rename the
files accordingly. Check the 'directory' option to see where Vim may have
put the swap file.

Note:
Vim tries to find the swap file by searching the directories in the
'dir' option, looking for files that match "filename.sw?". If
wildcard expansion doesn't work (e.g., when the 'shell' option is
invalid), Vim does a desperate try to find the file "filename.swp".
If that fails too, you will have to give the name of the swapfile
itself to be able to recover the file.
==============================================================================
*11.3* Crashed or not?
*ATTENTION* *E325*
Vim tries to protect you from doing stupid things. Suppose you innocently
start editing a file, expecting the contents of the file to show up. Instead,
Vim produces a very long message:
E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name ".main.c.swp"
owned by: mool
dated: Tue May 29 21:09:28 2001
file name: ~mool/vim/vim6/src/main.c
modified: no
user name: mool
host name: masaka.moolenaar.net
process ID: 12559 (still running)
While opening file "main.c"
dated: Tue May 29 19:46:12 2001
(1) Another program may be editing the same file.
If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
different instances of the same file when making changes.
Quit, or continue with caution.
(2) An
If
to
If
to

edit session for this file crashed.
this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim −r main.c"
recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
you did this already, delete the swap file ".main.c.swp"
avoid this message.

You get this message, because, when starting to edit a file, Vim checks if a
swap file already exists for that file. If there is one, there must be
something wrong. It may be one of these two situations.
1. Another edit session is active on this file. Look in the message for the
line with "process ID". It might look like this:
process ID: 12559 (still running)
The text "(still running)" indicates that the process editing this file
runs on the same computer. When working on a non−Unix system you will not
get this extra hint. When editing a file over a network, you may not see
the hint, because the process might be running on another computer. In
those two cases you must find out what the situation is yourself.
If there is another Vim editing the same file, continuing to edit will
result in two versions of the same file. The one that is written last will
overwrite the other one, resulting in loss of changes. You better quit
this Vim.
2. The swap file might be the result from a previous crash of Vim or the
computer. Check the dates mentioned in the message. If the date of the
swap file is newer than the file you were editing, and this line appears:
modified: YES
Then you very likely have a crashed edit session that is worth recovering.

usr_doc.txt

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If the date of the file is newer than the date of the swap file, then
either it was changed after the crash (perhaps you recovered it earlier,
but didn't delete the swap file?), or else the file was saved before the
crash but after the last write of the swap file (then you're lucky: you
don't even need that old swap file). Vim will warn you for this with this
extra line:
NEWER than swap file!
UNREADABLE SWAP FILE
Sometimes the line
[cannot be read]
will appear under the name of the swap file.
depending on circumstances.

This can be good or bad,

It is good if a previous editing session crashed without having made any
changes to the file. Then a directory listing of the swap file will show
that it has zero bytes. You may delete it and proceed.
It is slightly bad if you don't have read permission for the swap file. You
may want to view the file read−only, or quit. On multi−user systems, if you
yourself did the last changes under a different login name, a logout
followed by a login under that other name might cure the "read error". Or
else you might want to find out who last edited (or is editing) the file and
have a talk with them.
It is very bad if it means there is a physical read error on the disk
containing the swap file. Fortunately, this almost never happens.
You may want to view the file read−only at first (if you can), to see the
extent of the changes that were "forgotten". If you are the one in charge of
that file, be prepared to redo your last changes.
WHAT TO DO?

*swap−exists−choices*

If dialogs are supported you will be asked to select one of five choices:
Swap file ".main.c.swp" already exists!
[O]pen Read−Only, (E)dit anyway, (R)ecover, (Q)uit, (A)bort, (D)elete it:
O

Open the file readonly. Use this when you just want to view the file and
don't need to recover it. You might want to use this when you know someone
else is editing the file, but you just want to look in it and not make
changes.

E

Edit the file anyway. Use this with caution! If the file is being edited
in another Vim, you might end up with two versions of the file. Vim will
try to warn you when this happens, but better be safe then sorry.

R

Recover the file from the swap file. Use this if you know that the swap
file contains changes that you want to recover.

Q

Quit. This avoids starting to edit the file. Use this if there is another
Vim editing the same file.
When you just started Vim, this will exit Vim. When starting Vim with
files in several windows, Vim quits only if there is a swap file for the
first one. When using an edit command, the file will not be loaded and you
are taken back to the previously edited file.

A

Abort. Like Quit, but also abort further commands. This is useful when
loading a script that edits several files, such as a session with multiple
windows.

usr_doc.txt
D

Page 92

Delete the swap file. Use this when you are sure you no longer need it.
For example, when it doesn't contain changes, or when the file itself is
newer than the swap file.
On Unix this choice is only offered when the process that created the
swap file does not appear to be running.

If you do not get the dialog (you are running a version of Vim that does not
support it), you will have to do it manually. To recover the file, use this
command:

:recover
Vim cannot always detect that a swap file already exists for a file. This is
the case when the other edit session puts the swap files in another directory
or when the path name for the file is different when editing it on different
machines. Therefore, don't rely on Vim always warning you.
If you really don't want to see this message, you can add the 'A' flag to the
'shortmess' option. But it's very unusual that you need this.
For remarks about encryption and the swap file, see |:recover−crypt|.
==============================================================================
*11.4* Further reading
|swap−file|
|:preserve|
|:swapname|
'updatecount'
'updatetime'
'swapsync'
'directory'
'maxmem'
'maxmemtot'

An explanation about where the swap file will be created and
what its name is.
Manually flushing the swap file to disk.
See the name of the swap file for the current file.
Number of key strokes after which the swap file is flushed to
disk.
Timeout after which the swap file is flushed to disk.
Whether the disk is synced when the swap file is flushed.
List of directory names where to store the swap file.
Limit for memory usage before writing text to the swap file.
Same, but for all files in total.

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_12.txt|

Clever tricks

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_12.txt*

Page 93
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2007 May 11

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Clever tricks
By combining several commands you can make Vim do nearly everything. In this
chapter a number of useful combinations will be presented. This uses the
commands introduced in the previous chapters and a few more.
|12.1|
|12.2|
|12.3|
|12.4|
|12.5|
|12.6|
|12.7|
|12.8|

Replace a word
Change "Last, First" to "First Last"
Sort a list
Reverse line order
Count words
Find a man page
Trim blanks
Find where a word is used

Next chapter: |usr_20.txt| Typing command−line commands quickly
Previous chapter: |usr_11.txt| Recovering from a crash
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*12.1* Replace a word
The substitute command can be used to replace all occurrences of a word with
another word:

:%s/four/4/g
The "%" range means to replace in all lines. The "g" flag at the end causes
all words in a line to be replaced.
This will not do the right thing if your file also contains "thirtyfour".
It would be replaced with "thirty4". To avoid this, use the "\<" item to
match the start of a word:

:%s/\" to match the end of

:%s/\/4/g
If you are programming, you might want to replace "four" in comments, but not
in the code. Since this is difficult to specify, add the "c" flag to have the
substitute command prompt you for each replacement:

:%s/\/4/gc
REPLACING IN SEVERAL FILES
Suppose you want to replace a word in more than one file. You could edit each
file and type the command manually. It's a lot faster to use record and
playback.
Let's assume you have a directory with C++ files, all ending in ".cpp".
There is a function called "GetResp" that you want to rename to "GetAnswer".
vim *.cpp
qq

Start Vim, defining the argument list to
contain all the C++ files. You are now in the
first file.
Start recording into the q register

usr_doc.txt

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:%s/\/GetAnswer/g
Do the replacements in the first file.
:wnext
Write this file and move to the next one.
q
Stop recording.
@q
Execute the q register. This will replay the
substitution and ":wnext". You can verify
that this doesn't produce an error message.
999@q
Execute the q register on the remaining files.
At the last file you will get an error message, because ":wnext" cannot move
to the next file. This stops the execution, and everything is done.

Note:
When playing back a recorded sequence, an error stops the execution.
Therefore, make sure you don't get an error message when recording.
There is one catch: If one of the .cpp files does not contain the word
"GetResp", you will get an error and replacing will stop. To avoid this, add
the "e" flag to the substitute command:

:%s/\/GetAnswer/ge
The "e" flag tells ":substitute" that not finding a match is not an error.
==============================================================================
*12.2* Change "Last, First" to "First Last"
You have a list of names in this form:
Doe, John
Smith, Peter
You want to change that to:
John Doe
Peter Smith
This can be done with just one command:

:%s/\([^,]*\), \(.*\)/\2 \1/
Let's break this down in parts. Obviously it starts with a substitute
command. The "%" is the line range, which stands for the whole file. Thus
the substitution is done in every line in the file.
The arguments for the substitute command are "/from/to/". The slashes
separate the "from" pattern and the "to" string. This is what the "from"
pattern contains:
\([^,]*\), \(.*\)
The first part between \( \) matches "Last"
match anything but a comma
any number of times
matches ", " literally
The second part between \( \) matches "First"
any character
any number of times

\(

\)
[^,]
*
,
\(

\)
.
*

In the "to" part we have "\2" and "\1". These are called backreferences.
They refer to the text matched by the "\( \)" parts in the pattern. "\2"
refers to the text matched by the second "\( \)", which is the "First" name.
"\1" refers to the first "\( \)", which is the "Last" name.
You can use up to nine backreferences in the "to" part of a substitute
command. "\0" stands for the whole matched pattern. There are a few more
special items in a substitute command, see |sub−replace−special|.
==============================================================================

usr_doc.txt
*12.3*

Page 95

Sort a list

In a Makefile you often have a list of files.

For example:

OBJS = \
version.o \
pch.o \
getopt.o \
util.o \
getopt1.o \
inp.o \
patch.o \
backup.o
To sort this list, filter the text through the external sort command:

/^OBJS
j
:.,/^$/−1!sort
This goes to the first line, where "OBJS" is the first thing in the line.
Then it goes one line down and filters the lines until the next empty line.
You could also select the lines in Visual mode and then use "!sort". That's
easier to type, but more work when there are many lines.
The result is this:
OBJS = \
backup.o
getopt.o \
getopt1.o \
inp.o \
patch.o \
pch.o \
util.o \
version.o \
Notice that a backslash at the end of each line is used to indicate the line
continues. After sorting, this is wrong! The "backup.o" line that was at
the end didn't have a backslash. Now that it sorts to another place, it
must have a backslash.
The simplest solution is to add the backslash with "A \". You can
keep the backslash in the last line, if you make sure an empty line comes
after it. That way you don't have this problem again.
==============================================================================
*12.4* Reverse line order
The |:global| command can be combined with the |:move| command to move all the
lines before the first line, resulting in a reversed file. The command is:

:global/^/m 0
Abbreviated:

:g/^/m 0
The "^" regular expression matches the beginning of the line (even if the line
is blank). The |:move| command moves the matching line to after the mythical
zeroth line, so the current matching line becomes the first line of the file.
As the |:global| command is not confused by the changing line numbering,
|:global| proceeds to match all remaining lines of the file and puts each as
the first.
This also works on a range of lines. First move to above the first line and
mark it with "mt". Then move the cursor to the last line in the range and

usr_doc.txt

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type:

:'t+1,.g/^/m 't
==============================================================================
*12.5* Count words
Sometimes you have to write a text with a maximum number of words. Vim can
count the words for you.
When the whole file is what you want to count the words in, use this
command:

g CTRL−G
Do not type a space after the g, this is just used here to make the command
easy to read.
The output looks like this:
Col 1 of 0; Line 141 of 157; Word 748 of 774; Byte 4489 of 4976
You can see on which word you are (748), and the total number of words in the
file (774).
When the text is only part of a file, you could move to the start of the
type "g CTRL−G", move to the end of the text, type "g CTRL−G" again, and
use your brain to compute the difference in the word position. That's a
exercise, but there is an easier way. With Visual mode, select the text
want to count words in. Then type g CTRL−G. The result:

text,
then
good
you

Selected 5 of 293 Lines; 70 of 1884 Words; 359 of 10928 Bytes
For other ways to count words, lines and other items, see |count−items|.
==============================================================================
*12.6* Find a man page
*find−manpage*
While editing a shell script or C program, you are using a command or function
that you want to find the man page for (this is on Unix). Let's first use a
simple way: Move the cursor to the word you want to find help on and press

K
Vim will run the external "man" program on the word. If the man page is
found, it is displayed. This uses the normal pager to scroll through the text
(mostly the "more" program). When you get to the end pressing  will
get you back into Vim.
A disadvantage is that you can't see the man page and the text you are working
on at the same time. There is a trick to make the man page appear in a Vim
window. First, load the man filetype plugin:

:runtime! ftplugin/man.vim
Put this command in your vimrc file if you intend to do this often.
can use the ":Man" command to open a window on a man page:

Now you

:Man csh
You can scroll around and the text is highlighted. This allows you to find
the help you were looking for. Use CTRL−W w to jump to the window with the
text you were working on.
To find a man page in a specific section, put the section number first.
For example, to look in section 3 for "echo":

:Man 3 echo

usr_doc.txt

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To jump to another man page, which is in the text with the typical form
"word(1)", press CTRL−] on it. Further ":Man" commands will use the same
window.
To display a man page for the word under the cursor, use this:

\K
(If you redefined the , use it instead of the backslash).
For example, you want to know the return value of "strstr()" while editing
this line:
if ( strstr (input, "aap") == )
Move the cursor to somewhere on "strstr" and type "\K".
to display the man page for strstr().

A window will open

==============================================================================
*12.7* Trim blanks
Some people find spaces and tabs at the end of a line useless, wasteful, and
ugly. To remove whitespace at the end of every line, execute the following
command:

:%s/\s\+$//
The line range "%" is used, thus this works on the whole file. The pattern
that the ":substitute" command matches with is "\s\+$". This finds white
space characters (\s), 1 or more of them (\+), before the end−of−line ($).
Later will be explained how you write patterns like this |usr_27.txt|.
The "to" part of the substitute command is empty: "//". Thus it replaces
with nothing, effectively deleting the matched white space.
Another wasteful use of spaces is placing them before a tab. Often these can
be deleted without changing the amount of white space. But not always!
Therefore, you can best do this manually. Use this search command:

/
You cannot see it, but there is a space before a tab in this command. Thus
it's "/".
Now use "x" to delete the space and check that the
amount of white space doesn't change. You might have to insert a tab if it
does change. Type "n" to find the next match. Repeat this until no more
matches can be found.
==============================================================================
*12.8* Find where a word is used
If you are a UNIX user, you can use a combination of Vim and the grep command
to edit all the files that contain a given word. This is extremely useful if
you are working on a program and want to view or edit all the files that
contain a specific variable.
For example, suppose you want to edit all the C program files that contain
the word "frame_counter". To do this you use the command:

vim `grep −l frame_counter *.c`
Let's look at this command in detail. The grep command searches through a set
of files for a given word. Because the −l argument is specified, the command
will only list the files containing the word and not print the matching lines.
The word it is searching for is "frame_counter". Actually, this can be any
regular expression. (Note: What grep uses for regular expressions is not
exactly the same as what Vim uses.)
The entire command is enclosed in backticks (`). This tells the UNIX shell
to run this command and pretend that the results were typed on the command
line. So what happens is that the grep command is run and produces a list of

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files, these files are put on the Vim command line. This results in Vim
editing the file list that is the output of grep. You can then use commands
like ":next" and ":first" to browse through the files.
FINDING EACH LINE
The above command only finds the files in which the word is found. You still
have to find the word within the files.
Vim has a built−in command that you can use to search a set of files for a
given string. If you want to find all occurrences of "error_string" in all C
program files, for example, enter the following command:

:grep error_string *.c
This causes Vim to search for the string "error_string" in all the specified
files (*.c). The editor will now open the first file where a match is found
and position the cursor on the first matching line. To go to the next
matching line (no matter in what file it is), use the ":cnext" command. To go
to the previous match, use the ":cprev" command. Use ":clist" to see all the
matches and where they are.
The ":grep" command uses the external commands grep (on Unix) or findstr
(on Windows). You can change this by setting the option 'grepprg'.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_20.txt|

Typing command−line commands quickly

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_20.txt*

Page 99
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Apr 24

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Typing command−line commands quickly
Vim has a few generic features that makes it easier to enter commands. Colon
commands can be abbreviated, edited and repeated. Completion is available for
nearly everything.
|20.1|
|20.2|
|20.3|
|20.4|
|20.5|

Command
Command
Command
Command
Command

line
line
line
line
line

editing
abbreviations
completion
history
window

Next chapter: |usr_21.txt| Go away and come back
Previous chapter: |usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*20.1* Command line editing
When you use a colon (:) command or search for a string with / or ?, Vim puts
the cursor on the bottom of the screen. There you type the command or search
pattern. This is called the Command line. Also when it's used for entering a
search command.
The most obvious way to edit the command you type is by pressing the  key.
This erases the character before the cursor. To erase another character,
typed earlier, first move the cursor with the cursor keys.
For example, you have typed this:

:s/col/pig/
Before you hit , you notice that "col" should be "cow". To correct
this, you type  five times. The cursor is now just after "col". Type
 and "w" to correct:

:s/cow/pig/
Now you can press  directly. You don't have to move the cursor to the
end of the line before executing the command.
The most often used keys to move around in the command line:



 or 
 or 
CTRL−B or 
CTRL−E or 

one character left
one character right
one word left
one word right
to begin of command line
to end of command line

Note:
 (cursor left key with Shift key pressed) and  (cursor
left key with Control pressed) will not work on all keyboards. Same
for the other Shift and Control combinations.
You can also use the mouse to move the cursor.
DELETING
As mentioned,  deletes the character before the cursor.

To delete a whole

usr_doc.txt

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word use CTRL−W.
/the fine pig

CTRL−W
/the fine

CTRL−U removes all text, thus allows you to start all over again.
OVERSTRIKE
The  key toggles between inserting characters and replacing the
existing ones. Start with this text:
/the fine pig
Move the cursor to the start of "fine" with  twice (or  eight
times, if  doesn't work). Now press  to switch to overstrike
and type "great":
/the greatpig
Oops, we lost the space. Now, don't use , because it would delete the
"t" (this is different from Replace mode). Instead, press  to switch
from overstrike to inserting, and type the space:
/the great pig
CANCELLING
You thought of executing a : or / command, but changed your mind. To get rid
of what you already typed, without executing it, press CTRL−C or .

Note:
 is the universal "get out" key. Unfortunately, in the good old
Vi pressing  in a command line executed the command! Since that
might be considered to be a bug, Vim uses  to cancel the command.
But with the 'cpoptions' option it can be made Vi compatible. And
when using a mapping (which might be written for Vi)  also works
Vi compatible. Therefore, using CTRL−C is a method that always works.
If you are at the start of the command line, pressing  will cancel the
command. It's like deleting the ":" or "/" that the line starts with.
==============================================================================
*20.2* Command line abbreviations
Some of the ":" commands are really long.
":substitute" can be abbreviated to ":s".
":" commands can be abbreviated.

We already mentioned that
This is a generic mechanism, all

How short can a command get? There are 26 letters, and many more commands.
For example, ":set" also starts with ":s", but ":s" doesn't start a ":set"
command. Instead ":set" can be abbreviated to ":se".
When the shorter form of a command could be used for two commands, it
stands for only one of them. There is no logic behind which one, you have to
learn them. In the help files the shortest form that works is mentioned. For
example:

:s[ubstitute]
This means that the shortest form of ":substitute" is ":s".
characters are optional. Thus ":su" and ":sub" also work.

The following

usr_doc.txt

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In the user manual we will either use the full name of command, or a short
version that is still readable. For example, ":function" can be abbreviated
to ":fu". But since most people don't understand what that stands for, we
will use ":fun". (Vim doesn't have a ":funny" command, otherwise ":fun" would
be confusing too.)
It is recommended that in Vim scripts you write the full command name. That
makes it easier to read back when you make later changes. Except for some
often used commands like ":w" (":write") and ":r" (":read").
A particularly confusing one is ":end", which could stand for ":endif",
":endwhile" or ":endfunction". Therefore, always use the full name.
SHORT OPTION NAMES
In the user manual the long version of the option names is used. Many options
also have a short name. Unlike ":" commands, there is only one short name
that works. For example, the short name of 'autoindent' is 'ai'. Thus these
two commands do the same thing:

:set autoindent
:set ai
You can find the full list of long and short names here: |option−list|.
==============================================================================
*20.3* Command line completion
This is one of those Vim features that, by itself, is a reason to switch from
Vi to Vim. Once you have used this, you can't do without.
Suppose you have a directory that contains these files:
info.txt
intro.txt
bodyofthepaper.txt
To edit the last one, you use the command:

:edit bodyofthepaper.txt
It's easy to type this wrong.

