| blob | 1354a3452b77878d0b6398af9de0a479388b9679 |
1 *options.txt* For Vim version 7.1. Last change: 2008 Mar 16
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
7 Options *options*
9 1. Setting options |set-option|
10 2. Automatically setting options |auto-setting|
11 3. Options summary |option-summary|
13 For an overview of options see help.txt |option-list|.
15 Vim has a number of internal variables and switches which can be set to
16 achieve special effects. These options come in three forms:
17 boolean can only be on or off *boolean* *toggle*
18 number has a numeric value
19 string has a string value
21 ==============================================================================
22 1. Setting options *set-option* *E764*
24 *:se* *:set*
25 :se[t] Show all options that differ from their default value.
27 :se[t] all Show all but terminal options.
29 :se[t] termcap Show all terminal options. Note that in the GUI the
30 key codes are not shown, because they are generated
31 internally and can't be changed. Changing the terminal
32 codes in the GUI is not useful either...
34 *E518* *E519*
35 :se[t] {option}? Show value of {option}.
37 :se[t] {option} Toggle option: set, switch it on.
38 Number option: show value.
39 String option: show value.
41 :se[t] no{option} Toggle option: Reset, switch it off.
43 :se[t] {option}! or
44 :se[t] inv{option} Toggle option: Invert value. {not in Vi}
46 *:set-default* *:set-&* *:set-&vi* *:set-&vim*
47 :se[t] {option}& Reset option to its default value. May depend on the
48 current value of 'compatible'. {not in Vi}
49 :se[t] {option}&vi Reset option to its Vi default value. {not in Vi}
50 :se[t] {option}&vim Reset option to its Vim default value. {not in Vi}
52 :se[t] all& Set all options, except terminal options, to their
53 default value. The values of 'term', 'lines' and
54 'columns' are not changed. {not in Vi}
56 *:set-args* *E487* *E521*
57 :se[t] {option}={value} or
58 :se[t] {option}:{value}
59 Set string or number option to {value}.
60 For numeric options the value can be given in decimal,
61 hex (preceded with 0x) or octal (preceded with '0')
62 (hex and octal are only available for machines which
63 have the strtol() function).
64 The old value can be inserted by typing 'wildchar' (by
65 default this is a <Tab> or CTRL-E if 'compatible' is
66 set). See |cmdline-completion|.
67 White space between {option} and '=' is allowed and
68 will be ignored. White space between '=' and {value}
69 is not allowed.
70 See |option-backslash| for using white space and
71 backslashes in {value}.
73 :se[t] {option}+={value} *:set+=*
74 Add the {value} to a number option, or append the
75 {value} to a string option. When the option is a
76 comma separated list, a comma is added, unless the
77 value was empty.
78 If the option is a list of flags, superfluous flags
79 are removed. When adding a flag that was already
80 present the option value doesn't change.
81 Also see |:set-args| above.
82 {not in Vi}
84 :se[t] {option}^={value} *:set^=*
85 Multiply the {value} to a number option, or prepend
86 the {value} to a string option. When the option is a
87 comma separated list, a comma is added, unless the
88 value was empty.
89 Also see |:set-args| above.
90 {not in Vi}
92 :se[t] {option}-={value} *:set-=*
93 Subtract the {value} from a number option, or remove
94 the {value} from a string option, if it is there.
95 If the {value} is not found in a string option, there
96 is no error or warning. When the option is a comma
97 separated list, a comma is deleted, unless the option
98 becomes empty.
99 When the option is a list of flags, {value} must be
100 exactly as they appear in the option. Remove flags
101 one by one to avoid problems.
102 Also see |:set-args| above.
103 {not in Vi}
105 The {option} arguments to ":set" may be repeated. For example: >
106 :set ai nosi sw=3 ts=3
107 If you make an error in one of the arguments, an error message will be given
108 and the following arguments will be ignored.
110 *:set-verbose*
111 When 'verbose' is non-zero, displaying an option value will also tell where it
112 was last set. Example: >
113 :verbose set shiftwidth cindent?
114 < shiftwidth=4 ~
115 Last set from modeline ~
116 cindent ~
117 Last set from /usr/local/share/vim/vim60/ftplugin/c.vim ~
118 This is only done when specific option values are requested, not for ":verbose
119 set all" or ":verbose set" without an argument.
120 When the option was set by hand there is no "Last set" message.
121 When the option was set while executing a function, user command or
122 autocommand, the script in which it was defined is reported.
123 Note that an option may also have been set as a side effect of setting
124 'compatible'.
125 A few special texts:
126 Last set from modeline ~
127 Option was set in a |modeline|.
128 Last set from --cmd argument ~
129 Option was set with command line argument |--cmd| or +.
130 Last set from -c argument ~
131 Option was set with command line argument |-c|, +, |-S| or
132 |-q|.
133 Last set from environment variable ~
134 Option was set from an environment variable, $VIMINIT,
135 $GVIMINIT or $EXINIT.
136 Last set from error handler ~
137 Option was cleared when evaluating it resulted in an error.
139 {not available when compiled without the +eval feature}
141 *:set-termcap* *E522*
142 For {option} the form "t_xx" may be used to set a terminal option. This will
143 override the value from the termcap. You can then use it in a mapping. If
144 the "xx" part contains special characters, use the <t_xx> form: >
145 :set <t_#4>=^[Ot
146 This can also be used to translate a special code for a normal key. For
147 example, if Alt-b produces <Esc>b, use this: >
148 :set <M-b>=^[b
149 (the ^[ is a real <Esc> here, use CTRL-V <Esc> to enter it)
150 The advantage over a mapping is that it works in all situations.
152 The t_xx options cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
153 security reasons.
155 The listing from ":set" looks different from Vi. Long string options are put
156 at the end of the list. The number of options is quite large. The output of
157 "set all" probably does not fit on the screen, causing Vim to give the
158 |more-prompt|.
160 *option-backslash*
161 To include white space in a string option value it has to be preceded with a
162 backslash. To include a backslash you have to use two. Effectively this
163 means that the number of backslashes in an option value is halved (rounded
164 down).
165 A few examples: >
166 :set tags=tags\ /usr/tags results in "tags /usr/tags"
167 :set tags=tags\\,file results in "tags\,file"
168 :set tags=tags\\\ file results in "tags\ file"
170 The "|" character separates a ":set" command from a following command. To
171 include the "|" in the option value, use "\|" instead. This example sets the
172 'titlestring' option to "hi|there": >
173 :set titlestring=hi\|there
174 This sets the 'titlestring' option to "hi" and 'iconstring' to "there": >
175 :set titlestring=hi|set iconstring=there
177 Similarly, the double quote character starts a comment. To include the '"' in
178 the option value, use '\"' instead. This example sets the 'titlestring'
179 option to 'hi "there"': >
180 :set titlestring=hi\ \"there\"
182 For MS-DOS and WIN32 backslashes in file names are mostly not removed. More
183 precise: For options that expect a file name (those where environment
184 variables are expanded) a backslash before a normal file name character is not
185 removed. But a backslash before a special character (space, backslash, comma,
186 etc.) is used like explained above.
187 There is one special situation, when the value starts with "\\": >
188 :set dir=\\machine\path results in "\\machine\path"
189 :set dir=\\\\machine\\path results in "\\machine\path"
190 :set dir=\\path\\file results in "\\path\file" (wrong!)
191 For the first one the start is kept, but for the second one the backslashes
192 are halved. This makes sure it works both when you expect backslashes to be
193 halved and when you expect the backslashes to be kept. The third gives a
194 result which is probably not what you want. Avoid it.
196 *add-option-flags* *remove-option-flags*
197 *E539* *E550* *E551* *E552*
198 Some options are a list of flags. When you want to add a flag to such an
199 option, without changing the existing ones, you can do it like this: >
200 :set guioptions+=a
201 Remove a flag from an option like this: >
202 :set guioptions-=a
203 This removes the 'a' flag from 'guioptions'.
204 Note that you should add or remove one flag at a time. If 'guioptions' has
205 the value "ab", using "set guioptions-=ba" won't work, because the string "ba"
206 doesn't appear.
208 *:set_env* *expand-env* *expand-environment-var*
209 Environment variables in specific string options will be expanded. If the
210 environment variable exists the '$' and the following environment variable
211 name is replaced with its value. If it does not exist the '$' and the name
212 are not modified. Any non-id character (not a letter, digit or '_') may
213 follow the environment variable name. That character and what follows is
214 appended to the value of the environment variable. Examples: >
215 :set term=$TERM.new
216 :set path=/usr/$INCLUDE,$HOME/include,.
217 When adding or removing a string from an option with ":set opt-=val" or ":set
218 opt+=val" the expansion is done before the adding or removing.
221 Handling of local options *local-options*
223 Some of the options only apply to a window or buffer. Each window or buffer
224 has its own copy of this option, thus can each have their own value. This
225 allows you to set 'list' in one window but not in another. And set
226 'shiftwidth' to 3 in one buffer and 4 in another.
228 The following explains what happens to these local options in specific
229 situations. You don't really need to know all of this, since Vim mostly uses
230 the option values you would expect. Unfortunately, doing what the user
231 expects is a bit complicated...
233 When splitting a window, the local options are copied to the new window. Thus
234 right after the split the contents of the two windows look the same.
236 When editing a new buffer, its local option values must be initialized. Since
237 the local options of the current buffer might be specifically for that buffer,
238 these are not used. Instead, for each buffer-local option there also is a
239 global value, which is used for new buffers. With ":set" both the local and
240 global value is changed. With "setlocal" only the local value is changed,
241 thus this value is not used when editing a new buffer.
243 When editing a buffer that has been edited before, the last used window
244 options are used again. If this buffer has been edited in this window, the
245 values from back then are used. Otherwise the values from the window where
246 the buffer was edited last are used.
248 It's possible to set a local window option specifically for a type of buffer.
249 When you edit another buffer in the same window, you don't want to keep
250 using these local window options. Therefore Vim keeps a global value of the
251 local window options, which is used when editing another buffer. Each window
252 has its own copy of these values. Thus these are local to the window, but
253 global to all buffers in the window. With this you can do: >
254 :e one
255 :set list
256 :e two
257 Now the 'list' option will also be set in "two", since with the ":set list"
258 command you have also set the global value. >
259 :set nolist
260 :e one
261 :setlocal list
262 :e two
263 Now the 'list' option is not set, because ":set nolist" resets the global
264 value, ":setlocal list" only changes the local value and ":e two" gets the
265 global value. Note that if you do this next: >
266 :e one
267 You will not get back the 'list' value as it was the last time you edited
268 "one". The options local to a window are not remembered for each buffer.
270 *:setl* *:setlocal*
271 :setl[ocal] ... Like ":set" but set only the value local to the
272 current buffer or window. Not all options have a
273 local value. If the option does not have a local
274 value the global value is set.
275 With the "all" argument: display all local option's
276 local values.
277 Without argument: Display all local option's local
278 values which are different from the default.
279 When displaying a specific local option, show the
280 local value. For a global/local boolean option, when
281 the global value is being used, "--" is displayed
282 before the option name.
283 For a global option the global value is
284 shown (but that might change in the future).
285 {not in Vi}
287 :setl[ocal] {option}< Set the local value of {option} to its global value by
288 copying the value.
289 {not in Vi}
291 :se[t] {option}< Set the local value of {option} to its global value by
292 making it empty. Only makes sense for |global-local|
293 options.
294 {not in Vi}
296 *:setg* *:setglobal*
297 :setg[lobal] ... Like ":set" but set only the global value for a local
298 option without changing the local value.
299 When displaying an option, the global value is shown.
300 With the "all" argument: display all local option's
301 global values.
302 Without argument: display all local option's global
303 values which are different from the default.
304 {not in Vi}
306 For buffer-local and window-local options:
307 Command global value local value ~
308 :set option=value set set
309 :setlocal option=value - set
310 :setglobal option=value set -
311 :set option? - display
312 :setlocal option? - display
313 :setglobal option? display -
316 Global options with a local value *global-local*
318 Options are global when you mostly use one value for all buffers and windows.
319 For some global options it's useful to sometimes have a different local value.
320 You can set the local value with ":setlocal". That buffer or window will then
321 use the local value, while other buffers and windows continue using the global
322 value.
324 For example, you have two windows, both on C source code. They use the global
325 'makeprg' option. If you do this in one of the two windows: >
326 :set makeprg=gmake
327 then the other window will switch to the same value. There is no need to set
328 the 'makeprg' option in the other C source window too.
329 However, if you start editing a Perl file in a new window, you want to use
330 another 'makeprg' for it, without changing the value used for the C source
331 files. You use this command: >
332 :setlocal makeprg=perlmake
333 You can switch back to using the global value by making the local value empty: >
334 :setlocal makeprg=
335 This only works for a string option. For a boolean option you need to use the
336 "<" flag, like this: >
337 :setlocal autoread<
338 Note that for non-boolean options using "<" copies the global value to the
339 local value, it doesn't switch back to using the global value (that matters
340 when the global value changes later). You can also use: >
341 :set path<
342 This will make the local value of 'path' empty, so that the global value is
343 used. Thus it does the same as: >
344 :setlocal path=
345 Note: In the future more global options can be made global-local. Using
346 ":setlocal" on a global option might work differently then.
349 Setting the filetype
351 :setf[iletype] {filetype} *:setf* *:setfiletype*
352 Set the 'filetype' option to {filetype}, but only if
353 not done yet in a sequence of (nested) autocommands.
354 This is short for: >
355 :if !did_filetype()
356 : setlocal filetype={filetype}
357 :endif
358 < This command is used in a filetype.vim file to avoid
359 setting the 'filetype' option twice, causing different
360 settings and syntax files to be loaded.
361 {not in Vi}
363 :bro[wse] se[t] *:set-browse* *:browse-set* *:opt* *:options*
364 :opt[ions] Open a window for viewing and setting all options.
365 Options are grouped by function.
366 Offers short help for each option. Hit <CR> on the
367 short help to open a help window with more help for
368 the option.
369 Modify the value of the option and hit <CR> on the
370 "set" line to set the new value. For window and
371 buffer specific options, the last accessed window is
372 used to set the option value in, unless this is a help
373 window, in which case the window below help window is
374 used (skipping the option-window).
375 {not available when compiled without the |+eval| or
376 |+autocmd| features}
378 *$HOME*
379 Using "~" is like using "$HOME", but it is only recognized at the start of an
380 option and after a space or comma.
382 On Unix systems "~user" can be used too. It is replaced by the home directory
383 of user "user". Example: >
384 :set path=~mool/include,/usr/include,.
386 On Unix systems the form "${HOME}" can be used too. The name between {} can
387 contain non-id characters then. Note that if you want to use this for the
388 "gf" command, you need to add the '{' and '}' characters to 'isfname'.
390 NOTE: expanding environment variables and "~/" is only done with the ":set"
391 command, not when assigning a value to an option with ":let".
394 Note the maximum length of an expanded option is limited. How much depends on
395 the system, mostly it is something like 256 or 1024 characters.
397 *:fix* *:fixdel*
398 :fix[del] Set the value of 't_kD':
399 't_kb' is 't_kD' becomes ~
400 CTRL-? CTRL-H
401 not CTRL-? CTRL-?
403 (CTRL-? is 0177 octal, 0x7f hex) {not in Vi}
405 If your delete key terminal code is wrong, but the
406 code for backspace is alright, you can put this in
407 your .vimrc: >
408 :fixdel
409 < This works no matter what the actual code for
410 backspace is.
412 If the backspace key terminal code is wrong you can
413 use this: >
414 :if &term == "termname"
415 : set t_kb=^V<BS>
416 : fixdel
417 :endif
418 < Where "^V" is CTRL-V and "<BS>" is the backspace key
419 (don't type four characters!). Replace "termname"
420 with your terminal name.
422 If your <Delete> key sends a strange key sequence (not
423 CTRL-? or CTRL-H) you cannot use ":fixdel". Then use: >
424 :if &term == "termname"
425 : set t_kD=^V<Delete>
426 :endif
427 < Where "^V" is CTRL-V and "<Delete>" is the delete key
428 (don't type eight characters!). Replace "termname"
429 with your terminal name.
431 *Linux-backspace*
432 Note about Linux: By default the backspace key
433 produces CTRL-?, which is wrong. You can fix it by
434 putting this line in your rc.local: >
435 echo "keycode 14 = BackSpace" | loadkeys
436 <
437 *NetBSD-backspace*
438 Note about NetBSD: If your backspace doesn't produce
439 the right code, try this: >
440 xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = BackSpace"
441 < If this works, add this in your .Xmodmap file: >
442 keysym 22 = BackSpace
443 < You need to restart for this to take effect.
445 ==============================================================================
446 2. Automatically setting options *auto-setting*
448 Besides changing options with the ":set" command, there are three alternatives
449 to set options automatically for one or more files:
451 1. When starting Vim initializations are read from various places. See
452 |initialization|. Most of them are performed for all editing sessions,
453 and some of them depend on the directory where Vim is started.
454 You can create an initialization file with |:mkvimrc|, |:mkview| and
455 |:mksession|.
456 2. If you start editing a new file, the automatic commands are executed.
457 This can be used to set options for files matching a particular pattern and
458 many other things. See |autocommand|.
459 3. If you start editing a new file, and the 'modeline' option is on, a
460 number of lines at the beginning and end of the file are checked for
461 modelines. This is explained here.
463 *modeline* *vim:* *vi:* *ex:* *E520*
464 There are two forms of modelines. The first form:
465 [text]{white}{vi:|vim:|ex:}[white]{options}
467 [text] any text or empty
468 {white} at least one blank character (<Space> or <Tab>)
469 {vi:|vim:|ex:} the string "vi:", "vim:" or "ex:"
470 [white] optional white space
471 {options} a list of option settings, separated with white space or ':',
472 where each part between ':' is the argument for a ":set"
473 command (can be empty)
475 Example:
476 vi:noai:sw=3 ts=6 ~
478 The second form (this is compatible with some versions of Vi):
480 [text]{white}{vi:|vim:|ex:}[white]se[t] {options}:[text]
482 [text] any text or empty
483 {white} at least one blank character (<Space> or <Tab>)
484 {vi:|vim:|ex:} the string "vi:", "vim:" or "ex:"
485 [white] optional white space
486 se[t] the string "set " or "se " (note the space)
487 {options} a list of options, separated with white space, which is the
488 argument for a ":set" command
489 : a colon
490 [text] any text or empty
492 Example:
493 /* vim: set ai tw=75: */ ~
495 The white space before {vi:|vim:|ex:} is required. This minimizes the chance
496 that a normal word like "lex:" is caught. There is one exception: "vi:" and
497 "vim:" can also be at the start of the line (for compatibility with version
498 3.0). Using "ex:" at the start of the line will be ignored (this could be
499 short for "example:").
501 *modeline-local*
502 The options are set like with ":setlocal": The new value only applies to the
503 buffer and window that contain the file. Although it's possible to set global
504 options from a modeline, this is unusual. If you have two windows open and
505 the files in it set the same global option to a different value, the result
506 depends on which one was opened last.
508 When editing a file that was already loaded, only the window-local options
509 from the modeline are used. Thus if you manually changed a buffer-local
510 option after opening the file, it won't be changed if you edit the same buffer
511 in another window. But window-local options will be set.
513 *modeline-version*
514 If the modeline is only to be used for some versions of Vim, the version
515 number can be specified where "vim:" is used:
516 vim{vers}: version {vers} or later
517 vim<{vers}: version before {vers}
518 vim={vers}: version {vers}
519 vim>{vers}: version after {vers}
520 {vers} is 600 for Vim 6.0 (hundred times the major version plus minor).
521 For example, to use a modeline only for Vim 6.0 and later:
522 /* vim600: set foldmethod=marker: */ ~
523 To use a modeline for Vim before version 5.7:
524 /* vim<570: set sw=4: */ ~
525 There can be no blanks between "vim" and the ":".
528 The number of lines that are checked can be set with the 'modelines' option.
529 If 'modeline' is off or 'modelines' is 0 no lines are checked.
531 Note that for the first form all of the rest of the line is used, thus a line
532 like:
533 /* vi:ts=4: */ ~
534 will give an error message for the trailing "*/". This line is OK:
535 /* vi:set ts=4: */ ~
537 If an error is detected the rest of the line is skipped.
539 If you want to include a ':' in a set command precede it with a '\'. The
540 backslash in front of the ':' will be removed. Example:
541 /* vi:set dir=c\:\tmp: */ ~
542 This sets the 'dir' option to "c:\tmp". Only a single backslash before the
543 ':' is removed. Thus to include "\:" you have to specify "\\:".
545 No other commands than "set" are supported, for security reasons (somebody
546 might create a Trojan horse text file with modelines). And not all options
547 can be set. For some options a flag is set, so that when it's used the
548 |sandbox| is effective. Still, there is always a small risk that a modeline
549 causes trouble. E.g., when some joker sets 'textwidth' to 5 all your lines
550 are wrapped unexpectedly. So disable modelines before editing untrusted text.
551 The mail ftplugin does this, for example.
553 Hint: If you would like to do something else than setting an option, you could
554 define an autocommand that checks the file for a specific string. For
555 example: >
556 au BufReadPost * if getline(1) =~ "VAR" | call SetVar() | endif
557 And define a function SetVar() that does something with the line containing
558 "VAR".
560 ==============================================================================
561 3. Options summary *option-summary*
563 In the list below all the options are mentioned with their full name and with
564 an abbreviation if there is one. Both forms may be used.
566 In this document when a boolean option is "set" that means that ":set option"
567 is entered. When an option is "reset", ":set nooption" is used.
569 For some options there are two default values: The "Vim default", which is
570 used when 'compatible' is not set, and the "Vi default", which is used when
571 'compatible' is set.
573 Most options are the same in all windows and buffers. There are a few that
574 are specific to how the text is presented in a window. These can be set to a
575 different value in each window. For example the 'list' option can be set in
576 one window and reset in another for the same text, giving both types of view
577 at the same time. There are a few options that are specific to a certain
578 file. These can have a different value for each file or buffer. For example
579 the 'textwidth' option can be 78 for a normal text file and 0 for a C
580 program.
582 global one option for all buffers and windows
583 local to window each window has its own copy of this option
584 local to buffer each buffer has its own copy of this option
586 When creating a new window the option values from the currently active window
587 are used as a default value for the window-specific options. For the
588 buffer-specific options this depends on the 's' and 'S' flags in the
589 'cpoptions' option. If 's' is included (which is the default) the values for
590 buffer options are copied from the currently active buffer when a buffer is
591 first entered. If 'S' is present the options are copied each time the buffer
592 is entered, this is almost like having global options. If 's' and 'S' are not
593 present, the options are copied from the currently active buffer when the
594 buffer is created.
596 Hidden options *hidden-options*
598 Not all options are supported in all versions. This depends on the supported
599 features and sometimes on the system. A remark about this is in curly braces
600 below. When an option is not supported it may still be set without getting an
601 error, this is called a hidden option. You can't get the value of a hidden
602 option though, it is not stored.
604 To test if option "foo" can be used with ":set" use something like this: >
605 if exists('&foo')
606 This also returns true for a hidden option. To test if option "foo" is really
607 supported use something like this: >
608 if exists('+foo')
609 <
610 *E355*
611 A jump table for the options with a short description can be found at |Q_op|.
613 *'aleph'* *'al'* *aleph* *Aleph*
614 'aleph' 'al' number (default 128 for MS-DOS, 224 otherwise)
615 global
616 {not in Vi}
617 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
618 feature}
619 The ASCII code for the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The
620 routine that maps the keyboard in Hebrew mode, both in Insert mode
621 (when hkmap is set) and on the command-line (when hitting CTRL-_)
622 outputs the Hebrew characters in the range [aleph..aleph+26].
623 aleph=128 applies to PC code, and aleph=224 applies to ISO 8859-8.
624 See |rileft.txt|.
626 *'allowrevins'* *'ari'* *'noallowrevins'* *'noari'*
627 'allowrevins' 'ari' boolean (default off)
628 global
629 {not in Vi}
630 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
631 feature}
632 Allow CTRL-_ in Insert and Command-line mode. This is default off, to
633 avoid that users that accidentally type CTRL-_ instead of SHIFT-_ get
634 into reverse Insert mode, and don't know how to get out. See
635 'revins'.
636 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
638 *'altkeymap'* *'akm'* *'noaltkeymap'* *'noakm'*
639 'altkeymap' 'akm' boolean (default off)
640 global
641 {not in Vi}
642 {only available when compiled with the |+farsi|
643 feature}
644 When on, the second language is Farsi. In editing mode CTRL-_ toggles
645 the keyboard map between Farsi and English, when 'allowrevins' set.
647 When off, the keyboard map toggles between Hebrew and English. This
648 is useful to start the Vim in native mode i.e. English (left-to-right
649 mode) and have default second language Farsi or Hebrew (right-to-left
650 mode). See |farsi.txt|.
652 *'ambiwidth'* *'ambw'*
653 'ambiwidth' 'ambw' string (default: "single")
654 global
655 {not in Vi}
656 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
657 feature}
658 Only effective when 'encoding' is "utf-8" or another Unicode encoding.
659 Tells Vim what to do with characters with East Asian Width Class
660 Ambiguous (such as Euro, Registered Sign, Copyright Sign, Greek
661 letters, Cyrillic letters).
663 There are currently two possible values:
664 "single": Use the same width as characters in US-ASCII. This is
665 expected by most users.
666 "double": Use twice the width of ASCII characters.
668 There are a number of CJK fonts for which the width of glyphs for
669 those characters are solely based on how many octets they take in
670 legacy/traditional CJK encodings. In those encodings, Euro,
671 Registered sign, Greek/Cyrillic letters are represented by two octets,
672 therefore those fonts have "wide" glyphs for them. This is also
673 true of some line drawing characters used to make tables in text
674 file. Therefore, when a CJK font is used for GUI Vim or
675 Vim is running inside a terminal (emulators) that uses a CJK font
676 (or Vim is run inside an xterm invoked with "-cjkwidth" option.),
677 this option should be set to "double" to match the width perceived
678 by Vim with the width of glyphs in the font. Perhaps it also has
679 to be set to "double" under CJK Windows 9x/ME or Windows 2k/XP
680 when the system locale is set to one of CJK locales. See Unicode
681 Standard Annex #11 (http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr11).
683 *'antialias'* *'anti'* *'noantialias'* *'noanti'*
684 'antialias' 'anti' boolean (default off, on for MacVim)
685 global
686 {not in Vi}
687 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled on
688 Mac OS X}
689 This option only has an effect in the GUI version of Vim on Mac OS X
690 v10.2 or later. When on, Vim will use smooth ("antialiased") fonts,
691 which can be easier to read at certain sizes on certain displays.
693 Setting this option in the Carbon version can sometimes cause problems
694 if 'guifont' is set to its default (empty string).
696 Support for this option is not flawless in MacVim. In particular,
697 Monaco always seems to render not antialiased for point sizes up
698 to 10. The ATSUI renderer has better antialias support.
700 *'autochdir'* *'acd'* *'noautochdir'* *'noacd'*
701 'autochdir' 'acd' boolean (default off)
702 global
703 {not in Vi}
704 {only available when compiled with the
705 |+netbeans_intg| or |+sun_workshop| feature}
706 When on, Vim will change the current working directory whenever you
707 open a file, switch buffers, delete a buffer or open/close a window.
708 It will change to the directory containing the file which was opened
709 or selected.
710 This option is provided for backward compatibility with the Vim
711 released with Sun ONE Studio 4 Enterprise Edition.
712 Note: When this option is on some plugins may not work.
714 *'arabic'* *'arab'* *'noarabic'* *'noarab'*
715 'arabic' 'arab' boolean (default off)
716 local to window
717 {not in Vi}
718 {only available when compiled with the |+arabic|
719 feature}
720 This option can be set to start editing Arabic text.
721 Setting this option will:
722 - Set the 'rightleft' option, unless 'termbidi' is set.
723 - Set the 'arabicshape' option, unless 'termbidi' is set.
724 - Set the 'keymap' option to "arabic"; in Insert mode CTRL-^ toggles
725 between typing English and Arabic key mapping.
726 - Set the 'delcombine' option
727 Note that 'encoding' must be "utf-8" for working with Arabic text.
729 Resetting this option will:
730 - Reset the 'rightleft' option.
731 - Disable the use of 'keymap' (without changing its value).
732 Note that 'arabicshape' and 'delcombine' are not reset (it is a global
733 option.
734 Also see |arabic.txt|.
736 *'arabicshape'* *'arshape'*
737 *'noarabicshape'* *'noarshape'*
738 'arabicshape' 'arshape' boolean (default on)
739 global
740 {not in Vi}
741 {only available when compiled with the |+arabic|
742 feature}
743 When on and 'termbidi' is off, the required visual character
744 corrections that need to take place for displaying the Arabic language
745 take affect. Shaping, in essence, gets enabled; the term is a broad
746 one which encompasses:
747 a) the changing/morphing of characters based on their location
748 within a word (initial, medial, final and stand-alone).
749 b) the enabling of the ability to compose characters
750 c) the enabling of the required combining of some characters
751 When disabled the character display reverts back to each character's
752 true stand-alone form.
753 Arabic is a complex language which requires other settings, for
754 further details see |arabic.txt|.
756 *'autoindent'* *'ai'* *'noautoindent'* *'noai'*
757 'autoindent' 'ai' boolean (default off)
758 local to buffer
759 Copy indent from current line when starting a new line (typing <CR>
760 in Insert mode or when using the "o" or "O" command). If you do not
761 type anything on the new line except <BS> or CTRL-D and then type
762 <Esc>, CTRL-O or <CR>, the indent is deleted again. Moving the cursor
763 to another line has the same effect, unless the 'I' flag is included
764 in 'cpoptions'.
765 When autoindent is on, formatting (with the "gq" command or when you
766 reach 'textwidth' in Insert mode) uses the indentation of the first
767 line.
768 When 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is on the indent is changed in
769 a different way.
770 The 'autoindent' option is reset when the 'paste' option is set.
771 {small difference from Vi: After the indent is deleted when typing
772 <Esc> or <CR>, the cursor position when moving up or down is after the
773 deleted indent; Vi puts the cursor somewhere in the deleted indent}.
775 *'autoread'* *'ar'* *'noautoread'* *'noar'*
776 'autoread' 'ar' boolean (default off)
777 global or local to buffer |global-local|
778 {not in Vi}
779 When a file has been detected to have been changed outside of Vim and
780 it has not been changed inside of Vim, automatically read it again.
781 When the file has been deleted this is not done. |timestamp|
782 If this option has a local value, use this command to switch back to
783 using the global value: >
784 :set autoread<
785 <
786 *'autowrite'* *'aw'* *'noautowrite'* *'noaw'*
787 'autowrite' 'aw' boolean (default off)
788 global
789 Write the contents of the file, if it has been modified, on each
790 :next, :rewind, :last, :first, :previous, :stop, :suspend, :tag, :!,
791 :make, CTRL-] and CTRL-^ command; and when a :buffer, CTRL-O, CTRL-I,
792 '{A-Z0-9}, or `{A-Z0-9} command takes one to another file.
793 Note that for some commands the 'autowrite' option is not used, see
794 'autowriteall' for that.
796 *'autowriteall'* *'awa'* *'noautowriteall'* *'noawa'*
797 'autowriteall' 'awa' boolean (default off)
798 global
799 {not in Vi}
800 Like 'autowrite', but also used for commands ":edit", ":enew", ":quit",
801 ":qall", ":exit", ":xit", ":recover" and closing the Vim window.
802 Setting this option also implies that Vim behaves like 'autowrite' has
803 been set.
805 *'background'* *'bg'*
806 'background' 'bg' string (default "dark" or "light")
807 global
808 {not in Vi}
809 When set to "dark", Vim will try to use colors that look good on a
810 dark background. When set to "light", Vim will try to use colors that
811 look good on a light background. Any other value is illegal.
812 Vim tries to set the default value according to the terminal used.
813 This will not always be correct.
814 Setting this option does not change the background color, it tells Vim
815 what the background color looks like. For changing the background
816 color, see |:hi-normal|.
818 When 'background' is set Vim will adjust the default color groups for
819 the new value. But the colors used for syntax highlighting will not
820 change.
821 When a color scheme is loaded (the "colors_name" variable is set)
822 setting 'background' will cause the color scheme to be reloaded. If
823 the color scheme adjusts to the value of 'background' this will work.
824 However, if the color scheme sets 'background' itself the effect may
825 be undone. First delete the "colors_name" variable when needed.
827 When setting 'background' to the default value with: >
828 :set background&
829 < Vim will guess the value. In the GUI this should work correctly,
830 in other cases Vim might not be able to guess the right value.
832 When starting the GUI, the default value for 'background' will be
833 "light". When the value is not set in the .gvimrc, and Vim detects
834 that the background is actually quite dark, 'background' is set to
835 "dark". But this happens only AFTER the .gvimrc file has been read
836 (because the window needs to be opened to find the actual background
837 color). To get around this, force the GUI window to be opened by
838 putting a ":gui" command in the .gvimrc file, before where the value
839 of 'background' is used (e.g., before ":syntax on").
840 Normally this option would be set in the .vimrc file. Possibly
841 depending on the terminal name. Example: >
842 :if &term == "pcterm"
843 : set background=dark
844 :endif
845 < When this option is set, the default settings for the highlight groups
846 will change. To use other settings, place ":highlight" commands AFTER
847 the setting of the 'background' option.
848 This option is also used in the "$VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim" file
849 to select the colors for syntax highlighting. After changing this
850 option, you must load syntax.vim again to see the result. This can be
851 done with ":syntax on".
853 *'backspace'* *'bs'*
854 'backspace' 'bs' string (default "")
855 global
856 {not in Vi}
857 Influences the working of <BS>, <Del>, CTRL-W and CTRL-U in Insert
858 mode. This is a list of items, separated by commas. Each item allows
859 a way to backspace over something:
860 value effect ~
861 indent allow backspacing over autoindent
862 eol allow backspacing over line breaks (join lines)
863 start allow backspacing over the start of insert; CTRL-W and CTRL-U
864 stop once at the start of insert.
866 When the value is empty, Vi compatible backspacing is used.
868 For backwards compatibility with version 5.4 and earlier:
869 value effect ~
870 0 same as ":set backspace=" (Vi compatible)
871 1 same as ":set backspace=indent,eol"
872 2 same as ":set backspace=indent,eol,start"
874 See |:fixdel| if your <BS> or <Del> key does not do what you want.
875 NOTE: This option is set to "" when 'compatible' is set.
877 *'backup'* *'bk'* *'nobackup'* *'nobk'*
878 'backup' 'bk' boolean (default off)
879 global
880 {not in Vi}
881 Make a backup before overwriting a file. Leave it around after the
882 file has been successfully written. If you do not want to keep the
883 backup file, but you do want a backup while the file is being
884 written, reset this option and set the 'writebackup' option (this is
885 the default). If you do not want a backup file at all reset both
886 options (use this if your file system is almost full). See the
887 |backup-table| for more explanations.
888 When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a backup is not made anyway.
889 When 'patchmode' is set, the backup may be renamed to become the
890 oldest version of a file.
891 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
893 *'backupcopy'* *'bkc'*
894 'backupcopy' 'bkc' string (Vi default for Unix: "yes", otherwise: "auto")
895 global
896 {not in Vi}
897 When writing a file and a backup is made, this option tells how it's
898 done. This is a comma separated list of words.
900 The main values are:
901 "yes" make a copy of the file and overwrite the original one
902 "no" rename the file and write a new one
903 "auto" one of the previous, what works best
905 Extra values that can be combined with the ones above are:
906 "breaksymlink" always break symlinks when writing
907 "breakhardlink" always break hardlinks when writing
909 Making a copy and overwriting the original file:
910 - Takes extra time to copy the file.
911 + When the file has special attributes, is a (hard/symbolic) link or
912 has a resource fork, all this is preserved.
913 - When the file is a link the backup will have the name of the link,
914 not of the real file.
916 Renaming the file and writing a new one:
917 + It's fast.
918 - Sometimes not all attributes of the file can be copied to the new
919 file.
920 - When the file is a link the new file will not be a link.
922 The "auto" value is the middle way: When Vim sees that renaming file
923 is possible without side effects (the attributes can be passed on and
924 the file is not a link) that is used. When problems are expected, a
925 copy will be made.
927 The "breaksymlink" and "breakhardlink" values can be used in
928 combination with any of "yes", "no" and "auto". When included, they
929 force Vim to always break either symbolic or hard links by doing
930 exactly what the "no" option does, renaming the original file to
931 become the backup and writing a new file in its place. This can be
932 useful for example in source trees where all the files are symbolic or
933 hard links and any changes should stay in the local source tree, not
934 be propagated back to the original source.
935 *crontab*
936 One situation where "no" and "auto" will cause problems: A program
937 that opens a file, invokes Vim to edit that file, and then tests if
938 the open file was changed (through the file descriptor) will check the
939 backup file instead of the newly created file. "crontab -e" is an
940 example.
942 When a copy is made, the original file is truncated and then filled
943 with the new text. This means that protection bits, owner and
944 symbolic links of the original file are unmodified. The backup file
945 however, is a new file, owned by the user who edited the file. The
946 group of the backup is set to the group of the original file. If this
947 fails, the protection bits for the group are made the same as for
948 others.
950 When the file is renamed this is the other way around: The backup has
951 the same attributes of the original file, and the newly written file
952 is owned by the current user. When the file was a (hard/symbolic)
953 link, the new file will not! That's why the "auto" value doesn't
954 rename when the file is a link. The owner and group of the newly
955 written file will be set to the same ones as the original file, but
956 the system may refuse to do this. In that case the "auto" value will
957 again not rename the file.
959 *'backupdir'* *'bdir'*
960 'backupdir' 'bdir' string (default for Amiga: ".,t:",
961 for MS-DOS and Win32: ".,c:/tmp,c:/temp"
962 for Unix: ".,~/tmp,~/")
963 global
964 {not in Vi}
965 List of directories for the backup file, separated with commas.
966 - The backup file will be created in the first directory in the list
967 where this is possible.
968 - Empty means that no backup file will be created ('patchmode' is
969 impossible!). Writing may fail because of this.
970 - A directory "." means to put the backup file in the same directory
971 as the edited file.
972 - A directory starting with "./" (or ".\" for MS-DOS et al.) means to
973 put the backup file relative to where the edited file is. The
974 leading "." is replaced with the path name of the edited file.
975 ("." inside a directory name has no special meaning).
976 - Spaces after the comma are ignored, other spaces are considered part
977 of the directory name. To have a space at the start of a directory
978 name, precede it with a backslash.
979 - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with a backslash.
980 - A directory name may end in an '/'.
981 - Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
982 - Careful with '\' characters, type one before a space, type two to
983 get one in the option (see |option-backslash|), for example: >
984 :set bdir=c:\\tmp,\ dir\\,with\\,commas,\\\ dir\ with\ spaces
985 < - For backwards compatibility with Vim version 3.0 a '>' at the start
986 of the option is removed.
987 See also 'backup' and 'writebackup' options.
988 If you want to hide your backup files on Unix, consider this value: >
989 :set backupdir=./.backup,~/.backup,.,/tmp
990 < You must create a ".backup" directory in each directory and in your
991 home directory for this to work properly.
992 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
993 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
994 uses another default.
995 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
996 security reasons.
998 *'backupext'* *'bex'* *E589*
999 'backupext' 'bex' string (default "~", for VMS: "_")
1000 global
1001 {not in Vi}
1002 String which is appended to a file name to make the name of the
1003 backup file. The default is quite unusual, because this avoids
1004 accidentally overwriting existing files with a backup file. You might
1005 prefer using ".bak", but make sure that you don't have files with
1006 ".bak" that you want to keep.
1007 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
1009 If you like to keep a lot of backups, you could use a BufWritePre
1010 autocommand to change 'backupext' just before writing the file to
1011 include a timestamp. >
1012 :au BufWritePre * let &bex = '-' . strftime("%Y%b%d%X") . '~'
1013 < Use 'backupdir' to put the backup in a different directory.
1015 *'backupskip'* *'bsk'*
1016 'backupskip' 'bsk' string (default: "/tmp/*,$TMPDIR/*,$TMP/*,$TEMP/*")
1017 global
1018 {not in Vi}
1019 {not available when compiled without the |+wildignore|
1020 feature}
1021 A list of file patterns. When one of the patterns matches with the
1022 name of the file which is written, no backup file is created. Both
1023 the specified file name and the full path name of the file are used.
1024 The pattern is used like with |:autocmd|, see |autocmd-patterns|.
1025 Watch out for special characters, see |option-backslash|.
1026 When $TMPDIR, $TMP or $TEMP is not defined, it is not used for the
1027 default value. "/tmp/*" is only used for Unix.
1029 Note that environment variables are not expanded. If you want to use
1030 $HOME you must expand it explicitly, e.g.: >
1031 :let backupskip = escape(expand('$HOME'), '\') . '/tmp/*'
1033 < Note that the default also makes sure that "crontab -e" works (when a
1034 backup would be made by renaming the original file crontab won't see
1035 the newly created file). Also see 'backupcopy' and |crontab|.