A much quicker way is:

:edit b
Which will result in the same command. What happened? The  key does
completion of the word before the cursor. In this case "b". Vim looks in the
directory and finds only one file that starts with a "b". That must be the
one you are looking for, thus Vim completes the file name for you.
Now type:

:edit i
Vim will beep, and give you:

:edit info.txt
The beep means that Vim has found more than one match. It then uses the first
match it found (alphabetically). If you press  again, you get:

:edit intro.txt
Thus, if the first  doesn't give you the file you were looking for, press
it again. If there are more matches, you will see them all, one at a time.

usr_doc.txt

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If you press  on the last matching entry, you will go back to what you
first typed:

:edit i
Then it starts all over again. Thus Vim cycles through the list of matches.
Use CTRL−P to go through the list in the other direction:
<−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−  −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|
 −−>
 −−>
:edit i
:edit info.txt
:edit intro.txt
<−− CTRL−P
<−− CTRL−P
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−− CTRL−P −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
CONTEXT
When you type ":set i" instead of ":edit i" and press  you get:

:set icon
Hey, why didn't you get ":set info.txt"? That's because Vim has context
sensitive completion. The kind of words Vim will look for depends on the
command before it. Vim knows that you cannot use a file name just after a
":set" command, but you can use an option name.
Again, if you repeat typing the , Vim will cycle through all matches.
There are quite a few, it's better to type more characters first:

:set isk
Gives:

:set iskeyword
Now type "=" and press :

:set iskeyword=@,48−57,_,192−255
What happens here is that Vim inserts the old value of the option. Now you
can edit it.
What is completed with  is what Vim expects in that place. Just try
it out to see how it works. In some situations you will not get what you
want. That's either because Vim doesn't know what you want, or because
completion was not implemented for that situation. In that case you will get
a  inserted (displayed as ^I).
LIST MATCHES
When there are many matches, you would like to see an overview.
pressing CTRL−D. For example, pressing CTRL−D after:

Do this by

:set is
results in:

:set is
incsearch
:set is

isfname

isident

iskeyword

isprint

Vim lists the matches and then comes back with the text you typed. You can
now check the list for the item you wanted. If it isn't there, you can use
 to correct the word. If there are many matches, type a few more
characters before pressing  to complete the rest.

usr_doc.txt

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If you have watched carefully, you will have noticed that "incsearch"
doesn't start with "is". In this case "is" stands for the short name of
"incsearch". (Many options have a short and a long name.) Vim is clever
enough to know that you might have wanted to expand the short name of the
option into the long name.
THERE IS MORE
The CTRL−L command completes the word to the longest unambiguous string. If
you type ":edit i" and there are files "info.txt" and "info_backup.txt" you
will get ":edit info".
The 'wildmode' option can be used to change the way completion works.
The 'wildmenu' option can be used to get a menu−like list of matches.
Use the 'suffixes' option to specify files that are less important and appear
at the end of the list of files.
The 'wildignore' option specifies files that are not listed at all.
More about all of this here: |cmdline−completion|
==============================================================================
*20.4* Command line history
In chapter 3 we briefly mentioned the history. The basics are that you can
use the  key to recall an older command line.  then takes you back
to newer commands.
There are actually four histories. The ones we will mention here are for ":"
commands and for "/" and "?" search commands. The "/" and "?" commands share
the same history, because they are both search commands. The two other
histories are for expressions and input lines for the input() function.
|cmdline−history|
Suppose you have done a ":set" command, typed ten more colon commands and then
want to repeat that ":set" command again. You could press ":" and then ten
times . There is a quicker way:

:se
Vim will now go back to the previous command that started with "se". You have
a good chance that this is the ":set" command you were looking for. At least
you should not have to press  very often (unless ":set" commands is all
you have done).
The  key will use the text typed so far and compare it with the lines in
the history. Only matching lines will be used.
If you do not find the line you were looking for, use  to go back to
what you typed and correct that. Or use CTRL−U to start all over again.
To see all the lines in the history:

:history
That's the history of ":" commands.
command:

The search history is displayed with this

:history /
CTRL−P will work like , except that it doesn't matter what you already
typed. Similarly for CTRL−N and . CTRL−P stands for previous, CTRL−N
for next.
==============================================================================
*20.5* Command line window

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Typing the text in the command line works different from typing text in Insert
mode. It doesn't allow many commands to change the text. For most commands
that's OK, but sometimes you have to type a complicated command. That's where
the command line window is useful.
Open the command line window with this command:

q:
Vim now opens a (small) window at the bottom.
history, and an empty line at the end:

It contains the command line

+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|other window
|
|~
|
|file.txt=============================|
|:e c
|
|:e config.h.in
|
|:set path=.,/usr/include,,
|
|:set iskeyword=@,48−57,_,192−255
|
|:set is
|
|:q
|
|:
|
|command−line=========================|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
You are now in Normal mode. You can use the "hjkl" keys to move around. For
example, move up with "5k" to the ":e config.h.in" line. Type "$h" to go to
the "i" of "in" and type "cwout". Now you have changed the line to:
:e config.h.out
Now press  and this command will be executed. The command line window
will close.
The  command will execute the line under the cursor. It doesn't
matter whether Vim is in Insert mode or in Normal mode.
Changes in the command line window are lost. They do not result in the
history to be changed. Except that the command you execute will be added to
the end of the history, like with all executed commands.
The command line window is very useful when you want to have overview of the
history, lookup a similar command, change it a bit and execute it. A search
command can be used to find something.
In the previous example the "?config" search command could have been used
to find the previous command that contains "config". It's a bit strange,
because you are using a command line to search in the command line window.
While typing that search command you can't open another command line window,
there can be only one.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_21.txt|

Go away and come back

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_21.txt*

Page 105
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2012 Nov 02

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Go away and come back
This chapter goes into mixing the use of other programs with Vim. Either by
executing program from inside Vim or by leaving Vim and coming back later.
Furthermore, this is about the ways to remember the state of Vim and restore
it later.
|21.1|
|21.2|
|21.3|
|21.4|
|21.5|
|21.6|

Suspend and resume
Executing shell commands
Remembering information; viminfo
Sessions
Views
Modelines

Next chapter: |usr_22.txt| Finding the file to edit
Previous chapter: |usr_20.txt| Typing command−line commands quickly
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*21.1* Suspend and resume
Like most Unix programs Vim can be suspended by pressing CTRL−Z. This stops
Vim and takes you back to the shell it was started in. You can then do any
other commands until you are bored with them. Then bring back Vim with the
"fg" command.

CTRL−Z
{any sequence of shell commands}
fg
You are right back where you left Vim, nothing has changed.
In case pressing CTRL−Z doesn't work, you can also use ":suspend".
Don't forget to bring Vim back to the foreground, you would lose any changes
that you made!
Only Unix has support for this. On other systems Vim will start a shell for
you. This also has the functionality of being able to execute shell commands.
But it's a new shell, not the one that you started Vim from.
When you are running the GUI you can't go back to the shell where Vim was
started. CTRL−Z will minimize the Vim window instead.
==============================================================================
*21.2* Executing shell commands
To execute a single shell command from Vim use ":!{command}".
see a directory listing:

For example, to

:!ls
:!dir
The first one is for Unix, the second one for MS−Windows.
Vim will execute the program. When it ends you will get a prompt to hit
. This allows you to have a look at the output from the command before
returning to the text you were editing.
The "!" is also used in other places where a program is run. Let's take
a look at an overview:
:!{program}
:r !{program}
:w !{program}

execute {program}
execute {program} and read its output
execute {program} and send text to its input

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:[range]!{program}

filter text through {program}

Notice that the presence of a range before "!{program}" makes a big
difference. Without it executes the program normally, with the range a number
of text lines is filtered through the program.
Executing a whole row of programs this way is possible.
better at it. You can start a new shell this way:

But a shell is much

:shell
This is similar to using CTRL−Z to suspend Vim.
shell is started.

The difference is that a new

When using the GUI the shell will be using the Vim window for its input and
output. Since Vim is not a terminal emulator, this will not work perfectly.
If you have trouble, try toggling the 'guipty' option. If this still doesn't
work well enough, start a new terminal to run the shell in. For example with:

:!xterm&
==============================================================================
*21.3* Remembering information; viminfo
After editing for a while you will have text in registers, marks in various
files, a command line history filled with carefully crafted commands. When
you exit Vim all of this is lost. But you can get it back!
The viminfo file is designed to store status information:
Command−line and Search pattern history
Text in registers
Marks for various files
The buffer list
Global variables
Each time you exit Vim it will store this information in a file, the viminfo
file. When Vim starts again, the viminfo file is read and the information
restored.
The 'viminfo' option is set by default to restore a limited number of items.
You might want to set it to remember more information. This is done through
the following command:

:set viminfo=string
The string specifies what to save. The syntax of this string is an option
character followed by an argument. The option/argument pairs are separated by
commas.
Take a look at how you can build up your own viminfo string. First, the '
option is used to specify how many files for which you save marks (a−z). Pick
a nice even number for this option (1000, for instance). Your command now
looks like this:

:set viminfo='1000
The f option controls whether global marks (A−Z and 0−9) are stored. If this
option is 0, none are stored. If it is 1 or you do not specify an f option,
the marks are stored. You want this feature, so now you have this:

:set viminfo='1000,f1
The < option
default, all
thousands of
starting Vim

controls how many lines are saved for each of the registers. By
the lines are saved. If 0, nothing is saved. To avoid adding
lines to your viminfo file (which might never get used and makes
slower) you use a maximum of 500 lines:

usr_doc.txt

:set viminfo='1000,f1,<500
Other options you might want to use:
:
number of lines to save from the command line history
@
number of lines to save from the input line history
/
number of lines to save from the search history
r
removable media, for which no marks will be stored (can be
used several times)
!
global variables that start with an uppercase letter and
don't contain lowercase letters
h
disable 'hlsearch' highlighting when starting
%
the buffer list (only restored when starting Vim without file
arguments)
c
convert the text using 'encoding'
n
name used for the viminfo file (must be the last option)
See the 'viminfo' option and |viminfo−file| for more information.
When you run Vim multiple times, the last one exiting will store its
information. This may cause information that previously exiting Vims stored
to be lost. Each item can be remembered only once.
GETTING BACK TO WHERE YOU STOPPED VIM
You are halfway editing a file and it's time to leave for holidays. You exit
Vim and go enjoy yourselves, forgetting all about your work. After a couple
of weeks you start Vim, and type:

'0
And you are right back where you left Vim. So you can get on with your work.
Vim creates a mark each time you exit Vim. The last one is '0. The
position that '0 pointed to is made '1. And '1 is made to '2, and so forth.
Mark '9 is lost.
The |:marks| command is useful to find out where '0 to '9 will take you.
GETTING BACK TO SOME FILE
If you want to go back to a file that you edited recently, but not when
exiting Vim, there is a slightly more complicated way. You can see a list of
files by typing the command:

:oldfiles
1: ~/.viminfo
2: ~/text/resume.txt
3: /tmp/draft
Now you would like to edit the second file, which is in the list preceded by
"2:". You type:

:e #<2
Instead of ":e" you can use any command that has a file name argument, the
"#<2" item works in the same place as "%" (current file name) and "#"
(alternate file name). So you can also split the window to edit the third
file:

:split #<3
That #<123 thing is a bit complicated when you just want to edit a file.
Fortunately there is a simpler way:

:browse oldfiles

Page 107

usr_doc.txt
1:
2:
3:
−−

~/.viminfo
~/text/resume.txt
/tmp/draft
More −−

You get the same list of files as with |:oldfiles|. If you want to edit
"resume.txt" first press "q" to stop the listing. You will get a prompt:
Type number and  (empty cancels):
Type "2" and press  to edit the second file.
More info at |:oldfiles|, |v:oldfiles| and |c_#<|.
MOVE INFO FROM ONE VIM TO ANOTHER
You can use the ":wviminfo" and ":rviminfo" commands to save and restore the
information while still running Vim. This is useful for exchanging register
contents between two instances of Vim, for example. In the first Vim do:

:wviminfo! ~/tmp/viminfo
And in the second Vim do:

:rviminfo! ~/tmp/viminfo
Obviously, the "w" stands for "write" and the "r" for "read".
The ! character is used by ":wviminfo" to forcefully overwrite an existing
file. When it is omitted, and the file exists, the information is merged into
the file.
The ! character used for ":rviminfo" means that all the information is
used, this may overwrite existing information. Without the ! only information
that wasn't set is used.
These commands can also be used to store info and use it again later. You
could make a directory full of viminfo files, each containing info for a
different purpose.
==============================================================================
*21.4* Sessions
Suppose you are editing along, and it is the end of the day. You want to quit
work and pick up where you left off the next day. You can do this by saving
your editing session and restoring it the next day.
A Vim session contains all the information about what you are editing.
This includes things such as the file list, window layout, global variables,
options and other information. (Exactly what is remembered is controlled by
the 'sessionoptions' option, described below.)
The following command creates a session file:

:mksession vimbook.vim
Later if you want to restore this session, you can use this command:

:source vimbook.vim
If you want to start Vim and restore a specific session, you can use the
following command:

vim −S vimbook.vim
This tells Vim to read a specific file on startup. The 'S' stands for
session (actually, you can source any Vim script with −S, thus it might as
well stand for "source").
The windows that were open are restored, with the same position and size as

Page 108

usr_doc.txt

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before. Mappings and option values are like before.
What exactly is restored depends on the 'sessionoptions' option.
default value is "blank,buffers,curdir,folds,help,options,winsize".
blank
buffers
curdir
folds
help
options
winsize

The

keep empty windows
all buffers, not only the ones in a window
the current directory
folds, also manually created ones
the help window
all options and mappings
window sizes

Change this to your liking.
example, use:

To also restore the size of the Vim window, for

:set sessionoptions+=resize
SESSION HERE, SESSION THERE
The obvious way to use sessions is when working on different projects.
Suppose you store your session files in the directory "~/.vim". You are
currently working on the "secret" project and have to switch to the "boring"
project:

:wall
:mksession! ~/.vim/secret.vim
:source ~/.vim/boring.vim
This first uses ":wall" to write all modified files. Then the current session
is saved, using ":mksession!". This overwrites the previous session. The
next time you load the secret session you can continue where you were at this
point. And finally you load the new "boring" session.
If you open help windows, split and close various windows, and generally mess
up the window layout, you can go back to the last saved session:

:source ~/.vim/boring.vim
Thus you have complete control over whether you want to continue next time
where you are now, by saving the current setup in a session, or keep the
session file as a starting point.
Another way of using sessions is to create a window layout that you like to
use, and save this in a session. Then you can go back to this layout whenever
you want.
For example, this is a nice layout to use:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|
VIM − main help file |
|
|
|Move around: Use the cursor keys, or "h|
|help.txt================================|
|explorer
|
|
|dir
|~
|
|dir
|~
|
|file
|~
|
|file
|~
|
|file
|~
|
|file
|~
|
|~/=========|[No File]===================|
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
This has a help window at the top, so that you can read this text. The narrow
vertical window on the left contains a file explorer. This is a Vim plugin
that lists the contents of a directory. You can select files to edit there.

usr_doc.txt

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More about this in the next chapter.
Create this from a just started Vim with:

:help
CTRL−W w
:vertical split ~/
You can resize the windows a bit to your liking.

Then save the session with:

:mksession ~/.vim/mine.vim
Now you can start Vim with this layout:

vim −S ~/.vim/mine.vim
Hint: To open a file you see listed in the explorer window in the empty
window, move the cursor to the filename and press "O". Double clicking with
the mouse will also do this.
UNIX AND MS−WINDOWS
Some people have to do work on MS−Windows systems one day and on Unix another
day. If you are one of them, consider adding "slash" and "unix" to
'sessionoptions'. The session files will then be written in a format that can
be used on both systems. This is the command to put in your vimrc file:

:set sessionoptions+=unix,slash
Vim will use the Unix format then, because the MS−Windows Vim can read and
write Unix files, but Unix Vim can't read MS−Windows format session files.
Similarly, MS−Windows Vim understands file names with / to separate names, but
Unix Vim doesn't understand \.
SESSIONS AND VIMINFO
Sessions store many things, but not the position of marks, contents of
registers and the command line history. You need to use the viminfo feature
for these things.
In most situations you will want to use sessions separately from viminfo.
This can be used to switch to another session, but keep the command line
history. And yank text into registers in one session, and paste it back in
another session.
You might prefer to keep the info with the session. You will have to do
this yourself then. Example:

:mksession! ~/.vim/secret.vim
:wviminfo! ~/.vim/secret.viminfo
And to restore this again:

:source ~/.vim/secret.vim
:rviminfo! ~/.vim/secret.viminfo
==============================================================================
*21.5* Views
A session stores the looks of the whole of Vim. When you want to store the
properties for one window only, use a view.
The use of a view is for when you want to edit a file in a specific way.
For example, you have line numbers enabled with the 'number' option and
defined a few folds. Just like with sessions, you can remember this view on
the file and restore it later. Actually, when you store a session, it stores
the view of each window.
There are two basic ways to use views. The first is to let Vim pick a name

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for the view file. You can restore the view when you later edit the same
file. To store the view for the current window:

:mkview
Vim will decide where to store the view.
you get the view back with this command:

When you later edit the same file

:loadview
That's easy, isn't it?
Now you want to view the file without the 'number' option on, or with all
folds open, you can set the options to make the window look that way. Then
store this view with:

:mkview 1
Obviously, you can get this back with:

:loadview 1
Now you can switch between the two views on the file by using ":loadview" with
and without the "1" argument.
You can store up to ten views for the same file this way, one unnumbered
and nine numbered 1 to 9.
A VIEW WITH A NAME
The second basic way to use views is by storing the view in a file with a name
you choose. This view can be loaded while editing another file. Vim will
then switch to editing the file specified in the view. Thus you can use this
to quickly switch to editing another file, with all its options set as you
saved them.
For example, to save the view of the current file:

:mkview ~/.vim/main.vim
You can restore it with:

:source ~/.vim/main.vim
==============================================================================
*21.6* Modelines
When editing a specific file, you might set options specifically for that
file. Typing these commands each time is boring. Using a session or view for
editing a file doesn't work when sharing the file between several people.
The solution for this situation is adding a modeline to the file. This is
a line of text that tells Vim the values of options, to be used in this file
only.
A typical example is a C program where you make indents by a multiple of 4
spaces. This requires setting the 'shiftwidth' option to 4. This modeline
will do that:
/* vim:set shiftwidth=4: */
Put this line as one of the first or last five lines in the file. When
editing the file, you will notice that 'shiftwidth' will have been set to
four. When editing another file, it's set back to the default value of eight.
For some files the modeline fits well in the header, thus it can be put at
the top of the file. For text files and other files where the modeline gets
in the way of the normal contents, put it at the end of the file.
The 'modelines' option specifies how many lines at the start and end of the
file are inspected for containing a modeline. To inspect ten lines:

usr_doc.txt

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:set modelines=10
The 'modeline' option can be used to switch this off. Do this when you are
working as root on Unix or Administrator on MS−Windows, or when you don't
trust the files you are editing:

:set nomodeline
Use this format for the modeline:
any−text vim:set {option}={value} ... : any−text
The "any−text" indicates that you can put any text before and after the part
that Vim will use. This allows making it look like a comment, like what was
done above with /* and */.
The " vim:" part is what makes Vim recognize this line. There must be
white space before "vim", or "vim" must be at the start of the line. Thus
using something like "gvim:" will not work.
The part between the colons is a ":set" command. It works the same way as
typing the ":set" command, except that you need to insert a backslash before a
colon (otherwise it would be seen as the end of the modeline).
Another example:
// vim:set textwidth=72 dir=c\:\tmp:

use c:\tmp here

There is an extra backslash before the first colon, so that it's included in
the ":set" command. The text after the second colon is ignored, thus a remark
can be placed there.
For more details see |modeline|.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_22.txt|

Finding the file to edit

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_22.txt*

Page 113
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2012 Nov 15

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Finding the file to edit
Files can be found everywhere. So how do you find them? Vim offers various
ways to browse the directory tree. There are commands to jump to a file that
is mentioned in another. And Vim remembers which files have been edited
before.
|22.1|
|22.2|
|22.3|
|22.4|

The file browser
The current directory
Finding a file
The buffer list

Next chapter: |usr_23.txt| Editing other files
Previous chapter: |usr_21.txt| Go away and come back
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*22.1* The file browser
Vim has a plugin that makes it possible to edit a directory.

Try this:

:edit .
Through the magic of autocommands and Vim scripts, the window will be filled
with the contents of the directory. It looks like this:
" ============================================================================
" Netrw Directory Listing
(netrw v109)
"
Sorted by
name
"
Sort sequence: [\/]$,\.h$,\.c$,\.cpp$,*,\.info$,\.swp$,\.o$\.obj$,\.bak$
"
Quick Help: :help −:go up dir D:delete R:rename s:sort−by x:exec
" ============================================================================
../
./
check/
Makefile
autocmd.txt
change.txt
eval.txt~
filetype.txt~
help.txt.info
You can see these items:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The name of the browsing tool and its version number
The name of the browsing directory
The method of sorting (may be by name, time, or size)
How names are to be sorted (directories first, then *.h files,
*.c files, etc)
How to get help (use the  key), and an abbreviated listing
of available commands
A listing of files, including "../", which allows one to list
the parent directory.