1037 *'balloondelay'* *'bdlay'*
1038 'balloondelay' 'bdlay' number (default: 600)
1039 global
1040 {not in Vi}
1041 {only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval|
1042 feature}
1043 Delay in milliseconds before a balloon may pop up. See |balloon-eval|.
1045 *'ballooneval'* *'beval'* *'noballooneval'* *'nobeval'*
1046 'ballooneval' 'beval' boolean (default off)
1047 global
1048 {not in Vi}
1049 {only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval|
1050 feature}
1051 Switch on the |balloon-eval| functionality.
1053 *'balloonexpr'* *'bexpr'*
1054 'balloonexpr' 'bexpr' string (default "")
1055 global or local to buffer |global-local|
1056 {not in Vi}
1057 {only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval|
1058 feature}
1059 Expression for text to show in evaluation balloon. It is only used
1060 when 'ballooneval' is on. These variables can be used:
1062 v:beval_bufnr number of the buffer in which balloon is going to show
1063 v:beval_winnr number of the window
1064 v:beval_lnum line number
1065 v:beval_col column number (byte index)
1066 v:beval_text word under or after the mouse pointer
1068 The evaluation of the expression must not have side effects!
1069 Example: >
1070 function! MyBalloonExpr()
1071 return 'Cursor is at line ' . v:beval_lnum .
1072 \', column ' . v:beval_col .
1073 \ ' of file ' . bufname(v:beval_bufnr) .
1074 \ ' on word "' . v:beval_text . '"'
1075 endfunction
1076 set bexpr=MyBalloonExpr()
1077 set ballooneval
1078 <
1079 NOTE: The balloon is displayed only if the cursor is on a text
1080 character. If the result of evaluating 'balloonexpr' is not empty,
1081 Vim does not try to send a message to an external debugger (Netbeans
1082 or Sun Workshop).
1084 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
1085 |sandbox-option|.
1087 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
1088 evaluating 'balloonexpr' |textlock|.
1090 To check whether line breaks in the balloon text work use this check: >
1091 if has("balloon_multiline")
1092 < When they are supported "\n" characters will start a new line. If the
1093 expression evaluates to a |List| this is equal to using each List item
1094 as a string and putting "\n" in between them.
1096 *'binary'* *'bin'* *'nobinary'* *'nobin'*
1097 'binary' 'bin' boolean (default off)
1098 local to buffer
1099 {not in Vi}
1100 This option should be set before editing a binary file. You can also
1101 use the |-b| Vim argument. When this option is switched on a few
1102 options will be changed (also when it already was on):
1103 'textwidth' will be set to 0
1104 'wrapmargin' will be set to 0
1105 'modeline' will be off
1106 'expandtab' will be off
1107 Also, 'fileformat' and 'fileformats' options will not be used, the
1108 file is read and written like 'fileformat' was "unix" (a single <NL>
1109 separates lines).
1110 The 'fileencoding' and 'fileencodings' options will not be used, the
1111 file is read without conversion.
1112 NOTE: When you start editing a(nother) file while the 'bin' option is
1113 on, settings from autocommands may change the settings again (e.g.,
1114 'textwidth'), causing trouble when editing. You might want to set
1115 'bin' again when the file has been loaded.
1116 The previous values of these options are remembered and restored when
1117 'bin' is switched from on to off. Each buffer has its own set of
1118 saved option values.
1119 To edit a file with 'binary' set you can use the |++bin| argument.
1120 This avoids you have to do ":set bin", which would have effect for all
1121 files you edit.
1122 When writing a file the <EOL> for the last line is only written if
1123 there was one in the original file (normally Vim appends an <EOL> to
1124 the last line if there is none; this would make the file longer). See
1125 the 'endofline' option.
1127 *'bioskey'* *'biosk'* *'nobioskey'* *'nobiosk'*
1128 'bioskey' 'biosk' boolean (default on)
1129 global
1130 {not in Vi} {only for MS-DOS}
1131 When on the BIOS is called to obtain a keyboard character. This works
1132 better to detect CTRL-C, but only works for the console. When using a
1133 terminal over a serial port reset this option.
1134 Also see |'conskey'|.
1136 *'bomb'* *'nobomb'*
1137 'bomb' boolean (default off)
1138 local to buffer
1139 {not in Vi}
1140 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
1141 feature}
1142 When writing a file and the following conditions are met, a BOM (Byte
1143 Order Mark) is prepended to the file:
1144 - this option is on
1145 - the 'binary' option is off
1146 - 'fileencoding' is "utf-8", "ucs-2", "ucs-4" or one of the little/big
1147 endian variants.
1148 Some applications use the BOM to recognize the encoding of the file.
1149 Often used for UCS-2 files on MS-Windows. For other applications it
1150 causes trouble, for example: "cat file1 file2" makes the BOM of file2
1151 appear halfway the resulting file.
1152 When Vim reads a file and 'fileencodings' starts with "ucs-bom", a
1153 check for the presence of the BOM is done and 'bomb' set accordingly.
1154 Unless 'binary' is set, it is removed from the first line, so that you
1155 don't see it when editing. When you don't change the options, the BOM
1156 will be restored when writing the file.
1158 *'breakat'* *'brk'*
1159 'breakat' 'brk' string (default " ^I!@*-+;:,./?")
1160 global
1161 {not in Vi}
1162 {not available when compiled without the |+linebreak|
1163 feature}
1164 This option lets you choose which characters might cause a line
1165 break if 'linebreak' is on. Only works for ASCII and also for 8-bit
1166 characters when 'encoding' is an 8-bit encoding.
1168 *'browsedir'* *'bsdir'*
1169 'browsedir' 'bsdir' string (default: "last")
1170 global
1171 {not in Vi} {only for Motif, Athena, GTK, Mac and
1172 Win32 GUI}
1173 Which directory to use for the file browser:
1174 last Use same directory as with last file browser, where a
1175 file was opened or saved.
1176 buffer Use the directory of the related buffer.
1177 current Use the current directory.
1178 {path} Use the specified directory
1180 *'bufhidden'* *'bh'*
1181 'bufhidden' 'bh' string (default: "")
1182 local to buffer
1183 {not in Vi}
1184 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
1185 feature}
1186 This option specifies what happens when a buffer is no longer
1187 displayed in a window:
1188 <empty> follow the global 'hidden' option
1189 hide hide the buffer (don't unload it), also when 'hidden'
1190 is not set
1191 unload unload the buffer, also when 'hidden' is set or using
1192 |:hide|
1193 delete delete the buffer from the buffer list, also when
1194 'hidden' is set or using |:hide|, like using
1195 |:bdelete|
1196 wipe wipe out the buffer from the buffer list, also when
1197 'hidden' is set or using |:hide|, like using
1198 |:bwipeout|
1200 CAREFUL: when "unload", "delete" or "wipe" is used changes in a buffer
1201 are lost without a warning.
1202 This option is used together with 'buftype' and 'swapfile' to specify
1203 special kinds of buffers. See |special-buffers|.
1205 *'buflisted'* *'bl'* *'nobuflisted'* *'nobl'* *E85*
1206 'buflisted' 'bl' boolean (default: on)
1207 local to buffer
1208 {not in Vi}
1209 When this option is set, the buffer shows up in the buffer list. If
1210 it is reset it is not used for ":bnext", "ls", the Buffers menu, etc.
1211 This option is reset by Vim for buffers that are only used to remember
1212 a file name or marks. Vim sets it when starting to edit a buffer.
1213 But not when moving to a buffer with ":buffer".
1215 *'buftype'* *'bt'* *E382*
1216 'buftype' 'bt' string (default: "")
1217 local to buffer
1218 {not in Vi}
1219 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
1220 feature}
1221 The value of this option specifies the type of a buffer:
1222 <empty> normal buffer
1223 nofile buffer which is not related to a file and will not be
1224 written
1225 nowrite buffer which will not be written
1226 acwrite buffer which will always be written with BufWriteCmd
1227 autocommands. {not available when compiled without the
1228 |+autocmd| feature}
1229 quickfix quickfix buffer, contains list of errors |:cwindow|
1230 or list of locations |:lwindow|
1231 help help buffer (you are not supposed to set this
1232 manually)
1234 This option is used together with 'bufhidden' and 'swapfile' to
1235 specify special kinds of buffers. See |special-buffers|.
1237 Be careful with changing this option, it can have many side effects!
1239 A "quickfix" buffer is only used for the error list and the location
1240 list. This value is set by the |:cwindow| and |:lwindow| commands and
1241 you are not supposed to change it.
1243 "nofile" and "nowrite" buffers are similar:
1244 both: The buffer is not to be written to disk, ":w" doesn't
1245 work (":w filename" does work though).
1246 both: The buffer is never considered to be |'modified'|.
1247 There is no warning when the changes will be lost, for
1248 example when you quit Vim.
1249 both: A swap file is only created when using too much memory
1250 (when 'swapfile' has been reset there is never a swap
1251 file).
1252 nofile only: The buffer name is fixed, it is not handled like a
1253 file name. It is not modified in response to a |:cd|
1254 command.
1255 *E676*
1256 "acwrite" implies that the buffer name is not related to a file, like
1257 "nofile", but it will be written. Thus, in contrast to "nofile" and
1258 "nowrite", ":w" does work and a modified buffer can't be abandoned
1259 without saving. For writing there must be matching |BufWriteCmd|,
1260 |FileWriteCmd| or |FileAppendCmd| autocommands.
1262 *'casemap'* *'cmp'*
1263 'casemap' 'cmp' string (default: "internal,keepascii")
1264 global
1265 {not in Vi}
1266 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
1267 feature}
1268 Specifies details about changing the case of letters. It may contain
1269 these words, separated by a comma:
1270 internal Use internal case mapping functions, the current
1271 locale does not change the case mapping. This only
1272 matters when 'encoding' is a Unicode encoding,
1273 "latin1" or "iso-8859-15". When "internal" is
1274 omitted, the towupper() and towlower() system library
1275 functions are used when available.
1276 keepascii For the ASCII characters (0x00 to 0x7f) use the US
1277 case mapping, the current locale is not effective.
1278 This probably only matters for Turkish.
1280 *'cdpath'* *'cd'* *E344* *E346*
1281 'cdpath' 'cd' string (default: equivalent to $CDPATH or ",,")
1282 global
1283 {not in Vi}
1284 {not available when compiled without the
1285 |+file_in_path| feature}
1286 This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the
1287 |:cd| and |:lcd| commands, provided that the directory being searched
1288 for has a relative path (not starting with "/", "./" or "../").
1289 The 'cdpath' option's value has the same form and semantics as
1290 |'path'|. Also see |file-searching|.
1291 The default value is taken from $CDPATH, with a "," prepended to look
1292 in the current directory first.
1293 If the default value taken from $CDPATH is not what you want, include
1294 a modified version of the following command in your vimrc file to
1295 override it: >
1296 :let &cdpath = ',' . substitute(substitute($CDPATH, '[, ]', '\\\0', 'g'), ':', ',', 'g')
1297 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
1298 security reasons.
1299 (parts of 'cdpath' can be passed to the shell to expand file names).
1301 *'cedit'*
1302 'cedit' string (Vi default: "", Vim default: CTRL-F)
1303 global
1304 {not in Vi}
1305 {not available when compiled without the |+vertsplit|
1306 feature}
1307 The key used in Command-line Mode to open the command-line window.
1308 The default is CTRL-F when 'compatible' is off.
1309 Only non-printable keys are allowed.
1310 The key can be specified as a single character, but it is difficult to
1311 type. The preferred way is to use the <> notation. Examples: >
1312 :set cedit=<C-Y>
1313 :set cedit=<Esc>
1314 < |Nvi| also has this option, but it only uses the first character.
1315 See |cmdwin|.
1317 *'charconvert'* *'ccv'* *E202* *E214* *E513*
1318 'charconvert' 'ccv' string (default "")
1319 global
1320 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
1321 feature and the |+eval| feature}
1322 {not in Vi}
1323 An expression that is used for character encoding conversion. It is
1324 evaluated when a file that is to be read or has been written has a
1325 different encoding from what is desired.
1326 'charconvert' is not used when the internal iconv() function is
1327 supported and is able to do the conversion. Using iconv() is
1328 preferred, because it is much faster.
1329 'charconvert' is not used when reading stdin |--|, because there is no
1330 file to convert from. You will have to save the text in a file first.
1331 The expression must return zero or an empty string for success,
1332 non-zero for failure.
1333 The possible encoding names encountered are in 'encoding'.
1334 Additionally, names given in 'fileencodings' and 'fileencoding' are
1335 used.
1336 Conversion between "latin1", "unicode", "ucs-2", "ucs-4" and "utf-8"
1337 is done internally by Vim, 'charconvert' is not used for this.
1338 'charconvert' is also used to convert the viminfo file, if the 'c'
1339 flag is present in 'viminfo'. Also used for Unicode conversion.
1340 Example: >
1341 set charconvert=CharConvert()
1342 fun CharConvert()
1343 system("recode "
1344 \ . v:charconvert_from . ".." . v:charconvert_to
1345 \ . " <" . v:fname_in . " >" v:fname_out)
1346 return v:shell_error
1347 endfun
1348 < The related Vim variables are:
1349 v:charconvert_from name of the current encoding
1350 v:charconvert_to name of the desired encoding
1351 v:fname_in name of the input file
1352 v:fname_out name of the output file
1353 Note that v:fname_in and v:fname_out will never be the same.
1354 Note that v:charconvert_from and v:charconvert_to may be different
1355 from 'encoding'. Vim internally uses UTF-8 instead of UCS-2 or UCS-4.
1356 Encryption is not done by Vim when using 'charconvert'. If you want
1357 to encrypt the file after conversion, 'charconvert' should take care
1358 of this.
1359 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
1360 security reasons.
1362 *'cindent'* *'cin'* *'nocindent'* *'nocin'*
1363 'cindent' 'cin' boolean (default off)
1364 local to buffer
1365 {not in Vi}
1366 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
1367 feature}
1368 Enables automatic C program indenting. See 'cinkeys' to set the keys
1369 that trigger reindenting in insert mode and 'cinoptions' to set your
1370 preferred indent style.
1371 If 'indentexpr' is not empty, it overrules 'cindent'.
1372 If 'lisp' is not on and both 'indentexpr' and 'equalprg' are empty,
1373 the "=" operator indents using this algorithm rather than calling an
1374 external program.
1375 See |C-indenting|.
1376 When you don't like the way 'cindent' works, try the 'smartindent'
1377 option or 'indentexpr'.
1378 This option is not used when 'paste' is set.
1379 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
1381 *'cinkeys'* *'cink'*
1382 'cinkeys' 'cink' string (default "0{,0},0),:,0#,!^F,o,O,e")
1383 local to buffer
1384 {not in Vi}
1385 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
1386 feature}
1387 A list of keys that, when typed in Insert mode, cause reindenting of
1388 the current line. Only used if 'cindent' is on and 'indentexpr' is
1389 empty.
1390 For the format of this option see |cinkeys-format|.
1391 See |C-indenting|.
1393 *'cinoptions'* *'cino'*
1394 'cinoptions' 'cino' string (default "")
1395 local to buffer
1396 {not in Vi}
1397 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
1398 feature}
1399 The 'cinoptions' affect the way 'cindent' reindents lines in a C
1400 program. See |cinoptions-values| for the values of this option, and
1401 |C-indenting| for info on C indenting in general.
1404 *'cinwords'* *'cinw'*
1405 'cinwords' 'cinw' string (default "if,else,while,do,for,switch")
1406 local to buffer
1407 {not in Vi}
1408 {not available when compiled without both the
1409 |+cindent| and the |+smartindent| features}
1410 These keywords start an extra indent in the next line when
1411 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is set. For 'cindent' this is only done at
1412 an appropriate place (inside {}).
1413 Note that 'ignorecase' isn't used for 'cinwords'. If case doesn't
1414 matter, include the keyword both the uppercase and lowercase:
1415 "if,If,IF".
1417 *'clipboard'* *'cb'*
1418 'clipboard' 'cb' string (default "autoselect,exclude:cons\|linux"
1419 for X-windows, "" otherwise)
1420 global
1421 {not in Vi}
1422 {only in GUI versions or when the |+xterm_clipboard|
1423 feature is included}
1424 This option is a list of comma separated names.
1425 These names are recognized:
1427 unnamed When included, Vim will use the clipboard register '*'
1428 for all yank, delete, change and put operations which
1429 would normally go to the unnamed register. When a
1430 register is explicitly specified, it will always be
1431 used regardless of whether "unnamed" is in 'clipboard'
1432 or not. The clipboard register can always be
1433 explicitly accessed using the "* notation. Also see
1434 |gui-clipboard|.
1436 autoselect Works like the 'a' flag in 'guioptions': If present,
1437 then whenever Visual mode is started, or the Visual
1438 area extended, Vim tries to become the owner of the
1439 windowing system's global selection or put the
1440 selected text on the clipboard used by the selection
1441 register "*. See |guioptions_a| and |quotestar| for
1442 details. When the GUI is active, the 'a' flag in
1443 'guioptions' is used, when the GUI is not active, this
1444 "autoselect" flag is used.
1445 Also applies to the modeless selection.
1447 autoselectml Like "autoselect", but for the modeless selection
1448 only. Compare to the 'A' flag in 'guioptions'.
1450 exclude:{pattern}
1451 Defines a pattern that is matched against the name of
1452 the terminal 'term'. If there is a match, no
1453 connection will be made to the X server. This is
1454 useful in this situation:
1455 - Running Vim in a console.
1456 - $DISPLAY is set to start applications on another
1457 display.
1458 - You do not want to connect to the X server in the
1459 console, but do want this in a terminal emulator.
1460 To never connect to the X server use: >
1461 exclude:.*
1462 < This has the same effect as using the |-X| argument.
1463 Note that when there is no connection to the X server
1464 the window title won't be restored and the clipboard
1465 cannot be accessed.
1466 The value of 'magic' is ignored, {pattern} is
1467 interpreted as if 'magic' was on.
1468 The rest of the option value will be used for
1469 {pattern}, this must be the last entry.
1471 *'cmdheight'* *'ch'*
1472 'cmdheight' 'ch' number (default 1)
1473 global
1474 {not in Vi}
1475 Number of screen lines to use for the command-line. Helps avoiding
1476 |hit-enter| prompts.
1477 The value of this option is stored with the tab page, so that each tab
1478 page can have a different value.
1480 *'cmdwinheight'* *'cwh'*
1481 'cmdwinheight' 'cwh' number (default 7)
1482 global
1483 {not in Vi}
1484 {not available when compiled without the |+vertsplit|
1485 feature}
1486 Number of screen lines to use for the command-line window. |cmdwin|
1488 *'columns'* *'co'* *E594*
1489 'columns' 'co' number (default 80 or terminal width)
1490 global
1491 {not in Vi}
1492 Number of columns of the screen. Normally this is set by the terminal
1493 initialization and does not have to be set by hand. Also see
1494 |posix-screen-size|.
1495 When Vim is running in the GUI or in a resizable window, setting this
1496 option will cause the window size to be changed. When you only want
1497 to use the size for the GUI, put the command in your |gvimrc| file.
1498 When you set this option and Vim is unable to change the physical
1499 number of columns of the display, the display may be messed up. For
1500 the GUI it is always possible and Vim limits the number of columns to
1501 what fits on the screen. You can use this command to get the widest
1502 window possible: >
1503 :set columns=9999
1504 < Minimum value is 12, maximum value is 10000.
1506 *'comments'* *'com'* *E524* *E525*
1507 'comments' 'com' string (default
1508 "s1:/*,mb:*,ex:*/,://,b:#,:%,:XCOMM,n:>,fb:-")
1509 local to buffer
1510 {not in Vi}
1511 {not available when compiled without the |+comments|
1512 feature}
1513 A comma separated list of strings that can start a comment line. See
1514 |format-comments|. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes to
1515 insert a space.
1517 *'commentstring'* *'cms'* *E537*
1518 'commentstring' 'cms' string (default "/*%s*/")
1519 local to buffer
1520 {not in Vi}
1521 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
1522 feature}
1523 A template for a comment. The "%s" in the value is replaced with the
1524 comment text. Currently only used to add markers for folding, see
1525 |fold-marker|.
1527 *'compatible'* *'cp'* *'nocompatible'* *'nocp'*
1528 'compatible' 'cp' boolean (default on, off when a |vimrc| or |gvimrc|
1529 file is found)
1530 global
1531 {not in Vi}
1532 This option has the effect of making Vim either more Vi-compatible, or
1533 make Vim behave in a more useful way.
1534 This is a special kind of option, because when it's set or reset,
1535 other options are also changed as a side effect. CAREFUL: Setting or
1536 resetting this option can have a lot of unexpected effects: Mappings
1537 are interpreted in another way, undo behaves differently, etc. If you
1538 set this option in your vimrc file, you should probably put it at the
1539 very start.
1540 By default this option is on and the Vi defaults are used for the
1541 options. This default was chosen for those people who want to use Vim
1542 just like Vi, and don't even (want to) know about the 'compatible'
1543 option.
1544 When a |vimrc| or |gvimrc| file is found while Vim is starting up,
1545 this option is switched off, and all options that have not been
1546 modified will be set to the Vim defaults. Effectively, this means
1547 that when a |vimrc| or |gvimrc| file exists, Vim will use the Vim
1548 defaults, otherwise it will use the Vi defaults. (Note: This doesn't
1549 happen for the system-wide vimrc or gvimrc file, nor for a file given
1550 with the |-u| argument). Also see |compatible-default| and
1551 |posix-compliance|.
1552 You can also set this option with the "-C" argument, and reset it with
1553 "-N". See |-C| and |-N|.
1554 Switching this option off makes the Vim defaults be used for options
1555 that have a different Vi and Vim default value. See the options
1556 marked with a '+' below. Other options are not modified.
1557 At the moment this option is set, several other options will be set
1558 or reset to make Vim as Vi-compatible as possible. See the table
1559 below. This can be used if you want to revert to Vi compatible
1560 editing.
1561 See also 'cpoptions'.
1563 option + set value effect ~
1565 'allowrevins' off no CTRL-_ command
1566 'backupcopy' Unix: "yes" backup file is a copy
1567 others: "auto" copy or rename backup file
1568 'backspace' "" normal backspace
1569 'backup' off no backup file
1570 'cindent' off no C code indentation
1571 'cedit' + "" no key to open the |cmdwin|
1572 'cpoptions' + (all flags) Vi-compatible flags
1573 'cscopetag' off don't use cscope for ":tag"
1574 'cscopetagorder' 0 see |cscopetagorder|
1575 'cscopeverbose' off see |cscopeverbose|
1576 'digraph' off no digraphs
1577 'esckeys' + off no <Esc>-keys in Insert mode
1578 'expandtab' off tabs not expanded to spaces
1579 'fileformats' + "" no automatic file format detection,
1580 "dos,unix" except for DOS, Windows and OS/2
1581 'formatoptions' + "vt" Vi compatible formatting
1582 'gdefault' off no default 'g' flag for ":s"
1583 'history' + 0 no commandline history
1584 'hkmap' off no Hebrew keyboard mapping
1585 'hkmapp' off no phonetic Hebrew keyboard mapping
1586 'hlsearch' off no highlighting of search matches
1587 'incsearch' off no incremental searching
1588 'indentexpr' "" no indenting by expression
1589 'insertmode' off do not start in Insert mode
1590 'iskeyword' + "@,48-57,_" keywords contain alphanumeric
1591 characters and '_'
1592 'joinspaces' on insert 2 spaces after period
1593 'modeline' + off no modelines
1594 'more' + off no pauses in listings
1595 'revins' off no reverse insert
1596 'ruler' off no ruler
1597 'scrolljump' 1 no jump scroll
1598 'scrolloff' 0 no scroll offset
1599 'shiftround' off indent not rounded to shiftwidth
1600 'shortmess' + "" no shortening of messages
1601 'showcmd' + off command characters not shown
1602 'showmode' + off current mode not shown
1603 'smartcase' off no automatic ignore case switch
1604 'smartindent' off no smart indentation
1605 'smarttab' off no smart tab size
1606 'softtabstop' 0 tabs are always 'tabstop' positions
1607 'startofline' on goto startofline with some commands
1608 'tagrelative' + off tag file names are not relative
1609 'textauto' + off no automatic textmode detection
1610 'textwidth' 0 no automatic line wrap
1611 'tildeop' off tilde is not an operator
1612 'ttimeout' off no terminal timeout
1613 'whichwrap' + "" left-right movements don't wrap
1614 'wildchar' + CTRL-E only when the current value is <Tab>
1615 use CTRL-E for cmdline completion
1616 'writebackup' on or off depends on +writebackup feature
1618 *'complete'* *'cpt'* *E535*
1619 'complete' 'cpt' string (default: ".,w,b,u,t,i")
1620 local to buffer
1621 {not in Vi}
1622 This option specifies how keyword completion |ins-completion| works
1623 when CTRL-P or CTRL-N are used. It is also used for whole-line
1624 completion |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L|. It indicates the type of completion
1625 and the places to scan. It is a comma separated list of flags:
1626 . scan the current buffer ('wrapscan' is ignored)
1627 w scan buffers from other windows
1628 b scan other loaded buffers that are in the buffer list
1629 u scan the unloaded buffers that are in the buffer list
1630 U scan the buffers that are not in the buffer list
1631 k scan the files given with the 'dictionary' option
1632 kspell use the currently active spell checking |spell|
1633 k{dict} scan the file {dict}. Several "k" flags can be given,
1634 patterns are valid too. For example: >
1635 :set cpt=k/usr/dict/*,k~/spanish
1636 < s scan the files given with the 'thesaurus' option
1637 s{tsr} scan the file {tsr}. Several "s" flags can be given, patterns
1638 are valid too.
1639 i scan current and included files
1640 d scan current and included files for defined name or macro
1641 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D|
1642 ] tag completion
1643 t same as "]"
1645 Unloaded buffers are not loaded, thus their autocmds |:autocmd| are
1646 not executed, this may lead to unexpected completions from some files
1647 (gzipped files for example). Unloaded buffers are not scanned for
1648 whole-line completion.
1650 The default is ".,w,b,u,t,i", which means to scan:
1651 1. the current buffer
1652 2. buffers in other windows
1653 3. other loaded buffers
1654 4. unloaded buffers
1655 5. tags
1656 6. included files
1658 As you can see, CTRL-N and CTRL-P can be used to do any 'iskeyword'-
1659 based expansion (e.g., dictionary |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K|, included patterns
1660 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I|, tags |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]| and normal expansions).
1662 *'completefunc'* *'cfu'*
1663 'completefunc' 'cfu' string (default: empty)
1664 local to buffer
1665 {not in Vi}
1666 {not available when compiled without the +eval
1667 or +insert_expand feature}
1668 This option specifies a function to be used for Insert mode completion
1669 with CTRL-X CTRL-U. |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-U|
1670 See |complete-functions| for an explanation of how the function is
1671 invoked and what it should return.
1674 *'completeopt'* *'cot'*
1675 'completeopt' 'cot' string (default: "menu,preview")
1676 global
1677 {not available when compiled without the
1678 |+insert_expand| feature}
1679 {not in Vi}
1680 A comma separated list of options for Insert mode completion
1681 |ins-completion|. The supported values are:
1683 menu Use a popup menu to show the possible completions. The
1684 menu is only shown when there is more than one match and
1685 sufficient colors are available. |ins-completion-menu|
1687 menuone Use the popup menu also when there is only one match.
1688 Useful when there is additional information about the
1689 match, e.g., what file it comes from.
1691 longest Only insert the longest common text of the matches. If
1692 the menu is displayed you can use CTRL-L to add more
1693 characters. Whether case is ignored depends on the kind
1694 of completion. For buffer text the 'ignorecase' option is
1695 used.
1697 preview Show extra information about the currently selected
1698 completion in the preview window. Only works in
1699 combination with "menu" or "menuone".
1702 *'confirm'* *'cf'* *'noconfirm'* *'nocf'*
1703 'confirm' 'cf' boolean (default off)
1704 global
1705 {not in Vi}
1706 When 'confirm' is on, certain operations that would normally
1707 fail because of unsaved changes to a buffer, e.g. ":q" and ":e",
1708 instead raise a |dialog| asking if you wish to save the current
1709 file(s). You can still use a ! to unconditionally |abandon| a buffer.
1710 If 'confirm' is off you can still activate confirmation for one
1711 command only (this is most useful in mappings) with the |:confirm|
1712 command.
1713 Also see the |confirm()| function and the 'v' flag in 'guioptions'.
1715 *'conskey'* *'consk'* *'noconskey'* *'noconsk'*
1716 'conskey' 'consk' boolean (default off)
1717 global
1718 {not in Vi} {only for MS-DOS}
1719 When on direct console I/O is used to obtain a keyboard character.
1720 This should work in most cases. Also see |'bioskey'|. Together,
1721 three methods of console input are available:
1722 'conskey' 'bioskey' action ~
1723 on on or off direct console input
1724 off on BIOS
1725 off off STDIN
1727 *'copyindent'* *'ci'* *'nocopyindent'* *'noci'*
1728 'copyindent' 'ci' boolean (default off)
1729 local to buffer
1730 {not in Vi}
1731 Copy the structure of the existing lines indent when autoindenting a
1732 new line. Normally the new indent is reconstructed by a series of
1733 tabs followed by spaces as required (unless |'expandtab'| is enabled,
1734 in which case only spaces are used). Enabling this option makes the
1735 new line copy whatever characters were used for indenting on the
1736 existing line. 'expandtab' has no effect on these characters, a Tab
1737 remains a Tab. If the new indent is greater than on the existing
1738 line, the remaining space is filled in the normal manner.
1739 NOTE: 'copyindent' is reset when 'compatible' is set.
1740 Also see 'preserveindent'.
1742 *'cpoptions'* *'cpo'*
1743 'cpoptions' 'cpo' string (Vim default: "aABceFs",
1744 Vi default: all flags)
1745 global
1746 {not in Vi}
1747 A sequence of single character flags. When a character is present
1748 this indicates vi-compatible behavior. This is used for things where
1749 not being vi-compatible is mostly or sometimes preferred.
1750 'cpoptions' stands for "compatible-options".
1751 Commas can be added for readability.
1752 To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the
1753 "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.
1754 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
1755 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
1756 NOTE: This option is set to the POSIX default value at startup when
1757 the Vi default value would be used and the $VIM_POSIX environment
1758 variable exists |posix|. This means tries to behave like the POSIX
1759 specification.
1761 contains behavior ~
1762 *cpo-a*
1763 a When included, a ":read" command with a file name
1764 argument will set the alternate file name for the
1765 current window.
1766 *cpo-A*
1767 A When included, a ":write" command with a file name
1768 argument will set the alternate file name for the
1769 current window.
1770 *cpo-b*
1771 b "\|" in a ":map" command is recognized as the end of
1772 the map command. The '\' is included in the mapping,
1773 the text after the '|' is interpreted as the next
1774 command. Use a CTRL-V instead of a backslash to
1775 include the '|' in the mapping. Applies to all
1776 mapping, abbreviation, menu and autocmd commands.
1777 See also |map_bar|.
1778 *cpo-B*
1779 B A backslash has no special meaning in mappings,
1780 abbreviations and the "to" part of the menu commands.
1781 Remove this flag to be able to use a backslash like a
1782 CTRL-V. For example, the command ":map X \<Esc>"
1783 results in X being mapped to:
1784 'B' included: "\^[" (^[ is a real <Esc>)
1785 'B' excluded: "<Esc>" (5 characters)
1786 ('<' excluded in both cases)
1787 *cpo-c*
1788 c Searching continues at the end of any match at the
1789 cursor position, but not further than the start of the
1790 next line. When not present searching continues
1791 one character from the cursor position. With 'c'
1792 "abababababab" only gets three matches when repeating
1793 "/abab", without 'c' there are five matches.
1794 *cpo-C*
1795 C Do not concatenate sourced lines that start with a
1796 backslash. See |line-continuation|.
1797 *cpo-d*
1798 d Using "./" in the 'tags' option doesn't mean to use
1799 the tags file relative to the current file, but the
1800 tags file in the current directory.
1801 *cpo-D*
1802 D Can't use CTRL-K to enter a digraph after Normal mode
1803 commands with a character argument, like |r|, |f| and
1804 |t|.
1805 *cpo-e*
1806 e When executing a register with ":@r", always add a
1807 <CR> to the last line, also when the register is not
1808 linewise. If this flag is not present, the register
1809 is not linewise and the last line does not end in a
1810 <CR>, then the last line is put on the command-line
1811 and can be edited before hitting <CR>.
1812 *cpo-E*
1813 E It is an error when using "y", "d", "c", "g~", "gu" or
1814 "gU" on an Empty region. The operators only work when
1815 at least one character is to be operate on. Example:
1816 This makes "y0" fail in the first column.
1817 *cpo-f*
1818 f When included, a ":read" command with a file name
1819 argument will set the file name for the current buffer,
1820 if the current buffer doesn't have a file name yet.
1821 *cpo-F*
1822 F When included, a ":write" command with a file name
1823 argument will set the file name for the current
1824 buffer, if the current buffer doesn't have a file name
1825 yet. Also see |cpo-P|.
1826 *cpo-g*
1827 g Goto line 1 when using ":edit" without argument.
1828 *cpo-H*
1829 H When using "I" on a line with only blanks, insert
1830 before the last blank. Without this flag insert after
1831 the last blank.
1832 *cpo-i*
1833 i When included, interrupting the reading of a file will
1834 leave it modified.
1835 *cpo-I*
1836 I When moving the cursor up or down just after inserting
1837 indent for 'autoindent', do not delete the indent.
1838 *cpo-j*
1839 j When joining lines, only add two spaces after a '.',
1840 not after '!' or '?'. Also see 'joinspaces'.
1841 *cpo-J*
1842 J A |sentence| has to be followed by two spaces after
1843 the '.', '!' or '?'. A <Tab> is not recognized as
1844 white space.
1845 *cpo-k*
1846 k Disable the recognition of raw key codes in
1847 mappings, abbreviations, and the "to" part of menu
1848 commands. For example, if <Key> sends ^[OA (where ^[
1849 is <Esc>), the command ":map X ^[OA" results in X
1850 being mapped to:
1851 'k' included: "^[OA" (3 characters)
1852 'k' excluded: "<Key>" (one key code)
1853 Also see the '<' flag below.
1854 *cpo-K*
1855 K Don't wait for a key code to complete when it is
1856 halfway a mapping. This breaks mapping <F1><F1> when
1857 only part of the second <F1> has been read. It
1858 enables cancelling the mapping by typing <F1><Esc>.
1859 *cpo-l*
1860 l Backslash in a [] range in a search pattern is taken
1861 literally, only "\]", "\^", "\-" and "\\" are special.
1862 See |/[]|
1863 'l' included: "/[ \t]" finds <Space>, '\' and 't'
1864 'l' excluded: "/[ \t]" finds <Space> and <Tab>
1865 Also see |cpo-\|.
1866 *cpo-L*
1867 L When the 'list' option is set, 'wrapmargin',
1868 'textwidth', 'softtabstop' and Virtual Replace mode
1869 (see |gR|) count a <Tab> as two characters, instead of
1870 the normal behavior of a <Tab>.
1871 *cpo-m*
1872 m When included, a showmatch will always wait half a
1873 second. When not included, a showmatch will wait half
1874 a second or until a character is typed. |'showmatch'|
1875 *cpo-M*
1876 M When excluded, "%" matching will take backslashes into
1877 account. Thus in "( \( )" and "\( ( \)" the outer
1878 parenthesis match. When included "%" ignores
1879 backslashes, which is Vi compatible.
1880 *cpo-n*
1881 n When included, the column used for 'number' will also
1882 be used for text of wrapped lines.
1883 *cpo-o*
1884 o Line offset to search command is not remembered for
1885 next search.
1886 *cpo-O*
1887 O Don't complain if a file is being overwritten, even
1888 when it didn't exist when editing it. This is a
1889 protection against a file unexpectedly created by
1890 someone else. Vi didn't complain about this.
1891 *cpo-p*
1892 p Vi compatible Lisp indenting. When not present, a
1893 slightly better algorithm is used.
1894 *cpo-P*
1895 P When included, a ":write" command that appends to a
1896 file will set the file name for the current buffer, if
1897 the current buffer doesn't have a file name yet and
1898 the 'F' flag is also included |cpo-F|.
1899 *cpo-q*
1900 q When joining multiple lines leave the cursor at the
1901 position where it would be when joining two lines.
1902 *cpo-r*
1903 r Redo ("." command) uses "/" to repeat a search
1904 command, instead of the actually used search string.
1905 *cpo-R*
1906 R Remove marks from filtered lines. Without this flag
1907 marks are kept like |:keepmarks| was used.
1908 *cpo-s*
1909 s Set buffer options when entering the buffer for the
1910 first time. This is like it is in Vim version 3.0.
1911 And it is the default. If not present the options are
1912 set when the buffer is created.
1913 *cpo-S*
1914 S Set buffer options always when entering a buffer
1915 (except 'readonly', 'fileformat', 'filetype' and
1916 'syntax'). This is the (most) Vi compatible setting.
1917 The options are set to the values in the current
1918 buffer. When you change an option and go to another
1919 buffer, the value is copied. Effectively makes the
1920 buffer options global to all buffers.
1922 's' 'S' copy buffer options
1923 no no when buffer created
1924 yes no when buffer first entered (default)
1925 X yes each time when buffer entered (vi comp.)
1926 *cpo-t*
1927 t Search pattern for the tag command is remembered for
1928 "n" command. Otherwise Vim only puts the pattern in
1929 the history for search pattern, but doesn't change the
1930 last used search pattern.
1931 *cpo-u*
1932 u Undo is Vi compatible. See |undo-two-ways|.
1933 *cpo-v*
1934 v Backspaced characters remain visible on the screen in
1935 Insert mode. Without this flag the characters are
1936 erased from the screen right away. With this flag the
1937 screen newly typed text overwrites backspaced
1938 characters.
1939 *cpo-w*
1940 w When using "cw" on a blank character, only change one
1941 character and not all blanks until the start of the
1942 next word.
1943 *cpo-W*
1944 W Don't overwrite a readonly file. When omitted, ":w!"
1945 overwrites a readonly file, if possible.
1946 *cpo-x*
1947 x <Esc> on the command-line executes the command-line.
1948 The default in Vim is to abandon the command-line,
1949 because <Esc> normally aborts a command. |c_<Esc>|
1950 *cpo-X*
1951 X When using a count with "R" the replaced text is
1952 deleted only once. Also when repeating "R" with "."
1953 and a count.
1954 *cpo-y*
1955 y A yank command can be redone with ".".
1956 *cpo-Z*
1957 Z When using "w!" while the 'readonly' option is set,
1958 don't reset 'readonly'.
1959 *cpo-!*
1960 ! When redoing a filter command, use the last used
1961 external command, whatever it was. Otherwise the last
1962 used -filter- command is used.
1963 *cpo-$*
1964 $ When making a change to one line, don't redisplay the
1965 line, but put a '$' at the end of the changed text.
1966 The changed text will be overwritten when you type the
1967 new text. The line is redisplayed if you type any
1968 command that moves the cursor from the insertion
1969 point.
1970 *cpo-%*
1971 % Vi-compatible matching is done for the "%" command.
1972 Does not recognize "#if", "#endif", etc.
1973 Does not recognize "/*" and "*/".
1974 Parens inside single and double quotes are also
1975 counted, causing a string that contains a paren to
1976 disturb the matching. For example, in a line like
1977 "if (strcmp("foo(", s))" the first paren does not
1978 match the last one. When this flag is not included,
1979 parens inside single and double quotes are treated
1980 specially. When matching a paren outside of quotes,
1981 everything inside quotes is ignored. When matching a
1982 paren inside quotes, it will find the matching one (if
1983 there is one). This works very well for C programs.
1984 This flag is also used for other features, such as
1985 C-indenting.
1986 *cpo--*
1987 - When included, a vertical movement command fails when
1988 it would go above the first line or below the last
1989 line. Without it the cursor moves to the first or
1990 last line, unless it already was in that line.
1991 Applies to the commands "-", "k", CTRL-P, "+", "j",
1992 CTRL-N, CTRL-J and ":1234".
1993 *cpo-+*
1994 + When included, a ":write file" command will reset the
1995 'modified' flag of the buffer, even though the buffer
1996 itself may still be different from its file.
1997 *cpo-star*
1998 * Use ":*" in the same way as ":@". When not included,
1999 ":*" is an alias for ":'<,'>", select the Visual area.
2000 *cpo-<*
2001 < Disable the recognition of special key codes in |<>|
2002 form in mappings, abbreviations, and the "to" part of
2003 menu commands. For example, the command
2004 ":map X <Tab>" results in X being mapped to:
2005 '<' included: "<Tab>" (5 characters)
2006 '<' excluded: "^I" (^I is a real <Tab>)
2007 Also see the 'k' flag above.
2008 *cpo->*
2009 > When appending to a register, put a line break before
2010 the appended text.
2012 POSIX flags. These are not included in the Vi default value, except
2013 when $VIM_POSIX was set on startup. |posix|
2015 contains behavior ~
2016 *cpo-#*
2017 # A count before "D", "o" and "O" has no effect.
2018 *cpo-&*
2019 & When ":preserve" was used keep the swap file when
2020 exiting normally while this buffer is still loaded.
2021 This flag is tested when exiting.
2022 *cpo-\*
2023 \ Backslash in a [] range in a search pattern is taken
2024 literally, only "\]" is special See |/[]|
2025 '\' included: "/[ \-]" finds <Space>, '\' and '-'
2026 '\' excluded: "/[ \-]" finds <Space> and '-'
2027 Also see |cpo-l|.
2028 *cpo-/*
2029 / When "%" is used as the replacement string in a |:s|
2030 command, use the previous replacement string. |:s%|
2031 *cpo-{*
2032 { The |{| and |}| commands also stop at a "{" character
2033 at the start of a line.
2034 *cpo-.*
2035 . The ":chdir" and ":cd" commands fail if the current
2036 buffer is modified, unless ! is used. Vim doesn't
2037 need this, since it remembers the full path of an
2038 opened file.
2039 *cpo-bar*
2040 | The value of the $LINES and $COLUMNS environment
2041 variables overrule the terminal size values obtained
2042 with system specific functions.
2045 *'cscopepathcomp'* *'cspc'*
2046 'cscopepathcomp' 'cspc' number (default 0)
2047 global
2048 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2049 feature}
2050 {not in Vi}
2051 Determines how many components of the path to show in a list of tags.
2052 See |cscopepathcomp|.
2054 *'cscopeprg'* *'csprg'*
2055 'cscopeprg' 'csprg' string (default "cscope")
2056 global
2057 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2058 feature}
2059 {not in Vi}
2060 Specifies the command to execute cscope. See |cscopeprg|.
2061 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2062 security reasons.
2064 *'cscopequickfix'* *'csqf'*
2065 'cscopequickfix' 'csqf' string (default "")
2066 global
2067 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2068 or |+quickfix| features}
2069 {not in Vi}
2070 Specifies whether to use quickfix window to show cscope results.
2071 See |cscopequickfix|.
2073 *'cscopetag'* *'cst'* *'nocscopetag'* *'nocst'*
2074 'cscopetag' 'cst' boolean (default off)
2075 global
2076 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2077 feature}
2078 {not in Vi}
2079 Use cscope for tag commands. See |cscope-options|.
2080 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2082 *'cscopetagorder'* *'csto'*
2083 'cscopetagorder' 'csto' number (default 0)
2084 global
2085 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2086 feature}
2087 {not in Vi}
2088 Determines the order in which ":cstag" performs a search. See
2089 |cscopetagorder|.
2090 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
2092 *'cscopeverbose'* *'csverb'*
2093 *'nocscopeverbose'* *'nocsverb'*
2094 'cscopeverbose' 'csverb' boolean (default off)
2095 global
2096 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2097 feature}
2098 {not in Vi}
2099 Give messages when adding a cscope database. See |cscopeverbose|.
2100 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2103 *'cursorcolumn'* *'cuc'* *'nocursorcolumn'* *'nocuc'*
2104 'cursorcolumn' 'cuc' boolean (default off)
2105 local to window
2106 {not in Vi}
2107 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
2108 feature}
2109 Highlight the screen column of the cursor with CursorColumn
2110 |hl-CursorColumn|. Useful to align text. Will make screen redrawing
2111 slower.
2112 If you only want the highlighting in the current window you can use
2113 these autocommands: >
2114 au WinLeave * set nocursorline nocursorcolumn
2115 au WinEnter * set cursorline cursorcolumn
2116 <
2118 *'cursorline'* *'cul'* *'nocursorline'* *'nocul'*
2119 'cursorline' 'cul' boolean (default off)
2120 local to window
2121 {not in Vi}
2122 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
2123 feature}
2124 Highlight the screen line of the cursor with CursorLine
2125 |hl-CursorLine|. Useful to easily spot the cursor. Will make screen
2126 redrawing slower.
2127 When Visual mode is active the highlighting isn't used to make it
2128 easier to see the selected text.
2131 *'debug'*
2132 'debug' string (default "")
2133 global
2134 {not in Vi}
2135 These values can be used:
2136 msg Error messages that would otherwise be omitted will be given
2137 anyway.
2138 throw Error messages that would otherwise be omitted will be given
2139 anyway and also throw an exception and set |v:errmsg|.
2140 beep A message will be given when otherwise only a beep would be
2141 produced.
2142 The values can be combined, separated by a comma.
2143 "msg" and "throw" are useful for debugging 'foldexpr', 'formatexpr' or
2144 'indentexpr'.
2146 *'define'* *'def'*
2147 'define' 'def' string (default "^\s*#\s*define")
2148 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2149 {not in Vi}
2150 Pattern to be used to find a macro definition. It is a search
2151 pattern, just like for the "/" command. This option is used for the
2152 commands like "[i" and "[d" |include-search|. The 'isident' option is
2153 used to recognize the defined name after the match:
2154 {match with 'define'}{non-ID chars}{defined name}{non-ID char}
2155 See |option-backslash| about inserting backslashes to include a space
2156 or backslash.
2157 The default value is for C programs. For C++ this value would be
2158 useful, to include const type declarations: >
2159 ^\(#\s*define\|[a-z]*\s*const\s*[a-z]*\)
2160 < When using the ":set" command, you need to double the backslashes!
2162 *'delcombine'* *'deco'* *'nodelcombine'* *'nodeco'*
2163 'delcombine' 'deco' boolean (default off)
2164 global
2165 {not in Vi}
2166 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2167 feature}
2168 If editing Unicode and this option is set, backspace and Normal mode
2169 "x" delete each combining character on its own. When it is off (the
2170 default) the character along with its combining characters are
2171 deleted.
2172 Note: When 'delcombine' is set "xx" may work different from "2x"!
2174 This is useful for Arabic, Hebrew and many other languages where one
2175 may have combining characters overtop of base characters, and want
2176 to remove only the combining ones.
2178 *'dictionary'* *'dict'*
2179 'dictionary' 'dict' string (default "")
2180 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2181 {not in Vi}
2182 List of file names, separated by commas, that are used to lookup words
2183 for keyword completion commands |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K|. Each file should
2184 contain a list of words. This can be one word per line, or several
2185 words per line, separated by non-keyword characters (white space is
2186 preferred). Maximum line length is 510 bytes.
2187 When this option is empty, or an entry "spell" is present, spell
2188 checking is enabled the currently active spelling is used. |spell|
2189 To include a comma in a file name precede it with a backslash. Spaces
2190 after a comma are ignored, otherwise spaces are included in the file
2191 name. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes.
2192 This has nothing to do with the |Dictionary| variable type.
2193 Where to find a list of words?
2194 - On FreeBSD, there is the file "/usr/share/dict/words".
2195 - In the Simtel archive, look in the "msdos/linguist" directory.
2196 - In "miscfiles" of the GNU collection.
2197 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
2198 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
2199 uses another default.
2200 Backticks cannot be used in this option for security reasons.
2202 *'diff'* *'nodiff'*
2203 'diff' boolean (default off)
2204 local to window
2205 {not in Vi}
2206 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
2207 feature}
2208 Join the current window in the group of windows that shows differences
2209 between files. See |vimdiff|.
2211 *'dex'* *'diffexpr'*
2212 'diffexpr' 'dex' string (default "")
2213 global
2214 {not in Vi}
2215 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
2216 feature}
2217 Expression which is evaluated to obtain an ed-style diff file from two
2218 versions of a file. See |diff-diffexpr|.
2219 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2220 security reasons.
2222 *'dip'* *'diffopt'*
2223 'diffopt' 'dip' string (default "filler")
2224 global
2225 {not in Vi}
2226 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
2227 feature}
2228 Option settings for diff mode. It can consist of the following items.
2229 All are optional. Items must be separated by a comma.
2231 filler Show filler lines, to keep the text
2232 synchronized with a window that has inserted
2233 lines at the same position. Mostly useful
2234 when windows are side-by-side and 'scrollbind'
2235 is set.
2237 context:{n} Use a context of {n} lines between a change
2238 and a fold that contains unchanged lines.
2239 When omitted a context of six lines is used.
2240 See |fold-diff|.
2242 icase Ignore changes in case of text. "a" and "A"
2243 are considered the same. Adds the "-i" flag
2244 to the "diff" command if 'diffexpr' is empty.
2246 iwhite Ignore changes in amount of white space. Adds
2247 the "-b" flag to the "diff" command if
2248 'diffexpr' is empty. Check the documentation
2249 of the "diff" command for what this does
2250 exactly. It should ignore adding trailing
2251 white space, but not leading white space.
2253 horizontal Start diff mode with horizontal splits (unless
2254 explicitly specified otherwise).
2256 vertical Start diff mode with vertical splits (unless
2257 explicitly specified otherwise).
2259 foldcolumn:{n} Set the 'foldcolumn' option to {n} when
2260 starting diff mode. Without this 2 is used.
2262 Examples: >
2264 :set diffopt=filler,context:4
2265 :set diffopt=
2266 :set diffopt=filler,foldcolumn:3
2267 <
2268 *'digraph'* *'dg'* *'nodigraph'* *'nodg'*
2269 'digraph' 'dg' boolean (default off)
2270 global
2271 {not in Vi}
2272 {not available when compiled without the |+digraphs|
2273 feature}
2274 Enable the entering of digraphs in Insert mode with {char1} <BS>
2275 {char2}. See |digraphs|.
2276 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2278 *'directory'* *'dir'*
2279 'directory' 'dir' string (default for Amiga: ".,t:",
2280 for MS-DOS and Win32: ".,c:\tmp,c:\temp"
2281 for Unix: ".,~/tmp,/var/tmp,/tmp")
2282 global
2283 List of directory names for the swap file, separated with commas.
2284 - The swap file will be created in the first directory where this is
2285 possible.
2286 - Empty means that no swap file will be used (recovery is
2287 impossible!).
2288 - A directory "." means to put the swap file in the same directory as
2289 the edited file. On Unix, a dot is prepended to the file name, so
2290 it doesn't show in a directory listing. On MS-Windows the "hidden"
2291 attribute is set and a dot prepended if possible.
2292 - A directory starting with "./" (or ".\" for MS-DOS et al.) means to
2293 put the swap file relative to where the edited file is. The leading
2294 "." is replaced with the path name of the edited file.
2295 - For Unix and Win32, if a directory ends in two path separators "//"
2296 or "\\", the swap file name will be built from the complete path to
2297 the file with all path separators substituted to percent '%' signs.
2298 This will ensure file name uniqueness in the preserve directory.
2299 - Spaces after the comma are ignored, other spaces are considered part
2300 of the directory name. To have a space at the start of a directory
2301 name, precede it with a backslash.
2302 - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with a backslash.
2303 - A directory name may end in an ':' or '/'.
2304 - Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
2305 - Careful with '\' characters, type one before a space, type two to
2306 get one in the option (see |option-backslash|), for example: >
2307 :set dir=c:\\tmp,\ dir\\,with\\,commas,\\\ dir\ with\ spaces
2308 < - For backwards compatibility with Vim version 3.0 a '>' at the start
2309 of the option is removed.
2310 Using "." first in the list is recommended. This means that editing
2311 the same file twice will result in a warning. Using "/tmp" on Unix is
2312 discouraged: When the system crashes you lose the swap file.
2313 "/var/tmp" is often not cleared when rebooting, thus is a better
2314 choice than "/tmp". But it can contain a lot of files, your swap
2315 files get lost in the crowd. That is why a "tmp" directory in your
2316 home directory is tried first.
2317 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
2318 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
2319 uses another default.
2320 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2321 security reasons.
2322 {Vi: directory to put temp file in, defaults to "/tmp"}
2324 *'display'* *'dy'*
2325 'display' 'dy' string (default "")
2326 global
2327 {not in Vi}
2328 Change the way text is displayed. This is comma separated list of
2329 flags:
2330 lastline When included, as much as possible of the last line
2331 in a window will be displayed. When not included, a
2332 last line that doesn't fit is replaced with "@" lines.
2333 uhex Show unprintable characters hexadecimal as <xx>
2334 instead of using ^C and ~C.
2336 *'eadirection'* *'ead'*
2337 'eadirection' 'ead' string (default "both")
2338 global
2339 {not in Vi}
2340 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
2341 feature}
2342 Tells when the 'equalalways' option applies:
2343 ver vertically, width of windows is not affected
2344 hor horizontally, height of windows is not affected
2345 both width and height of windows is affected
2347 *'ed'* *'edcompatible'* *'noed'* *'noedcompatible'*
2348 'edcompatible' 'ed' boolean (default off)
2349 global
2350 Makes the 'g' and 'c' flags of the ":substitute" command to be
2351 toggled each time the flag is given. See |complex-change|. See
2352 also 'gdefault' option.
2353 Switching this option on is discouraged!
2355 *'encoding'* *'enc'* *E543*
2356 'encoding' 'enc' string (default: "latin1" or value from $LANG)
2357 global
2358 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2359 feature}
2360 {not in Vi}
2361 Sets the character encoding used inside Vim. It applies to text in
2362 the buffers, registers, Strings in expressions, text stored in the
2363 viminfo file, etc. It sets the kind of characters which Vim can work
2364 with. See |encoding-names| for the possible values.
2366 NOTE: Changing this option will not change the encoding of the
2367 existing text in Vim. It may cause non-ASCII text to become invalid.
2368 It should normally be kept at its default value, or set when Vim
2369 starts up. See |multibyte|. To reload the menus see |:menutrans|.
2371 NOTE: For MacVim and GTK+ 2 it is highly recommended to set 'encoding'
2372 to "utf-8". Although care has been taken to allow different values of
2373 'encoding', "utf-8" is the natural choice for the environment and
2374 avoids unnecessary conversion overhead. "utf-8" has not been made
2375 the default to prevent different behavior of the GUI and terminal
2376 versions, and to avoid changing the encoding of newly created files
2377 without your knowledge (in case 'fileencodings' is empty).
2379 The character encoding of files can be different from 'encoding'.
2380 This is specified with 'fileencoding'. The conversion is done with
2381 iconv() or as specified with 'charconvert'.
2383 Normally 'encoding' will be equal to your current locale. This will
2384 be the default if Vim recognizes your environment settings. If
2385 'encoding' is not set to the current locale, 'termencoding' must be
2386 set to convert typed and displayed text. See |encoding-table|.
2388 When you set this option, it fires the |EncodingChanged| autocommand
2389 event so that you can set up fonts if necessary.
2391 When the option is set, the value is converted to lowercase. Thus
2392 you can set it with uppercase values too. Underscores are translated
2393 to '-' signs.
2394 When the encoding is recognized, it is changed to the standard name.
2395 For example "Latin-1" becomes "latin1", "ISO_88592" becomes
2396 "iso-8859-2" and "utf8" becomes "utf-8".
2398 Note: "latin1" is also used when the encoding could not be detected.
2399 This only works when editing files in the same encoding! When the
2400 actual character set is not latin1, make sure 'fileencoding' and
2401 'fileencodings' are empty. When conversion is needed, switch to using
2402 utf-8.
2404 When "unicode", "ucs-2" or "ucs-4" is used, Vim internally uses utf-8.
2405 You don't notice this while editing, but it does matter for the
2406 |viminfo-file|. And Vim expects the terminal to use utf-8 too. Thus
2407 setting 'encoding' to one of these values instead of utf-8 only has
2408 effect for encoding used for files when 'fileencoding' is empty.
2410 When 'encoding' is set to a Unicode encoding, and 'fileencodings' was
2411 not set yet, the default for 'fileencodings' is changed.
2413 *'endofline'* *'eol'* *'noendofline'* *'noeol'*
2414 'endofline' 'eol' boolean (default on)
2415 local to buffer
2416 {not in Vi}
2417 When writing a file and this option is off and the 'binary' option
2418 is on, no <EOL> will be written for the last line in the file. This
2419 option is automatically set when starting to edit a new file, unless
2420 the file does not have an <EOL> for the last line in the file, in
2421 which case it is reset. Normally you don't have to set or reset this
2422 option. When 'binary' is off the value is not used when writing the
2423 file. When 'binary' is on it is used to remember the presence of a
2424 <EOL> for the last line in the file, so that when you write the file
2425 the situation from the original file can be kept. But you can change
2426 it if you want to.
2428 *'equalalways'* *'ea'* *'noequalalways'* *'noea'*
2429 'equalalways' 'ea' boolean (default on)
2430 global
2431 {not in Vi}
2432 When on, all the windows are automatically made the same size after
2433 splitting or closing a window. This also happens the moment the
2434 option is switched on. When off, splitting a window will reduce the
2435 size of the current window and leave the other windows the same. When
2436 closing a window the extra lines are given to the window next to it
2437 (depending on 'splitbelow' and 'splitright').
2438 When mixing vertically and horizontally split windows, a minimal size
2439 is computed and some windows may be larger if there is room. The
2440 'eadirection' option tells in which direction the size is affected.
2441 Changing the height and width of a window can be avoided by setting
2442 'winfixheight' and 'winfixwidth', respectively.
2444 *'equalprg'* *'ep'*
2445 'equalprg' 'ep' string (default "")
2446 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2447 {not in Vi}
2448 External program to use for "=" command. When this option is empty
2449 the internal formatting functions are used ('lisp', 'cindent' or
2450 'indentexpr').
2451 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash|
2452 about including spaces and backslashes.
2453 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2454 security reasons.
2456 *'errorbells'* *'eb'* *'noerrorbells'* *'noeb'*
2457 'errorbells' 'eb' boolean (default off)
2458 global
2459 Ring the bell (beep or screen flash) for error messages. This only
2460 makes a difference for error messages, the bell will be used always
2461 for a lot of errors without a message (e.g., hitting <Esc> in Normal
2462 mode). See 'visualbell' on how to make the bell behave like a beep,
2463 screen flash or do nothing.
2465 *'errorfile'* *'ef'*
2466 'errorfile' 'ef' string (Amiga default: "AztecC.Err",
2467 others: "errors.err")
2468 global
2469 {not in Vi}
2470 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
2471 feature}
2472 Name of the errorfile for the QuickFix mode (see |:cf|).
2473 When the "-q" command-line argument is used, 'errorfile' is set to the
2474 following argument. See |-q|.
2475 NOT used for the ":make" command. See 'makeef' for that.
2476 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
2477 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
2478 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2479 security reasons.
2481 *'errorformat'* *'efm'*
2482 'errorformat' 'efm' string (default is very long)
2483 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2484 {not in Vi}
2485 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
2486 feature}
2487 Scanf-like description of the format for the lines in the error file
2488 (see |errorformat|).
2490 *'esckeys'* *'ek'* *'noesckeys'* *'noek'*
2491 'esckeys' 'ek' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
2492 global
2493 {not in Vi}
2494 Function keys that start with an <Esc> are recognized in Insert
2495 mode. When this option is off, the cursor and function keys cannot be
2496 used in Insert mode if they start with an <Esc>. The advantage of
2497 this is that the single <Esc> is recognized immediately, instead of
2498 after one second. Instead of resetting this option, you might want to
2499 try changing the values for 'timeoutlen' and 'ttimeoutlen'. Note that
2500 when 'esckeys' is off, you can still map anything, but the cursor keys
2501 won't work by default.
2502 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
2503 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
2505 *'eventignore'* *'ei'*
2506 'eventignore' 'ei' string (default "")
2507 global
2508 {not in Vi}
2509 {not available when compiled without the |+autocmd|
2510 feature}
2511 A list of autocommand event names, which are to be ignored.
2512 When set to "all" or when "all" is one of the items, all autocommand
2513 events are ignored, autocommands will not be executed.
2514 Otherwise this is a comma separated list of event names. Example: >
2515 :set ei=WinEnter,WinLeave
2516 <
2517 *'expandtab'* *'et'* *'noexpandtab'* *'noet'*
2518 'expandtab' 'et' boolean (default off)
2519 local to buffer
2520 {not in Vi}
2521 In Insert mode: Use the appropriate number of spaces to insert a
2522 <Tab>. Spaces are used in indents with the '>' and '<' commands and
2523 when 'autoindent' is on. To insert a real tab when 'expandtab' is
2524 on, use CTRL-V<Tab>. See also |:retab| and |ins-expandtab|.
2525 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2527 *'exrc'* *'ex'* *'noexrc'* *'noex'*
2528 'exrc' 'ex' boolean (default off)
2529 global
2530 {not in Vi}
2531 Enables the reading of .vimrc, .exrc and .gvimrc in the current
2532 directory. If you switch this option on you should also consider
2533 setting the 'secure' option (see |initialization|). Using a local
2534 .exrc, .vimrc or .gvimrc is a potential security leak, use with care!
2535 also see |.vimrc| and |gui-init|.
2536 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2537 security reasons.
2539 *'fileencoding'* *'fenc'* *E213*
2540 'fileencoding' 'fenc' string (default: "")
2541 local to buffer
2542 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2543 feature}
2544 {not in Vi}
2545 Sets the character encoding for the file of this buffer.
2546 When 'fileencoding' is different from 'encoding', conversion will be
2547 done when reading and writing the file.
2548 When 'fileencoding' is empty, the same value as 'encoding' will be
2549 used (no conversion when reading or writing a file).
2550 WARNING: Conversion can cause loss of information! When
2551 'encoding' is "utf-8" conversion is most likely done in a way
2552 that the reverse conversion results in the same text. When
2553 'encoding' is not "utf-8" some characters may be lost!
2554 See 'encoding' for the possible values. Additionally, values may be
2555 specified that can be handled by the converter, see
2556 |mbyte-conversion|.
2557 When reading a file 'fileencoding' will be set from 'fileencodings'.
2558 To read a file in a certain encoding it won't work by setting
2559 'fileencoding', use the |++enc| argument. One exception: when
2560 'fileencodings' is empty the value of 'fileencoding' is used.
2561 For a new file the global value of 'fileencoding' is used.
2562 Prepending "8bit-" and "2byte-" has no meaning here, they are ignored.
2563 When the option is set, the value is converted to lowercase. Thus
2564 you can set it with uppercase values too. '_' characters are
2565 replaced with '-'. If a name is recognized from the list for
2566 'encoding', it is replaced by the standard name. For example
2567 "ISO8859-2" becomes "iso-8859-2".
2568 When this option is set, after starting to edit a file, the 'modified'
2569 option is set, because the file would be different when written.
2570 If you do this in a modeline, you might want to set 'nomodified' to
2571 avoid this.
2572 This option can not be changed when 'modifiable' is off.
2574 *'fe'*
2575 NOTE: Before version 6.0 this option specified the encoding for the
2576 whole of Vim, this was a mistake. Now use 'encoding' instead. The
2577 old short name was 'fe', which is no longer used.
2579 *'fileencodings'* *'fencs'*
2580 'fileencodings' 'fencs' string (default: "ucs-bom",
2581 "ucs-bom,utf-8,default,latin1" when
2582 'encoding' is set to a Unicode value)
2583 global
2584 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2585 feature}
2586 {not in Vi}
2587 This is a list of character encodings considered when starting to edit
2588 an existing file. When a file is read, Vim tries to use the first
2589 mentioned character encoding. If an error is detected, the next one
2590 in the list is tried. When an encoding is found that works,
2591 'fileencoding' is set to it. If all fail, 'fileencoding' is set to
2592 an empty string, which means the value of 'encoding' is used.
2593 WARNING: Conversion can cause loss of information! When
2594 'encoding' is "utf-8" (or one of the other Unicode variants)
2595 conversion is most likely done in a way that the reverse
2596 conversion results in the same text. When 'encoding' is not
2597 "utf-8" some non-ASCII characters may be lost! You can use
2598 the |++bad| argument to specify what is done with characters
2599 that can't be converted.
2600 For an empty file or a file with only ASCII characters most encodings
2601 will work and the first entry of 'fileencodings' will be used (except
2602 "ucs-bom", which requires the BOM to be present). If you prefer
2603 another encoding use an BufReadPost autocommand event to test if your
2604 preferred encoding is to be used. Example: >
2605 au BufReadPost * if search('\S', 'w') == 0 |
2606 \ set fenc=iso-2022-jp | endif
2607 < This sets 'fileencoding' to "iso-2022-jp" if the file does not contain
2608 non-blank characters.
2609 When the |++enc| argument is used then the value of 'fileencodings' is
2610 not used.
2611 Note that 'fileencodings' is not used for a new file, the global value
2612 of 'fileencoding' is used instead. You can set it with: >
2613 :setglobal fenc=iso-8859-2
2614 < This means that a non-existing file may get a different encoding than
2615 an empty file.
2616 The special value "ucs-bom" can be used to check for a Unicode BOM
2617 (Byte Order Mark) at the start of the file. It must not be preceded
2618 by "utf-8" or another Unicode encoding for this to work properly.
2619 An entry for an 8-bit encoding (e.g., "latin1") should be the last,
2620 because Vim cannot detect an error, thus the encoding is always
2621 accepted.
2622 The special value "default" can be used for the encoding from the
2623 environment. This is the default value for 'encoding'. It is useful
2624 when 'encoding' is set to "utf-8" and your environment uses a
2625 non-latin1 encoding, such as Russian.
2626 When 'encoding' is "utf-8" and a file contains an illegal byte
2627 sequence it won't be recognized as UTF-8. You can use the |8g8|
2628 command to find the illegal byte sequence.
2629 WRONG VALUES: WHAT'S WRONG:
2630 latin1,utf-8 "latin1" will always be used
2631 utf-8,ucs-bom,latin1 BOM won't be recognized in an utf-8
2632 file
2633 cp1250,latin1 "cp1250" will always be used
2634 If 'fileencodings' is empty, 'fileencoding' is not modified.
2635 See 'fileencoding' for the possible values.
2636 Setting this option does not have an effect until the next time a file
2637 is read.
2639 *'fileformat'* *'ff'*
2640 'fileformat' 'ff' string (MS-DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2 default: "dos",
2641 Unix default: "unix",
2642 Macintosh default: "mac")
2643 local to buffer
2644 {not in Vi}
2645 This gives the <EOL> of the current buffer, which is used for
2646 reading/writing the buffer from/to a file:
2647 dos <CR> <NL>
2648 unix <NL>
2649 mac <CR>
2650 When "dos" is used, CTRL-Z at the end of a file is ignored.
2651 See |file-formats| and |file-read|.
2652 For the character encoding of the file see 'fileencoding'.
2653 When 'binary' is set, the value of 'fileformat' is ignored, file I/O
2654 works like it was set to "unix'.
2655 This option is set automatically when starting to edit a file and
2656 'fileformats' is not empty and 'binary' is off.
2657 When this option is set, after starting to edit a file, the 'modified'
2658 option is set, because the file would be different when written.
2659 This option can not be changed when 'modifiable' is off.
2660 For backwards compatibility: When this option is set to "dos",
2661 'textmode' is set, otherwise 'textmode' is reset.
2663 *'fileformats'* *'ffs'*
2664 'fileformats' 'ffs' string (default:
2665 Vim+Vi MS-DOS, MS-Windows OS/2: "dos,unix",
2666 Vim Unix: "unix,dos",
2667 Vim Mac: "mac,unix,dos",
2668 Vi Cygwin: "unix,dos",
2669 Vi others: "")
2670 global
2671 {not in Vi}
2672 This gives the end-of-line (<EOL>) formats that will be tried when
2673 starting to edit a new buffer and when reading a file into an existing
2674 buffer:
2675 - When empty, the format defined with 'fileformat' will be used
2676 always. It is not set automatically.
2677 - When set to one name, that format will be used whenever a new buffer
2678 is opened. 'fileformat' is set accordingly for that buffer. The
2679 'fileformats' name will be used when a file is read into an existing
2680 buffer, no matter what 'fileformat' for that buffer is set to.
2681 - When more than one name is present, separated by commas, automatic
2682 <EOL> detection will be done when reading a file. When starting to
2683 edit a file, a check is done for the <EOL>:
2684 1. If all lines end in <CR><NL>, and 'fileformats' includes "dos",
2685 'fileformat' is set to "dos".
2686 2. If a <NL> is found and 'fileformats' includes "unix", 'fileformat'
2687 is set to "unix". Note that when a <NL> is found without a
2688 preceding <CR>, "unix" is preferred over "dos".
2689 3. If 'fileformats' includes "mac", 'fileformat' is set to "mac".
2690 This means that "mac" is only chosen when "unix" is not present,
2691 or when no <NL> is found in the file, and when "dos" is not
2692 present, or no <CR><NL> is present in the file.
2693 Also if "unix" was first chosen, but the first <CR> is before
2694 the first <NL> and there appears to be more <CR>'s than <NL>'s in
2695 the file, then 'fileformat' is set to "mac".
2696 4. If 'fileformat' is still not set, the first name from
2697 'fileformats' is used.
2698 When reading a file into an existing buffer, the same is done, but
2699 this happens like 'fileformat' has been set appropriately for that
2700 file only, the option is not changed.
2701 When 'binary' is set, the value of 'fileformats' is not used.
2703 For systems with a Dos-like <EOL> (<CR><NL>), when reading files that
2704 are ":source"ed and for vimrc files, automatic <EOL> detection may be
2705 done:
2706 - When 'fileformats' is empty, there is no automatic detection. Dos
2707 format will be used.
2708 - When 'fileformats' is set to one or more names, automatic detection
2709 is done. This is based on the first <NL> in the file: If there is a
2710 <CR> in front of it, Dos format is used, otherwise Unix format is
2711 used.
2712 Also see |file-formats|.
2713 For backwards compatibility: When this option is set to an empty
2714 string or one format (no comma is included), 'textauto' is reset,
2715 otherwise 'textauto' is set.
2716 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
2717 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
2719 *'filetype'* *'ft'*
2720 'filetype' 'ft' string (default: "")
2721 local to buffer
2722 {not in Vi}
2723 {not available when compiled without the |+autocmd|
2724 feature}
2725 When this option is set, the FileType autocommand event is triggered.
2726 All autocommands that match with the value of this option will be
2727 executed. Thus the value of 'filetype' is used in place of the file
2728 name.
2729 Otherwise this option does not always reflect the current file type.
2730 This option is normally set when the file type is detected. To enable
2731 this use the ":filetype on" command. |:filetype|
2732 Setting this option to a different value is most useful in a modeline,
2733 for a file for which the file type is not automatically recognized.
2734 Example, for in an IDL file:
2735 /* vim: set filetype=idl : */ ~
2736 |FileType| |filetypes|
2737 When a dot appears in the value then this separates two filetype
2738 names. Example:
2739 /* vim: set filetype=c.doxygen : */ ~
2740 This will use the "c" filetype first, then the "doxygen" filetype.
2741 This works both for filetype plugins and for syntax files. More than
2742 one dot may appear.
2743 Do not confuse this option with 'osfiletype', which is for the file
2744 type that is actually stored with the file.
2745 This option is not copied to another buffer, independent of the 's' or
2746 'S' flag in 'cpoptions'.
2747 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
2749 *'fillchars'* *'fcs'*
2750 'fillchars' 'fcs' string (default "vert:|,fold:-")
2751 global
2752 {not in Vi}
2753 {not available when compiled without the |+windows|
2754 and |+folding| features}
2755 Characters to fill the statuslines and vertical separators.
2756 It is a comma separated list of items:
2758 item default Used for ~
2759 stl:c ' ' or '^' statusline of the current window
2760 stlnc:c ' ' or '-' statusline of the non-current windows
2761 vert:c '|' vertical separators |:vsplit|
2762 fold:c '-' filling 'foldtext'
2763 diff:c '-' deleted lines of the 'diff' option
2765 Any one that is omitted will fall back to the default. For "stl" and
2766 "stlnc" the space will be used when there is highlighting, '^' or '-'
2767 otherwise.
2769 Example: >
2770 :set fillchars=stl:^,stlnc:-,vert:\|,fold:-,diff:-
2771 < This is similar to the default, except that these characters will also
2772 be used when there is highlighting.
2774 for "stl" and "stlnc" only single-byte values are supported.
2776 The highlighting used for these items:
2777 item highlight group ~
2778 stl:c StatusLine |hl-StatusLine|
2779 stlnc:c StatusLineNC |hl-StatusLineNC|
2780 vert:c VertSplit |hl-VertSplit|
2781 fold:c Folded |hl-Folded|
2782 diff:c DiffDelete |hl-DiffDelete|
2784 *'fkmap'* *'fk'* *'nofkmap'* *'nofk'*
2785 'fkmap' 'fk' boolean (default off) *E198*
2786 global
2787 {not in Vi}
2788 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
2789 feature}
2790 When on, the keyboard is mapped for the Farsi character set.
2791 Normally you would set 'allowrevins' and use CTRL-_ in insert mode to
2792 toggle this option |i_CTRL-_|. See |farsi.txt|.
2794 *'foldclose'* *'fcl'*
2795 'foldclose' 'fcl' string (default "")
2796 global
2797 {not in Vi}
2798 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2799 feature}
2800 When set to "all", a fold is closed when the cursor isn't in it and
2801 its level is higher than 'foldlevel'. Useful if you want folds to
2802 automatically close when moving out of them.
2804 *'foldcolumn'* *'fdc'*
2805 'foldcolumn' 'fdc' number (default 0)
2806 local to window
2807 {not in Vi}
2808 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2809 feature}
2810 When non-zero, a column with the specified width is shown at the side
2811 of the window which indicates open and closed folds. The maximum
2812 value is 12.
2813 See |folding|.
2815 *'foldenable'* *'fen'* *'nofoldenable'* *'nofen'*
2816 'foldenable' 'fen' boolean (default on)
2817 local to window
2818 {not in Vi}
2819 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2820 feature}
2821 When off, all folds are open. This option can be used to quickly
2822 switch between showing all text unfolded and viewing the text with
2823 folds (including manually opened or closed folds). It can be toggled
2824 with the |zi| command. The 'foldcolumn' will remain blank when
2825 'foldenable' is off.
2826 This option is set by commands that create a new fold or close a fold.
2827 See |folding|.
2829 *'foldexpr'* *'fde'*
2830 'foldexpr' 'fde' string (default: "0")
2831 local to window
2832 {not in Vi}
2833 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2834 or |+eval| feature}
2835 The expression used for when 'foldmethod' is "expr". It is evaluated
2836 for each line to obtain its fold level. See |fold-expr|.
2838 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
2839 |sandbox-option|.
2841 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
2842 evaluating 'foldexpr' |textlock|.
2844 *'foldignore'* *'fdi'*
2845 'foldignore' 'fdi' string (default: "#")
2846 local to window
2847 {not in Vi}
2848 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2849 feature}
2850 Used only when 'foldmethod' is "indent". Lines starting with
2851 characters in 'foldignore' will get their fold level from surrounding
2852 lines. White space is skipped before checking for this character.
2853 The default "#" works well for C programs. See |fold-indent|.
2855 *'foldlevel'* *'fdl'*
2856 'foldlevel' 'fdl' number (default: 0)
2857 local to window
2858 {not in Vi}
2859 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2860 feature}
2861 Sets the fold level: Folds with a higher level will be closed.
2862 Setting this option to zero will close all folds. Higher numbers will
2863 close fewer folds.
2864 This option is set by commands like |zm|, |zM| and |zR|.
2865 See |fold-foldlevel|.
2867 *'foldlevelstart'* *'fdls'*
2868 'foldlevelstart' 'fdls' number (default: -1)
2869 global
2870 {not in Vi}
2871 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2872 feature}
2873 Sets 'foldlevel' when starting to edit another buffer in a window.
2874 Useful to always start editing with all folds closed (value zero),
2875 some folds closed (one) or no folds closed (99).
2876 This is done before reading any modeline, thus a setting in a modeline
2877 overrules this option. Starting to edit a file for |diff-mode| also
2878 ignores this option and closes all folds.
2879 It is also done before BufReadPre autocommands, to allow an autocmd to
2880 overrule the 'foldlevel' value for specific files.
2881 When the value is negative, it is not used.
2883 *'foldmarker'* *'fmr'* *E536*
2884 'foldmarker' 'fmr' string (default: "{{{,}}}")
2885 local to window
2886 {not in Vi}
2887 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2888 feature}
2889 The start and end marker used when 'foldmethod' is "marker". There
2890 must be one comma, which separates the start and end marker. The
2891 marker is a literal string (a regular expression would be too slow).
2892 See |fold-marker|.
2894 *'foldmethod'* *'fdm'*
2895 'foldmethod' 'fdm' string (default: "manual")
2896 local to window
2897 {not in Vi}
2898 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2899 feature}
2900 The kind of folding used for the current window. Possible values:
2901 |fold-manual| manual Folds are created manually.
2902 |fold-indent| indent Lines with equal indent form a fold.
2903 |fold-expr| expr 'foldexpr' gives the fold level of a line.
2904 |fold-marker| marker Markers are used to specify folds.
2905 |fold-syntax| syntax Syntax highlighting items specify folds.
2906 |fold-diff| diff Fold text that is not changed.
2908 *'foldminlines'* *'fml'*
2909 'foldminlines' 'fml' number (default: 1)
2910 local to window
2911 {not in Vi}
2912 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2913 feature}
2914 Sets the minimum number of screen lines for a fold to be displayed
2915 closed. Also for manually closed folds.
2916 Note that this only has an effect of what is displayed. After using
2917 "zc" to close a fold, which is displayed open because it's smaller
2918 than 'foldminlines', a following "zc" may close a containing fold.
2920 *'foldnestmax'* *'fdn'*
2921 'foldnestmax' 'fdn' number (default: 20)
2922 local to window
2923 {not in Vi}
2924 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2925 feature}
2926 Sets the maximum nesting of folds for the "indent" and "syntax"
2927 methods. This avoids that too many folds will be created. Using more
2928 than 20 doesn't work, because the internal limit is 20.
2930 *'foldopen'* *'fdo'*
2931 'foldopen' 'fdo' string (default: "block,hor,mark,percent,quickfix,
2932 search,tag,undo")
2933 global
2934 {not in Vi}
2935 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2936 feature}
2937 Specifies for which type of commands folds will be opened, if the
2938 command moves the cursor into a closed fold. It is a comma separated
2939 list of items.
2940 item commands ~
2941 all any
2942 block "(", "{", "[[", "[{", etc.
2943 hor horizontal movements: "l", "w", "fx", etc.
2944 insert any command in Insert mode
2945 jump far jumps: "G", "gg", etc.
2946 mark jumping to a mark: "'m", CTRL-O, etc.
2947 percent "%"
2948 quickfix ":cn", ":crew", ":make", etc.
2949 search search for a pattern: "/", "n", "*", "gd", etc.
2950 (not for a search pattern in a ":" command)
2951 Also for |[s| and |]s|.
2952 tag jumping to a tag: ":ta", CTRL-T, etc.
2953 undo undo or redo: "u" and CTRL-R
2954 When the command is part of a mapping this option is not used. Add
2955 the |zv| command to the mapping to get the same effect.
2956 When a movement command is used for an operator (e.g., "dl" or "y%")
2957 this option is not used. This means the operator will include the
2958 whole closed fold.
2959 Note that vertical movements are not here, because it would make it
2960 very difficult to move onto a closed fold.
2961 In insert mode the folds containing the cursor will always be open
2962 when text is inserted.
2963 To close folds you can re-apply 'foldlevel' with the |zx| command or
2964 set the 'foldclose' option to "all".
2966 *'foldtext'* *'fdt'*
2967 'foldtext' 'fdt' string (default: "foldtext()")
2968 local to window
2969 {not in Vi}
2970 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2971 feature}
2972 An expression which is used to specify the text displayed for a closed
2973 fold. See |fold-foldtext|.
2975 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
2976 |sandbox-option|.
2978 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
2979 evaluating 'foldtext' |textlock|.
2981 *'formatoptions'* *'fo'*
2982 'formatoptions' 'fo' string (Vim default: "tcq", Vi default: "vt")
2983 local to buffer
2984 {not in Vi}
2985 This is a sequence of letters which describes how automatic
2986 formatting is to be done. See |fo-table|. When the 'paste' option is
2987 on, no formatting is done (like 'formatoptions' is empty). Commas can
2988 be inserted for readability.
2989 To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the
2990 "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.
2991 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
2992 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
2994 *'formatlistpat'* *'flp'*
2995 'formatlistpat' 'flp' string (default: "^\s*\d\+[\]:.)}\t ]\s*")
2996 local to buffer
2997 {not in Vi}
2998 A pattern that is used to recognize a list header. This is used for
2999 the "n" flag in 'formatoptions'.
3000 The pattern must match exactly the text that will be the indent for
3001 the line below it. You can use |/\ze| to mark the end of the match
3002 while still checking more characters. There must be a character
3003 following the pattern, when it matches the whole line it is handled
3004 like there is no match.
3005 The default recognizes a number, followed by an optional punctuation
3006 character and white space.
3008 *'formatprg'* *'fp'*
3009 'formatprg' 'fp' string (default "")
3010 global
3011 {not in Vi}
3012 The name of an external program that will be used to format the lines
3013 selected with the |gq| operator. The program must take the input on
3014 stdin and produce the output on stdout. The Unix program "fmt" is
3015 such a program.
3016 If the 'formatexpr' option is not empty it will be used instead.
3017 Otherwise, if 'formatprg' option is an empty string, the internal
3018 format function will be used |C-indenting|.
3019 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash|
3020 about including spaces and backslashes.
3021 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3022 |sandbox-option|.
3024 *'formatexpr'* *'fex'*
3025 'formatexpr' 'fex' string (default "")
3026 local to buffer
3027 {not in Vi}
3028 {not available when compiled without the |+eval|
3029 feature}
3030 Expression which is evaluated to format a range of lines for the |gq|
3031 operator. When this option is empty 'formatprg' is used.
3033 The |v:lnum| variable holds the first line to be formatted.
3034 The |v:count| variable holds the number of lines to be formatted.
3035 The |v:char| variable holds the character that is going to be
3036 inserted. This can be empty. Don't insert it yet!
3038 Example: >
3039 :set formatexpr=mylang#Format()
3040 < This will invoke the mylang#Format() function in the
3041 autoload/mylang.vim file in 'runtimepath'. |autoload|
3043 The expression is also evaluated when 'textwidth' is set and adding
3044 text beyond that limit. This happens under the same conditions as
3045 when internal formatting is used. Make sure the cursor is kept in the
3046 same spot relative to the text then! The |mode()| function will
3047 return "i" or "R" in this situation. When the function returns
3048 non-zero Vim will fall back to using the internal format mechanism.
3050 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3051 |sandbox-option|.