If you have syntax highlighting enabled, the different parts are highlighted
so as to make it easier to spot them.
You can use Normal mode Vim commands to move around in the text. For example,
move the cursor atop a file and press ; you will then be editing that
file. To go back to the browser use ":edit ." again, or use ":Explore".

usr_doc.txt

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CTRL−O also works.
Try using  while the cursor is atop a directory name. The result is
that the file browser moves into that directory and displays the items found
there. Pressing  on the first directory "../" moves you one level
higher. Pressing "−" does the same thing, without the need to move to the
"../" item first.
You can press  to get help on the things you can do in the netrw file
browser. This is what you get:

9. Directory Browsing

netrw−browse

netrw−dir

netrw−list

netrw−help

MAPS

netrw−maps
.............Help.......................................|netrw−help|
.............Browsing...................................|netrw−cr|
............Deleting Files or Directories..............|netrw−delete|
−................Going Up...................................|netrw−−|
a................Hiding Files or Directories................|netrw−a|
mb...............Bookmarking a Directory....................|netrw−mb|
gb...............Changing to a Bookmarked Directory.........|netrw−gb|
c................Make Browsing Directory The Current Dir....|netrw−c|
d................Make A New Directory.......................|netrw−d|
D................Deleting Files or Directories..............|netrw−D|
............Edit File/Directory Hiding List............|netrw−ctrl−h|
i................Change Listing Style.......................|netrw−i|
............Refreshing the Listing.....................|netrw−ctrl−l|
o................Browsing with a Horizontal Split...........|netrw−o|
p................Use Preview Window.........................|netrw−p|
P................Edit in Previous Window....................|netrw−p|
q................Listing Bookmarks and History..............|netrw−q|
r................Reversing Sorting Order....................|netrw−r|
(etc)

The  key thus brings you to a netrw directory browsing contents help page.
It's a regular help page; use the usual |CTRL−]| to jump to tagged help items
and |CTRL−O| to jump back.
To select files for display and editing: (with the cursor is atop a filename)


o
v
p
P
t

Open the file in the current window.
Horizontally split window and display file
Vertically split window and display file
Use the |preview−window|
Edit in the previous window
Open file in a new tab

|netrw−cr|
|netrw−o|
|netrw−v|
|netrw−p|
|netrw−P|
|netrw−t|

The following normal−mode commands may be used to control the browser display:
i
s
r

Controls listing style (thin, long, wide, and tree).
The long listing includes size and date information.
Repeatedly pressing s will change the way the files
are sorted; one may sort on name, modification time,
or size.
Reverse the sorting order.

As a sampling of extra normal−mode commands:
c
R
D
mb gb

Change Vim's notion of the current directory to be
the same as the browser directory. (see
|g:netrw_keepdir| to control this, too)
Rename the file or directory under the cursor; a
prompt will be issued for the new name.
Delete the file or directory under the cursor; a
confirmation request will be issued.
Make bookmark/goto bookmark

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One may also use command mode; again, just a sampling:
:Explore [directory]
:NetrwSettings

Browse specified/current directory
A comprehensive list of your current netrw
settings with help linkage.

The netrw browser is not limited to just your local machine; one may use
urls such as:
(that trailing / is important)
:Explore ftp://somehost/path/to/dir/
:e scp://somehost/path/to/dir/
See |netrw−browse| for more.
==============================================================================
*22.2* The current directory
Just like the shell, Vim has the concept of a current directory. Suppose you
are in your home directory and want to edit several files in a directory
"VeryLongFileName". You could do:

:edit VeryLongFileName/file1.txt
:edit VeryLongFileName/file2.txt
:edit VeryLongFileName/file3.txt
To avoid much of the typing, do this:

:cd VeryLongFileName
:edit file1.txt
:edit file2.txt
:edit file3.txt
The ":cd" command changes the current directory.
directory is with the ":pwd" command:

You can see what the current

:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
Vim remembers the last directory that you used.
Example:

Use "cd −" to go back to it.

:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
:cd /etc
:pwd
/etc
:cd −
:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
:cd −
:pwd
/etc
WINDOW LOCAL DIRECTORY
When you split a window, both windows use the same current directory. When
you want to edit a number of files somewhere else in the new window, you can
make it use a different directory, without changing the current directory in
the other window. This is called a local directory.

:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
:split

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:lcd /etc
:pwd
/etc
CTRL−W w
:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
So long as no ":lcd" command has been used, all windows share the same current
directory. Doing a ":cd" command in one window will also change the current
directory of the other window.
For a window where ":lcd" has been used a different current directory is
remembered. Using ":cd" or ":lcd" in other windows will not change it.
When using a ":cd" command in a window that uses a different current
directory, it will go back to using the shared directory.
==============================================================================
*22.3* Finding a file
You are editing a C program that contains this line:
#include "inits.h"
You want to see what is in that "inits.h" file.
of the file and type:

Move the cursor on the name

gf
Vim will find the file and edit it.
What if the file is not in the current directory? Vim will use the 'path'
option to find the file. This option is a list of directory names where to
look for your file.
Suppose you have your include files located in "c:/prog/include". This
command will add it to the 'path' option:

:set path+=c:/prog/include
This directory is an absolute path. No matter where you are, it will be the
same place. What if you have located files in a subdirectory, below where the
file is? Then you can specify a relative path name. This starts with a dot:

:set path+=./proto
This tells Vim to look in the directory "proto", below the directory where the
file in which you use "gf" is. Thus using "gf" on "inits.h" will make Vim
look for "proto/inits.h", starting in the directory of the file.
Without the "./", thus "proto", Vim would look in the "proto" directory
below the current directory. And the current directory might not be where the
file that you are editing is located.
The 'path' option allows specifying the directories where to search for files
in many more ways. See the help on the 'path' option.
The 'isfname' option is used to decide which characters are included in the
file name, and which ones are not (e.g., the " character in the example
above).
When you know the file name, but it's not to be found in the file, you can
type it:

:find inits.h
Vim will then use the 'path' option to try and locate the file.
same as the ":edit" command, except for the use of 'path'.

This is the

To open the found file in a new window use CTRL−W f instead of "gf", or use
":sfind" instead of ":find".

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A nice way to directly start Vim to edit a file somewhere in the 'path':

vim "+find stdio.h"
This finds the file "stdio.h" in your value of 'path'.
necessary to have one argument |−+c|.

The quotes are

==============================================================================
*22.4* The buffer list
The Vim editor uses the term buffer to describe a file being edited.
Actually, a buffer is a copy of the file that you edit. When you finish
changing the buffer, you write the contents of the buffer to the file.
Buffers not only contain file contents, but also all the marks, settings, and
other stuff that goes with it.
HIDDEN BUFFERS
Suppose you are editing the file one.txt and need to edit the file two.txt.
You could simply use ":edit two.txt", but since you made changes to one.txt
that won't work. You also don't want to write one.txt yet. Vim has a
solution for you:

:hide edit two.txt
The buffer "one.txt" disappears from the screen, but Vim still knows that you
are editing this buffer, so it keeps the modified text. This is called a
hidden buffer: The buffer contains text, but you can't see it.
The argument of ":hide" is another command. ":hide" makes that command
behave as if the 'hidden' option was set. You could also set this option
yourself. The effect is that when any buffer is abandoned, it becomes hidden.
Be careful! When you have hidden buffers with changes, don't exit Vim
without making sure you have saved all the buffers.
INACTIVE BUFFERS
When a buffer has been used once, Vim remembers some information about it.
When it is not displayed in a window and it is not hidden, it is still in the
buffer list. This is called an inactive buffer. Overview:
Active
Hidden
Inactive

Appears in a window, text loaded.
Not in a window, text loaded.
Not in a window, no text loaded.

The inactive buffers are remembered, because Vim keeps information about them,
like marks. And remembering the file name is useful too, so that you can see
which files you have edited. And edit them again.
LISTING BUFFERS
View the buffer list with this command:

:buffers
A command which does the same, is not so obvious to list buffers, but is much
shorter to type:

:ls
The output could look like this:
1 #h

"help.txt"

line 62

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2 %a + "usr_21.txt"
3
"usr_toc.txt"

line 1
line 1

The first column contains the buffer number. You can use this to edit the
buffer without having to type the name, see below.
After the buffer number come the flags. Then the name of the file
and the line number where the cursor was the last time.
The flags that can appear are these (from left to right):
u

Buffer is unlisted |unlisted−buffer|.
Current buffer.
Alternate buffer.
Buffer is loaded and displayed.
Buffer is loaded but hidden.
Buffer is read−only.
Buffer is not modifiable, the 'modifiable' option is off.
Buffer has been modified.

%
#
a
h
=
−
+
EDITING A BUFFER

You can edit a buffer by its number.
name:

That avoids having to type the file

:buffer 2
But the only way to know the number is by looking in the buffer list.
use the name, or part of it, instead:

You can

:buffer help
Vim will find the best match for the name you type. If there is only one
buffer that matches the name, it will be used. In this case "help.txt".
To open a buffer in a new window:

:sbuffer 3
This works with a name as well.
USING THE BUFFER LIST
You can move around in the buffer list with these commands:
:bnext
:bprevious
:bfirst
:blast

go
go
go
go

to
to
to
to

next buffer
previous buffer
the first buffer
the last buffer

To remove a buffer from the list, use this command:

:bdelete 3
Again, this also works with a name.
If you delete a buffer that was active (visible in a window), that window
will be closed. If you delete the current buffer, the current window will be
closed. If it was the last window, Vim will find another buffer to edit. You
can't be editing nothing!

Note:
Even after removing the buffer with ":bdelete" Vim still remembers it.
It's actually made "unlisted", it no longer appears in the list from
":buffers". The ":buffers!" command will list unlisted buffers (yes,
Vim can do the impossible). To really make Vim forget about a buffer,
use ":bwipe". Also see the 'buflisted' option.

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==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_23.txt|

Editing other files

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Apr 24

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Editing other files
This chapter is about editing files that are not ordinary files. With Vim you
can edit files that are compressed or encrypted. Some files need to be
accessed over the internet. With some restrictions, binary files can be
edited as well.
|23.1|
|23.2|
|23.3|
|23.4|
|23.5|

DOS, Mac and Unix files
Files on the internet
Encryption
Binary files
Compressed files

Next chapter: |usr_24.txt| Inserting quickly
Previous chapter: |usr_22.txt| Finding the file to edit
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*23.1* DOS, Mac and Unix files
Back in the early days, the old Teletype machines used two characters to
start a new line. One to move the carriage back to the first position
(carriage return, ), another to move the paper up (line feed, ).
When computers came out, storage was expensive. Some people decided that
they did not need two characters for end−of−line. The UNIX people decided
they could use  only for end−of−line. The Apple people
standardized on . The MS−DOS (and Microsoft Windows) folks decided to
keep the old .
This means that if you try to move a file from one system to another, you
have line−break problems. The Vim editor automatically recognizes the
different file formats and handles things properly behind your back.
The option 'fileformats' contains the various formats that will be tried
when a new file is edited. The following command, for example, tells Vim to
try UNIX format first and MS−DOS format second:

:set fileformats=unix,dos
You will notice the format in the message you get when editing a file. You
don't see anything if you edit a native file format. Thus editing a Unix file
on Unix won't result in a remark. But when you edit a dos file, Vim will
notify you of this:
"/tmp/test" [dos] 3L, 71C
For a Mac file you would see "[mac]".
The detected file format is stored in the 'fileformat' option.
which format you have, execute the following command:

To see

:set fileformat?
The three names that Vim uses are:
unix
dos
mac





USING THE MAC FORMAT
On Unix,  is used to break a line.

It's not unusual to have a 

usr_doc.txt

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character halfway a line. Incidentally, this happens quite often in Vi (and
Vim) scripts.
On the Macintosh, where  is the line break character, it's possible to
have a  character halfway a line.
The result is that it's not possible to be 100% sure whether a file
containing both  and  characters is a Mac or a Unix file. Therefore,
Vim assumes that on Unix you probably won't edit a Mac file, and doesn't check
for this type of file. To check for this format anyway, add "mac" to
'fileformats':

:set fileformats+=mac
Then Vim will take a guess at the file format.
Vim guesses wrong.

Watch out for situations where

OVERRULING THE FORMAT
If you use the good old Vi and try to edit an MS−DOS format file, you will
find that each line ends with a ^M character. (^M is ). The automatic
detection avoids this. Suppose you do want to edit the file that way? Then
you need to overrule the format:

:edit ++ff=unix file.txt
The "++" string is an item that tells Vim that an option name follows, which
overrules the default for this single command. "++ff" is used for
'fileformat'. You could also use "++ff=mac" or "++ff=dos".
This doesn't work for any option, only "++ff" and "++enc" are currently
implemented. The full names "++fileformat" and "++encoding" also work.
CONVERSION
You can use the 'fileformat' option to convert from one file format to
another. Suppose, for example, that you have an MS−DOS file named README.TXT
that you want to convert to UNIX format. Start by editing the MS−DOS format
file:
vim README.TXT
Vim will recognize this as a dos format file.
UNIX:

Now change the file format to

:set fileformat=unix
:write
The file is written in Unix format.
==============================================================================
*23.2* Files on the internet
Someone sends you an e−mail message, which refers to a file by its URL.
example:

For

You can find the information here:
ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/README
You could start a program to download the file, save it on your local disk and
then start Vim to edit it.
There is a much simpler way. Move the cursor to any character of the URL.
Then use this command:

gf
With a bit of luck, Vim will figure out which program to use for downloading
the file, download it and edit the copy. To open the file in a new window use

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CTRL−W f.
If something goes wrong you will get an error message. It's possible that
the URL is wrong, you don't have permission to read it, the network connection
is down, etc. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell the cause of the error. You
might want to try the manual way of downloading the file.
Accessing files over the internet works with the netrw plugin.
with these formats are recognized:
ftp://
rcp://
scp://
http://

uses
uses
uses
uses

Currently URLs

ftp
rcp
scp
wget (reading only)

Vim doesn't do the communication itself, it relies on the mentioned programs
to be available on your computer. On most Unix systems "ftp" and "rcp" will
be present. "scp" and "wget" might need to be installed.
Vim detects these URLs for each command that starts editing a new file, also
with ":edit" and ":split", for example. Write commands also work, except for
http://.
For more information, also about passwords, see |netrw|.
==============================================================================
*23.3* Encryption
Some information you prefer to keep to yourself. For example, when writing
a test on a computer that students also use. You don't want clever students
to figure out a way to read the questions before the exam starts. Vim can
encrypt the file for you, which gives you some protection.
To start editing a new file with encryption, use the "−x" argument to start
Vim. Example:

vim −x exam.txt
Vim prompts you for a key used for encrypting and decrypting the file:
Enter encryption key:
Carefully type the secret key now. You cannot see the characters you type,
they will be replaced by stars. To avoid the situation that a typing mistake
will cause trouble, Vim asks you to enter the key again:
Enter same key again:
You can now edit this file normally and put in all your secrets. When you
finish editing the file and tell Vim to exit, the file is encrypted and
written.
When you edit the file with Vim, it will ask you to enter the same key
again. You don't need to use the "−x" argument. You can also use the normal
":edit" command. Vim adds a magic string to the file by which it recognizes
that the file was encrypted.
If you try to view this file using another program, all you get is garbage.
Also, if you edit the file with Vim and enter the wrong key, you get garbage.
Vim does not have a mechanism to check if the key is the right one (this makes
it much harder to break the key).
SWITCHING ENCRYPTION ON AND OFF
To disable the encryption of a file, set the 'key' option to an empty string:

:set key=
The next time you write the file this will be done without encryption.

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Setting the 'key' option to enable encryption is not a good idea, because
the password appears in the clear. Anyone shoulder−surfing can read your
password.
To avoid this problem, the ":X" command was created. It asks you for an
encryption key, just like the "−x" argument did:

:X
Enter encryption key: ******
Enter same key again: ******
LIMITS ON ENCRYPTION
The encryption algorithm used by Vim is weak. It is good enough to keep out
the casual prowler, but not good enough to keep out a cryptology expert with
lots of time on his hands. Also you should be aware that the swap file is not
encrypted; so while you are editing, people with superuser privileges can read
the unencrypted text from this file.
One way to avoid letting people read your swap file is to avoid using one.
If the −n argument is supplied on the command line, no swap file is used
(instead, Vim puts everything in memory). For example, to edit the encrypted
file "file.txt" without a swap file use the following command:

vim −x −n file.txt
When already editing a file, the swapfile can be disabled with:

:setlocal noswapfile
Since there is no swapfile, recovery will be impossible.
more often to avoid the risk of losing your changes.

Save the file a bit

While the file is in memory, it is in plain text. Anyone with privilege can
look in the editor's memory and discover the contents of the file.
If you use a viminfo file, be aware that the contents of text registers are
written out in the clear as well.
If you really want to secure the contents of a file, edit it only on a
portable computer not connected to a network, use good encryption tools, and
keep the computer locked up in a big safe when not in use.
==============================================================================
*23.4* Binary files
You can edit binary files with Vim. Vim wasn't really made for this, thus
there are a few restrictions. But you can read a file, change a character and
write it back, with the result that only that one character was changed and
the file is identical otherwise.
To make sure that Vim does not use its clever tricks in the wrong way, add
the "−b" argument when starting Vim:

vim −b datafile
This sets the 'binary' option. The effect of this is that unexpected side
effects are turned off. For example, 'textwidth' is set to zero, to avoid
automatic formatting of lines. And files are always read in Unix file format.
Binary mode can be used to change a message in a program. Be careful not to
insert or delete any characters, it would stop the program from working. Use
"R" to enter replace mode.
Many characters in the file will be unprintable.

To see them in Hex format:

:set display=uhex
Otherwise, the "ga" command can be used to see the value of the character
under the cursor. The output, when the cursor is on an , looks like

usr_doc.txt

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this:
<^[>

27,

Hex 1b,

Octal 033

There might not be many line breaks in the file.
the 'wrap' option off:

To get some overview switch

:set nowrap
BYTE POSITION
To see on which byte you are in the file use this command:

g CTRL−G
The output is verbose:
Col 9−16 of 9−16; Line 277 of 330; Word 1806 of 2058; Byte 10580 of 12206
The last two numbers are the byte position in the file and the total number of
bytes. This takes into account how 'fileformat' changes the number of bytes
that a line break uses.
To move to a specific byte in the file, use the "go" command. For
example, to move to byte 2345:

2345go
USING XXD
A real binary editor shows the text in two ways: as it is and in hex format.
You can do this in Vim by first converting the file with the "xxd" program.
This comes with Vim.
First edit the file in binary mode:

vim −b datafile
Now convert the file to a hex dump with xxd:

:%!xxd
The text will look like this:
0000000: 1f8b 0808 39d7 173b 0203 7474 002b 4e49
0000010: 4b2c 8660 eb9c ecac c462 eb94 345e 2e30
0000020: 373b 2731 0b22 0ca6 c1a2 d669 1035 39d9

....9..;..tt.+NI
K,.`.....b..4^.0
7;'1.".....i.59.

You can now view and edit the text as you like. Vim treats the information as
ordinary text. Changing the hex does not cause the printable character to be
changed, or the other way around.
Finally convert it back with:

:%!xxd −r
Only changes in the hex part are used.
the right are ignored.

Changes in the printable text part on

See the manual page of xxd for more information.
==============================================================================
*23.5* Compressed files
This is easy: You can edit a compressed file just like any other file. The
"gzip" plugin takes care of decompressing the file when you edit it. And
compressing it again when you write it.

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These compression methods are currently supported:
.Z
.gz
.bz2

compress
gzip
bzip2

Vim uses the mentioned programs to do the actual compression and
decompression. You might need to install the programs first.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_24.txt|

Inserting quickly

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

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*usr_24.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Jul 23

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Inserting quickly
When entering text, Vim offers various ways to reduce the number of keystrokes
and avoid typing mistakes. Use Insert mode completion to repeat previously
typed words. Abbreviate long words to short ones. Type characters that
aren't on your keyboard.
|24.1|
|24.2|
|24.3|
|24.4|
|24.5|
|24.6|
|24.7|
|24.8|
|24.9|
|24.10|

Making corrections
Showing matches
Completion
Repeating an insert
Copying from another line
Inserting a register
Abbreviations
Entering special characters
Digraphs
Normal mode commands

Next chapter: |usr_25.txt| Editing formatted text
Previous chapter: |usr_23.txt| Editing other files
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*24.1* Making corrections
The  key was already mentioned. It deletes the character just before the
cursor. The  key does the same for the character under (after) the
cursor.
When you typed a whole word wrong, use CTRL−W:
The horse had fallen to the sky
CTRL−W
The horse had fallen to the
If you really messed up a line and want to start over, use CTRL−U to delete
it. This keeps the text after the cursor and the indent. Only the text from
the first non−blank to the cursor is deleted. With the cursor on the "f" of
"fallen" in the next line pressing CTRL−U does this:
The horse had fallen to the
CTRL−U
fallen to the
When you spot a mistake a few words back, you need to move the cursor there to
correct it. For example, you typed this:
The horse had follen to the ground
You need to change "follen" to "fallen".
would type this to correct it:

With the cursor at the end, you

4blraA
get out of Insert mode
four words back
move on top of the "o"
replace with "a"
restart Insert mode
Another way to do this:


4b
l
ra
A

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a
four words back
move on top of the "o"
delete the "o"
insert an "a"
go to end of the line




a


This uses special keys to move around, while remaining in Insert mode. This
resembles what you would do in a modeless editor. It's easier to remember,
but takes more time (you have to move your hand from the letters to the cursor
keys, and the  key is hard to press without looking at the keyboard).
These special keys are most useful when writing a mapping that doesn't
leave Insert mode. The extra typing doesn't matter then.
An overview of the keys you can use in Insert mode:












to start of the file
a whole screenful up
to start of line
one word left
one word left
one word right
one word right
to end of the line
a whole screenful down
to end of the file

There are a few more, see |ins−special−special|.
==============================================================================
*24.2* Showing matches
When you type a ) it would be nice to see with which ( it matches.
Vim do that use this command:

To make

:set showmatch
When you now type a text like "(example)", as soon as you type the ) Vim will
briefly move the cursor to the matching (, keep it there for half a second,
and move back to where you were typing.
In case there is no matching (, Vim will beep. Then you know that you
might have forgotten the ( somewhere, or typed a ) too many.
The match will also be shown for [] and {} pairs. You don't have to wait
with typing the next character, as soon as Vim sees it the cursor will move
back and inserting continues as before.
You can change the time Vim waits with the 'matchtime' option. For
example, to make Vim wait one and a half second:

:set matchtime=15
The time is specified in tenths of a second.
==============================================================================
*24.3* Completion
Vim can automatically complete words on insertion. You type the first part of
a word, press CTRL−P, and Vim guesses the rest.
Suppose, for example, that you are creating a C program and want to type in
the following:
total = ch_array[0] + ch_array[1] + ch_array[2];
You start by entering the following:
total = ch_array[0] + ch_

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At this point, you tell Vim to complete the word using the command CTRL−P.
Vim searches for a word that starts with what's in front of the cursor. In
this case, it is "ch_", which matches with the word ch_array. So typing
CTRL−P gives you the following:
total = ch_array[0] + ch_array
After a little more typing, you get this (ending in a space):
total = ch_array[0] + ch_array[1] +
If you now type CTRL−P Vim will search again for a word that completes the
word before the cursor. Since there is nothing in front of the cursor, it
finds the first word backwards, which is "ch_array". Typing CTRL−P again
gives you the next word that matches, in this case "total". A third CTRL−P
searches further back. If there is nothing else, it causes the editor to run
out of words, so it returns to the original text, which is nothing. A fourth
CTRL−P causes the editor to start over again with "ch_array".
To search forward, use CTRL−N. Since the search wraps around the end of the
file, CTRL−N and CTRL−P will find the same matches, but in a different
sequence. Hint: CTRL−N is Next−match and CTRL−P is Previous−match.
The Vim editor goes through a lot of effort to find words to complete.
default, it searches the following places:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

By

Current file
Files in other windows
Other loaded files (hidden buffers)
Files which are not loaded (inactive buffers)
Tag files
All files #included by the current file

OPTIONS
You can customize the search order with the 'complete' option.
The 'ignorecase' option is used.
when searching for matches.