3053 *'fsync'* *'fs'* *'nofsync'* *'nofs'*
3054 'fsync' 'fs' boolean (default on)
3055 global
3056 {not in Vi}
3057 When on, the library function fsync() will be called after writing a
3058 file. This will flush a file to disk, ensuring that it is safely
3059 written even on filesystems which do metadata-only journaling. This
3060 will force the harddrive to spin up on Linux systems running in laptop
3061 mode, so it may be undesirable in some situations. Be warned that
3062 turning this off increases the chances of data loss after a crash. On
3063 systems without an fsync() implementation, this variable is always
3064 off.
3065 Also see 'swapsync' for controlling fsync() on swap files.
3067 *'fullscreen'* *'fu'* *'nofullscreen'* *'nofu'*
3068 'fullscreen' 'fu' boolean (default off)
3069 global
3070 {not in Vi}
3071 {only in MacVim GUI}
3072 When this option is set, the whole screen is covered by Vim. Screen
3073 decorations drawn by the operating system (such as the dock or the
3074 menu bar) are hidden. Most of Vim's window chrome is hidden as well
3075 (e.g. toolbar, title bar). The tab bar and scroll bars remain visible.
3076 Updates to the window position are ignored in fullscreen mode.
3078 See 'fuoptions' for how Vim resizes when entering and leaving
3079 fullscreen mode.
3081 XXX: Add fuenter/fuleave autocommands? You might want to display
3082 a NERDTree or a Tlist only in fullscreen for example. Then again, this
3083 could probably be in a sizechanged autocommand that triggers if the
3084 size is above a certain threshold.
3085 XXX: Think about how 'fullscreen' and 'transparency' should interact.
3087 *'fuoptions'* *'fuopt'*
3088 'fuoptions' 'fuopt' string (default "maxvert")
3089 global
3090 {not in Vi}
3091 {only in MacVim GUI}
3092 In fullscreen mode, most of the screen is black, only a part of the
3093 screen is covered by the actual Vim control. The control is centered.
3094 This option controls the size of the Vim control.
3095 value effect ~
3096 maxvert When entering fullscreen, 'lines' is set to the maximum number
3097 of lines fitting on the screen in fullscreen mode. When
3098 leaving fullscreen, if 'lines' is still equal to the maximized
3099 number of lines, it is restored to the value it had before
3100 entering fullscreen.
3101 maxhorz When entering fullscreen, 'columns' is set to the maximum number
3102 of columns fitting on the screen in fullscreen mode. When
3103 leaving fullscreen, if 'columns' is still equal to the maximized
3104 number of columns, it is restored to the value it had before
3105 entering fullscreen.
3107 Examples:
3108 Don't change size of Vim when entering fullscreen: >
3109 :set fuoptions=
3110 < Maximize Vim when entering fullscreen: >
3111 :set fuoptions=maxvert,maxhorz
3112 <
3113 XXX: what if the font size is changed? you probably never want to
3114 restore the old 'lines' or 'columns' in that case.
3115 XXX: Each time the Vim window resizes (for example due to font size
3116 changes, re-maximize Vim to fullscreen?)
3117 XXX: The approach doesn't restore vertical Vim size if fu is entered
3118 without tabs and leaves with tabs (or the other way round).
3122 *'gdefault'* *'gd'* *'nogdefault'* *'nogd'*
3123 'gdefault' 'gd' boolean (default off)
3124 global
3125 {not in Vi}
3126 When on, the ":substitute" flag 'g' is default on. This means that
3127 all matches in a line are substituted instead of one. When a 'g' flag
3128 is given to a ":substitute" command, this will toggle the substitution
3129 of all or one match. See |complex-change|.
3131 command 'gdefault' on 'gdefault' off ~
3132 :s/// subst. all subst. one
3133 :s///g subst. one subst. all
3134 :s///gg subst. all subst. one
3136 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3138 *'grepformat'* *'gfm'*
3139 'grepformat' 'gfm' string (default "%f:%l%m,%f %l%m")
3140 global
3141 {not in Vi}
3142 Format to recognize for the ":grep" command output.
3143 This is a scanf-like string that uses the same format as the
3144 'errorformat' option: see |errorformat|.
3146 *'grepprg'* *'gp'*
3147 'grepprg' 'gp' string (default "grep -n ",
3148 Unix: "grep -n $* /dev/null",
3149 Win32: "findstr /n" or "grep -n",
3150 VMS: "SEARCH/NUMBERS ")
3151 global or local to buffer |global-local|
3152 {not in Vi}
3153 Program to use for the |:grep| command. This option may contain '%'
3154 and '#' characters, which are expanded like when used in a command-
3155 line. The placeholder "$*" is allowed to specify where the arguments
3156 will be included. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See
3157 |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
3158 When your "grep" accepts the "-H" argument, use this to make ":grep"
3159 also work well with a single file: >
3160 :set grepprg=grep\ -nH
3161 < Special value: When 'grepprg' is set to "internal" the |:grep| command
3162 works like |:vimgrep|, |:lgrep| like |:lvimgrep|, |:grepadd| like
3163 |:vimgrepadd| and |:lgrepadd| like |:lvimgrepadd|.
3164 See also the section |:make_makeprg|, since most of the comments there
3165 apply equally to 'grepprg'.
3166 For Win32, the default is "findstr /n" if "findstr.exe" can be found,
3167 otherwise it's "grep -n".
3168 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
3169 security reasons.
3171 *'guicursor'* *'gcr'* *E545* *E546* *E548* *E549*
3172 'guicursor' 'gcr' string (default "n-v-c:block-Cursor/lCursor,
3173 ve:ver35-Cursor,
3174 o:hor50-Cursor,
3175 i-ci:ver25-Cursor/lCursor,
3176 r-cr:hor20-Cursor/lCursor,
3177 sm:block-Cursor
3178 -blinkwait175-blinkoff150-blinkon175",
3179 for MS-DOS and Win32 console:
3180 "n-v-c:block,o:hor50,i-ci:hor15,
3181 r-cr:hor30,sm:block")
3182 global
3183 {not in Vi}
3184 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled, and
3185 for MS-DOS and Win32 console}
3186 This option tells Vim what the cursor should look like in different
3187 modes. It fully works in the GUI. In an MSDOS or Win32 console, only
3188 the height of the cursor can be changed. This can be done by
3189 specifying a block cursor, or a percentage for a vertical or
3190 horizontal cursor.
3191 For a console the 't_SI' and 't_EI' escape sequences are used.
3193 The option is a comma separated list of parts. Each part consist of a
3194 mode-list and an argument-list:
3195 mode-list:argument-list,mode-list:argument-list,..
3196 The mode-list is a dash separated list of these modes:
3197 n Normal mode
3198 v Visual mode
3199 ve Visual mode with 'selection' "exclusive" (same as 'v',
3200 if not specified)
3201 o Operator-pending mode
3202 i Insert mode
3203 r Replace mode
3204 c Command-line Normal (append) mode
3205 ci Command-line Insert mode
3206 cr Command-line Replace mode
3207 sm showmatch in Insert mode
3208 a all modes
3209 The argument-list is a dash separated list of these arguments:
3210 hor{N} horizontal bar, {N} percent of the character height
3211 ver{N} vertical bar, {N} percent of the character width
3212 block block cursor, fills the whole character
3213 [only one of the above three should be present]
3214 blinkwait{N} *cursor-blinking*
3215 blinkon{N}
3216 blinkoff{N}
3217 blink times for cursor: blinkwait is the delay before
3218 the cursor starts blinking, blinkon is the time that
3219 the cursor is shown and blinkoff is the time that the
3220 cursor is not shown. The times are in msec. When one
3221 of the numbers is zero, there is no blinking. The
3222 default is: "blinkwait700-blinkon400-blinkoff250".
3223 These numbers are used for a missing entry. This
3224 means that blinking is enabled by default. To switch
3225 blinking off you can use "blinkon0". The cursor only
3226 blinks when Vim is waiting for input, not while
3227 executing a command.
3228 To make the cursor blink in an xterm, see
3229 |xterm-blink|.
3230 {group-name}
3231 a highlight group name, that sets the color and font
3232 for the cursor
3233 {group-name}/{group-name}
3234 Two highlight group names, the first is used when
3235 no language mappings are used, the other when they
3236 are. |language-mapping|
3238 Examples of parts:
3239 n-c-v:block-nCursor in Normal, Command-line and Visual mode, use a
3240 block cursor with colors from the "nCursor"
3241 highlight group
3242 i-ci:ver30-iCursor-blinkwait300-blinkon200-blinkoff150
3243 In Insert and Command-line Insert mode, use a
3244 30% vertical bar cursor with colors from the
3245 "iCursor" highlight group. Blink a bit
3246 faster.
3248 The 'a' mode is different. It will set the given argument-list for
3249 all modes. It does not reset anything to defaults. This can be used
3250 to do a common setting for all modes. For example, to switch off
3251 blinking: "a:blinkon0"
3253 Examples of cursor highlighting: >
3254 :highlight Cursor gui=reverse guifg=NONE guibg=NONE
3255 :highlight Cursor gui=NONE guifg=bg guibg=fg
3256 <
3257 *'guifont'* *'gfn'*
3258 *E235* *E596* *E610* *E611*
3259 'guifont' 'gfn' string (default "")
3260 global
3261 {not in Vi}
3262 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3263 This is a list of fonts which will be used for the GUI version of Vim.
3264 In its simplest form the value is just one font name. When
3265 the font cannot be found you will get an error message. To try other
3266 font names a list can be specified, font names separated with commas.
3267 The first valid font is used.
3269 On systems where 'guifontset' is supported (X11) and 'guifontset' is
3270 not empty, then 'guifont' is not used.
3272 Spaces after a comma are ignored. To include a comma in a font name
3273 precede it with a backslash. Setting an option requires an extra
3274 backslash before a space and a backslash. See also
3275 |option-backslash|. For example: >
3276 :set guifont=Screen15,\ 7x13,font\\,with\\,commas
3277 < will make Vim try to use the font "Screen15" first, and if it fails it
3278 will try to use "7x13" and then "font,with,commas" instead.
3280 If none of the fonts can be loaded, Vim will keep the current setting.
3281 If an empty font list is given, Vim will try using other resource
3282 settings (for X, it will use the Vim.font resource), and finally it
3283 will try some builtin default which should always be there ("7x13" in
3284 the case of X). The font names given should be "normal" fonts. Vim
3285 will try to find the related bold and italic fonts.
3287 For Win32, GTK, Mac OS and Photon: >
3288 :set guifont=*
3289 < will bring up a font requester, where you can pick the font you want.
3290 In MacVim ":set guifont=*" calls: >
3291 :macaction orderFrontFontPanel:
3292 < which is the same as choosing "Show Fonts..." from the main menu.
3294 The font name depends on the GUI used. See |setting-guifont| for a
3295 way to set 'guifont' for various systems.
3297 For the GTK+ 2 GUI the font name looks like this: >
3298 :set guifont=Andale\ Mono\ 11
3299 < That's all. XLFDs are no longer accepted.
3301 For Mac OS X you can use something like this: >
3302 :set guifont=Monaco:h10
3303 < Also see 'macatsui', it can help fix display problems {not in MacVim}.
3304 In MacVim, fonts with spaces are set like this: >
3305 :set guifont=DejaVu\ Sans\ Mono:h13
3306 <
3307 *E236*
3308 Note that the fonts must be mono-spaced (all characters have the same
3309 width). An exception is MacVim and GTK 2: all fonts are accepted, but
3310 mono-spaced fonts look best.
3312 To preview a font on X11, you might be able to use the "xfontsel"
3313 program. The "xlsfonts" program gives a list of all available fonts.
3315 For the Win32 GUI *E244* *E245*
3316 - takes these options in the font name:
3317 hXX - height is XX (points, can be floating-point)
3318 wXX - width is XX (points, can be floating-point)
3319 b - bold
3320 i - italic
3321 u - underline
3322 s - strikeout
3323 cXX - character set XX. Valid charsets are: ANSI, ARABIC,
3324 BALTIC, CHINESEBIG5, DEFAULT, EASTEUROPE, GB2312, GREEK,
3325 HANGEUL, HEBREW, JOHAB, MAC, OEM, RUSSIAN, SHIFTJIS,
3326 SYMBOL, THAI, TURKISH, VIETNAMESE ANSI and BALTIC.
3327 Normally you would use "cDEFAULT".
3329 Use a ':' to separate the options.
3330 - A '_' can be used in the place of a space, so you don't need to use
3331 backslashes to escape the spaces.
3332 - Examples: >
3333 :set guifont=courier_new:h12:w5:b:cRUSSIAN
3334 :set guifont=Andale_Mono:h7.5:w4.5
3335 < See also |font-sizes|.
3337 *'guifontset'* *'gfs'*
3338 *E250* *E252* *E234* *E597* *E598*
3339 'guifontset' 'gfs' string (default "")
3340 global
3341 {not in Vi}
3342 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled and
3343 with the |+xfontset| feature}
3344 {not available in the GTK+ 2 GUI}
3345 When not empty, specifies two (or more) fonts to be used. The first
3346 one for normal English, the second one for your special language. See
3347 |xfontset|.
3348 Setting this option also means that all font names will be handled as
3349 a fontset name. Also the ones used for the "font" argument of the
3350 |:highlight| command.
3351 The fonts must match with the current locale. If fonts for the
3352 character sets that the current locale uses are not included, setting
3353 'guifontset' will fail.
3354 Note the difference between 'guifont' and 'guifontset': In 'guifont'
3355 the comma-separated names are alternative names, one of which will be
3356 used. In 'guifontset' the whole string is one fontset name,
3357 including the commas. It is not possible to specify alternative
3358 fontset names.
3359 This example works on many X11 systems: >
3360 :set guifontset=-*-*-medium-r-normal--16-*-*-*-c-*-*-*
3361 <
3362 *'guifontwide'* *'gfw'* *E231* *E533* *E534*
3363 'guifontwide' 'gfw' string (default "")
3364 global
3365 {not in Vi}
3366 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3367 When not empty, specifies a comma-separated list of fonts to be used
3368 for double-width characters. The first font that can be loaded is
3369 used.
3370 Note: The size of these fonts must be exactly twice as wide as the one
3371 specified with 'guifont' and the same height.
3373 All GUI versions but MacVim and GTK+ 2:
3375 'guifontwide' is only used when 'encoding' is set to "utf-8" and
3376 'guifontset' is empty or invalid.
3377 When 'guifont' is set and a valid font is found in it and
3378 'guifontwide' is empty Vim will attempt to find a matching
3379 double-width font and set 'guifontwide' to it.
3381 MacVim only: *guifontwide_macvim*
3383 MacVim performs automatic font substitution. If 'guifontwide' is set,
3384 that font will be used for all wide fonts. However, if a glyph is
3385 not available in the wide font, then font substitution is still used.
3387 GTK+ 2 GUI only: *guifontwide_gtk2*
3389 If set and valid, 'guifontwide' is always used for double width
3390 characters, even if 'encoding' is not set to "utf-8".
3391 Vim does not attempt to find an appropriate value for 'guifontwide'
3392 automatically. If 'guifontwide' is empty Pango/Xft will choose the
3393 font for characters not available in 'guifont'. Thus you do not need
3394 to set 'guifontwide' at all unless you want to override the choice
3395 made by Pango/Xft.
3397 *'guiheadroom'* *'ghr'*
3398 'guiheadroom' 'ghr' number (default 50)
3399 global
3400 {not in Vi} {only for GTK and X11 GUI}
3401 The number of pixels subtracted from the screen height when fitting
3402 the GUI window on the screen. Set this before the GUI is started,
3403 e.g., in your |gvimrc| file. When zero, the whole screen height will
3404 be used by the window. When positive, the specified number of pixel
3405 lines will be left for window decorations and other items on the
3406 screen. Set it to a negative value to allow windows taller than the
3407 screen.
3409 *'guioptions'* *'go'*
3410 'guioptions' 'go' string (default "gmrLtT" (MS-Windows),
3411 "agimrLtT" (GTK, Motif and Athena))
3412 global
3413 {not in Vi}
3414 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3415 This option only has an effect in the GUI version of Vim. It is a
3416 sequence of letters which describes what components and options of the
3417 GUI should be used.
3418 To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the
3419 "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.
3421 Valid letters are as follows:
3422 *guioptions_a* *'go-a'*
3423 'a' Autoselect: If present, then whenever VISUAL mode is started,
3424 or the Visual area extended, Vim tries to become the owner of
3425 the windowing system's global selection. This means that the
3426 Visually highlighted text is available for pasting into other
3427 applications as well as into Vim itself. When the Visual mode
3428 ends, possibly due to an operation on the text, or when an
3429 application wants to paste the selection, the highlighted text
3430 is automatically yanked into the "* selection register.
3431 Thus the selection is still available for pasting into other
3432 applications after the VISUAL mode has ended.
3433 If not present, then Vim won't become the owner of the
3434 windowing system's global selection unless explicitly told to
3435 by a yank or delete operation for the "* register.
3436 The same applies to the modeless selection.
3437 *'go-A'*
3438 'A' Autoselect for the modeless selection. Like 'a', but only
3439 applies to the modeless selection.
3441 'guioptions' autoselect Visual autoselect modeless ~
3442 "" - -
3443 "a" yes yes
3444 "A" - yes
3445 "aA" yes yes
3447 *'go-c'*
3448 'c' Use console dialogs instead of popup dialogs for simple
3449 choices.
3450 *'go-e'*
3451 'e' Add tab pages when indicated with 'showtabline'.
3452 'guitablabel' can be used to change the text in the labels.
3453 When 'e' is missing a non-GUI tab pages line may be used.
3454 The GUI tabs are only supported on some systems, currently
3455 GTK, Motif, Mac OS/X and MS-Windows.
3456 *'go-f'*
3457 'f' Foreground: Don't use fork() to detach the GUI from the shell
3458 where it was started. Use this for programs that wait for the
3459 editor to finish (e.g., an e-mail program). Alternatively you
3460 can use "gvim -f" or ":gui -f" to start the GUI in the
3461 foreground. |gui-fork|
3462 Note: Set this option in the vimrc file. The forking may have
3463 happened already when the |gvimrc| file is read.
3464 *'go-i'*
3465 'i' Use a Vim icon. For GTK with KDE it is used in the left-upper
3466 corner of the window. It's black&white on non-GTK, because of
3467 limitations of X11. For a color icon, see |X11-icon|.
3468 *'go-m'*
3469 'm' Menu bar is present.
3470 *'go-M'*
3471 'M' The system menu "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim" is not sourced. Note
3472 that this flag must be added in the .vimrc file, before
3473 switching on syntax or filetype recognition (when the |gvimrc|
3474 file is sourced the system menu has already been loaded; the
3475 ":syntax on" and ":filetype on" commands load the menu too).
3476 *'go-g'*
3477 'g' Grey menu items: Make menu items that are not active grey. If
3478 'g' is not included inactive menu items are not shown at all.
3479 Exception: Athena will always use grey menu items.
3480 *'go-t'*
3481 't' Include tearoff menu items. Currently only works for Win32,
3482 GTK+, and Motif 1.2 GUI.
3483 *'go-T'*
3484 'T' Include Toolbar. Currently only in Win32, GTK+, Motif, Photon
3485 and Athena GUIs.
3486 *'go-r'*
3487 'r' Right-hand scrollbar is always present.
3488 *'go-R'*
3489 'R' Right-hand scrollbar is present when there is a vertically
3490 split window.
3491 *'go-l'*
3492 'l' Left-hand scrollbar is always present.
3493 *'go-L'*
3494 'L' Left-hand scrollbar is present when there is a vertically
3495 split window.
3496 *'go-b'*
3497 'b' Bottom (horizontal) scrollbar is present. Its size depends on
3498 the longest visible line, or on the cursor line if the 'h'
3499 flag is included. |gui-horiz-scroll|
3500 *'go-h'*
3501 'h' Limit horizontal scrollbar size to the length of the cursor
3502 line. Reduces computations. |gui-horiz-scroll|
3504 And yes, you may even have scrollbars on the left AND the right if
3505 you really want to :-). See |gui-scrollbars| for more information.
3507 *'go-v'*
3508 'v' Use a vertical button layout for dialogs. When not included,
3509 a horizontal layout is preferred, but when it doesn't fit a
3510 vertical layout is used anyway.
3511 *'go-p'*
3512 'p' Use Pointer callbacks for X11 GUI. This is required for some
3513 window managers. If the cursor is not blinking or hollow at
3514 the right moment, try adding this flag. This must be done
3515 before starting the GUI. Set it in your |gvimrc|. Adding or
3516 removing it after the GUI has started has no effect.
3517 *'go-F'*
3518 'F' Add a footer. Only for Motif. See |gui-footer|.
3521 *'guipty'* *'noguipty'*
3522 'guipty' boolean (default on)
3523 global
3524 {not in Vi}
3525 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3526 Only in the GUI: If on, an attempt is made to open a pseudo-tty for
3527 I/O to/from shell commands. See |gui-pty|.
3529 *'guitablabel'* *'gtl'*
3530 'guitablabel' 'gtl' string (default empty)
3531 global
3532 {not in Vi}
3533 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled and
3534 with the +windows feature}
3535 When nonempty describes the text to use in a label of the GUI tab
3536 pages line. When empty and when the result is empty Vim will use a
3537 default label. See |setting-guitablabel| for more info.
3539 The format of this option is like that of 'statusline'.
3540 'guitabtooltip' is used for the tooltip, see below.
3542 Only used when the GUI tab pages line is displayed. 'e' must be
3543 present in 'guioptions'. For the non-GUI tab pages line 'tabline' is
3544 used.
3546 *'guitabtooltip'* *'gtt'*
3547 'guitabtooltip' 'gtt' string (default empty)
3548 global
3549 {not in Vi}
3550 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled and
3551 with the +windows feature}
3552 When nonempty describes the text to use in a tooltip for the GUI tab
3553 pages line. When empty Vim will use a default tooltip.
3554 This option is otherwise just like 'guitablabel' above.
3557 *'helpfile'* *'hf'*
3558 'helpfile' 'hf' string (default (MSDOS) "$VIMRUNTIME\doc\help.txt"
3559 (others) "$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt")
3560 global
3561 {not in Vi}
3562 Name of the main help file. All distributed help files should be
3563 placed together in one directory. Additionally, all "doc" directories
3564 in 'runtimepath' will be used.
3565 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. For example:
3566 "$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt". If $VIMRUNTIME is not set, $VIM is also
3567 tried. Also see |$VIMRUNTIME| and |option-backslash| about including
3568 spaces and backslashes.
3569 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
3570 security reasons.
3572 *'helpheight'* *'hh'*
3573 'helpheight' 'hh' number (default 20)
3574 global
3575 {not in Vi}
3576 {not available when compiled without the +windows
3577 feature}
3578 Minimal initial height of the help window when it is opened with the
3579 ":help" command. The initial height of the help window is half of the
3580 current window, or (when the 'ea' option is on) the same as other
3581 windows. When the height is less than 'helpheight', the height is
3582 set to 'helpheight'. Set to zero to disable.
3584 *'helplang'* *'hlg'*
3585 'helplang' 'hlg' string (default: messages language or empty)
3586 global
3587 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_lang|
3588 feature}
3589 {not in Vi}
3590 Comma separated list of languages. Vim will use the first language
3591 for which the desired help can be found. The English help will always
3592 be used as a last resort. You can add "en" to prefer English over
3593 another language, but that will only find tags that exist in that
3594 language and not in the English help.
3595 Example: >
3596 :set helplang=de,it
3597 < This will first search German, then Italian and finally English help
3598 files.
3599 When using |CTRL-]| and ":help!" in a non-English help file Vim will
3600 try to find the tag in the current language before using this option.
3601 See |help-translated|.
3603 *'hidden'* *'hid'* *'nohidden'* *'nohid'*
3604 'hidden' 'hid' boolean (default off)
3605 global
3606 {not in Vi}
3607 When off a buffer is unloaded when it is |abandon|ed. When on a
3608 buffer becomes hidden when it is |abandon|ed. If the buffer is still
3609 displayed in another window, it does not become hidden, of course.
3610 The commands that move through the buffer list sometimes make a buffer
3611 hidden although the 'hidden' option is off: When the buffer is
3612 modified, 'autowrite' is off or writing is not possible, and the '!'
3613 flag was used. See also |windows.txt|.
3614 To only make one buffer hidden use the 'bufhidden' option.
3615 This option is set for one command with ":hide {command}" |:hide|.
3616 WARNING: It's easy to forget that you have changes in hidden buffers.
3617 Think twice when using ":q!" or ":qa!".
3619 *'highlight'* *'hl'*
3620 'highlight' 'hl' string (default (as a single string):
3621 "8:SpecialKey,@:NonText,d:Directory,
3622 e:ErrorMsg,i:IncSearch,l:Search,m:MoreMsg,
3623 M:ModeMsg,n:LineNr,r:Question,
3624 s:StatusLine,S:StatusLineNC,c:VertSplit,
3625 t:Title,v:Visual,w:WarningMsg,W:WildMenu,
3626 f:Folded,F:FoldColumn,A:DiffAdd,
3627 C:DiffChange,D:DiffDelete,T:DiffText,
3628 >:SignColumn,B:SpellBad,P:SpellCap,
3629 R:SpellRare,L:SpellLocal,
3630 +:Pmenu,=:PmenuSel,
3631 x:PmenuSbar,X:PmenuThumb")
3632 global
3633 {not in Vi}
3634 This option can be used to set highlighting mode for various
3635 occasions. It is a comma separated list of character pairs. The
3636 first character in a pair gives the occasion, the second the mode to
3637 use for that occasion. The occasions are:
3638 |hl-SpecialKey| 8 Meta and special keys listed with ":map"
3639 |hl-NonText| @ '~' and '@' at the end of the window and
3640 characters from 'showbreak'
3641 |hl-Directory| d directories in CTRL-D listing and other special
3642 things in listings
3643 |hl-ErrorMsg| e error messages
3644 h (obsolete, ignored)
3645 |hl-IncSearch| i 'incsearch' highlighting
3646 |hl-Search| l last search pattern highlighting (see 'hlsearch')
3647 |hl-MoreMsg| m |more-prompt|
3648 |hl-ModeMsg| M Mode (e.g., "-- INSERT --")
3649 |hl-LineNr| n line number for ":number" and ":#" commands
3650 |hl-Question| r |hit-enter| prompt and yes/no questions
3651 |hl-StatusLine| s status line of current window |status-line|
3652 |hl-StatusLineNC| S status lines of not-current windows
3653 |hl-Title| t Titles for output from ":set all", ":autocmd" etc.
3654 |hl-VertSplit| c column used to separate vertically split windows
3655 |hl-Visual| v Visual mode
3656 |hl-VisualNOS| V Visual mode when Vim does is "Not Owning the
3657 Selection" Only X11 Gui's |gui-x11| and
3658 |xterm-clipboard|.
3659 |hl-WarningMsg| w warning messages
3660 |hl-WildMenu| W wildcard matches displayed for 'wildmenu'
3661 |hl-Folded| f line used for closed folds
3662 |hl-FoldColumn| F 'foldcolumn'
3663 |hl-DiffAdd| A added line in diff mode
3664 |hl-DiffChange| C changed line in diff mode
3665 |hl-DiffDelete| D deleted line in diff mode
3666 |hl-DiffText| T inserted text in diff mode
3667 |hl-SignColumn| > column used for |signs|
3668 |hl-SpellBad| B misspelled word |spell|
3669 |hl-SpellCap| P word that should start with capital|spell|
3670 |hl-SpellRare| R rare word |spell|
3671 |hl-SpellLocal| L word from other region |spell|
3672 |hl-Pmenu| + popup menu normal line
3673 |hl-PmenuSel| = popup menu normal line
3674 |hl-PmenuSbar| x popup menu scrollbar
3675 |hl-PmenuThumb| X popup menu scrollbar thumb
3677 The display modes are:
3678 r reverse (termcap entry "mr" and "me")
3679 i italic (termcap entry "ZH" and "ZR")
3680 b bold (termcap entry "md" and "me")
3681 s standout (termcap entry "so" and "se")
3682 u underline (termcap entry "us" and "ue")
3683 c undercurl (termcap entry "Cs" and "Ce")
3684 n no highlighting
3685 - no highlighting
3686 : use a highlight group
3687 The default is used for occasions that are not included.
3688 If you want to change what the display modes do, see |dos-colors|
3689 for an example.
3690 When using the ':' display mode, this must be followed by the name of
3691 a highlight group. A highlight group can be used to define any type
3692 of highlighting, including using color. See |:highlight| on how to
3693 define one. The default uses a different group for each occasion.
3694 See |highlight-default| for the default highlight groups.
3696 *'hlsearch'* *'hls'* *'nohlsearch'* *'nohls'*
3697 'hlsearch' 'hls' boolean (default off)
3698 global
3699 {not in Vi}
3700 {not available when compiled without the
3701 |+extra_search| feature}
3702 When there is a previous search pattern, highlight all its matches.
3703 The type of highlighting used can be set with the 'l' occasion in the
3704 'highlight' option. This uses the "Search" highlight group by
3705 default. Note that only the matching text is highlighted, any offsets
3706 are not applied.
3707 See also: 'incsearch' and |:match|.
3708 When you get bored looking at the highlighted matches, you can turn it
3709 off with |:nohlsearch|. As soon as you use a search command, the
3710 highlighting comes back.
3711 'redrawtime' specifies the maximum time spent on finding matches.
3712 When the search pattern can match an end-of-line, Vim will try to
3713 highlight all of the matched text. However, this depends on where the
3714 search starts. This will be the first line in the window or the first
3715 line below a closed fold. A match in a previous line which is not
3716 drawn may not continue in a newly drawn line.
3717 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3719 *'history'* *'hi'*
3720 'history' 'hi' number (Vim default: 20, Vi default: 0)
3721 global
3722 {not in Vi}
3723 A history of ":" commands, and a history of previous search patterns
3724 are remembered. This option decides how many entries may be stored in
3725 each of these histories (see |cmdline-editing|).
3726 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
3727 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
3729 *'hkmap'* *'hk'* *'nohkmap'* *'nohk'*
3730 'hkmap' 'hk' boolean (default off)
3731 global
3732 {not in Vi}
3733 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
3734 feature}
3735 When on, the keyboard is mapped for the Hebrew character set.
3736 Normally you would set 'allowrevins' and use CTRL-_ in insert mode to
3737 toggle this option. See |rileft.txt|.
3738 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3740 *'hkmapp'* *'hkp'* *'nohkmapp'* *'nohkp'*
3741 'hkmapp' 'hkp' boolean (default off)
3742 global
3743 {not in Vi}
3744 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
3745 feature}
3746 When on, phonetic keyboard mapping is used. 'hkmap' must also be on.
3747 This is useful if you have a non-Hebrew keyboard.
3748 See |rileft.txt|.
3749 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3751 *'icon'* *'noicon'*
3752 'icon' boolean (default off, on when title can be restored)
3753 global
3754 {not in Vi}
3755 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
3756 feature}
3757 When on, the icon text of the window will be set to the value of
3758 'iconstring' (if it is not empty), or to the name of the file
3759 currently being edited. Only the last part of the name is used.
3760 Overridden by the 'iconstring' option.
3761 Only works if the terminal supports setting window icons (currently
3762 only X11 GUI and terminals with a non-empty 't_IS' option - these are
3763 Unix xterm and iris-ansi by default, where 't_IS' is taken from the
3764 builtin termcap).
3765 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original icon will be
3766 restored if possible |X11|. See |X11-icon| for changing the icon on
3767 X11.
3769 *'iconstring'*
3770 'iconstring' string (default "")
3771 global
3772 {not in Vi}
3773 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
3774 feature}
3775 When this option is not empty, it will be used for the icon text of
3776 the window. This happens only when the 'icon' option is on.
3777 Only works if the terminal supports setting window icon text
3778 (currently only X11 GUI and terminals with a non-empty 't_IS' option).
3779 Does not work for MS Windows.
3780 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original icon will be
3781 restored if possible |X11|.
3782 When this option contains printf-style '%' items, they will be
3783 expanded according to the rules used for 'statusline'. See
3784 'titlestring' for example settings.
3785 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline| feature}
3787 *'ignorecase'* *'ic'* *'noignorecase'* *'noic'*
3788 'ignorecase' 'ic' boolean (default off)
3789 global
3790 Ignore case in search patterns. Also used when searching in the tags
3791 file.
3792 Also see 'smartcase'.
3793 Can be overruled by using "\c" or "\C" in the pattern, see
3794 |/ignorecase|.
3796 *'imactivatekey'* *'imak'*
3797 'imactivatekey' 'imak' string (default "")
3798 global
3799 {not in Vi}
3800 {only available when compiled with |+xim| and
3801 |+GUI_GTK|}
3802 Specifies the key that your Input Method in X-Windows uses for
3803 activation. When this is specified correctly, vim can fully control
3804 IM with 'imcmdline', 'iminsert' and 'imsearch'.
3805 You can't use this option to change the activation key, the option
3806 tells Vim what the key is.
3807 Format:
3808 [MODIFIER_FLAG-]KEY_STRING
3810 These characters can be used for MODIFIER_FLAG (case is ignored):
3811 S Shift key
3812 L Lock key
3813 C Control key
3814 1 Mod1 key
3815 2 Mod2 key
3816 3 Mod3 key
3817 4 Mod4 key
3818 5 Mod5 key
3819 Combinations are allowed, for example "S-C-space" or "SC-space" are
3820 both shift+ctrl+space.
3821 See <X11/keysymdef.h> and XStringToKeysym for KEY_STRING.
3823 Example: >
3824 :set imactivatekey=S-space
3825 < "S-space" means shift+space. This is the activation key for kinput2 +
3826 canna (Japanese), and ami (Korean).
3828 *'imcmdline'* *'imc'* *'noimcmdline'* *'noimc'*
3829 'imcmdline' 'imc' boolean (default off)
3830 global
3831 {not in Vi}
3832 {only available when compiled with the |+xim|
3833 |+multi_byte_ime| or |global-ime| feature}
3834 When set the Input Method is always on when starting to edit a command
3835 line, unless entering a search pattern (see 'imsearch' for that).
3836 Setting this option is useful when your input method allows entering
3837 English characters directly, e.g., when it's used to type accented
3838 characters with dead keys.
3840 *'imdisable'* *'imd'* *'nodisable'* *'noimd'*
3841 'imdisable' 'imd' boolean (default off, on for some systems (SGI))
3842 global
3843 {not in Vi}
3844 {only available when compiled with the |+xim|
3845 |+multi_byte_ime| or |global-ime| feature}
3846 When set the Input Method is never used. This is useful to disable
3847 the IM when it doesn't work properly.
3848 Currently this option is on by default for SGI/IRIX machines. This
3849 may change in later releases.
3851 *'iminsert'* *'imi'*
3852 'iminsert' 'imi' number (default 0, 2 when an input method is supported)
3853 local to buffer
3854 {not in Vi}
3855 Specifies whether :lmap or an Input Method (IM) is to be used in
3856 Insert mode. Valid values:
3857 0 :lmap is off and IM is off
3858 1 :lmap is ON and IM is off
3859 2 :lmap is off and IM is ON
3860 2 is available only when compiled with the |+multi_byte_ime|, |+xim|
3861 or |global-ime|.
3862 To always reset the option to zero when leaving Insert mode with <Esc>
3863 this can be used: >
3864 :inoremap <ESC> <ESC>:set iminsert=0<CR>
3865 < This makes :lmap and IM turn off automatically when leaving Insert
3866 mode.
3867 Note that this option changes when using CTRL-^ in Insert mode
3868 |i_CTRL-^|.
3869 The value is set to 1 when setting 'keymap' to a valid keymap name.
3870 It is also used for the argument of commands like "r" and "f".
3871 The value 0 may not work correctly with Athena and Motif with some XIM
3872 methods. Use 'imdisable' to disable XIM then.
3874 *'imsearch'* *'ims'*
3875 'imsearch' 'ims' number (default 0, 2 when an input method is supported)
3876 local to buffer
3877 {not in Vi}
3878 Specifies whether :lmap or an Input Method (IM) is to be used when
3879 entering a search pattern. Valid values:
3880 -1 the value of 'iminsert' is used, makes it look like
3881 'iminsert' is also used when typing a search pattern
3882 0 :lmap is off and IM is off
3883 1 :lmap is ON and IM is off
3884 2 :lmap is off and IM is ON
3885 Note that this option changes when using CTRL-^ in Command-line mode
3886 |c_CTRL-^|.
3887 The value is set to 1 when it is not -1 and setting the 'keymap'
3888 option to a valid keymap name.
3889 The value 0 may not work correctly with Athena and Motif with some XIM
3890 methods. Use 'imdisable' to disable XIM then.
3892 *'include'* *'inc'*
3893 'include' 'inc' string (default "^\s*#\s*include")
3894 global or local to buffer |global-local|
3895 {not in Vi}
3896 {not available when compiled without the
3897 |+find_in_path| feature}
3898 Pattern to be used to find an include command. It is a search
3899 pattern, just like for the "/" command (See |pattern|). The default
3900 value is for C programs. This option is used for the commands "[i",
3901 "]I", "[d", etc.
3902 Normally the 'isfname' option is used to recognize the file name that
3903 comes after the matched pattern. But if "\zs" appears in the pattern
3904 then the text matched from "\zs" to the end, or until "\ze" if it
3905 appears, is used as the file name. Use this to include characters
3906 that are not in 'isfname', such as a space. You can then use
3907 'includeexpr' to process the matched text.
3908 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
3910 *'includeexpr'* *'inex'*
3911 'includeexpr' 'inex' string (default "")
3912 local to buffer
3913 {not in Vi}
3914 {not available when compiled without the
3915 |+find_in_path| or |+eval| feature}
3916 Expression to be used to transform the string found with the 'include'
3917 option to a file name. Mostly useful to change "." to "/" for Java: >
3918 :set includeexpr=substitute(v:fname,'\\.','/','g')
3919 < The "v:fname" variable will be set to the file name that was detected.
3921 Also used for the |gf| command if an unmodified file name can't be
3922 found. Allows doing "gf" on the name after an 'include' statement.
3923 Also used for |<cfile>|.
3925 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3926 |sandbox-option|.
3928 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
3929 evaluating 'includeexpr' |textlock|.
3931 *'incsearch'* *'is'* *'noincsearch'* *'nois'*
3932 'incsearch' 'is' boolean (default off)
3933 global
3934 {not in Vi}
3935 {not available when compiled without the
3936 |+extra_search| feature}
3937 While typing a search command, show where the pattern, as it was typed
3938 so far, matches. The matched string is highlighted. If the pattern
3939 is invalid or not found, nothing is shown. The screen will be updated
3940 often, this is only useful on fast terminals.
3941 Note that the match will be shown, but the cursor will return to its
3942 original position when no match is found and when pressing <Esc>. You
3943 still need to finish the search command with <Enter> to move the
3944 cursor to the match.
3945 When compiled with the |+reltime| feature Vim only searches for about
3946 half a second. With a complicated pattern and/or a lot of text the
3947 match may not be found. This is to avoid that Vim hangs while you
3948 are typing the pattern.
3949 The highlighting can be set with the 'i' flag in 'highlight'.
3950 See also: 'hlsearch'.
3951 CTRL-L can be used to add one character from after the current match
3952 to the command line.
3953 CTRL-R CTRL-W can be used to add the word at the end of the current
3954 match, excluding the characters that were already typed.
3955 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3957 *'indentexpr'* *'inde'*
3958 'indentexpr' 'inde' string (default "")
3959 local to buffer
3960 {not in Vi}
3961 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
3962 or |+eval| features}
3963 Expression which is evaluated to obtain the proper indent for a line.
3964 It is used when a new line is created, for the |=| operator and
3965 in Insert mode as specified with the 'indentkeys' option.
3966 When this option is not empty, it overrules the 'cindent' and
3967 'smartindent' indenting.
3968 When 'paste' is set this option is not used for indenting.
3969 The expression is evaluated with |v:lnum| set to the line number for
3970 which the indent is to be computed. The cursor is also in this line
3971 when the expression is evaluated (but it may be moved around).
3972 The expression must return the number of spaces worth of indent. It
3973 can return "-1" to keep the current indent (this means 'autoindent' is
3974 used for the indent).
3975 Functions useful for computing the indent are |indent()|, |cindent()|
3976 and |lispindent()|.
3977 The evaluation of the expression must not have side effects! It must
3978 not change the text, jump to another window, etc. Afterwards the
3979 cursor position is always restored, thus the cursor may be moved.
3980 Normally this option would be set to call a function: >
3981 :set indentexpr=GetMyIndent()
3982 < Error messages will be suppressed, unless the 'debug' option contains
3983 "msg".
3984 See |indent-expression|.
3985 NOTE: This option is made empty when 'compatible' is set.
3987 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3988 |sandbox-option|.
3990 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
3991 evaluating 'indentexpr' |textlock|.
3994 *'indentkeys'* *'indk'*
3995 'indentkeys' 'indk' string (default "0{,0},:,0#,!^F,o,O,e")
3996 local to buffer
3997 {not in Vi}
3998 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
3999 feature}
4000 A list of keys that, when typed in Insert mode, cause reindenting of
4001 the current line. Only happens if 'indentexpr' isn't empty.
4002 The format is identical to 'cinkeys', see |indentkeys-format|.
4003 See |C-indenting| and |indent-expression|.
4005 *'infercase'* *'inf'* *'noinfercase'* *'noinf'*
4006 'infercase' 'inf' boolean (default off)
4007 local to buffer
4008 {not in Vi}
4009 When doing keyword completion in insert mode |ins-completion|, and
4010 'ignorecase' is also on, the case of the match is adjusted depending
4011 on the typed text. If the typed text contains a lowercase letter
4012 where the match has an upper case letter, the completed part is made
4013 lowercase. If the typed text has no lowercase letters and the match
4014 has a lowercase letter where the typed text has an uppercase letter,
4015 and there is a letter before it, the completed part is made uppercase.
4016 With 'noinfercase' the match is used as-is.
4018 *'insertmode'* *'im'* *'noinsertmode'* *'noim'*
4019 'insertmode' 'im' boolean (default off)
4020 global
4021 {not in Vi}
4022 Makes Vim work in a way that Insert mode is the default mode. Useful
4023 if you want to use Vim as a modeless editor. Used for |evim|.
4024 These Insert mode commands will be useful:
4025 - Use the cursor keys to move around.
4026 - Use CTRL-O to execute one Normal mode command |i_CTRL-O|). When
4027 this is a mapping, it is executed as if 'insertmode' was off.
4028 Normal mode remains active until the mapping is finished.
4029 - Use CTRL-L to execute a number of Normal mode commands, then use
4030 <Esc> to get back to Insert mode. Note that CTRL-L moves the cursor
4031 left, like <Esc> does when 'insertmode' isn't set. |i_CTRL-L|
4033 These items change when 'insertmode' is set:
4034 - when starting to edit of a file, Vim goes to Insert mode.
4035 - <Esc> in Insert mode is a no-op and beeps.
4036 - <Esc> in Normal mode makes Vim go to Insert mode.
4037 - CTRL-L in Insert mode is a command, it is not inserted.
4038 - CTRL-Z in Insert mode suspends Vim, see |CTRL-Z|. *i_CTRL-Z*
4039 However, when <Esc> is used inside a mapping, it behaves like
4040 'insertmode' was not set. This was done to be able to use the same
4041 mappings with 'insertmode' set or not set.
4042 When executing commands with |:normal| 'insertmode' is not used.
4044 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
4046 *'isfname'* *'isf'*
4047 'isfname' 'isf' string (default for MS-DOS, Win32 and OS/2:
4048 "@,48-57,/,\,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,{,},[,],:,@-@,!,~,="
4049 for AMIGA: "@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,$,:"
4050 for VMS: "@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,<,>,[,],:,;,~"
4051 for OS/390: "@,240-249,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,="
4052 otherwise: "@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,=")
4053 global
4054 {not in Vi}
4055 The characters specified by this option are included in file names and
4056 path names. Filenames are used for commands like "gf", "[i" and in
4057 the tags file. It is also used for "\f" in a |pattern|.
4058 Multi-byte characters 256 and above are always included, only the
4059 characters up to 255 are specified with this option.
4060 For UTF-8 the characters 0xa0 to 0xff are included as well.
4061 Think twice before adding white space to this option. Although a
4062 space may appear inside a file name, the effect will be that Vim
4063 doesn't know where a file name starts or ends when doing completion.
4064 It most likely works better without a space in 'isfname'.
4066 Note that on systems using a backslash as path separator, Vim tries to
4067 do its best to make it work as you would expect. That is a bit
4068 tricky, since Vi originally used the backslash to escape special
4069 characters. Vim will not remove a backslash in front of a normal file
4070 name character on these systems, but it will on Unix and alikes. The
4071 '&' and '^' are not included by default, because these are special for
4072 cmd.exe.
4074 The format of this option is a list of parts, separated with commas.
4075 Each part can be a single character number or a range. A range is two
4076 character numbers with '-' in between. A character number can be a
4077 decimal number between 0 and 255 or the ASCII character itself (does
4078 not work for digits). Example:
4079 "_,-,128-140,#-43" (include '_' and '-' and the range
4080 128 to 140 and '#' to 43)
4081 If a part starts with '^', the following character number or range
4082 will be excluded from the option. The option is interpreted from left
4083 to right. Put the excluded character after the range where it is
4084 included. To include '^' itself use it as the last character of the
4085 option or the end of a range. Example:
4086 "^a-z,#,^" (exclude 'a' to 'z', include '#' and '^')
4087 If the character is '@', all characters where isalpha() returns TRUE
4088 are included. Normally these are the characters a to z and A to Z,
4089 plus accented characters. To include '@' itself use "@-@". Examples:
4090 "@,^a-z" All alphabetic characters, excluding lower
4091 case ASCII letters.
4092 "a-z,A-Z,@-@" All letters plus the '@' character.
4093 A comma can be included by using it where a character number is
4094 expected. Example:
4095 "48-57,,,_" Digits, comma and underscore.
4096 A comma can be excluded by prepending a '^'. Example:
4097 " -~,^,,9" All characters from space to '~', excluding
4098 comma, plus <Tab>.
4099 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
4101 *'isident'* *'isi'*
4102 'isident' 'isi' string (default for MS-DOS, Win32 and OS/2:
4103 "@,48-57,_,128-167,224-235"
4104 otherwise: "@,48-57,_,192-255")
4105 global
4106 {not in Vi}
4107 The characters given by this option are included in identifiers.
4108 Identifiers are used in recognizing environment variables and after a
4109 match of the 'define' option. It is also used for "\i" in a
4110 |pattern|. See 'isfname' for a description of the format of this
4111 option.
4112 Careful: If you change this option, it might break expanding
4113 environment variables. E.g., when '/' is included and Vim tries to
4114 expand "$HOME/.viminfo". Maybe you should change 'iskeyword' instead.
4116 *'iskeyword'* *'isk'*
4117 'iskeyword' 'isk' string (Vim default for MS-DOS and Win32:
4118 "@,48-57,_,128-167,224-235"
4119 otherwise: "@,48-57,_,192-255"
4120 Vi default: "@,48-57,_")
4121 local to buffer
4122 {not in Vi}
4123 Keywords are used in searching and recognizing with many commands:
4124 "w", "*", "[i", etc. It is also used for "\k" in a |pattern|. See
4125 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option. For C
4126 programs you could use "a-z,A-Z,48-57,_,.,-,>".
4127 For a help file it is set to all non-blank printable characters except
4128 '*', '"' and '|' (so that CTRL-] on a command finds the help for that
4129 command).
4130 When the 'lisp' option is on the '-' character is always included.
4131 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
4132 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
4134 *'isprint'* *'isp'*
4135 'isprint' 'isp' string (default for MS-DOS, Win32, OS/2 and Macintosh:
4136 "@,~-255"; otherwise: "@,161-255")
4137 global
4138 {not in Vi}
4139 The characters given by this option are displayed directly on the
4140 screen. It is also used for "\p" in a |pattern|. The characters from
4141 space (ASCII 32) to '~' (ASCII 126) are always displayed directly,
4142 even when they are not included in 'isprint' or excluded. See
4143 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option.
4145 Non-printable characters are displayed with two characters:
4146 0 - 31 "^@" - "^_"
4147 32 - 126 always single characters
4148 127 "^?"
4149 128 - 159 "~@" - "~_"
4150 160 - 254 "| " - "|~"
4151 255 "~?"
4152 When 'encoding' is a Unicode one, illegal bytes from 128 to 255 are
4153 displayed as <xx>, with the hexadecimal value of the byte.
4154 When 'display' contains "uhex" all unprintable characters are
4155 displayed as <xx>.
4156 The NonText highlighting will be used for unprintable characters.
4157 |hl-NonText|
4159 Multi-byte characters 256 and above are always included, only the
4160 characters up to 255 are specified with this option. When a character
4161 is printable but it is not available in the current font, a
4162 replacement character will be shown.
4163 Unprintable and zero-width Unicode characters are displayed as <xxxx>.
4164 There is no option to specify these characters.
4166 *'joinspaces'* *'js'* *'nojoinspaces'* *'nojs'*
4167 'joinspaces' 'js' boolean (default on)
4168 global
4169 {not in Vi}
4170 Insert two spaces after a '.', '?' and '!' with a join command.
4171 When 'cpoptions' includes the 'j' flag, only do this after a '.'.
4172 Otherwise only one space is inserted.
4173 NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.
4175 *'key'*
4176 'key' string (default "")
4177 local to buffer
4178 {not in Vi}
4179 The key that is used for encrypting and decrypting the current buffer.
4180 See |encryption|.
4181 Careful: Do not set the key value by hand, someone might see the typed
4182 key. Use the |:X| command. But you can make 'key' empty: >
4183 :set key=
4184 < It is not possible to get the value of this option with ":set key" or
4185 "echo &key". This is to avoid showing it to someone who shouldn't
4186 know. It also means you cannot see it yourself once you have set it,
4187 be careful not to make a typing error!
4189 *'keymap'* *'kmp'* *E544*
4190 'keymap' 'kmp' string (default "")
4191 local to buffer
4192 {not in Vi}
4193 {only available when compiled with the |+keymap|
4194 feature}
4195 Name of a keyboard mapping. See |mbyte-keymap|.
4196 Setting this option to a valid keymap name has the side effect of
4197 setting 'iminsert' to one, so that the keymap becomes effective.
4198 'imsearch' is also set to one, unless it was -1
4199 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
4201 *'keymodel'* *'km'*
4202 'keymodel' 'km' string (default "")
4203 global
4204 {not in Vi}
4205 List of comma separated words, which enable special things that keys
4206 can do. These values can be used:
4207 startsel Using a shifted special key starts selection (either
4208 Select mode or Visual mode, depending on "key" being
4209 present in 'selectmode').
4210 stopsel Using a not-shifted special key stops selection.
4211 Special keys in this context are the cursor keys, <End>, <Home>,
4212 <PageUp> and <PageDown>.
4213 The 'keymodel' option is set by the |:behave| command.
4215 *'keywordprg'* *'kp'*
4216 'keywordprg' 'kp' string (default "man" or "man -s", DOS: ":help",
4217 OS/2: "view /", VMS: "help")
4218 global or local to buffer |global-local|
4219 {not in Vi}
4220 Program to use for the |K| command. Environment variables are
4221 expanded |:set_env|. ":help" may be used to access the Vim internal
4222 help. (Note that previously setting the global option to the empty
4223 value did this, which is now deprecated.)
4224 When "man" is used, Vim will automatically translate a count for the
4225 "K" command to a section number. Also for "man -s", in which case the
4226 "-s" is removed when there is no count.
4227 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
4228 Example: >
4229 :set keywordprg=man\ -s
4230 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4231 security reasons.
4233 *'langmap'* *'lmap'* *E357* *E358*
4234 'langmap' 'lmap' string (default "")
4235 global
4236 {not in Vi}
4237 {only available when compiled with the |+langmap|
4238 feature}
4239 This option allows switching your keyboard into a special language
4240 mode. When you are typing text in Insert mode the characters are
4241 inserted directly. When in command mode the 'langmap' option takes
4242 care of translating these special characters to the original meaning
4243 of the key. This means you don't have to change the keyboard mode to
4244 be able to execute Normal mode commands.
4245 This is the opposite of the 'keymap' option, where characters are
4246 mapped in Insert mode.
4247 This only works for 8-bit characters. The value of 'langmap' may be
4248 specified with multi-byte characters (e.g., UTF-8), but only the lower
4249 8 bits of each character will be used.
4251 Example (for Greek, in UTF-8): *greek* >
4252 :set langmap=ΑA,ΒB,ΨC,ΔD,ΕE,ΦF,ΓG,ΗH,ΙI,ΞJ,ΚK,ΛL,ΜM,ΝN,ΟO,ΠP,QQ,ΡR,ΣS,ΤT,ΘU,ΩV,WW,ΧX,ΥY,ΖZ,αa,βb,ψc,δd,εe,φf,γg,ηh,ιi,ξj,κk,λl,μm,νn,οo,πp,qq,ρr,σs,τt,θu,ωv,ςw,χx,υy,ζz
4253 < Example (exchanges meaning of z and y for commands): >
4254 :set langmap=zy,yz,ZY,YZ
4255 <
4256 The 'langmap' option is a list of parts, separated with commas. Each
4257 part can be in one of two forms:
4258 1. A list of pairs. Each pair is a "from" character immediately
4259 followed by the "to" character. Examples: "aA", "aAbBcC".
4260 2. A list of "from" characters, a semi-colon and a list of "to"
4261 characters. Example: "abc;ABC"
4262 Example: "aA,fgh;FGH,cCdDeE"
4263 Special characters need to be preceded with a backslash. These are
4264 ";", ',' and backslash itself.
4266 This will allow you to activate vim actions without having to switch
4267 back and forth between the languages. Your language characters will
4268 be understood as normal vim English characters (according to the
4269 langmap mappings) in the following cases:
4270 o Normal/Visual mode (commands, buffer/register names, user mappings)
4271 o Insert/Replace Mode: Register names after CTRL-R
4272 o Insert/Replace Mode: Mappings
4273 Characters entered in Command-line mode will NOT be affected by
4274 this option. Note that this option can be changed at any time
4275 allowing to switch between mappings for different languages/encodings.
4276 Use a mapping to avoid having to type it each time!
4278 *'langmenu'* *'lm'*
4279 'langmenu' 'lm' string (default "")
4280 global
4281 {not in Vi}
4282 {only available when compiled with the |+menu| and
4283 |+multi_lang| features}
4284 Language to use for menu translation. Tells which file is loaded
4285 from the "lang" directory in 'runtimepath': >
4286 "lang/menu_" . &langmenu . ".vim"
4287 < (without the spaces). For example, to always use the Dutch menus, no
4288 matter what $LANG is set to: >
4289 :set langmenu=nl_NL.ISO_8859-1
4290 < When 'langmenu' is empty, |v:lang| is used.
4291 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
4292 If your $LANG is set to a non-English language but you do want to use
4293 the English menus: >
4294 :set langmenu=none
4295 < This option must be set before loading menus, switching on filetype
4296 detection or syntax highlighting. Once the menus are defined setting
4297 this option has no effect. But you could do this: >
4298 :source $VIMRUNTIME/delmenu.vim
4299 :set langmenu=de_DE.ISO_8859-1
4300 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
4301 < Warning: This deletes all menus that you defined yourself!
4303 *'laststatus'* *'ls'*
4304 'laststatus' 'ls' number (default 1)
4305 global
4306 {not in Vi}
4307 The value of this option influences when the last window will have a
4308 status line:
4309 0: never
4310 1: only if there are at least two windows
4311 2: always
4312 The screen looks nicer with a status line if you have several
4313 windows, but it takes another screen line. |status-line|
4315 *'lazyredraw'* *'lz'* *'nolazyredraw'* *'nolz'*
4316 'lazyredraw' 'lz' boolean (default off)
4317 global
4318 {not in Vi}
4319 When this option is set, the screen will not be redrawn while
4320 executing macros, registers and other commands that have not been
4321 typed. Also, updating the window title is postponed. To force an
4322 update use |:redraw|.
4324 *'linebreak'* *'lbr'* *'nolinebreak'* *'nolbr'*
4325 'linebreak' 'lbr' boolean (default off)
4326 local to window
4327 {not in Vi}
4328 {not available when compiled without the |+linebreak|
4329 feature}
4330 If on Vim will wrap long lines at a character in 'breakat' rather
4331 than at the last character that fits on the screen. Unlike
4332 'wrapmargin' and 'textwidth', this does not insert <EOL>s in the file,
4333 it only affects the way the file is displayed, not its contents. The
4334 value of 'showbreak' is used to put in front of wrapped lines.
4335 This option is not used when the 'wrap' option is off or 'list' is on.
4336 Note that <Tab> characters after an <EOL> are mostly not displayed
4337 with the right amount of white space.
4339 *'lines'* *E593*
4340 'lines' number (default 24 or terminal height)
4341 global
4342 Number of lines of the Vim window.
4343 Normally you don't need to set this. It is done automatically by the
4344 terminal initialization code. Also see |posix-screen-size|.
4345 When Vim is running in the GUI or in a resizable window, setting this
4346 option will cause the window size to be changed. When you only want
4347 to use the size for the GUI, put the command in your |gvimrc| file.
4348 Vim limits the number of lines to what fits on the screen. You can
4349 use this command to get the tallest window possible: >
4350 :set lines=999
4351 < Minimum value is 2, maximum value is 1000.
4352 If you get less lines than expected, check the 'guiheadroom' option.
4353 When you set this option and Vim is unable to change the physical
4354 number of lines of the display, the display may be messed up.
4356 *'linespace'* *'lsp'*
4357 'linespace' 'lsp' number (default 0, 1 for Win32 GUI)
4358 global
4359 {not in Vi}
4360 {only in the GUI}
4361 Number of pixel lines inserted between characters. Useful if the font
4362 uses the full character cell height, making lines touch each other.
4363 When non-zero there is room for underlining.
4364 With some fonts there can be too much room between lines (to have
4365 space for ascents and descents). Then it makes sense to set
4366 'linespace' to a negative value. This may cause display problems
4367 though!
4369 *'lisp'* *'nolisp'*
4370 'lisp' boolean (default off)
4371 local to buffer
4372 {not available when compiled without the |+lispindent|
4373 feature}
4374 Lisp mode: When <Enter> is typed in insert mode set the indent for
4375 the next line to Lisp standards (well, sort of). Also happens with
4376 "cc" or "S". 'autoindent' must also be on for this to work. The 'p'
4377 flag in 'cpoptions' changes the method of indenting: Vi compatible or
4378 better. Also see 'lispwords'.
4379 The '-' character is included in keyword characters. Redefines the
4380 "=" operator to use this same indentation algorithm rather than
4381 calling an external program if 'equalprg' is empty.
4382 This option is not used when 'paste' is set.
4383 {Vi: Does it a little bit differently}
4385 *'lispwords'* *'lw'*
4386 'lispwords' 'lw' string (default is very long)
4387 global
4388 {not in Vi}
4389 {not available when compiled without the |+lispindent|
4390 feature}
4391 Comma separated list of words that influence the Lisp indenting.
4392 |'lisp'|
4394 *'list'* *'nolist'*
4395 'list' boolean (default off)
4396 local to window
4397 List mode: Show tabs as CTRL-I, show end of line with $. Useful to
4398 see the difference between tabs and spaces and for trailing blanks.
4399 Note that this will also affect formatting (set with 'textwidth' or
4400 'wrapmargin') when 'cpoptions' includes 'L'. See 'listchars' for
4401 changing the way tabs are displayed.
4403 *'listchars'* *'lcs'*
4404 'listchars' 'lcs' string (default "eol:$")
4405 global
4406 {not in Vi}
4407 Strings to use in 'list' mode. It is a comma separated list of string
4408 settings.
4409 eol:c Character to show at the end of each line. When
4410 omitted, there is no extra character at the end of the
4411 line.
4412 tab:xy Two characters to be used to show a tab. The first
4413 char is used once. The second char is repeated to
4414 fill the space that the tab normally occupies.
4415 "tab:>-" will show a tab that takes four spaces as
4416 ">---". When omitted, a tab is show as ^I.
4417 trail:c Character to show for trailing spaces. When omitted,
4418 trailing spaces are blank.
4419 extends:c Character to show in the last column, when 'wrap' is
4420 off and the line continues beyond the right of the
4421 screen.
4422 precedes:c Character to show in the first column, when 'wrap'
4423 is off and there is text preceding the character
4424 visible in the first column.
4425 nbsp:c Character to show for a non-breakable space (character
4426 0xA0, 160). Left blank when omitted.
4428 The characters ':' and ',' should not be used. UTF-8 characters can
4429 be used when 'encoding' is "utf-8", otherwise only printable
4430 characters are allowed. All characters must be single width.
4432 Examples: >
4433 :set lcs=tab:>-,trail:-
4434 :set lcs=tab:>-,eol:<,nbsp:%
4435 :set lcs=extends:>,precedes:<
4436 < The "NonText" highlighting will be used for "eol", "extends" and
4437 "precedes". "SpecialKey" for "nbsp", "tab" and "trail".
4438 |hl-NonText| |hl-SpecialKey|
4440 *'lpl'* *'nolpl'* *'loadplugins'* *'noloadplugins'*
4441 'loadplugins' 'lpl' boolean (default on)
4442 global
4443 {not in Vi}
4444 When on the plugin scripts are loaded when starting up |load-plugins|.
4445 This option can be reset in your |vimrc| file to disable the loading
4446 of plugins.
4447 Note that using the "-u NONE" and "--noplugin" command line arguments
4448 reset this option. |-u| |--noplugin|
4450 *'macatsui'* *'nomacatsui'*
4451 'macatsui' boolean (default on)
4452 global
4453 {only available in Mac Carbon GUI version}
4454 This is a workaround for when drawing doesn't work properly. When set
4455 and compiled with multi-byte support ATSUI text drawing is used. When
4456 not set ATSUI text drawing is not used. Switch this option off when
4457 you experience drawing problems. In a future version the problems may
4458 be solved and this option becomes obsolete. Therefore use this method
4459 to unset it: >
4460 if exists('&macatsui')
4461 set nomacatsui
4462 endif
4463 < Another option to check if you have drawing problems is
4464 'termencoding'.
4465 Note: MacVim does not use this option.
4467 *'magic'* *'nomagic'*
4468 'magic' boolean (default on)
4469 global
4470 Changes the special characters that can be used in search patterns.
4471 See |pattern|.
4472 NOTE: To avoid portability problems with using patterns, always keep
4473 this option at the default "on". Only switch it off when working with
4474 old Vi scripts. In any other situation write patterns that work when
4475 'magic' is on. Include "\M" when you want to |/\M|.
4477 *'makeef'* *'mef'*
4478 'makeef' 'mef' string (default: "")
4479 global
4480 {not in Vi}
4481 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
4482 feature}
4483 Name of the errorfile for the |:make| command (see |:make_makeprg|)
4484 and the |:grep| command.
4485 When it is empty, an internally generated temp file will be used.
4486 When "##" is included, it is replaced by a number to make the name
4487 unique. This makes sure that the ":make" command doesn't overwrite an
4488 existing file.
4489 NOT used for the ":cf" command. See 'errorfile' for that.
4490 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
4491 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
4492 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4493 security reasons.
4495 *'makeprg'* *'mp'*
4496 'makeprg' 'mp' string (default "make", VMS: "MMS")
4497 global or local to buffer |global-local|
4498 {not in Vi}
4499 Program to use for the ":make" command. See |:make_makeprg|.
4500 This option may contain '%' and '#' characters, which are expanded to
4501 the current and alternate file name. |:_%| |:_#|
4502 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash|
4503 about including spaces and backslashes.
4504 Note that a '|' must be escaped twice: once for ":set" and once for
4505 the interpretation of a command. When you use a filter called
4506 "myfilter" do it like this: >
4507 :set makeprg=gmake\ \\\|\ myfilter
4508 < The placeholder "$*" can be given (even multiple times) to specify
4509 where the arguments will be included, for example: >
4510 :set makeprg=latex\ \\\\nonstopmode\ \\\\input\\{$*}
4511 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4512 security reasons.
4514 *'matchpairs'* *'mps'*
4515 'matchpairs' 'mps' string (default "(:),{:},[:]")
4516 local to buffer
4517 {not in Vi}
4518 Characters that form pairs. The |%| command jumps from one to the
4519 other. Currently only single byte character pairs are allowed, and
4520 they must be different. The characters must be separated by a colon.
4521 The pairs must be separated by a comma. Example for including '<' and
4522 '>' (HTML): >
4523 :set mps+=<:>
4525 < A more exotic example, to jump between the '=' and ';' in an
4526 assignment, useful for languages like C and Java: >
4527 :au FileType c,cpp,java set mps+==:;
4529 < For a more advanced way of using "%", see the matchit.vim plugin in
4530 the $VIMRUNTIME/macros directory. |add-local-help|
4532 *'matchtime'* *'mat'*
4533 'matchtime' 'mat' number (default 5)
4534 global
4535 {not in Vi}{in Nvi}
4536 Tenths of a second to show the matching paren, when 'showmatch' is
4537 set. Note that this is not in milliseconds, like other options that
4538 set a time. This is to be compatible with Nvi.
4540 *'maxcombine'* *'mco'*
4541 'maxcombine' 'mco' number (default 2)
4542 global
4543 {not in Vi}
4544 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
4545 feature}
4546 The maximum number of combining characters supported for displaying.
4547 Only used when 'encoding' is "utf-8".
4548 The default is OK for most languages. Hebrew may require 4.
4549 Maximum value is 6.
4550 Even when this option is set to 2 you can still edit text with more
4551 combining characters, you just can't see them. Use |g8| or |ga|.
4552 See |mbyte-combining|.
4554 *'maxfuncdepth'* *'mfd'*
4555 'maxfuncdepth' 'mfd' number (default 100)
4556 global
4557 {not in Vi}
4558 {not available when compiled without the +eval
4559 feature}
4560 Maximum depth of function calls for user functions. This normally
4561 catches endless recursion. When using a recursive function with
4562 more depth, set 'maxfuncdepth' to a bigger number. But this will use
4563 more memory, there is the danger of failing when memory is exhausted.
4564 See also |:function|.
4566 *'maxmapdepth'* *'mmd'* *E223*
4567 'maxmapdepth' 'mmd' number (default 1000)
4568 global
4569 {not in Vi}
4570 Maximum number of times a mapping is done without resulting in a
4571 character to be used. This normally catches endless mappings, like
4572 ":map x y" with ":map y x". It still does not catch ":map g wg",
4573 because the 'w' is used before the next mapping is done. See also
4574 |key-mapping|.
4576 *'maxmem'* *'mm'*
4577 'maxmem' 'mm' number (default between 256 to 5120 (system
4578 dependent) or half the amount of memory
4579 available)
4580 global
4581 {not in Vi}
4582 Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for one buffer. When this
4583 limit is reached allocating extra memory for a buffer will cause
4584 other memory to be freed. Maximum value 2000000. Use this to work
4585 without a limit. Also see 'maxmemtot'.
4587 *'maxmempattern'* *'mmp'*
4588 'maxmempattern' 'mmp' number (default 1000)
4589 global
4590 {not in Vi}
4591 Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for pattern matching.
4592 Maximum value 2000000. Use this to work without a limit.
4593 *E363*
4594 When Vim runs into the limit it gives an error message and mostly
4595 behaves like CTRL-C was typed.
4596 Running into the limit often means that the pattern is very
4597 inefficient or too complex. This may already happen with the pattern
4598 "\(.\)*" on a very long line. ".*" works much better.
4599 Vim may run out of memory before hitting the 'maxmempattern' limit.
4601 *'maxmemtot'* *'mmt'*
4602 'maxmemtot' 'mmt' number (default between 2048 and 10240 (system
4603 dependent) or half the amount of memory
4604 available)
4605 global
4606 {not in Vi}
4607 Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for all buffers together.
4608 Maximum value 2000000. Use this to work without a limit. Also see
4609 'maxmem'.
4611 *'menuitems'* *'mis'*
4612 'menuitems' 'mis' number (default 25)
4613 global
4614 {not in Vi}
4615 {not available when compiled without the |+menu|
4616 feature}
4617 Maximum number of items to use in a menu. Used for menus that are
4618 generated from a list of items, e.g., the Buffers menu. Changing this
4619 option has no direct effect, the menu must be refreshed first.
4621 *'mkspellmem'* *'msm'*
4622 'mkspellmem' 'msm' string (default "460000,2000,500")
4623 global
4624 {not in Vi}
4625 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
4626 feature}
4627 Parameters for |:mkspell|. This tunes when to start compressing the
4628 word tree. Compression can be slow when there are many words, but
4629 it's needed to avoid running out of memory. The amount of memory used
4630 per word depends very much on how similar the words are, that's why
4631 this tuning is complicated.
4633 There are three numbers, separated by commas:
4634 {start},{inc},{added}
4636 For most languages the uncompressed word tree fits in memory. {start}
4637 gives the amount of memory in Kbyte that can be used before any
4638 compression is done. It should be a bit smaller than the amount of
4639 memory that is available to Vim.
4641 When going over the {start} limit the {inc} number specifies the
4642 amount of memory in Kbyte that can be allocated before another
4643 compression is done. A low number means compression is done after
4644 less words are added, which is slow. A high number means more memory
4645 will be allocated.
4647 After doing compression, {added} times 1024 words can be added before
4648 the {inc} limit is ignored and compression is done when any extra
4649 amount of memory is needed. A low number means there is a smaller
4650 chance of hitting the {inc} limit, less memory is used but it's
4651 slower.
4653 The languages for which these numbers are important are Italian and
4654 Hungarian. The default works for when you have about 512 Mbyte. If
4655 you have 1 Gbyte you could use: >
4656 :set mkspellmem=900000,3000,800
4657 < If you have less than 512 Mbyte |:mkspell| may fail for some
4658 languages, no matter what you set 'mkspellmem' to.
4660 *'modeline'* *'ml'* *'nomodeline'* *'noml'*
4661 'modeline' 'ml' boolean (Vim default: on (off for root),
4662 Vi default: off)
4663 local to buffer
4664 *'modelines'* *'mls'*
4665 'modelines' 'mls' number (default 5)
4666 global
4667 {not in Vi}
4668 If 'modeline' is on 'modelines' gives the number of lines that is
4669 checked for set commands. If 'modeline' is off or 'modelines' is zero
4670 no lines are checked. See |modeline|.
4671 NOTE: 'modeline' is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
4672 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
4674 *'modifiable'* *'ma'* *'nomodifiable'* *'noma'*
4675 'modifiable' 'ma' boolean (default on)
4676 local to buffer
4677 {not in Vi} *E21*
4678 When off the buffer contents cannot be changed. The 'fileformat' and
4679 'fileencoding' options also can't be changed.
4680 Can be reset with the |-M| command line argument.
4682 *'modified'* *'mod'* *'nomodified'* *'nomod'*
4683 'modified' 'mod' boolean (default off)
4684 local to buffer
4685 {not in Vi}
4686 When on, the buffer is considered to be modified. This option is set
4687 when:
4688 1. A change was made to the text since it was last written. Using the
4689 |undo| command to go back to the original text will reset the
4690 option. But undoing changes that were made before writing the
4691 buffer will set the option again, since the text is different from
4692 when it was written.
4693 2. 'fileformat' or 'fileencoding' is different from its original
4694 value. The original value is set when the buffer is read or
4695 written. A ":set nomodified" command also resets the original
4696 values to the current values and the 'modified' option will be
4697 reset.
4698 When 'buftype' is "nowrite" or "nofile" this option may be set, but
4699 will be ignored.
4701 *'more'* *'nomore'*
4702 'more' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
4703 global
4704 {not in Vi}
4705 When on, listings pause when the whole screen is filled. You will get
4706 the |more-prompt|. When this option is off there are no pauses, the
4707 listing continues until finished.
4708 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
4709 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
4711 *'mouse'* *E538*
4712 'mouse' string (default "", "a" for GUI, MS-DOS and Win32)
4713 global
4714 {not in Vi}
4715 Enable the use of the mouse. Only works for certain terminals
4716 (xterm, MS-DOS, Win32 |win32-mouse|, QNX pterm, and Linux console
4717 with gpm). For using the mouse in the GUI, see |gui-mouse|.
4718 The mouse can be enabled for different modes:
4719 n Normal mode
4720 v Visual mode
4721 i Insert mode
4722 c Command-line mode
4723 h all previous modes when editing a help file
4724 a all previous modes
4725 r for |hit-enter| and |more-prompt| prompt
4726 Normally you would enable the mouse in all four modes with: >
4727 :set mouse=a
4728 < When the mouse is not enabled, the GUI will still use the mouse for
4729 modeless selection. This doesn't move the text cursor.
4731 See |mouse-using|. Also see |'clipboard'|.
4733 Note: When enabling the mouse in a terminal, copy/paste will use the
4734 "* register if there is access to an X-server. The xterm handling of
4735 the mouse buttons can still be used by keeping the shift key pressed.
4736 Also see the 'clipboard' option.
4738 *'mousefocus'* *'mousef'* *'nomousefocus'* *'nomousef'*
4739 'mousefocus' 'mousef' boolean (default off)
4740 global
4741 {not in Vi}
4742 {only works in the GUI}
4743 The window that the mouse pointer is on is automatically activated.
4744 When changing the window layout or window focus in another way, the
4745 mouse pointer is moved to the window with keyboard focus. Off is the
4746 default because it makes using the pull down menus a little goofy, as
4747 a pointer transit may activate a window unintentionally.
4749 *'mousehide'* *'mh'* *'nomousehide'* *'nomh'*
4750 'mousehide' 'mh' boolean (default on)
4751 global
4752 {not in Vi}
4753 {only works in the GUI}
4754 When on, the mouse pointer is hidden when characters are typed.
4755 The mouse pointer is restored when the mouse is moved.
4757 *'mousemodel'* *'mousem'*
4758 'mousemodel' 'mousem' string (default "extend", "popup" for MS-DOS and Win32)
4759 global
4760 {not in Vi}
4761 Sets the model to use for the mouse. The name mostly specifies what
4762 the right mouse button is used for:
4763 extend Right mouse button extends a selection. This works
4764 like in an xterm.
4765 popup Right mouse button pops up a menu. The shifted left
4766 mouse button extends a selection. This works like
4767 with Microsoft Windows.
4768 popup_setpos Like "popup", but the cursor will be moved to the
4769 position where the mouse was clicked, and thus the
4770 selected operation will act upon the clicked object.
4771 If clicking inside a selection, that selection will
4772 be acted upon, i.e. no cursor move. This implies of
4773 course, that right clicking outside a selection will
4774 end Visual mode.
4775 Overview of what button does what for each model:
4776 mouse extend popup(_setpos) ~
4777 left click place cursor place cursor
4778 left drag start selection start selection
4779 shift-left search word extend selection
4780 right click extend selection popup menu (place cursor)
4781 right drag extend selection -
4782 middle click paste paste
4784 In the "popup" model the right mouse button produces a pop-up menu.
4785 You need to define this first, see |popup-menu|.
4787 Note that you can further refine the meaning of buttons with mappings.
4788 See |gui-mouse-mapping|. But mappings are NOT used for modeless
4789 selection (because that's handled in the GUI code directly).
4791 The 'mousemodel' option is set by the |:behave| command.
4793 *'mouseshape'* *'mouses'* *E547*
4794 'mouseshape' 'mouses' string (default "i:beam,r:beam,s:updown,sd:cross,
4795 m:no,ml:up-arrow,v:rightup-arrow")
4796 global
4797 {not in Vi}
4798 {only available when compiled with the |+mouseshape|
4799 feature}
4800 This option tells Vim what the mouse pointer should look like in
4801 different modes. The option is a comma separated list of parts, much
4802 like used for 'guicursor'. Each part consist of a mode/location-list
4803 and an argument-list:
4804 mode-list:shape,mode-list:shape,..
4805 The mode-list is a dash separated list of these modes/locations:
4806 In a normal window: ~
4807 n Normal mode
4808 v Visual mode
4809 ve Visual mode with 'selection' "exclusive" (same as 'v',
4810 if not specified)
4811 o Operator-pending mode
4812 i Insert mode
4813 r Replace mode
4815 Others: ~
4816 c appending to the command-line
4817 ci inserting in the command-line
4818 cr replacing in the command-line
4819 m at the 'Hit ENTER' or 'More' prompts
4820 ml idem, but cursor in the last line
4821 e any mode, pointer below last window
4822 s any mode, pointer on a status line
4823 sd any mode, while dragging a status line
4824 vs any mode, pointer on a vertical separator line
4825 vd any mode, while dragging a vertical separator line
4826 a everywhere
4828 The shape is one of the following:
4829 avail name looks like ~
4830 w x arrow Normal mouse pointer
4831 w x blank no pointer at all (use with care!)
4832 w x beam I-beam
4833 w x updown up-down sizing arrows
4834 w x leftright left-right sizing arrows
4835 w x busy The system's usual busy pointer
4836 w x no The system's usual 'no input' pointer
4837 x udsizing indicates up-down resizing
4838 x lrsizing indicates left-right resizing
4839 x crosshair like a big thin +
4840 x hand1 black hand
4841 x hand2 white hand
4842 x pencil what you write with
4843 x question big ?
4844 x rightup-arrow arrow pointing right-up
4845 w x up-arrow arrow pointing up
4846 x <number> any X11 pointer number (see X11/cursorfont.h)
4848 The "avail" column contains a 'w' if the shape is available for Win32,
4849 x for X11.
4850 Any modes not specified or shapes not available use the normal mouse
4851 pointer.
4853 Example: >
4854 :set mouseshape=s:udsizing,m:no
4855 < will make the mouse turn to a sizing arrow over the status lines and
4856 indicate no input when the hit-enter prompt is displayed (since
4857 clicking the mouse has no effect in this state.)
4859 *'mousetime'* *'mouset'*
4860 'mousetime' 'mouset' number (default 500)
4861 global
4862 {not in Vi}
4863 Only for GUI, MS-DOS, Win32 and Unix with xterm. Defines the maximum
4864 time in msec between two mouse clicks for the second click to be
4865 recognized as a multi click.
4867 *'mzquantum'* *'mzq'*
4868 'mzquantum' 'mzq' number (default 100)
4869 global
4870 {not in Vi}
4871 {not available when compiled without the |+mzscheme|
4872 feature}
4873 The number of milliseconds between polls for MzScheme threads.
4874 Negative or zero value means no thread scheduling.
4876 *'nrformats'* *'nf'*
4877 'nrformats' 'nf' string (default "octal,hex")
4878 local to buffer
4879 {not in Vi}
4880 This defines what bases Vim will consider for numbers when using the
4881 CTRL-A and CTRL-X commands for adding to and subtracting from a number
4882 respectively; see |CTRL-A| for more info on these commands.
4883 alpha If included, single alphabetical characters will be
4884 incremented or decremented. This is useful for a list with a
4885 letter index a), b), etc.
4886 octal If included, numbers that start with a zero will be considered
4887 to be octal. Example: Using CTRL-A on "007" results in "010".
4888 hex If included, numbers starting with "0x" or "0X" will be
4889 considered to be hexadecimal. Example: Using CTRL-X on
4890 "0x100" results in "0x0ff".
4891 Numbers which simply begin with a digit in the range 1-9 are always
4892 considered decimal. This also happens for numbers that are not
4893 recognized as octal or hex.
4895 *'number'* *'nu'* *'nonumber'* *'nonu'*
4896 'number' 'nu' boolean (default off)
4897 local to window
4898 Print the line number in front of each line. When the 'n' option is
4899 excluded from 'cpoptions' a wrapped line will not use the column of
4900 line numbers (this is the default when 'compatible' isn't set).
4901 The 'numberwidth' option can be used to set the room used for the line
4902 number.
4903 When a long, wrapped line doesn't start with the first character, '-'
4904 characters are put before the number.
4905 See |hl-LineNr| for the highlighting used for the number.
4907 *'numberwidth'* *'nuw'*
4908 'numberwidth' 'nuw' number (Vim default: 4 Vi default: 8)
4909 local to window
4910 {not in Vi}
4911 {only available when compiled with the |+linebreak|
4912 feature}
4913 Minimal number of columns to use for the line number. Only relevant
4914 when the 'number' option is set or printing lines with a line number.
4915 Since one space is always between the number and the text, there is
4916 one less character for the number itself.
4917 The value is the minimum width. A bigger width is used when needed to
4918 fit the highest line number in the buffer. Thus with the Vim default
4919 of 4 there is room for a line number up to 999. When the buffer has
4920 1000 lines five columns will be used.
4921 The minimum value is 1, the maximum value is 10.
4922 NOTE: 'numberwidth' is reset to 8 when 'compatible' is set.
4924 *'omnifunc'* *'ofu'*
4925 'omnifunc' 'ofu' string (default: empty)
4926 local to buffer
4927 {not in Vi}
4928 {not available when compiled without the +eval
4929 or +insert_expand feature}
4930 This option specifies a function to be used for Insert mode omni
4931 completion with CTRL-X CTRL-O. |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O|
4932 See |complete-functions| for an explanation of how the function is
4933 invoked and what it should return.
4934 This option is usually set by a filetype plugin:
4935 |:filetype-plugin-on|
4938 *'opendevice'* *'odev'* *'noopendevice'* *'noodev'*
4939 'opendevice' 'odev' boolean (default off)
4940 global
4941 {not in Vi}
4942 {only for MS-DOS, MS-Windows and OS/2}
4943 Enable reading and writing from devices. This may get Vim stuck on a
4944 device that can be opened but doesn't actually do the I/O. Therefore
4945 it is off by default.
4946 Note that on MS-Windows editing "aux.h", "lpt1.txt" and the like also
4947 result in editing a device.
4950 *'operatorfunc'* *'opfunc'*
4951 'operatorfunc' 'opfunc' string (default: empty)
4952 global
4953 {not in Vi}
4954 This option specifies a function to be called by the |g@| operator.
4955 See |:map-operator| for more info and an example.
4957 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4958 security reasons.
4961 *'osfiletype'* *'oft'* *E366*
4962 'osfiletype' 'oft' string (RISC-OS default: "Text",
4963 others default: "")
4964 local to buffer
4965 {not in Vi}
4966 {only available when compiled with the |+osfiletype|
4967 feature}
4968 Some operating systems store extra information about files besides
4969 name, datestamp and permissions. This option contains the extra
4970 information, the nature of which will vary between systems.
4971 The value of this option is usually set when the file is loaded, and
4972 use to set the file type when file is written.
4973 It can affect the pattern matching of the automatic commands.
4974 |autocmd-osfiletypes|
4976 *'paragraphs'* *'para'*
4977 'paragraphs' 'para' string (default "IPLPPPQPP TPHPLIPpLpItpplpipbp")
4978 global
4979 Specifies the nroff macros that separate paragraphs. These are pairs
4980 of two letters (see |object-motions|).