When it is set, case differences are ignored

A special option for completion is 'infercase'. This is useful to find
matches while ignoring case ('ignorecase' must be set) but still using the
case of the word typed so far. Thus if you type "For" and Vim finds a match
"fortunately", it will result in "Fortunately".
COMPLETING SPECIFIC ITEMS
If you know what you are looking for, you can use these commands to complete
with a certain type of item:

CTRL−X
CTRL−X
CTRL−X
CTRL−X
CTRL−X
CTRL−X
CTRL−X
CTRL−X

CTRL−F
CTRL−L
CTRL−D
CTRL−I
CTRL−K
CTRL−T
CTRL−]
CTRL−V

file names
whole lines
macro definitions (also in included files)
current and included files
words from a dictionary
words from a thesaurus
tags
Vim command line

After each of them CTRL−N can be used to find the next match, CTRL−P to find
the previous match.
More information for each of these commands here: |ins−completion|.

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COMPLETING FILE NAMES
Let's take CTRL−X CTRL−F as an example. This will find file names. It scans
the current directory for files and displays each one that matches the word in
front of the cursor.
Suppose, for example, that you have the following files in the current
directory:
main.c

sub_count.c

sub_done.c

sub_exit.c

Now enter Insert mode and start typing:
The exit code is in the file sub
At this point, you enter the command CTRL−X CTRL−F. Vim now completes the
current word "sub" by looking at the files in the current directory. The
first match is sub_count.c. This is not the one you want, so you match the
next file by typing CTRL−N. This match is sub_done.c. Typing CTRL−N again
takes you to sub_exit.c. The results:
The exit code is in the file sub_exit.c
If the file name starts with / (Unix) or C:\ (MS−Windows) you can find all
files in the file system. For example, type "/u" and CTRL−X CTRL−F. This
will match "/usr" (this is on Unix):
the file is found in /usr/
If you now press CTRL−N you go back to "/u". Instead, to accept the "/usr/"
and go one directory level deeper, use CTRL−X CTRL−F again:
the file is found in /usr/X11R6/
The results depend on what is found in your file system, of course.
matches are sorted alphabetically.

The

COMPLETING IN SOURCE CODE
Source code files are well structured. That makes it possible to do
completion in an intelligent way. In Vim this is called Omni completion.
some other editors it's called intellisense, but that is a trademark.

In

The key to Omni completion is CTRL−X CTRL−O. Obviously the O stands for Omni
here, so that you can remember it easier. Let's use an example for editing C
source:
{
struct foo *p;
p−>
The cursor is after "p−>". Now type CTRL−X CTRL−O. Vim will offer you a list
of alternatives, which are the items that "struct foo" contains. That is
quite different from using CTRL−P, which would complete any word, while only
members of "struct foo" are valid here.
For Omni completion to work you may need to do some setup. At least make sure
filetype plugins are enabled. Your vimrc file should contain a line like
this:
filetype plugin on
Or:
filetype plugin indent on
For C code you need to create a tags file and set the 'tags' option. That is
explained |ft−c−omni|. For other filetypes you may need to do something

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similar, look below |compl−omni−filetypes|. It only works for specific
filetypes. Check the value of the 'omnifunc' option to find out if it would
work.
==============================================================================
*24.4* Repeating an insert
If you press CTRL−A, the editor inserts the text you typed the last time you
were in Insert mode.
Assume, for example, that you have a file that begins with the following:
"file.h"
/* Main program begins */
You edit this file by inserting "#include " at the beginning of the first
line:
#include "file.h"
/* Main program begins */
You go down to the beginning of the next line using the commands "j^".
now start to insert a new "#include" line. So you type:

You

i CTRL−A
The result is as follows:
#include "file.h"
#include /* Main program begins */
The "#include " was inserted because CTRL−A inserts the text of the previous
insert. Now you type "main.h" to finish the line:
#include "file.h"
#include "main.h"
/* Main program begins */
The CTRL−@ command does a CTRL−A and then exits Insert mode.
way of doing exactly the same insertion again.

That's a quick

==============================================================================
*24.5* Copying from another line
The CTRL−Y command inserts the character above the cursor. This is useful
when you are duplicating a previous line. For example, you have this line of
C code:
b_array[i]−>s_next = a_array[i]−>s_next;
Now you need to type the same line, but with "s_prev" instead of "s_next".
Start the new line, and press CTRL−Y 14 times, until you are at the "n" of
"next":
b_array[i]−>s_next = a_array[i]−>s_next;
b_array[i]−>s_
Now you type "prev":
b_array[i]−>s_next = a_array[i]−>s_next;
b_array[i]−>s_prev
Continue pressing CTRL−Y until the following "next":
b_array[i]−>s_next = a_array[i]−>s_next;
b_array[i]−>s_prev = a_array[i]−>s_

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Now type "prev;" to finish it off.
The CTRL−E command acts like CTRL−Y except it inserts the character below the
cursor.
==============================================================================
*24.6* Inserting a register
The command CTRL−R {register} inserts the contents of the register. This is
useful to avoid having to type a long word. For example, you need to type
this:
r = VeryLongFunction(a) + VeryLongFunction(b) + VeryLongFunction(c)
The function name is defined in a different file. Edit that file and move the
cursor on top of the function name there, and yank it into register v:

"vyiw
"v is the register specification, "yiw" is yank−inner−word. Now edit the file
where the new line is to be inserted, and type the first letters:
r =
Now use CTRL−R v to insert the function name:
r = VeryLongFunction
You continue to type the characters in between the function name, and use
CTRL−R v two times more.
You could have done the same with completion. Using a register is useful
when there are many words that start with the same characters.
If the register contains characters such as  or other special characters,
they are interpreted as if they had been typed from the keyboard. If you do
not want this to happen (you really want the  to be inserted in the text),
use the command CTRL−R CTRL−R {register}.
==============================================================================
*24.7* Abbreviations
An abbreviation is a short word that takes the place of a long one. For
example, "ad" stands for "advertisement". Vim enables you to type an
abbreviation and then will automatically expand it for you.
To tell Vim to expand "ad" into "advertisement" every time you insert it,
use the following command:

:iabbrev ad advertisement
Now, when you type "ad", the whole word "advertisement" will be inserted into
the text. This is triggered by typing a character that can't be part of a
word, for example a space:
What Is Entered
I saw the a
I saw the ad
I saw the ad

What You See
I saw the a
I saw the ad
I saw the advertisement

The expansion doesn't happen when typing just "ad". That allows you to type a
word like "add", which will not get expanded. Only whole words are checked
for abbreviations.
ABBREVIATING SEVERAL WORDS

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It is possible to define an abbreviation that results in multiple words.
example, to define "JB" as "Jack Benny", use the following command:

For

:iabbrev JB Jack Benny
As a programmer, I use two rather unusual abbreviations:

:iabbrev #b /****************************************
:iabbrev #e ****************************************/
These are used for creating boxed comments. The comment starts with #b,
draws the top line. I then type the comment text and use #e to draw the
bottom line.
Notice that the #e abbreviation begins with a space. In other words,
first two characters are space−star. Usually Vim ignores spaces between
abbreviation and the expansion. To avoid that problem, I spell space as
characters: <, S, p, a, c, e, >.

which
the
the
seven

Note:
":iabbrev" is a long word to type. ":iab" works just as well.
That's abbreviating the abbreviate command!
FIXING TYPING MISTAKES
It's very common to make the same typing mistake every time. For example,
typing "teh" instead of "the". You can fix this with an abbreviation:

:abbreviate teh the
You can add a whole list of these.
mistake.

Add one each time you discover a common

LISTING ABBREVIATIONS
The ":abbreviate" command lists the abbreviations:
:abbreviate
i #e
i #b
i JB
i ad
! teh

****************************************/
/****************************************
Jack Benny
advertisement
the

The "i" in the first column indicates Insert mode. These abbreviations are
only active in Insert mode. Other possible characters are:
c
!

Command−line mode
both Insert and Command−line mode

:cabbrev
:abbreviate

Since abbreviations are not often useful in Command−line mode, you will mostly
use the ":iabbrev" command. That avoids, for example, that "ad" gets expanded
when typing a command like:

:edit ad
DELETING ABBREVIATIONS
To get rid of an abbreviation, use the ":unabbreviate" command.
have the following abbreviation:

:abbreviate @f fresh
You can remove it with this command:

Suppose you

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:unabbreviate @f
While you type this, you will notice that @f is expanded to "fresh".
worry about this, Vim understands it anyway (except when you have an
abbreviation for "fresh", but that's very unlikely).
To remove all the abbreviations:

Don't

:abclear
":unabbreviate" and ":abclear" also come in the variants for Insert mode
(":iunabbreviate and ":iabclear") and Command−line mode (":cunabbreviate" and
":cabclear").
REMAPPING ABBREVIATIONS
There is one thing to watch out for when defining an abbreviation: The
resulting string should not be mapped. For example:

:abbreviate @a adder
:imap dd disk−door
When you now type @a, you will get "adisk−doorer". That's not what you want.
To avoid this, use the ":noreabbrev" command. It does the same as
":abbreviate", but avoids that the resulting string is used for mappings:

:noreabbrev @a adder
Fortunately, it's unlikely that the result of an abbreviation is mapped.
==============================================================================
*24.8* Entering special characters
The CTRL−V command is used to insert the next character literally. In other
words, any special meaning the character has, it will be ignored. For
example:

CTRL−V 
Inserts an escape character. Thus you don't leave Insert mode.
the space after CTRL−V, it's only to make this easier to read).

(Don't type

Note:
On MS−Windows CTRL−V is used to paste text. Use CTRL−Q instead of
CTRL−V. On Unix, on the other hand, CTRL−Q does not work on some
terminals, because it has a special meaning.
You can also use the command CTRL−V {digits} to insert a character with the
decimal number {digits}. For example, the character number 127 is the 
character (but not necessarily the  key!). To insert  type:

CTRL−V 127
You can enter characters up to 255 this way. When you type fewer than two
digits, a non−digit will terminate the command. To avoid the need of typing a
non−digit, prepend one or two zeros to make three digits.
All the next commands insert a  and then a dot:

CTRL−V 9.
CTRL−V 09.
CTRL−V 009.
To enter a character in hexadecimal, use an "x" after the CTRL−V:

CTRL−V x7f

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This also goes up to character 255 (CTRL−V xff). You can use "o" to type a
character as an octal number and two more methods allow you to type up to
a 16 bit and a 32 bit number (e.g., for a Unicode character):

CTRL−V o123
CTRL−V u1234
CTRL−V U12345678
==============================================================================
*24.9* Digraphs
Some characters are not on the keyboard. For example, the copyright character
(©). To type these characters in Vim, you use digraphs, where two characters
represent one. To enter a ©, for example, you press three keys:

CTRL−K Co
To find out what digraphs are available, use the following command:

:digraphs
Vim will display the digraph table.
AC ~_ 159
BB ¦ 166
−− - 173

NS |
SE §
Rg ®

160
167
174

!I ¡
': ¨
'm ¯

161
168
175

Here are three lines of it:

Ct ¢
Co ©
DG °

162
169
176

Pd £
−a ª
+− ±

163
170
177

Cu ¤
<< «
2S ²

164
171
178

Ye ¥
NO ¬
3S ³

165
172
179

This shows, for example, that the digraph you get by typing CTRL−K Pd is the
character (£). This is character number 163 (decimal).
Pd is short for Pound. Most digraphs are selected to give you a hint about
the character they will produce. If you look through the list you will
understand the logic.
You can exchange the first and second character, if there is no digraph for
that combination. Thus CTRL−K dP also works. Since there is no digraph for
"dP" Vim will also search for a "Pd" digraph.

Note:
The digraphs depend on the character set that Vim assumes you are
using. On MS−DOS they are different from MS−Windows. Always use
":digraphs" to find out which digraphs are currently available.
You can define your own digraphs.

Example:

:digraph a" ä
This defines that CTRL−K a" inserts an ä character. You can also specify the
character with a decimal number. This defines the same digraph:

:digraph a" 228
More information about digraphs here: |digraphs|
Another way to insert special characters is with a keymap.
here: |45.5|

More about that

==============================================================================
*24.10* Normal mode commands
Insert mode offers a limited number of commands. In Normal mode you have many
more. When you want to use one, you usually leave Insert mode with ,
execute the Normal mode command, and re−enter Insert mode with "i" or "a".
There is a quicker way. With CTRL−O {command} you can execute any Normal
mode command from Insert mode. For example, to delete from the cursor to the
end of the line:

CTRL−O D

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You can execute only one Normal mode command this way.
register or a count. A more complicated example:

But you can specify a

CTRL−O "g3dw
This deletes up to the third word into register g.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_25.txt|

Editing formatted text

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_25.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2007 May 11

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Editing formatted text
Text hardly ever comes in one sentence per line. This chapter is about
breaking sentences to make them fit on a page and other formatting.
Vim also has useful features for editing single−line paragraphs and tables.
|25.1|
|25.2|
|25.3|
|25.4|
|25.5|

Breaking lines
Aligning text
Indents and tabs
Dealing with long lines
Editing tables

Next chapter: |usr_26.txt| Repeating
Previous chapter: |usr_24.txt| Inserting quickly
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*25.1* Breaking lines
Vim has a number of functions that make dealing with text easier. By default,
the editor does not perform automatic line breaks. In other words, you have
to press  yourself. This is useful when you are writing programs where
you want to decide where the line ends. It is not so good when you are
creating documentation and want the text to be at most 70 character wide.
If you set the 'textwidth' option, Vim automatically inserts line breaks.
Suppose, for example, that you want a very narrow column of only 30
characters. You need to execute the following command:

:set textwidth=30
Now you start typing (ruler added):
1
2
3
12345678901234567890123456789012345
I taught programming for a whi
If you type "l" next, this makes the line longer than the 30−character limit.
When Vim sees this, it inserts a line break and you get the following:
1
2
3
12345678901234567890123456789012345
I taught programming for a
whil
Continuing on, you can type in the rest of the paragraph:
1
2
3
12345678901234567890123456789012345
I taught programming for a
while. One time, I was stopped
by the Fort Worth police,
because my homework was too
hard. True story.
You do not have to type newlines; Vim puts them in automatically.

Note:
The 'wrap' option makes Vim display lines with a line break, but this
doesn't insert a line break in the file.

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REFORMATTING
The Vim editor is not a word processor. In a word processor, if you delete
something at the beginning of the paragraph, the line breaks are reworked. In
Vim they are not; so if you delete the word "programming" from the first line,
all you get is a short line:
1
2
3
12345678901234567890123456789012345
I taught for a
while. One time, I was stopped
by the Fort Worth police,
because my homework was too
hard. True story.
This does not look good. To get the paragraph into shape you use the "gq"
operator.
Let's first use this with a Visual selection. Starting from the first
line, type:

v4jgq
"v" to start Visual mode, "4j" to move to the end of the paragraph and then
the "gq" operator. The result is:
1
2
3
12345678901234567890123456789012345
I taught for a while. One
time, I was stopped by the
Fort Worth police, because my
homework was too hard. True
story.

Note: there is a way to do automatic formatting for specific types of text
layouts, see |auto−format|.
Since "gq" is an operator, you can use one of the three ways to select the
text it works on: With Visual mode, with a movement and with a text object.
The example above could also be done with "gq4j". That's less typing, but
you have to know the line count. A more useful motion command is "}". This
moves to the end of a paragraph. Thus "gq}" formats from the cursor to the
end of the current paragraph.
A very useful text object to use with "gq" is the paragraph. Try this:

gqap
"ap" stands for "a−paragraph". This formats the text of one paragraph
(separated by empty lines). Also the part before the cursor.
If you have your paragraphs separated by empty lines, you can format the
whole file by typing this:

gggqG
"gg" to move to the
Warning: If your
together. A common
blank line, but not

first line, "gqG" to format until the last line.
paragraphs are not properly separated, they will be joined
mistake is to have a line with a space or tab. That's a
an empty line.

Vim is able to format more than just plain text. See |fo−table| for how to
change this. See the 'joinspaces' option to change the number of spaces used
after a full stop.
It is possible to use an external program for formatting. This is useful
if your text can't be properly formatted with Vim's builtin command. See the
'formatprg' option.

usr_doc.txt
==============================================================================
*25.2* Aligning text
To center a range of lines, use the following command:

:{range}center [width]
{range} is the usual command−line range. [width] is an optional line width to
use for centering. If [width] is not specified, it defaults to the value of
'textwidth'. (If 'textwidth' is 0, the default is 80.)
For example:
:1,5center 40
results in the following:
I taught for a while. One
time, I was stopped by the
Fort Worth police, because my
homework was too hard. True
story.
RIGHT ALIGNMENT
Similarly, the ":right" command right−justifies the text:

:1,5right 37
gives this result:
I taught for a while. One
time, I was stopped by the
Fort Worth police, because my
homework was too hard. True
story.
LEFT ALIGNMENT
Finally there is this command:

:{range}left [margin]
Unlike ":center" and ":right", however, the argument to ":left" is not the
length of the line. Instead it is the left margin. If it is omitted, the
text will be put against the left side of the screen (using a zero margin
would do the same). If it is 5, the text will be indented 5 spaces. For
example, use these commands:

:1left 5
:2,5left
This results in the following:
I taught for a while. One
time, I was stopped by the
Fort Worth police, because my
homework was too hard. True
story.
JUSTIFYING TEXT
Vim has no built−in way of justifying text. However, there is a neat macro
package that does the job. To use this package, execute the following
command:

Page 138

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:runtime macros/justify.vim
This Vim script file defines a new visual command "_j". To justify a block of
text, highlight the text in Visual mode and then execute "_j".
Look in the file for more explanations. To go there, do "gf" on this name:
$VIMRUNTIME/macros/justify.vim.
An alternative is to filter the text through an external program.

Example:

:%!fmt
==============================================================================
*25.3* Indents and tabs
Indents can be used to make text stand out from the rest. The example texts
in this manual, for example, are indented by eight spaces or a tab. You would
normally enter this by typing a tab at the start of each line. Take this
text:
the first line
the second line
This is entered by typing a tab, some text, , tab and more text.
The 'autoindent' option inserts indents automatically:

:set autoindent
When a new line is started it gets the same indent as the previous line.
the above example, the tab after the  is not needed anymore.

In

INCREASING INDENT
To increase the amount of indent in a line, use the ">" operator. Often this
is used as ">>", which adds indent to the current line.
The amount of indent added is specified with the 'shiftwidth' option. The
default value is 8. To make ">>" insert four spaces worth of indent, for
example, type this:

:set shiftwidth=4
When used on the second line of the example text, this is what you get:
the first line
the second line
"4>>" will increase the indent of four lines.
TABSTOP
If you want to make indents a multiple of 4, you set 'shiftwidth' to 4. But
when pressing a  you still get 8 spaces worth of indent. To change this,
set the 'softtabstop' option:

:set softtabstop=4
This will make the  key insert 4 spaces worth of indent. If there are
already four spaces, a  character is used (saving seven characters in the
file). (If you always want spaces and no tab characters, set the 'expandtab'
option.)

Note:
You could set the 'tabstop' option to 4. However, if you edit the
file another time, with 'tabstop' set to the default value of 8, it
will look wrong. In other programs and when printing the indent will

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also be wrong. Therefore it is recommended to keep 'tabstop' at eight
all the time. That's the standard value everywhere.
CHANGING TABS
You edit a file which was written with a
because it uses the normal tabstop value
'tabstop' to 3. But you have to do this
Vim can change the use of tabstops in
make the indents look good, then use the

tabstop of 3. In Vim it looks ugly,
of 8. You can fix this by setting
every time you edit this file.
your file. First, set 'tabstop' to
":retab" command:

:set tabstop=3
:retab 8
The ":retab" command will change 'tabstop' to 8, while changing the text such
that it looks the same. It changes spans of white space into tabs and spaces
for this. You can now write the file. Next time you edit it the indents will
be right without setting an option.
Warning: When using ":retab" on a program, it may change white space inside
a string constant. Therefore it's a good habit to use "\t" instead of a
real tab.
==============================================================================
*25.4* Dealing with long lines
Sometimes you will be editing a file that is wider than the number of columns
in the window. When that occurs, Vim wraps the lines so that everything fits
on the screen.
If you switch the 'wrap' option off, each line in the file shows up as one
line on the screen. Then the ends of the long lines disappear off the screen
to the right.
When you move the cursor to a character that can't be seen, Vim will scroll
the text to show it. This is like moving a viewport over the text in the
horizontal direction.
By default, Vim does not display a horizontal scrollbar in the GUI. If you
want to enable one, use the following command:

:set guioptions+=b
One horizontal scrollbar will appear at the bottom of the Vim window.
If you don't have a scrollbar or don't want to use it, use these commands to
scroll the text. The cursor will stay in the same place, but it's moved back
into the visible text if necessary.
zh
4zh
zH
ze
zl
4zl
zL
zs

scroll
scroll
scroll
scroll
scroll
scroll
scroll
scroll

right
four characters right
half a window width right
right to put the cursor at the end
left
four characters left
half a window width left
left to put the cursor at the start

Let's attempt to show this with one line of text. The cursor is on the "w" of
"which". The "current window" above the line indicates the text that is
currently visible. The "window"s below the text indicate the text that is
visible after the command left of it.

ze
zH
4zh
zh

|<−− current window −−>|
some long text, part of which is visible in the window
|<−−
window
−−>|
|<−−
window
−−>|
|<−−
window
−−>|
|<−−
window
−−>|

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zl
4zl
zL
zs

|<−−
|<−−

window
−−>|
window
−−>|
|<−−
window
−−>|
|<−−
window
−−>|

MOVING WITH WRAP OFF
When 'wrap' is off and the text has scrolled horizontally, you can use the
following commands to move the cursor to a character you can see. Thus text
left and right of the window is ignored. These never cause the text to
scroll:
g0
g^
gm
g$

to
to
to
to

first visible character in this line
first non−blank visible character in this line
middle of this line
last visible character in this line

|<−−
window
−−>|
some long
text, part of which is visible
g0 g^
gm
g$
BREAKING AT WORDS

*edit−no−break*

When preparing text for use by another program, you might have to make
paragraphs without a line break. A disadvantage of using 'nowrap' is that you
can't see the whole sentence you are working on. When 'wrap' is on, words are
broken halfway, which makes them hard to read.
A good solution for editing this kind of paragraph is setting the
'linebreak' option. Vim then breaks lines at an appropriate place when
displaying the line. The text in the file remains unchanged.
Without 'linebreak' text might look like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|letter generation program for a b|
|ank. They wanted to send out a s|
|pecial, personalized letter to th|
|eir richest 1000 customers. Unfo|
|rtunately for the programmer, he |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
After:

:set linebreak
it looks like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|letter generation program for a |
|bank. They wanted to send out a |
|special, personalized letter to |
|their richest 1000 customers.
|
|Unfortunately for the programmer,|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
Related options:
'breakat' specifies the characters where a break can be inserted.
'showbreak' specifies a string to show at the start of broken line.
Set 'textwidth' to zero to avoid a paragraph to be split.
MOVING BY VISIBLE LINES
The "j" and "k" commands move to the next and previous lines. When used on
a long line, this means moving a lot of screen lines at once.
To move only one screen line, use the "gj" and "gk" commands. When a line

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doesn't wrap they do the same as "j" and "k". When the line does wrap, they
move to a character displayed one line below or above.
You might like to use these mappings, which bind these movement commands to
the cursor keys:

:map  gk
:map  gj
TURNING A PARAGRAPH INTO ONE LINE
If you want to import text into a program like MS−Word, each paragraph should
be a single line. If your paragraphs are currently separated with empty
lines, this is how you turn each paragraph into a single line:

:g/./,/^$/join
That looks complicated.
:g/./
,/^$/
join

Let's break it up in pieces:
A ":global" command that finds all lines that contain
at least one character.
A range, starting from the current line (the non−empty
line) until an empty line.
The ":join" command joins the range of lines together
into one line.

Starting with this text, containing eight lines broken at column 30:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|A letter generation program
|
|for a bank. They wanted to
|
|send out a special,
|
|personalized letter.
|
|
|
|To their richest 1000
|
|customers. Unfortunately for
|
|the programmer,
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
You end up with two lines:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|A letter generation program for a |
|bank. They wanted to send out a s|
|pecial, personalized letter.
|
|To their richest 1000 customers. |
|Unfortunately for the programmer, |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

Note that this doesn't work when the separating line is blank but not empty;
when it contains spaces and/or tabs. This command does work with blank lines:
:g/\S/,/^\s*$/join
This still requires a blank or empty line at the end of the file for the last
paragraph to be joined.
==============================================================================
*25.5* Editing tables
Suppose you are editing a table with four columns:
nice table
input A
input B

test 1
0.534
0.913

test 2

test 3

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You need to enter numbers in the third column. You could move to the second
line, use "A", enter a lot of spaces and type the text.
For this kind of editing there is a special option:

set virtualedit=all
Now you can move the cursor to positions where there isn't any text.
called "virtual space". Editing a table is a lot easier this way.
Move the cursor by searching for the header of the last column:

This is

/test 3
Now press "j" and you are right where you can enter the value for "input A".
Typing "0.693" results in:
nice table
input A
input B

test 1
0.534
0.913

test 2

test 3
0.693

Vim has automatically filled the gap in front of the new text for you. Now,
to enter the next field in this column use "Bj". "B" moves back to the start
of a white space separated word. Then "j" moves to the place where the next
field can be entered.

Note:
You can move the cursor anywhere in the display, also beyond the end
of a line. But Vim will not insert spaces there, until you insert a
character in that position.
COPYING A COLUMN
You want to add a column, which should be a copy of the third column and
placed before the "test 1" column. Do this in seven steps:
1. Move the cursor to the left upper corner of this column, e.g., with
"/test 3".
2. Press CTRL−V to start blockwise Visual mode.
3. Move the cursor down two lines with "2j". You are now in "virtual space":
the "input B" line of the "test 3" column.
4. Move the cursor right, to include the whole column in the selection, plus
the space that you want between the columns. "9l" should do it.
5. Yank the selected rectangle with "y".
6. Move the cursor to "test 1", where the new column must be placed.
7. Press "P".
The result should be:
nice table
input A
input B

test 3
0.693

test 1
0.534
0.913

test 2

test 3
0.693

Notice that the whole "test 1" column was shifted right, also the line where
the "test 3" column didn't have text.
Go back to non−virtual cursor movements with:

:set virtualedit=
VIRTUAL REPLACE MODE
The disadvantage of using 'virtualedit' is that it "feels" different. You
can't recognize tabs or spaces beyond the end of line when moving the cursor
around. Another method can be used: Virtual Replace mode.
Suppose you have a line in a table that contains both tabs and other
characters. Use "rx" on the first tab:

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inp

0.693
rx

0.534

|
|
V

inpx0.693

0.534

The layout is messed up.
inp
grx
inpx

0.693

0.693

0.693
To avoid that, use the "gr" command:

0.534

0.693

0.534

0.693

|
|
V
0.693

What happens is that the "gr" command makes sure the new character takes the
right amount of screen space. Extra spaces or tabs are inserted to fill the
gap. Thus what actually happens is that a tab is replaced by "x" and then
blanks added to make the text after it keep its place. In this case a
tab is inserted.
When you need to replace more than one character, you use the "R" command
to go to Replace mode (see |04.9|). This messes up the layout and replaces
the wrong characters:
inp

0

0.534

0.693

|
R0.786 |
V
inp

0.78634 0.693

The "gR" command uses Virtual Replace mode.
inp

0

0.534

0.693

0.534

0.693

This preserves the layout:

|
gR0.786 |
V
inp

0.786

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_26.txt|

Repeating

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

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*usr_26.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2006 Apr 24

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Repeating
An editing task is hardly ever unstructured. A change often needs to be made
several times. In this chapter a number of useful ways to repeat a change
will be explained.
|26.1|
|26.2|
|26.3|
|26.4|

Repeating with Visual mode
Add and subtract
Making a change in many files
Using Vim from a shell script

Next chapter: |usr_27.txt| Search commands and patterns
Previous chapter: |usr_25.txt| Editing formatted text
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*26.1* Repeating with Visual mode
Visual mode is very handy for making a change in any sequence of lines. You
can see the highlighted text, thus you can check if the correct lines are
changed. But making the selection takes some typing. The "gv" command
selects the same area again. This allows you to do another operation on the
same text.
Suppose you have some lines where you want to change "2001" to "2002" and
"2000" to "2001":
The financial results for 2001 are better
than for 2000. The income increased by 50%,
even though 2001 had more rain than 2000.
2000
2001
income
45,403
66,234
First change "2001" to "2002".

Select the lines in Visual mode, and use:

:s/2001/2002/g
Now use "gv" to reselect the same text. It doesn't matter where the cursor
is. Then use ":s/2000/2001/g" to make the second change.
Obviously, you can repeat these changes several times.
==============================================================================
*26.2* Add and subtract
When repeating the change of one number into another, you often have a fixed
offset. In the example above, one was added to each year. Instead of typing
a substitute command for each year that appears, the CTRL−A command can be
used.
Using the same text as above, search for a year:

/19[0−9][0−9]\|20[0−9][0−9]
Now press CTRL−A.

The year will be increased by one:

The financial results for 2002 are better
than for 2000. The income increased by 50%,
even though 2001 had more rain than 2000.
2000
2001
income
45,403
66,234
Use "n" to find the next year, and press "." to repeat the CTRL−A ("." is a

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bit quicker to type). Repeat "n" and "." for all years that appear.
Hint: set the 'hlsearch' option to see the matches you are going to change,
then you can look ahead and do it faster.
Adding more than one can be done by prepending the number to CTRL−A.
you have this list:
1.
2.
3.

Suppose

item four
item five
item six

Move the cursor to "1." and type:

3 CTRL−A
The "1." will change to "4.".
other numbers.

Again, you can use "." to repeat this on the

Another example:
006
007

foo bar
foo bar

Using CTRL−A on these numbers results in:
007
010

foo bar
foo bar

7 plus one is 10? What happened here is that Vim recognized "007" as an octal
number, because there is a leading zero. This notation is often used in C
programs. If you do not want a number with leading zeros to be handled as
octal, use this:

:set nrformats−=octal
The CTRL−X command does subtraction in a similar way.
==============================================================================
*26.3* Making a change in many files
Suppose you have a variable called "x_cnt" and you want to change it to
"x_counter". This variable is used in several of your C files. You need to
change it in all files. This is how you do it.
Put all the relevant files in the argument list:

:args *.c
This finds all C files and edits the first one.
substitution command on all these files:

Now you can perform a

:argdo %s/\/x_counter/ge | update
The ":argdo" command takes an argument that is another command. That command
will be executed on all files in the argument list.
The "%s" substitute command that follows works on all lines. It finds the
word "x_cnt" with "\". The "\<" and "\>" are used to match the whole
word only, and not "px_cnt" or "x_cnt2".
The flags for the substitute command include "g" to replace all occurrences
of "x_cnt" in the same line. The "e" flag is used to avoid an error message
when "x_cnt" does not appear in the file. Otherwise ":argdo" would abort on
the first file where "x_cnt" was not found.
The "|" separates two commands. The following "update" command writes the
file only if it was changed. If no "x_cnt" was changed to "x_counter" nothing
happens.
There is also the ":windo" command, which executes its argument in all

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windows. And ":bufdo" executes its argument on all buffers. Be careful with
this, because you might have more files in the buffer list than you think.
Check this with the ":buffers" command (or ":ls").
==============================================================================
*26.4* Using Vim from a shell script
Suppose you have a lot of files in which you need to change the string
"−person−" to "Jones" and then print it. How do you do that? One way is to
do a lot of typing. The other is to write a shell script to do the work.
The Vim editor does a superb job as a screen−oriented editor when using
Normal mode commands. For batch processing, however, Normal mode commands do
not result in clear, commented command files; so here you will use Ex mode
instead. This mode gives you a nice command−line interface that makes it easy
to put into a batch file. ("Ex command" is just another name for a
command−line (:) command.)
The Ex mode commands you need are as follows:

%s/−person−/Jones/g
write tempfile
quit
You put these commands in the file "change.vim".
batch mode, use this shell script:

Now to run the editor in

for file in *.txt; do
vim −e −s $file < change.vim
lpr −r tempfile
done
The for−done loop is a shell construct to repeat the two lines in between,
while the $file variable is set to a different file name each time.
The second line runs the Vim editor in Ex mode (−e argument) on the file
$file and reads commands from the file "change.vim". The −s argument tells
Vim to operate in silent mode. In other words, do not keep outputting the
:prompt, or any other prompt for that matter.
The "lpr −r tempfile" command prints the resulting "tempfile" and deletes
it (that's what the −r argument does).
READING FROM STDIN
Vim can read text on standard input. Since the normal way is to read commands
there, you must tell Vim to read text instead. This is done by passing the
"−" argument in place of a file. Example:

ls | vim −
This allows you to edit the output of the "ls" command, without first saving
the text in a file.
If you use the standard input to read text from, you can use the "−S"
argument to read a script:

producer | vim −S change.vim −
NORMAL MODE SCRIPTS
If you really want to use Normal mode commands in a script, you can use it
like this:

vim −s script file.txt ...
Note:
"−s" has a different meaning when it is used without "−e". Here it
means to source the "script" as Normal mode commands. When used with

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"−e" it means to be silent, and doesn't use the next argument as a
file name.
The commands in "script" are executed like you typed them. Don't forget that
a line break is interpreted as pressing . In Normal mode that moves
the cursor to the next line.
To create the script you can edit the script file and type the commands.
You need to imagine what the result would be, which can be a bit difficult.
Another way is to record the commands while you perform them manually. This
is how you do that:

vim −w script file.txt ...
All typed keys will be written to "script". If you make a small mistake you
can just continue and remember to edit the script later.
The "−w" argument appends to an existing script. That is good when you
want to record the script bit by bit. If you want to start from scratch and
start all over, use the "−W" argument. It overwrites any existing file.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_27.txt|

Search commands and patterns

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_27.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2010 Mar 28

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Search commands and patterns
In chapter 3 a few simple search patterns were mentioned |03.9|. Vim can do
much more complex searches. This chapter explains the most often used ones.
A detailed specification can be found here: |pattern|
|27.1|
|27.2|
|27.3|
|27.4|
|27.5|
|27.6|
|27.7|
|27.8|
|27.9|

Ignoring case
Wrapping around the file end
Offsets
Matching multiple times
Alternatives
Character ranges
Character classes
Matching a line break
Examples

Next chapter: |usr_28.txt| Folding
Previous chapter: |usr_26.txt| Repeating
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*27.1* Ignoring case
By default, Vim's searches are case sensitive. Therefore, "include",
"INCLUDE", and "Include" are three different words and a search will match
only one of them.
Now switch on the 'ignorecase' option:

:set ignorecase
Search for "include" again, and now it will match "Include", "INCLUDE" and
"InClUDe". (Set the 'hlsearch' option to quickly see where a pattern
matches.)
You can switch this off again with:

:set noignorecase
But let's keep it set, and search for "INCLUDE". It will match exactly the
same text as "include" did. Now set the 'smartcase' option:

:set ignorecase smartcase
If you have a pattern with at least one uppercase character, the search
becomes case sensitive. The idea is that you didn't have to type that
uppercase character, so you must have done it because you wanted case to
match. That's smart!
With these two options set you find the following matches:
pattern
word
Word
WORD
WoRd

matches
word, Word, WORD, WoRd, etc.
Word
WORD
WoRd

CASE IN ONE PATTERN
If you want to ignore case for one specific pattern, you can do this by
prepending the "\c" string. Using "\C" will make the pattern to match case.
This overrules the 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' options, when "\c" or "\C" is

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used their value doesn't matter.
pattern
\Cword
\CWord
\cword
\cWord

matches
word
Word
word, Word, WORD, WoRd, etc.
word, Word, WORD, WoRd, etc.

A big advantage of using "\c" and "\C" is that it sticks with the pattern.
Thus if you repeat a pattern from the search history, the same will happen, no
matter if 'ignorecase' or 'smartcase' was changed.

Note:
The use of "\" items in search patterns depends on the 'magic' option.
In this chapter we will assume 'magic' is on, because that is the
standard and recommended setting. If you would change 'magic', many
search patterns would suddenly become invalid.
Note:
If your search takes much longer than you expected, you can interrupt
it with CTRL−C on Unix and CTRL−Break on MS−DOS and MS−Windows.
==============================================================================
*27.2* Wrapping around the file end
By default, a forward search starts searching for the given string at the
current cursor location. It then proceeds to the end of the file. If it has
not found the string by that time, it starts from the beginning and searches
from the start of the file to the cursor location.
Keep in mind that when repeating the "n" command to search for the next
match, you eventually get back to the first match. If you don't notice this
you keep searching forever! To give you a hint, Vim displays this message:
search hit BOTTOM, continuing at TOP
If you use the "?" command, to search in the other direction, you get this
message:
search hit TOP, continuing at BOTTOM
Still, you don't know when you are back at the first match.
this is by switching on the 'ruler' option:

One way to see

:set ruler
Vim will display the cursor position in the lower righthand corner of the
window (in the status line if there is one). It looks like this:
101,29

84%

The first number is the line number of the cursor. Remember the line number
where you started, so that you can check if you passed this position again.
NOT WRAPPING
To turn off search wrapping, use the following command:

:set nowrapscan
Now when the search hits the end of the file, an error message displays:
E385: search hit BOTTOM without match for: forever
Thus you can find all matches by going to the start of the file with "gg" and
keep searching until you see this message.

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If you search in the other direction, using "?", you get:
E384: search hit TOP without match for: forever
==============================================================================
*27.3* Offsets
By default, the search command leaves the cursor positioned on the beginning
of the pattern. You can tell Vim to leave it some other place by specifying
an offset. For the forward search command "/", the offset is specified by
appending a slash (/) and the offset:

/default/2
This command searches for the pattern "default" and then moves to the
beginning of the second line past the pattern. Using this command on the
paragraph above, Vim finds the word "default" in the first line. Then the
cursor is moved two lines down and lands on "an offset".
If the offset is a simple number, the cursor will be placed at the beginning
of the line that many lines from the match. The offset number can be positive
or negative. If it is positive, the cursor moves down that many lines; if
negative, it moves up.
CHARACTER OFFSETS
The "e" offset indicates an offset from the end of the match.
cursor onto the last character of the match. The command:

It moves the

/const/e
puts the cursor on the "t" of "const".
From that position, adding a number moves forward that many characters.
This command moves to the character just after the match:

/const/e+1
A positive number moves the cursor to the right, a negative number moves it to
the left. For example:

/const/e−1
moves the cursor to the "s" of "const".
If the offset begins with "b", the cursor moves to the beginning of the
pattern. That's not very useful, since leaving out the "b" does the same
thing. It does get useful when a number is added or subtracted. The cursor
then goes forward or backward that many characters. For example:

/const/b+2
Moves the cursor to the beginning of the match and then two characters to the
right. Thus it lands on the "n".
REPEATING
To repeat searching for the previously used search pattern, but with a
different offset, leave out the pattern:

/that
//e
Is equal to:

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/that/e
To repeat with the same offset:

/
"n" does the same thing.

To repeat while removing a previously used offset:

//
SEARCHING BACKWARDS
The "?" command uses offsets in the same way, but you must use "?" to separate
the offset from the pattern, instead of "/":

?const?e−2
The "b" and "e" keep their meaning, they don't change direction with the use
of "?".
START POSITION
When starting a search, it normally starts at the cursor position.
specify a line offset, this can cause trouble. For example:

When you

/const/−2
This finds the next word "const" and then moves two lines up. If you
use "n" to search again, Vim could start at the current position and find the same
"const" match. Then using the offset again, you would be back where you started.
You would be stuck!
It could be worse: Suppose there is another match with "const" in the next
line. Then repeating the forward search would find this match and move two
lines up. Thus you would actually move the cursor back!
When you specify a character offset, Vim will compensate for this. Thus the
search starts a few characters forward or backward, so that the same match
isn't found again.
==============================================================================
*27.4* Matching multiple times
The "*" item specifies that the item before it can match any number of times.
Thus:

/a*
matches "a", "aa", "aaa", etc. But also "" (the empty string), because zero
times is included.
The "*" only applies to the item directly before it. Thus "ab*" matches
"a", "ab", "abb", "abbb", etc. To match a whole string multiple times, it
must be grouped into one item. This is done by putting "\(" before it and
"\)" after it. Thus this command:

/\(ab\)*
Matches: "ab", "abab", "ababab", etc.

And also "".

To avoid matching the empty string, use "\+".
match one or more times.

This makes the previous item

/ab\+
Matches "ab", "abb", "abbb", etc.

It does not match "a" when no "b" follows.

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To match an optional item, use "\=".