4982 *'paste'* *'nopaste'*
4983 'paste' boolean (default off)
4984 global
4985 {not in Vi}
4986 Put Vim in Paste mode. This is useful if you want to cut or copy
4987 some text from one window and paste it in Vim. This will avoid
4988 unexpected effects.
4989 Setting this option is useful when using Vim in a terminal, where Vim
4990 cannot distinguish between typed text and pasted text. In the GUI, Vim
4991 knows about pasting and will mostly do the right thing without 'paste'
4992 being set. The same is true for a terminal where Vim handles the
4993 mouse clicks itself.
4994 This option is reset when starting the GUI. Thus if you set it in
4995 your .vimrc it will work in a terminal, but not in the GUI. Setting
4996 'paste' in the GUI has side effects: e.g., the Paste toolbar button
4997 will no longer work in Insert mode, because it uses a mapping.
4998 When the 'paste' option is switched on (also when it was already on):
4999 - mapping in Insert mode and Command-line mode is disabled
5000 - abbreviations are disabled
5001 - 'textwidth' is set to 0
5002 - 'wrapmargin' is set to 0
5003 - 'autoindent' is reset
5004 - 'smartindent' is reset
5005 - 'softtabstop' is set to 0
5006 - 'revins' is reset
5007 - 'ruler' is reset
5008 - 'showmatch' is reset
5009 - 'formatoptions' is used like it is empty
5010 These options keep their value, but their effect is disabled:
5011 - 'lisp'
5012 - 'indentexpr'
5013 - 'cindent'
5014 NOTE: When you start editing another file while the 'paste' option is
5015 on, settings from the modelines or autocommands may change the
5016 settings again, causing trouble when pasting text. You might want to
5017 set the 'paste' option again.
5018 When the 'paste' option is reset the mentioned options are restored to
5019 the value before the moment 'paste' was switched from off to on.
5020 Resetting 'paste' before ever setting it does not have any effect.
5021 Since mapping doesn't work while 'paste' is active, you need to use
5022 the 'pastetoggle' option to toggle the 'paste' option with some key.
5024 *'pastetoggle'* *'pt'*
5025 'pastetoggle' 'pt' string (default "")
5026 global
5027 {not in Vi}
5028 When non-empty, specifies the key sequence that toggles the 'paste'
5029 option. This is like specifying a mapping: >
5030 :map {keys} :set invpaste<CR>
5031 < Where {keys} is the value of 'pastetoggle'.
5032 The difference is that it will work even when 'paste' is set.
5033 'pastetoggle' works in Insert mode and Normal mode, but not in
5034 Command-line mode.
5035 Mappings are checked first, thus overrule 'pastetoggle'. However,
5036 when 'paste' is on mappings are ignored in Insert mode, thus you can do
5037 this: >
5038 :map <F10> :set paste<CR>
5039 :map <F11> :set nopaste<CR>
5040 :imap <F10> <C-O>:set paste<CR>
5041 :imap <F11> <nop>
5042 :set pastetoggle=<F11>
5043 < This will make <F10> start paste mode and <F11> stop paste mode.
5044 Note that typing <F10> in paste mode inserts "<F10>", since in paste
5045 mode everything is inserted literally, except the 'pastetoggle' key
5046 sequence.
5048 *'pex'* *'patchexpr'*
5049 'patchexpr' 'pex' string (default "")
5050 global
5051 {not in Vi}
5052 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
5053 feature}
5054 Expression which is evaluated to apply a patch to a file and generate
5055 the resulting new version of the file. See |diff-patchexpr|.
5057 *'patchmode'* *'pm'* *E206*
5058 'patchmode' 'pm' string (default "")
5059 global
5060 {not in Vi}
5061 When non-empty the oldest version of a file is kept. This can be used
5062 to keep the original version of a file if you are changing files in a
5063 source distribution. Only the first time that a file is written a
5064 copy of the original file will be kept. The name of the copy is the
5065 name of the original file with the string in the 'patchmode' option
5066 appended. This option should start with a dot. Use a string like
5067 ".org". 'backupdir' must not be empty for this to work (Detail: The
5068 backup file is renamed to the patchmode file after the new file has
5069 been successfully written, that's why it must be possible to write a
5070 backup file). If there was no file to be backed up, an empty file is
5071 created.
5072 When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a patchmode file is not made.
5073 Using 'patchmode' for compressed files appends the extension at the
5074 end (e.g., "file.gz.orig"), thus the resulting name isn't always
5075 recognized as a compressed file.
5076 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
5078 *'path'* *'pa'* *E343* *E345* *E347*
5079 'path' 'pa' string (default on Unix: ".,/usr/include,,"
5080 on OS/2: ".,/emx/include,,"
5081 other systems: ".,,")
5082 global or local to buffer |global-local|
5083 {not in Vi}
5084 This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the
5085 |gf|, [f, ]f, ^Wf, |:find| and other commands, provided that the file
5086 being searched for has a relative path (not starting with '/'). The
5087 directories in the 'path' option may be relative or absolute.
5088 - Use commas to separate directory names: >
5089 :set path=.,/usr/local/include,/usr/include
5090 < - Spaces can also be used to separate directory names (for backwards
5091 compatibility with version 3.0). To have a space in a directory
5092 name, precede it with an extra backslash, and escape the space: >
5093 :set path=.,/dir/with\\\ space
5094 < - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with an extra
5095 backslash: >
5096 :set path=.,/dir/with\\,comma
5097 < - To search relative to the directory of the current file, use: >
5098 :set path=.
5099 < - To search in the current directory use an empty string between two
5100 commas: >
5101 :set path=,,
5102 < - A directory name may end in a ':' or '/'.
5103 - Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
5104 - When using |netrw.vim| URLs can be used. For example, adding
5105 "http://www.vim.org" will make ":find index.html" work.
5106 - Search upwards and downwards in a directory tree:
5107 1) "*" matches a sequence of characters, e.g.: >
5108 :set path=/usr/include/*
5109 < means all subdirectories in /usr/include (but not /usr/include
5110 itself). >
5111 :set path=/usr/*c
5112 < matches /usr/doc and /usr/src.
5113 2) "**" matches a subtree, up to 100 directories deep. Example: >
5114 :set path=/home/user_x/src/**
5115 < means search in the whole subtree under "/home/usr_x/src".
5116 3) If the path ends with a ';', this path is the startpoint
5117 for upward search.
5118 See |file-searching| for more info and exact syntax.
5119 {not available when compiled without the |+path_extra| feature}
5120 - Careful with '\' characters, type two to get one in the option: >
5121 :set path=.,c:\\include
5122 < Or just use '/' instead: >
5123 :set path=.,c:/include
5124 < Don't forget "." or files won't even be found in the same directory as
5125 the file!
5126 The maximum length is limited. How much depends on the system, mostly
5127 it is something like 256 or 1024 characters.
5128 You can check if all the include files are found, using the value of
5129 'path', see |:checkpath|.
5130 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
5131 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
5132 uses another default. To remove the current directory use: >
5133 :set path-=
5134 < To add the current directory use: >
5135 :set path+=
5136 < To use an environment variable, you probably need to replace the
5137 separator. Here is an example to append $INCL, in which directory
5138 names are separated with a semi-colon: >
5139 :let &path = &path . "," . substitute($INCL, ';', ',', 'g')
5140 < Replace the ';' with a ':' or whatever separator is used. Note that
5141 this doesn't work when $INCL contains a comma or white space.
5143 *'preserveindent'* *'pi'* *'nopreserveindent'* *'nopi'*
5144 'preserveindent' 'pi' boolean (default off)
5145 local to buffer
5146 {not in Vi}
5147 When changing the indent of the current line, preserve as much of the
5148 indent structure as possible. Normally the indent is replaced by a
5149 series of tabs followed by spaces as required (unless |'expandtab'| is
5150 enabled, in which case only spaces are used). Enabling this option
5151 means the indent will preserve as many existing characters as possible
5152 for indenting, and only add additional tabs or spaces as required.
5153 'expandtab' does not apply to the preserved white space, a Tab remains
5154 a Tab.
5155 NOTE: When using ">>" multiple times the resulting indent is a mix of
5156 tabs and spaces. You might not like this.
5157 NOTE: 'preserveindent' is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5158 Also see 'copyindent'.
5159 Use |:retab| to clean up white space.
5161 *'previewheight'* *'pvh'*
5162 'previewheight' 'pvh' number (default 12)
5163 global
5164 {not in Vi}
5165 {not available when compiled without the |+windows| or
5166 |+quickfix| feature}
5167 Default height for a preview window. Used for |:ptag| and associated
5168 commands. Used for |CTRL-W_}| when no count is given.
5170 *'previewwindow'* *'nopreviewwindow'*
5171 *'pvw'* *'nopvw'* *E590*
5172 'previewwindow' 'pvw' boolean (default off)
5173 local to window
5174 {not in Vi}
5175 {not available when compiled without the |+windows| or
5176 |+quickfix| feature}
5177 Identifies the preview window. Only one window can have this option
5178 set. It's normally not set directly, but by using one of the commands
5179 |:ptag|, |:pedit|, etc.
5181 *'printdevice'* *'pdev'*
5182 'printdevice' 'pdev' string (default empty)
5183 global
5184 {not in Vi}
5185 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5186 feature}
5187 The name of the printer to be used for |:hardcopy|.
5188 See |pdev-option|.
5189 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5190 security reasons.
5192 *'printencoding'* *'penc'*
5193 'printencoding' 'penc' String (default empty, except for some systems)
5194 global
5195 {not in Vi}
5196 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5197 and |+postscript| features}
5198 Sets the character encoding used when printing.
5199 See |penc-option|.
5201 *'printexpr'* *'pexpr'*
5202 'printexpr' 'pexpr' String (default: see below)
5203 global
5204 {not in Vi}
5205 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5206 and |+postscript| features}
5207 Expression used to print the PostScript produced with |:hardcopy|.
5208 See |pexpr-option|.
5210 *'printfont'* *'pfn'*
5211 'printfont' 'pfn' string (default "courier")
5212 global
5213 {not in Vi}
5214 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5215 feature}
5216 The name of the font that will be used for |:hardcopy|.
5217 See |pfn-option|.
5219 *'printheader'* *'pheader'*
5220 'printheader' 'pheader' string (default "%<%f%h%m%=Page %N")
5221 global
5222 {not in Vi}
5223 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5224 feature}
5225 The format of the header produced in |:hardcopy| output.
5226 See |pheader-option|.
5228 *'printmbcharset'* *'pmbcs'*
5229 'printmbcharset' 'pmbcs' string (default "")
5230 global
5231 {not in Vi}
5232 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|,
5233 |+postscript| and |+multi_byte| features}
5234 The CJK character set to be used for CJK output from |:hardcopy|.
5235 See |pmbcs-option|.
5237 *'printmbfont'* *'pmbfn'*
5238 'printmbfont' 'pmbfn' string (default "")
5239 global
5240 {not in Vi}
5241 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|,
5242 |+postscript| and |+multi_byte| features}
5243 List of font names to be used for CJK output from |:hardcopy|.
5244 See |pmbfn-option|.
5246 *'printoptions'* *'popt'*
5247 'printoptions' 'popt' string (default "")
5248 global
5249 {not in Vi}
5250 {only available when compiled with |+printer| feature}
5251 List of items that control the format of the output of |:hardcopy|.
5252 See |popt-option|.
5254 *'prompt'* *'noprompt'*
5255 'prompt' boolean (default on)
5256 global
5257 When on a ":" prompt is used in Ex mode.
5259 *'pumheight'* *'ph'*
5260 'pumheight' 'ph' number (default 0)
5261 global
5262 {not available when compiled without the
5263 |+insert_expand| feature}
5264 {not in Vi}
5265 Determines the maximum number of items to show in the popup menu for
5266 Insert mode completion. When zero as much space as available is used.
5267 |ins-completion-menu|.
5270 *'quoteescape'* *'qe'*
5271 'quoteescape' 'qe' string (default "\")
5272 local to buffer
5273 {not in Vi}
5274 The characters that are used to escape quotes in a string. Used for
5275 objects like a', a" and a` |a'|.
5276 When one of the characters in this option is found inside a string,
5277 the following character will be skipped. The default value makes the
5278 text "foo\"bar\\" considered to be one string.
5280 *'readonly'* *'ro'* *'noreadonly'* *'noro'*
5281 'readonly' 'ro' boolean (default off)
5282 local to buffer
5283 If on, writes fail unless you use a '!'. Protects you from
5284 accidentally overwriting a file. Default on when Vim is started
5285 in read-only mode ("vim -R") or when the executable is called "view".
5286 When using ":w!" the 'readonly' option is reset for the current
5287 buffer, unless the 'Z' flag is in 'cpoptions'.
5288 {not in Vi:} When using the ":view" command the 'readonly' option is
5289 set for the newly edited buffer.
5291 *'redrawtime'* *'rdt'*
5292 'redrawtime' 'rdt' number (default 2000)
5293 global
5294 {not in Vi}
5295 {only available when compiled with the |+reltime|
5296 feature}
5297 The time in milliseconds for redrawing the display. This applies to
5298 searching for patterns for 'hlsearch' and |:match| highlighting.
5299 When redrawing takes more than this many milliseconds no further
5300 matches will be highlighted. This is used to avoid that Vim hangs
5301 when using a very complicated pattern.
5303 *'remap'* *'noremap'*
5304 'remap' boolean (default on)
5305 global
5306 Allows for mappings to work recursively. If you do not want this for
5307 a single entry, use the :noremap[!] command.
5308 NOTE: To avoid portability problems with Vim scripts, always keep
5309 this option at the default "on". Only switch it off when working with
5310 old Vi scripts.
5312 *'report'*
5313 'report' number (default 2)
5314 global
5315 Threshold for reporting number of lines changed. When the number of
5316 changed lines is more than 'report' a message will be given for most
5317 ":" commands. If you want it always, set 'report' to 0.
5318 For the ":substitute" command the number of substitutions is used
5319 instead of the number of lines.
5321 *'restorescreen'* *'rs'* *'norestorescreen'* *'nors'*
5322 'restorescreen' 'rs' boolean (default on)
5323 global
5324 {not in Vi} {only in Windows 95/NT console version}
5325 When set, the screen contents is restored when exiting Vim. This also
5326 happens when executing external commands.
5328 For non-Windows Vim: You can set or reset the 't_ti' and 't_te'
5329 options in your .vimrc. To disable restoring:
5330 set t_ti= t_te=
5331 To enable restoring (for an xterm):
5332 set t_ti=^[7^[[r^[[?47h t_te=^[[?47l^[8
5333 (Where ^[ is an <Esc>, type CTRL-V <Esc> to insert it)
5335 *'revins'* *'ri'* *'norevins'* *'nori'*
5336 'revins' 'ri' boolean (default off)
5337 global
5338 {not in Vi}
5339 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
5340 feature}
5341 Inserting characters in Insert mode will work backwards. See "typing
5342 backwards" |ins-reverse|. This option can be toggled with the CTRL-_
5343 command in Insert mode, when 'allowrevins' is set.
5344 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' or 'paste' is set.
5346 *'rightleft'* *'rl'* *'norightleft'* *'norl'*
5347 'rightleft' 'rl' boolean (default off)
5348 local to window
5349 {not in Vi}
5350 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
5351 feature}
5352 When on, display orientation becomes right-to-left, i.e., characters
5353 that are stored in the file appear from the right to the left.
5354 Using this option, it is possible to edit files for languages that
5355 are written from the right to the left such as Hebrew and Arabic.
5356 This option is per window, so it is possible to edit mixed files
5357 simultaneously, or to view the same file in both ways (this is
5358 useful whenever you have a mixed text file with both right-to-left
5359 and left-to-right strings so that both sets are displayed properly
5360 in different windows). Also see |rileft.txt|.
5362 *'rightleftcmd'* *'rlc'* *'norightleftcmd'* *'norlc'*
5363 'rightleftcmd' 'rlc' string (default "search")
5364 local to window
5365 {not in Vi}
5366 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
5367 feature}
5368 Each word in this option enables the command line editing to work in
5369 right-to-left mode for a group of commands:
5371 search "/" and "?" commands
5373 This is useful for languages such as Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi.
5374 The 'rightleft' option must be set for 'rightleftcmd' to take effect.
5376 *'ruler'* *'ru'* *'noruler'* *'noru'*
5377 'ruler' 'ru' boolean (default off)
5378 global
5379 {not in Vi}
5380 {not available when compiled without the
5381 |+cmdline_info| feature}
5382 Show the line and column number of the cursor position, separated by a
5383 comma. When there is room, the relative position of the displayed
5384 text in the file is shown on the far right:
5385 Top first line is visible
5386 Bot last line is visible
5387 All first and last line are visible
5388 45% relative position in the file
5389 If 'rulerformat' is set, it will determine the contents of the ruler.
5390 Each window has its own ruler. If a window has a status line, the
5391 ruler is shown there. Otherwise it is shown in the last line of the
5392 screen. If the statusline is given by 'statusline' (i.e. not empty),
5393 this option takes precedence over 'ruler' and 'rulerformat'
5394 If the number of characters displayed is different from the number of
5395 bytes in the text (e.g., for a TAB or a multi-byte character), both
5396 the text column (byte number) and the screen column are shown,
5397 separated with a dash.
5398 For an empty line "0-1" is shown.
5399 For an empty buffer the line number will also be zero: "0,0-1".
5400 This option is reset when the 'paste' option is set.
5401 If you don't want to see the ruler all the time but want to know where
5402 you are, use "g CTRL-G" |g_CTRL-G|.
5403 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5405 *'rulerformat'* *'ruf'*
5406 'rulerformat' 'ruf' string (default empty)
5407 global
5408 {not in Vi}
5409 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline|
5410 feature}
5411 When this option is not empty, it determines the content of the ruler
5412 string, as displayed for the 'ruler' option.
5413 The format of this option is like that of 'statusline'.
5414 The default ruler width is 17 characters. To make the ruler 15
5415 characters wide, put "%15(" at the start and "%)" at the end.
5416 Example: >
5417 :set rulerformat=%15(%c%V\ %p%%%)
5418 <
5419 *'runtimepath'* *'rtp'* *vimfiles*
5420 'runtimepath' 'rtp' string (default:
5421 Unix: "$HOME/.vim,
5422 $VIM/vimfiles,
5423 $VIMRUNTIME,
5424 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5425 $HOME/.vim/after"
5426 Amiga: "home:vimfiles,
5427 $VIM/vimfiles,
5428 $VIMRUNTIME,
5429 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5430 home:vimfiles/after"
5431 PC, OS/2: "$HOME/vimfiles,
5432 $VIM/vimfiles,
5433 $VIMRUNTIME,
5434 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5435 $HOME/vimfiles/after"
5436 Macintosh: "$VIM:vimfiles,
5437 $VIMRUNTIME,
5438 $VIM:vimfiles:after"
5439 RISC-OS: "Choices:vimfiles,
5440 $VIMRUNTIME,
5441 Choices:vimfiles/after"
5442 VMS: "sys$login:vimfiles,
5443 $VIM/vimfiles,
5444 $VIMRUNTIME,
5445 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5446 sys$login:vimfiles/after")
5447 global
5448 {not in Vi}
5449 This is a list of directories which will be searched for runtime
5450 files:
5451 filetype.vim filetypes by file name |new-filetype|
5452 scripts.vim filetypes by file contents |new-filetype-scripts|
5453 autoload/ automatically loaded scripts |autoload-functions|
5454 colors/ color scheme files |:colorscheme|
5455 compiler/ compiler files |:compiler|
5456 doc/ documentation |write-local-help|
5457 ftplugin/ filetype plugins |write-filetype-plugin|
5458 indent/ indent scripts |indent-expression|
5459 keymap/ key mapping files |mbyte-keymap|
5460 lang/ menu translations |:menutrans|
5461 menu.vim GUI menus |menu.vim|
5462 plugin/ plugin scripts |write-plugin|
5463 print/ files for printing |postscript-print-encoding|
5464 spell/ spell checking files |spell|
5465 syntax/ syntax files |mysyntaxfile|
5466 tutor/ files for vimtutor |tutor|
5468 And any other file searched for with the |:runtime| command.
5470 The defaults for most systems are setup to search five locations:
5471 1. In your home directory, for your personal preferences.
5472 2. In a system-wide Vim directory, for preferences from the system
5473 administrator.
5474 3. In $VIMRUNTIME, for files distributed with Vim.
5475 *after-directory*
5476 4. In the "after" directory in the system-wide Vim directory. This is
5477 for the system administrator to overrule or add to the distributed
5478 defaults (rarely needed)
5479 5. In the "after" directory in your home directory. This is for
5480 personal preferences to overrule or add to the distributed defaults
5481 or system-wide settings (rarely needed).
5483 Note that, unlike 'path', no wildcards like "**" are allowed. Normal
5484 wildcards are allowed, but can significantly slow down searching for
5485 runtime files. For speed, use as few items as possible and avoid
5486 wildcards.
5487 See |:runtime|.
5488 Example: >
5489 :set runtimepath=~/vimruntime,/mygroup/vim,$VIMRUNTIME
5490 < This will use the directory "~/vimruntime" first (containing your
5491 personal Vim runtime files), then "/mygroup/vim" (shared between a
5492 group of people) and finally "$VIMRUNTIME" (the distributed runtime
5493 files).
5494 You probably should always include $VIMRUNTIME somewhere, to use the
5495 distributed runtime files. You can put a directory before $VIMRUNTIME
5496 to find files which replace a distributed runtime files. You can put
5497 a directory after $VIMRUNTIME to find files which add to distributed
5498 runtime files.
5499 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5500 security reasons.
5502 *'scroll'* *'scr'*
5503 'scroll' 'scr' number (default: half the window height)
5504 local to window
5505 Number of lines to scroll with CTRL-U and CTRL-D commands. Will be
5506 set to half the number of lines in the window when the window size
5507 changes. If you give a count to the CTRL-U or CTRL-D command it will
5508 be used as the new value for 'scroll'. Reset to half the window
5509 height with ":set scroll=0". {Vi is a bit different: 'scroll' gives
5510 the number of screen lines instead of file lines, makes a difference
5511 when lines wrap}
5513 *'scrollbind'* *'scb'* *'noscrollbind'* *'noscb'*
5514 'scrollbind' 'scb' boolean (default off)
5515 local to window
5516 {not in Vi}
5517 {not available when compiled without the |+scrollbind|
5518 feature}
5519 See also |scroll-binding|. When this option is set, the current
5520 window scrolls as other scrollbind windows (windows that also have
5521 this option set) scroll. This option is useful for viewing the
5522 differences between two versions of a file, see 'diff'.
5523 See |'scrollopt'| for options that determine how this option should be
5524 interpreted.
5525 This option is mostly reset when splitting a window to edit another
5526 file. This means that ":split | edit file" results in two windows
5527 with scroll-binding, but ":split file" does not.
5529 *'scrolljump'* *'sj'*
5530 'scrolljump' 'sj' number (default 1)
5531 global
5532 {not in Vi}
5533 Minimal number of lines to scroll when the cursor gets off the
5534 screen (e.g., with "j"). Not used for scroll commands (e.g., CTRL-E,
5535 CTRL-D). Useful if your terminal scrolls very slowly.
5536 When set to a negative number from -1 to -100 this is used as the
5537 percentage of the window height. Thus -50 scrolls half the window
5538 height.
5539 NOTE: This option is set to 1 when 'compatible' is set.
5541 *'scrolloff'* *'so'*
5542 'scrolloff' 'so' number (default 0)
5543 global
5544 {not in Vi}
5545 Minimal number of screen lines to keep above and below the cursor.
5546 This will make some context visible around where you are working. If
5547 you set it to a very large value (999) the cursor line will always be
5548 in the middle of the window (except at the start or end of the file or
5549 when long lines wrap).
5550 For scrolling horizontally see 'sidescrolloff'.
5551 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
5553 *'scrollopt'* *'sbo'*
5554 'scrollopt' 'sbo' string (default "ver,jump")
5555 global
5556 {not available when compiled without the |+scrollbind|
5557 feature}
5558 {not in Vi}
5559 This is a comma-separated list of words that specifies how
5560 'scrollbind' windows should behave. 'sbo' stands for ScrollBind
5561 Options.
5562 The following words are available:
5563 ver Bind vertical scrolling for 'scrollbind' windows
5564 hor Bind horizontal scrolling for 'scrollbind' windows
5565 jump Applies to the offset between two windows for vertical
5566 scrolling. This offset is the difference in the first
5567 displayed line of the bound windows. When moving
5568 around in a window, another 'scrollbind' window may
5569 reach a position before the start or after the end of
5570 the buffer. The offset is not changed though, when
5571 moving back the 'scrollbind' window will try to scroll
5572 to the desired position when possible.
5573 When now making that window the current one, two
5574 things can be done with the relative offset:
5575 1. When "jump" is not included, the relative offset is
5576 adjusted for the scroll position in the new current
5577 window. When going back to the other window, the
5578 new relative offset will be used.
5579 2. When "jump" is included, the other windows are
5580 scrolled to keep the same relative offset. When
5581 going back to the other window, it still uses the
5582 same relative offset.
5583 Also see |scroll-binding|.
5584 When 'diff' mode is active there always is vertical scroll binding,
5585 even when "ver" isn't there.
5587 *'sections'* *'sect'*
5588 'sections' 'sect' string (default "SHNHH HUnhsh")
5589 global
5590 Specifies the nroff macros that separate sections. These are pairs of
5591 two letters (See |object-motions|). The default makes a section start
5592 at the nroff macros ".SH", ".NH", ".H", ".HU", ".nh" and ".sh".
5594 *'secure'* *'nosecure'* *E523*
5595 'secure' boolean (default off)
5596 global
5597 {not in Vi}
5598 When on, ":autocmd", shell and write commands are not allowed in
5599 ".vimrc" and ".exrc" in the current directory and map commands are
5600 displayed. Switch it off only if you know that you will not run into
5601 problems, or when the 'exrc' option is off. On Unix this option is
5602 only used if the ".vimrc" or ".exrc" is not owned by you. This can be
5603 dangerous if the systems allows users to do a "chown". You better set
5604 'secure' at the end of your ~/.vimrc then.
5605 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5606 security reasons.
5608 *'selection'* *'sel'*
5609 'selection' 'sel' string (default "inclusive")
5610 global
5611 {not in Vi}
5612 This option defines the behavior of the selection. It is only used
5613 in Visual and Select mode.
5614 Possible values:
5615 value past line inclusive ~
5616 old no yes
5617 inclusive yes yes
5618 exclusive yes no
5619 "past line" means that the cursor is allowed to be positioned one
5620 character past the line.
5621 "inclusive" means that the last character of the selection is included
5622 in an operation. For example, when "x" is used to delete the
5623 selection.
5624 Note that when "exclusive" is used and selecting from the end
5625 backwards, you cannot include the last character of a line, when
5626 starting in Normal mode and 'virtualedit' empty.
5628 The 'selection' option is set by the |:behave| command.
5630 *'selectmode'* *'slm'*
5631 'selectmode' 'slm' string (default "")
5632 global
5633 {not in Vi}
5634 This is a comma separated list of words, which specifies when to start
5635 Select mode instead of Visual mode, when a selection is started.
5636 Possible values:
5637 mouse when using the mouse
5638 key when using shifted special keys
5639 cmd when using "v", "V" or CTRL-V
5640 See |Select-mode|.
5641 The 'selectmode' option is set by the |:behave| command.
5643 *'sessionoptions'* *'ssop'*
5644 'sessionoptions' 'ssop' string (default: "blank,buffers,curdir,folds,
5645 help,options,tabpages,winsize")
5646 global
5647 {not in Vi}
5648 {not available when compiled without the +mksession
5649 feature}
5650 Changes the effect of the |:mksession| command. It is a comma
5651 separated list of words. Each word enables saving and restoring
5652 something:
5653 word save and restore ~
5654 blank empty windows
5655 buffers hidden and unloaded buffers, not just those in windows
5656 curdir the current directory
5657 folds manually created folds, opened/closed folds and local
5658 fold options
5659 globals global variables that start with an uppercase letter
5660 and contain at least one lowercase letter. Only
5661 String and Number types are stored.
5662 help the help window
5663 localoptions options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not
5664 global values for local options)
5665 options all options and mappings (also global values for local
5666 options)
5667 resize size of the Vim window: 'lines' and 'columns'
5668 sesdir the directory in which the session file is located
5669 will become the current directory (useful with
5670 projects accessed over a network from different
5671 systems)
5672 slash backslashes in file names replaced with forward
5673 slashes
5674 tabpages all tab pages; without this only the current tab page
5675 is restored, so that you can make a session for each
5676 tab page separately
5677 unix with Unix end-of-line format (single <NL>), even when
5678 on Windows or DOS
5679 winpos position of the whole Vim window
5680 winsize window sizes
5682 Don't include both "curdir" and "sesdir".
5683 When "curdir" nor "sesdir" is included, file names are stored with
5684 absolute paths.
5685 "slash" and "unix" are useful on Windows when sharing session files
5686 with Unix. The Unix version of Vim cannot source dos format scripts,
5687 but the Windows version of Vim can source unix format scripts.
5689 *'shell'* *'sh'* *E91*
5690 'shell' 'sh' string (default $SHELL or "sh",
5691 MS-DOS and Win32: "command.com" or
5692 "cmd.exe", OS/2: "cmd")
5693 global
5694 Name of the shell to use for ! and :! commands. When changing the
5695 value also check these options: 'shelltype', 'shellpipe', 'shellslash'
5696 'shellredir', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote' and 'shellcmdflag'.
5697 It is allowed to give an argument to the command, e.g. "csh -f".
5698 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
5699 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
5700 If the name of the shell contains a space, you might need to enclose
5701 it in quotes. Example: >
5702 :set shell=\"c:\program\ files\unix\sh.exe\"\ -f
5703 < Note the backslash before each quote (to avoid starting a comment) and
5704 each space (to avoid ending the option value). Also note that the
5705 "-f" is not inside the quotes, because it is not part of the command
5706 name. And Vim automagically recognizes the backslashes that are path
5707 separators.
5708 For Dos 32 bits (DJGPP), you can set the $DJSYSFLAGS environment
5709 variable to change the way external commands are executed. See the
5710 libc.inf file of DJGPP.
5711 Under MS-Windows, when the executable ends in ".com" it must be
5712 included. Thus setting the shell to "command.com" or "4dos.com"
5713 works, but "command" and "4dos" do not work for all commands (e.g.,
5714 filtering).
5715 For unknown reasons, when using "4dos.com" the current directory is
5716 changed to "C:\". To avoid this set 'shell' like this: >
5717 :set shell=command.com\ /c\ 4dos
5718 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5719 security reasons.
5721 *'shellcmdflag'* *'shcf'*
5722 'shellcmdflag' 'shcf' string (default: "-c", MS-DOS and Win32, when 'shell'
5723 does not contain "sh" somewhere: "/c")
5724 global
5725 {not in Vi}
5726 Flag passed to the shell to execute "!" and ":!" commands; e.g.,
5727 "bash.exe -c ls" or "command.com /c dir". For the MS-DOS-like
5728 systems, the default is set according to the value of 'shell', to
5729 reduce the need to set this option by the user. It's not used for
5730 OS/2 (EMX figures this out itself). See |option-backslash| about
5731 including spaces and backslashes. See |dos-shell|.
5732 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5733 security reasons.
5735 *'shellpipe'* *'sp'*
5736 'shellpipe' 'sp' string (default ">", "| tee", "|& tee" or "2>&1| tee")
5737 global
5738 {not in Vi}
5739 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
5740 feature}
5741 String to be used to put the output of the ":make" command in the
5742 error file. See also |:make_makeprg|. See |option-backslash| about
5743 including spaces and backslashes.
5744 The name of the temporary file can be represented by "%s" if necessary
5745 (the file name is appended automatically if no %s appears in the value
5746 of this option).
5747 For the Amiga and MS-DOS the default is ">". The output is directly
5748 saved in a file and not echoed to the screen.
5749 For Unix the default it "| tee". The stdout of the compiler is saved
5750 in a file and echoed to the screen. If the 'shell' option is "csh" or
5751 "tcsh" after initializations, the default becomes "|& tee". If the
5752 'shell' option is "sh", "ksh", "zsh" or "bash" the default becomes
5753 "2>&1| tee". This means that stderr is also included.
5754 The initialization of this option is done after reading the ".vimrc"
5755 and the other initializations, so that when the 'shell' option is set
5756 there, the 'shellpipe' option changes automatically, unless it was
5757 explicitly set before.
5758 When 'shellpipe' is set to an empty string, no redirection of the
5759 ":make" output will be done. This is useful if you use a 'makeprg'
5760 that writes to 'makeef' by itself. If you want no piping, but do
5761 want to include the 'makeef', set 'shellpipe' to a single space.
5762 Don't forget to precede the space with a backslash: ":set sp=\ ".
5763 In the future pipes may be used for filtering and this option will
5764 become obsolete (at least for Unix).
5765 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5766 security reasons.
5768 *'shellquote'* *'shq'*
5769 'shellquote' 'shq' string (default: ""; MS-DOS and Win32, when 'shell'
5770 contains "sh" somewhere: "\"")
5771 global
5772 {not in Vi}
5773 Quoting character(s), put around the command passed to the shell, for
5774 the "!" and ":!" commands. The redirection is kept outside of the
5775 quoting. See 'shellxquote' to include the redirection. It's
5776 probably not useful to set both options.
5777 This is an empty string by default. Only known to be useful for
5778 third-party shells on MS-DOS-like systems, such as the MKS Korn Shell
5779 or bash, where it should be "\"". The default is adjusted according
5780 the value of 'shell', to reduce the need to set this option by the
5781 user. See |dos-shell|.
5782 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5783 security reasons.
5785 *'shellredir'* *'srr'*
5786 'shellredir' 'srr' string (default ">", ">&" or ">%s 2>&1")
5787 global
5788 {not in Vi}
5789 String to be used to put the output of a filter command in a temporary
5790 file. See also |:!|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces
5791 and backslashes.
5792 The name of the temporary file can be represented by "%s" if necessary
5793 (the file name is appended automatically if no %s appears in the value
5794 of this option).
5795 The default is ">". For Unix, if the 'shell' option is "csh", "tcsh"
5796 or "zsh" during initializations, the default becomes ">&". If the
5797 'shell' option is "sh", "ksh" or "bash" the default becomes
5798 ">%s 2>&1". This means that stderr is also included.
5799 For Win32, the Unix checks are done and additionally "cmd" is checked
5800 for, which makes the default ">%s 2>&1". Also, the same names with
5801 ".exe" appended are checked for.
5802 The initialization of this option is done after reading the ".vimrc"
5803 and the other initializations, so that when the 'shell' option is set
5804 there, the 'shellredir' option changes automatically unless it was
5805 explicitly set before.
5806 In the future pipes may be used for filtering and this option will
5807 become obsolete (at least for Unix).
5808 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5809 security reasons.
5811 *'shellslash'* *'ssl'* *'noshellslash'* *'nossl'*
5812 'shellslash' 'ssl' boolean (default off)
5813 global
5814 {not in Vi} {only for MSDOS, MS-Windows and OS/2}
5815 When set, a forward slash is used when expanding file names. This is
5816 useful when a Unix-like shell is used instead of command.com or
5817 cmd.exe. Backward slashes can still be typed, but they are changed to
5818 forward slashes by Vim.
5819 Note that setting or resetting this option has no effect for some
5820 existing file names, thus this option needs to be set before opening
5821 any file for best results. This might change in the future.
5822 'shellslash' only works when a backslash can be used as a path
5823 separator. To test if this is so use: >
5824 if exists('+shellslash')
5825 <
5826 *'shelltemp'* *'stmp'* *'noshelltemp'* *'nostmp'*
5827 'shelltemp' 'stmp' boolean (Vi default off, Vim default on)
5828 global
5829 {not in Vi}
5830 When on, use temp files for shell commands. When off use a pipe.
5831 When using a pipe is not possible temp files are used anyway.
5832 Currently a pipe is only supported on Unix. You can check it with: >
5833 :if has("filterpipe")
5834 < The advantage of using a pipe is that nobody can read the temp file
5835 and the 'shell' command does not need to support redirection.
5836 The advantage of using a temp file is that the file type and encoding
5837 can be detected.
5838 The |FilterReadPre|, |FilterReadPost| and |FilterWritePre|,
5839 |FilterWritePost| autocommands event are not triggered when
5840 'shelltemp' is off.
5842 *'shelltype'* *'st'*
5843 'shelltype' 'st' number (default 0)
5844 global
5845 {not in Vi} {only for the Amiga}
5846 On the Amiga this option influences the way how the commands work
5847 which use a shell.
5848 0 and 1: always use the shell
5849 2 and 3: use the shell only to filter lines
5850 4 and 5: use shell only for ':sh' command
5851 When not using the shell, the command is executed directly.
5853 0 and 2: use "shell 'shellcmdflag' cmd" to start external commands
5854 1 and 3: use "shell cmd" to start external commands
5856 *'shellxquote'* *'sxq'*
5857 'shellxquote' 'sxq' string (default: "";
5858 for Win32, when 'shell' contains "sh"
5859 somewhere: "\""
5860 for Unix, when using system(): "\"")
5861 global
5862 {not in Vi}
5863 Quoting character(s), put around the command passed to the shell, for
5864 the "!" and ":!" commands. Includes the redirection. See
5865 'shellquote' to exclude the redirection. It's probably not useful
5866 to set both options.
5867 This is an empty string by default. Known to be useful for
5868 third-party shells when using the Win32 version, such as the MKS Korn
5869 Shell or bash, where it should be "\"". The default is adjusted
5870 according the value of 'shell', to reduce the need to set this option
5871 by the user. See |dos-shell|.
5872 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5873 security reasons.
5875 *'shiftround'* *'sr'* *'noshiftround'* *'nosr'*
5876 'shiftround' 'sr' boolean (default off)
5877 global
5878 {not in Vi}
5879 Round indent to multiple of 'shiftwidth'. Applies to > and <
5880 commands. CTRL-T and CTRL-D in Insert mode always round the indent to
5881 a multiple of 'shiftwidth' (this is Vi compatible).
5882 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5884 *'shiftwidth'* *'sw'*
5885 'shiftwidth' 'sw' number (default 8)
5886 local to buffer
5887 Number of spaces to use for each step of (auto)indent. Used for
5888 |'cindent'|, |>>|, |<<|, etc.
5890 *'shortmess'* *'shm'*
5891 'shortmess' 'shm' string (Vim default "filnxtToO", Vi default: "",
5892 POSIX default: "A")
5893 global
5894 {not in Vi}
5895 This option helps to avoid all the |hit-enter| prompts caused by file
5896 messages, for example with CTRL-G, and to avoid some other messages.
5897 It is a list of flags:
5898 flag meaning when present ~
5899 f use "(3 of 5)" instead of "(file 3 of 5)"
5900 i use "[noeol]" instead of "[Incomplete last line]"
5901 l use "999L, 888C" instead of "999 lines, 888 characters"
5902 m use "[+]" instead of "[Modified]"
5903 n use "[New]" instead of "[New File]"
5904 r use "[RO]" instead of "[readonly]"
5905 w use "[w]" instead of "written" for file write message
5906 and "[a]" instead of "appended" for ':w >> file' command
5907 x use "[dos]" instead of "[dos format]", "[unix]" instead of
5908 "[unix format]" and "[mac]" instead of "[mac format]".
5909 a all of the above abbreviations
5911 o overwrite message for writing a file with subsequent message
5912 for reading a file (useful for ":wn" or when 'autowrite' on)
5913 O message for reading a file overwrites any previous message.
5914 Also for quickfix message (e.g., ":cn").
5915 s don't give "search hit BOTTOM, continuing at TOP" or "search
5916 hit TOP, continuing at BOTTOM" messages
5917 t truncate file message at the start if it is too long to fit
5918 on the command-line, "<" will appear in the left most column.
5919 Ignored in Ex mode.
5920 T truncate other messages in the middle if they are too long to
5921 fit on the command line. "..." will appear in the middle.
5922 Ignored in Ex mode.
5923 W don't give "written" or "[w]" when writing a file
5924 A don't give the "ATTENTION" message when an existing swap file
5925 is found.
5926 I don't give the intro message when starting Vim |:intro|.
5928 This gives you the opportunity to avoid that a change between buffers
5929 requires you to hit <Enter>, but still gives as useful a message as
5930 possible for the space available. To get the whole message that you
5931 would have got with 'shm' empty, use ":file!"
5932 Useful values:
5933 shm= No abbreviation of message.
5934 shm=a Abbreviation, but no loss of information.
5935 shm=at Abbreviation, and truncate message when necessary.
5937 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
5938 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
5940 *'shortname'* *'sn'* *'noshortname'* *'nosn'*
5941 'shortname' 'sn' boolean (default off)
5942 local to buffer
5943 {not in Vi, not in MS-DOS versions}
5944 Filenames are assumed to be 8 characters plus one extension of 3
5945 characters. Multiple dots in file names are not allowed. When this
5946 option is on, dots in file names are replaced with underscores when
5947 adding an extension (".~" or ".swp"). This option is not available
5948 for MS-DOS, because then it would always be on. This option is useful
5949 when editing files on an MS-DOS compatible filesystem, e.g., messydos
5950 or crossdos. When running the Win32 GUI version under Win32s, this
5951 option is always on by default.
5953 *'showbreak'* *'sbr'* *E595*
5954 'showbreak' 'sbr' string (default "")
5955 global
5956 {not in Vi}
5957 {not available when compiled without the |+linebreak|
5958 feature}
5959 String to put at the start of lines that have been wrapped. Useful
5960 values are "> " or "+++ ".
5961 Only printable single-cell characters are allowed, excluding <Tab> and
5962 comma (in a future version the comma might be used to separate the
5963 part that is shown at the end and at the start of a line).
5964 The characters are highlighted according to the '@' flag in
5965 'highlight'.
5966 Note that tabs after the showbreak will be displayed differently.
5967 If you want the 'showbreak' to appear in between line numbers, add the
5968 "n" flag to 'cpoptions'.
5970 *'showcmd'* *'sc'* *'noshowcmd'* *'nosc'*
5971 'showcmd' 'sc' boolean (Vim default: on, off for Unix, Vi default:
5972 off)
5973 global
5974 {not in Vi}
5975 {not available when compiled without the
5976 |+cmdline_info| feature}
5977 Show (partial) command in the last line of the screen. Set this
5978 option off if your terminal is slow.
5979 In Visual mode the size of the selected area is shown:
5980 - When selecting characters within a line, the number of characters.
5981 - When selecting more than one line, the number of lines.
5982 - When selecting a block, the size in screen characters: linesxcolumns.
5983 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
5984 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
5986 *'showfulltag'* *'sft'* *'noshowfulltag'* *'nosft'*
5987 'showfulltag' 'sft' boolean (default off)
5988 global
5989 {not in Vi}
5990 When completing a word in insert mode (see |ins-completion|) from the
5991 tags file, show both the tag name and a tidied-up form of the search
5992 pattern (if there is one) as possible matches. Thus, if you have
5993 matched a C function, you can see a template for what arguments are
5994 required (coding style permitting).
5995 Note that this doesn't work well together with having "longest" in
5996 'completeopt', because the completion from the search pattern may not
5997 match the typed text.
5999 *'showmatch'* *'sm'* *'noshowmatch'* *'nosm'*
6000 'showmatch' 'sm' boolean (default off)
6001 global
6002 When a bracket is inserted, briefly jump to the matching one. The
6003 jump is only done if the match can be seen on the screen. The time to
6004 show the match can be set with 'matchtime'.
6005 A Beep is given if there is no match (no matter if the match can be
6006 seen or not). This option is reset when the 'paste' option is set.
6007 When the 'm' flag is not included in 'cpoptions', typing a character
6008 will immediately move the cursor back to where it belongs.
6009 See the "sm" field in 'guicursor' for setting the cursor shape and
6010 blinking when showing the match.
6011 The 'matchpairs' option can be used to specify the characters to show
6012 matches for. 'rightleft' and 'revins' are used to look for opposite
6013 matches.
6014 Also see the matchparen plugin for highlighting the match when moving
6015 around |pi_paren.txt|.
6016 Note: Use of the short form is rated PG.
6018 *'showmode'* *'smd'* *'noshowmode'* *'nosmd'*
6019 'showmode' 'smd' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
6020 global
6021 If in Insert, Replace or Visual mode put a message on the last line.
6022 Use the 'M' flag in 'highlight' to set the type of highlighting for
6023 this message.
6024 When |XIM| may be used the message will include "XIM". But this
6025 doesn't mean XIM is really active, especially when 'imactivatekey' is
6026 not set.
6027 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
6028 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
6030 *'showtabline'* *'stal'*
6031 'showtabline' 'stal' number (default 1)
6032 global
6033 {not in Vi}
6034 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6035 feature}
6036 The value of this option specifies when the line with tab page labels
6037 will be displayed:
6038 0: never
6039 1: only if there are at least two tab pages
6040 2: always
6041 This is both for the GUI and non-GUI implementation of the tab pages
6042 line.
6043 See |tab-page| for more information about tab pages.
6045 *'sidescroll'* *'ss'*
6046 'sidescroll' 'ss' number (default 0)
6047 global
6048 {not in Vi}
6049 The minimal number of columns to scroll horizontally. Used only when
6050 the 'wrap' option is off and the cursor is moved off of the screen.
6051 When it is zero the cursor will be put in the middle of the screen.
6052 When using a slow terminal set it to a large number or 0. When using
6053 a fast terminal use a small number or 1. Not used for "zh" and "zl"
6054 commands.
6056 *'sidescrolloff'* *'siso'*
6057 'sidescrolloff' 'siso' number (default 0)
6058 global
6059 {not in Vi}
6060 The minimal number of screen columns to keep to the left and to the
6061 right of the cursor if 'nowrap' is set. Setting this option to a
6062 value greater than 0 while having |'sidescroll'| also at a non-zero
6063 value makes some context visible in the line you are scrolling in
6064 horizontally (except at beginning of the line). Setting this option
6065 to a large value (like 999) has the effect of keeping the cursor
6066 horizontally centered in the window, as long as one does not come too
6067 close to the beginning of the line.
6068 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
6070 Example: Try this together with 'sidescroll' and 'listchars' as
6071 in the following example to never allow the cursor to move
6072 onto the "extends" character:
6074 :set nowrap sidescroll=1 listchars=extends:>,precedes:<
6075 :set sidescrolloff=1
6078 *'smartcase'* *'scs'* *'nosmartcase'* *'noscs'*
6079 'smartcase' 'scs' boolean (default off)
6080 global
6081 {not in Vi}
6082 Override the 'ignorecase' option if the search pattern contains upper
6083 case characters. Only used when the search pattern is typed and
6084 'ignorecase' option is on. Used for the commands "/", "?", "n", "N",
6085 ":g" and ":s". Not used for "*", "#", "gd", tag search, etc.. After
6086 "*" and "#" you can make 'smartcase' used by doing a "/" command,
6087 recalling the search pattern from history and hitting <Enter>.
6088 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
6090 *'smartindent'* *'si'* *'nosmartindent'* *'nosi'*
6091 'smartindent' 'si' boolean (default off)
6092 local to buffer
6093 {not in Vi}
6094 {not available when compiled without the
6095 |+smartindent| feature}
6096 Do smart autoindenting when starting a new line. Works for C-like
6097 programs, but can also be used for other languages. 'cindent' does
6098 something like this, works better in most cases, but is more strict,
6099 see |C-indenting|. When 'cindent' is on, setting 'si' has no effect.
6100 'indentexpr' is a more advanced alternative.
6101 Normally 'autoindent' should also be on when using 'smartindent'.
6102 An indent is automatically inserted:
6103 - After a line ending in '{'.
6104 - After a line starting with a keyword from 'cinwords'.
6105 - Before a line starting with '}' (only with the "O" command).
6106 When typing '}' as the first character in a new line, that line is
6107 given the same indent as the matching '{'.
6108 When typing '#' as the first character in a new line, the indent for
6109 that line is removed, the '#' is put in the first column. The indent
6110 is restored for the next line. If you don't want this, use this
6111 mapping: ":inoremap # X^H#", where ^H is entered with CTRL-V CTRL-H.
6112 When using the ">>" command, lines starting with '#' are not shifted
6113 right.
6114 NOTE: 'smartindent' is reset when 'compatible' is set. When 'paste'
6115 is set smart indenting is disabled.
6117 *'smarttab'* *'sta'* *'nosmarttab'* *'nosta'*
6118 'smarttab' 'sta' boolean (default off)
6119 global
6120 {not in Vi}
6121 When on, a <Tab> in front of a line inserts blanks according to
6122 'shiftwidth'. 'tabstop' or 'softtabstop' is used in other places. A
6123 <BS> will delete a 'shiftwidth' worth of space at the start of the
6124 line.
6125 When off, a <Tab> always inserts blanks according to 'tabstop' or
6126 'softtabstop'. 'shiftwidth' is only used for shifting text left or
6127 right |shift-left-right|.
6128 What gets inserted (a <Tab> or spaces) depends on the 'expandtab'
6129 option. Also see |ins-expandtab|. When 'expandtab' is not set, the
6130 number of spaces is minimized by using <Tab>s.
6131 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
6133 *'softtabstop'* *'sts'*
6134 'softtabstop' 'sts' number (default 0)
6135 local to buffer
6136 {not in Vi}
6137 Number of spaces that a <Tab> counts for while performing editing
6138 operations, like inserting a <Tab> or using <BS>. It "feels" like
6139 <Tab>s are being inserted, while in fact a mix of spaces and <Tab>s is
6140 used. This is useful to keep the 'ts' setting at its standard value
6141 of 8, while being able to edit like it is set to 'sts'. However,
6142 commands like "x" still work on the actual characters.
6143 When 'sts' is zero, this feature is off.
6144 'softtabstop' is set to 0 when the 'paste' option is set.
6145 See also |ins-expandtab|. When 'expandtab' is not set, the number of
6146 spaces is minimized by using <Tab>s.
6147 The 'L' flag in 'cpoptions' changes how tabs are used when 'list' is
6148 set.
6149 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
6151 *'spell'* *'nospell'*
6152 'spell' boolean (default off)
6153 local to window
6154 {not in Vi}
6155 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6156 feature}
6157 When on spell checking will be done. See |spell|.
6158 The languages are specified with 'spelllang'.
6160 *'spellcapcheck'* *'spc'*
6161 'spellcapcheck' 'spc' string (default "[.?!]\_[\])'" \t]\+")
6162 local to buffer
6163 {not in Vi}
6164 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6165 feature}
6166 Pattern to locate the end of a sentence. The following word will be
6167 checked to start with a capital letter. If not then it is highlighted
6168 with SpellCap |hl-SpellCap| (unless the word is also badly spelled).
6169 When this check is not wanted make this option empty.
6170 Only used when 'spell' is set.
6171 Be careful with special characters, see |option-backslash| about
6172 including spaces and backslashes.
6173 To set this option automatically depending on the language, see
6174 |set-spc-auto|.
6176 *'spellfile'* *'spf'*
6177 'spellfile' 'spf' string (default empty)
6178 local to buffer
6179 {not in Vi}
6180 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6181 feature}
6182 Name of the word list file where words are added for the |zg| and |zw|
6183 commands. It must end in ".{encoding}.add". You need to include the
6184 path, otherwise the file is placed in the current directory.
6185 *E765*
6186 It may also be a comma separated list of names. A count before the
6187 |zg| and |zw| commands can be used to access each. This allows using
6188 a personal word list file and a project word list file.
6189 When a word is added while this option is empty Vim will set it for
6190 you: Using the first directory in 'runtimepath' that is writable. If
6191 there is no "spell" directory yet it will be created. For the file
6192 name the first language name that appears in 'spelllang' is used,
6193 ignoring the region.
6194 The resulting ".spl" file will be used for spell checking, it does not
6195 have to appear in 'spelllang'.
6196 Normally one file is used for all regions, but you can add the region
6197 name if you want to. However, it will then only be used when
6198 'spellfile' is set to it, for entries in 'spelllang' only files
6199 without region name will be found.
6200 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
6201 security reasons.
6203 *'spelllang'* *'spl'*
6204 'spelllang' 'spl' string (default "en")
6205 local to buffer
6206 {not in Vi}
6207 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6208 feature}
6209 A comma separated list of word list names. When the 'spell' option is
6210 on spellchecking will be done for these languages. Example: >
6211 set spelllang=en_us,nl,medical
6212 < This means US English, Dutch and medical words are recognized. Words
6213 that are not recognized will be highlighted.
6214 The word list name must not include a comma or dot. Using a dash is
6215 recommended to separate the two letter language name from a
6216 specification. Thus "en-rare" is used for rare English words.
6217 A region name must come last and have the form "_xx", where "xx" is
6218 the two-letter, lower case region name. You can use more than one
6219 region by listing them: "en_us,en_ca" supports both US and Canadian
6220 English, but not words specific for Australia, New Zealand or Great
6221 Britain.
6222 *E757*
6223 As a special case the name of a .spl file can be given as-is. The
6224 first "_xx" in the name is removed and used as the region name
6225 (_xx is an underscore, two letters and followed by a non-letter).
6226 This is mainly for testing purposes. You must make sure the correct
6227 encoding is used, Vim doesn't check it.
6228 When 'encoding' is set the word lists are reloaded. Thus it's a good
6229 idea to set 'spelllang' after setting 'encoding' to avoid loading the
6230 files twice.
6231 How the related spell files are found is explained here: |spell-load|.
6233 If the |spellfile.vim| plugin is active and you use a language name
6234 for which Vim cannot find the .spl file in 'runtimepath' the plugin
6235 will ask you if you want to download the file.
6237 After this option has been set successfully, Vim will source the files
6238 "spell/LANG.vim" in 'runtimepath'. "LANG" is the value of 'spelllang'
6239 up to the first comma, dot or underscore.
6240 Also see |set-spc-auto|.
6243 *'spellsuggest'* *'sps'*
6244 'spellsuggest' 'sps' string (default "best")
6245 global
6246 {not in Vi}
6247 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6248 feature}
6249 Methods used for spelling suggestions. Both for the |z=| command and
6250 the |spellsuggest()| function. This is a comma-separated list of
6251 items:
6253 best Internal method that works best for English. Finds
6254 changes like "fast" and uses a bit of sound-a-like
6255 scoring to improve the ordering.
6257 double Internal method that uses two methods and mixes the
6258 results. The first method is "fast", the other method
6259 computes how much the suggestion sounds like the bad
6260 word. That only works when the language specifies
6261 sound folding. Can be slow and doesn't always give
6262 better results.
6264 fast Internal method that only checks for simple changes:
6265 character inserts/deletes/swaps. Works well for
6266 simple typing mistakes.
6268 {number} The maximum number of suggestions listed for |z=|.
6269 Not used for |spellsuggest()|. The number of
6270 suggestions is never more than the value of 'lines'
6271 minus two.
6273 file:{filename} Read file {filename}, which must have two columns,
6274 separated by a slash. The first column contains the
6275 bad word, the second column the suggested good word.
6276 Example:
6277 theribal/terrible ~
6278 Use this for common mistakes that do not appear at the
6279 top of the suggestion list with the internal methods.
6280 Lines without a slash are ignored, use this for
6281 comments.
6282 The file is used for all languages.
6284 expr:{expr} Evaluate expression {expr}. Use a function to avoid
6285 trouble with spaces. |v:val| holds the badly spelled
6286 word. The expression must evaluate to a List of
6287 Lists, each with a suggestion and a score.
6288 Example:
6289 [['the', 33], ['that', 44]]
6290 Set 'verbose' and use |z=| to see the scores that the
6291 internal methods use. A lower score is better.
6292 This may invoke |spellsuggest()| if you temporarily
6293 set 'spellsuggest' to exclude the "expr:" part.
6294 Errors are silently ignored, unless you set the
6295 'verbose' option to a non-zero value.
6297 Only one of "best", "double" or "fast" may be used. The others may
6298 appear several times in any order. Example: >
6299 :set sps=file:~/.vim/sugg,best,expr:MySuggest()
6300 <
6301 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
6302 security reasons.
6305 *'splitbelow'* *'sb'* *'nosplitbelow'* *'nosb'*
6306 'splitbelow' 'sb' boolean (default off)
6307 global
6308 {not in Vi}
6309 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6310 feature}
6311 When on, splitting a window will put the new window below the current
6312 one. |:split|
6314 *'splitright'* *'spr'* *'nosplitright'* *'nospr'*
6315 'splitright' 'spr' boolean (default off)
6316 global
6317 {not in Vi}
6318 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
6319 feature}
6320 When on, splitting a window will put the new window right of the
6321 current one. |:vsplit|
6323 *'startofline'* *'sol'* *'nostartofline'* *'nosol'*
6324 'startofline' 'sol' boolean (default on)
6325 global
6326 {not in Vi}
6327 When "on" the commands listed below move the cursor to the first
6328 non-blank of the line. When off the cursor is kept in the same column
6329 (if possible). This applies to the commands: CTRL-D, CTRL-U, CTRL-B,
6330 CTRL-F, "G", "H", "M", "L", gg, and to the commands "d", "<<" and ">>"
6331 with a linewise operator, with "%" with a count and to buffer changing
6332 commands (CTRL-^, :bnext, :bNext, etc.). Also for an Ex command that
6333 only has a line number, e.g., ":25" or ":+".
6334 In case of buffer changing commands the cursor is placed at the column
6335 where it was the last time the buffer was edited.
6336 NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.
6338 *'statusline'* *'stl'* *E540* *E541* *E542*
6339 'statusline' 'stl' string (default empty)
6340 global or local to window |global-local|
6341 {not in Vi}
6342 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline|
6343 feature}
6344 When nonempty, this option determines the content of the status line.
6345 Also see |status-line|.
6347 The option consists of printf style '%' items interspersed with
6348 normal text. Each status line item is of the form:
6349 %-0{minwid}.{maxwid}{item}
6350 All fields except the {item} is optional. A single percent sign can
6351 be given as "%%". Up to 80 items can be specified.
6353 When the option starts with "%!" then it is used as an expression,
6354 evaluated and the result is used as the option value. Example: >
6355 :set statusline=%!MyStatusLine()
6356 < The result can contain %{} items that will be evaluated too.
6358 When there is error while evaluating the option then it will be made
6359 empty to avoid further errors. Otherwise screen updating would loop.
6361 Note that the only effect of 'ruler' when this option is set (and
6362 'laststatus' is 2) is controlling the output of |CTRL-G|.
6364 field meaning ~
6365 - Left justify the item. The default is right justified
6366 when minwid is larger than the length of the item.
6367 0 Leading zeroes in numeric items. Overridden by '-'.
6368 minwid Minimum width of the item, padding as set by '-' & '0'.
6369 Value must be 50 or less.
6370 maxwid Maximum width of the item. Truncation occurs with a '<'
6371 on the left for text items. Numeric items will be
6372 shifted down to maxwid-2 digits followed by '>'number
6373 where number is the amount of missing digits, much like
6374 an exponential notation.
6375 item A one letter code as described below.
6377 Following is a description of the possible statusline items. The
6378 second character in "item" is the type:
6379 N for number
6380 S for string
6381 F for flags as described below
6382 - not applicable
6384 item meaning ~
6385 f S Path to the file in the buffer, as typed or relative to current
6386 directory.
6387 F S Full path to the file in the buffer.
6388 t S File name (tail) of file in the buffer.
6389 m F Modified flag, text is " [+]"; " [-]" if 'modifiable' is off.
6390 M F Modified flag, text is ",+" or ",-".
6391 r F Readonly flag, text is " [RO]".
6392 R F Readonly flag, text is ",RO".
6393 h F Help buffer flag, text is " [help]".
6394 H F Help buffer flag, text is ",HLP".
6395 w F Preview window flag, text is " [Preview]".
6396 W F Preview window flag, text is ",PRV".
6397 y F Type of file in the buffer, e.g., " [vim]". See 'filetype'.
6398 Y F Type of file in the buffer, e.g., ",VIM". See 'filetype'.
6399 {not available when compiled without |+autocmd| feature}
6400 k S Value of "b:keymap_name" or 'keymap' when |:lmap| mappings are
6401 being used: "<keymap>"
6402 n N Buffer number.
6403 b N Value of byte under cursor.
6404 B N As above, in hexadecimal.
6405 o N Byte number in file of byte under cursor, first byte is 1.
6406 Mnemonic: Offset from start of file (with one added)
6407 {not available when compiled without |+byte_offset| feature}
6408 O N As above, in hexadecimal.
6409 N N Printer page number. (Only works in the 'printheader' option.)
6410 l N Line number.
6411 L N Number of lines in buffer.
6412 c N Column number.
6413 v N Virtual column number.
6414 V N Virtual column number as -{num}. Not displayed if equal to 'c'.
6415 p N Percentage through file in lines as in |CTRL-G|.
6416 P S Percentage through file of displayed window. This is like the
6417 percentage described for 'ruler'. Always 3 in length.
6418 a S Argument list status as in default title. ({current} of {max})
6419 Empty if the argument file count is zero or one.
6420 { NF Evaluate expression between '%{' and '}' and substitute result.
6421 Note that there is no '%' before the closing '}'.
6422 ( - Start of item group. Can be used for setting the width and
6423 alignment of a section. Must be followed by %) somewhere.
6424 ) - End of item group. No width fields allowed.
6425 T N For 'tabline': start of tab page N label. Use %T after the last
6426 label. This information is used for mouse clicks.
6427 X N For 'tabline': start of close tab N label. Use %X after the
6428 label, e.g.: %3Xclose%X. Use %999X for a "close current tab"
6429 mark. This information is used for mouse clicks.
6430 < - Where to truncate line if too long. Default is at the start.
6431 No width fields allowed.
6432 = - Separation point between left and right aligned items.
6433 No width fields allowed.
6434 # - Set highlight group. The name must follow and then a # again.
6435 Thus use %#HLname# for highlight group HLname. The same
6436 highlighting is used, also for the statusline of non-current
6437 windows.
6438 * - Set highlight group to User{N}, where {N} is taken from the
6439 minwid field, e.g. %1*. Restore normal highlight with %* or %0*.
6440 The difference between User{N} and StatusLine will be applied
6441 to StatusLineNC for the statusline of non-current windows.
6442 The number N must be between 1 and 9. See |hl-User1..9|
6444 Display of flags are controlled by the following heuristic:
6445 If a flag text starts with comma it is assumed that it wants to
6446 separate itself from anything but preceding plaintext. If it starts
6447 with a space it is assumed that it wants to separate itself from
6448 anything but other flags. That is: A leading comma is removed if the
6449 preceding character stems from plaintext. A leading space is removed
6450 if the preceding character stems from another active flag. This will
6451 make a nice display when flags are used like in the examples below.
6453 When all items in a group becomes an empty string (i.e. flags that are
6454 not set) and a minwid is not set for the group, the whole group will
6455 become empty. This will make a group like the following disappear
6456 completely from the statusline when none of the flags are set. >
6457 :set statusline=...%(\ [%M%R%H]%)...
6458 <
6459 Beware that an expression is evaluated each and every time the status
6460 line is displayed. The current buffer and current window will be set
6461 temporarily to that of the window (and buffer) whose statusline is
6462 currently being drawn. The expression will evaluate in this context.
6463 The variable "actual_curbuf" is set to the 'bufnr()' number of the
6464 real current buffer.
6466 The 'statusline' option may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
6467 |sandbox-option|.
6469 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
6470 evaluating 'statusline' |textlock|.
6472 If the statusline is not updated when you want it (e.g., after setting
6473 a variable that's used in an expression), you can force an update by
6474 setting an option without changing its value. Example: >
6475 :let &ro = &ro
6477 < A result of all digits is regarded a number for display purposes.
6478 Otherwise the result is taken as flag text and applied to the rules
6479 described above.
6481 Watch out for errors in expressions. They may render Vim unusable!
6482 If you are stuck, hold down ':' or 'Q' to get a prompt, then quit and
6483 edit your .vimrc or whatever with "vim -u NONE" to get it right.
6485 Examples:
6486 Emulate standard status line with 'ruler' set >
6487 :set statusline=%<%f\ %h%m%r%=%-14.(%l,%c%V%)\ %P
6488 < Similar, but add ASCII value of char under the cursor (like "ga") >
6489 :set statusline=%<%f%h%m%r%=%b\ 0x%B\ \ %l,%c%V\ %P
6490 < Display byte count and byte value, modified flag in red. >
6491 :set statusline=%<%f%=\ [%1*%M%*%n%R%H]\ %-19(%3l,%02c%03V%)%O'%02b'
6492 :hi User1 term=inverse,bold cterm=inverse,bold ctermfg=red
6493 < Display a ,GZ flag if a compressed file is loaded >
6494 :set statusline=...%r%{VarExists('b:gzflag','\ [GZ]')}%h...
6495 < In the |:autocmd|'s: >
6496 :let b:gzflag = 1
6497 < And: >
6498 :unlet b:gzflag
6499 < And define this function: >
6500 :function VarExists(var, val)
6501 : if exists(a:var) | return a:val | else | return '' | endif
6502 :endfunction
6503 <
6504 *'suffixes'* *'su'*
6505 'suffixes' 'su' string (default ".bak,~,.o,.h,.info,.swp,.obj")
6506 global
6507 {not in Vi}
6508 Files with these suffixes get a lower priority when multiple files
6509 match a wildcard. See |suffixes|. Commas can be used to separate the
6510 suffixes. Spaces after the comma are ignored. A dot is also seen as
6511 the start of a suffix. To avoid a dot or comma being recognized as a
6512 separator, precede it with a backslash (see |option-backslash| about
6513 including spaces and backslashes).
6514 See 'wildignore' for completely ignoring files.
6515 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
6516 suffixes from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
6517 uses another default.
6519 *'suffixesadd'* *'sua'*
6520 'suffixesadd' 'sua' string (default "")
6521 local to buffer
6522 {not in Vi}
6523 {not available when compiled without the
6524 |+file_in_path| feature}
6525 Comma separated list of suffixes, which are used when searching for a
6526 file for the "gf", "[I", etc. commands. Example: >
6527 :set suffixesadd=.java
6528 <
6529 *'swapfile'* *'swf'* *'noswapfile'* *'noswf'*
6530 'swapfile' 'swf' boolean (default on)
6531 local to buffer
6532 {not in Vi}
6533 Use a swapfile for the buffer. This option can be reset when a
6534 swapfile is not wanted for a specific buffer. For example, with
6535 confidential information that even root must not be able to access.
6536 Careful: All text will be in memory:
6537 - Don't use this for big files.
6538 - Recovery will be impossible!
6539 A swapfile will only be present when |'updatecount'| is non-zero and
6540 'swapfile' is set.
6541 When 'swapfile' is reset, the swap file for the current buffer is
6542 immediately deleted. When 'swapfile' is set, and 'updatecount' is
6543 non-zero, a swap file is immediately created.
6544 Also see |swap-file| and |'swapsync'|.
6546 This option is used together with 'bufhidden' and 'buftype' to
6547 specify special kinds of buffers. See |special-buffers|.
6549 *'swapsync'* *'sws'*
6550 'swapsync' 'sws' string (default "fsync")
6551 global
6552 {not in Vi}
6553 When this option is not empty a swap file is synced to disk after
6554 writing to it. This takes some time, especially on busy unix systems.
6555 When this option is empty parts of the swap file may be in memory and
6556 not written to disk. When the system crashes you may lose more work.
6557 On Unix the system does a sync now and then without Vim asking for it,
6558 so the disadvantage of setting this option off is small. On some
6559 systems the swap file will not be written at all. For a unix system
6560 setting it to "sync" will use the sync() call instead of the default
6561 fsync(), which may work better on some systems.
6562 The 'fsync' option is used for the actual file.
6564 *'switchbuf'* *'swb'*
6565 'switchbuf' 'swb' string (default "")
6566 global
6567 {not in Vi}
6568 This option controls the behavior when switching between buffers.
6569 Possible values (comma separated list):
6570 useopen If included, jump to the first open window that
6571 contains the specified buffer (if there is one).
6572 Otherwise: Do not examine other windows.
6573 This setting is checked with |quickfix| commands, when
6574 jumping to errors (":cc", ":cn", "cp", etc.). It is
6575 also used in all buffer related split commands, for
6576 example ":sbuffer", ":sbnext", or ":sbrewind".
6577 usetab Like "useopen", but also consider windows in other tab
6578 pages.
6579 split If included, split the current window before loading
6580 a buffer. Otherwise: do not split, use current window.
6581 Supported in |quickfix| commands that display errors.
6583 *'synmaxcol'* *'smc'*
6584 'synmaxcol' 'smc' number (default 3000)
6585 local to buffer
6586 {not in Vi}
6587 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6588 feature}
6589 Maximum column in which to search for syntax items. In long lines the
6590 text after this column is not highlighted and following lines may not
6591 be highlighted correctly, because the syntax state is cleared.
6592 This helps to avoid very slow redrawing for an XML file that is one
6593 long line.
6594 Set to zero to remove the limit.
6596 *'syntax'* *'syn'*
6597 'syntax' 'syn' string (default empty)
6598 local to buffer
6599 {not in Vi}
6600 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6601 feature}
6602 When this option is set, the syntax with this name is loaded, unless
6603 syntax highlighting has been switched off with ":syntax off".
6604 Otherwise this option does not always reflect the current syntax (the
6605 b:current_syntax variable does).
6606 This option is most useful in a modeline, for a file which syntax is
6607 not automatically recognized. Example, in an IDL file:
6608 /* vim: set syntax=idl : */ ~
6609 When a dot appears in the value then this separates two filetype
6610 names. Example:
6611 /* vim: set syntax=c.doxygen : */ ~
6612 This will use the "c" syntax first, then the "doxygen" syntax.
6613 Note that the second one must be prepared to be loaded as an addition,
6614 otherwise it will be skipped. More than one dot may appear.
6615 To switch off syntax highlighting for the current file, use: >
6616 :set syntax=OFF
6617 < To switch syntax highlighting on according to the current value of the
6618 'filetype' option: >
6619 :set syntax=ON
6620 < What actually happens when setting the 'syntax' option is that the
6621 Syntax autocommand event is triggered with the value as argument.
6622 This option is not copied to another buffer, independent of the 's' or
6623 'S' flag in 'cpoptions'.
6624 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
6626 *'tabline'* *'tal'*
6627 'tabline' 'tal' string (default empty)
6628 global
6629 {not in Vi}
6630 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6631 feature}
6632 When nonempty, this option determines the content of the tab pages
6633 line at the top of the Vim window. When empty Vim will use a default
6634 tab pages line. See |setting-tabline| for more info.
6636 The tab pages line only appears as specified with the 'showtabline'
6637 option and only when there is no GUI tab line. When 'e' is in
6638 'guioptions' and the GUI supports a tab line 'guitablabel' is used
6639 instead.
6641 The value is evaluated like with 'statusline'. You can use
6642 |tabpagenr()|, |tabpagewinnr()| and |tabpagebuflist()| to figure out
6643 the text to be displayed. Use "%1T" for the first label, "%2T" for
6644 the second one, etc. Use "%X" items for closing labels.
6646 Keep in mind that only one of the tab pages is the current one, others
6647 are invisible and you can't jump to their windows.
6650 *'tabpagemax'* *'tpm'*
6651 'tabpagemax' 'tpm' number (default 10)
6652 global
6653 {not in Vi}
6654 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6655 feature}
6656 Maximum number of tab pages to be opened by the |-p| command line
6657 argument or the ":tab all" command. |tabpage|
6660 *'tabstop'* *'ts'*
6661 'tabstop' 'ts' number (default 8)
6662 local to buffer
6663 Number of spaces that a <Tab> in the file counts for. Also see
6664 |:retab| command, and 'softtabstop' option.
6666 Note: Setting 'tabstop' to any other value than 8 can make your file
6667 appear wrong in many places (e.g., when printing it).
6669 There are four main ways to use tabs in Vim:
6670 1. Always keep 'tabstop' at 8, set 'softtabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to 4
6671 (or 3 or whatever you prefer) and use 'noexpandtab'. Then Vim
6672 will use a mix of tabs and spaces, but typing <Tab> and <BS> will
6673 behave like a tab appears every 4 (or 3) characters.
6674 2. Set 'tabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to whatever you prefer and use
6675 'expandtab'. This way you will always insert spaces. The
6676 formatting will never be messed up when 'tabstop' is changed.
6677 3. Set 'tabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to whatever you prefer and use a
6678 |modeline| to set these values when editing the file again. Only
6679 works when using Vim to edit the file.
6680 4. Always set 'tabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to the same value, and
6681 'noexpandtab'. This should then work (for initial indents only)
6682 for any tabstop setting that people use. It might be nice to have
6683 tabs after the first non-blank inserted as spaces if you do this
6684 though. Otherwise aligned comments will be wrong when 'tabstop' is
6685 changed.
6687 *'tagbsearch'* *'tbs'* *'notagbsearch'* *'notbs'*
6688 'tagbsearch' 'tbs' boolean (default on)
6689 global
6690 {not in Vi}
6691 When searching for a tag (e.g., for the |:ta| command), Vim can either
6692 use a binary search or a linear search in a tags file. Binary
6693 searching makes searching for a tag a LOT faster, but a linear search
6694 will find more tags if the tags file wasn't properly sorted.
6695 Vim normally assumes that your tags files are sorted, or indicate that
6696 they are not sorted. Only when this is not the case does the
6697 'tagbsearch' option need to be switched off.
6699 When 'tagbsearch' is on, binary searching is first used in the tags
6700 files. In certain situations, Vim will do a linear search instead for
6701 certain files, or retry all files with a linear search. When
6702 'tagbsearch' is off, only a linear search is done.
6704 Linear searching is done anyway, for one file, when Vim finds a line
6705 at the start of the file indicating that it's not sorted: >
6706 !_TAG_FILE_SORTED 0 /some comment/
6707 < [The whitespace before and after the '0' must be a single <Tab>]
6709 When a binary search was done and no match was found in any of the
6710 files listed in 'tags', and 'ignorecase' is set or a pattern is used
6711 instead of a normal tag name, a retry is done with a linear search.
6712 Tags in unsorted tags files, and matches with different case will only
6713 be found in the retry.
6715 If a tag file indicates that it is case-fold sorted, the second,
6716 linear search can be avoided for the 'ignorecase' case. Use a value
6717 of '2' in the "!_TAG_FILE_SORTED" line for this. A tag file can be
6718 case-fold sorted with the -f switch to "sort" in most unices, as in
6719 the command: "sort -f -o tags tags". For "Exuberant ctags" version
6720 5.3 or higher the -f or --fold-case-sort switch can be used for this
6721 as well. Note that case must be folded to uppercase for this to work.
6723 When 'tagbsearch' is off, tags searching is slower when a full match
6724 exists, but faster when no full match exists. Tags in unsorted tags
6725 files may only be found with 'tagbsearch' off.
6726 When the tags file is not sorted, or sorted in a wrong way (not on
6727 ASCII byte value), 'tagbsearch' should be off, or the line given above
6728 must be included in the tags file.
6729 This option doesn't affect commands that find all matching tags (e.g.,
6730 command-line completion and ":help").
6731 {Vi: always uses binary search in some versions}
6733 *'taglength'* *'tl'*
6734 'taglength' 'tl' number (default 0)
6735 global
6736 If non-zero, tags are significant up to this number of characters.
6738 *'tagrelative'* *'tr'* *'notagrelative'* *'notr'*
6739 'tagrelative' 'tr' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
6740 global
6741 {not in Vi}
6742 If on and using a tags file in another directory, file names in that
6743 tags file are relative to the directory where the tags file is.
6744 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
6745 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
6747 *'tags'* *'tag'* *E433*
6748 'tags' 'tag' string (default "./tags,tags", when compiled with
6749 |+emacs_tags|: "./tags,./TAGS,tags,TAGS")
6750 global or local to buffer |global-local|
6751 Filenames for the tag command, separated by spaces or commas. To
6752 include a space or comma in a file name, precede it with a backslash
6753 (see |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes).
6754 When a file name starts with "./", the '.' is replaced with the path
6755 of the current file. But only when the 'd' flag is not included in
6756 'cpoptions'. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. Also see
6757 |tags-option|.
6758 "*", "**" and other wildcards can be used to search for tags files in
6759 a directory tree. See |file-searching|. {not available when compiled
6760 without the |+path_extra| feature}
6761 The |tagfiles()| function can be used to get a list of the file names
6762 actually used.
6763 If Vim was compiled with the |+emacs_tags| feature, Emacs-style tag
6764 files are also supported. They are automatically recognized. The
6765 default value becomes "./tags,./TAGS,tags,TAGS", unless case
6766 differences are ignored (MS-Windows). |emacs-tags|
6767 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
6768 file names from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
6769 uses another default.
6770 {Vi: default is "tags /usr/lib/tags"}
6772 *'tagstack'* *'tgst'* *'notagstack'* *'notgst'*
6773 'tagstack' 'tgst' boolean (default on)
6774 global
6775 {not in all versions of Vi}
6776 When on, the |tagstack| is used normally. When off, a ":tag" or
6777 ":tselect" command with an argument will not push the tag onto the
6778 tagstack. A following ":tag" without an argument, a ":pop" command or
6779 any other command that uses the tagstack will use the unmodified
6780 tagstack, but does change the pointer to the active entry.
6781 Resetting this option is useful when using a ":tag" command in a
6782 mapping which should not change the tagstack.
6784 *'term'* *E529* *E530* *E531*
6785 'term' string (default is $TERM, if that fails:
6786 in the GUI: "builtin_gui"
6787 on Amiga: "amiga"
6788 on BeOS: "beos-ansi"
6789 on Mac: "mac-ansi"
6790 on MiNT: "vt52"
6791 on MS-DOS: "pcterm"
6792 on OS/2: "os2ansi"
6793 on Unix: "ansi"
6794 on VMS: "ansi"
6795 on Win 32: "win32")
6796 global
6797 Name of the terminal. Used for choosing the terminal control
6798 characters. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
6799 For example: >
6800 :set term=$TERM
6801 < See |termcap|.
6803 *'termbidi'* *'tbidi'*
6804 *'notermbidi'* *'notbidi'*
6805 'termbidi' 'tbidi' boolean (default off, on for "mlterm")
6806 global
6807 {not in Vi}
6808 {only available when compiled with the |+arabic|
6809 feature}
6810 The terminal is in charge of Bi-directionality of text (as specified
6811 by Unicode). The terminal is also expected to do the required shaping
6812 that some languages (such as Arabic) require.
6813 Setting this option implies that 'rightleft' will not be set when
6814 'arabic' is set and the value of 'arabicshape' will be ignored.
6815 Note that setting 'termbidi' has the immediate effect that
6816 'arabicshape' is ignored, but 'rightleft' isn't changed automatically.
6817 This option is reset when the GUI is started.
6818 For further details see |arabic.txt|.
6820 *'termencoding'* *'tenc'*
6821 'termencoding' 'tenc' string (default ""
6822 with GTK+ 2 and MacVim GUIs: "utf-8"
6823 with Macintosh (Carbon) GUI: "macroman")
6824 global
6825 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
6826 feature}
6827 {not in Vi}
6828 Encoding used for the terminal. This specifies what character
6829 encoding the keyboard produces and the display will understand. For
6830 the GUI it only applies to the keyboard ('encoding' is used for the
6831 display). Except for the Mac when 'macatsui' is off, then
6832 'termencoding' should be "macroman" (for the Carbon GUI).
6833 In the Win32 console version the default value is the console codepage
6834 when it differs from the ANSI codepage.
6835 *E617*
6836 Note: This does not apply to the GTK+ 2 and MacVim GUIs. After the
6837 GUI has been successfully initialized, 'termencoding' is forcibly set
6838 to "utf-8". Any attempts to set a different value will be rejected,
6839 and an error message is shown.
6840 For the Win32 GUI 'termencoding' is not used for typed characters,
6841 because the Win32 system always passes Unicode characters.
6842 When empty, the same encoding is used as for the 'encoding' option.
6843 This is the normal value.
6844 Not all combinations for 'termencoding' and 'encoding' are valid. See
6845 |encoding-table|.
6846 The value for this option must be supported by internal conversions or
6847 iconv(). When this is not possible no conversion will be done and you
6848 will probably experience problems with non-ASCII characters.
6849 Example: You are working with the locale set to euc-jp (Japanese) and
6850 want to edit a UTF-8 file: >
6851 :let &termencoding = &encoding
6852 :set encoding=utf-8
6853 < You need to do this when your system has no locale support for UTF-8.
6855 *'terse'* *'noterse'*
6856 'terse' boolean (default off)
6857 global
6858 When set: Add 's' flag to 'shortmess' option (this makes the message
6859 for a search that hits the start or end of the file not being
6860 displayed). When reset: Remove 's' flag from 'shortmess' option. {Vi
6861 shortens a lot of messages}
6863 *'textauto'* *'ta'* *'notextauto'* *'nota'*
6864 'textauto' 'ta' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
6865 global
6866 {not in Vi}
6867 This option is obsolete. Use 'fileformats'.
6868 For backwards compatibility, when 'textauto' is set, 'fileformats' is
6869 set to the default value for the current system. When 'textauto' is
6870 reset, 'fileformats' is made empty.
6871 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
6872 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
6874 *'textmode'* *'tx'* *'notextmode'* *'notx'*
6875 'textmode' 'tx' boolean (MS-DOS, Win32 and OS/2: default on,
6876 others: default off)
6877 local to buffer
6878 {not in Vi}
6879 This option is obsolete. Use 'fileformat'.
6880 For backwards compatibility, when 'textmode' is set, 'fileformat' is
6881 set to "dos". When 'textmode' is reset, 'fileformat' is set to
6882 "unix".
6884 *'textwidth'* *'tw'*
6885 'textwidth' 'tw' number (default 0)
6886 local to buffer
6887 {not in Vi}
6888 Maximum width of text that is being inserted. A longer line will be
6889 broken after white space to get this width. A zero value disables
6890 this. 'textwidth' is set to 0 when the 'paste' option is set. When
6891 'textwidth' is zero, 'wrapmargin' may be used. See also
6892 'formatoptions' and |ins-textwidth|.
6893 When 'formatexpr' is set it will be used to break the line.
6894 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
6896 *'thesaurus'* *'tsr'*
6897 'thesaurus' 'tsr' string (default "")
6898 global or local to buffer |global-local|
6899 {not in Vi}
6900 List of file names, separated by commas, that are used to lookup words
6901 for thesaurus completion commands |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T|. Each line in
6902 the file should contain words with similar meaning, separated by
6903 non-keyword characters (white space is preferred). Maximum line
6904 length is 510 bytes.
6905 To obtain a file to be used here, check out the wordlist FAQ at
6906 http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk .
6907 To include a comma in a file name precede it with a backslash. Spaces
6908 after a comma are ignored, otherwise spaces are included in the file
6909 name. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes.
6910 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
6911 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
6912 uses another default.