Example:

/folders\=
Matches "folder" and "folders".
SPECIFIC COUNTS
To match a specific number of items use the form "\{n,m}". "n" and "m" are
numbers. The item before it will be matched "n" to "m" times |inclusive|.
Example:

/ab\{3,5}
matches "abbb", "abbbb" and "abbbbb".
When "n" is omitted, it defaults to zero. When "m" is omitted it defaults
to infinity. When ",m" is omitted, it matches exactly "n" times.
Examples:
pattern
\{,4}
\{3,}
\{0,1}
\{0,}
\{1,}
\{3}

match count
0, 1, 2, 3 or 4
3, 4, 5, etc.
0 or 1, same as \=
0 or more, same as *
1 or more, same as \+
3

MATCHING AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE
The items so far match as many characters as they can find. To match as few
as possible, use "\{−n,m}". It works the same as "\{n,m}", except that the
minimal amount possible is used.
For example, use:

/ab\{−1,3}
Will match "ab" in "abbb". Actually, it will never match more than one b,
because there is no reason to match more. It requires something else to force
it to match more than the lower limit.
The same rules apply to removing "n" and "m". It's even possible to remove
both of the numbers, resulting in "\{−}". This matches the item before it
zero or more times, as few as possible. The item by itself always matches
zero times. It is useful when combined with something else. Example:

/a.\{−}b
This matches "axb" in "axbxb".

If this pattern would be used:

/a.*b
It would try to match as many characters as possible with ".*", thus it
matches "axbxb" as a whole.
==============================================================================
*27.5* Alternatives
The "or" operator in a pattern is "\|".

Example:

/foo\|bar
This matches "foo" or "bar".

/one\|two\|three

More alternatives can be concatenated:

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Matches "one", "two" and "three".
To match multiple times, the whole thing must be placed in "\(" and "\)":

/\(foo\|bar\)\+
This matches "foo", "foobar", "foofoo", "barfoobar", etc.
Another example:

/end\(if\|while\|for\)
This matches "endif", "endwhile" and "endfor".
A related item is "\&". This requires that both alternatives match in the
same place. The resulting match uses the last alternative. Example:

/forever\&...
This matches "for" in "forever".

It will not match "fortuin", for example.

==============================================================================
*27.6* Character ranges
To match "a", "b" or "c" you could use "/a\|b\|c". When you want to match all
letters from "a" to "z" this gets very long. There is a shorter method:

/[a−z]
The [] construct matches a single character. Inside you specify which
characters to match. You can include a list of characters, like this:

/[0123456789abcdef]
This will match any of the characters included. For consecutive characters
you can specify the range. "0−3" stands for "0123". "w−z" stands for "wxyz".
Thus the same command as above can be shortened to:

/[0−9a−f]
To match the "−" character itself make it the first or last one in the range.
These special characters are accepted to make it easier to use them inside a
[] range (they can actually be used anywhere in the search pattern):






\e
\t
\r
\b

There are a few more special cases for [] ranges, see |/[]| for the whole
story.
COMPLEMENTED RANGE
To avoid matching a specific character, use "^" at the start of the range.
The [] item then matches everything but the characters included. Example:

/"[^"]*"
"
[^"]
*
"

a double quote
any character that is not a double quote
as many as possible
a double quote again

This matches "foo" and "3!x", including the double quotes.

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PREDEFINED RANGES
A number of ranges are used very often.
For example:

Vim provides a shortcut for these.

/\a
Finds alphabetic characters.
few more of these:
item
\d
\D
\x
\X
\s
\S
\l
\L
\u
\U

Note:
Using
range
These
match

This is equal to using "/[a−zA−Z]".

matches
digit
non−digit
hex digit
non−hex digit
white space
non−white characters
lowercase alpha
non−lowercase alpha
uppercase alpha
non−uppercase alpha

equivalent
[0−9]
[^0−9]
[0−9a−fA−F]
[^0−9a−fA−F]
[
]
[^
]
[a−z]
[^a−z]
[A−Z]
[^A−Z]

Here are a

( and )
(not  and )

these predefined ranges works a lot faster than the character
it stands for.
items can not be used inside []. Thus "[\d\l]" does NOT work to
a digit or lowercase alpha. Use "\(\d\|\l\)" instead.

See |/\s| for the whole list of these ranges.
==============================================================================
*27.7* Character classes
The character range matches a fixed set of characters. A character class is
similar, but with an essential difference: The set of characters can be
redefined without changing the search pattern.
For example, search for this pattern:

/\f\+
The "\f" items stands for file name characters. Thus this matches a sequence
of characters that can be a file name.
Which characters can be part of a file name depends on the system you are
using. On MS−Windows, the backslash is included, on Unix it is not. This is
specified with the 'isfname' option. The default value for Unix is:

:set isfname
isfname=@,48−57,/,.,−,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,=
For other systems the default value is different. Thus you can make a search
pattern with "\f" to match a file name, and it will automatically adjust to
the system you are using it on.

Note:
Actually, Unix allows using just about any character in a file name,
including white space. Including these characters in 'isfname' would
be theoretically correct. But it would make it impossible to find the
end of a file name in text. Thus the default value of 'isfname' is a
compromise.
The character classes are:
item
\i
\I

matches
identifier characters
like \i, excluding digits

option
'isident'

usr_doc.txt
\k
\K
\p
\P
\f
\F

Page 156
keyword characters
like \k, excluding digits
printable characters
like \p, excluding digits
file name characters
like \f, excluding digits

'iskeyword'
'isprint'
'isfname'

==============================================================================
*27.8* Matching a line break
Vim can find a pattern that includes a line break. You need to specify where
the line break happens, because all items mentioned so far don't match a line
break.
To check for a line break in a specific place, use the "\n" item:

/the\nword
This will match at a line that ends in "the" and the next line starts with
"word". To match "the word" as well, you need to match a space or a line
break. The item to use for it is "\_s":

/the\_sword
To allow any amount of white space:

/the\_s\+word
This also matches when "the
start of the next one.

" is at the end of a line and "

word" at the

"\s" matches white space, "\_s" matches white space or a line break.
Similarly, "\a" matches an alphabetic character, and "\_a" matches an
alphabetic character or a line break. The other character classes and ranges
can be modified in the same way by inserting a "_".
Many other items can be made to match a line break by prepending "\_".
example: "\_." matches any character or a line break.

Note:
"\_.*" matches everything until the end of the file.
this, it can make a search command very slow.

For

Be careful with

Another example is "\_[]", a character range that includes a line break:

/"\_[^"]*"
This finds a text in double quotes that may be split up in several lines.
==============================================================================
*27.9* Examples
Here are a few search patterns you might find useful.
items mentioned above can be combined.

This shows how the

FINDING A CALIFORNIA LICENSE PLATE
A sample license plate number is "1MGU103". It has one digit, three uppercase
letters and three digits. Directly putting this into a search pattern:

/\d\u\u\u\d\d\d
Another way is to specify that there are three digits and letters with a
count:

/\d\u\{3}\d\{3}

usr_doc.txt

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Using [] ranges instead:

/[0−9][A−Z]\{3}[0−9]\{3}
Which one of these you should use? Whichever one you can remember. The
simple way you can remember is much faster than the fancy way that you can't.
If you can remember them all, then avoid the last one, because it's both more
typing and slower to execute.
FINDING AN IDENTIFIER
In C programs (and many other computer languages) an identifier starts with a
letter and further consists of letters and digits. Underscores can be used
too. This can be found with:

/\<\h\w*\>
"\<" and "\>" are used to find only whole words.
and "\w" for "[0−9A−Za−z_]".

"\h" stands for "[A−Za−z_]"

Note:
"\<" and "\>" depend on the 'iskeyword' option. If it includes "−",
for example, then "ident−" is not matched. In this situation use:
/\w\@" before the line. To fold these quotes use this:

:set foldmethod=expr
:set foldexpr=strlen(substitute(substitute(getline(v:lnum),'\\s','',\"g\"),'[^>
].*','',''))
You can try it out on this text:
quoted text he wrote
quoted text he wrote
> double quoted text I wrote
> double quoted text I wrote
Explanation for the 'foldexpr' used in the example (inside out):
getline(v:lnum)
gets the current line
substitute(...,'\\s','','g')
removes all white space from the line
substitute(...,'[^>].*','','')
removes everything after leading '>'s
strlen(...)
counts the length of the string, which
is the number of '>'s found

Note that a backslash must be inserted before every space, double quote and
backslash for the ":set" command. If this confuses you, do
:set foldexpr
to check the actual resulting value.
the command−line completion:

To correct a complicated expression, use

:set foldexpr=
Where  is a real Tab.
then edit.

Vim will fill in the previous value, which you can

When the expression gets more complicated you should put it in a function and
set 'foldexpr' to call that function.
More about folding by expression in the reference manual: |fold−expr|
==============================================================================
*28.9* Folding unchanged lines
This is useful when you set the 'diff' option in the same window.
|vimdiff| command does this for you. Example:

The

:setlocal diff foldmethod=diff scrollbind nowrap foldlevel=1
Do this in every window that shows a different version of the same file. You
will clearly see the differences between the files, while the text that didn't
change is folded.
For more details see |fold−diff|.
==============================================================================
*28.10* Which fold method to use?
All these possibilities make you wonder which method you should choose.
Unfortunately, there is no golden rule. Here are some hints.

usr_doc.txt

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If there is a syntax file with folding for the language you are editing, that
is probably the best choice. If there isn't one, you might try to write it.
This requires a good knowledge of search patterns. It's not easy, but when
it's working you will not have to define folds manually.
Typing commands to manually fold regions can be used for unstructured text.
Then use the |:mkview| command to save and restore your folds.
The marker method requires you to change the file. If you are sharing the
files with other people or you have to meet company standards, you might not
be allowed to add them.
The main advantage of markers is that you can put them exactly where you
want them. That avoids that a few lines are missed when you cut and paste
folds. And you can add a comment about what is contained in the fold.
Folding by indent is something that works in many files, but not always very
well. Use it when you can't use one of the other methods. However, it is
very useful for outlining. Then you specifically use one 'shiftwidth' for
each nesting level.
Folding with expressions
quite simple to specify,
be recognized.
If you use the "expr"
you want them, you could
the defined folds. Then

can make folds in almost any structured text. It is
especially if the start and end of a fold can easily
method to define folds, but they are not exactly how
switch to the "manual" method. This will not remove
you can delete or add folds manually.

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_29.txt|

Moving through programs

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_29.txt*

Page 165
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2008 Jun 28

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Moving through programs
The creator of Vim is a computer programmer. It's no surprise that Vim
contains many features to aid in writing programs. Jump around to find where
identifiers are defined and used. Preview declarations in a separate window.
There is more in the next chapter.
|29.1|
|29.2|
|29.3|
|29.4|
|29.5|

Using tags
The preview window
Moving through a program
Finding global identifiers
Finding local identifiers

Next chapter: |usr_30.txt| Editing programs
Previous chapter: |usr_28.txt| Folding
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*29.1* Using tags
What is a tag? It is a location where an identifier is defined. An example
is a function definition in a C or C++ program. A list of tags is kept in a
tags file. This can be used by Vim to directly jump from any place to the
tag, the place where an identifier is defined.
To generate the tags file for all C files in the current directory, use the
following command:

ctags *.c
"ctags" is a separate program. Most Unix systems already have it installed.
If you do not have it yet, you can find Exuberant ctags here:
http://ctags.sf.net
Now when you are in Vim and you want to go to a function definition, you can
jump to it by using the following command:

:tag startlist
This command will find the function "startlist" even if it is in another file.
The CTRL−] command jumps to the tag of the word that is under the cursor.
This makes it easy to explore a tangle of C code. Suppose, for example, that
you are in the function "write_block". You can see that it calls
"write_line". But what does "write_line" do? By placing the cursor on the
call to "write_line" and pressing CTRL−], you jump to the definition of this
function.
The "write_line" function calls "write_char". You need to figure out what
it does. So you position the cursor over the call to "write_char" and press
CTRL−]. Now you are at the definition of "write_char".
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|void write_block(char **s; int cnt) |
|{
|
|
int i;
|
|
for (i = 0; i < cnt; ++i)
|
|
write_line(s[i]);
|
|}
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−|−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|
CTRL−] |

usr_doc.txt

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|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
+−−> |void write_line(char *s)
|
|{
|
|
while (*s != 0)
|
|
write_char(*s++);
|
|}
|
|
+−−−−−−−−|−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|
CTRL−] |
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
+−−> |void write_char(char c)
|
|{
|
|
putchar((int)(unsigned char)c); |
|}
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

The ":tags" command shows the list of tags that you traversed through:
:tags
# TO tag
1 1 write_line
2 1 write_char

FROM line
8
7

in file/text
write_block.c
write_line.c

Now to go back. The CTRL−T command goes to the preceding tag. In the example
above you get back to the "write_line" function, in the call to "write_char".
This command takes a count argument that indicates how many tags to jump
back. You have gone forward, and now back. Let's go forward again. The
following command goes to the tag on top of the list:

:tag
You can prefix it with a count and jump forward that many tags. For example:
":3tag". CTRL−T also can be preceded with a count.
These commands thus allow you to go down a call tree with CTRL−] and back
up again with CTRL−T. Use ":tags" to find out where you are.
SPLIT WINDOWS
The ":tag" command replaces the file in the current window with the one
containing the new function. But suppose you want to see not only the old
function but also the new one? You can split the window using the ":split"
command followed by the ":tag" command. Vim has a shorthand command that does
both:
:stag tagname
To split the current window and jump to the tag under the cursor use this
command:

CTRL−W ]
If a count is specified, the new window will be that many lines high.
MORE TAGS FILES
When you have files in many directories, you can create a tags file in each of
them. Vim will then only be able to jump to tags within that directory.
To find more tags files, set the 'tags' option to include all the relevant
tags files. Example:

:set tags=./tags,./../tags,./*/tags
This finds a tags file in the same directory as the current file, one
directory level higher and in all subdirectories.

usr_doc.txt

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This is quite a number of tags files, but it may still not be enough. For
example, when editing a file in "~/proj/src", you will not find the tags file
"~/proj/sub/tags". For this situation Vim offers to search a whole directory
tree for tags files. Example:

:set tags=~/proj/**/tags
ONE TAGS FILE
When Vim has to search many places for tags files, you can hear the disk
rattling. It may get a bit slow. In that case it's better to spend this
time while generating one big tags file. You might do this overnight.
This requires the Exuberant ctags program, mentioned above. It offers an
argument to search a whole directory tree:

cd ~/proj
ctags −R .
The nice thing about this is that Exuberant ctags recognizes various file
types. Thus this doesn't work just for C and C++ programs, also for Eiffel
and even Vim scripts. See the ctags documentation to tune this.
Now you only need to tell Vim where your big tags file is:

:set tags=~/proj/tags
MULTIPLE MATCHES
When a function is defined multiple times (or a method in several classes),
the ":tag" command will jump to the first one. If there is a match in the
current file, that one is used first.
You can now jump to other matches for the same tag with:

:tnext
Repeat this to find further matches.
one to jump to:

If there are many, you can select which

:tselect tagname
Vim will present you with a list of choices:
# pri kind tag
file
1 F
f
mch_init
os_amiga.c
mch_init()
2 F
f
mch_init
os_mac.c
mch_init()
3 F
f
mch_init
os_msdos.c
mch_init(void)
4 F
f
mch_init
os_riscos.c
mch_init()
Enter nr of choice ( to abort):
You can now enter the number (in the first column) of the match that you would
like to jump to. The information in the other columns give you a good idea of
where the match is defined.
To move between the matching tags, these commands can be used:
:tfirst
:[count]tprevious
:[count]tnext
:tlast

go
go
go
go

to
to
to
to

first match
[count] previous match
[count] next match
last match

If [count] is omitted then one is used.

usr_doc.txt

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GUESSING TAG NAMES
Command line completion is a good way to avoid typing a long tag name.
type the first bit and press :

Just

:tag write_
You will get the first match. If it's not the one you want, press  until
you find the right one.
Sometimes you only know part of the name of a function. Or you have many
tags that start with the same string, but end differently. Then you can tell
Vim to use a pattern to find the tag.
Suppose you want to jump to a tag that contains "block". First type
this:

:tag /block
Now use command line completion: press . Vim will find all tags that
contain "block" and use the first match.
The "/" before a tag name tells Vim that what follows is not a literal tag
name, but a pattern. You can use all the items for search patterns here. For
example, suppose you want to select a tag that starts with "write_":

:tselect /^write_
The "^" specifies that the tag starts with "write_". Otherwise it would also
be found halfway a tag name. Similarly "$" at the end makes sure the pattern
matches until the end of a tag.
A TAGS BROWSER
Since CTRL−] takes you to the definition of the identifier under the cursor,
you can use a list of identifier names as a table of contents. Here is an
example.
First create a list of identifiers (this requires Exuberant ctags):

ctags −−c−types=f −f functions *.c
Now start Vim without a file, and edit this file in Vim, in a vertically split
window:

vim
:vsplit functions
The window contains a list of all the functions. There is some more stuff,
but you can ignore that. Do ":setlocal ts=99" to clean it up a bit.
In this window, define a mapping:

:nnoremap   0yew:tag "
Move the cursor to the line that contains the function you want to go to.
Now press . Vim will go to the other window and jump to the selected
function.
RELATED ITEMS
You can set 'ignorecase' to make case in tag names be ignored.
The 'tagbsearch' option tells if the tags file is sorted or not. The default
is to assume a sorted tags file, which makes a tags search a lot faster, but
doesn't work if the tags file isn't sorted.

usr_doc.txt

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The 'taglength' option can be used to tell Vim the number of significant
characters in a tag.
When you use the SNiFF+ program, you can use the Vim interface to it |sniff|.
SNiFF+ is a commercial program.
Cscope is a free program. It does not only find places where an identifier is
declared, but also where it is used. See |cscope|.
==============================================================================
*29.2* The preview window
When you edit code that contains a function call, you need to use the correct
arguments. To know what values to pass you can look at how the function is
defined. The tags mechanism works very well for this. Preferably the
definition is displayed in another window. For this the preview window can be
used.
To open a preview window to display the function "write_char":

:ptag write_char
Vim will open a window, and jumps to the tag "write_char". Then it takes you
back to the original position. Thus you can continue typing without the need
to use a CTRL−W command.
If the name of a function appears in the text, you can get its definition
in the preview window with:

CTRL−W }
There is a script that automatically displays the text where the word under
the cursor was defined. See |CursorHold−example|.
To close the preview window use this command:

:pclose
To edit a specific file in the preview window, use ":pedit".
useful to edit a header file, for example:

This can be

:pedit defs.h
Finally, ":psearch" can be used to find a word in the current file and any
included files and display the match in the preview window. This is
especially useful when using library functions, for which you do not have a
tags file. Example:

:psearch popen
This will show the "stdio.h" file in the preview window, with the function
prototype for popen():
FILE

*popen __P((const char *, const char *));

You can specify the height of the preview window, when it is opened, with the
'previewheight' option.
==============================================================================
*29.3* Moving through a program
Since a program is structured, Vim can recognize items in it.
commands can be used to move around.
C programs often contain constructs like this:
#ifdef USE_POPEN
fd = popen("ls", "r")
#else

Specific

usr_doc.txt

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fd = fopen("tmp", "w")
#endif
But then much longer, and possibly nested. Position the cursor on the
"#ifdef" and press %. Vim will jump to the "#else". Pressing % again takes
you to the "#endif". Another % takes you to the "#ifdef" again.
When the construct is nested, Vim will find the matching items. This is a
good way to check if you didn't forget an "#endif".
When you are somewhere inside a "#if" − "#endif", you can jump to the start
of it with:

[#
If you are not after a "#if" or "#ifdef" Vim will beep.
the next "#else" or "#endif" use:

To jump forward to

]#
These two commands skip any "#if" − "#endif" blocks that they encounter.
Example:
#if defined(HAS_INC_H)
a = a + inc();
# ifdef USE_THEME
a += 3;
# endif
set_width(a);
With the cursor in the last line, "[#" moves to the first line.
− "#endif" block in the middle is skipped.

The "#ifdef"

MOVING IN CODE BLOCKS
In C code blocks are enclosed in {}. These can get pretty long. To move to
the start of the outer block use the "[[" command. Use "][" to find the end.
This assumes that the "{" and "}" are in the first column.
The "[{" command moves to the start of the current block. It skips over
pairs of {} at the same level. "]}" jumps to the end.
An overview:
+−>
|
|
[[ |
|
|
|
+−−

function(int a)
{
if (a)
+−>
{
|
for (;;)
|
+−>
{
[{ |
|
foo(32);
|
[{ |
if (bar(a))
|
+−−
break;
|
}
+−−
foobar(a)
}
}

−−+
|
|
−−+
| ]}
| ]} |
<−+
|
|
<−+

−−+
|
|
| ][
|
|
<−+

When writing C++ or Java, the outer {} block is for the class. The next level
of {} is for a method. When somewhere inside a class use "[m" to find the
previous start of a method. "]m" finds the next start of a method.
Additionally, "[]" moves backward to the end of a function and "]]" moves
forward to the start of the next function. The end of a function is defined
by a "}" in the first column.
int func1(void)
{
return 1;

usr_doc.txt

Page 171

[]

+−−−−−−−−−−>
|
|
|
+−>
|
[[ |
+−−
+−−
|
][ |
|
+−>
|
|
+−−−−−−−−−−>

start
]]

}
int func2(void)
{
if (flag)
return flag;
return 2;
}
int func3(void)
{
return 3;
}

Don't forget you can also use "%" to move between matching (), {} and [].
That also works when they are many lines apart.
MOVING IN BRACES
The "[(" and "])" commands work similar to "[{" and "]}", except that they
work on () pairs instead of {} pairs.

[(
<−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
<−−−−−−−
if (a == b && (c == d || (e > f)) && x > y)
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−>
])
MOVING IN COMMENTS
To move back to the start of a comment use "[/". Move forward to the end of a
comment with "]/". This only works for /* − */ comments.
+−>
|
[/ |
|
|
+−−

+−> /*
[/ |
* A comment about
+−− * wonderful life.
*/
foo = bar * 3;
/* a short comment */

−−+
| ]/
<−+
−−+
| ]/
<−+

==============================================================================
*29.4* Finding global identifiers
You are editing a C program and wonder if a variable is declared as "int" or
"unsigned". A quick way to find this is with the "[I" command.
Suppose the cursor is on the word "column". Type:

[I
Vim will list the matching lines it can find. Not only in the current file,
but also in all included files (and files included in them, etc.). The result
looks like this:
structs.h
1:
29

unsigned

column;

/* column number */

The advantage over using tags or the preview window is that included files are
searched. In most cases this results in the right declaration to be found.
Also when the tags file is out of date. Also when you don't have tags for the
included files.
However, a few things must be right for "[I" to do its work. First of all,

usr_doc.txt

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the 'include' option must specify how a file is included. The default value
works for C and C++. For other languages you will have to change it.
LOCATING INCLUDED FILES
Vim will find included files in the places specified with the 'path'
option. If a directory is missing, some include files will not be found.
can discover this with this command:

You

:checkpath
It will list the include files that could not be found. Also files included
by the files that could be found. An example of the output:
−−− Included files not found in path −−−

vim.h −−>


The "io.h" file is included by the current file and can't be found. "vim.h"
can be found, thus ":checkpath" goes into this file and checks what it
includes. The "functions.h" and "clib/exec_protos.h" files, included by
"vim.h" are not found.

Note:
Vim is not a compiler. It does not recognize "#ifdef" statements.
This means every "#include" statement is used, also when it comes
after "#if NEVER".
To fix the files that could not be found, add a directory to the 'path'
option. A good place to find out about this is the Makefile. Look out for
lines that contain "−I" items, like "−I/usr/local/X11". To add this directory
use:

:set path+=/usr/local/X11
When there are many subdirectories, you can use the "*" wildcard.

Example:

:set path+=/usr/*/include
This would find files in "/usr/local/include" as well as "/usr/X11/include".
When working on a project with a whole nested tree of included files, the "**"
items is useful. This will search down in all subdirectories. Example:

:set path+=/projects/invent/**/include
This will find files in the directories:
/projects/invent/include
/projects/invent/main/include
/projects/invent/main/os/include
etc.
There are even more possibilities. Check out the 'path' option for info.
If you want to see which included files are actually found, use this
command:

:checkpath!
You will get a (very long) list of included files, the files they include, and
so on. To shorten the list a bit, Vim shows "(Already listed)" for files that
were found before and doesn't list the included files in there again.

usr_doc.txt

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JUMPING TO A MATCH
"[I" produces a list with only one line of text. When you want to have a
closer look at the first item, you can jump to that line with the command:

[
You can also use "[ CTRL−I", since CTRL−I is the same as pressing .
The list that "[I" produces has a number at the start of each line. When you
want to jump to another item than the first one, type the number first:

3[
Will jump to the third item in the list.
jump back to where you started from.

Remember that you can use CTRL−O to

RELATED COMMANDS
[i
]I
]i

only lists the first match
only lists items below the cursor
only lists the first item below the cursor

FINDING DEFINED IDENTIFIERS
The "[I" command finds any identifier.
"#define" use:

To find only macros, defined with

[D
Again, this searches in included files. The 'define' option specifies what a
line looks like that defines the items for "[D". You could change it to make
it work with other languages than C or C++.
The commands related to "[D" are:
[d
]D
]d

only lists the first match
only lists items below the cursor
only lists the first item below the cursor

==============================================================================
*29.5* Finding local identifiers
The "[I" command searches included files. To search in the current file only,
and jump to the first place where the word under the cursor is used:

gD
Hint: Goto Definition. This command is very useful to find a variable or
function that was declared locally ("static", in C terms). Example (cursor on
"counter"):
+−>
|
|
gD |
|
+−−

static int counter = 0;
int get_counter(void)
{
++counter;
return counter;
}

To restrict the search even further, and look only in the current function,
use this command:

gd

usr_doc.txt

Page 174

This will go back to the start of the current function and find the first
occurrence of the word under the cursor. Actually, it searches backwards to
an empty line above a "{" in the first column. From there it searches forward
for the identifier. Example (cursor on "idx"):

+−>
|
gd |
|
+−−

int find_entry(char *name)
{
int idx;
for (idx = 0; idx < table_len; ++idx)
if (strcmp(table[idx].name, name) == 0)
return idx;
}

==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_30.txt|

Editing programs

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_30.txt*

Page 175
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2007 Nov 10

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Editing programs
Vim has various commands that aid in writing computer programs. Compile a
program and directly jump to reported errors. Automatically set the indent
for many languages and format comments.
|30.1|
|30.2|
|30.3|
|30.4|
|30.5|
|30.6|

Compiling
Indenting C files
Automatic indenting
Other indenting
Tabs and spaces
Formatting comments

Next chapter: |usr_31.txt| Exploiting the GUI
Previous chapter: |usr_29.txt| Moving through programs
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*30.1* Compiling
Vim has a set of so called "quickfix" commands. They enable you to compile a
program from within Vim and then go through the errors generated and fix them
(hopefully). You can then recompile and fix any new errors that are found
until finally your program compiles without any error.
The following command runs the program "make" (supplying it with any argument
you give) and captures the results:

:make {arguments}
If errors were generated, they are captured and the editor positions you where
the first error occurred.
Take a look at an example ":make" session. (Typical :make sessions generate
far more errors and fewer stupid ones.) After typing ":make" the screen looks
like this:
:!make | &tee /tmp/vim215953.err
gcc −g −Wall −o prog main.c sub.c
main.c: In function 'main':
main.c:6: too many arguments to function 'do_sub'
main.c: At top level:
main.c:10: parse error before '}'
make: *** [prog] Error 1
2 returned
"main.c" 11L, 111C
(3 of 6): too many arguments to function 'do_sub'
Press ENTER or type command to continue
From this you can see that you have errors in the file "main.c". When you
press , Vim displays the file "main.c", with the cursor positioned on
line 6, the first line with an error. You did not need to specify the file or
the line number, Vim knew where to go by looking in the error messages.
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|int main()
|
|{
|
|
int i=3;
|
cursor −> |
do_sub("foo");
|
|
++i;
|

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|
return (0);
|
|}
|
|}
|
| ~
|
|(3 of 12): too many arguments to function 'do_sub' |
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+

The following command goes to where the next error occurs:

:cnext
Vim jumps to line 10, the last line in the file, where there is an extra '}'.
When there is not enough room, Vim will shorten the error message. To see
the whole message use:

:cc
You can get an overview of all the error messages with the ":clist" command.
The output looks like this:

:clist
3 main.c: 6:too many arguments to function 'do_sub'
5 main.c: 10:parse error before '}'
Only the lines where Vim recognized a file name and line number are listed
here. It assumes those are the interesting lines and the rest is just boring
messages. However, sometimes unrecognized lines do contain something you want
to see. Output from the linker, for example, about an undefined function.
To see all the messages add a "!" to the command:

:clist!
1 gcc −g −Wall −o prog main.c sub.c
2 main.c: In function 'main':
3 main.c:6: too many arguments to function 'do_sub'
4 main.c: At top level:
5 main.c:10: parse error before '}'
6 make: *** [prog] Error 1
Vim will highlight the current error.

To go back to the previous error, use:

:cprevious
Other commands to move around in the error list:
:cfirst
:clast
:cc 3

to first error
to last error
to error nr 3

USING ANOTHER COMPILER
The name of the program to run when the ":make" command is executed is defined
by the 'makeprg' option. Usually this is set to "make", but Visual C++ users
should set this to "nmake" by executing the following command:

:set makeprg=nmake
You can also include arguments in this option.
be escaped with a backslash. Example:

Special characters need to

:set makeprg=nmake\ −f\ project.mak
You can include special Vim keywords in the command specification. The %
character expands to the name of the current file. So if you execute the
command:
:set makeprg=make\ %

usr_doc.txt
When you are editing main.c, then ":make" executes the following command:

make main.c
This is not too useful, so you will refine the command a little and use the :r
(root) modifier:

:set makeprg=make\ %:r.o
Now the command executed is as follows:

make main.o
More about these modifiers here: |filename−modifiers|.
OLD ERROR LISTS
Suppose you ":make" a program. There is a warning message in one file and an
error message in another. You fix the error and use ":make" again to check if
it was really fixed. Now you want to look at the warning message. It doesn't
show up in the last error list, since the file with the warning wasn't
compiled again. You can go back to the previous error list with:

:colder
Then use ":clist" and ":cc {nr}" to jump to the place with the warning.
To go forward to the next error list:

:cnewer
Vim remembers ten error lists.
SWITCHING COMPILERS
You have to tell Vim what format the error messages are that your compiler
produces. This is done with the 'errorformat' option. The syntax of this
option is quite complicated and it can be made to fit almost any compiler.
You can find the explanation here: |errorformat|.
You might be using various different compilers. Setting the 'makeprg' option,
and especially the 'errorformat' each time is not easy. Vim offers a simple
method for this. For example, to switch to using the Microsoft Visual C++
compiler:

:compiler msvc
This will find the Vim script for the "msvc" compiler and set the appropriate
options.
You can write your own compiler files. See |write−compiler−plugin|.
OUTPUT REDIRECTION
The ":make" command redirects the output of the executed program to an error
file. How this works depends on various things, such as the 'shell'. If your
":make" command doesn't capture the output, check the 'makeef' and
'shellpipe' options. The 'shellquote' and 'shellxquote' options might also
matter.
In case you can't get ":make" to redirect the file for you, an alternative is
to compile the program in another window and redirect the output into a file.
Then have Vim read this file with:

Page 177

usr_doc.txt

Page 178

:cfile {filename}
Jumping to errors will work like with the ":make" command.
==============================================================================
*30.2* Indenting C style text
A program is much easier to understand when the lines have been properly
indented. Vim offers various ways to make this less work. For C or C style
programs like Java or C++, set the 'cindent' option. Vim knows a lot about C
programs and will try very hard to automatically set the indent for you. Set
the 'shiftwidth' option to the amount of spaces you want for a deeper level.
Four spaces will work fine. One ":set" command will do it:

:set cindent shiftwidth=4
With this option enabled, when you type something such as "if (x)", the next
line will automatically be indented an additional level.
Automatic indent
Automatic unindent
Automatic indent
keep indent
Automatic unindent

−−−>
<−−
−−−>
<−−

if (flag)
do_the_work();
if (other_flag) {
do_file();
do_some_more();
}

When you type something in curly braces ({}), the text will be indented at the
start and unindented at the end. The unindenting will happen after typing the
'}', since Vim can't guess what you are going to type.
One side effect of automatic indentation is that it helps you catch errors in
your code early. When you type a } to finish a function, only to find that
the automatic indentation gives it more indent than what you expected, there
is probably a } missing. Use the "%" command to find out which { matches the
} you typed.
A missing ) and ; also cause extra indent. Thus if you get more white
space than you would expect, check the preceding lines.
When you have code that is badly formatted, or you inserted and deleted lines,
you need to re−indent the lines. The "=" operator does this. The simplest
form is:

==
This indents the current line. Like with all operators, there are three ways
to use it. In Visual mode "=" indents the selected lines. A useful text
object is "a{". This selects the current {} block. Thus, to re−indent the
code block the cursor is in:

=a{
I you have really badly indented code, you can re−indent the whole file with:

gg=G
However, don't do this in files that have been carefully indented manually.
The automatic indenting does a good job, but in some situations you might want
to overrule it.
SETTING INDENT STYLE
Different people have different styles of indentation. By default Vim does a
pretty good job of indenting in a way that 90% of programmers do. There are
different styles, however; so if you want to, you can customize the
indentation style with the 'cinoptions' option.

usr_doc.txt

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By default 'cinoptions' is empty and Vim uses the default style. You can
add various items where you want something different. For example, to make
curly braces be placed like this:
if (flag)
{
i = 8;
j = 0;
}
Use this command:

:set cinoptions+={2
There are many of these items.

See |cinoptions−values|.

==============================================================================
*30.3* Automatic indenting
You don't want to switch on the 'cindent' option manually every time you edit
a C file. This is how you make it work automatically:

:filetype indent on
Actually, this does a lot more than switching on 'cindent' for C files. First
of all, it enables detecting the type of a file. That's the same as what is
used for syntax highlighting.
When the filetype is known, Vim will search for an indent file for this
type of file. The Vim distribution includes a number of these for various
programming languages. This indent file will then prepare for automatic
indenting specifically for this file.
If you don't like the automatic indenting, you can switch it off again:

:filetype indent off
If you don't like the indenting for one specific type of file, this is how you
avoid it. Create a file with just this one line:

:let b:did_indent = 1
Now you need to write this in a file with a specific name:

{directory}/indent/{filetype}.vim
The {filetype} is the name of the file type, such as "cpp" or "java".
see the exact name that Vim detected with this command:

You can

:set filetype
In this file the output is:
filetype=help
Thus you would use "help" for {filetype}.
For the {directory} part you need to use your runtime directory.
the output of this command:

Look at

set runtimepath
Now use the first item, the name before the first comma.
looks like this:

Thus if the output

runtimepath=~/.vim,/usr/local/share/vim/vim60/runtime,~/.vim/after
You use "~/.vim" for {directory}.

Then the resulting file name is:

usr_doc.txt

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~/.vim/indent/help.vim
Instead of switching the indenting off, you could write your own indent file.
How to do that is explained here: |indent−expression|.
==============================================================================
*30.4* Other indenting
The most simple form of automatic indenting is with the 'autoindent' option.
It uses the indent from the previous line. A bit smarter is the 'smartindent'
option. This is useful for languages where no indent file is available.
'smartindent' is not as smart as 'cindent', but smarter than 'autoindent'.
With 'smartindent' set, an extra level of indentation is added for each {
and removed for each }. An extra level of indentation will also be added for
any of the words in the 'cinwords' option. Lines that begin with # are
treated specially: all indentation is removed. This is done so that
preprocessor directives will all start in column 1. The indentation is
restored for the next line.
CORRECTING INDENTS
When you are using 'autoindent' or 'smartindent' to get the indent of the
previous line, there will be many times when you need to add or remove one
'shiftwidth' worth of indent. A quick way to do this is using the CTRL−D and
CTRL−T commands in Insert mode.
For example, you are typing a shell script that is supposed to look like
this:
if test −n a; then
echo a
echo "−−−−−−−"
fi
Start off by setting these options:

:set autoindent shiftwidth=3
You start by typing the first line,  and the start of the second line:
if test −n a; then
echo
Now you see that you need an extra indent.

Type CTRL−T.

The result:

if test −n a; then
echo
The CTRL−T command, in Insert mode, adds one 'shiftwidth' to the indent, no
matter where in the line you are.
You continue typing the second line,  and the third line. This time
the indent is OK. Then  and the last line. Now you have this:
if test −n a; then
echo a
echo "−−−−−−−"
fi
To remove the superfluous indent in the last line press CTRL−D. This deletes
one 'shiftwidth' worth of indent, no matter where you are in the line.
When you are in Normal mode, you can use the ">>" and "<<" commands to
shift lines. ">" and "<" are operators, thus you have the usual three ways to
specify the lines you want to indent. A useful combination is:

>i{

usr_doc.txt

Page 181

This adds one indent to the current block of lines, inside {}. The { and }
lines themselves are left unmodified. ">a{" includes them. In this example
the cursor is on "printf":
original text

after ">i{"

after ">a{"

if (flag)
{
printf("yes");
flag = 0;
}

if (flag)
{
printf("yes");
flag = 0;
}

if (flag)
{
printf("yes");
flag = 0;
}

==============================================================================
*30.5* Tabs and spaces
'tabstop' is set to eight by default. Although you can change it, you quickly
run into trouble later. Other programs won't know what tabstop value you
used. They probably use the default value of eight, and your text suddenly
looks very different. Also, most printers use a fixed tabstop value of eight.
Thus it's best to keep 'tabstop' alone. (If you edit a file which was written
with a different tabstop setting, see |25.3| for how to fix that.)
For indenting lines in a program, using a multiple of eight spaces makes
you quickly run into the right border of the window. Using a single space
doesn't provide enough visual difference. Many people prefer to use four
spaces, a good compromise.
Since a  is eight spaces and you want to use an indent of four spaces,
you can't use a  character to make your indent. There are two ways to
handle this:
1.

Use a mix of  and space characters. Since a  takes the place of
eight spaces, you have fewer characters in your file. Inserting a 
is quicker than eight spaces. Backspacing works faster as well.

2.

Use spaces only. This avoids the trouble with programs that use a
different tabstop value.

Fortunately, Vim supports both methods quite well.
SPACES AND TABS
If you are using a combination of tabs and spaces, you just edit normally.
The Vim defaults do a fine job of handling things.
You can make life a little easier by setting the 'softtabstop' option.
This option tells Vim to make the  key look and feel as if tabs were set
at the value of 'softtabstop', but actually use a combination of tabs and
spaces.
After you execute the following command, every time you press the  key
the cursor moves to the next 4−column boundary:

:set softtabstop=4
When you start in the first column and press , you get 4 spaces inserted
in your text. The second time, Vim takes out the 4 spaces and puts in a 
(thus taking you to column 8). Thus Vim uses as many s as possible, and
then fills up with spaces.
When backspacing it works the other way around. A  will always delete
the amount specified with 'softtabstop'. Then s are used as many as
possible and spaces to fill the gap.
The following shows what happens pressing  a few times, and then using
. A "." stands for a space and "−−−−−−−>" for a .
type



result
....
−−−−−−−>

usr_doc.txt





Page 182
−−−−−−−>....
−−−−−−−>
....

An alternative is to use the 'smarttab' option. When it's set, Vim uses
'shiftwidth' for a  typed in the indent of a line, and a real  when
typed after the first non−blank character. However,  doesn't work like
with 'softtabstop'.
JUST SPACES
If you want absolutely no tabs in your file, you can set the 'expandtab'
option:

:set expandtab
When this option is set, the  key inserts a series of spaces. Thus you
get the same amount of white space as if a  character was inserted, but
there isn't a real  character in your file.
The backspace key will delete each space by itself. Thus after typing one
 you have to press the  key up to eight times to undo it. If you are
in the indent, pressing CTRL−D will be a lot quicker.
CHANGING TABS IN SPACES (AND BACK)
Setting 'expandtab' does not affect any existing tabs. In other words, any
tabs in the document remain tabs. If you want to convert tabs to spaces, use
the ":retab" command. Use these commands:

:set expandtab
:%retab
Now Vim will have changed all indents to use spaces instead of tabs. However,
all tabs that come after a non−blank character are kept. If you want these to
be converted as well, add a !:

:%retab!
This is a little bit dangerous, because it can also change tabs inside a
string. To check if these exist, you could use this:

/"[^"\t]*\t[^"]*"
It's recommended not to use hard tabs inside a string.
"\t" to avoid trouble.

Replace them with

The other way around works just as well:

:set noexpandtab
:%retab!
==============================================================================
*30.6* Formatting comments
One of the great things about Vim is that it understands comments.
ask Vim to format a comment and it will do the right thing.
Suppose, for example, that you have the following comment:

You can

/*
* This is a test
* of the text formatting.
*/
You then ask Vim to format it by positioning the cursor at the start of the

usr_doc.txt

Page 183

comment and type:

gq]/
"gq" is the operator to format text.
end of a comment. The result is:

"]/" is the motion that takes you to the

/*
* This is a test of the text formatting.
*/
Notice that Vim properly handled the beginning of each line.
An alternative is to select the text that is to be formatted in Visual mode
and type "gq".
To add a new line to the comment, position the cursor on the middle line and
press "o". The result looks like this:
/*
* This is a test of the text formatting.
*
*/
Vim has automatically inserted a star and a space for you. Now you can type
the comment text. When it gets longer than 'textwidth', Vim will break the
line. Again, the star is inserted automatically:
/*
* This is a test of the text formatting.
* Typing a lot of text here will make Vim
* break
*/
For this to work some flags must be present in 'formatoptions':
r
o
c

insert the star when typing  in Insert mode
insert the star when using "o" or "O" in Normal mode
break comment text according to 'textwidth'

See |fo−table| for more flags.
DEFINING A COMMENT
The 'comments' option defines what a comment looks like. Vim distinguishes
between a single−line comment and a comment that has a different start, end
and middle part.
Many single−line comments start with a specific character. In C++ // is
used, in Makefiles #, in Vim scripts ". For example, to make Vim understand
C++ comments:

:set comments=://
The colon separates the flags of an item from the text by which the comment is
recognized. The general form of an item in 'comments' is:

{flags}:{text}
The {flags} part can be empty, as in this case.
Several of these items can be concatenated, separated by commas. This
allows recognizing different types of comments at the same time. For example,
let's edit an e−mail message. When replying, the text that others wrote is
preceded with ">" and "!" characters. This command would work:

:set comments=n:>,n:!

usr_doc.txt

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There are two items, one for comments starting with ">" and one for comments
that start with "!". Both use the flag "n". This means that these comments
nest. Thus a line starting with ">" may have another comment after the ">".
This allows formatting a message like this:
! Did you see that site?
! It looks really great.
I don't like it. The
colors are terrible.
What is the URL of that
site?
Try setting 'textwidth' to a different value, e.g., 80, and format the text by
Visually selecting it and typing "gq". The result is:
! Did you see that site? It looks really great.
I don't like it. The colors are terrible.
What is the URL of that site?
You will notice that
another. The "I" in
line, but since that
knows that this is a

Vim did not move text from one type of comment to
the second line would have fit at the end of the first
line starts with "> !" and the second line with ">", Vim
different kind of comment.

A THREE PART COMMENT
A C comment starts with "/*", has "*" in the middle and "*/" at the end.
entry in 'comments' for this looks like this:

The

:set comments=s1:/*,mb:*,ex:*/
The start is defined with "s1:/*". The "s" indicates the start of a
three−piece comment. The colon separates the flags from the text by which the
comment is recognized: "/*". There is one flag: "1". This tells Vim that the
middle part has an offset of one space.
The middle part "mb:*" starts with "m", which indicates it is a middle
part. The "b" flag means that a blank must follow the text. Otherwise Vim
would consider text like "*pointer" also to be the middle of a comment.
The end part "ex:*/" has the "e" for identification. The "x" flag has a
special meaning. It means that after Vim automatically inserted a star,
typing / will remove the extra space.
For more details see |format−comments|.
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_31.txt|

Exploiting the GUI

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_31.txt*

Page 185
For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2007 May 08

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Exploiting the GUI
Vim works well in a terminal, but the GUI has a few extra items. A file
browser can be used for commands that use a file. A dialog to make a choice
between alternatives. Use keyboard shortcuts to access menu items quickly.
|31.1|
|31.2|
|31.3|
|31.4|
|31.5|

The file browser
Confirmation
Menu shortcuts
Vim window position and size
Various

Next chapter: |usr_32.txt| The undo tree
Previous chapter: |usr_30.txt| Editing programs
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*31.1* The file browser
When using the File/Open... menu you get a file browser. This makes it easier
to find the file you want to edit. But what if you want to split a window to
edit another file? There is no menu entry for this. You could first use
Window/Split and then File/Open..., but that's more work.
Since you are typing most commands in Vim, opening the file browser with a
typed command is possible as well. To make the split command use the file
browser, prepend "browse":

:browse split
Select a file and then the ":split" command will be executed with it. If you
cancel the file dialog nothing happens, the window isn't split.
You can also specify a file name argument. This is used to tell the file
browser where to start. Example:

:browse split /etc
The file browser will pop up, starting in the directory "/etc".
The ":browse" command can be prepended to just about any command that opens a
file.
If no directory is specified, Vim will decide where to start the file
browser. By default it uses the same directory as the last time. Thus when
you used ":browse split" and selected a file in "/usr/local/share", the next
time you use a ":browse" it will start in "/usr/local/share" again.
This can be changed with the 'browsedir' option. It can have one of three
values:
last
buffer
current

Use the last directory browsed (default)
Use the same directory as the current buffer
use the current directory

For example, when you are in the directory "/usr", editing the file
"/usr/local/share/readme", then the command:

:set browsedir=buffer
:browse edit
Will start the browser in "/usr/local/share".

:set browsedir=current

Alternatively:

usr_doc.txt

Page 186

:browse edit
Will start the browser in "/usr".

Note:
To avoid using the mouse, most file browsers offer using key presses
to navigate. Since this is different for every system, it is not
explained here. Vim uses a standard browser when possible, your
system documentation should contain an explanation on the keyboard
shortcuts somewhere.
When you are not using the GUI version, you could use the file explorer window
to select files like in a file browser. However, this doesn't work for the
":browse" command. See |netrw−browse|.
==============================================================================
*31.2* Confirmation
Vim protects you from accidentally overwriting a file and other ways to lose
changes. If you do something that might be a bad thing to do, Vim produces an
error message and suggests appending ! if you really want to do it.
To avoid retyping the command with the !, you can make Vim give you a
dialog. You can then press "OK" or "Cancel" to tell Vim what you want.
For example, you are editing a file and made changes to it. You start
editing another file with:

:confirm edit foo.txt
Vim will pop up a dialog that looks something like this:
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
|
|
|
?
Save changes to "bar.txt"? |
|
|
|
YES
NO
CANCEL
|
+−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−+
Now make your choice. If you do want to save the changes, select "YES". If
you want to lose the changes for ever: "NO". If you forgot what you were
doing and want to check what really changed use "CANCEL". You will be back in
the same file, with the changes still there.
Just like ":browse", the ":confirm" command can be prepended to most commands
that edit another file. They can also be combined:

:confirm browse edit
This will produce a dialog when the current buffer was changed.
pop up a file browser to select the file to edit.

Then it will

Note:
In the dialog you can use the keyboard to select the choice.
Typically the  key and the cursor keys change the choice.
Pressing  selects the choice. This depends on the system
though.
When you are not using the GUI, the ":confirm" command works as well. Instead
of popping up a dialog, Vim will print the message at the bottom of the Vim
window and ask you to press a key to make a choice.

:confirm edit main.c
Save changes to "Untitled"?
[Y]es, (N)o, (C)ancel:
You can now press the single key for the choice. You don't have to press
, unlike other typing on the command line.

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==============================================================================
*31.3* Menu shortcuts
The keyboard is used for all Vim commands. The menus provide a simple way to
select commands, without knowing what they are called. But you have to move
your hand from the keyboard and grab the mouse.
Menus can often be selected with keys as well. This depends on your
system, but most often it works this way. Use the  key in combination
with the underlined letter of a menu. For example,  ( and w) pops
up the Window menu.
In the Window menu, the "split" item has the p underlined. To select it,
let go of the  key and press p.
After the first selection of a menu with the  key, you can use the cursor
keys to move through the menus.  selects a submenu and  closes
it.  also closes a menu.  selects a menu item.
There is a conflict between using the  key to select menu items, and
using  key combinations for mappings. The 'winaltkeys' option tells Vim
what it should do with the  key.
The default value "menu" is the smart choice: If the key combination is a
menu shortcut it can't be mapped. All other keys are available for mapping.
The value "no" doesn't use any  keys for the menus. Thus you must use
the mouse for the menus, and all  keys can be mapped.
The value "yes" means that Vim will use any  keys for the menus. Some
 key combinations may also do other things than selecting a menu.
==============================================================================
*31.4* Vim window position and size
To see the current Vim window position on the screen use:

:winpos
This will only work in the GUI.

The output may look like this:

Window position: X 272, Y 103
The position is given in screen pixels. Now you can use the numbers to move
Vim somewhere else. For example, to move it to the left a hundred pixels:

:winpos 172 103
Note:
There may be a small offset between the reported position and where
the window moves. This is because of the border around the window.
This is added by the window manager.
You can use this command in your startup script to position the window at a
specific position.
The size of the Vim window is computed in characters. Thus this depends on
the size of the font being used. You can see the current size with this
command:

:set lines columns
To change the size set the 'lines' and/or 'columns' options to a new value:

:set lines=50
:set columns=80
Obtaining the size works in a terminal just like in the GUI.
is not possible in most terminals.

Setting the size

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You can start the X−Windows version of gvim with an argument to specify the
size and position of the window:

gvim −geometry {width}x{height}+{x_offset}+{y_offset}
{width} and {height} are in characters, {x_offset} and {y_offset} are in
pixels. Example:
gvim −geometry 80x25+100+300
==============================================================================
*31.5* Various
You can use gvim to edit an e−mail message. In your e−mail program you must
select gvim to be the editor for messages. When you try that, you will
see that it doesn't work: The mail program thinks that editing is finished,
while gvim is still running!
What happens is that gvim disconnects from the shell it was started in.
That is fine when you start gvim in a terminal, so that you can do other work
in that terminal. But when you really want to wait for gvim to finish, you
must prevent it from disconnecting. The "−f" argument does this:

gvim −f file.txt
The "−f" stands for foreground. Now Vim will block the shell it was started
in until you finish editing and exit.
DELAYED START OF THE GUI
On Unix it's possible to first start Vim in a terminal. That's useful if you
do various tasks in the same shell. If you are editing a file and decide you
want to use the GUI after all, you can start it with:

:gui
Vim will open the GUI window and no longer use the terminal. You can continue
using the terminal for something else. The "−f" argument is used here to run
the GUI in the foreground. You can also use ":gui −f".
THE GVIM STARTUP FILE
When gvim starts, it reads the gvimrc file. That's similar to the vimrc file
used when starting Vim. The gvimrc file can be used for settings and commands
that are only to be used when the GUI is going to be started. For example,
you can set the 'lines' option to set a different window size:

:set lines=55
You don't want to do this in a terminal, since its size is fixed (except for
an xterm that supports resizing).
The gvimrc file is searched for in the same locations as the vimrc file.
Normally its name is "~/.gvimrc" for Unix and "$VIM/_gvimrc" for MS−Windows.
The $MYGVIMRC environment variable is set to it, thus you can use this command
to edit the file, if you have one:

:edit $MYGVIMRC
If for some reason you don't want to use the normal gvimrc file, you can
specify another one with the "−U" argument:

gvim −U thisrc ...
That allows starting gvim for different kinds of editing.
another font size, for example.

You could set

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To completely skip reading a gvimrc file:

gvim −U NONE ...
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_32.txt|

The undo tree

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_32.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2010 Jul 20

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
The undo tree
Vim provides multi−level undo. If you undo a few changes and then make a new
change you create a branch in the undo tree. This text is about moving
through the branches.
|32.1|
|32.2|
|32.3|
|32.4|

Undo up to a file write
Numbering changes
Jumping around the tree
Time travelling

Next chapter: |usr_40.txt| Make new commands
Previous chapter: |usr_31.txt| Exploiting the GUI
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*32.1* Undo up to a file write
Sometimes you make several changes, and then discover you want to go back to
when you have last written the file. You can do that with this command:

:earlier 1f
The "f" stands for "file" here.
You can repeat this command to go further back in the past.
different from 1 to go back faster.

Or use a count

If you go back too far, go forward again with:

:later 1f
Note that these commands really work in time sequence. This matters if you
made changes after undoing some changes. It's explained in the next section.
Also note that we are talking about text writes here.
information in a file see |undo−persistence|.

For writing the undo

==============================================================================
*32.2* Numbering changes
In section |02.5| we only discussed one line of undo/redo. But it is also
possible to branch off. This happens when you undo a few changes and then
make a new change. The new changes become a branch in the undo tree.
Let's start with the text "one". The first change to make is to append
" too". And then move to the first 'o' and change it into 'w'. We then have
two changes, numbered 1 and 2, and three states of the text:
one
|
change 1
|
one too
|
change 2
|
one two
If we now undo one change, back to "one too", and change "one" to "me" we

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create a branch in the undo tree:
one
|
change 1
|
one too
/
\
change 2 change 3
|
|
one two
me too
You can now use the |u| command to undo. If you do this twice you get to
"one". Use |CTRL−R| to redo, and you will go to "one too". One more |CTRL−R|
takes you to "me too". Thus undo and redo go up and down in the tree, using
the branch that was last used.
What matters here is the order in which the changes are made. Undo and redo
are not considered changes in this context. After each change you have a new
state of the text.

Note that only the changes are numbered, the text shown in the tree above has
no identifier. They are mostly referred to by the number of the change above
it. But sometimes by the number of one of the changes below it, especially
when moving up in the tree, so that you know which change was just undone.
==============================================================================
*32.3* Jumping around the tree
So how do you get to "one two" now?

You can use this command:

:undo 2
The text is now "one two", you are below change 2.
command to jump to below any change in the tree.

You can use the |:undo|

Now make another change: change "one" to "not":
one
|
change 1
|
one too
/
\
change 2 change 3
|
|
one two
me too
|
change 4
|
not two
Now you change your mind and want to go back to "me too". Use the |g−|
command. This moves back in time. Thus it doesn't walk the tree upwards or
downwards, but goes to the change made before.
You can repeat |g−| and you will see the text change:
me too
one two
one too
one
Use |g+| to move forward in time:
one
one too
one two

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me too
not two
Using |:undo| is useful if you know what change you want to jump to.
|g+| are useful if you don't know exactly what the change number is.

|g−| and

You can type a count before |g−| and |g+| to repeat them.
==============================================================================
*32.4* Time travelling
When you have been working on text for a while the tree grows to become big.
Then you may want to go to the text of some minutes ago.
To see what branches there are in the undo tree use this command:

:undolist
number changes
3
2
4
3

time
16 seconds ago
5 seconds ago

Here you can see the number of the leaves in each branch and when the change
was made. Assuming we are below change 4, at "not two", you can go back ten
seconds with this command:

:earlier 10s
Depending on how much time you took for the changes you end up at a certain
position in the tree. The |:earlier| command argument can be "m" for minutes,
"h" for hours and "d" for days. To go all the way back use a big number:

:earlier 100d
To travel forward in time again use the |:later| command:

:later 1m
The arguments are "s", "m" and "h", just like with |:earlier|.
If you want even more details, or want to manipulate the information, you can
use the |undotree()| function. To see what it returns:

:echo undotree()
==============================================================================
Next chapter: |usr_40.txt|

Make new commands

Copyright: see |manual−copyright|

vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:

usr_doc.txt
*usr_40.txt*

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For Vim version 7.4.

Last change: 2013 Aug 05

VIM USER MANUAL − by Bram Moolenaar
Make new commands
Vim is an extensible editor. You can take a sequence of commands you use
often and turn it into a new command. Or redefine an existing command.
Autocommands make it possible to execute commands automatically.
|40.1|
|40.2|
|40.3|

Key mapping
Defining command−line commands
Autocommands

Next chapter: |usr_41.txt| Write a Vim script
Previous chapter: |usr_32.txt| The undo tree
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
==============================================================================
*40.1* Key mapping
A simple mapping was explained in section |05.3|. The principle is that one
sequence of key strokes is translated into another sequence of key strokes.
This is a simple, yet powerful mechanism.
The simplest form is that one key is mapped to a sequence of keys. Since
the function keys, except , have no predefined meaning in Vim, these are
good choices to map. Example:

:map  GoDate: :read !datekJ
This shows how three modes are used. After going to the last line with "G",
the "o" command opens a new line and starts Insert mode. The text "Date: " is
inserted and  takes you out of insert mode.
Notice the use of special keys inside <>. This is called angle bracket
notation. You type these as separate characters, not by pressing the key
itself. This makes the mappings better readable and you can copy and paste
the text without problems.
The ":" character takes Vim to the command line. The ":read !date" command
reads the output from the "date" command and appends it below the current
line. The  is required to execute the ":read" command.
At this point of execution the text looks like this:
Date:
Fri Jun 15 12:54:34 CEST 2001
Now "kJ" moves the cursor up and joins the lines together.
To decide which key or keys you use for mapping, see |map−which−keys|.
MAPPING AND MODES
The ":map" command defines remapping for keys in Normal mode. You can also
define mappings for other modes. For example, ":imap" applies to Insert mode.
You can use it to insert a date below the cursor:

:imap  Date: :read !datekJ
It looks a lot like the mapping for  in Normal mode, only the start is
different. The  mapping for Normal mode is still there. Thus you can map
the same key differently for each mode.
Notice that, although this mapping starts in Insert mode, it ends in Normal
mode. If you want it to continue in Insert mode, append an "a" to the
mapping.

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Here is an overview of map commands and in which mode they work:
:map
:vmap
:nmap
:omap
:map!
:imap
:cmap

Normal, Visual and Operator−pending
Visual
Normal
Operator−pending
Insert and Command−line
Insert
Command−line

Operator−pending mode is when you typed an operator character, such as "d" or
"y", and you are expected to type the motion command or a text object. Thus
when you type "dw", the "w" is entered in operator−pending mode.
Suppose that you want to define  so that the command d deletes a C
program block (text enclosed in curly braces, {}). Similarly y would yank
the program block into the unnamed register. Therefore, what you need to do
is to define  to select the current program block. You can do this with
the following command:

:omap  a{
This causes  to perform a select block "a{" in operator−pending mode, just
like you typed it. This mapping is useful if typing a { on your keyboard is a
bit difficult.
LISTING MAPPINGS
To see the currently defined mappings, use ":map" without arguments. Or one
of the variants that include the mode in which they work. The output could
look like this:
v
n

_g





:call MyGrep(1)
:s/^/> /:noh``
:.,$s/^/> /:noh``



The first column of the list shows in which mode the mapping is effective.
This is "n" for Normal mode, "i" for Insert mode, etc. A blank is used for a
mapping defined with ":map", thus effective in both Normal and Visual mode.
One useful purpose of listing the mapping is to check if special keys in <>
form have been recognized (this only works when color is supported). For
example, when  is displayed in color, it stands for the escape character.
When it has the same color as the other text, it is five characters.
REMAPPING
The result of a mapping is inspected for other mappings in it.
the mappings for  above could be shortened to:

For example,

:map  G
:imap  
:map  oDate: :read !datekJ
For Normal mode  is mapped to go to the last line, and then behave like
 was pressed. In Insert mode  stops Insert mode with  and then
also uses . Then  is mapped to do the actual work.
Suppose you hardly ever use Ex mode, and want to use the "Q" command to format
text (this was so in old versions of Vim). This mapping will do it:

:map Q gq

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But, in rare cases you need to use Ex mode anyway.
that you can still go to Ex mode:

Let's map "gQ" to Q, so

:map gQ Q
What happens now is
good. But then "Q"
you don't get to Ex
To avoid keys to

that when you type "gQ" it is mapped to "Q". So far so
is mapped to "gq", thus typing "gQ" results in "gq", and
mode at all.
be mapped again, use the ":noremap" command:

:noremap gQ Q
Now Vim knows that the "Q" is not to be inspected for mappings that apply to
it. There is a similar command for every mode:
:noremap
:vnoremap
:nnoremap
:onoremap
:noremap!
:inoremap
:cnoremap

Normal, Visual and Operator−pending
Visual
Normal
Operator−pending
Insert and Command−line
Insert
Command−line

RECURSIVE MAPPING
When a mapping triggers itself, it will run forever. This can be used to
repeat an action an unlimited number of times.
For example, you have a list of files that contain a version number in the
first line. You edit these files with "vim *.txt". You are now editing the
first file. Define this mapping:

:map ,, :s/5.1/5.2/:wnext,,
Now you type ",,". This triggers the mapping. It replaces "5.1" with "5.2"
in the first line. Then it does a ":wnext" to write the file and edit the
next one. The mapping ends in ",,". This triggers the same mapping again,
thus doing the substitution, etc.
This continues until there is an error. In this case it could be a file
where the substitute command doesn't find a match for "5.1". You can then
make a change to insert "5.1" and continue by typing ",," again. Or the
":wnext" fails, because you are in the last file in the list.
When a mapping runs into an error halfway, the rest of the mapping is
discarded. CTRL−C interrupts the mapping (CTRL−Break on MS−Windows).
DELETE A MAPPING
To remove a mapping use the ":unmap" command.
applies to depends on the command used:
:unmap
:vunmap
:nunmap
:ounmap
:unmap!
:iunmap
:cunmap

Again, the mode the unmapping

Normal, Visual and Operator−pending
Visual
Normal
Operator−pending
Insert and Command−line
Insert
Command−line

There is a trick to define a mapping that works in Normal and Operator−pending
mode, but not in Visual mode. First define it for all three modes, then
delete it for Visual mode:

:map  /−−−>
:vunmap 

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Notice that the five characters "" stand for the single key CTRL−A.
To remove all mappings use the |:mapclear| command. You can guess the
variations for different modes by now. Be careful with this command, it can't
be undone.
SPECIAL CHARACTERS
The ":map" command can be followed by another command. A | character
separates the two commands. This also means that a | character can't be used
inside a map command. To include one, use  (five characters). Example:

:map  :write  !checkin %
The same problem applies to the ":unmap" command, with the addition that you
have to watch out for trailing white space. These two commands are different:

:unmap a | unmap b
:unmap a| unmap b
The first command tries to unmap "a ", with a trailing space.
When using a space inside a mapping, use  (seven characters):

:map  W
This makes the spacebar move a blank−separated word forward.
It is not possible to put a comment directly after a mapping, because the "
character is considered to be part of the mapping. You can use |", this
starts a new, empty command with a comment. Example:

:map  W|

" Use spacebar to move forward a word

MAPPINGS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations are a lot like Insert mode mappings. The arguments are handled
in the same way. The main difference is the way they are triggered. An
abbreviation is triggered by typing a non−word character after the word. A
mapping is triggered when typing the last character.
Another difference is that the characters you type for an abbreviation are
inserted in the text while you type them. When the abbreviation is triggered
these characters are deleted and replaced by what the abbreviation produces.
When typing the characters for a mapping, nothing is inserted until you type
the last character that triggers it. If the 'showcmd' option is set, the
typed characters are displayed in the last line of the Vim window.
An exception is when a mapping is ambiguous. Suppose you have done two
mappings:

:imap aa foo
:imap aaa bar
Now, when you type "aa", Vim doesn't know if it should apply the first or the
second mapping. It waits for another character to be typed. If it is an "a",
the second mapping is applied and results in "bar". If it is a space, for
example, the first mapping is applied, resulting in "foo", and then the space
is inserted.
ADDITIONALLY...
The