6913 Backticks cannot be used in this option for security reasons.
6915 *'tildeop'* *'top'* *'notildeop'* *'notop'*
6916 'tildeop' 'top' boolean (default off)
6917 global
6918 {not in Vi}
6919 When on: The tilde command "~" behaves like an operator.
6920 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
6922 *'timeout'* *'to'* *'notimeout'* *'noto'*
6923 'timeout' 'to' boolean (default on)
6924 global
6925 *'ttimeout'* *'nottimeout'*
6926 'ttimeout' boolean (default off)
6927 global
6928 {not in Vi}
6929 These two options together determine the behavior when part of a
6930 mapped key sequence or keyboard code has been received:
6932 'timeout' 'ttimeout' action ~
6933 off off do not time out
6934 on on or off time out on :mappings and key codes
6935 off on time out on key codes
6937 If both options are off, Vim will wait until either the complete
6938 mapping or key sequence has been received, or it is clear that there
6939 is no mapping or key sequence for the received characters. For
6940 example: if you have mapped "vl" and Vim has received 'v', the next
6941 character is needed to see if the 'v' is followed by an 'l'.
6942 When one of the options is on, Vim will wait for about 1 second for
6943 the next character to arrive. After that the already received
6944 characters are interpreted as single characters. The waiting time can
6945 be changed with the 'timeoutlen' option.
6946 On slow terminals or very busy systems timing out may cause
6947 malfunctioning cursor keys. If both options are off, Vim waits
6948 forever after an entered <Esc> if there are key codes that start
6949 with <Esc>. You will have to type <Esc> twice. If you do not have
6950 problems with key codes, but would like to have :mapped key
6951 sequences not timing out in 1 second, set the 'ttimeout' option and
6952 reset the 'timeout' option.
6954 NOTE: 'ttimeout' is reset when 'compatible' is set.
6956 *'timeoutlen'* *'tm'*
6957 'timeoutlen' 'tm' number (default 1000)
6958 global
6959 {not in all versions of Vi}
6960 *'ttimeoutlen'* *'ttm'*
6961 'ttimeoutlen' 'ttm' number (default -1)
6962 global
6963 {not in Vi}
6964 The time in milliseconds that is waited for a key code or mapped key
6965 sequence to complete. Also used for CTRL-\ CTRL-N and CTRL-\ CTRL-G
6966 when part of a command has been typed.
6967 Normally only 'timeoutlen' is used and 'ttimeoutlen' is -1. When a
6968 different timeout value for key codes is desired set 'ttimeoutlen' to
6969 a non-negative number.
6971 ttimeoutlen mapping delay key code delay ~
6972 < 0 'timeoutlen' 'timeoutlen'
6973 >= 0 'timeoutlen' 'ttimeoutlen'
6975 The timeout only happens when the 'timeout' and 'ttimeout' options
6976 tell so. A useful setting would be >
6977 :set timeout timeoutlen=3000 ttimeoutlen=100
6978 < (time out on mapping after three seconds, time out on key codes after
6979 a tenth of a second).
6981 *'title'* *'notitle'*
6982 'title' boolean (default off, on when title can be restored)
6983 global
6984 {not in Vi}
6985 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
6986 feature}
6987 When on, the title of the window will be set to the value of
6988 'titlestring' (if it is not empty), or to:
6989 filename [+=-] (path) - VIM
6990 Where:
6991 filename the name of the file being edited
6992 - indicates the file cannot be modified, 'ma' off
6993 + indicates the file was modified
6994 = indicates the file is read-only
6995 =+ indicates the file is read-only and modified
6996 (path) is the path of the file being edited
6997 - VIM the server name |v:servername| or "VIM"
6998 Only works if the terminal supports setting window titles
6999 (currently Amiga console, Win32 console, all GUI versions and
7000 terminals with a non- empty 't_ts' option - these are Unix xterm and
7001 iris-ansi by default, where 't_ts' is taken from the builtin termcap).
7002 *X11*
7003 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original title will
7004 be restored if possible. The output of ":version" will include "+X11"
7005 when HAVE_X11 was defined, otherwise it will be "-X11". This also
7006 works for the icon name |'icon'|.
7007 But: When Vim was started with the |-X| argument, restoring the title
7008 will not work (except in the GUI).
7009 If the title cannot be restored, it is set to the value of 'titleold'.
7010 You might want to restore the title outside of Vim then.
7011 When using an xterm from a remote machine you can use this command:
7012 rsh machine_name xterm -display $DISPLAY &
7013 then the WINDOWID environment variable should be inherited and the
7014 title of the window should change back to what it should be after
7015 exiting Vim.
7017 *'titlelen'*
7018 'titlelen' number (default 85)
7019 global
7020 {not in Vi}
7021 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
7022 feature}
7023 Gives the percentage of 'columns' to use for the length of the window
7024 title. When the title is longer, only the end of the path name is
7025 shown. A '<' character before the path name is used to indicate this.
7026 Using a percentage makes this adapt to the width of the window. But
7027 it won't work perfectly, because the actual number of characters
7028 available also depends on the font used and other things in the title
7029 bar. When 'titlelen' is zero the full path is used. Otherwise,
7030 values from 1 to 30000 percent can be used.
7031 'titlelen' is also used for the 'titlestring' option.
7033 *'titleold'*
7034 'titleold' string (default "Thanks for flying Vim")
7035 global
7036 {not in Vi}
7037 {only available when compiled with the |+title|
7038 feature}
7039 This option will be used for the window title when exiting Vim if the
7040 original title cannot be restored. Only happens if 'title' is on or
7041 'titlestring' is not empty.
7042 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
7043 security reasons.
7044 *'titlestring'*
7045 'titlestring' string (default "")
7046 global
7047 {not in Vi}
7048 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
7049 feature}
7050 When this option is not empty, it will be used for the title of the
7051 window. This happens only when the 'title' option is on.
7052 Only works if the terminal supports setting window titles (currently
7053 Amiga console, Win32 console, all GUI versions and terminals with a
7054 non-empty 't_ts' option).
7055 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original title will
7056 be restored if possible |X11|.
7057 When this option contains printf-style '%' items, they will be
7058 expanded according to the rules used for 'statusline'.
7059 Example: >
7060 :auto BufEnter * let &titlestring = hostname() . "/" . expand("%:p")
7061 :set title titlestring=%<%F%=%l/%L-%P titlelen=70
7062 < The value of 'titlelen' is used to align items in the middle or right
7063 of the available space.
7064 Some people prefer to have the file name first: >
7065 :set titlestring=%t%(\ %M%)%(\ (%{expand(\"%:~:.:h\")})%)%(\ %a%)
7066 < Note the use of "%{ }" and an expression to get the path of the file,
7067 without the file name. The "%( %)" constructs are used to add a
7068 separating space only when needed.
7069 NOTE: Use of special characters in 'titlestring' may cause the display
7070 to be garbled (e.g., when it contains a CR or NL character).
7071 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline| feature}
7073 *'toolbar'* *'tb'*
7074 'toolbar' 'tb' string (default "icons,tooltips")
7075 global
7076 {only for |+GUI_GTK|, |+GUI_Athena|, |+GUI_Motif|,
7077 |+GUI_Photon| and |gui_macvim|}
7078 The contents of this option controls various toolbar settings. The
7079 possible values are:
7080 icons Toolbar buttons are shown with icons.
7081 text Toolbar buttons shown with text.
7082 horiz Icon and text of a toolbar button are
7083 horizontally arranged. {only in GTK+ 2 GUI}
7084 tooltips Tooltips are active for toolbar buttons.
7085 Tooltips refer to the popup help text which appears after the mouse
7086 cursor is placed over a toolbar button for a brief moment.
7087 Note: Tooltips are always enabled in MacVim.
7089 If you want the toolbar to be shown with icons as well as text, do the
7090 following: >
7091 :set tb=icons,text
7092 < Motif and Athena cannot display icons and text at the same time. They
7093 will show icons if both are requested.
7095 If none of the strings specified in 'toolbar' are valid or if
7096 'toolbar' is empty, this option is ignored. If you want to disable
7097 the toolbar, you need to set the 'guioptions' option. For example: >
7098 :set guioptions-=T
7099 < Also see |gui-toolbar|.
7101 *'toolbariconsize'* *'tbis'*
7102 'toolbariconsize' 'tbis' string (default "small")
7103 global
7104 {not in Vi}
7105 {only in the GTK+ 2 and MacVim GUIs}
7106 Controls the size of toolbar icons. The possible values are:
7107 tiny Use tiny toolbar icons.
7108 small Use small toolbar icons (default).
7109 medium Use medium-sized toolbar icons.
7110 large Use large toolbar icons.
7111 The exact dimensions in pixels of the various icon sizes depend on
7112 the current theme. Common dimensions are large=32x32, medium=24x24,
7113 small=20x20 and tiny=16x16. In MacVim, both tiny and small equal
7114 24x24, whereas medium and large equal 32x32.
7116 If 'toolbariconsize' is empty, the global default size as determined
7117 by user preferences or the current theme is used.
7119 *'transparency'* *'transp'*
7120 'transparency' 'transp' number (default 0)
7121 global
7122 {not in Vi}
7123 {only in MacVim GUI}
7124 Transparency of the window background as a percent, with 0 meaning
7125 opaque and 100 meaning completely transparent. Trying to set a value
7126 outside the range 0-100 results in an error.
7128 *'ttybuiltin'* *'tbi'* *'nottybuiltin'* *'notbi'*
7129 'ttybuiltin' 'tbi' boolean (default on)
7130 global
7131 {not in Vi}
7132 When on, the builtin termcaps are searched before the external ones.
7133 When off the builtin termcaps are searched after the external ones.
7134 When this option is changed, you should set the 'term' option next for
7135 the change to take effect, for example: >
7136 :set notbi term=$TERM
7137 < See also |termcap|.
7138 Rationale: The default for this option is "on", because the builtin
7139 termcap entries are generally better (many systems contain faulty
7140 xterm entries...).
7142 *'ttyfast'* *'tf'* *'nottyfast'* *'notf'*
7143 'ttyfast' 'tf' boolean (default off, on when 'term' is xterm, hpterm,
7144 sun-cmd, screen, rxvt, dtterm or
7145 iris-ansi; also on when running Vim in
7146 a DOS console)
7147 global
7148 {not in Vi}
7149 Indicates a fast terminal connection. More characters will be sent to
7150 the screen for redrawing, instead of using insert/delete line
7151 commands. Improves smoothness of redrawing when there are multiple
7152 windows and the terminal does not support a scrolling region.
7153 Also enables the extra writing of characters at the end of each screen
7154 line for lines that wrap. This helps when using copy/paste with the
7155 mouse in an xterm and other terminals.
7157 *'ttymouse'* *'ttym'*
7158 'ttymouse' 'ttym' string (default depends on 'term')
7159 global
7160 {not in Vi}
7161 {only in Unix and VMS, doesn't work in the GUI; not
7162 available when compiled without |+mouse|}
7163 Name of the terminal type for which mouse codes are to be recognized.
7164 Currently these strings are valid:
7165 *xterm-mouse*
7166 xterm xterm-like mouse handling. The mouse generates
7167 "<Esc>[Mscr", where "scr" is three bytes:
7168 "s" = button state
7169 "c" = column plus 33
7170 "r" = row plus 33
7171 This only works up to 223 columns! See "dec" for a
7172 solution.
7173 xterm2 Works like "xterm", but with the xterm reporting the
7174 mouse position while the mouse is dragged. This works
7175 much faster and more precise. Your xterm must at
7176 least at patchlevel 88 / XFree 3.3.3 for this to
7177 work. See below for how Vim detects this
7178 automatically.
7179 *netterm-mouse*
7180 netterm NetTerm mouse handling. The mouse generates
7181 "<Esc>}r,c<CR>", where "r,c" are two decimal numbers
7182 for the row and column.
7183 *dec-mouse*
7184 dec DEC terminal mouse handling. The mouse generates a
7185 rather complex sequence, starting with "<Esc>[".
7186 This is also available for an Xterm, if it was
7187 configured with "--enable-dec-locator".
7188 *jsbterm-mouse*
7189 jsbterm JSB term mouse handling.
7190 *pterm-mouse*
7191 pterm QNX pterm mouse handling.
7193 The mouse handling must be enabled at compile time |+mouse_xterm|
7194 |+mouse_dec| |+mouse_netterm|.
7195 Only "xterm"(2) is really recognized. NetTerm mouse codes are always
7196 recognized, if enabled at compile time. DEC terminal mouse codes
7197 are recognized if enabled at compile time, and 'ttymouse' is not
7198 "xterm" (because the xterm and dec mouse codes conflict).
7199 This option is automatically set to "xterm", when the 'term' option is
7200 set to a name that starts with "xterm", and 'ttymouse' is not "xterm"
7201 or "xterm2" already. The main use of this option is to set it to
7202 "xterm", when the terminal name doesn't start with "xterm", but it can
7203 handle xterm mouse codes.
7204 The "xterm2" value will be set if the xterm version is reported to be
7205 95 of higher. This only works when compiled with the |+termresponse|
7206 feature and if |t_RV| is set to the escape sequence to request the
7207 xterm version number. Otherwise "xterm2" must be set explicitly.
7208 If you do not want 'ttymouse' to be set to "xterm2" automatically, set
7209 t_RV to an empty string: >
7210 :set t_RV=
7211 <
7212 *'ttyscroll'* *'tsl'*
7213 'ttyscroll' 'tsl' number (default 999)
7214 global
7215 Maximum number of lines to scroll the screen. If there are more lines
7216 to scroll the window is redrawn. For terminals where scrolling is
7217 very slow and redrawing is not slow this can be set to a small number,
7218 e.g., 3, to speed up displaying.
7220 *'ttytype'* *'tty'*
7221 'ttytype' 'tty' string (default from $TERM)
7222 global
7223 Alias for 'term', see above.
7225 *'undolevels'* *'ul'*
7226 'undolevels' 'ul' number (default 100, 1000 for Unix, VMS,
7227 Win32 and OS/2)
7228 global
7229 {not in Vi}
7230 Maximum number of changes that can be undone. Since undo information
7231 is kept in memory, higher numbers will cause more memory to be used
7232 (nevertheless, a single change can use an unlimited amount of memory).
7233 Set to 0 for Vi compatibility: One level of undo and "u" undoes
7234 itself: >
7235 set ul=0
7236 < But you can also get Vi compatibility by including the 'u' flag in
7237 'cpoptions', and still be able to use CTRL-R to repeat undo.
7238 Set to a negative number for no undo at all: >
7239 set ul=-1
7240 < This helps when you run out of memory for a single change.
7241 Also see |undo-two-ways|.
7243 *'updatecount'* *'uc'*
7244 'updatecount' 'uc' number (default: 200)
7245 global
7246 {not in Vi}
7247 After typing this many characters the swap file will be written to
7248 disk. When zero, no swap file will be created at all (see chapter on
7249 recovery |crash-recovery|). 'updatecount' is set to zero by starting
7250 Vim with the "-n" option, see |startup|. When editing in readonly
7251 mode this option will be initialized to 10000.
7252 The swapfile can be disabled per buffer with |'swapfile'|.
7253 When 'updatecount' is set from zero to non-zero, swap files are
7254 created for all buffers that have 'swapfile' set. When 'updatecount'
7255 is set to zero, existing swap files are not deleted.
7256 Also see |'swapsync'|.
7257 This option has no meaning in buffers where |'buftype'| is "nofile"
7258 or "nowrite".
7260 *'updatetime'* *'ut'*
7261 'updatetime' 'ut' number (default 4000)
7262 global
7263 {not in Vi}
7264 If this many milliseconds nothing is typed the swap file will be
7265 written to disk (see |crash-recovery|). Also used for the
7266 |CursorHold| autocommand event.
7268 *'verbose'* *'vbs'*
7269 'verbose' 'vbs' number (default 0)
7270 global
7271 {not in Vi, although some versions have a boolean
7272 verbose option}
7273 When bigger than zero, Vim will give messages about what it is doing.
7274 Currently, these messages are given:
7275 >= 1 When the viminfo file is read or written.
7276 >= 2 When a file is ":source"'ed.
7277 >= 5 Every searched tags file and include file.
7278 >= 8 Files for which a group of autocommands is executed.
7279 >= 9 Every executed autocommand.
7280 >= 12 Every executed function.
7281 >= 13 When an exception is thrown, caught, finished, or discarded.
7282 >= 14 Anything pending in a ":finally" clause.
7283 >= 15 Every executed Ex command (truncated at 200 characters).
7285 This option can also be set with the "-V" argument. See |-V|.
7286 This option is also set by the |:verbose| command.
7288 When the 'verbosefile' option is set then the verbose messages are not
7289 displayed.
7291 *'verbosefile'* *'vfile'*
7292 'verbosefile' 'vfile' string (default empty)
7293 global
7294 {not in Vi}
7295 When not empty all messages are written in a file with this name.
7296 When the file exists messages are appended.
7297 Writing to the file ends when Vim exits or when 'verbosefile' is made
7298 empty.
7299 Setting 'verbosefile' to a new value is like making it empty first.
7300 The difference with |:redir| is that verbose messages are not
7301 displayed when 'verbosefile' is set.
7303 *'viewdir'* *'vdir'*
7304 'viewdir' 'vdir' string (default for Amiga, MS-DOS, OS/2 and Win32:
7305 "$VIM/vimfiles/view",
7306 for Unix: "~/.vim/view",
7307 for Macintosh: "$VIM:vimfiles:view"
7308 for VMS: "sys$login:vimfiles/view"
7309 for RiscOS: "Choices:vimfiles/view")
7310 global
7311 {not in Vi}
7312 {not available when compiled without the +mksession
7313 feature}
7314 Name of the directory where to store files for |:mkview|.
7315 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
7316 security reasons.
7318 *'viewoptions'* *'vop'*
7319 'viewoptions' 'vop' string (default: "folds,options,cursor")
7320 global
7321 {not in Vi}
7322 {not available when compiled without the +mksession
7323 feature}
7324 Changes the effect of the |:mkview| command. It is a comma separated
7325 list of words. Each word enables saving and restoring something:
7326 word save and restore ~
7327 cursor cursor position in file and in window
7328 folds manually created folds, opened/closed folds and local
7329 fold options
7330 options options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not
7331 global values for local options)
7332 slash backslashes in file names replaced with forward
7333 slashes
7334 unix with Unix end-of-line format (single <NL>), even when
7335 on Windows or DOS
7337 "slash" and "unix" are useful on Windows when sharing view files
7338 with Unix. The Unix version of Vim cannot source dos format scripts,
7339 but the Windows version of Vim can source unix format scripts.
7341 *'viminfo'* *'vi'* *E526* *E527* *E528*
7342 'viminfo' 'vi' string (Vi default: "", Vim default for MS-DOS,
7343 Windows and OS/2: '20,<50,s10,h,rA:,rB:,
7344 for Amiga: '20,<50,s10,h,rdf0:,rdf1:,rdf2:
7345 for others: '20,<50,s10,h)
7346 global
7347 {not in Vi}
7348 {not available when compiled without the |+viminfo|
7349 feature}
7350 When non-empty, the viminfo file is read upon startup and written
7351 when exiting Vim (see |viminfo-file|). The string should be a comma
7352 separated list of parameters, each consisting of a single character
7353 identifying the particular parameter, followed by a number or string
7354 which specifies the value of that parameter. If a particular
7355 character is left out, then the default value is used for that
7356 parameter. The following is a list of the identifying characters and
7357 the effect of their value.
7358 CHAR VALUE ~
7359 ! When included, save and restore global variables that start
7360 with an uppercase letter, and don't contain a lowercase
7361 letter. Thus "KEEPTHIS and "K_L_M" are stored, but "KeepThis"
7362 and "_K_L_M" are not. Only String and Number types are
7363 stored.
7364 " Maximum number of lines saved for each register. Old name of
7365 the '<' item, with the disadvantage that you need to put a
7366 backslash before the ", otherwise it will be recognized as the
7367 start of a comment!
7368 % When included, save and restore the buffer list. If Vim is
7369 started with a file name argument, the buffer list is not
7370 restored. If Vim is started without a file name argument, the
7371 buffer list is restored from the viminfo file. Buffers
7372 without a file name and buffers for help files are not written
7373 to the viminfo file.
7374 When followed by a number, the number specifies the maximum
7375 number of buffers that are stored. Without a number all
7376 buffers are stored.
7377 ' Maximum number of previously edited files for which the marks
7378 are remembered. This parameter must always be included when
7379 'viminfo' is non-empty.
7380 Including this item also means that the |jumplist| and the
7381 |changelist| are stored in the viminfo file.
7382 / Maximum number of items in the search pattern history to be
7383 saved. If non-zero, then the previous search and substitute
7384 patterns are also saved. When not included, the value of
7385 'history' is used.
7386 : Maximum number of items in the command-line history to be
7387 saved. When not included, the value of 'history' is used.
7388 < Maximum number of lines saved for each register. If zero then
7389 registers are not saved. When not included, all lines are
7390 saved. '"' is the old name for this item.
7391 Also see the 's' item below: limit specified in Kbyte.
7392 @ Maximum number of items in the input-line history to be
7393 saved. When not included, the value of 'history' is used.
7394 c When included, convert the text in the viminfo file from the
7395 'encoding' used when writing the file to the current
7396 'encoding'. See |viminfo-encoding|.
7397 f Whether file marks need to be stored. If zero, file marks ('0
7398 to '9, 'A to 'Z) are not stored. When not present or when
7399 non-zero, they are all stored. '0 is used for the current
7400 cursor position (when exiting or when doing ":wviminfo").
7401 h Disable the effect of 'hlsearch' when loading the viminfo
7402 file. When not included, it depends on whether ":nohlsearch"
7403 has been used since the last search command.
7404 n Name of the viminfo file. The name must immediately follow
7405 the 'n'. Must be the last one! If the "-i" argument was
7406 given when starting Vim, that file name overrides the one
7407 given here with 'viminfo'. Environment variables are expanded
7408 when opening the file, not when setting the option.
7409 r Removable media. The argument is a string (up to the next
7410 ','). This parameter can be given several times. Each
7411 specifies the start of a path for which no marks will be
7412 stored. This is to avoid removable media. For MS-DOS you
7413 could use "ra:,rb:", for Amiga "rdf0:,rdf1:,rdf2:". You can
7414 also use it for temp files, e.g., for Unix: "r/tmp". Case is
7415 ignored. Maximum length of each 'r' argument is 50
7416 characters.
7417 s Maximum size of an item in Kbyte. If zero then registers are
7418 not saved. Currently only applies to registers. The default
7419 "s10" will exclude registers with more than 10 Kbyte of text.
7420 Also see the '<' item above: line count limit.
7422 Example: >
7423 :set viminfo='50,<1000,s100,:0,n~/vim/viminfo
7424 <
7425 '50 Marks will be remembered for the last 50 files you
7426 edited.
7427 <1000 Contents of registers (up to 1000 lines each) will be
7428 remembered.
7429 s100 Registers with more than 100 Kbyte text are skipped.
7430 :0 Command-line history will not be saved.
7431 n~/vim/viminfo The name of the file to use is "~/vim/viminfo".
7432 no / Since '/' is not specified, the default will be used,
7433 that is, save all of the search history, and also the
7434 previous search and substitute patterns.
7435 no % The buffer list will not be saved nor read back.
7436 no h 'hlsearch' highlighting will be restored.
7438 When setting 'viminfo' from an empty value you can use |:rviminfo| to
7439 load the contents of the file, this is not done automatically.
7441 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
7442 security reasons.
7444 *'virtualedit'* *'ve'*
7445 'virtualedit' 've' string (default "")
7446 global
7447 {not in Vi}
7448 {not available when compiled without the
7449 |+virtualedit| feature}
7450 A comma separated list of these words:
7451 block Allow virtual editing in Visual block mode.
7452 insert Allow virtual editing in Insert mode.
7453 all Allow virtual editing in all modes.
7454 onemore Allow the cursor to move just past the end of the line
7456 Virtual editing means that the cursor can be positioned where there is
7457 no actual character. This can be halfway into a tab or beyond the end
7458 of the line. Useful for selecting a rectangle in Visual mode and
7459 editing a table.
7460 "onemore" is not the same, it will only allow moving the cursor just
7461 after the last character of the line. This makes some commands more
7462 consistent. Previously the cursor was always past the end of the line
7463 if the line was empty. But it is far from Vi compatible. It may also
7464 break some plugins or Vim scripts. For example because |l| can move
7465 the cursor after the last character. Use with care!
7466 Using the |$| command will move to the last character in the line, not
7467 past it. This may actually move the cursor to the left!
7468 It doesn't make sense to combine "all" with "onemore", but you will
7469 not get a warning for it.
7471 *'visualbell'* *'vb'* *'novisualbell'* *'novb'* *beep*
7472 'visualbell' 'vb' boolean (default off)
7473 global
7474 {not in Vi}
7475 Use visual bell instead of beeping. The terminal code to display the
7476 visual bell is given with 't_vb'. When no beep or flash is wanted,
7477 use ":set vb t_vb=".
7478 Note: When the GUI starts, 't_vb' is reset to its default value. You
7479 might want to set it again in your |gvimrc|.
7480 In the GUI, 't_vb' defaults to "<Esc>|f", which inverts the display
7481 for 20 msec. If you want to use a different time, use "<Esc>|40f",
7482 where 40 is the time in msec.
7483 Does not work on the Amiga, you always get a screen flash.
7484 Also see 'errorbells'.
7486 *'warn'* *'nowarn'*
7487 'warn' boolean (default on)
7488 global
7489 Give a warning message when a shell command is used while the buffer
7490 has been changed.
7492 *'weirdinvert'* *'wiv'* *'noweirdinvert'* *'nowiv'*
7493 'weirdinvert' 'wiv' boolean (default off)
7494 global
7495 {not in Vi}
7496 This option has the same effect as the 't_xs' terminal option.
7497 It is provided for backwards compatibility with version 4.x.
7498 Setting 'weirdinvert' has the effect of making 't_xs' non-empty, and
7499 vice versa. Has no effect when the GUI is running.
7501 *'whichwrap'* *'ww'*
7502 'whichwrap' 'ww' string (Vim default: "b,s", Vi default: "")
7503 global
7504 {not in Vi}
7505 Allow specified keys that move the cursor left/right to move to the
7506 previous/next line when the cursor is on the first/last character in
7507 the line. Concatenate characters to allow this for these keys:
7508 char key mode ~
7509 b <BS> Normal and Visual
7510 s <Space> Normal and Visual
7511 h "h" Normal and Visual (not recommended)
7512 l "l" Normal and Visual (not recommended)
7513 < <Left> Normal and Visual
7514 > <Right> Normal and Visual
7515 ~ "~" Normal
7516 [ <Left> Insert and Replace
7517 ] <Right> Insert and Replace
7518 For example: >
7519 :set ww=<,>,[,]
7520 < allows wrap only when cursor keys are used.
7521 When the movement keys are used in combination with a delete or change
7522 operator, the <EOL> also counts for a character. This makes "3h"
7523 different from "3dh" when the cursor crosses the end of a line. This
7524 is also true for "x" and "X", because they do the same as "dl" and
7525 "dh". If you use this, you may also want to use the mapping
7526 ":map <BS> X" to make backspace delete the character in front of the
7527 cursor.
7528 When 'l' is included and it is used after an operator at the end of a
7529 line then it will not move to the next line. This makes "dl", "cl",
7530 "yl" etc. work normally.
7531 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
7532 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
7534 *'wildchar'* *'wc'*
7535 'wildchar' 'wc' number (Vim default: <Tab>, Vi default: CTRL-E)
7536 global
7537 {not in Vi}
7538 Character you have to type to start wildcard expansion in the
7539 command-line, as specified with 'wildmode'.
7540 More info here: |cmdline-completion|.
7541 The character is not recognized when used inside a macro. See
7542 'wildcharm' for that.
7543 Although 'wc' is a number option, you can set it to a special key: >
7544 :set wc=<Esc>
7545 < NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
7546 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
7548 *'wildcharm'* *'wcm'*
7549 'wildcharm' 'wcm' number (default: none (0))
7550 global
7551 {not in Vi}
7552 'wildcharm' works exactly like 'wildchar', except that it is
7553 recognized when used inside a macro. You can find "spare" command-line
7554 keys suitable for this option by looking at |ex-edit-index|. Normally
7555 you'll never actually type 'wildcharm', just use it in mappings that
7556 automatically invoke completion mode, e.g.: >
7557 :set wcm=<C-Z>
7558 :cnoremap ss so $vim/sessions/*.vim<C-Z>
7559 < Then after typing :ss you can use CTRL-P & CTRL-N.
7561 *'wildignore'* *'wig'*
7562 'wildignore' 'wig' string (default "")
7563 global
7564 {not in Vi}
7565 {not available when compiled without the |+wildignore|
7566 feature}
7567 A list of file patterns. A file that matches with one of these
7568 patterns is ignored when completing file or directory names.
7569 The pattern is used like with |:autocmd|, see |autocmd-patterns|.
7570 Also see 'suffixes'.
7571 Example: >
7572 :set wildignore=*.o,*.obj
7573 < The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
7574 a pattern from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
7575 uses another default.
7577 *'wildmenu'* *'wmnu'* *'nowildmenu'* *'nowmnu'*
7578 'wildmenu' 'wmnu' boolean (default off)
7579 global
7580 {not in Vi}
7581 {not available if compiled without the |+wildmenu|
7582 feature}
7583 When 'wildmenu' is on, command-line completion operates in an enhanced
7584 mode. On pressing 'wildchar' (usually <Tab>) to invoke completion,
7585 the possible matches are shown just above the command line, with the
7586 first match highlighted (overwriting the status line, if there is
7587 one). Keys that show the previous/next match, such as <Tab> or
7588 CTRL-P/CTRL-N, cause the highlight to move to the appropriate match.
7589 When 'wildmode' is used, "wildmenu" mode is used where "full" is
7590 specified. "longest" and "list" do not start "wildmenu" mode.
7591 If there are more matches than can fit in the line, a ">" is shown on
7592 the right and/or a "<" is shown on the left. The status line scrolls
7593 as needed.
7594 The "wildmenu" mode is abandoned when a key is hit that is not used
7595 for selecting a completion.
7596 While the "wildmenu" is active the following keys have special
7597 meanings:
7599 <Left> <Right> - select previous/next match (like CTRL-P/CTRL-N)
7600 <Down> - in filename/menu name completion: move into a
7601 subdirectory or submenu.
7602 <CR> - in menu completion, when the cursor is just after a
7603 dot: move into a submenu.
7604 <Up> - in filename/menu name completion: move up into
7605 parent directory or parent menu.
7607 This makes the menus accessible from the console |console-menus|.
7609 If you prefer the <Left> and <Right> keys to move the cursor instead
7610 of selecting a different match, use this: >
7611 :cnoremap <Left> <Space><BS><Left>
7612 :cnoremap <Right> <Space><BS><Right>
7613 <
7614 The "WildMenu" highlighting is used for displaying the current match
7615 |hl-WildMenu|.
7617 *'wildmode'* *'wim'*
7618 'wildmode' 'wim' string (Vim default: "full")
7619 global
7620 {not in Vi}
7621 Completion mode that is used for the character specified with
7622 'wildchar'. It is a comma separated list of up to four parts. Each
7623 part specifies what to do for each consecutive use of 'wildchar'. The
7624 first part specifies the behavior for the first use of 'wildchar',
7625 The second part for the second use, etc.
7626 These are the possible values for each part:
7627 "" Complete only the first match.
7628 "full" Complete the next full match. After the last match,
7629 the original string is used and then the first match
7630 again.
7631 "longest" Complete till longest common string. If this doesn't
7632 result in a longer string, use the next part.
7633 "longest:full" Like "longest", but also start 'wildmenu' if it is
7634 enabled.
7635 "list" When more than one match, list all matches.
7636 "list:full" When more than one match, list all matches and
7637 complete first match.
7638 "list:longest" When more than one match, list all matches and
7639 complete till longest common string.
7640 When there is only a single match, it is fully completed in all cases.
7642 Examples: >
7643 :set wildmode=full
7644 < Complete first full match, next match, etc. (the default) >
7645 :set wildmode=longest,full
7646 < Complete longest common string, then each full match >
7647 :set wildmode=list:full
7648 < List all matches and complete each full match >
7649 :set wildmode=list,full
7650 < List all matches without completing, then each full match >
7651 :set wildmode=longest,list
7652 < Complete longest common string, then list alternatives.
7653 More info here: |cmdline-completion|.
7655 *'wildoptions'* *'wop'*
7656 'wildoptions' 'wop' string (default "")
7657 global
7658 {not in Vi}
7659 {not available when compiled without the |+wildignore|
7660 feature}
7661 A list of words that change how command line completion is done.
7662 Currently only one word is allowed:
7663 tagfile When using CTRL-D to list matching tags, the kind of
7664 tag and the file of the tag is listed. Only one match
7665 is displayed per line. Often used tag kinds are:
7666 d #define
7667 f function
7668 Also see |cmdline-completion|.
7670 *'winaltkeys'* *'wak'*
7671 'winaltkeys' 'wak' string (default "menu")
7672 global
7673 {not in Vi}
7674 {only used in Win32, Motif, GTK and Photon GUI}
7675 Some GUI versions allow the access to menu entries by using the ALT
7676 key in combination with a character that appears underlined in the
7677 menu. This conflicts with the use of the ALT key for mappings and
7678 entering special characters. This option tells what to do:
7679 no Don't use ALT keys for menus. ALT key combinations can be
7680 mapped, but there is no automatic handling. This can then be
7681 done with the |:simalt| command.
7682 yes ALT key handling is done by the windowing system. ALT key
7683 combinations cannot be mapped.
7684 menu Using ALT in combination with a character that is a menu
7685 shortcut key, will be handled by the windowing system. Other
7686 keys can be mapped.
7687 If the menu is disabled by excluding 'm' from 'guioptions', the ALT
7688 key is never used for the menu.
7689 This option is not used for <F10>; on Win32 and with GTK <F10> will
7690 select the menu, unless it has been mapped.
7692 *'window'* *'wi'*
7693 'window' 'wi' number (default screen height - 1)
7694 global
7695 Window height. Do not confuse this with the height of the Vim window,
7696 use 'lines' for that.
7697 Used for |CTRL-F| and |CTRL-B| when there is only one window and the
7698 value is smaller than 'lines' minus one. The screen will scroll
7699 'window' minus two lines, with a minimum of one.
7700 When 'window' is equal to 'lines' minus one CTRL-F and CTRL-B scroll
7701 in a much smarter way, taking care of wrapping lines.
7702 When resizing the Vim window, the value is smaller than 1 or more than
7703 or equal to 'lines' it will be set to 'lines' minus 1.
7704 {Vi also uses the option to specify the number of displayed lines}
7706 *'winheight'* *'wh'* *E591*
7707 'winheight' 'wh' number (default 1)
7708 global
7709 {not in Vi}
7710 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7711 feature}
7712 Minimal number of lines for the current window. This is not a hard
7713 minimum, Vim will use fewer lines if there is not enough room. If the
7714 focus goes to a window that is smaller, its size is increased, at the
7715 cost of the height of other windows.
7716 Set 'winheight' to a small number for normal editing.
7717 Set it to 999 to make the current window fill most of the screen.
7718 Other windows will be only 'winminheight' high. This has the drawback
7719 that ":all" will create only two windows. To avoid "vim -o 1 2 3 4"
7720 to create only two windows, set the option after startup is done,
7721 using the |VimEnter| event: >
7722 au VimEnter * set winheight=999
7723 < Minimum value is 1.
7724 The height is not adjusted after one of the commands that change the
7725 height of the current window.
7726 'winheight' applies to the current window. Use 'winminheight' to set
7727 the minimal height for other windows.
7729 *'winfixheight'* *'wfh'* *'nowinfixheight'* *'nowfh'*
7730 'winfixheight' 'wfh' boolean (default off)
7731 local to window
7732 {not in Vi}
7733 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7734 feature}
7735 Keep the window height when windows are opened or closed and
7736 'equalalways' is set. Also for |CTRL-W_=|. Set by default for the
7737 |preview-window| and |quickfix-window|.
7738 The height may be changed anyway when running out of room.
7740 *'winfixwidth'* *'wfw'* *'nowinfixwidth'* *'nowfw'*
7741 'winfixwidth' 'wfw' boolean (default off)
7742 local to window
7743 {not in Vi}
7744 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7745 feature}
7746 Keep the window width when windows are opened or closed and
7747 'equalalways' is set. Also for |CTRL-W_=|.
7748 The width may be changed anyway when running out of room.
7750 *'winminheight'* *'wmh'*
7751 'winminheight' 'wmh' number (default 1)
7752 global
7753 {not in Vi}
7754 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7755 feature}
7756 The minimal height of a window, when it's not the current window.
7757 This is a hard minimum, windows will never become smaller.
7758 When set to zero, windows may be "squashed" to zero lines (i.e. just a
7759 status bar) if necessary. They will return to at least one line when
7760 they become active (since the cursor has to have somewhere to go.)
7761 Use 'winheight' to set the minimal height of the current window.
7762 This option is only checked when making a window smaller. Don't use a
7763 large number, it will cause errors when opening more than a few
7764 windows. A value of 0 to 3 is reasonable.
7766 *'winminwidth'* *'wmw'*
7767 'winminwidth' 'wmw' number (default 1)
7768 global
7769 {not in Vi}
7770 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
7771 feature}
7772 The minimal width of a window, when it's not the current window.
7773 This is a hard minimum, windows will never become smaller.
7774 When set to zero, windows may be "squashed" to zero columns (i.e. just
7775 a vertical separator) if necessary. They will return to at least one
7776 line when they become active (since the cursor has to have somewhere
7777 to go.)
7778 Use 'winwidth' to set the minimal width of the current window.
7779 This option is only checked when making a window smaller. Don't use a
7780 large number, it will cause errors when opening more than a few
7781 windows. A value of 0 to 12 is reasonable.
7783 *'winwidth'* *'wiw'* *E592*
7784 'winwidth' 'wiw' number (default 20)
7785 global
7786 {not in Vi}
7787 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
7788 feature}
7789 Minimal number of columns for the current window. This is not a hard
7790 minimum, Vim will use fewer columns if there is not enough room. If
7791 the current window is smaller, its size is increased, at the cost of
7792 the width of other windows. Set it to 999 to make the current window
7793 always fill the screen. Set it to a small number for normal editing.
7794 The width is not adjusted after one of the commands to change the
7795 width of the current window.
7796 'winwidth' applies to the current window. Use 'winminwidth' to set
7797 the minimal width for other windows.
7799 *'wrap'* *'nowrap'*
7800 'wrap' boolean (default on)
7801 local to window
7802 {not in Vi}
7803 This option changes how text is displayed. It doesn't change the text
7804 in the buffer, see 'textwidth' for that.
7805 When on, lines longer than the width of the window will wrap and
7806 displaying continues on the next line. When off lines will not wrap
7807 and only part of long lines will be displayed. When the cursor is
7808 moved to a part that is not shown, the screen will scroll
7809 horizontally.
7810 The line will be broken in the middle of a word if necessary. See
7811 'linebreak' to get the break at a word boundary.
7812 To make scrolling horizontally a bit more useful, try this: >
7813 :set sidescroll=5
7814 :set listchars+=precedes:<,extends:>
7815 < See 'sidescroll', 'listchars' and |wrap-off|.
7817 *'wrapmargin'* *'wm'*
7818 'wrapmargin' 'wm' number (default 0)
7819 local to buffer
7820 Number of characters from the right window border where wrapping
7821 starts. When typing text beyond this limit, an <EOL> will be inserted
7822 and inserting continues on the next line.
7823 Options that add a margin, such as 'number' and 'foldcolumn', cause
7824 the text width to be further reduced. This is Vi compatible.
7825 When 'textwidth' is non-zero, this option is not used.
7826 See also 'formatoptions' and |ins-textwidth|. {Vi: works differently
7827 and less usefully}
7829 *'wrapscan'* *'ws'* *'nowrapscan'* *'nows'*
7830 'wrapscan' 'ws' boolean (default on) *E384* *E385*
7831 global
7832 Searches wrap around the end of the file. Also applies to |]s| and
7833 |[s|, searching for spelling mistakes.
7835 *'write'* *'nowrite'*
7836 'write' boolean (default on)
7837 global
7838 {not in Vi}
7839 Allows writing files. When not set, writing a file is not allowed.
7840 Can be used for a view-only mode, where modifications to the text are
7841 still allowed. Can be reset with the |-m| or |-M| command line
7842 argument. Filtering text is still possible, even though this requires
7843 writing a temporary file.
7845 *'writeany'* *'wa'* *'nowriteany'* *'nowa'*
7846 'writeany' 'wa' boolean (default off)
7847 global
7848 Allows writing to any file with no need for "!" override.
7850 *'writebackup'* *'wb'* *'nowritebackup'* *'nowb'*
7851 'writebackup' 'wb' boolean (default on with |+writebackup| feature, off
7852 otherwise)
7853 global
7854 {not in Vi}
7855 Make a backup before overwriting a file. The backup is removed after
7856 the file was successfully written, unless the 'backup' option is
7857 also on. Reset this option if your file system is almost full. See
7858 |backup-table| for another explanation.
7859 When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a backup is not made anyway.
7860 NOTE: This option is set to the default value when 'compatible' is
7861 set.
7863 *'writedelay'* *'wd'*
7864 'writedelay' 'wd' number (default 0)
7865 global
7866 {not in Vi}
7867 The number of microseconds to wait for each character sent to the
7868 screen. When non-zero, characters are sent to the terminal one by
7869 one. For MS-DOS pcterm this does not work. For debugging purposes.
7871 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: