1 *options.txt* For Vim version 7.0. Last change: 2006 May 04
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
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*
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...
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.
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}
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
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.
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
89 Also see |:set-args| above.
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
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.
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.
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?
115 Last set from modeline
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 ":set
119 all" or ":set" without an argument.
120 When the option was set by hand there is no "Last set" message. There is only
121 one value for all local options with the same name. Thus the message applies
122 to the option name, not necessarily its value.
123 When the option was set while executing a function, user command or
124 autocommand, the script in which it was defined is reported.
125 Note that an option may also have been set as a side effect of setting
127 {not available when compiled without the +eval feature}
129 *:set-termcap* *E522*
130 For {option} the form "t_xx" may be used to set a terminal option. This will
131 override the value from the termcap. You can then use it in a mapping. If
132 the "xx" part contains special characters, use the <t_xx> form: >
134 This can also be used to translate a special code for a normal key. For
135 example, if Alt-b produces <Esc>b, use this: >
137 (the ^[ is a real <Esc> here, use CTRL-V <Esc> to enter it)
138 The advantage over a mapping is that it works in all situations.
140 The t_xx options cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
143 The listing from ":set" looks different from Vi. Long string options are put
144 at the end of the list. The number of options is quite large. The output of
145 "set all" probably does not fit on the screen, causing Vim to give the
149 To include white space in a string option value it has to be preceded with a
150 backslash. To include a backslash you have to use two. Effectively this
151 means that the number of backslashes in an option value is halved (rounded
154 :set tags=tags\ /usr/tags results in "tags /usr/tags"
155 :set tags=tags\\,file results in "tags\,file"
156 :set tags=tags\\\ file results in "tags\ file"
158 The "|" character separates a ":set" command from a following command. To
159 include the "|" in the option value, use "\|" instead. This example sets the
160 'titlestring' option to "hi|there": >
161 :set titlestring=hi\|there
162 This sets the 'titlestring' option to "hi" and 'iconstring' to "there": >
163 :set titlestring=hi|set iconstring=there
165 Similarly, the double quote character starts a comment. To include the '"' in
166 the option value, use '\"' instead. This example sets the 'titlestring'
167 option to 'hi "there"': >
168 :set titlestring=hi\ \"there\"
170 For MS-DOS and WIN32 backslashes in file names are mostly not removed. More
171 precise: For options that expect a file name (those where environment
172 variables are expanded) a backslash before a normal file name character is not
173 removed. But a backslash before a special character (space, backslash, comma,
174 etc.) is used like explained above.
175 There is one special situation, when the value starts with "\\": >
176 :set dir=\\machine\path results in "\\machine\path"
177 :set dir=\\\\machine\\path results in "\\machine\path"
178 :set dir=\\path\\file results in "\\path\file" (wrong!)
179 For the first one the start is kept, but for the second one the backslashes
180 are halved. This makes sure it works both when you expect backslashes to be
181 halved and when you expect the backslashes to be kept. The third gives a
182 result which is probably not what you want. Avoid it.
184 *add-option-flags* *remove-option-flags*
185 *E539* *E550* *E551* *E552*
186 Some options are a list of flags. When you want to add a flag to such an
187 option, without changing the existing ones, you can do it like this: >
189 Remove a flag from an option like this: >
191 This removes the 'a' flag from 'guioptions'.
192 Note that you should add or remove one flag at a time. If 'guioptions' has
193 the value "ab", using "set guioptions-=ba" won't work, because the string "ba"
196 *:set_env* *expand-env* *expand-environment-var*
197 Environment variables in specific string options will be expanded. If the
198 environment variable exists the '$' and the following environment variable
199 name is replaced with its value. If it does not exist the '$' and the name
200 are not modified. Any non-id character (not a letter, digit or '_') may
201 follow the environment variable name. That character and what follows is
202 appended to the value of the environment variable. Examples: >
204 :set path=/usr/$INCLUDE,$HOME/include,.
205 When adding or removing a string from an option with ":set opt-=val" or ":set
206 opt+=val" the expansion is done before the adding or removing.
209 Handling of local options *local-options*
211 Some of the options only apply to a window or buffer. Each window or buffer
212 has its own copy of this option, thus can each have their own value. This
213 allows you to set 'list' in one window but not in another. And set
214 'shiftwidth' to 3 in one buffer and 4 in another.
216 The following explains what happens to these local options in specific
217 situations. You don't really need to know all of this, since Vim mostly uses
218 the option values you would expect. Unfortunately, doing what the user
219 expects is a bit complicated...
221 When splitting a window, the local options are copied to the new window. Thus
222 right after the split the contents of the two windows look the same.
224 When editing a new buffer, its local option values must be initialized. Since
225 the local options of the current buffer might be specifically for that buffer,
226 these are not used. Instead, for each buffer-local option there also is a
227 global value, which is used for new buffers. With ":set" both the local and
228 global value is changed. With "setlocal" only the local value is changed,
229 thus this value is not used when editing a new buffer.
231 When editing a buffer that has been edited before, the last used window
232 options are used again. If this buffer has been edited in this window, the
233 values from back then are used. Otherwise the values from the window where
234 the buffer was edited last are used.
236 It's possible to set a local window option specifically for a type of buffer.
237 When you edit another buffer in the same window, you don't want to keep
238 using these local window options. Therefore Vim keeps a global value of the
239 local window options, which is used when editing another buffer. Each window
240 has its own copy of these values. Thus these are local to the window, but
241 global to all buffers in the window. With this you can do: >
245 Now the 'list' option will also be set in "two", since with the ":set list"
246 command you have also set the global value. >
251 Now the 'list' option is not set, because ":set nolist" resets the global
252 value, ":setlocal list" only changes the local value and ":e two" gets the
253 global value. Note that if you do this next: >
255 You will not get back the 'list' value as it was the last time you edited
256 "one". The options local to a window are not remembered for each buffer.
259 :setl[ocal] ... Like ":set" but set only the value local to the
260 current buffer or window. Not all options have a
261 local value. If the option does not have a local
262 value the global value is set.
263 With the "all" argument: display all local option's
265 Without argument: Display all local option's local
266 values which are different from the default.
267 When displaying a specific local option, show the
268 local value. For a global option the global value is
269 shown (but that might change in the future).
272 :setl[ocal] {option}< Set the local value of {option} to its global value by
276 :se[t] {option}< Set the local value of {option} to its global value by
277 making it empty. Only makes sense for |global-local|
282 :setg[lobal] ... Like ":set" but set only the global value for a local
283 option without changing the local value.
284 When displaying an option, the global value is shown.
285 With the "all" argument: display all local option's
287 Without argument: display all local option's global
288 values which are different from the default.
291 For buffer-local and window-local options:
292 Command global value local value ~
293 :set option=value set set
294 :setlocal option=value - set
295 :setglobal option=value set -
296 :set option? - display
297 :setlocal option? - display
298 :setglobal option? display -
301 Global options with a local value *global-local*
303 Options are global when you mostly use one value for all buffers and windows.
304 For some global options it's useful to sometimes have a different local value.
305 You can set the local value with ":setlocal". That buffer or window will then
306 use the local value, while other buffers and windows continue using the global
309 For example, you have two windows, both on C source code. They use the global
310 'makeprg' option. If you do this in one of the two windows: >
312 then the other window will switch to the same value. There is no need to set
313 the 'makeprg' option in the other C source window too.
314 However, if you start editing a Perl file in a new window, you want to use
315 another 'makeprog' for it, without changing the value used for the C source
316 files. You use this command: >
317 :setlocal makeprg=perlmake
318 You can switch back to using the global value by making the local value empty: >
320 This only works for a string option. For a boolean option you need to use the
321 "<" flag, like this: >
323 Note that for non-boolean options using "<" copies the global value to the
324 local value, it doesn't switch back to using the global value (that matters
325 when the global value changes later). You can also use: >
327 This will make the local value of 'path' empty, so that the global value is
328 used. Thus it does the same as: >
330 Note: In the future more global options can be made global-local. Using
331 ":setlocal" on a global option might work differently then.
336 :setf[iletype] {filetype} *:setf* *:setfiletype*
337 Set the 'filetype' option to {filetype}, but only if
338 not done yet in a sequence of (nested) autocommands.
341 : setlocal filetype={filetype}
343 < This command is used in a filetype.vim file to avoid
344 setting the 'filetype' option twice, causing different
345 settings and syntax files to be loaded.
348 :bro[wse] se[t] *:set-browse* *:browse-set* *:opt* *:options*
349 :opt[ions] Open a window for viewing and setting all options.
350 Options are grouped by function.
351 Offers short help for each option. Hit <CR> on the
352 short help to open a help window with more help for
354 Modify the value of the option and hit <CR> on the
355 "set" line to set the new value. For window and
356 buffer specific options, the last accessed window is
357 used to set the option value in, unless this is a help
358 window, in which case the window below help window is
359 used (skipping the option-window).
360 {not available when compiled without the |+eval| or
364 Using "~" is like using "$HOME", but it is only recognized at the start of an
365 option and after a space or comma.
367 On Unix systems "~user" can be used too. It is replaced by the home directory
368 of user "user". Example: >
369 :set path=~mool/include,/usr/include,.
371 On Unix systems the form "${HOME}" can be used too. The name between {} can
372 contain non-id characters then. Note that if you want to use this for the
373 "gf" command, you need to add the '{' and '}' characters to 'isfname'.
375 NOTE: expanding environment variables and "~/" is only done with the ":set"
376 command, not when assigning a value to an option with ":let".
379 Note the maximum length of an expanded option is limited. How much depends on
380 the system, mostly it is something like 256 or 1024 characters.
383 :fix[del] Set the value of 't_kD':
384 't_kb' is 't_kD' becomes ~
388 (CTRL-? is 0177 octal, 0x7f hex) {not in Vi}
390 If your delete key terminal code is wrong, but the
391 code for backspace is alright, you can put this in
394 < This works no matter what the actual code for
397 If the backspace key terminal code is wrong you can
399 :if &term == "termname"
403 < Where "^V" is CTRL-V and "<BS>" is the backspace key
404 (don't type four characters!). Replace "termname"
405 with your terminal name.
407 If your <Delete> key sends a strange key sequence (not
408 CTRL-? or CTRL-H) you cannot use ":fixdel". Then use: >
409 :if &term == "termname"
410 : set t_kD=^V<Delete>
412 < Where "^V" is CTRL-V and "<Delete>" is the delete key
413 (don't type eight characters!). Replace "termname"
414 with your terminal name.
417 Note about Linux: By default the backspace key
418 produces CTRL-?, which is wrong. You can fix it by
419 putting this line in your rc.local: >
420 echo "keycode 14 = BackSpace" | loadkeys
423 Note about NetBSD: If your backspace doesn't produce
424 the right code, try this: >
425 xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = BackSpace"
426 < If this works, add this in your .Xmodmap file: >
427 keysym 22 = BackSpace
428 < You need to restart for this to take effect.
430 ==============================================================================
431 2. Automatically setting options *auto-setting*
433 Besides changing options with the ":set" command, there are three alternatives
434 to set options automatically for one or more files:
436 1. When starting Vim initializations are read from various places. See
437 |initialization|. Most of them are performed for all editing sessions,
438 and some of them depend on the directory where Vim is started.
439 You can create an initialization file with |:mkvimrc|, |:mkview| and
441 2. If you start editing a new file, the automatic commands are executed.
442 This can be used to set options for files matching a particular pattern and
443 many other things. See |autocommand|.
444 3. If you start editing a new file, and the 'modeline' option is on, a
445 number of lines at the beginning and end of the file are checked for
446 modelines. This is explained here.
448 *modeline* *vim:* *vi:* *ex:* *E520*
449 There are two forms of modelines. The first form:
450 [text]{white}{vi:|vim:|ex:}[white]{options}
452 [text] any text or empty
453 {white} at least one blank character (<Space> or <Tab>)
454 {vi:|vim:|ex:} the string "vi:", "vim:" or "ex:"
455 [white] optional white space
456 {options} a list of option settings, separated with white space or ':',
457 where each part between ':' is the argument for a ":set"
463 The second form (this is compatible with some versions of Vi):
465 [text]{white}{vi:|vim:|ex:}[white]se[t] {options}:[text]
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 se[t] the string "set " or "se " (note the space)
472 {options} a list of options, separated with white space, which is the
473 argument for a ":set" command
475 [text] any text or empty
478 /* vim: set ai tw=75: */ ~
480 The white space before {vi:|vim:|ex:} is required. This minimizes the chance
481 that a normal word like "lex:" is caught. There is one exception: "vi:" and
482 "vim:" can also be at the start of the line (for compatibility with version
483 3.0). Using "ex:" at the start of the line will be ignored (this could be
484 short for "example:").
487 The options are set like with ":setlocal": The new value only applies to the
488 buffer and window that contain the file. Although it's possible to set global
489 options from a modeline, this is unusual. If you have two windows open and
490 the files in it set the same global option to a different value, the result
491 depends on which one was opened last.
493 When editing a file that was already loaded, only the window-local options
494 from the modeline are used. Thus if you manually changed a buffer-local
495 option after opening the file, it won't be changed if you edit the same buffer
496 in another window. But window-local options will be set.
499 If the modeline is only to be used for some versions of Vim, the version
500 number can be specified where "vim:" is used:
501 vim{vers}: version {vers} or later
502 vim<{vers}: version before {vers}
503 vim={vers}: version {vers}
504 vim>{vers}: version after {vers}
505 {vers} is 600 for Vim 6.0 (hundred times the major version plus minor).
506 For example, to use a modeline only for Vim 6.0 and later:
507 /* vim600: set foldmethod=marker: */ ~
508 To use a modeline for Vim before version 5.7:
509 /* vim<570: set sw=4: */ ~
510 There can be no blanks between "vim" and the ":".
513 The number of lines that are checked can be set with the 'modelines' option.
514 If 'modeline' is off or 'modelines' is 0 no lines are checked.
516 Note that for the first form all of the rest of the line is used, thus a line
519 will give an error message for the trailing "*/". This line is OK:
522 If an error is detected the rest of the line is skipped.
524 If you want to include a ':' in a set command precede it with a '\'. The
525 backslash in front of the ':' will be removed. Example:
526 /* vi:set dir=c\:\tmp: */ ~
527 This sets the 'dir' option to "c:\tmp". Only a single backslash before the
528 ':' is removed. Thus to include "\:" you have to specify "\\:".
530 No other commands than "set" are supported, for security reasons (somebody
531 might create a Trojan horse text file with modelines).
533 Hint: If you would like to do something else than setting an option, you could
534 define an autocommand that checks the file for a specific string. For
536 au BufReadPost * if getline(1) =~ "VAR" | call SetVar() | endif
537 And define a function SetVar() that does something with the line containing
540 ==============================================================================
541 3. Options summary *option-summary*
543 In the list below all the options are mentioned with their full name and with
544 an abbreviation if there is one. Both forms may be used.
546 In this document when a boolean option is "set" that means that ":set option"
547 is entered. When an option is "reset", ":set nooption" is used.
549 For some options there are two default values: The "Vim default", which is
550 used when 'compatible' is not set, and the "Vi default", which is used when
553 Most options are the same in all windows and buffers. There are a few that
554 are specific to how the text is presented in a window. These can be set to a
555 different value in each window. For example the 'list' option can be set in
556 one window and reset in another for the same text, giving both types of view
557 at the same time. There are a few options that are specific to a certain
558 file. These can have a different value for each file or buffer. For example
559 the 'textwidth' option can be 78 for a normal text file and 0 for a C
562 global one option for all buffers and windows
563 local to window each window has its own copy of this option
564 local to buffer each buffer has its own copy of this option
566 When creating a new window the option values from the currently active window
567 are used as a default value for the window-specific options. For the
568 buffer-specific options this depends on the 's' and 'S' flags in the
569 'cpoptions' option. If 's' is included (which is the default) the values for
570 buffer options are copied from the currently active buffer when a buffer is
571 first entered. If 'S' is present the options are copied each time the buffer
572 is entered, this is almost like having global options. If 's' and 'S' are not
573 present, the options are copied from the currently active buffer when the
576 Hidden options *hidden-options*
578 Not all options are supported in all versions. This depends on the supported
579 features and sometimes on the system. A remark about this is in curly braces
580 below. When an option is not supported it may still be set without getting an
581 error, this is called a hidden option. You can't get the value of a hidden
582 option though, it is not stored.
584 To test if option "foo" can be used with ":set" use something like this: >
586 This also returns true for a hidden option. To test if option "foo" is really
587 supported use something like this: >
591 A jump table for the options with a short description can be found at |Q_op|.
593 *'aleph'* *'al'* *aleph* *Aleph*
594 'aleph' 'al' number (default 128 for MS-DOS, 224 otherwise)
597 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
599 The ASCII code for the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The
600 routine that maps the keyboard in Hebrew mode, both in Insert mode
601 (when hkmap is set) and on the command-line (when hitting CTRL-_)
602 outputs the Hebrew characters in the range [aleph..aleph+26].
603 aleph=128 applies to PC code, and aleph=224 applies to ISO 8859-8.
606 *'allowrevins'* *'ari'* *'noallowrevins'* *'noari'*
607 'allowrevins' 'ari' boolean (default off)
610 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
612 Allow CTRL-_ in Insert and Command-line mode. This is default off, to
613 avoid that users that accidentally type CTRL-_ instead of SHIFT-_ get
614 into reverse Insert mode, and don't know how to get out. See
616 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
618 *'altkeymap'* *'akm'* *'noaltkeymap'* *'noakm'*
619 'altkeymap' 'akm' boolean (default off)
622 {only available when compiled with the |+farsi|
624 When on, the second language is Farsi. In editing mode CTRL-_ toggles
625 the keyboard map between Farsi and English, when 'allowrevins' set.
627 When off, the keyboard map toggles between Hebrew and English. This
628 is useful to start the Vim in native mode i.e. English (left-to-right
629 mode) and have default second language Farsi or Hebrew (right-to-left
630 mode). See |farsi.txt|.
632 *'ambiwidth'* *'ambw'*
633 'ambiwidth' 'ambw' string (default: "single")
636 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
638 Only effective when 'encoding' is "utf-8" or another Unicode encoding.
639 Tells Vim what to do with characters with East Asian Width Class
640 Ambiguous (such as Euro, Registered Sign, Copyright Sign, Greek
641 letters, Cyrillic letters).
643 There are currently two possible values:
644 "single": Use the same width as characters in US-ASCII. This is
645 expected by most users.
646 "double": Use twice the width of ASCII characters.
648 There are a number of CJK fonts for which the width of glyphs for
649 those characters are solely based on how many octets they take in
650 legacy/traditional CJK encodings. In those encodings, Euro,
651 Registered sign, Greek/Cyrillic letters are represented by two octets,
652 therefore those fonts have "wide" glyphs for them. This is also
653 true of some line drawing characters used to make tables in text
654 file. Therefore, when a CJK font is used for GUI Vim or
655 Vim is running inside a terminal (emulators) that uses a CJK font
656 (or Vim is run inside an xterm invoked with "-cjkwidth" option.),
657 this option should be set to "double" to match the width perceived
658 by Vim with the width of glyphs in the font. Perhaps it also has
659 to be set to "double" under CJK Windows 9x/ME or Windows 2k/XP
660 when the system locale is set to one of CJK locales. See Unicode
661 Standard Annex #11 (http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr11).
663 *'antialias'* *'anti'* *'noantialias'* *'noanti'*
664 'antialias' 'anti' boolean (default: off)
667 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled
669 This option only has an effect in the GUI version of Vim on Mac OS X
670 v10.2 or later. When on, Vim will use smooth ("antialiased") fonts,
671 which can be easier to read at certain sizes on certain displays.
672 Setting this option can sometimes cause problems if 'guifont' is set
673 to its default (empty string).
675 *'autochdir'* *'acd'* *'noautochdir'* *'noacd'*
676 'autochdir' 'acd' boolean (default off)
679 {only available when compiled with the
680 |+netbeans_intg| or |+sun_workshop| feature}
681 When on, Vim will change the current working directory whenever you
682 open a file, switch buffers, delete a buffer or open/close a window.
683 It will change to the directory containing the file which was opened
685 This option is provided for backward compatibility with the Vim
686 released with Sun ONE Studio 4 Enterprise Edition.
687 Note: When this option is on some plugins may not work.
689 *'arabic'* *'arab'* *'noarabic'* *'noarab'*
690 'arabic' 'arab' boolean (default off)
693 {only available when compiled with the |+arabic|
695 This option can be set to start editing Arabic text.
696 Setting this option will:
697 - Set the 'rightleft' option, unless 'termbidi' is set.
698 - Set the 'arabicshape' option, unless 'termbidi' is set.
699 - Set the 'keymap' option to "arabic"; in Insert mode CTRL-^ toggles
700 between typing English and Arabic key mapping.
701 - Set the 'delcombine' option
702 Note that 'encoding' must be "utf-8" for working with Arabic text.
704 Resetting this option will:
705 - Reset the 'rightleft' option.
706 - Disable the use of 'keymap' (without changing its value).
707 Note that 'arabicshape' and 'delcombine' are not reset (it is a global
709 Also see |arabic.txt|.
711 *'arabicshape'* *'arshape'*
712 *'noarabicshape'* *'noarshape'*
713 'arabicshape' 'arshape' boolean (default on)
716 {only available when compiled with the |+arabic|
718 When on and 'termbidi' is off, the required visual character
719 corrections that need to take place for displaying the Arabic language
720 take affect. Shaping, in essence, gets enabled; the term is a broad
721 one which encompasses:
722 a) the changing/morphing of characters based on their location
723 within a word (initial, medial, final and stand-alone).
724 b) the enabling of the ability to compose characters
725 c) the enabling of the required combining of some characters
726 When disabled the character display reverts back to each character's
727 true stand-alone form.
728 Arabic is a complex language which requires other settings, for
729 further details see |arabic.txt|.
731 *'autoindent'* *'ai'* *'noautoindent'* *'noai'*
732 'autoindent' 'ai' boolean (default off)
734 Copy indent from current line when starting a new line (typing <CR>
735 in Insert mode or when using the "o" or "O" command). If you do not
736 type anything on the new line except <BS> or CTRL-D and then type
737 <Esc> or <CR>, the indent is deleted again. Moving the cursor to
738 another line has the same effect, unless the 'I' flag is included in
740 When autoindent is on, formatting (with the "gq" command or when you
741 reach 'textwidth' in Insert mode) uses the indentation of the first
743 When 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is on the indent is changed in
745 The 'autoindent' option is reset when the 'paste' option is set.
746 {small difference from Vi: After the indent is deleted when typing
747 <Esc> or <CR>, the cursor position when moving up or down is after the
748 deleted indent; Vi puts the cursor somewhere in the deleted indent}.
750 *'autoread'* *'ar'* *'noautoread'* *'noar'*
751 'autoread' 'ar' boolean (default off)
752 global or local to buffer |global-local|
754 When a file has been detected to have been changed outside of Vim and
755 it has not been changed inside of Vim, automatically read it again.
756 When the file has been deleted this is not done. |timestamp|
757 If this option has a local value, use this command to switch back to
758 using the global value: >
761 *'autowrite'* *'aw'* *'noautowrite'* *'noaw'*
762 'autowrite' 'aw' boolean (default off)
764 Write the contents of the file, if it has been modified, on each
765 :next, :rewind, :last, :first, :previous, :stop, :suspend, :tag, :!,
766 :make, CTRL-] and CTRL-^ command; and when a :buffer, CTRL-O, CTRL-I,
767 '{A-Z0-9}, or `{A-Z0-9} command takes one to another file.
768 Note that for some commands the 'autowrite' option is not used, see
769 'autowriteall' for that.
771 *'autowriteall'* *'awa'* *'noautowriteall'* *'noawa'*
772 'autowriteall' 'awa' boolean (default off)
775 Like 'autowrite', but also used for commands ":edit", ":enew", ":quit",
776 ":qall", ":exit", ":xit", ":recover" and closing the Vim window.
777 Setting this option also implies that Vim behaves like 'autowrite' has
780 *'background'* *'bg'*
781 'background' 'bg' string (default "dark" or "light")
784 When set to "dark", Vim will try to use colors that look good on a
785 dark background. When set to "light", Vim will try to use colors that
786 look good on a light background. Any other value is illegal.
787 Vim tries to set the default value according to the terminal used.
788 This will not always be correct.
789 Setting this option does not change the background color, it tells Vim
790 what the background color looks like. For changing the background
791 color, see |:hi-normal|.
793 When 'background' is set Vim will adjust the default color groups for
794 the new value. But the colors used for syntax highlighting will not
796 When a color scheme is loaded (the "colors_name" variable is set)
797 setting 'background' will cause the color scheme to be reloaded. If
798 the color scheme adjusts to the value of 'background' this will work.
799 However, if the color scheme sets 'background' itself the effect may
800 be undone. First delete the "colors_name" variable when needed.
802 When setting 'background' to the default value with: >
804 < Vim will guess the value. In the GUI this should work correctly,
805 in other cases Vim might not be able to guess the right value.
807 When starting the GUI, the default value for 'background' will be
808 "light". When the value is not set in the .gvimrc, and Vim detects
809 that the background is actually quite dark, 'background' is set to
810 "dark". But this happens only AFTER the .gvimrc file has been read
811 (because the window needs to be opened to find the actual background
812 color). To get around this, force the GUI window to be opened by
813 putting a ":gui" command in the .gvimrc file, before where the value
814 of 'background' is used (e.g., before ":syntax on").
815 Normally this option would be set in the .vimrc file. Possibly
816 depending on the terminal name. Example: >
817 :if &term == "pcterm"
818 : set background=dark
820 < When this option is set, the default settings for the highlight groups
821 will change. To use other settings, place ":highlight" commands AFTER
822 the setting of the 'background' option.
823 This option is also used in the "$VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim" file
824 to select the colors for syntax highlighting. After changing this
825 option, you must load syntax.vim again to see the result. This can be
826 done with ":syntax on".
829 'backspace' 'bs' string (default "")
832 Influences the working of <BS>, <Del>, CTRL-W and CTRL-U in Insert
833 mode. This is a list of items, separated by commas. Each item allows
834 a way to backspace over something:
836 indent allow backspacing over autoindent
837 eol allow backspacing over line breaks (join lines)
838 start allow backspacing over the start of insert; CTRL-W and CTRL-U
839 stop once at the start of insert.
841 When the value is empty, Vi compatible backspacing is used.
843 For backwards compatibility with version 5.4 and earlier:
845 0 same as ":set backspace=" (Vi compatible)
846 1 same as ":set backspace=indent,eol"
847 2 same as ":set backspace=indent,eol,start"
849 See |:fixdel| if your <BS> or <Del> key does not do what you want.
850 NOTE: This option is set to "" when 'compatible' is set.
852 *'backup'* *'bk'* *'nobackup'* *'nobk'*
853 'backup' 'bk' boolean (default off)
856 Make a backup before overwriting a file. Leave it around after the
857 file has been successfully written. If you do not want to keep the
858 backup file, but you do want a backup while the file is being
859 written, reset this option and set the 'writebackup' option (this is
860 the default). If you do not want a backup file at all reset both
861 options (use this if your file system is almost full). See the
862 |backup-table| for more explanations.
863 When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a backup is not made anyway.
864 When 'patchmode' is set, the backup may be renamed to become the
865 oldest version of a file.
866 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
868 *'backupcopy'* *'bkc'*
869 'backupcopy' 'bkc' string (Vi default for Unix: "yes", otherwise: "auto")
872 When writing a file and a backup is made, this option tells how it's
873 done. This is a comma separated list of words.
876 "yes" make a copy of the file and overwrite the original one
877 "no" rename the file and write a new one
878 "auto" one of the previous, what works best
880 Extra values that can be combined with the ones above are:
881 "breaksymlink" always break symlinks when writing
882 "breakhardlink" always break hardlinks when writing
884 Making a copy and overwriting the original file:
885 - Takes extra time to copy the file.
886 + When the file has special attributes, is a (hard/symbolic) link or
887 has a resource fork, all this is preserved.
888 - When the file is a link the backup will have the name of the link,
889 not of the real file.
891 Renaming the file and writing a new one:
893 - Sometimes not all attributes of the file can be copied to the new
895 - When the file is a link the new file will not be a link.
897 The "auto" value is the middle way: When Vim sees that renaming file
898 is possible without side effects (the attributes can be passed on and
899 and the file is not a link) that is used. When problems are expected,
902 The "breaksymlink" and "breakhardlink" values can be used in
903 combination with any of "yes", "no" and "auto". When included, they
904 force Vim to always break either symbolic or hard links by doing
905 exactly what the "no" option does, renaming the original file to
906 become the backup and writing a new file in its place. This can be
907 useful for example in source trees where all the files are symbolic or
908 hard links and any changes should stay in the local source tree, not
909 be propagated back to the original source.
911 One situation where "no" and "auto" will cause problems: A program
912 that opens a file, invokes Vim to edit that file, and then tests if
913 the open file was changed (through the file descriptor) will check the
914 backup file instead of the newly created file. "crontab -e" is an
917 When a copy is made, the original file is truncated and then filled
918 with the new text. This means that protection bits, owner and
919 symbolic links of the original file are unmodified. The backup file
920 however, is a new file, owned by the user who edited the file. The
921 group of the backup is set to the group of the original file. If this
922 fails, the protection bits for the group are made the same as for
925 When the file is renamed this is the other way around: The backup has
926 the same attributes of the original file, and the newly written file
927 is owned by the current user. When the file was a (hard/symbolic)
928 link, the new file will not! That's why the "auto" value doesn't
929 rename when the file is a link. The owner and group of the newly
930 written file will be set to the same ones as the original file, but
931 the system may refuse to do this. In that case the "auto" value will
932 again not rename the file.
934 *'backupdir'* *'bdir'*
935 'backupdir' 'bdir' string (default for Amiga: ".,t:",
936 for MS-DOS and Win32: ".,c:/tmp,c:/temp"
937 for Unix: ".,~/tmp,~/")
940 List of directories for the backup file, separated with commas.
941 - The backup file will be created in the first directory in the list
942 where this is possible.
943 - Empty means that no backup file will be created ('patchmode' is
944 impossible!). Writing may fail because of this.
945 - A directory "." means to put the backup file in the same directory
947 - A directory starting with "./" (or ".\" for MS-DOS et al.) means to
948 put the backup file relative to where the edited file is. The
949 leading "." is replaced with the path name of the edited file.
950 ("." inside a directory name has no special meaning).
951 - Spaces after the comma are ignored, other spaces are considered part
952 of the directory name. To have a space at the start of a directory
953 name, precede it with a backslash.
954 - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with a backslash.
955 - A directory name may end in an '/'.
956 - Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
957 - Careful with '\' characters, type one before a space, type two to
958 get one in the option (see |option-backslash|), for example: >
959 :set bdir=c:\\tmp,\ dir\\,with\\,commas,\\\ dir\ with\ spaces
960 < - For backwards compatibility with Vim version 3.0 a '>' at the start
961 of the option is removed.
962 See also 'backup' and 'writebackup' options.
963 If you want to hide your backup files on Unix, consider this value: >
964 :set backupdir=./.backup,~/.backup,.,/tmp
965 < You must create a ".backup" directory in each directory and in your
966 home directory for this to work properly.
967 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
968 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
969 uses another default.
970 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
973 *'backupext'* *'bex'* *E589*
974 'backupext' 'bex' string (default "~", for VMS: "_")
977 String which is appended to a file name to make the name of the
978 backup file. The default is quite unusual, because this avoids
979 accidentally overwriting existing files with a backup file. You might
980 prefer using ".bak", but make sure that you don't have files with
981 ".bak" that you want to keep.
982 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
984 If you like to keep a lot of backups, you could use a BufWritePre
985 autocommand to change 'backupext' just before writing the file to
986 include a timestamp. >
987 :au BufWritePre * let &bex = '-' . strftime("%Y%b%d%X") . '~'
988 < Use 'backupdir' to put the backup in a different directory.
990 *'backupskip'* *'bsk'*
991 'backupskip' 'bsk' string (default: "/tmp/*,$TMPDIR/*,$TMP/*,$TEMP/*")
994 {not available when compiled without the |+wildignore|
996 A list of file patterns. When one of the patterns matches with the
997 name of the file which is written, no backup file is created. Both
998 the specified file name and the full path name of the file are used.
999 The pattern is used like with |:autocmd|, see |autocmd-patterns|.
1000 Watch out for special characters, see |option-backslash|.
1001 When $TMPDIR, $TMP or $TEMP is not defined, it is not used for the
1002 default value. "/tmp/*" is only used for Unix.
1003 Note that the default also makes sure that "crontab -e" works (when a
1004 backup would be made by renaming the original file crontab won't see
1005 the newly created file). Also see 'backupcopy' and |crontab|.
1007 *'balloondelay'* *'bdlay'*
1008 'balloondelay' 'bdlay' number (default: 600)
1011 {only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval|
1013 Delay in milliseconds before a balloon may pop up. See |balloon-eval|.
1015 *'ballooneval'* *'beval'* *'noballooneval'* *'nobeval'*
1016 'ballooneval' 'beval' boolean (default off)
1019 {only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval|
1021 Switch on the |balloon-eval| functionality.
1023 *'balloonexpr'* *'bexpr'*
1024 'balloonexpr' 'bexpr' string (default "")
1025 global or local to buffer |global-local|
1027 {only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval|
1029 Expression for text to show in evaluation balloon. It is only used
1030 when 'ballooneval' is on. These variables can be used:
1032 v:beval_bufnr number of the buffer in which balloon is going to show
1033 v:beval_winnr number of the window
1034 v:beval_lnum line number
1035 v:beval_col column number (byte index)
1036 v:beval_text word under or after the mouse pointer
1038 The evaluation of the expression must not have side effects!
1040 function! MyBalloonExpr()
1041 return 'Cursor is at line ' . v:beval_lnum .
1042 \', column ' . v:beval_col .
1043 \ ' of file ' . bufname(v:beval_bufnr) .
1044 \ ' on word "' . v:beval_text . '"'
1046 set bexpr=MyBalloonExpr()
1049 NOTE: The balloon is displayed only if the cursor is on a text
1050 character. If the result of evaluating 'balloonexpr' is not empty,
1051 Vim does not try to send a message to an external debugger (Netbeans
1054 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
1057 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
1058 evaluating 'balloonexpr' |textlock|.
1060 To check whether line breaks in the balloon text work use this check: >
1061 if has("balloon_multiline")
1062 < When they are supported "\n" characters will start a new line. If the
1063 expression evaluates to a |List| this is equal to using each List item
1064 as a string and putting "\n" in between them.
1066 *'binary'* *'bin'* *'nobinary'* *'nobin'*
1067 'binary' 'bin' boolean (default off)
1070 This option should be set before editing a binary file. You can also
1071 use the |-b| Vim argument. When this option is switched on a few
1072 options will be changed (also when it already was on):
1073 'textwidth' will be set to 0
1074 'wrapmargin' will be set to 0
1075 'modeline' will be off
1076 'expandtab' will be off
1077 Also, 'fileformat' and 'fileformats' options will not be used, the
1078 file is read and written like 'fileformat' was "unix" (a single <NL>
1080 The 'fileencoding' and 'fileencodings' options will not be used, the
1081 file is read without conversion.
1082 NOTE: When you start editing a(nother) file while the 'bin' option is
1083 on, settings from autocommands may change the settings again (e.g.,
1084 'textwidth'), causing trouble when editing. You might want to set
1085 'bin' again when the file has been loaded.
1086 The previous values of these options are remembered and restored when
1087 'bin' is switched from on to off. Each buffer has its own set of
1088 saved option values.
1089 To edit a file with 'binary' set you can use the |++bin| argument.
1090 This avoids you have to do ":set bin", which would have effect for all
1092 When writing a file the <EOL> for the last line is only written if
1093 there was one in the original file (normally Vim appends an <EOL> to
1094 the last line if there is none; this would make the file longer). See
1095 the 'endofline' option.
1097 *'bioskey'* *'biosk'* *'nobioskey'* *'nobiosk'*
1098 'bioskey' 'biosk' boolean (default on)
1100 {not in Vi} {only for MS-DOS}
1101 When on the BIOS is called to obtain a keyboard character. This works
1102 better to detect CTRL-C, but only works for the console. When using a
1103 terminal over a serial port reset this option.
1104 Also see |'conskey'|.
1107 'bomb' boolean (default off)
1110 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
1112 When writing a file and the following conditions are met, a BOM (Byte
1113 Order Mark) is prepended to the file:
1115 - the 'binary' option is off
1116 - 'fileencoding' is "utf-8", "ucs-2", "ucs-4" or one of the little/big
1118 Some applications use the BOM to recognize the encoding of the file.
1119 Often used for UCS-2 files on MS-Windows. For other applications it
1120 causes trouble, for example: "cat file1 file2" makes the BOM of file2
1121 appear halfway the resulting file.
1122 When Vim reads a file and 'fileencodings' starts with "ucs-bom", a
1123 check for the presence of the BOM is done and 'bomb' set accordingly.
1124 Unless 'binary' is set, it is removed from the first line, so that you
1125 don't see it when editing. When you don't change the options, the BOM
1126 will be restored when writing the file.
1129 'breakat' 'brk' string (default " ^I!@*-+;:,./?")
1132 {not available when compiled without the |+linebreak|
1134 This option lets you choose which characters might cause a line
1135 break if 'linebreak' is on. Only works for ASCII and also for 8-bit
1136 characters when 'encoding' is an 8-bit encoding.
1138 *'browsedir'* *'bsdir'*
1139 'browsedir' 'bsdir' string (default: "last")
1141 {not in Vi} {only for Motif and Win32 GUI}
1142 Which directory to use for the file browser:
1143 last Use same directory as with last file browser.
1144 buffer Use the directory of the related buffer.
1145 current Use the current directory.
1146 {path} Use the specified directory
1148 *'bufhidden'* *'bh'*
1149 'bufhidden' 'bh' string (default: "")
1152 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
1154 This option specifies what happens when a buffer is no longer
1155 displayed in a window:
1156 <empty> follow the global 'hidden' option
1157 hide hide the buffer (don't unload it), also when 'hidden'
1159 unload unload the buffer, also when 'hidden' is set or using
1161 delete delete the buffer from the buffer list, also when
1162 'hidden' is set or using |:hide|, like using
1164 wipe wipe out the buffer from the buffer list, also when
1165 'hidden' is set or using |:hide|, like using
1168 CAREFUL: when "unload", "delete" or "wipe" is used changes in a buffer
1169 are lost without a warning.
1170 This option is used together with 'buftype' and 'swapfile' to specify
1171 special kinds of buffers. See |special-buffers|.
1173 *'buflisted'* *'bl'* *'nobuflisted'* *'nobl'* *E85*
1174 'buflisted' 'bl' boolean (default: on)
1177 When this option is set, the buffer shows up in the buffer list. If
1178 it is reset it is not used for ":bnext", "ls", the Buffers menu, etc.
1179 This option is reset by Vim for buffers that are only used to remember
1180 a file name or marks. Vim sets it when starting to edit a buffer.
1181 But not when moving to a buffer with ":buffer".
1183 *'buftype'* *'bt'* *E382*
1184 'buftype' 'bt' string (default: "")
1187 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
1189 The value of this option specifies the type of a buffer:
1190 <empty> normal buffer
1191 nofile buffer which is not related to a file and will not be
1193 nowrite buffer which will not be written
1194 acwrite buffer which will always be written with BufWriteCmd
1195 autocommands. {not available when compiled without the
1197 quickfix quickfix buffer, contains list of errors |:cwindow|
1198 or list of locations |:lwindow|
1199 help help buffer (you are not supposed to set this
1202 This option is used together with 'bufhidden' and 'swapfile' to
1203 specify special kinds of buffers. See |special-buffers|.
1205 Be careful with changing this option, it can have many side effects!
1207 A "quickfix" buffer is only used for the error list and the location
1208 list. This value is set by the |:cwindow| and |:lwindow| commands and
1209 you are not supposed to change it.
1211 "nofile" and "nowrite" buffers are similar:
1212 both: The buffer is not to be written to disk, ":w" doesn't
1213 work (":w filename" does work though).
1214 both: The buffer is never considered to be |'modified'|.
1215 There is no warning when the changes will be lost, for
1216 example when you quit Vim.
1217 both: A swap file is only created when using too much memory
1218 (when 'swapfile' has been reset there is never a swap
1220 nofile only: The buffer name is fixed, it is not handled like a
1221 file name. It is not modified in response to a |:cd|
1224 "acwrite" implies that the buffer name is not related to a file, like
1225 "nofile", but it will be written. Thus, in contrast to "nofile" and
1226 "nowrite", ":w" does work and a modified buffer can't be abandoned
1227 without saving. For writing there must be matching |BufWriteCmd|,
1228 |FileWriteCmd| or |FileAppendCmd| autocommands.
1231 'casemap' 'cmp' string (default: "internal,keepascii")
1234 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
1236 Specifies details about changing the case of letters. It may contain
1237 these words, separated by a comma:
1238 internal Use internal case mapping functions, the current
1239 locale does not change the case mapping. This only
1240 matters when 'encoding' is a Unicode encoding,
1241 "latin1" or "iso-8859-15". When "internal" is
1242 omitted, the towupper() and towlower() system library
1243 functions are used when available.
1244 keepascii For the ASCII characters (0x00 to 0x7f) use the US
1245 case mapping, the current locale is not effective.
1246 This probably only matters for Turkish.
1248 *'cdpath'* *'cd'* *E344* *E346*
1249 'cdpath' 'cd' string (default: equivalent to $CDPATH or ",,")
1252 {not available when compiled without the
1253 |+file_in_path| feature}
1254 This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the
1255 |:cd| and |:lcd| commands, provided that the directory being searched
1256 for has a relative path (not starting with "/", "./" or "../").
1257 The 'cdpath' option's value has the same form and semantics as
1258 |'path'|. Also see |file-searching|.
1259 The default value is taken from $CDPATH, with a "," prepended to look
1260 in the current directory first.
1261 If the default value taken from $CDPATH is not what you want, include
1262 a modified version of the following command in your vimrc file to
1264 :let &cdpath = ',' . substitute(substitute($CDPATH, '[, ]', '\\\0', 'g'), ':', ',', 'g')
1265 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
1267 (parts of 'cdpath' can be passed to the shell to expand file names).
1270 'cedit' string (Vi default: "", Vim default: CTRL-F)
1273 {not available when compiled without the |+vertsplit|
1275 The key used in Command-line Mode to open the command-line window.
1276 The default is CTRL-F when 'compatible' is off.
1277 Only non-printable keys are allowed.
1278 The key can be specified as a single character, but it is difficult to
1279 type. The preferred way is to use the <> notation. Examples: >
1282 < |Nvi| also has this option, but it only uses the first character.
1285 *'charconvert'* *'ccv'* *E202* *E214* *E513*
1286 'charconvert' 'ccv' string (default "")
1288 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
1289 feature and the |+eval| feature}
1291 An expression that is used for character encoding conversion. It is
1292 evaluated when a file that is to be read or has been written has a
1293 different encoding from what is desired.
1294 'charconvert' is not used when the internal iconv() function is
1295 supported and is able to do the conversion. Using iconv() is
1296 preferred, because it is much faster.
1297 'charconvert' is not used when reading stdin |--|, because there is no
1298 file to convert from. You will have to save the text in a file first.
1299 The expression must return zero or an empty string for success,
1300 non-zero for failure.
1301 The possible encoding names encountered are in 'encoding'.
1302 Additionally, names given in 'fileencodings' and 'fileencoding' are
1304 Conversion between "latin1", "unicode", "ucs-2", "ucs-4" and "utf-8"
1305 is done internally by Vim, 'charconvert' is not used for this.
1306 'charconvert' is also used to convert the viminfo file, if the 'c'
1307 flag is present in 'viminfo'. Also used for Unicode conversion.
1309 set charconvert=CharConvert()
1312 \ . v:charconvert_from . ".." . v:charconvert_to
1313 \ . " <" . v:fname_in . " >" v:fname_out)
1314 return v:shell_error
1316 < The related Vim variables are:
1317 v:charconvert_from name of the current encoding
1318 v:charconvert_to name of the desired encoding
1319 v:fname_in name of the input file
1320 v:fname_out name of the output file
1321 Note that v:fname_in and v:fname_out will never be the same.
1322 Note that v:charconvert_from and v:charconvert_to may be different
1323 from 'encoding'. Vim internally uses UTF-8 instead of UCS-2 or UCS-4.
1324 Encryption is not done by Vim when using 'charconvert'. If you want
1325 to encrypt the file after conversion, 'charconvert' should take care
1327 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
1330 *'cindent'* *'cin'* *'nocindent'* *'nocin'*
1331 'cindent' 'cin' boolean (default off)
1334 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
1336 Enables automatic C program indenting See 'cinkeys' to set the keys
1337 that trigger reindenting in insert mode and 'cinoptions' to set your
1338 preferred indent style.
1339 If 'indentexpr' is not empty, it overrules 'cindent'.
1340 If 'lisp' is not on and both 'indentexpr' and 'equalprg' are empty,
1341 the "=" operator indents using this algorithm rather than calling an
1344 When you don't like the way 'cindent' works, try the 'smartindent'
1345 option or 'indentexpr'.
1346 This option is not used when 'paste' is set.
1347 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
1349 *'cinkeys'* *'cink'*
1350 'cinkeys' 'cink' string (default "0{,0},0),:,0#,!^F,o,O,e")
1353 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
1355 A list of keys that, when typed in Insert mode, cause reindenting of
1356 the current line. Only used if 'cindent' is on and 'indentexpr' is
1358 For the format of this option see |cinkeys-format|.
1361 *'cinoptions'* *'cino'*
1362 'cinoptions' 'cino' string (default "")
1365 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
1367 The 'cinoptions' affect the way 'cindent' reindents lines in a C
1368 program. See |cinoptions-values| for the values of this option, and
1369 |C-indenting| for info on C indenting in general.
1372 *'cinwords'* *'cinw'*
1373 'cinwords' 'cinw' string (default "if,else,while,do,for,switch")
1376 {not available when compiled without both the
1377 |+cindent| and the |+smartindent| features}
1378 These keywords start an extra indent in the next line when
1379 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is set. For 'cindent' this is only done at
1380 an appropriate place (inside {}).
1381 Note that 'ignorecase' isn't used for 'cinwords'. If case doesn't
1382 matter, include the keyword both the uppercase and lowercase:
1385 *'clipboard'* *'cb'*
1386 'clipboard' 'cb' string (default "autoselect,exclude:cons\|linux"
1387 for X-windows, "" otherwise)
1390 {only in GUI versions or when the |+xterm_clipboard|
1391 feature is included}
1392 This option is a list of comma separated names.
1393 These names are recognized:
1395 unnamed When included, Vim will use the clipboard register '*'
1396 for all yank, delete, change and put operations which
1397 would normally go to the unnamed register. When a
1398 register is explicitly specified, it will always be
1399 used regardless of whether "unnamed" is in 'clipboard'
1400 or not. The clipboard register can always be
1401 explicitly accessed using the "* notation. Also see
1404 autoselect Works like the 'a' flag in 'guioptions': If present,
1405 then whenever Visual mode is started, or the Visual
1406 area extended, Vim tries to become the owner of the
1407 windowing system's global selection or put the
1408 selected text on the clipboard used by the selection
1409 register "*. See |guioptions_a| and |quotestar| for
1410 details. When the GUI is active, the 'a' flag in
1411 'guioptions' is used, when the GUI is not active, this
1412 "autoselect" flag is used.
1413 Also applies to the modeless selection.
1415 autoselectml Like "autoselect", but for the modeless selection
1416 only. Compare to the 'A' flag in 'guioptions'.
1419 Defines a pattern that is matched against the name of
1420 the terminal 'term'. If there is a match, no
1421 connection will be made to the X server. This is
1422 useful in this situation:
1423 - Running Vim in a console.
1424 - $DISPLAY is set to start applications on another
1426 - You do not want to connect to the X server in the
1427 console, but do want this in a terminal emulator.
1428 To never connect to the X server use: >
1430 < This has the same effect as using the |-X| argument.
1431 Note that when there is no connection to the X server
1432 the window title won't be restored and the clipboard
1434 The value of 'magic' is ignored, {pattern} is
1435 interpreted as if 'magic' was on.
1436 The rest of the option value will be used for
1437 {pattern}, this must be the last entry.
1439 *'cmdheight'* *'ch'*
1440 'cmdheight' 'ch' number (default 1)
1443 Number of screen lines to use for the command-line. Helps avoiding
1444 |hit-enter| prompts.
1445 The value of this option is stored with the tab page, so that each tab
1446 page can have a different value.
1448 *'cmdwinheight'* *'cwh'*
1449 'cmdwinheight' 'cwh' number (default 7)
1452 {not available when compiled without the |+vertsplit|
1454 Number of screen lines to use for the command-line window. |cmdwin|
1456 *'columns'* *'co'* *E594*
1457 'columns' 'co' number (default 80 or terminal width)
1460 Number of columns of the screen. Normally this is set by the terminal
1461 initialization and does not have to be set by hand. Also see
1462 |posix-screen-size|.
1463 When Vim is running in the GUI or in a resizable window, setting this
1464 option will cause the window size to be changed. When you only want
1465 to use the size for the GUI, put the command in your |gvimrc| file.
1466 When you set this option and Vim is unable to change the physical
1467 number of columns of the display, the display may be messed up.
1468 Minimum value is 12, maximum value is 10000.
1470 *'comments'* *'com'* *E524* *E525*
1471 'comments' 'com' string (default
1472 "s1:/*,mb:*,ex:*/,://,b:#,:%,:XCOMM,n:>,fb:-")
1475 {not available when compiled without the |+comments|
1477 A comma separated list of strings that can start a comment line. See
1478 |format-comments|. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes to
1481 *'commentstring'* *'cms'* *E537*
1482 'commentstring' 'cms' string (default "/*%s*/")
1485 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
1487 A template for a comment. The "%s" in the value is replaced with the
1488 comment text. Currently only used to add markers for folding, see
1491 *'compatible'* *'cp'* *'nocompatible'* *'nocp'*
1492 'compatible' 'cp' boolean (default on, off when a |vimrc| or |gvimrc|
1496 This option has the effect of making Vim either more Vi-compatible, or
1497 make Vim behave in a more useful way.
1498 This is a special kind of option, because when it's set or reset,
1499 other options are also changed as a side effect. CAREFUL: Setting or
1500 resetting this option can have a lot of unexpected effects: Mappings
1501 are interpreted in another way, undo behaves differently, etc. If you
1502 set this option in your vimrc file, you should probably put it at the
1504 By default this option is on and the Vi defaults are used for the
1505 options. This default was chosen for those people who want to use Vim
1506 just like Vi, and don't even (want to) know about the 'compatible'
1508 When a |vimrc| or |gvimrc| file is found while Vim is starting up,
1509 this option is switched off, and all options that have not been
1510 modified will be set to the Vim defaults. Effectively, this means
1511 that when a |vimrc| or |gvimrc| file exists, Vim will use the Vim
1512 defaults, otherwise it will use the Vi defaults. (Note: This doesn't
1513 happen for the system-wide vimrc or gvimrc file). Also see
1514 |compatible-default| and |posix-compliance|.
1515 You can also set this option with the "-C" argument, and reset it with
1516 "-N". See |-C| and |-N|.
1517 Switching this option off makes the Vim defaults be used for options
1518 that have a different Vi and Vim default value. See the options
1519 marked with a '+' below. Other options are not modified.
1520 At the moment this option is set, several other options will be set
1521 or reset to make Vim as Vi-compatible as possible. See the table
1522 below. This can be used if you want to revert to Vi compatible
1524 See also 'cpoptions'.
1526 option + set value effect ~
1528 'allowrevins' off no CTRL-_ command
1529 'backupcopy' Unix: "yes" backup file is a copy
1530 others: "auto" copy or rename backup file
1531 'backspace' "" normal backspace
1532 'backup' off no backup file
1533 'cindent' off no C code indentation
1534 'cedit' + "" no key to open the |cmdwin|
1535 'cpoptions' + (all flags) Vi-compatible flags
1536 'cscopetag' off don't use cscope for ":tag"
1537 'cscopetagorder' 0 see |cscopetagorder|
1538 'cscopeverbose' off see |cscopeverbose|
1539 'digraph' off no digraphs
1540 'esckeys' + off no <Esc>-keys in Insert mode
1541 'expandtab' off tabs not expanded to spaces
1542 'fileformats' + "" no automatic file format detection,
1543 "dos,unix" except for DOS, Windows and OS/2
1544 'formatoptions' + "vt" Vi compatible formatting
1545 'gdefault' off no default 'g' flag for ":s"
1546 'history' + 0 no commandline history
1547 'hkmap' off no Hebrew keyboard mapping
1548 'hkmapp' off no phonetic Hebrew keyboard mapping
1549 'hlsearch' off no highlighting of search matches
1550 'incsearch' off no incremental searching
1551 'indentexpr' "" no indenting by expression
1552 'insertmode' off do not start in Insert mode
1553 'iskeyword' + "@,48-57,_" keywords contain alphanumeric
1555 'joinspaces' on insert 2 spaces after period
1556 'modeline' + off no modelines
1557 'more' + off no pauses in listings
1558 'revins' off no reverse insert
1559 'ruler' off no ruler
1560 'scrolljump' 1 no jump scroll
1561 'scrolloff' 0 no scroll offset
1562 'shiftround' off indent not rounded to shiftwidth
1563 'shortmess' + "" no shortening of messages
1564 'showcmd' + off command characters not shown
1565 'showmode' + off current mode not shown
1566 'smartcase' off no automatic ignore case switch
1567 'smartindent' off no smart indentation
1568 'smarttab' off no smart tab size
1569 'softtabstop' 0 tabs are always 'tabstop' positions
1570 'startofline' on goto startofline with some commands
1571 'tagrelative' + off tag file names are not relative
1572 'textauto' + off no automatic textmode detection
1573 'textwidth' 0 no automatic line wrap
1574 'tildeop' off tilde is not an operator
1575 'ttimeout' off no terminal timeout
1576 'whichwrap' + "" left-right movements don't wrap
1577 'wildchar' + CTRL-E only when the current value is <Tab>
1578 use CTRL-E for cmdline completion
1579 'writebackup' on or off depends on +writebackup feature
1581 *'complete'* *'cpt'* *E535*
1582 'complete' 'cpt' string (default: ".,w,b,u,t,i")
1585 This option specifies how keyword completion |ins-completion| works
1586 when CTRL-P or CTRL-N are used. It is also used for whole-line
1587 completion |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L|. It indicates the type of completion
1588 and the places to scan. It is a comma separated list of flags:
1589 . scan the current buffer ('wrapscan' is ignored)
1590 w scan buffers from other windows
1591 b scan other loaded buffers that are in the buffer list
1592 u scan the unloaded buffers that are in the buffer list
1593 U scan the buffers that are not in the buffer list
1594 k scan the files given with the 'dictionary' option
1595 kspell use the currently active spell checking |spell|
1596 k{dict} scan the file {dict}. Several "k" flags can be given,
1597 patterns are valid too. For example: >
1598 :set cpt=k/usr/dict/*,k~/spanish
1599 < s scan the files given with the 'thesaurus' option
1600 s{tsr} scan the file {tsr}. Several "s" flags can be given, patterns
1602 i scan current and included files
1603 d scan current and included files for defined name or macro
1608 Unloaded buffers are not loaded, thus their autocmds |:autocmd| are
1609 not executed, this may lead to unexpected completions from some files
1610 (gzipped files for example). Unloaded buffers are not scanned for
1611 whole-line completion.
1613 The default is ".,w,b,u,t,i", which means to scan:
1614 1. the current buffer
1615 2. buffers in other windows
1616 3. other loaded buffers
1621 As you can see, CTRL-N and CTRL-P can be used to do any 'iskeyword'-
1622 based expansion (e.g., dictionary |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K|, included patterns
1623 |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-I|, tags |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-]| and normal expansions).
1625 *'completefunc'* *'cfu'*
1626 'completefunc' 'cfu' string (default: empty)
1629 {not available when compiled without the +eval
1630 or +insert_expand feature}
1631 This option specifies a function to be used for Insert mode completion
1632 with CTRL-X CTRL-U. |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-U|
1633 See |complete-functions| for an explanation of how the function is
1634 invoked and what it should return.
1637 *'completeopt'* *'cot'*
1638 'completeopt' 'cot' string (default: "menu,preview")
1640 {not available when compiled without the
1641 |+insert_expand| feature}
1643 A comma separated list of options for Insert mode completion
1644 |ins-completion|. The supported values are:
1646 menu Use a popup menu to show the possible completions. The
1647 menu is only shown when there is more than one match and
1648 sufficient colors are available. |ins-completion-menu|
1650 menuone Use the popup menu also when there is only one match.
1651 Useful when there is additional information about the
1652 match, e.g., what file it comes from.
1654 longest Only insert the longest common text of the matches. If
1655 the menu is displayed you can use CTRL-L to add more
1656 characters. Whether case is ignored depends on the kind
1657 of completion. For buffer text the 'ignorecase' option is
1660 preview Show extra information about the currently selected
1661 completion in the preview window.
1663 *'confirm'* *'cf'* *'noconfirm'* *'nocf'*
1664 'confirm' 'cf' boolean (default off)
1667 When 'confirm' is on, certain operations that would normally
1668 fail because of unsaved changes to a buffer, e.g. ":q" and ":e",
1669 instead raise a |dialog| asking if you wish to save the current
1670 file(s). You can still use a ! to unconditionally |abandon| a buffer.
1671 If 'confirm' is off you can still activate confirmation for one
1672 command only (this is most useful in mappings) with the |:confirm|
1674 Also see the |confirm()| function and the 'v' flag in 'guioptions'.
1676 *'conskey'* *'consk'* *'noconskey'* *'noconsk'*
1677 'conskey' 'consk' boolean (default off)
1679 {not in Vi} {only for MS-DOS}
1680 When on direct console I/O is used to obtain a keyboard character.
1681 This should work in most cases. Also see |'bioskey'|. Together,
1682 three methods of console input are available:
1683 'conskey' 'bioskey' action ~
1684 on on or off direct console input
1688 *'copyindent'* *'ci'* *'nocopyindent'* *'noci'*
1689 'copyindent' 'ci' boolean (default off)
1692 Copy the structure of the existing lines indent when autoindenting a
1693 new line. Normally the new indent is reconstructed by a series of
1694 tabs followed by spaces as required (unless |'expandtab'| is enabled,
1695 in which case only spaces are used). Enabling this option makes the
1696 new line copy whatever characters were used for indenting on the
1697 existing line. If the new indent is greater than on the existing
1698 line, the remaining space is filled in the normal manner.
1699 NOTE: 'copyindent' is reset when 'compatible' is set.
1700 Also see 'preserveindent'.
1702 *'cpoptions'* *'cpo'*
1703 'cpoptions' 'cpo' string (Vim default: "aABceFs",
1704 Vi default: all flags)
1707 A sequence of single character flags. When a character is present
1708 this indicates vi-compatible behavior. This is used for things where
1709 not being vi-compatible is mostly or sometimes preferred.
1710 'cpoptions' stands for "compatible-options".
1711 Commas can be added for readability.
1712 To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the
1713 "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.
1714 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
1715 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
1716 NOTE: This option is set to the POSIX default value at startup when
1717 the Vi default value would be used and the $VIM_POSIX environment
1718 variable exists |posix|. This means tries to behave like the POSIX
1723 a When included, a ":read" command with a file name
1724 argument will set the alternate file name for the
1727 A When included, a ":write" command with a file name
1728 argument will set the alternate file name for the
1731 b "\|" in a ":map" command is recognized as the end of
1732 the map command. The '\' is included in the mapping,
1733 the text after the '|' is interpreted as the next
1734 command. Use a CTRL-V instead of a backslash to
1735 include the '|' in the mapping. Applies to all
1736 mapping, abbreviation, menu and autocmd commands.
1739 B A backslash has no special meaning in mappings,
1740 abbreviations and the "to" part of the menu commands.
1741 Remove this flag to be able to use a backslash like a
1742 CTRL-V. For example, the command ":map X \<Esc>"
1743 results in X being mapped to:
1744 'B' included: "\^[" (^[ is a real <Esc>)
1745 'B' excluded: "<Esc>" (5 characters)
1746 ('<' excluded in both cases)
1748 c Searching continues at the end of any match at the
1749 cursor position, but not further than the start of the
1750 next line. When not present searching continues
1751 one character from the cursor position. With 'c'
1752 "abababababab" only gets three matches when repeating
1753 "/abab", without 'c' there are five matches.
1755 C Do not concatenate sourced lines that start with a
1756 backslash. See |line-continuation|.
1758 d Using "./" in the 'tags' option doesn't mean to use
1759 the tags file relative to the current file, but the
1760 tags file in the current directory.
1762 D Can't use CTRL-K to enter a digraph after Normal mode
1763 commands with a character argument, like |r|, |f| and
1766 e When executing a register with ":@r", always add a
1767 <CR> to the last line, also when the register is not
1768 linewise. If this flag is not present, the register
1769 is not linewise and the last line does not end in a
1770 <CR>, then the last line is put on the command-line
1771 and can be edited before hitting <CR>.
1773 E It is an error when using "y", "d", "c", "g~", "gu" or
1774 "gU" on an Empty region. The operators only work when
1775 at least one character is to be operate on. Example:
1776 This makes "y0" fail in the first column.
1778 f When included, a ":read" command with a file name
1779 argument will set the file name for the current buffer,
1780 if the current buffer doesn't have a file name yet.
1782 F When included, a ":write" command with a file name
1783 argument will set the file name for the current
1784 buffer, if the current buffer doesn't have a file name
1785 yet. Also see |cpo-P|.
1787 g Goto line 1 when using ":edit" without argument.
1789 H When using "I" on a line with only blanks, insert
1790 before the last blank. Without this flag insert after
1793 i When included, interrupting the reading of a file will
1796 I When moving the cursor up or down just after inserting
1797 indent for 'autoindent', do not delete the indent.
1799 j When joining lines, only add two spaces after a '.',
1800 not after '!' or '?'. Also see 'joinspaces'.
1802 J A |sentence| has to be followed by two spaces after
1803 the '.', '!' or '?'. A <Tab> is not recognized as
1806 k Disable the recognition of raw key codes in
1807 mappings, abbreviations, and the "to" part of menu
1808 commands. For example, if <Key> sends ^[OA (where ^[
1809 is <Esc>), the command ":map X ^[OA" results in X
1811 'k' included: "^[OA" (3 characters)
1812 'k' excluded: "<Key>" (one key code)
1813 Also see the '<' flag below.
1815 K Don't wait for a key code to complete when it is
1816 halfway a mapping. This breaks mapping <F1><F1> when
1817 only part of the second <F1> has been read. It
1818 enables cancelling the mapping by typing <F1><Esc>.
1820 l Backslash in a [] range in a search pattern is taken
1821 literally, only "\]", "\^", "\-" and "\\" are special.
1823 'l' included: "/[ \t]" finds <Space>, '\' and 't'
1824 'l' excluded: "/[ \t]" finds <Space> and <Tab>
1827 L When the 'list' option is set, 'wrapmargin',
1828 'textwidth', 'softtabstop' and Virtual Replace mode
1829 (see |gR|) count a <Tab> as two characters, instead of
1830 the normal behavior of a <Tab>.
1832 m When included, a showmatch will always wait half a
1833 second. When not included, a showmatch will wait half
1834 a second or until a character is typed. |'showmatch'|
1836 M When excluded, "%" matching will take backslashes into
1837 account. Thus in "( \( )" and "\( ( \)" the outer
1838 parenthesis match. When included "%" ignores
1839 backslashes, which is Vi compatible.
1841 n When included, the column used for 'number' will also
1842 be used for text of wrapped lines.
1844 o Line offset to search command is not remembered for
1847 O Don't complain if a file is being overwritten, even
1848 when it didn't exist when editing it. This is a
1849 protection against a file unexpectedly created by
1850 someone else. Vi didn't complain about this.
1852 p Vi compatible Lisp indenting. When not present, a
1853 slightly better algorithm is used.
1855 P When included, a ":write" command that appends to a
1856 file will set the file name for the current buffer, if
1857 the current buffer doesn't have a file name yet and
1858 the 'F' flag is also included |cpo-F|.
1860 q When joining multiple lines leave the cursor at the
1861 position where it would be when joining two lines.
1863 r Redo ("." command) uses "/" to repeat a search
1864 command, instead of the actually used search string.
1866 R Remove marks from filtered lines. Without this flag
1867 marks are kept like |:keepmarks| was used.
1869 s Set buffer options when entering the buffer for the
1870 first time. This is like it is in Vim version 3.0.
1871 And it is the default. If not present the options are
1872 set when the buffer is created.
1874 S Set buffer options always when entering a buffer
1875 (except 'readonly', 'fileformat', 'filetype' and
1876 'syntax'). This is the (most) Vi compatible setting.
1877 The options are set to the values in the current
1878 buffer. When you change an option and go to another
1879 buffer, the value is copied. Effectively makes the
1880 buffer options global to all buffers.
1882 's' 'S' copy buffer options
1883 no no when buffer created
1884 yes no when buffer first entered (default)
1885 X yes each time when buffer entered (vi comp.)
1887 t Search pattern for the tag command is remembered for
1888 "n" command. Otherwise Vim only puts the pattern in
1889 the history for search pattern, but doesn't change the
1890 last used search pattern.
1892 u Undo is Vi compatible. See |undo-two-ways|.
1894 v Backspaced characters remain visible on the screen in
1895 Insert mode. Without this flag the characters are
1896 erased from the screen right away. With this flag the
1897 screen newly typed text overwrites backspaced
1900 w When using "cw" on a blank character, only change one
1901 character and not all blanks until the start of the
1904 W Don't overwrite a readonly file. When omitted, ":w!"
1905 overwrites a readonly file, if possible.
1907 x <Esc> on the command-line executes the command-line.
1908 The default in Vim is to abandon the command-line,
1909 because <Esc> normally aborts a command. |c_<Esc>|
1911 X When using a count with "R" the replaced text is
1912 deleted only once. Also when repeating "R" with "."
1915 y A yank command can be redone with ".".
1917 Z When using "w!" while the 'readonly' option is set,
1918 don't reset 'readonly'.
1920 ! When redoing a filter command, use the last used
1921 external command, whatever it was. Otherwise the last
1922 used -filter- command is used.
1924 $ When making a change to one line, don't redisplay the
1925 line, but put a '$' at the end of the changed text.
1926 The changed text will be overwritten when you type the
1927 new text. The line is redisplayed if you type any
1928 command that moves the cursor from the insertion
1931 % Vi-compatible matching is done for the "%" command.
1932 Does not recognize "#if", "#endif", etc.
1933 Does not recognize "/*" and "*/".
1934 Parens inside single and double quotes are also
1935 counted, causing a string that contains a paren to
1936 disturb the matching. For example, in a line like
1937 "if (strcmp("foo(", s))" the first paren does not
1938 match the last one. When this flag is not included,
1939 parens inside single and double quotes are treated
1940 specially. When matching a paren outside of quotes,
1941 everything inside quotes is ignored. When matching a
1942 paren inside quotes, it will find the matching one (if
1943 there is one). This works very well for C programs.
1944 This flag is also used for other features, such as
1947 - When included, a vertical movement command fails when
1948 it would go above the first line or below the last
1949 line. Without it the cursor moves to the first or
1950 last line, unless it already was in that line.
1951 Applies to the commands "-", "k", CTRL-P, "+", "j",
1952 CTRL-N, CTRL-J and ":1234".
1954 + When included, a ":write file" command will reset the
1955 'modified' flag of the buffer, even though the buffer
1956 itself may still be different from its file.
1958 * Use ":*" in the same way as ":@". When not included,
1959 ":*" is an alias for ":'<,'>", select the Visual area.
1961 < Disable the recognition of special key codes in |<>|
1962 form in mappings, abbreviations, and the "to" part of
1963 menu commands. For example, the command
1964 ":map X <Tab>" results in X being mapped to:
1965 '<' included: "<Tab>" (5 characters)
1966 '<' excluded: "^I" (^I is a real <Tab>)
1967 Also see the 'k' flag above.
1969 > When appending to a register, put a line break before
1972 POSIX flags. These are not included in the Vi default value, except
1973 when $VIM_POSIX was set on startup. |posix|
1977 # A count before "D", "o" and "O" has no effect.
1979 & When ":preserve" was used keep the swap file when
1980 exiting normally while this buffer is still loaded.
1981 This flag is tested when exiting.
1983 \ Backslash in a [] range in a search pattern is taken
1984 literally, only "\]" is special See |/[]|
1985 '\' included: "/[ \-]" finds <Space>, '\' and '-'
1986 '\' excluded: "/[ \-]" finds <Space> and '-'
1989 / When "%" is used as the replacement string in a |:s|
1990 command, use the previous replacement string. |:s%|
1992 { The |{| and |}| commands also stop at a "{" character
1993 at the start of a line.
1995 . The ":chdir" and ":cd" commands fail if the current
1996 buffer is modified, unless ! is used. Vim doesn't
1997 need this, since it remembers the full path of an
2000 | The value of the $LINES and $COLUMNS environment
2001 variables overrule the terminal size values obtained
2002 with system specific functions.
2005 *'cscopepathcomp'* *'cspc'*
2006 'cscopepathcomp' 'cspc' number (default 0)
2008 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2011 Determines how many components of the path to show in a list of tags.
2012 See |cscopepathcomp|.
2014 *'cscopeprg'* *'csprg'*
2015 'cscopeprg' 'csprg' string (default "cscope")
2017 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2020 Specifies the command to execute cscope. See |cscopeprg|.
2021 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2024 *'cscopequickfix'* *'csqf'*
2025 'cscopequickfix' 'csqf' string (default "")
2027 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2028 or |+quickfix| features}
2030 Specifies whether to use quickfix window to show cscope results.
2031 See |cscopequickfix|.
2033 *'cscopetag'* *'cst'* *'nocscopetag'* *'nocst'*
2034 'cscopetag' 'cst' boolean (default off)
2036 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2039 Use cscope for tag commands. See |cscope-options|.
2040 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2042 *'cscopetagorder'* *'csto'*
2043 'cscopetagorder' 'csto' number (default 0)
2045 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2048 Determines the order in which ":cstag" performs a search. See
2050 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
2052 *'cscopeverbose'* *'csverb'*
2053 *'nocscopeverbose'* *'nocsverb'*
2054 'cscopeverbose' 'csverb' boolean (default off)
2056 {not available when compiled without the |+cscope|
2059 Give messages when adding a cscope database. See |cscopeverbose|.
2060 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2063 *'cursorcolumn'* *'cuc'* *'nocursorcolumn'* *'nocuc'*
2064 'cursorcolumn' 'cuc' boolean (default off)
2067 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
2069 Highlight the screen column of the cursor with CursorColumn
2070 |hl-CursorColumn|. Useful to align text. Will make screen redrawing
2072 If you only want the highlighting in the current window you can use
2073 these autocommands: >
2074 au WinLeave * set nocursorline nocursorcolumn
2075 au WinEnter * set cursorline cursorcolumn
2078 *'cursorline'* *'cul'* *'nocursorline'* *'nocul'*
2079 'cursorline' 'cul' boolean (default off)
2082 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
2084 Highlight the screen line of the cursor with CursorLine
2085 |hl-CursorLine|. Useful to easily spot the cursor. Will make screen
2087 When Visual mode is active the highlighting isn't used to make it
2088 easier to see the selected text.
2092 'debug' string (default "")
2095 These values can be used:
2096 msg Error messages that would otherwise be omitted will be given
2098 throw Error messages that would otherwise be omitted will be given
2099 anyway and also throw an exception and set |v:errmsg|.
2100 beep A message will be given when otherwise only a beep would be
2102 The values can be combined, separated by a comma.
2103 "msg" and "throw" are useful for debugging 'foldexpr', 'formatexpr' or
2107 'define' 'def' string (default "^\s*#\s*define")
2108 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2110 Pattern to be used to find a macro definition. It is a search
2111 pattern, just like for the "/" command. This option is used for the
2112 commands like "[i" and "[d" |include-search|. The 'isident' option is
2113 used to recognize the defined name after the match:
2114 {match with 'define'}{non-ID chars}{defined name}{non-ID char}
2115 See |option-backslash| about inserting backslashes to include a space
2117 The default value is for C programs. For C++ this value would be
2118 useful, to include const type declarations: >
2119 ^\(#\s*define\|[a-z]*\s*const\s*[a-z]*\)
2120 < When using the ":set" command, you need to double the backslashes!
2122 *'delcombine'* *'deco'* *'nodelcombine'* *'nodeco'*
2123 'delcombine' 'deco' boolean (default off)
2126 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2128 If editing Unicode and this option is set, backspace and Normal mode
2129 "x" delete each combining character on its own. When it is off (the
2130 default) the character along with its combining characters are
2132 Note: When 'delcombine' is set "xx" may work different from "2x"!
2134 This is useful for Arabic, Hebrew and many other languages where one
2135 may have combining characters overtop of base characters, and want
2136 to remove only the combining ones.
2138 *'dictionary'* *'dict'*
2139 'dictionary' 'dict' string (default "")
2140 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2142 List of file names, separated by commas, that are used to lookup words
2143 for keyword completion commands |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K|. Each file should
2144 contain a list of words. This can be one word per line, or several
2145 words per line, separated by non-keyword characters (white space is
2146 preferred). Maximum line length is 510 bytes.
2147 When this option is empty, or an entry "spell" is present, spell
2148 checking is enabled the currently active spelling is used. |spell|
2149 To include a comma in a file name precede it with a backslash. Spaces
2150 after a comma are ignored, otherwise spaces are included in the file
2151 name. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes.
2152 This has nothing to do with the |Dictionary| variable type.
2153 Where to find a list of words?
2154 - On FreeBSD, there is the file "/usr/share/dict/words".
2155 - In the Simtel archive, look in the "msdos/linguist" directory.
2156 - In "miscfiles" of the GNU collection.
2157 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
2158 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
2159 uses another default.
2160 Backticks cannot be used in this option for security reasons.
2163 'diff' boolean (default off)
2166 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
2168 Join the current window in the group of windows that shows differences
2169 between files. See |vimdiff|.
2171 *'dex'* *'diffexpr'*
2172 'diffexpr' 'dex' string (default "")
2175 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
2177 Expression which is evaluated to obtain an ed-style diff file from two
2178 versions of a file. See |diff-diffexpr|.
2179 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2183 'diffopt' 'dip' string (default "filler")
2186 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
2188 Option settings for diff mode. It can consist of the following items.
2189 All are optional. Items must be separated by a comma.
2191 filler Show filler lines, to keep the text
2192 synchronized with a window that has inserted
2193 lines at the same position. Mostly useful
2194 when windows are side-by-side and 'scrollbind'
2197 context:{n} Use a context of {n} lines between a change
2198 and a fold that contains unchanged lines.
2199 When omitted a context of six lines is used.
2202 icase Ignore changes in case of text. "a" and "A"
2203 are considered the same. Adds the "-i" flag
2204 to the "diff" command if 'diffexpr' is empty.
2206 iwhite Ignore changes in amount of white space. Adds
2207 the "-b" flag to the "diff" command if
2208 'diffexpr' is empty. Check the documentation
2209 of the "diff" command for what this does
2210 exactly. It should ignore adding trailing
2211 white space, but not leading white space.
2213 horizontal Start diff mode with horizontal splits (unless
2214 explicitly specified otherwise).
2216 vertical Start diff mode with vertical splits (unless
2217 explicitly specified otherwise).
2219 foldcolumn:{n} Set the 'foldcolumn' option to {n} when
2220 starting diff mode. Without this 2 is used.
2224 :set diffopt=filler,context:4
2226 :set diffopt=filler,foldcolumn:3
2228 *'digraph'* *'dg'* *'nodigraph'* *'nodg'*
2229 'digraph' 'dg' boolean (default off)
2232 {not available when compiled without the |+digraphs|
2234 Enable the entering of digraphs in Insert mode with {char1} <BS>
2235 {char2}. See |digraphs|.
2236 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2238 *'directory'* *'dir'*
2239 'directory' 'dir' string (default for Amiga: ".,t:",
2240 for MS-DOS and Win32: ".,c:\tmp,c:\temp"
2241 for Unix: ".,~/tmp,/var/tmp,/tmp")
2243 List of directory names for the swap file, separated with commas.
2244 - The swap file will be created in the first directory where this is
2246 - Empty means that no swap file will be used (recovery is
2248 - A directory "." means to put the swap file in the same directory as
2249 the edited file. On Unix, a dot is prepended to the file name, so
2250 it doesn't show in a directory listing. On MS-Windows the "hidden"
2251 attribute is set and a dot prepended if possible.
2252 - A directory starting with "./" (or ".\" for MS-DOS et al.) means to
2253 put the swap file relative to where the edited file is. The leading
2254 "." is replaced with the path name of the edited file.
2255 - For Unix and Win32, if a directory ends in two path separators "//"
2256 or "\\", the swap file name will be built from the complete path to
2257 the file with all path separators substituted to percent '%' signs.
2258 This will ensure file name uniqueness in the preserve directory.
2259 - Spaces after the comma are ignored, other spaces are considered part
2260 of the directory name. To have a space at the start of a directory
2261 name, precede it with a backslash.
2262 - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with a backslash.
2263 - A directory name may end in an ':' or '/'.
2264 - Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
2265 - Careful with '\' characters, type one before a space, type two to
2266 get one in the option (see |option-backslash|), for example: >
2267 :set dir=c:\\tmp,\ dir\\,with\\,commas,\\\ dir\ with\ spaces
2268 < - For backwards compatibility with Vim version 3.0 a '>' at the start
2269 of the option is removed.
2270 Using "." first in the list is recommended. This means that editing
2271 the same file twice will result in a warning. Using "/tmp" on Unix is
2272 discouraged: When the system crashes you lose the swap file.
2273 "/var/tmp" is often not cleared when rebooting, thus is a better
2274 choice than "/tmp". But it can contain a lot of files, your swap
2275 files get lost in the crowd. That is why a "tmp" directory in your
2276 home directory is tried first.
2277 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
2278 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
2279 uses another default.
2280 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2282 {Vi: directory to put temp file in, defaults to "/tmp"}
2285 'display' 'dy' string (default "")
2288 Change the way text is displayed. This is comma separated list of
2290 lastline When included, as much as possible of the last line
2291 in a window will be displayed. When not included, a
2292 last line that doesn't fit is replaced with "@" lines.
2293 uhex Show unprintable characters hexadecimal as <xx>
2294 instead of using ^C and ~C.
2296 *'eadirection'* *'ead'*
2297 'eadirection' 'ead' string (default "both")
2300 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
2302 Tells when the 'equalalways' option applies:
2303 ver vertically, width of windows is not affected
2304 hor horizontally, height of windows is not affected
2305 both width and height of windows is affected
2307 *'ed'* *'edcompatible'* *'noed'* *'noedcompatible'*
2308 'edcompatible' 'ed' boolean (default off)
2310 Makes the 'g' and 'c' flags of the ":substitute" command to be
2311 toggled each time the flag is given. See |complex-change|. See
2312 also 'gdefault' option.
2313 Switching this option on is discouraged!
2315 *'encoding'* *'enc'* *E543*
2316 'encoding' 'enc' string (default: "latin1" or value from $LANG)
2318 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2321 Sets the character encoding used inside Vim. It applies to text in
2322 the buffers, registers, Strings in expressions, text stored in the
2323 viminfo file, etc. It sets the kind of characters which Vim can work
2324 with. See |encoding-names| for the possible values.
2326 NOTE: Changing this option will not change the encoding of the
2327 existing text in Vim. It may cause non-ASCII text to become invalid.
2328 It should normally be kept at its default value, or set when Vim
2329 starts up. See |multibyte|.
2331 NOTE: For GTK+ 2 it is highly recommended to set 'encoding' to
2332 "utf-8". Although care has been taken to allow different values of
2333 'encoding', "utf-8" is the natural choice for the environment and
2334 avoids unnecessary conversion overhead. "utf-8" has not been made
2335 the default to prevent different behavior of the GUI and terminal
2336 versions, and to avoid changing the encoding of newly created files
2337 without your knowledge (in case 'fileencodings' is empty).
2339 The character encoding of files can be different from 'encoding'.
2340 This is specified with 'fileencoding'. The conversion is done with
2341 iconv() or as specified with 'charconvert'.
2343 Normally 'encoding' will be equal to your current locale. This will
2344 be the default if Vim recognizes your environment settings. If
2345 'encoding' is not set to the current locale, 'termencoding' must be
2346 set to convert typed and displayed text. See |encoding-table|.
2348 When you set this option, it fires the |EncodingChanged| autocommand
2349 event so that you can set up fonts if necessary.
2351 When the option is set, the value is converted to lowercase. Thus
2352 you can set it with uppercase values too. Underscores are translated
2354 When the encoding is recognized, it is changed to the standard name.
2355 For example "Latin-1" becomes "latin1", "ISO_88592" becomes
2356 "iso-8859-2" and "utf8" becomes "utf-8".
2358 Note: "latin1" is also used when the encoding could not be detected.
2359 This only works when editing files in the same encoding! When the
2360 actual character set is not latin1, make sure 'fileencoding' and
2361 'fileencodings' are empty. When conversion is needed, switch to using
2364 When "unicode", "ucs-2" or "ucs-4" is used, Vim internally uses utf-8.
2365 You don't notice this while editing, but it does matter for the
2366 |viminfo-file|. And Vim expects the terminal to use utf-8 too. Thus
2367 setting 'encoding' to one of these values instead of utf-8 only has
2368 effect for encoding used for files when 'fileencoding' is empty.
2370 When 'encoding' is set to a Unicode encoding, and 'fileencodings' was
2371 not set yet, the default for 'fileencodings' is changed.
2373 *'endofline'* *'eol'* *'noendofline'* *'noeol'*
2374 'endofline' 'eol' boolean (default on)
2377 When writing a file and this option is off and the 'binary' option
2378 is on, no <EOL> will be written for the last line in the file. This
2379 option is automatically set when starting to edit a new file, unless
2380 the file does not have an <EOL> for the last line in the file, in
2381 which case it is reset. Normally you don't have to set or reset this
2382 option. When 'binary' is off the value is not used when writing the
2383 file. When 'binary' is on it is used to remember the presence of a
2384 <EOL> for the last line in the file, so that when you write the file
2385 the situation from the original file can be kept. But you can change
2388 *'equalalways'* *'ea'* *'noequalalways'* *'noea'*
2389 'equalalways' 'ea' boolean (default on)
2392 When on, all the windows are automatically made the same size after
2393 splitting or closing a window. This also happens the moment the
2394 option is switched on. When off, splitting a window will reduce the
2395 size of the current window and leave the other windows the same. When
2396 closing a window the extra lines are given to the window next to it
2397 (depending on 'splitbelow' and 'splitright').
2398 When mixing vertically and horizontally split windows, a minimal size
2399 is computed and some windows may be larger if there is room. The
2400 'eadirection' option tells in which direction the size is affected.
2401 Changing the height of a window can be avoided by setting
2405 'equalprg' 'ep' string (default "")
2406 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2408 External program to use for "=" command. When this option is empty
2409 the internal formatting functions are used ('lisp', 'cindent' or
2411 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash|
2412 about including spaces and backslashes.
2413 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2416 *'errorbells'* *'eb'* *'noerrorbells'* *'noeb'*
2417 'errorbells' 'eb' boolean (default off)
2419 Ring the bell (beep or screen flash) for error messages. This only
2420 makes a difference for error messages, the bell will be used always
2421 for a lot of errors without a message (e.g., hitting <Esc> in Normal
2422 mode). See 'visualbell' on how to make the bell behave like a beep,
2423 screen flash or do nothing.
2425 *'errorfile'* *'ef'*
2426 'errorfile' 'ef' string (Amiga default: "AztecC.Err",
2427 others: "errors.err")
2430 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
2432 Name of the errorfile for the QuickFix mode (see |:cf|).
2433 When the "-q" command-line argument is used, 'errorfile' is set to the
2434 following argument. See |-q|.
2435 NOT used for the ":make" command. See 'makeef' for that.
2436 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
2437 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
2438 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2441 *'errorformat'* *'efm'*
2442 'errorformat' 'efm' string (default is very long)
2443 global or local to buffer |global-local|
2445 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
2447 Scanf-like description of the format for the lines in the error file
2448 (see |errorformat|).
2450 *'esckeys'* *'ek'* *'noesckeys'* *'noek'*
2451 'esckeys' 'ek' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
2454 Function keys that start with an <Esc> are recognized in Insert
2455 mode. When this option is off, the cursor and function keys cannot be
2456 used in Insert mode if they start with an <Esc>. The advantage of
2457 this is that the single <Esc> is recognized immediately, instead of
2458 after one second. Instead of resetting this option, you might want to
2459 try changing the values for 'timeoutlen' and 'ttimeoutlen'. Note that
2460 when 'esckeys' is off, you can still map anything, but the cursor keys
2461 won't work by default.
2462 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
2463 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
2465 *'eventignore'* *'ei'*
2466 'eventignore' 'ei' string (default "")
2469 {not available when compiled without the |+autocmd|
2471 A list of autocommand event names, which are to be ignored.
2472 When set to "all" or when "all" is one of the items, all autocommand
2473 events are ignored, autocommands will not be executed.
2474 Otherwise this is a comma separated list of event names. Example: >
2475 :set ei=WinEnter,WinLeave
2477 *'expandtab'* *'et'* *'noexpandtab'* *'noet'*
2478 'expandtab' 'et' boolean (default off)
2481 In Insert mode: Use the appropriate number of spaces to insert a
2482 <Tab>. Spaces are used in indents with the '>' and '<' commands and
2483 when 'autoindent' is on. To insert a real tab when 'expandtab' is
2484 on, use CTRL-V<Tab>. See also |:retab| and |ins-expandtab|.
2485 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
2487 *'exrc'* *'ex'* *'noexrc'* *'noex'*
2488 'exrc' 'ex' boolean (default off)
2491 Enables the reading of .vimrc, .exrc and .gvimrc in the current
2492 directory. If you switch this option on you should also consider
2493 setting the 'secure' option (see |initialization|). Using a local
2494 .exrc, .vimrc or .gvimrc is a potential security leak, use with care!
2495 also see |.vimrc| and |gui-init|.
2496 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
2499 *'fileencoding'* *'fenc'* *E213*
2500 'fileencoding' 'fenc' string (default: "")
2502 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2505 Sets the character encoding for the file of this buffer.
2506 When 'fileencoding' is different from 'encoding', conversion will be
2507 done when reading and writing the file.
2508 When 'fileencoding' is empty, the same value as 'encoding' will be
2509 used (no conversion when reading or writing a file).
2510 WARNING: Conversion can cause loss of information! When
2511 'encoding' is "utf-8" conversion is most likely done in a way
2512 that the reverse conversion results in the same text. When
2513 'encoding' is not "utf-8" some characters may be lost!
2514 See 'encoding' for the possible values. Additionally, values may be
2515 specified that can be handled by the converter, see
2517 When reading a file 'fileencoding' will be set from 'fileencodings'.
2518 To read a file in a certain encoding it won't work by setting
2519 'fileencoding', use the |++enc| argument.
2520 For a new file the global value of 'fileencoding' is used.
2521 Prepending "8bit-" and "2byte-" has no meaning here, they are ignored.
2522 When the option is set, the value is converted to lowercase. Thus
2523 you can set it with uppercase values too. '_' characters are
2524 replaced with '-'. If a name is recognized from the list for
2525 'encoding', it is replaced by the standard name. For example
2526 "ISO8859-2" becomes "iso-8859-2".
2527 When this option is set, after starting to edit a file, the 'modified'
2528 option is set, because the file would be different when written.
2529 If you do this in a modeline, you might want to set 'nomodified' to
2531 This option can not be changed when 'modifiable' is off.
2534 NOTE: Before version 6.0 this option specified the encoding for the
2535 whole of Vim, this was a mistake. Now use 'encoding' instead. The
2536 old short name was 'fe', which is no longer used.
2538 *'fileencodings'* *'fencs'*
2539 'fileencodings' 'fencs' string (default: "ucs-bom",
2540 "ucs-bom,utf-8,default,latin1" when
2541 'encoding' is set to a Unicode value)
2543 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
2546 This is a list of character encodings considered when starting to edit
2547 an existing file. When a file is read, Vim tries to use the first
2548 mentioned character encoding. If an error is detected, the next one
2549 in the list is tried. When an encoding is found that works,
2550 'fileencoding' is set to it. If all fail, 'fileencoding' is set to
2551 an empty string, which means the value of 'encoding' is used.
2552 WARNING: Conversion can cause loss of information! When
2553 'encoding' is "utf-8" (or one of the other Unicode variants)
2554 conversion is most likely done in a way that the reverse
2555 conversion results in the same text. When 'encoding' is not
2556 "utf-8" some non-ASCII characters may be lost! You can use
2557 the |++bad| argument to specify what is done with characters
2558 that can't be converted.
2559 For an empty file or a file with only ASCII characters most encodings
2560 will work and the first entry of 'fileencodings' will be used (except
2561 "ucs-bom", which requires the BOM to be present). If you prefer
2562 another encoding use an BufReadPost autocommand event to test if your
2563 preferred encoding is to be used. Example: >
2564 au BufReadPost * if search('\S', 'w') == 0 |
2565 \ set fenc=iso-2022-jp | endif
2566 < This sets 'fileencoding' to "iso-2022-jp" if the file does not contain
2567 non-blank characters.
2568 When the |++enc| argument is used then the value of 'fileencodings' is
2570 Note that 'fileencodings' is not used for a new file, the global value
2571 of 'fileencoding' is used instead. You can set it with: >
2572 :setglobal fenc=iso-8859-2
2573 < This means that a non-existing file may get a different encoding than
2575 The special value "ucs-bom" can be used to check for a Unicode BOM
2576 (Byte Order Mark) at the start of the file. It must not be preceded
2577 by "utf-8" or another Unicode encoding for this to work properly.
2578 An entry for an 8-bit encoding (e.g., "latin1") should be the last,
2579 because Vim cannot detect an error, thus the encoding is always
2581 The special value "default" can be used for the encoding from the
2582 environment. This is the default value for 'encoding'. It is useful
2583 when 'encoding' is set to "utf-8" and your environment uses a
2584 non-latin1 encoding, such as Russian.
2585 When 'encoding' is "utf-8" and a file contains an illegal byte
2586 sequence it won't be recognized as UTF-8. You can use the |8g8|
2587 command to find the illegal byte sequence.
2588 WRONG VALUES: WHAT'S WRONG:
2589 latin1,utf-8 "latin1" will always be used
2590 utf-8,ucs-bom,latin1 BOM won't be recognized in an utf-8
2592 cp1250,latin1 "cp1250" will always be used
2593 If 'fileencodings' is empty, 'fileencoding' is not modified.
2594 See 'fileencoding' for the possible values.
2595 Setting this option does not have an effect until the next time a file
2598 *'fileformat'* *'ff'*
2599 'fileformat' 'ff' string (MS-DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2 default: "dos",
2600 Unix default: "unix",
2601 Macintosh default: "mac")
2604 This gives the <EOL> of the current buffer, which is used for
2605 reading/writing the buffer from/to a file:
2609 When "dos" is used, CTRL-Z at the end of a file is ignored.
2610 See |file-formats| and |file-read|.
2611 For the character encoding of the file see 'fileencoding'.
2612 When 'binary' is set, the value of 'fileformat' is ignored, file I/O
2613 works like it was set to "unix'.
2614 This option is set automatically when starting to edit a file and
2615 'fileformats' is not empty and 'binary' is off.
2616 When this option is set, after starting to edit a file, the 'modified'
2617 option is set, because the file would be different when written.
2618 This option can not be changed when 'modifiable' is off.
2619 For backwards compatibility: When this option is set to "dos",
2620 'textmode' is set, otherwise 'textmode' is reset.
2622 *'fileformats'* *'ffs'*
2623 'fileformats' 'ffs' string (default:
2624 Vim+Vi MS-DOS, MS-Windows OS/2: "dos,unix",
2625 Vim Unix: "unix,dos",
2626 Vim Mac: "mac,unix,dos",
2627 Vi Cygwin: "unix,dos",
2631 This gives the end-of-line (<EOL>) formats that will be tried when
2632 starting to edit a new buffer and when reading a file into an existing
2634 - When empty, the format defined with 'fileformat' will be used
2635 always. It is not set automatically.
2636 - When set to one name, that format will be used whenever a new buffer
2637 is opened. 'fileformat' is set accordingly for that buffer. The
2638 'fileformats' name will be used when a file is read into an existing
2639 buffer, no matter what 'fileformat' for that buffer is set to.
2640 - When more than one name is present, separated by commas, automatic
2641 <EOL> detection will be done when reading a file. When starting to
2642 edit a file, a check is done for the <EOL>:
2643 1. If all lines end in <CR><NL>, and 'fileformats' includes "dos",
2644 'fileformat' is set to "dos".
2645 2. If a <NL> is found and 'fileformats' includes "unix", 'fileformat'
2646 is set to "unix". Note that when a <NL> is found without a
2647 preceding <CR>, "unix" is preferred over "dos".
2648 3. If 'fileformats' includes "mac", 'fileformat' is set to "mac".
2649 This means that "mac" is only chosen when "unix" is not present,
2650 or when no <NL> is found in the file, and when "dos" is not
2651 present, or no <CR><NL> is present in the file.
2652 Also if "unix" was first chosen, but the first <CR> is before
2653 the first <NL> and there appears to be more <CR>'s than <NL>'s in
2654 the file, then 'fileformat' is set to "mac".
2655 4. If 'fileformat' is still not set, the first name from
2656 'fileformats' is used.
2657 When reading a file into an existing buffer, the same is done, but
2658 this happens like 'fileformat' has been set appropriately for that
2659 file only, the option is not changed.
2660 When 'binary' is set, the value of 'fileformats' is not used.
2662 For systems with a Dos-like <EOL> (<CR><NL>), when reading files that
2663 are ":source"ed and for vimrc files, automatic <EOL> detection may be
2665 - When 'fileformats' is empty, there is no automatic detection. Dos
2666 format will be used.
2667 - When 'fileformats' is set to one or more names, automatic detection
2668 is done. This is based on the first <NL> in the file: If there is a
2669 <CR> in front of it, Dos format is used, otherwise Unix format is
2671 Also see |file-formats|.
2672 For backwards compatibility: When this option is set to an empty
2673 string or one format (no comma is included), 'textauto' is reset,
2674 otherwise 'textauto' is set.
2675 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
2676 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
2679 'filetype' 'ft' string (default: "")
2682 {not available when compiled without the |+autocmd|
2684 When this option is set, the FileType autocommand event is triggered.
2685 All autocommands that match with the value of this option will be
2686 executed. Thus the value of 'filetype' is used in place of the file
2688 Otherwise this option does not always reflect the current file type.
2689 This option is normally set when the file type is detected. To enable
2690 this use the ":filetype on" command. |:filetype|
2691 Setting this option to a different value is most useful in a modeline,
2692 for a file for which the file type is not automatically recognized.
2693 Example, for in an IDL file:
2694 /* vim: set filetype=idl : */ ~
2695 |FileType| |filetypes|
2696 When a dot appears in the value then this separates two filetype
2698 /* vim: set filetype=c.doxygen : */ ~
2699 This will use the "c" filetype first, then the "doxygen" filetype.
2700 This works both for filetype plugins and for syntax files. More than
2702 Do not confuse this option with 'osfiletype', which is for the file
2703 type that is actually stored with the file.
2704 This option is not copied to another buffer, independent of the 's' or
2705 'S' flag in 'cpoptions'.
2706 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
2708 *'fillchars'* *'fcs'*
2709 'fillchars' 'fcs' string (default "vert:|,fold:-")
2712 {not available when compiled without the |+windows|
2713 and |+folding| features}
2714 Characters to fill the statuslines and vertical separators.
2715 It is a comma separated list of items:
2717 item default Used for ~
2718 stl:c ' ' or '^' statusline of the current window
2719 stlnc:c ' ' or '-' statusline of the non-current windows
2720 vert:c '|' vertical separators |:vsplit|
2721 fold:c '-' filling 'foldtext'
2722 diff:c '-' deleted lines of the 'diff' option
2724 Any one that is omitted will fall back to the default. For "stl" and
2725 "stlnc" the space will be used when there is highlighting, '^' or '-'
2729 :set fillchars=stl:^,stlnc:-,vert:\|,fold:-,diff:-
2730 < This is similar to the default, except that these characters will also
2731 be used when there is highlighting.
2733 for "stl" and "stlnc" only single-byte values are supported.
2735 The highlighting used for these items:
2736 item highlight group ~
2737 stl:c StatusLine |hl-StatusLine|
2738 stlnc:c StatusLineNC |hl-StatusLineNC|
2739 vert:c VertSplit |hl-VertSplit|
2740 fold:c Folded |hl-Folded|
2741 diff:c DiffDelete |hl-DiffDelete|
2743 *'fkmap'* *'fk'* *'nofkmap'* *'nofk'*
2744 'fkmap' 'fk' boolean (default off) *E198*
2747 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
2749 When on, the keyboard is mapped for the Farsi character set.
2750 Normally you would set 'allowrevins' and use CTRL-_ in insert mode to
2751 toggle this option |i_CTRL-_|. See |farsi.txt|.
2753 *'foldclose'* *'fcl'*
2754 'foldclose' 'fcl' string (default "")
2757 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2759 When set to "all", a fold is closed when the cursor isn't in it and
2760 its level is higher than 'foldlevel'. Useful if you want folds to
2761 automatically close when moving out of them.
2763 *'foldcolumn'* *'fdc'*
2764 'foldcolumn' 'fdc' number (default 0)
2767 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2769 When non-zero, a column with the specified width is shown at the side
2770 of the window which indicates open and closed folds. The maximum
2774 *'foldenable'* *'fen'* *'nofoldenable'* *'nofen'*
2775 'foldenable' 'fen' boolean (default on)
2778 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2780 When off, all folds are open. This option can be used to quickly
2781 switch between showing all text unfolded and viewing the text with
2782 folds (including manually opened or closed folds). It can be toggled
2783 with the |zi| command. The 'foldcolumn' will remain blank when
2784 'foldenable' is off.
2785 This option is set by commands that create a new fold or close a fold.
2788 *'foldexpr'* *'fde'*
2789 'foldexpr' 'fde' string (default: "0")
2792 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2794 The expression used for when 'foldmethod' is "expr". It is evaluated
2795 for each line to obtain its fold level. See |fold-expr|.
2797 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
2800 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
2801 evaluating 'foldexpr' |textlock|.
2803 *'foldignore'* *'fdi'*
2804 'foldignore' 'fdi' string (default: "#")
2807 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2809 Used only when 'foldmethod' is "indent". Lines starting with
2810 characters in 'foldignore' will get their fold level from surrounding
2811 lines. White space is skipped before checking for this character.
2812 The default "#" works well for C programs. See |fold-indent|.
2814 *'foldlevel'* *'fdl'*
2815 'foldlevel' 'fdl' number (default: 0)
2818 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2820 Sets the fold level: Folds with a higher level will be closed.
2821 Setting this option to zero will close all folds. Higher numbers will
2823 This option is set by commands like |zm|, |zM| and |zR|.
2824 See |fold-foldlevel|.
2826 *'foldlevelstart'* *'fdls'*
2827 'foldlevelstart' 'fdls' number (default: -1)
2830 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2832 Sets 'foldlevel' when starting to edit another buffer in a window.
2833 Useful to always start editing with all folds closed (value zero),
2834 some folds closed (one) or no folds closed (99).
2835 This is done before reading any modeline, thus a setting in a modeline
2836 overrules this option. Starting to edit a file for |diff-mode| also
2837 ignores this option and closes all folds.
2838 It is also done before BufReadPre autocommands, to allow an autocmd to
2839 overrule the 'foldlevel' value for specific files.
2840 When the value is negative, it is not used.
2842 *'foldmarker'* *'fmr'* *E536*
2843 'foldmarker' 'fmr' string (default: "{{{,}}}")
2846 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2848 The start and end marker used when 'foldmethod' is "marker". There
2849 must be one comma, which separates the start and end marker. The
2850 marker is a literal string (a regular expression would be too slow).
2853 *'foldmethod'* *'fdm'*
2854 'foldmethod' 'fdm' string (default: "manual")
2857 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2859 The kind of folding used for the current window. Possible values:
2860 |fold-manual| manual Folds are created manually.
2861 |fold-indent| indent Lines with equal indent form a fold.
2862 |fold-expr| expr 'foldexpr' gives the fold level of a line.
2863 |fold-marker| marker Markers are used to specify folds.
2864 |fold-syntax| syntax Syntax highlighting items specify folds.
2865 |fold-diff| diff Fold text that is not changed.
2867 *'foldminlines'* *'fml'*
2868 'foldminlines' 'fml' number (default: 1)
2871 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2873 Sets the minimum number of screen lines for a fold to be displayed
2874 closed. Also for manually closed folds.
2875 Note that this only has an effect of what is displayed. After using
2876 "zc" to close a fold, which is displayed open because it's smaller
2877 than 'foldminlines', a following "zc" may close a containing fold.
2879 *'foldnestmax'* *'fdn'*
2880 'foldnestmax' 'fdn' number (default: 20)
2883 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2885 Sets the maximum nesting of folds for the "indent" and "syntax"
2886 methods. This avoids that too many folds will be created. Using more
2887 than 20 doesn't work, because the internal limit is 20.
2889 *'foldopen'* *'fdo'*
2890 'foldopen' 'fdo' string (default: "block,hor,mark,percent,quickfix,
2894 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2896 Specifies for which type of commands folds will be opened, if the
2897 command moves the cursor into a closed fold. It is a comma separated
2901 block "(", "{", "[[", "[{", etc.
2902 hor horizontal movements: "l", "w", "fx", etc.
2903 insert any command in Insert mode
2904 jump far jumps: "G", "gg", etc.
2905 mark jumping to a mark: "'m", CTRL-O, etc.
2907 quickfix ":cn", ":crew", ":make", etc.
2908 search search for a pattern: "/", "n", "*", "gd", etc.
2909 (not for a search pattern in a ":" command)
2910 Also for |[s| and |]s|.
2911 tag jumping to a tag: ":ta", CTRL-T, etc.
2912 undo undo or redo: "u" and CTRL-R
2913 When the command is part of a mapping this option is not used. Add
2914 the |zv| command to the mapping to get the same effect.
2915 When a movement command is used for an operator (e.g., "dl" or "y%")
2916 this option is not used. This means the operator will include the
2918 Note that vertical movements are not here, because it would make it
2919 very difficult to move onto a closed fold.
2920 In insert mode the folds containing the cursor will always be open
2921 when text is inserted.
2922 To close folds you can re-apply 'foldlevel' with the |zx| command or
2923 set the 'foldclose' option to "all".
2925 *'foldtext'* *'fdt'*
2926 'foldtext' 'fdt' string (default: "foldtext()")
2929 {not available when compiled without the |+folding|
2931 An expression which is used to specify the text displayed for a closed
2932 fold. See |fold-foldtext|.
2934 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
2937 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
2938 evaluating 'foldtext' |textlock|.
2940 *'formatoptions'* *'fo'*
2941 'formatoptions' 'fo' string (Vim default: "tcq", Vi default: "vt")
2944 This is a sequence of letters which describes how automatic
2945 formatting is to be done. See |fo-table|. When the 'paste' option is
2946 on, no formatting is done (like 'formatoptions' is empty). Commas can
2947 be inserted for readability.
2948 To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the
2949 "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.
2950 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
2951 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
2953 *'formatlistpat'* *'flp'*
2954 'formatlistpat' 'flp' string (default: "^\s*\d\+[\]:.)}\t ]\s*")
2957 A pattern that is used to recognize a list header. This is used for
2958 the "n" flag in 'formatoptions'.
2959 The pattern must match exactly the text that will be the indent for
2960 the line below it. You can use |/\ze| to mark the end of the match
2961 while still checking more characters. There must be a character
2962 following the pattern, when it matches the whole line it is handled
2963 like there is no match.
2964 The default recognizes a number, followed by an optional punctuation
2965 character and white space.
2967 *'formatprg'* *'fp'*
2968 'formatprg' 'fp' string (default "")
2971 The name of an external program that will be used to format the lines
2972 selected with the |gq| operator. The program must take the input on
2973 stdin and produce the output on stdout. The Unix program "fmt" is
2975 If the 'formatexpr' option is not empty it will be used instead.
2976 Otherwise, if 'formatprg' option is an empty string, the internal
2977 format function will be used |C-indenting|.
2978 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash|
2979 about including spaces and backslashes.
2980 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
2983 *'formatexpr'* *'fex'*
2984 'formatexpr' 'fex' string (default "")
2987 {not available when compiled without the |+eval|
2989 Expression which is evaluated to format a range of lines for the |gq|
2990 operator. When this option is empty 'formatprg' is used.
2992 The |v:lnum| variable holds the first line to be formatted.
2993 The |v:count| variable holds the number of lines to be formatted.
2994 The |v:char| variable holds the character that is going to be
2995 inserted. This can be empty. Don't insert it yet!
2998 :set formatexpr=mylang#Format()
2999 < This will invoke the mylang#Format() function in the
3000 autoload/mylang.vim file in 'runtimepath'. |autoload|
3002 The expression is also evaluated when 'textwidth' is set and adding
3003 text beyond that limit. This happens under the same conditions as
3004 when internal formatting is used. Make sure the cursor is kept in the
3005 same spot relative to the text then! The |mode()| function will
3006 return "i" or "R" in this situation. When the function returns
3007 non-zero Vim will fall back to using the internal format mechanism.
3009 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3013 'fsync' 'fs' boolean (default on)
3016 When on, the library function fsync() will be called after writing a
3017 file. This will flush a file to disk, ensuring that it is safely
3018 written even on filesystems which do metadata-only journaling. This
3019 will force the harddrive to spin up on Linux systems running in laptop
3020 mode, so it may be undesirable in some situations. Be warned that
3021 turning this off increases the chances of data loss after a crash. On
3022 systems without an fsync() implementation, this variable is always
3024 Also see 'swapsync' for controlling fsync() on swap files.
3026 *'gdefault'* *'gd'* *'nogdefault'* *'nogd'*
3027 'gdefault' 'gd' boolean (default off)
3030 When on, the ":substitute" flag 'g' is default on. This means that
3031 all matches in a line are substituted instead of one. When a 'g' flag
3032 is given to a ":substitute" command, this will toggle the substitution
3033 of all or one match. See |complex-change|.
3035 command 'gdefault' on 'gdefault' off ~
3036 :s/// subst. all subst. one
3037 :s///g subst. one subst. all
3038 :s///gg subst. all subst. one
3040 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3042 *'grepformat'* *'gfm'*
3043 'grepformat' 'gfm' string (default "%f:%l%m,%f %l%m")
3046 Format to recognize for the ":grep" command output.
3047 This is a scanf-like string that uses the same format as the
3048 'errorformat' option: see |errorformat|.
3051 'grepprg' 'gp' string (default "grep -n ",
3052 Unix: "grep -n $* /dev/null",
3053 Win32: "findstr /n" or "grep -n",
3054 VMS: "SEARCH/NUMBERS ")
3055 global or local to buffer |global-local|
3057 Program to use for the |:grep| command. This option may contain '%'
3058 and '#' characters, which are expanded like when used in a command-
3059 line. The placeholder "$*" is allowed to specify where the arguments
3060 will be included. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See
3061 |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
3062 When your "grep" accepts the "-H" argument, use this to make ":grep"
3063 also work well with a single file: >
3064 :set grepprg=grep\ -nH
3065 < Special value: When 'grepprg' is set to "internal" the |:grep| command
3066 works like |:vimgrep|, |:lgrep| like |:lvimgrep|, |:grepadd| like
3067 |:vimgrepadd| and |:lgrepadd| like |:lvimgrepadd|.
3068 See also the section |:make_makeprg|, since most of the comments there
3069 apply equally to 'grepprg'.
3070 For Win32, the default is "findstr /n" if "findstr.exe" can be found,
3071 otherwise it's "grep -n".
3072 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
3075 *'guicursor'* *'gcr'* *E545* *E546* *E548* *E549*
3076 'guicursor' 'gcr' string (default "n-v-c:block-Cursor/lCursor,
3079 i-ci:ver25-Cursor/lCursor,
3080 r-cr:hor20-Cursor/lCursor,
3082 -blinkwait175-blinkoff150-blinkon175",
3083 for MS-DOS and Win32 console:
3084 "n-v-c:block,o:hor50,i-ci:hor15,
3085 r-cr:hor30,sm:block")
3088 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled, and
3089 for MS-DOS and Win32 console}
3090 This option tells Vim what the cursor should look like in different
3091 modes. It fully works in the GUI. In an MSDOS or Win32 console, only
3092 the height of the cursor can be changed. This can be done by
3093 specifying a block cursor, or a percentage for a vertical or
3095 For a console the 't_SI' and 't_EI' escape sequences are used.
3097 The option is a comma separated list of parts. Each part consist of a
3098 mode-list and an argument-list:
3099 mode-list:argument-list,mode-list:argument-list,..
3100 The mode-list is a dash separated list of these modes:
3103 ve Visual mode with 'selection' "exclusive" (same as 'v',
3105 o Operator-pending mode
3108 c Command-line Normal (append) mode
3109 ci Command-line Insert mode
3110 cr Command-line Replace mode
3111 sm showmatch in Insert mode
3113 The argument-list is a dash separated list of these arguments:
3114 hor{N} horizontal bar, {N} percent of the character height
3115 ver{N} vertical bar, {N} percent of the character width
3116 block block cursor, fills the whole character
3117 [only one of the above three should be present]
3118 blinkwait{N} *cursor-blinking*
3121 blink times for cursor: blinkwait is the delay before
3122 the cursor starts blinking, blinkon is the time that
3123 the cursor is shown and blinkoff is the time that the
3124 cursor is not shown. The times are in msec. When one
3125 of the numbers is zero, there is no blinking. The
3126 default is: "blinkwait700-blinkon400-blinkoff250".
3127 These numbers are used for a missing entry. This
3128 means that blinking is enabled by default. To switch
3129 blinking off you can use "blinkon0". The cursor only
3130 blinks when Vim is waiting for input, not while
3131 executing a command.
3132 To make the cursor blink in an xterm, see
3135 a highlight group name, that sets the color and font
3137 {group-name}/{group-name}
3138 Two highlight group names, the first is used when
3139 no language mappings are used, the other when they
3140 are. |language-mapping|
3143 n-c-v:block-nCursor in Normal, Command-line and Visual mode, use a
3144 block cursor with colors from the "nCursor"
3146 i-ci:ver30-iCursor-blinkwait300-blinkon200-blinkoff150
3147 In Insert and Command-line Insert mode, use a
3148 30% vertical bar cursor with colors from the
3149 "iCursor" highlight group. Blink a bit
3152 The 'a' mode is different. It will set the given argument-list for
3153 all modes. It does not reset anything to defaults. This can be used
3154 to do a common setting for all modes. For example, to switch off
3155 blinking: "a:blinkon0"
3157 Examples of cursor highlighting: >
3158 :highlight Cursor gui=reverse guifg=NONE guibg=NONE
3159 :highlight Cursor gui=NONE guifg=bg guibg=fg
3162 *E235* *E596* *E610* *E611*
3163 'guifont' 'gfn' string (default "")
3166 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3167 This is a list of fonts which will be used for the GUI version of Vim.
3168 In its simplest form the value is just one font name. When
3169 the font cannot be found you will get an error message. To try other
3170 font names a list can be specified, font names separated with commas.
3171 The first valid font is used.
3173 On systems where 'guifontset' is supported (X11) and 'guifontset' is
3174 not empty, then 'guifont' is not used.
3176 Spaces after a comma are ignored. To include a comma in a font name
3177 precede it with a backslash. Setting an option requires an extra
3178 backslash before a space and a backslash. See also
3179 |option-backslash|. For example: >
3180 :set guifont=Screen15,\ 7x13,font\\,with\\,commas
3181 < will make Vim try to use the font "Screen15" first, and if it fails it
3182 will try to use "7x13" and then "font,with,commas" instead.
3184 If none of the fonts can be loaded, Vim will keep the current setting.
3185 If an empty font list is given, Vim will try using other resource
3186 settings (for X, it will use the Vim.font resource), and finally it
3187 will try some builtin default which should always be there ("7x13" in
3188 the case of X). The font names given should be "normal" fonts. Vim
3189 will try to find the related bold and italic fonts.
3191 For Win32, GTK, Mac OS and Photon: >
3193 < will bring up a font requester, where you can pick the font you want.
3195 The font name depends on the GUI used. See |setting-guifont| for a
3196 way to set 'guifont' for various systems.
3198 For the GTK+ 2 GUI the font name looks like this: >
3199 :set guifont=Andale\ Mono\ 11
3200 < That's all. XLFDs are no longer accepted.
3202 For Mac OSX you can use something like this: >
3203 :set guifont=Monaco:h10
3204 < Also see 'macatsui', it can help fix display problems.
3206 Note that the fonts must be mono-spaced (all characters have the same
3207 width). An exception is GTK 2: all fonts are accepted, but
3208 mono-spaced fonts look best.
3210 To preview a font on X11, you might be able to use the "xfontsel"
3211 program. The "xlsfonts" program gives a list of all available fonts.
3213 For the Win32 GUI *E244* *E245*
3214 - takes these options in the font name:
3215 hXX - height is XX (points, can be floating-point)
3216 wXX - width is XX (points, can be floating-point)
3221 cXX - character set XX. Valid charsets are: ANSI, ARABIC,
3222 BALTIC, CHINESEBIG5, DEFAULT, EASTEUROPE, GB2312, GREEK,
3223 HANGEUL, HEBREW, JOHAB, MAC, OEM, RUSSIAN, SHIFTJIS,
3224 SYMBOL, THAI, TURKISH, VIETNAMESE ANSI and BALTIC.
3225 Normally you would use "cDEFAULT".
3227 Use a ':' to separate the options.
3228 - A '_' can be used in the place of a space, so you don't need to use
3229 backslashes to escape the spaces.
3231 :set guifont=courier_new:h12:w5:b:cRUSSIAN
3232 :set guifont=Andale_Mono:h7.5:w4.5
3233 < See also |font-sizes|.
3235 *'guifontset'* *'gfs'*
3236 *E250* *E252* *E234* *E597* *E598*
3237 'guifontset' 'gfs' string (default "")
3240 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled and
3241 with the |+xfontset| feature}
3242 {not available in the GTK+ 2 GUI}
3243 When not empty, specifies two (or more) fonts to be used. The first
3244 one for normal English, the second one for your special language. See
3246 Setting this option also means that all font names will be handled as
3247 a fontset name. Also the ones used for the "font" argument of the
3248 |:highlight| command.
3249 The fonts must match with the current locale. If fonts for the
3250 character sets that the current locale uses are not included, setting
3251 'guifontset' will fail.
3252 Note the difference between 'guifont' and 'guifontset': In 'guifont'
3253 the comma-separated names are alternative names, one of which will be
3254 used. In 'guifontset' the whole string is one fontset name,
3255 including the commas. It is not possible to specify alternative
3257 This example works on many X11 systems: >
3258 :set guifontset=-*-*-medium-r-normal--16-*-*-*-c-*-*-*
3260 *'guifontwide'* *'gfw'* *E231* *E533* *E534*
3261 'guifontwide' 'gfw' string (default "")
3264 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3265 When not empty, specifies a comma-separated list of fonts to be used
3266 for double-width characters. The first font that can be loaded is
3268 Note: The size of these fonts must be exactly twice as wide as the one
3269 specified with 'guifont' and the same height.
3271 All GUI versions but GTK+ 2:
3273 'guifontwide' is only used when 'encoding' is set to "utf-8" and
3274 'guifontset' is empty or invalid.
3275 When 'guifont' is set and a valid font is found in it and
3276 'guifontwide' is empty Vim will attempt to find a matching
3277 double-width font and set 'guifontwide' to it.
3279 GTK+ 2 GUI only: *guifontwide_gtk2*
3281 If set and valid, 'guifontwide' is always used for double width
3282 characters, even if 'encoding' is not set to "utf-8".
3283 Vim does not attempt to find an appropriate value for 'guifontwide'
3284 automatically. If 'guifontwide' is empty Pango/Xft will choose the
3285 font for characters not available in 'guifont'. Thus you do not need
3286 to set 'guifontwide' at all unless you want to override the choice
3289 *'guiheadroom'* *'ghr'*
3290 'guiheadroom' 'ghr' number (default 50)
3292 {not in Vi} {only for GTK and X11 GUI}
3293 The number of pixels subtracted from the screen height when fitting
3294 the GUI window on the screen. Set this before the GUI is started,
3295 e.g., in your |gvimrc| file. When zero, the whole screen height will
3296 be used by the window. When positive, the specified number of pixel
3297 lines will be left for window decorations and other items on the
3298 screen. Set it to a negative value to allow windows taller than the
3301 *'guioptions'* *'go'*
3302 'guioptions' 'go' string (default "gmrLtT" (MS-Windows),
3303 "agimrLtT" (GTK, Motif and Athena))
3306 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3307 This option only has an effect in the GUI version of Vim. It is a
3308 sequence of letters which describes what components and options of the
3310 To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the
3311 "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.
3313 Valid letters are as follows:
3315 'a' Autoselect: If present, then whenever VISUAL mode is started,
3316 or the Visual area extended, Vim tries to become the owner of
3317 the windowing system's global selection. This means that the
3318 Visually highlighted text is available for pasting into other
3319 applications as well as into Vim itself. When the Visual mode
3320 ends, possibly due to an operation on the text, or when an
3321 application wants to paste the selection, the highlighted text
3322 is automatically yanked into the "* selection register.
3323 Thus the selection is still available for pasting into other
3324 applications after the VISUAL mode has ended.
3325 If not present, then Vim won't become the owner of the
3326 windowing system's global selection unless explicitly told to
3327 by a yank or delete operation for the "* register.
3328 The same applies to the modeless selection.
3330 'A' Autoselect for the modeless selection. Like 'a', but only
3331 applies to the modeless selection.
3333 'guioptions' autoselect Visual autoselect modeless ~
3339 'c' Use console dialogs instead of popup dialogs for simple
3342 'e' Add tab pages when indicated with 'showtabline'.
3343 'guitablabel' can be used to change the text in the labels.
3344 When 'e' is missing a non-GUI tab pages line may be used.
3345 The GUI tabs are only supported on some systems, currently
3346 GTK, Motif and MS-Windows.
3348 'f' Foreground: Don't use fork() to detach the GUI from the shell
3349 where it was started. Use this for programs that wait for the
3350 editor to finish (e.g., an e-mail program). Alternatively you
3351 can use "gvim -f" or ":gui -f" to start the GUI in the
3352 foreground. |gui-fork|
3353 Note: Set this option in the vimrc file. The forking may have
3354 happened already when the |gvimrc| file is read.
3356 'i' Use a Vim icon. For GTK with KDE it is used in the left-upper
3357 corner of the window. It's black&white on non-GTK, because of
3358 limitations of X11. For a color icon, see |X11-icon|.
3360 'm' Menu bar is present.
3361 'M' The system menu "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim" is not sourced. Note
3362 that this flag must be added in the .vimrc file, before
3363 switching on syntax or filetype recognition (when the |gvimrc|
3364 file is sourced the system menu has already been loaded; the
3365 ":syntax on" and ":filetype on" commands load the menu too).
3366 'g' Grey menu items: Make menu items that are not active grey. If
3367 'g' is not included inactive menu items are not shown at all.
3368 Exception: Athena will always use grey menu items.
3370 't' Include tearoff menu items. Currently only works for Win32,
3371 GTK+, and Motif 1.2 GUI.
3372 'T' Include Toolbar. Currently only in Win32, GTK+, Motif, Photon
3375 'r' Right-hand scrollbar is always present.
3376 'R' Right-hand scrollbar is present when there is a vertically
3378 'l' Left-hand scrollbar is always present.
3379 'L' Left-hand scrollbar is present when there is a vertically
3381 'b' Bottom (horizontal) scrollbar is present. Its size depends on
3382 the longest visible line, or on the cursor line if the 'h'
3383 flag is included. |gui-horiz-scroll|
3384 'h' Limit horizontal scrollbar size to the length of the cursor
3385 line. Reduces computations. |gui-horiz-scroll|
3387 And yes, you may even have scrollbars on the left AND the right if
3388 you really want to :-). See |gui-scrollbars| for more information.
3390 'v' Use a vertical button layout for dialogs. When not included,
3391 a horizontal layout is preferred, but when it doesn't fit a
3392 vertical layout is used anyway.
3393 'p' Use Pointer callbacks for X11 GUI. This is required for some
3394 window managers. If the cursor is not blinking or hollow at
3395 the right moment, try adding this flag. This must be done
3396 before starting the GUI. Set it in your |gvimrc|. Adding or
3397 removing it after the GUI has started has no effect.
3398 'F' Add a footer. Only for Motif. See |gui-footer|.
3400 *'guipty'* *'noguipty'*
3401 'guipty' boolean (default on)
3404 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled}
3405 Only in the GUI: If on, an attempt is made to open a pseudo-tty for
3406 I/O to/from shell commands. See |gui-pty|.
3408 *'guitablabel'* *'gtl'*
3409 'guitablabel' 'gtl' string (default empty)
3412 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled and
3413 with the +windows feature}
3414 When nonempty describes the text to use in a label of the GUI tab
3415 pages line. When empty and when the result is empty Vim will use a
3416 default label. See |setting-guitablabel| for more info.
3418 The format of this option is like that of 'statusline'.
3419 'guitabtooltip' is used for the tooltip, see below.
3421 Only used when the GUI tab pages line is displayed. 'e' must be
3422 present in 'guioptions'. For the non-GUI tab pages line 'tabline' is
3425 *'guitabtooltip'* *'gtt'*
3426 'guitabtooltip' 'gtt' string (default empty)
3429 {only available when compiled with GUI enabled and
3430 with the +windows feature}
3431 When nonempty describes the text to use in a tooltip for the GUI tab
3432 pages line. When empty Vim will use a default tooltip.
3433 This option is otherwise just like 'guitablabel' above.
3437 'helpfile' 'hf' string (default (MSDOS) "$VIMRUNTIME\doc\help.txt"
3438 (others) "$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt")
3441 Name of the main help file. All distributed help files should be
3442 placed together in one directory. Additionally, all "doc" directories
3443 in 'runtimepath' will be used.
3444 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. For example:
3445 "$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt". If $VIMRUNTIME is not set, $VIM is also
3446 tried. Also see |$VIMRUNTIME| and |option-backslash| about including
3447 spaces and backslashes.
3448 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
3451 *'helpheight'* *'hh'*
3452 'helpheight' 'hh' number (default 20)
3455 {not available when compiled without the +windows
3457 Minimal initial height of the help window when it is opened with the
3458 ":help" command. The initial height of the help window is half of the
3459 current window, or (when the 'ea' option is on) the same as other
3460 windows. When the height is less than 'helpheight', the height is
3461 set to 'helpheight'. Set to zero to disable.
3463 *'helplang'* *'hlg'*
3464 'helplang' 'hlg' string (default: messages language or empty)
3466 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_lang|
3469 Comma separated list of languages. Vim will use the first language
3470 for which the desired help can be found. The English help will always
3471 be used as a last resort. You can add "en" to prefer English over
3472 another language, but that will only find tags that exist in that
3473 language and not in the English help.
3476 < This will first search German, then Italian and finally English help
3478 When using |CTRL-]| and ":help!" in a non-English help file Vim will
3479 try to find the tag in the current language before using this option.
3480 See |help-translated|.
3482 *'hidden'* *'hid'* *'nohidden'* *'nohid'*
3483 'hidden' 'hid' boolean (default off)
3486 When off a buffer is unloaded when it is |abandon|ed. When on a
3487 buffer becomes hidden when it is |abandon|ed. If the buffer is still
3488 displayed in another window, it does not become hidden, of course.
3489 The commands that move through the buffer list sometimes make a buffer
3490 hidden although the 'hidden' option is off: When the buffer is
3491 modified, 'autowrite' is off or writing is not possible, and the '!'
3492 flag was used. See also |windows.txt|.
3493 To only make one buffer hidden use the 'bufhidden' option.
3494 This option is set for one command with ":hide {command}" |:hide|.
3495 WARNING: It's easy to forget that you have changes in hidden buffers.
3496 Think twice when using ":q!" or ":qa!".
3498 *'highlight'* *'hl'*
3499 'highlight' 'hl' string (default (as a single string):
3500 "8:SpecialKey,@:NonText,d:Directory,
3501 e:ErrorMsg,i:IncSearch,l:Search,m:MoreMsg,
3502 M:ModeMsg,n:LineNr,r:Question,
3503 s:StatusLine,S:StatusLineNC,c:VertSplit,
3504 t:Title,v:Visual,w:WarningMsg,W:WildMenu,
3505 f:Folded,F:FoldColumn,A:DiffAdd,
3506 C:DiffChange,D:DiffDelete,T:DiffText,
3507 >:SignColumn,B:SpellBad,P:SpellCap,
3508 R:SpellRare,L:SpellLocal,
3510 x:PmenuSbar,X:PmenuThumb")
3513 This option can be used to set highlighting mode for various
3514 occasions. It is a comma separated list of character pairs. The
3515 first character in a pair gives the occasion, the second the mode to
3516 use for that occasion. The occasions are:
3517 |hl-SpecialKey| 8 Meta and special keys listed with ":map"
3518 |hl-NonText| @ '~' and '@' at the end of the window and
3519 characters from 'showbreak'
3520 |hl-Directory| d directories in CTRL-D listing and other special
3522 |hl-ErrorMsg| e error messages
3523 h (obsolete, ignored)
3524 |hl-IncSearch| i 'incsearch' highlighting
3525 |hl-Search| l last search pattern highlighting (see 'hlsearch')
3526 |hl-MoreMsg| m |more-prompt|
3527 |hl-ModeMsg| M Mode (e.g., "-- INSERT --")
3528 |hl-LineNr| n line number for ":number" and ":#" commands
3529 |hl-Question| r |hit-enter| prompt and yes/no questions
3530 |hl-StatusLine| s status line of current window |status-line|
3531 |hl-StatusLineNC| S status lines of not-current windows
3532 |hl-Title| t Titles for output from ":set all", ":autocmd" etc.
3533 |hl-VertSplit| c column used to separate vertically split windows
3534 |hl-Visual| v Visual mode
3535 |hl-VisualNOS| V Visual mode when Vim does is "Not Owning the
3536 Selection" Only X11 Gui's |gui-x11| and
3538 |hl-WarningMsg| w warning messages
3539 |hl-WildMenu| W wildcard matches displayed for 'wildmenu'
3540 |hl-Folded| f line used for closed folds
3541 |hl-FoldColumn| F 'foldcolumn'
3542 |hl-DiffAdd| A added line in diff mode
3543 |hl-DiffChange| C changed line in diff mode
3544 |hl-DiffDelete| D deleted line in diff mode
3545 |hl-DiffText| T inserted text in diff mode
3546 |hl-SignColumn| > column used for |signs|
3547 |hl-SpellBad| B misspelled word |spell|
3548 |hl-SpellCap| P word that should start with capital|spell|
3549 |hl-SpellRare| R rare word |spell|
3550 |hl-SpellLocal| L word from other region |spell|
3551 |hl-Pmenu| + popup menu normal line
3552 |hl-PmenuSel| = popup menu normal line
3553 |hl-PmenuSbar| x popup menu scrollbar
3554 |hl-PmenuThumb| X popup menu scrollbar thumb
3556 The display modes are:
3557 r reverse (termcap entry "mr" and "me")
3558 i italic (termcap entry "ZH" and "ZR")
3559 b bold (termcap entry "md" and "me")
3560 s standout (termcap entry "so" and "se")
3561 u underline (termcap entry "us" and "ue")
3562 c undercurl (termcap entry "Cs" and "Ce")
3565 : use a highlight group
3566 The default is used for occasions that are not included.
3567 If you want to change what the display modes do, see |dos-colors|
3569 When using the ':' display mode, this must be followed by the name of
3570 a highlight group. A highlight group can be used to define any type
3571 of highlighting, including using color. See |:highlight| on how to
3572 define one. The default uses a different group for each occasion.
3573 See |highlight-default| for the default highlight groups.
3575 *'hlsearch'* *'hls'* *'nohlsearch'* *'nohls'*
3576 'hlsearch' 'hls' boolean (default off)
3579 {not available when compiled without the
3580 |+extra_search| feature}
3581 When there is a previous search pattern, highlight all its matches.
3582 The type of highlighting used can be set with the 'l' occasion in the
3583 'highlight' option. This uses the "Search" highlight group by
3584 default. Note that only the matching text is highlighted, any offsets
3586 See also: 'incsearch' and |:match|.
3587 When you get bored looking at the highlighted matches, you can turn it
3588 off with |:nohlsearch|. As soon as you use a search command, the
3589 highlighting comes back.
3590 When the search pattern can match an end-of-line, Vim will try to
3591 highlight all of the matched text. However, this depends on where the
3592 search starts. This will be the first line in the window or the first
3593 line below a closed fold. A match in a previous line which is not
3594 drawn may not continue in a newly drawn line.
3595 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3598 'history' 'hi' number (Vim default: 20, Vi default: 0)
3601 A history of ":" commands, and a history of previous search patterns
3602 are remembered. This option decides how many entries may be stored in
3603 each of these histories (see |cmdline-editing|).
3604 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
3605 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
3607 *'hkmap'* *'hk'* *'nohkmap'* *'nohk'*
3608 'hkmap' 'hk' boolean (default off)
3611 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
3613 When on, the keyboard is mapped for the Hebrew character set.
3614 Normally you would set 'allowrevins' and use CTRL-_ in insert mode to
3615 toggle this option. See |rileft.txt|.
3616 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3618 *'hkmapp'* *'hkp'* *'nohkmapp'* *'nohkp'*
3619 'hkmapp' 'hkp' boolean (default off)
3622 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
3624 When on, phonetic keyboard mapping is used. 'hkmap' must also be on.
3625 This is useful if you have a non-Hebrew keyboard.
3627 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3630 'icon' boolean (default off, on when title can be restored)
3633 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
3635 When on, the icon text of the window will be set to the value of
3636 'iconstring' (if it is not empty), or to the name of the file
3637 currently being edited. Only the last part of the name is used.
3638 Overridden by the 'iconstring' option.
3639 Only works if the terminal supports setting window icons (currently
3640 only X11 GUI and terminals with a non-empty 't_IS' option - these are
3641 Unix xterm and iris-ansi by default, where 't_IS' is taken from the
3643 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original icon will be
3644 restored if possible |X11|. See |X11-icon| for changing the icon on
3648 'iconstring' string (default "")
3651 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
3653 When this option is not empty, it will be used for the icon text of
3654 the window. This happens only when the 'icon' option is on.
3655 Only works if the terminal supports setting window icon text
3656 (currently only X11 GUI and terminals with a non-empty 't_IS' option).
3657 Does not work for MS Windows.
3658 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original icon will be
3659 restored if possible |X11|.
3660 When this option contains printf-style '%' items, they will be
3661 expanded according to the rules used for 'statusline'. See
3662 'titlestring' for example settings.
3663 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline| feature}
3665 *'ignorecase'* *'ic'* *'noignorecase'* *'noic'*
3666 'ignorecase' 'ic' boolean (default off)
3668 Ignore case in search patterns. Also used when searching in the tags
3670 Also see 'smartcase'.
3671 Can be overruled by using "\c" or "\C" in the pattern, see
3674 *'imactivatekey'* *'imak'*
3675 'imactivatekey' 'imak' string (default "")
3678 {only available when compiled with |+xim| and
3680 Specifies the key that your Input Method in X-Windows uses for
3681 activation. When this is specified correctly, vim can fully control
3682 IM with 'imcmdline', 'iminsert' and 'imsearch'.
3683 You can't use this option to change the activation key, the option
3684 tells Vim what the key is.
3686 [MODIFIER_FLAG-]KEY_STRING
3688 These characters can be used for MODIFIER_FLAG (case is ignored):
3697 Combinations are allowed, for example "S-C-space" or "SC-space" are
3698 both shift+ctrl+space.
3699 See <X11/keysymdef.h> and XStringToKeysym for KEY_STRING.
3702 :set imactivatekey=S-space
3703 < "S-space" means shift+space. This is the activation key for kinput2 +
3704 canna (Japanese), and ami (Korean).
3706 *'imcmdline'* *'imc'* *'noimcmdline'* *'noimc'*
3707 'imcmdline' 'imc' boolean (default off)
3710 {only available when compiled with the |+xim|
3711 |+multi_byte_ime| or |global-ime| feature}
3712 When set the Input Method is always on when starting to edit a command
3713 line, unless entering a search pattern (see 'imsearch' for that).
3714 Setting this option is useful when your input method allows entering
3715 English characters directly, e.g., when it's used to type accented
3716 characters with dead keys.
3718 *'imdisable'* *'imd'* *'nodisable'* *'noimd'*
3719 'imdisable' 'imd' boolean (default off, on for some systems (SGI))
3722 {only available when compiled with the |+xim|
3723 |+multi_byte_ime| or |global-ime| feature}
3724 When set the Input Method is never used. This is useful to disable
3725 the IM when it doesn't work properly.
3726 Currently this option is on by default for SGI/IRIX machines. This
3727 may change in later releases.
3729 *'iminsert'* *'imi'*
3730 'iminsert' 'imi' number (default 0, 2 when an input method is supported)
3733 Specifies whether :lmap or an Input Method (IM) is to be used in
3734 Insert mode. Valid values:
3735 0 :lmap is off and IM is off
3736 1 :lmap is ON and IM is off
3737 2 :lmap is off and IM is ON
3738 2 is available only when compiled with the |+multi_byte_ime|, |+xim|
3740 To always reset the option to zero when leaving Insert mode with <Esc>
3742 :inoremap <ESC> <ESC>:set iminsert=0<CR>
3743 < This makes :lmap and IM turn off automatically when leaving Insert
3745 Note that this option changes when using CTRL-^ in Insert mode
3747 The value is set to 1 when setting 'keymap' to a valid keymap name.
3748 It is also used for the argument of commands like "r" and "f".
3749 The value 0 may not work correctly with Athena and Motif with some XIM
3750 methods. Use 'imdisable' to disable XIM then.
3752 *'imsearch'* *'ims'*
3753 'imsearch' 'ims' number (default 0, 2 when an input method is supported)
3756 Specifies whether :lmap or an Input Method (IM) is to be used when
3757 entering a search pattern. Valid values:
3758 -1 the value of 'iminsert' is used, makes it look like
3759 'iminsert' is also used when typing a search pattern
3760 0 :lmap is off and IM is off
3761 1 :lmap is ON and IM is off
3762 2 :lmap is off and IM is ON
3763 Note that this option changes when using CTRL-^ in Command-line mode
3765 The value is set to 1 when it is not -1 and setting the 'keymap'
3766 option to a valid keymap name.
3767 The value 0 may not work correctly with Athena and Motif with some XIM
3768 methods. Use 'imdisable' to disable XIM then.
3771 'include' 'inc' string (default "^\s*#\s*include")
3772 global or local to buffer |global-local|
3774 {not available when compiled without the
3775 |+find_in_path| feature}
3776 Pattern to be used to find an include command. It is a search
3777 pattern, just like for the "/" command (See |pattern|). The default
3778 value is for C programs. This option is used for the commands "[i",
3780 Normally the 'isfname' option is used to recognize the file name that
3781 comes after the matched pattern. But if "\zs" appears in the pattern
3782 then the text matched from "\zs" to the end, or until "\ze" if it
3783 appears, is used as the file name. Use this to include characters
3784 that are not in 'isfname', such as a space. You can then use
3785 'includeexpr' to process the matched text.
3786 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
3788 *'includeexpr'* *'inex'*
3789 'includeexpr' 'inex' string (default "")
3792 {not available when compiled without the
3793 |+find_in_path| or |+eval| feature}
3794 Expression to be used to transform the string found with the 'include'
3795 option to a file name. Mostly useful to change "." to "/" for Java: >
3796 :set includeexpr=substitute(v:fname,'\\.','/','g')
3797 < The "v:fname" variable will be set to the file name that was detected.
3799 Also used for the |gf| command if an unmodified file name can't be
3800 found. Allows doing "gf" on the name after an 'include' statement.
3801 Also used for |<cfile>|.
3803 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3806 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
3807 evaluating 'includeexpr' |textlock|.
3809 *'incsearch'* *'is'* *'noincsearch'* *'nois'*
3810 'incsearch' 'is' boolean (default off)
3813 {not available when compiled without the
3814 |+extra_search| feature}
3815 While typing a search command, show where the pattern, as it was typed
3816 so far, matches. The matched string is highlighted. If the pattern
3817 is invalid or not found, nothing is shown. The screen will be updated
3818 often, this is only useful on fast terminals.
3819 Note that the match will be shown, but the cursor will return to its
3820 original position when no match is found and when pressing <Esc>. You
3821 still need to finish the search command with <Enter> to move the
3822 cursor to the match.
3823 The highlighting can be set with the 'i' flag in 'highlight'.
3824 See also: 'hlsearch'.
3825 CTRL-L can be used to add one character from after the current match
3826 to the command line.
3827 CTRL-R CTRL-W can be used to add the word at the end of the current
3828 match, excluding the characters that were already typed.
3829 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3831 *'indentexpr'* *'inde'*
3832 'indentexpr' 'inde' string (default "")
3835 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
3836 or |+eval| features}
3837 Expression which is evaluated to obtain the proper indent for a line.
3838 It is used when a new line is created, for the |=| operator and
3839 in Insert mode as specified with the 'indentkeys' option.
3840 When this option is not empty, it overrules the 'cindent' and
3841 'smartindent' indenting.
3842 When 'paste' is set this option is not used for indenting.
3843 The expression is evaluated with |v:lnum| set to the line number for
3844 which the indent is to be computed. The cursor is also in this line
3845 when the expression is evaluated (but it may be moved around).
3846 The expression must return the number of spaces worth of indent. It
3847 can return "-1" to keep the current indent (this means 'autoindent' is
3848 used for the indent).
3849 Functions useful for computing the indent are |indent()|, |cindent()|
3851 The evaluation of the expression must not have side effects! It must
3852 not change the text, jump to another window, etc. Afterwards the
3853 cursor position is always restored, thus the cursor may be moved.
3854 Normally this option would be set to call a function: >
3855 :set indentexpr=GetMyIndent()
3856 < Error messages will be suppressed, unless the 'debug' option contains
3858 See |indent-expression|.
3859 NOTE: This option is made empty when 'compatible' is set.
3861 The expression may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
3864 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
3865 evaluating 'indentexpr' |textlock|.
3868 *'indentkeys'* *'indk'*
3869 'indentkeys' 'indk' string (default "0{,0},:,0#,!^F,o,O,e")
3872 {not available when compiled without the |+cindent|
3874 A list of keys that, when typed in Insert mode, cause reindenting of
3875 the current line. Only happens if 'indentexpr' isn't empty.
3876 The format is identical to 'cinkeys', see |indentkeys-format|.
3877 See |C-indenting| and |indent-expression|.
3879 *'infercase'* *'inf'* *'noinfercase'* *'noinf'*
3880 'infercase' 'inf' boolean (default off)
3883 When doing keyword completion in insert mode |ins-completion|, and
3884 'ignorecase' is also on, the case of the match is adjusted. If the
3885 typed text contains a lowercase letter where the match has an upper
3886 case letter, the completed part is made lowercase. If the typed text
3887 has no lowercase letters and the match has a lowercase letter where
3888 the typed text has an uppercase letter, and there is a letter before
3889 it, the completed part is made uppercase.
3891 *'insertmode'* *'im'* *'noinsertmode'* *'noim'*
3892 'insertmode' 'im' boolean (default off)
3895 Makes Vim work in a way that Insert mode is the default mode. Useful
3896 if you want to use Vim as a modeless editor. Used for |evim|.
3897 These Insert mode commands will be useful:
3898 - Use the cursor keys to move around.
3899 - Use CTRL-O to execute one Normal mode command |i_CTRL-O|). When
3900 this is a mapping, it is executed as if 'insertmode' was off.
3901 Normal mode remains active until the mapping is finished.
3902 - Use CTRL-L to execute a number of Normal mode commands, then use
3903 <Esc> to get back to Insert mode. Note that CTRL-L moves the cursor
3904 left, like <Esc> does when 'insertmode' isn't set. |i_CTRL-L|
3906 These items change when 'insertmode' is set:
3907 - when starting to edit of a file, Vim goes to Insert mode.
3908 - <Esc> in Insert mode is a no-op and beeps.
3909 - <Esc> in Normal mode makes Vim go to Insert mode.
3910 - CTRL-L in Insert mode is a command, it is not inserted.
3911 - CTRL-Z in Insert mode suspends Vim, see |CTRL-Z|. *i_CTRL-Z*
3912 However, when <Esc> is used inside a mapping, it behaves like
3913 'insertmode' was not set. This was done to be able to use the same
3914 mappings with 'insertmode' set or not set.
3915 When executing commands with |:normal| 'insertmode' is not used.
3917 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
3920 'isfname' 'isf' string (default for MS-DOS, Win32 and OS/2:
3921 "@,48-57,/,\,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,{,},[,],:,@-@,!,~,="
3922 for AMIGA: "@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,$,:"
3923 for VMS: "@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,<,>,[,],:,;,~"
3924 for OS/390: "@,240-249,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,="
3925 otherwise: "@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,=")
3928 The characters specified by this option are included in file names and
3929 path names. Filenames are used for commands like "gf", "[i" and in
3930 the tags file. It is also used for "\f" in a |pattern|.
3931 Multi-byte characters 256 and above are always included, only the
3932 characters up to 255 are specified with this option.
3933 For UTF-8 the characters 0xa0 to 0xff are included as well.
3935 Note that on systems using a backslash as path separator, Vim tries to
3936 do its best to make it work as you would expect. That is a bit
3937 tricky, since Vi originally used the backslash to escape special
3938 characters. Vim will not remove a backslash in front of a normal file
3939 name character on these systems, but it will on Unix and alikes. The
3940 '&' and '^' are not included by default, because these are special for
3943 The format of this option is a list of parts, separated with commas.
3944 Each part can be a single character number or a range. A range is two
3945 character numbers with '-' in between. A character number can be a
3946 decimal number between 0 and 255 or the ASCII character itself (does
3947 not work for digits). Example:
3948 "_,-,128-140,#-43" (include '_' and '-' and the range
3949 128 to 140 and '#' to 43)
3950 If a part starts with '^', the following character number or range
3951 will be excluded from the option. The option is interpreted from left
3952 to right. Put the excluded character after the range where it is
3953 included. To include '^' itself use it as the last character of the
3954 option or the end of a range. Example:
3955 "^a-z,#,^" (exclude 'a' to 'z', include '#' and '^')
3956 If the character is '@', all characters where isalpha() returns TRUE
3957 are included. Normally these are the characters a to z and A to Z,
3958 plus accented characters. To include '@' itself use "@-@". Examples:
3959 "@,^a-z" All alphabetic characters, excluding lower
3961 "a-z,A-Z,@-@" All letters plus the '@' character.
3962 A comma can be included by using it where a character number is
3964 "48-57,,,_" Digits, comma and underscore.
3965 A comma can be excluded by prepending a '^'. Example:
3966 " -~,^,,9" All characters from space to '~', excluding
3968 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
3971 'isident' 'isi' string (default for MS-DOS, Win32 and OS/2:
3972 "@,48-57,_,128-167,224-235"
3973 otherwise: "@,48-57,_,192-255")
3976 The characters given by this option are included in identifiers.
3977 Identifiers are used in recognizing environment variables and after a
3978 match of the 'define' option. It is also used for "\i" in a
3979 |pattern|. See 'isfname' for a description of the format of this
3981 Careful: If you change this option, it might break expanding
3982 environment variables. E.g., when '/' is included and Vim tries to
3983 expand "$HOME/.viminfo". Maybe you should change 'iskeyword' instead.
3985 *'iskeyword'* *'isk'*
3986 'iskeyword' 'isk' string (Vim default for MS-DOS and Win32:
3987 "@,48-57,_,128-167,224-235"
3988 otherwise: "@,48-57,_,192-255"
3989 Vi default: "@,48-57,_")
3992 Keywords are used in searching and recognizing with many commands:
3993 "w", "*", "[i", etc. It is also used for "\k" in a |pattern|. See
3994 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option. For C
3995 programs you could use "a-z,A-Z,48-57,_,.,-,>".
3996 For a help file it is set to all non-blank printable characters except
3997 '*', '"' and '|' (so that CTRL-] on a command finds the help for that
3999 When the 'lisp' option is on the '-' character is always included.
4000 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
4001 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
4004 'isprint' 'isp' string (default for MS-DOS, Win32, OS/2 and Macintosh:
4005 "@,~-255"; otherwise: "@,161-255")
4008 The characters given by this option are displayed directly on the
4009 screen. It is also used for "\p" in a |pattern|. The characters from
4010 space (ASCII 32) to '~' (ASCII 126) are always displayed directly,
4011 even when they are not included in 'isprint' or excluded. See
4012 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option.
4014 Non-printable characters are displayed with two characters:
4016 32 - 126 always single characters
4018 128 - 159 "~@" - "~_"
4019 160 - 254 "| " - "|~"
4021 When 'encoding' is a Unicode one, illegal bytes from 128 to 255 are
4022 displayed as <xx>, with the hexadecimal value of the byte.
4023 When 'display' contains "uhex" all unprintable characters are
4025 The NonText highlighting will be used for unprintable characters.
4028 Multi-byte characters 256 and above are always included, only the
4029 characters up to 255 are specified with this option. When a character
4030 is printable but it is not available in the current font, a
4031 replacement character will be shown.
4032 Unprintable and zero-width Unicode characters are displayed as <xxxx>.
4033 There is no option to specify these characters.
4035 *'joinspaces'* *'js'* *'nojoinspaces'* *'nojs'*
4036 'joinspaces' 'js' boolean (default on)
4039 Insert two spaces after a '.', '?' and '!' with a join command.
4040 When 'cpoptions' includes the 'j' flag, only do this after a '.'.
4041 Otherwise only one space is inserted.
4042 NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.
4045 'key' string (default "")
4048 The key that is used for encrypting and decrypting the current buffer.
4050 Careful: Do not set the key value by hand, someone might see the typed
4051 key. Use the |:X| command. But you can make 'key' empty: >
4053 < It is not possible to get the value of this option with ":set key" or
4054 "echo &key". This is to avoid showing it to someone who shouldn't
4055 know. It also means you cannot see it yourself once you have set it,
4056 be careful not to make a typing error!
4058 *'keymap'* *'kmp'* *E544*
4059 'keymap' 'kmp' string (default "")
4062 {only available when compiled with the |+keymap|
4064 Name of a keyboard mapping. See |mbyte-keymap|.
4065 Setting this option to a valid keymap name has the side effect of
4066 setting 'iminsert' to one, so that the keymap becomes effective.
4067 'imsearch' is also set to one, unless it was -1
4068 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
4071 'keymodel' 'km' string (default "")
4074 List of comma separated words, which enable special things that keys
4075 can do. These values can be used:
4076 startsel Using a shifted special key starts selection (either
4077 Select mode or Visual mode, depending on "key" being
4078 present in 'selectmode').
4079 stopsel Using a not-shifted special key stops selection.
4080 Special keys in this context are the cursor keys, <End>, <Home>,
4081 <PageUp> and <PageDown>.
4082 The 'keymodel' option is set by the |:behave| command.
4084 *'keywordprg'* *'kp'*
4085 'keywordprg' 'kp' string (default "man" or "man -s", DOS: ":help",
4086 OS/2: "view /", VMS: "help")
4087 global or local to buffer |global-local|
4089 Program to use for the |K| command. Environment variables are
4090 expanded |:set_env|. ":help" may be used to access the Vim internal
4091 help. (Note that previously setting the global option to the empty
4092 value did this, which is now deprecated.)
4093 When "man" is used, Vim will automatically translate a count for the
4094 "K" command to a section number. Also for "man -s", in which case the
4095 "-s" is removed when there is no count.
4096 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
4098 :set keywordprg=man\ -s
4099 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4102 *'langmap'* *'lmap'* *E357* *E358*
4103 'langmap' 'lmap' string (default "")
4106 {only available when compiled with the |+langmap|
4108 This option allows switching your keyboard into a special language
4109 mode. When you are typing text in Insert mode the characters are
4110 inserted directly. When in command mode the 'langmap' option takes
4111 care of translating these special characters to the original meaning
4112 of the key. This means you don't have to change the keyboard mode to
4113 be able to execute Normal mode commands.
4114 This is the opposite of the 'keymap' option, where characters are
4115 mapped in Insert mode.
4116 This only works for 8-bit characters. The value of 'langmap' may be
4117 specified with multi-byte characters (e.g., UTF-8), but only the lower
4118 8 bits of each character will be used.
4120 Example (for Greek, in UTF-8): *greek* >
4121 :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
4122 < Example (exchanges meaning of z and y for commands): >
4123 :set langmap=zy,yz,ZY,YZ
4125 The 'langmap' option is a list of parts, separated with commas. Each
4126 part can be in one of two forms:
4127 1. A list of pairs. Each pair is a "from" character immediately
4128 followed by the "to" character. Examples: "aA", "aAbBcC".
4129 2. A list of "from" characters, a semi-colon and a list of "to"
4130 characters. Example: "abc;ABC"
4131 Example: "aA,fgh;FGH,cCdDeE"
4132 Special characters need to be preceded with a backslash. These are
4133 ";", ',' and backslash itself.
4135 This will allow you to activate vim actions without having to switch
4136 back and forth between the languages. Your language characters will
4137 be understood as normal vim English characters (according to the
4138 langmap mappings) in the following cases:
4139 o Normal/Visual mode (commands, buffer/register names, user mappings)
4140 o Insert/Replace Mode: Register names after CTRL-R
4141 o Insert/Replace Mode: Mappings
4142 Characters entered in Command-line mode will NOT be affected by
4143 this option. Note that this option can be changed at any time
4144 allowing to switch between mappings for different languages/encodings.
4145 Use a mapping to avoid having to type it each time!
4148 'langmenu' 'lm' string (default "")
4151 {only available when compiled with the |+menu| and
4152 |+multi_lang| features}
4153 Language to use for menu translation. Tells which file is loaded
4154 from the "lang" directory in 'runtimepath': >
4155 "lang/menu_" . &langmenu . ".vim"
4156 < (without the spaces). For example, to always use the Dutch menus, no
4157 matter what $LANG is set to: >
4158 :set langmenu=nl_NL.ISO_8859-1
4159 < When 'langmenu' is empty, |v:lang| is used.
4160 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
4161 If your $LANG is set to a non-English language but you do want to use
4162 the English menus: >
4164 < This option must be set before loading menus, switching on filetype
4165 detection or syntax highlighting. Once the menus are defined setting
4166 this option has no effect. But you could do this: >
4167 :source $VIMRUNTIME/delmenu.vim
4168 :set langmenu=de_DE.ISO_8859-1
4169 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
4170 < Warning: This deletes all menus that you defined yourself!
4172 *'laststatus'* *'ls'*
4173 'laststatus' 'ls' number (default 1)
4176 The value of this option influences when the last window will have a
4179 1: only if there are at least two windows
4181 The screen looks nicer with a status line if you have several
4182 windows, but it takes another screen line. |status-line|
4184 *'lazyredraw'* *'lz'* *'nolazyredraw'* *'nolz'*
4185 'lazyredraw' 'lz' boolean (default off)
4188 When this option is set, the screen will not be redrawn while
4189 executing macros, registers and other commands that have not been
4190 typed. Also, updating the window title is postponed. To force an
4191 update use |:redraw|.
4193 *'linebreak'* *'lbr'* *'nolinebreak'* *'nolbr'*
4194 'linebreak' 'lbr' boolean (default off)
4197 {not available when compiled without the |+linebreak|
4199 If on Vim will wrap long lines at a character in 'breakat' rather
4200 than at the last character that fits on the screen. Unlike
4201 'wrapmargin' and 'textwidth', this does not insert <EOL>s in the file,
4202 it only affects the way the file is displayed, not its contents. The
4203 value of 'showbreak' is used to put in front of wrapped lines.
4204 This option is not used when the 'wrap' option is off or 'list' is on.
4205 Note that <Tab> characters after an <EOL> are mostly not displayed
4206 with the right amount of white space.
4209 'lines' number (default 24 or terminal height)
4211 Number of lines of the Vim window.
4212 Normally you don't need to set this. It is done automatically by the
4213 terminal initialization code. Also see |posix-screen-size|.
4214 When Vim is running in the GUI or in a resizable window, setting this
4215 option will cause the window size to be changed. When you only want
4216 to use the size for the GUI, put the command in your |gvimrc| file.
4217 Vim limits the number of lines to what fits on the screen. You can
4218 use this command to get the tallest window possible: >
4220 < Minimum value is 2, maximum value is 1000.
4221 If you get less lines than expected, check the 'guiheadroom' option.
4222 When you set this option and Vim is unable to change the physical
4223 number of lines of the display, the display may be messed up.
4225 *'linespace'* *'lsp'*
4226 'linespace' 'lsp' number (default 0, 1 for Win32 GUI)
4230 Number of pixel lines inserted between characters. Useful if the font
4231 uses the full character cell height, making lines touch each other.
4232 When non-zero there is room for underlining.
4233 With some fonts there can be too much room between lines (to have
4234 space for ascents and descents). Then it makes sense to set
4235 'linespace' to a negative value. This may cause display problems
4239 'lisp' boolean (default off)
4241 {not available when compiled without the |+lispindent|
4243 Lisp mode: When <Enter> is typed in insert mode set the indent for
4244 the next line to Lisp standards (well, sort of). Also happens with
4245 "cc" or "S". 'autoindent' must also be on for this to work. The 'p'
4246 flag in 'cpoptions' changes the method of indenting: Vi compatible or
4247 better. Also see 'lispwords'.
4248 The '-' character is included in keyword characters. Redefines the
4249 "=" operator to use this same indentation algorithm rather than
4250 calling an external program if 'equalprg' is empty.
4251 This option is not used when 'paste' is set.
4252 {Vi: Does it a little bit differently}
4254 *'lispwords'* *'lw'*
4255 'lispwords' 'lw' string (default is very long)
4258 {not available when compiled without the |+lispindent|
4260 Comma separated list of words that influence the Lisp indenting.
4264 'list' boolean (default off)
4266 List mode: Show tabs as CTRL-I, show end of line with $. Useful to
4267 see the difference between tabs and spaces and for trailing blanks.
4268 Note that this will also affect formatting (set with 'textwidth' or
4269 'wrapmargin') when 'cpoptions' includes 'L'. See 'listchars' for
4270 changing the way tabs are displayed.
4272 *'listchars'* *'lcs'*
4273 'listchars' 'lcs' string (default "eol:$")
4276 Strings to use in 'list' mode. It is a comma separated list of string
4278 eol:c Character to show at the end of each line. When
4279 omitted, there is no extra character at the end of the
4281 tab:xy Two characters to be used to show a Tab. The first
4282 char is used once. The second char is repeated to
4283 fill the space that the Tab normally occupies.
4284 "tab:>-" will show a Tab that takes four spaces as
4285 ">---". When omitted, a Tab is show as ^I.
4286 trail:c Character to show for trailing spaces. When omitted,
4287 trailing spaces are blank.
4288 extends:c Character to show in the last column, when 'wrap' is
4289 off and the line continues beyond the right of the
4291 precedes:c Character to show in the first column, when 'wrap'
4292 is off and there is text preceding the character
4293 visible in the first column.
4294 nbsp:c Character to show for a non-breakable space (character
4295 0xA0, 160). Left blank when omitted.
4297 The characters ':' and ',' should not be used. UTF-8 characters can
4298 be used when 'encoding' is "utf-8", otherwise only printable
4299 characters are allowed. All characters must be single width.
4302 :set lcs=tab:>-,trail:-
4303 :set lcs=tab:>-,eol:<,nbsp:%
4304 :set lcs=extends:>,precedes:<
4305 < The "NonText" highlighting will be used for "eol", "extends" and
4306 "precedes". "SpecialKey" for "nbsp", "tab" and "trail".
4308 *'lpl'* *'nolpl'* *'loadplugins'* *'noloadplugins'*
4309 'loadplugins' 'lpl' boolean (default on)
4312 When on the plugin scripts are loaded when starting up |load-plugins|.
4313 This option can be reset in your |vimrc| file to disable the loading
4315 Note that using the "-u NONE" and "--noplugin" command line arguments
4316 reset this option. |-u| |--noplugin|
4318 *'macatsui'* *'nomacatsui'*
4319 'macatsui' boolean (default on)
4321 {only available in Mac GUI version}
4322 This is a workaround for when drawing doesn't work properly. When set
4323 and compiled with multi-byte support ATSUI text drawing is used. When
4324 not set ATSUI text drawing is not used. Switch this option off when
4325 you experience drawing problems. In a future version the problems may
4326 be solved and this option becomes obsolete. Therefore use this method
4328 if exists('&macatsui')
4332 *'magic'* *'nomagic'*
4333 'magic' boolean (default on)
4335 Changes the special characters that can be used in search patterns.
4337 NOTE: To avoid portability problems with using patterns, always keep
4338 this option at the default "on". Only switch it off when working with
4339 old Vi scripts. In any other situation write patterns that work when
4340 'magic' is on. Include "\M" when you want to |/\M|.
4343 'makeef' 'mef' string (default: "")
4346 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
4348 Name of the errorfile for the |:make| command (see |:make_makeprg|)
4349 and the |:grep| command.
4350 When it is empty, an internally generated temp file will be used.
4351 When "##" is included, it is replaced by a number to make the name
4352 unique. This makes sure that the ":make" command doesn't overwrite an
4354 NOT used for the ":cf" command. See 'errorfile' for that.
4355 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
4356 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
4357 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4361 'makeprg' 'mp' string (default "make", VMS: "MMS")
4362 global or local to buffer |global-local|
4364 Program to use for the ":make" command. See |:make_makeprg|. This
4365 option may contain '%' and '#' characters, which are expanded like
4366 when used in a command-line. Environment variables are expanded
4367 |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and
4368 backslashes. Note that a '|' must be escaped twice: once for ":set"
4369 and once for the interpretation of a command. When you use a filter
4370 called "myfilter" do it like this: >
4371 :set makeprg=gmake\ \\\|\ myfilter
4372 < The placeholder "$*" can be given (even multiple times) to specify
4373 where the arguments will be included, for example: >
4374 :set makeprg=latex\ \\\\nonstopmode\ \\\\input\\{$*}
4375 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4378 *'matchpairs'* *'mps'*
4379 'matchpairs' 'mps' string (default "(:),{:},[:]")
4382 Characters that form pairs. The |%| command jumps from one to the
4383 other. Currently only single character pairs are allowed, and they
4384 must be different. The characters must be separated by a colon. The
4385 pairs must be separated by a comma. Example for including '<' and '>'
4389 < A more exotic example, to jump between the '=' and ';' in an
4390 assignment, useful for languages like C and Java: >
4391 :au FileType c,cpp,java set mps+==:;
4393 < For a more advanced way of using "%", see the matchit.vim plugin in
4394 the $VIMRUNTIME/macros directory. |add-local-help|
4396 *'matchtime'* *'mat'*
4397 'matchtime' 'mat' number (default 5)
4400 Tenths of a second to show the matching paren, when 'showmatch' is
4401 set. Note that this is not in milliseconds, like other options that
4402 set a time. This is to be compatible with Nvi.
4404 *'maxcombine'* *'mco'*
4405 'maxcombine' 'mco' number (default 2)
4408 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
4410 The maximum number of combining characters supported for displaying.
4411 Only used when 'encoding' is "utf-8".
4412 The default is OK for most languages. Hebrew may require 4.
4414 Even when this option is set to 2 you can still edit text with more
4415 combining characters, you just can't see them. Use |g8| or |ga|.
4416 See |mbyte-combining|.
4418 *'maxfuncdepth'* *'mfd'*
4419 'maxfuncdepth' 'mfd' number (default 100)
4422 Maximum depth of function calls for user functions. This normally
4423 catches endless recursion. When using a recursive function with
4424 more depth, set 'maxfuncdepth' to a bigger number. But this will use
4425 more memory, there is the danger of failing when memory is exhausted.
4426 See also |:function|.
4428 *'maxmapdepth'* *'mmd'* *E223*
4429 'maxmapdepth' 'mmd' number (default 1000)
4432 Maximum number of times a mapping is done without resulting in a
4433 character to be used. This normally catches endless mappings, like
4434 ":map x y" with ":map y x". It still does not catch ":map g wg",
4435 because the 'w' is used before the next mapping is done. See also
4439 'maxmem' 'mm' number (default between 256 to 5120 (system
4440 dependent) or half the amount of memory
4444 Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for one buffer. When this
4445 limit is reached allocating extra memory for a buffer will cause
4446 other memory to be freed. Maximum value 2000000. Use this to work
4447 without a limit. Also see 'maxmemtot'.
4449 *'maxmempattern'* *'mmp'*
4450 'maxmempattern' 'mmp' number (default 1000)
4453 Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for pattern matching.
4454 Maximum value 2000000. Use this to work without a limit.
4456 When Vim runs into the limit it gives an error message mostly behaves
4457 like CTRL-C was typed.
4458 Running into the limit often means that the pattern is very
4459 inefficient or too complex. This may already happen with the pattern
4460 "\(.\)*" on a very long line. ".*" works much better.
4461 Vim may run out of memory before hitting the 'maxmempattern' limit.
4463 *'maxmemtot'* *'mmt'*
4464 'maxmemtot' 'mmt' number (default between 2048 and 10240 (system
4465 dependent) or half the amount of memory
4469 Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for all buffers together.
4470 Maximum value 2000000. Use this to work without a limit. Also see
4473 *'menuitems'* *'mis'*
4474 'menuitems' 'mis' number (default 25)
4477 {not available when compiled without the |+menu|
4479 Maximum number of items to use in a menu. Used for menus that are
4480 generated from a list of items, e.g., the Buffers menu. Changing this
4481 option has no direct effect, the menu must be refreshed first.
4483 *'mkspellmem'* *'msm'*
4484 'mkspellmem' 'msm' string (default "460000,2000,500")
4487 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
4489 Parameters for |:mkspell|. This tunes when to start compressing the
4490 word tree. Compression can be slow when there are many words, but
4491 it's needed to avoid running out of memory. The amount of memory used
4492 per word depends very much on how similar the words are, that's why
4493 this tuning is complicated.
4495 There are three numbers, separated by commas:
4496 {start},{inc},{added}
4498 For most languages the uncompressed word tree fits in memory. {start}
4499 gives the amount of memory in Kbyte that can be used before any
4500 compression is done. It should be a bit smaller than the amount of
4501 memory that is available to Vim.
4503 When going over the {start} limit the {inc} number specifies the
4504 amount of memory in Kbyte that can be allocated before another
4505 compression is done. A low number means compression is done after
4506 less words are added, which is slow. A high number means more memory
4509 After doing compression, {added} times 1024 words can be added before
4510 the {inc} limit is ignored and compression is done when any extra
4511 amount of memory is needed. A low number means there is a smaller
4512 chance of hitting the {inc} limit, less memory is used but it's
4515 The languages for which these numbers are important are Italian and
4516 Hungarian. The default works for when you have about 512 Mbyte. If
4517 you have 1 Gbyte you could use: >
4518 :set mkspellmem=900000,3000,800
4519 < If you have less than 512 Mbyte |:mkspell| may fail for some
4520 languages, no matter what you set 'mkspellmem' to.
4522 *'modeline'* *'ml'* *'nomodeline'* *'noml'*
4523 'modeline' 'ml' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
4525 *'modelines'* *'mls'*
4526 'modelines' 'mls' number (default 5)
4529 If 'modeline' is on 'modelines' gives the number of lines that is
4530 checked for set commands. If 'modeline' is off or 'modelines' is zero
4531 no lines are checked. See |modeline|.
4532 NOTE: 'modeline' is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
4533 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
4535 *'modifiable'* *'ma'* *'nomodifiable'* *'noma'*
4536 'modifiable' 'ma' boolean (default on)
4539 When off the buffer contents cannot be changed. The 'fileformat' and
4540 'fileencoding' options also can't be changed.
4541 Can be reset with the |-M| command line argument.
4543 *'modified'* *'mod'* *'nomodified'* *'nomod'*
4544 'modified' 'mod' boolean (default off)
4547 When on, the buffer is considered to be modified. This option is set
4549 1. A change was made to the text since it was last written. Using the
4550 |undo| command to go back to the original text will reset the
4551 option. But undoing changes that were made before writing the
4552 buffer will set the option again, since the text is different from
4553 when it was written.
4554 2. 'fileformat' or 'fileencoding' is different from its original
4555 value. The original value is set when the buffer is read or
4556 written. A ":set nomodified" command also resets the original
4557 values to the current values and the 'modified' option will be
4559 When 'buftype' is "nowrite" or "nofile" this option may be set, but
4563 'more' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
4566 When on, listings pause when the whole screen is filled. You will get
4567 the |more-prompt|. When this option is off there are no pauses, the
4568 listing continues until finished.
4569 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
4570 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
4573 'mouse' string (default "", "a" for GUI, MS-DOS and Win32)
4576 Enable the use of the mouse. Only works for certain terminals
4577 (xterm, MS-DOS, Win32 |win32-mouse|, QNX pterm, and Linux console
4578 with gpm). For using the mouse in the GUI, see |gui-mouse|.
4579 The mouse can be enabled for different modes:
4584 h all previous modes when editing a help file
4585 a all previous modes
4586 r for |hit-enter| and |more-prompt| prompt
4587 Normally you would enable the mouse in all four modes with: >
4589 < When the mouse is not enabled, the GUI will still use the mouse for
4590 modeless selection. This doesn't move the text cursor.
4592 See |mouse-using|. Also see |'clipboard'|.
4594 Note: When enabling the mouse in a terminal, copy/paste will use the
4595 "* register if there is access to an X-server. The xterm handling of
4596 the mouse buttons can still be used by keeping the shift key pressed.
4597 Also see the 'clipboard' option.
4599 *'mousefocus'* *'mousef'* *'nomousefocus'* *'nomousef'*
4600 'mousefocus' 'mousef' boolean (default off)
4603 {only works in the GUI}
4604 The window that the mouse pointer is on is automatically activated.
4605 When changing the window layout or window focus in another way, the
4606 mouse pointer is moved to the window with keyboard focus. Off is the
4607 default because it makes using the pull down menus a little goofy, as
4608 a pointer transit may activate a window unintentionally.
4610 *'mousehide'* *'mh'* *'nomousehide'* *'nomh'*
4611 'mousehide' 'mh' boolean (default on)
4614 {only works in the GUI}
4615 When on, the mouse pointer is hidden when characters are typed.
4616 The mouse pointer is restored when the mouse is moved.
4618 *'mousemodel'* *'mousem'*
4619 'mousemodel' 'mousem' string (default "extend", "popup" for MS-DOS and Win32)
4622 Sets the model to use for the mouse. The name mostly specifies what
4623 the right mouse button is used for:
4624 extend Right mouse button extends a selection. This works
4626 popup Right mouse button pops up a menu. The shifted left
4627 mouse button extends a selection. This works like
4628 with Microsoft Windows.
4629 popup_setpos Like "popup", but the cursor will be moved to the
4630 position where the mouse was clicked, and thus the
4631 selected operation will act upon the clicked object.
4632 If clicking inside a selection, that selection will
4633 be acted upon, i.e. no cursor move. This implies of
4634 course, that right clicking outside a selection will
4636 Overview of what button does what for each model:
4637 mouse extend popup(_setpos) ~
4638 left click place cursor place cursor
4639 left drag start selection start selection
4640 shift-left search word extend selection
4641 right click extend selection popup menu (place cursor)
4642 right drag extend selection -
4643 middle click paste paste
4645 In the "popup" model the right mouse button produces a pop-up menu.
4646 You need to define this first, see |popup-menu|.
4648 Note that you can further refine the meaning of buttons with mappings.
4649 See |gui-mouse-mapping|. But mappings are NOT used for modeless
4650 selection (because that's handled in the GUI code directly).
4652 The 'mousemodel' option is set by the |:behave| command.
4654 *'mouseshape'* *'mouses'* *E547*
4655 'mouseshape' 'mouses' string (default "i:beam,r:beam,s:updown,sd:cross,
4656 m:no,ml:up-arrow,v:rightup-arrow")
4659 {only available when compiled with the |+mouseshape|
4661 This option tells Vim what the mouse pointer should look like in
4662 different modes. The option is a comma separated list of parts, much
4663 like used for 'guicursor'. Each part consist of a mode/location-list
4664 and an argument-list:
4665 mode-list:shape,mode-list:shape,..
4666 The mode-list is a dash separated list of these modes/locations:
4667 In a normal window: ~
4670 ve Visual mode with 'selection' "exclusive" (same as 'v',
4672 o Operator-pending mode
4677 c appending to the command-line
4678 ci inserting in the command-line
4679 cr replacing in the command-line
4680 m at the 'Hit ENTER' or 'More' prompts
4681 ml idem, but cursor in the last line
4682 e any mode, pointer below last window
4683 s any mode, pointer on a status line
4684 sd any mode, while dragging a status line
4685 vs any mode, pointer on a vertical separator line
4686 vd any mode, while dragging a vertical separator line
4689 The shape is one of the following:
4690 avail name looks like ~
4691 w x arrow Normal mouse pointer
4692 w x blank no pointer at all (use with care!)
4694 w x updown up-down sizing arrows
4695 w x leftright left-right sizing arrows
4696 w x busy The system's usual busy pointer
4697 w x no The system's usual 'no input' pointer
4698 x udsizing indicates up-down resizing
4699 x lrsizing indicates left-right resizing
4700 x crosshair like a big thin +
4703 x pencil what you write with
4705 x rightup-arrow arrow pointing right-up
4706 w x up-arrow arrow pointing up
4707 x <number> any X11 pointer number (see X11/cursorfont.h)
4709 The "avail" column contains a 'w' if the shape is available for Win32,
4711 Any modes not specified or shapes not available use the normal mouse
4715 :set mouseshape=s:udsizing,m:no
4716 < will make the mouse turn to a sizing arrow over the status lines and
4717 indicate no input when the hit-enter prompt is displayed (since
4718 clicking the mouse has no effect in this state.)
4720 *'mousetime'* *'mouset'*
4721 'mousetime' 'mouset' number (default 500)
4724 Only for GUI, MS-DOS, Win32 and Unix with xterm. Defines the maximum
4725 time in msec between two mouse clicks for the second click to be
4726 recognized as a multi click.
4728 *'mzquantum'* *'mzq'*
4729 'mzquantum' 'mzq' number (default 100)
4732 {not available when compiled without the |+mzscheme|
4734 The number of milliseconds between polls for MzScheme threads.
4735 Negative or zero value means no thread scheduling.
4737 *'nrformats'* *'nf'*
4738 'nrformats' 'nf' string (default "octal,hex")
4741 This defines what bases Vim will consider for numbers when using the
4742 CTRL-A and CTRL-X commands for adding to and subtracting from a number
4743 respectively; see |CTRL-A| for more info on these commands.
4744 alpha If included, single alphabetical characters will be
4745 incremented or decremented. This is useful for a list with a
4746 letter index a), b), etc.
4747 octal If included, numbers that start with a zero will be considered
4748 to be octal. Example: Using CTRL-A on "007" results in "010".
4749 hex If included, numbers starting with "0x" or "0X" will be
4750 considered to be hexadecimal. Example: Using CTRL-X on
4751 "0x100" results in "0x0ff".
4752 Numbers which simply begin with a digit in the range 1-9 are always
4753 considered decimal. This also happens for numbers that are not
4754 recognized as octal or hex.
4756 *'number'* *'nu'* *'nonumber'* *'nonu'*
4757 'number' 'nu' boolean (default off)
4759 Print the line number in front of each line. When the 'n' option is
4760 excluded from 'cpoptions' a wrapped line will not use the column of
4761 line numbers (this is the default when 'compatible' isn't set).
4762 The 'numberwidth' option can be used to set the room used for the line
4764 When a long, wrapped line doesn't start with the first character, '-'
4765 characters are put before the number.
4766 See |hl-LineNr| for the highlighting used for the number.
4768 *'numberwidth'* *'nuw'*
4769 'numberwidth' 'nuw' number (Vim default: 4 Vi default: 8)
4772 {only available when compiled with the |+linebreak|
4774 Minimal number of columns to use for the line number. Only relevant
4775 when the 'number' option is set or printing lines with a line number.
4776 Since one space is always between the number and the text, there is
4777 one less character for the number itself.
4778 The value is the minimum width. A bigger width is used when needed to
4779 fit the highest line number in the buffer. Thus with the Vim default
4780 of 4 there is room for a line number up to 999. When the buffer has
4781 1000 lines five columns will be used.
4782 The minimum value is 1, the maximum value is 10.
4783 NOTE: 'numberwidth' is reset to 8 when 'compatible' is set.
4785 *'omnifunc'* *'ofu'*
4786 'omnifunc' 'ofu' string (default: empty)
4789 {not available when compiled without the +eval
4790 or +insert_expand feature}
4791 This option specifies a function to be used for Insert mode omni
4792 completion with CTRL-X CTRL-O. |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O|
4793 See |complete-functions| for an explanation of how the function is
4794 invoked and what it should return.
4795 This option is usually set by a filetype plugin:
4796 |:filetype-plugin-on|
4799 *'opendevice* *'odev* *'noopendevice* *'noodev*
4800 'opendevice' 'odev' boolean (default off)
4803 {only for MS-DOS, MS-Windows and OS/2}
4804 Enable reading and writing from devices. This may get Vim stuck on a
4805 device that can be opened but doesn't actually do the I/O. Therefore
4806 it is off by default.
4807 Note that on MS-Windows editing "aux.h", "lpt1.txt" and the like also
4808 result in editing a device.
4811 *'operatorfunc'* *'opfunc'*
4812 'operatorfunc' 'opfunc' string (default: empty)
4815 This option specifies a function to be called by the |g@| operator.
4816 See |:map-operator| for more info and an example.
4818 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
4822 *'osfiletype'* *'oft'* *E366*
4823 'osfiletype' 'oft' string (RISC-OS default: "Text",
4827 {only available when compiled with the |+osfiletype|
4829 Some operating systems store extra information about files besides
4830 name, datestamp and permissions. This option contains the extra
4831 information, the nature of which will vary between systems.
4832 The value of this option is usually set when the file is loaded, and
4833 use to set the file type when file is written.
4834 It can affect the pattern matching of the automatic commands.
4835 |autocmd-osfiletypes|
4837 *'paragraphs'* *'para'*
4838 'paragraphs' 'para' string (default "IPLPPPQPP LIpplpipbp")
4840 Specifies the nroff macros that separate paragraphs. These are pairs
4841 of two letters (see |object-motions|).
4843 *'paste'* *'nopaste'*
4844 'paste' boolean (default off)
4847 Put Vim in Paste mode. This is useful if you want to cut or copy
4848 some text from one window and paste it in Vim. This will avoid
4850 Setting this option is useful when using Vim in a terminal, where Vim
4851 cannot distinguish between typed text and pasted text. In the GUI, Vim
4852 knows about pasting and will mostly do the right thing without 'paste'
4853 being set. The same is true for a terminal where Vim handles the
4854 mouse clicks itself.
4855 This option is reset when starting the GUI. Thus if you set it in
4856 your .vimrc it will work in a terminal, but not in the GUI. Setting
4857 'paste' in the GUI has side effects: e.g., the Paste toolbar button
4858 will no longer work in Insert mode, because it uses a mapping.
4859 When the 'paste' option is switched on (also when it was already on):
4860 - mapping in Insert mode and Command-line mode is disabled
4861 - abbreviations are disabled
4862 - 'textwidth' is set to 0
4863 - 'wrapmargin' is set to 0
4864 - 'autoindent' is reset
4865 - 'smartindent' is reset
4866 - 'softtabstop' is set to 0
4869 - 'showmatch' is reset
4870 - 'formatoptions' is used like it is empty
4871 These options keep their value, but their effect is disabled:
4875 NOTE: When you start editing another file while the 'paste' option is
4876 on, settings from the modelines or autocommands may change the
4877 settings again, causing trouble when pasting text. You might want to
4878 set the 'paste' option again.
4879 When the 'paste' option is reset the mentioned options are restored to
4880 the value before the moment 'paste' was switched from off to on.
4881 Resetting 'paste' before ever setting it does not have any effect.
4882 Since mapping doesn't work while 'paste' is active, you need to use
4883 the 'pastetoggle' option to toggle the 'paste' option with some key.
4885 *'pastetoggle'* *'pt'*
4886 'pastetoggle' 'pt' string (default "")
4889 When non-empty, specifies the key sequence that toggles the 'paste'
4890 option. This is like specifying a mapping: >
4891 :map {keys} :set invpaste<CR>
4892 < Where {keys} is the value of 'pastetoggle'.
4893 The difference is that it will work even when 'paste' is set.
4894 'pastetoggle' works in Insert mode and Normal mode, but not in
4896 Mappings are checked first, thus overrule 'pastetoggle'. However,
4897 when 'paste' is on mappings are ignored in Insert mode, thus you can do
4899 :map <F10> :set paste<CR>
4900 :map <F11> :set nopaste<CR>
4901 :imap <F10> <C-O>:set paste<CR>
4903 :set pastetoggle=<F11>
4904 < This will make <F10> start paste mode and <F11> stop paste mode.
4905 Note that typing <F10> in paste mode inserts "<F10>", since in paste
4906 mode everything is inserted literally, except the 'pastetoggle' key
4909 *'pex'* *'patchexpr'*
4910 'patchexpr' 'pex' string (default "")
4913 {not available when compiled without the |+diff|
4915 Expression which is evaluated to apply a patch to a file and generate
4916 the resulting new version of the file. See |diff-patchexpr|.
4918 *'patchmode'* *'pm'* *E206*
4919 'patchmode' 'pm' string (default "")
4922 When non-empty the oldest version of a file is kept. This can be used
4923 to keep the original version of a file if you are changing files in a
4924 source distribution. Only the first time that a file is written a
4925 copy of the original file will be kept. The name of the copy is the
4926 name of the original file with the string in the 'patchmode' option
4927 appended. This option should start with a dot. Use a string like
4928 ".org". 'backupdir' must not be empty for this to work (Detail: The
4929 backup file is renamed to the patchmode file after the new file has
4930 been successfully written, that's why it must be possible to write a
4931 backup file). If there was no file to be backed up, an empty file is
4933 When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a patchmode file is not made.
4934 Using 'patchmode' for compressed files appends the extension at the
4935 end (e.g., "file.gz.orig"), thus the resulting name isn't always
4936 recognized as a compressed file.
4937 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
4939 *'path'* *'pa'* *E343* *E345* *E347*
4940 'path' 'pa' string (default on Unix: ".,/usr/include,,"
4941 on OS/2: ".,/emx/include,,"
4942 other systems: ".,,")
4943 global or local to buffer |global-local|
4945 This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the
4946 |gf|, [f, ]f, ^Wf, |:find| and other commands, provided that the file
4947 being searched for has a relative path (not starting with '/'). The
4948 directories in the 'path' option may be relative or absolute.
4949 - Use commas to separate directory names: >
4950 :set path=.,/usr/local/include,/usr/include
4951 < - Spaces can also be used to separate directory names (for backwards
4952 compatibility with version 3.0). To have a space in a directory
4953 name, precede it with an extra backslash, and escape the space: >
4954 :set path=.,/dir/with\\\ space
4955 < - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with an extra
4957 :set path=.,/dir/with\\,comma
4958 < - To search relative to the directory of the current file, use: >
4960 < - To search in the current directory use an empty string between two
4963 < - A directory name may end in a ':' or '/'.
4964 - Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
4965 - When using |netrw.vim| URLs can be used. For example, adding
4966 "http://www.vim.org" will make ":find index.html" work.
4967 - Search upwards and downwards in a directory tree:
4968 1) "*" matches a sequence of characters, e.g.: >
4969 :set path=/usr/include/*
4970 < means all subdirectories in /usr/include (but not /usr/include
4973 < matches /usr/doc and /usr/src.
4974 2) "**" matches a subtree, up to 100 directories deep. Example: >
4975 :set path=/home/user_x/src/**
4976 < means search in the whole subtree under "/home/usr_x/src".
4977 3) If the path ends with a ';', this path is the startpoint
4979 See |file-searching| for more info and exact syntax.
4980 {not available when compiled without the |+path_extra| feature}
4981 - Careful with '\' characters, type two to get one in the option: >
4982 :set path=.,c:\\include
4983 < Or just use '/' instead: >
4984 :set path=.,c:/include
4985 < Don't forget "." or files won't even be found in the same directory as
4987 The maximum length is limited. How much depends on the system, mostly
4988 it is something like 256 or 1024 characters.
4989 You can check if all the include files are found, using the value of
4990 'path', see |:checkpath|.
4991 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
4992 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
4993 uses another default. To remove the current directory use: >
4995 < To add the current directory use: >
4997 < To use an environment variable, you probably need to replace the
4998 separator. Here is an example to append $INCL, in which directory
4999 names are separated with a semi-colon: >
5000 :let &path = &path . "," . substitute($INCL, ';', ',', 'g')
5001 < Replace the ';' with a ':' or whatever separator is used. Note that
5002 this doesn't work when $INCL contains a comma or white space.
5004 *'preserveindent'* *'pi'* *'nopreserveindent'* *'nopi'*
5005 'preserveindent' 'pi' boolean (default off)
5008 When changing the indent of the current line, preserve as much of the
5009 indent structure as possible. Normally the indent is replaced by a
5010 series of tabs followed by spaces as required (unless |'expandtab'| is
5011 enabled, in which case only spaces are used). Enabling this option
5012 means the indent will preserve as many existing characters as possible
5013 for indenting, and only add additional tabs or spaces as required.
5014 NOTE: When using ">>" multiple times the resulting indent is a mix of
5015 tabs and spaces. You might not like this.
5016 NOTE: 'preserveindent' is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5017 Also see 'copyindent'.
5018 Use |:retab| to clean up white space.
5020 *'previewheight'* *'pvh'*
5021 'previewheight' 'pvh' number (default 12)
5024 {not available when compiled without the |+windows| or
5025 |+quickfix| feature}
5026 Default height for a preview window. Used for |:ptag| and associated
5027 commands. Used for |CTRL-W_}| when no count is given.
5029 *'previewwindow'* *'nopreviewwindow'*
5030 *'pvw'* *'nopvw'* *E590*
5031 'previewwindow' 'pvw' boolean (default off)
5034 {not available when compiled without the |+windows| or
5035 |+quickfix| feature}
5036 Identifies the preview window. Only one window can have this option
5037 set. It's normally not set directly, but by using one of the commands
5038 |:ptag|, |:pedit|, etc.
5040 *'printdevice'* *'pdev'*
5041 'printdevice' 'pdev' string (default empty)
5044 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5046 The name of the printer to be used for |:hardcopy|.
5048 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5051 *'printencoding'* *'penc'*
5052 'printencoding' 'penc' String (default empty, except for some systems)
5055 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5056 and |+postscript| features}
5057 Sets the character encoding used when printing.
5060 *'printexpr'* *'pexpr'*
5061 'printexpr' 'pexpr' String (default: see below)
5064 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5065 and |+postscript| features}
5066 Expression used to print the PostScript produced with |:hardcopy|.
5069 *'printfont'* *'pfn'*
5070 'printfont' 'pfn' string (default "courier")
5073 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5075 The name of the font that will be used for |:hardcopy|.
5078 *'printheader'* *'pheader'*
5079 'printheader' 'pheader' string (default "%<%f%h%m%=Page %N")
5082 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|
5084 The format of the header produced in |:hardcopy| output.
5085 See |pheader-option|.
5087 *'printmbcharset'* *'pmbcs'*
5088 'printmbcharset' 'pmbcs' string (default "")
5091 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|,
5092 |+postscript| and |+multi_byte| features}
5093 The CJK character set to be used for CJK output from |:hardcopy|.
5096 *'printmbfont'* *'pmbfn'*
5097 'printmbfont' 'pmbfn' string (default "")
5100 {only available when compiled with the |+printer|,
5101 |+postscript| and |+multi_byte| features}
5102 List of font names to be used for CJK output from |:hardcopy|.
5105 *'printoptions'* *'popt'*
5106 'printoptions' 'popt' string (default "")
5109 {only available when compiled with |+printer| feature}
5110 List of items that control the format of the output of |:hardcopy|.
5113 *'prompt'* *'noprompt'*
5114 'prompt' boolean (default on)
5116 When on a ":" prompt is used in Ex mode.
5118 *'pumheight'* *'ph'*
5119 'pumheight' 'ph' number (default 0)
5121 {not available when compiled without the
5122 |+insert_expand| feature}
5124 Determines the maximum number of items to show in the popup menu for
5125 Insert mode completion. When zero as much space as available is used.
5126 |ins-completion-menu|.
5129 *'quoteescape'* *'qe'*
5130 'quoteescape' 'qe' string (default "\")
5133 The characters that are used to escape quotes in a string. Used for
5134 objects like a', a" and a` |a'|.
5135 When one of the characters in this option is found inside a string,
5136 the following character will be skipped. The default value makes the
5137 text "foo\"bar\\" considered to be one string.
5139 *'readonly'* *'ro'* *'noreadonly'* *'noro'*
5140 'readonly' 'ro' boolean (default off)
5142 If on, writes fail unless you use a '!'. Protects you from
5143 accidentally overwriting a file. Default on when Vim is started
5144 in read-only mode ("vim -R") or when the executable is called "view".
5145 When using ":w!" the 'readonly' option is reset for the current
5146 buffer, unless the 'Z' flag is in 'cpoptions'.
5147 {not in Vi:} When using the ":view" command the 'readonly' option is
5148 set for the newly edited buffer.
5150 *'remap'* *'noremap'*
5151 'remap' boolean (default on)
5153 Allows for mappings to work recursively. If you do not want this for
5154 a single entry, use the :noremap[!] command.
5155 NOTE: To avoid portability problems with Vim scripts, always keep
5156 this option at the default "on". Only switch it off when working with
5160 'report' number (default 2)
5162 Threshold for reporting number of lines changed. When the number of
5163 changed lines is more than 'report' a message will be given for most
5164 ":" commands. If you want it always, set 'report' to 0.
5165 For the ":substitute" command the number of substitutions is used
5166 instead of the number of lines.
5168 *'restorescreen'* *'rs'* *'norestorescreen'* *'nors'*
5169 'restorescreen' 'rs' boolean (default on)
5171 {not in Vi} {only in Windows 95/NT console version}
5172 When set, the screen contents is restored when exiting Vim. This also
5173 happens when executing external commands.
5175 For non-Windows Vim: You can set or reset the 't_ti' and 't_te'
5176 options in your .vimrc. To disable restoring:
5178 To enable restoring (for an xterm):
5179 set t_ti=^[7^[[r^[[?47h t_te=^[[?47l^[8
5180 (Where ^[ is an <Esc>, type CTRL-V <Esc> to insert it)
5182 *'revins'* *'ri'* *'norevins'* *'nori'*
5183 'revins' 'ri' boolean (default off)
5186 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
5188 Inserting characters in Insert mode will work backwards. See "typing
5189 backwards" |ins-reverse|. This option can be toggled with the CTRL-_
5190 command in Insert mode, when 'allowrevins' is set.
5191 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' or 'paste' is set.
5193 *'rightleft'* *'rl'* *'norightleft'* *'norl'*
5194 'rightleft' 'rl' boolean (default off)
5197 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
5199 When on, display orientation becomes right-to-left, i.e., characters
5200 that are stored in the file appear from the right to the left.
5201 Using this option, it is possible to edit files for languages that
5202 are written from the right to the left such as Hebrew and Arabic.
5203 This option is per window, so it is possible to edit mixed files
5204 simultaneously, or to view the same file in both ways (this is
5205 useful whenever you have a mixed text file with both right-to-left
5206 and left-to-right strings so that both sets are displayed properly
5207 in different windows). Also see |rileft.txt|.
5209 *'rightleftcmd'* *'rlc'* *'norightleftcmd'* *'norlc'*
5210 'rightleftcmd' 'rlc' string (default "search")
5213 {only available when compiled with the |+rightleft|
5215 Each word in this option enables the command line editing to work in
5216 right-to-left mode for a group of commands:
5218 search "/" and "?" commands
5220 This is useful for languages such as Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi.
5221 The 'rightleft' option must be set for 'rightleftcmd' to take effect.
5223 *'ruler'* *'ru'* *'noruler'* *'noru'*
5224 'ruler' 'ru' boolean (default off)
5227 {not available when compiled without the
5228 |+cmdline_info| feature}
5229 Show the line and column number of the cursor position, separated by a
5230 comma. When there is room, the relative position of the displayed
5231 text in the file is shown on the far right:
5232 Top first line is visible
5233 Bot last line is visible
5234 All first and last line are visible
5235 45% relative position in the file
5236 If 'rulerformat' is set, it will determine the contents of the ruler.
5237 Each window has its own ruler. If a window has a status line, the
5238 ruler is shown there. Otherwise it is shown in the last line of the
5239 screen. If the statusline is given by 'statusline' (i.e. not empty),
5240 this option takes precedence over 'ruler' and 'rulerformat'
5241 If the number of characters displayed is different from the number of
5242 bytes in the text (e.g., for a TAB or a multi-byte character), both
5243 the text column (byte number) and the screen column are shown,
5244 separated with a dash.
5245 For an empty line "0-1" is shown.
5246 For an empty buffer the line number will also be zero: "0,0-1".
5247 This option is reset when the 'paste' option is set.
5248 If you don't want to see the ruler all the time but want to know where
5249 you are, use "g CTRL-G" |g_CTRL-G|.
5250 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5252 *'rulerformat'* *'ruf'*
5253 'rulerformat' 'ruf' string (default empty)
5256 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline|
5258 When this option is not empty, it determines the content of the ruler
5259 string, as displayed for the 'ruler' option.
5260 The format of this option is like that of 'statusline'.
5261 The default ruler width is 17 characters. To make the ruler 15
5262 characters wide, put "%15(" at the start and "%)" at the end.
5264 :set rulerformat=%15(%c%V\ %p%%%)
5266 *'runtimepath'* *'rtp'* *vimfiles*
5267 'runtimepath' 'rtp' string (default:
5271 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5273 Amiga: "home:vimfiles,
5276 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5277 home:vimfiles/after"
5278 PC, OS/2: "$HOME/vimfiles,
5281 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5282 $HOME/vimfiles/after"
5283 Macintosh: "$VIM:vimfiles,
5285 $VIM:vimfiles:after"
5286 RISC-OS: "Choices:vimfiles,
5288 Choices:vimfiles/after"
5289 VMS: "sys$login:vimfiles,
5292 $VIM/vimfiles/after,
5293 sys$login:vimfiles/after")
5296 This is a list of directories which will be searched for runtime
5298 filetype.vim filetypes by file name |new-filetype|
5299 scripts.vim filetypes by file contents |new-filetype-scripts|
5300 autoload/ automatically loaded scripts |autoload-functions|
5301 colors/ color scheme files |:colorscheme|
5302 compiler/ compiler files |:compiler|
5303 doc/ documentation |write-local-help|
5304 ftplugin/ filetype plugins |write-filetype-plugin|
5305 indent/ indent scripts |indent-expression|
5306 keymap/ key mapping files |mbyte-keymap|
5307 lang/ menu translations |:menutrans|
5308 menu.vim GUI menus |menu.vim|
5309 plugin/ plugin scripts |write-plugin|
5310 print/ files for printing |postscript-print-encoding|
5311 spell/ spell checking files |spell|
5312 syntax/ syntax files |mysyntaxfile|
5313 tutor/ files for vimtutor |tutor|
5315 And any other file searched for with the |:runtime| command.
5317 The defaults for most systems are setup to search five locations:
5318 1. In your home directory, for your personal preferences.
5319 2. In a system-wide Vim directory, for preferences from the system
5321 3. In $VIMRUNTIME, for files distributed with Vim.
5323 4. In the "after" directory in the system-wide Vim directory. This is
5324 for the system administrator to overrule or add to the distributed
5325 defaults (rarely needed)
5326 5. In the "after" directory in your home directory. This is for
5327 personal preferences to overrule or add to the distributed defaults
5328 or system-wide settings (rarely needed).
5330 Note that, unlike 'path', no wildcards like "**" are allowed. Normal
5331 wildcards are allowed, but can significantly slow down searching for
5332 runtime files. For speed, use as few items as possible and avoid
5336 :set runtimepath=~/vimruntime,/mygroup/vim,$VIMRUNTIME
5337 < This will use the directory "~/vimruntime" first (containing your
5338 personal Vim runtime files), then "/mygroup/vim" (shared between a
5339 group of people) and finally "$VIMRUNTIME" (the distributed runtime
5341 You probably should always include $VIMRUNTIME somewhere, to use the
5342 distributed runtime files. You can put a directory before $VIMRUNTIME
5343 to find files which replace a distributed runtime files. You can put
5344 a directory after $VIMRUNTIME to find files which add to distributed
5346 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5350 'scroll' 'scr' number (default: half the window height)
5352 Number of lines to scroll with CTRL-U and CTRL-D commands. Will be
5353 set to half the number of lines in the window when the window size
5354 changes. If you give a count to the CTRL-U or CTRL-D command it will
5355 be used as the new value for 'scroll'. Reset to half the window
5356 height with ":set scroll=0". {Vi is a bit different: 'scroll' gives
5357 the number of screen lines instead of file lines, makes a difference
5360 *'scrollbind'* *'scb'* *'noscrollbind'* *'noscb'*
5361 'scrollbind' 'scb' boolean (default off)
5364 {not available when compiled without the |+scrollbind|
5366 See also |scroll-binding|. When this option is set, the current
5367 window scrolls as other scrollbind windows (windows that also have
5368 this option set) scroll. This option is useful for viewing the
5369 differences between two versions of a file, see 'diff'.
5370 See |'scrollopt'| for options that determine how this option should be
5372 This option is mostly reset when splitting a window to edit another
5373 file. This means that ":split | edit file" results in two windows
5374 with scroll-binding, but ":split file" does not.
5376 *'scrolljump'* *'sj'*
5377 'scrolljump' 'sj' number (default 1)
5380 Minimal number of lines to scroll when the cursor gets off the
5381 screen (e.g., with "j"). Not used for scroll commands (e.g., CTRL-E,
5382 CTRL-D). Useful if your terminal scrolls very slowly.
5383 When set to a negative number from -1 to -100 this is used as the
5384 percentage of the window height. Thus -50 scrolls half the window
5386 NOTE: This option is set to 1 when 'compatible' is set.
5388 *'scrolloff'* *'so'*
5389 'scrolloff' 'so' number (default 0)
5392 Minimal number of screen lines to keep above and below the cursor.
5393 This will make some context visible around where you are working. If
5394 you set it to a very large value (999) the cursor line will always be
5395 in the middle of the window (except at the start or end of the file or
5396 when long lines wrap).
5397 For scrolling horizontally see 'sidescrolloff'.
5398 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
5400 *'scrollopt'* *'sbo'*
5401 'scrollopt' 'sbo' string (default "ver,jump")
5403 {not available when compiled without the |+scrollbind|
5406 This is a comma-separated list of words that specifies how
5407 'scrollbind' windows should behave. 'sbo' stands for ScrollBind
5409 The following words are available:
5410 ver Bind vertical scrolling for 'scrollbind' windows
5411 hor Bind horizontal scrolling for 'scrollbind' windows
5412 jump Applies to the offset between two windows for vertical
5413 scrolling. This offset is the difference in the first
5414 displayed line of the bound windows. When moving
5415 around in a window, another 'scrollbind' window may
5416 reach a position before the start or after the end of
5417 the buffer. The offset is not changed though, when
5418 moving back the 'scrollbind' window will try to scroll
5419 to the desired position when possible.
5420 When now making that window the current one, two
5421 things can be done with the relative offset:
5422 1. When "jump" is not included, the relative offset is
5423 adjusted for the scroll position in the new current
5424 window. When going back to the other window, the
5425 the new relative offset will be used.
5426 2. When "jump" is included, the other windows are
5427 scrolled to keep the same relative offset. When
5428 going back to the other window, it still uses the
5429 same relative offset.
5430 Also see |scroll-binding|.
5431 When 'diff' mode is active there always is vertical scroll binding,
5432 even when "ver" isn't there.
5434 *'sections'* *'sect'*
5435 'sections' 'sect' string (default "SHNHH HUnhsh")
5437 Specifies the nroff macros that separate sections. These are pairs of
5438 two letters (See |object-motions|). The default makes a section start
5439 at the nroff macros ".SH", ".NH", ".H", ".HU", ".nh" and ".sh".
5441 *'secure'* *'nosecure'* *E523*
5442 'secure' boolean (default off)
5445 When on, ":autocmd", shell and write commands are not allowed in
5446 ".vimrc" and ".exrc" in the current directory and map commands are
5447 displayed. Switch it off only if you know that you will not run into
5448 problems, or when the 'exrc' option is off. On Unix this option is
5449 only used if the ".vimrc" or ".exrc" is not owned by you. This can be
5450 dangerous if the systems allows users to do a "chown". You better set
5451 'secure' at the end of your ~/.vimrc then.
5452 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5455 *'selection'* *'sel'*
5456 'selection' 'sel' string (default "inclusive")
5459 This option defines the behavior of the selection. It is only used
5460 in Visual and Select mode.
5462 value past line inclusive ~
5466 "past line" means that the cursor is allowed to be positioned one
5467 character past the line.
5468 "inclusive" means that the last character of the selection is included
5469 in an operation. For example, when "x" is used to delete the
5471 Note that when "exclusive" is used and selecting from the end
5472 backwards, you cannot include the last character of a line, when
5473 starting in Normal mode and 'virtualedit' empty.
5475 The 'selection' option is set by the |:behave| command.
5477 *'selectmode'* *'slm'*
5478 'selectmode' 'slm' string (default "")
5481 This is a comma separated list of words, which specifies when to start
5482 Select mode instead of Visual mode, when a selection is started.
5484 mouse when using the mouse
5485 key when using shifted special keys
5486 cmd when using "v", "V" or CTRL-V
5488 The 'selectmode' option is set by the |:behave| command.
5490 *'sessionoptions'* *'ssop'*
5491 'sessionoptions' 'ssop' string (default: "blank,buffers,curdir,folds,
5492 help,options,tabpages,winsize")
5495 {not available when compiled without the +mksession
5497 Changes the effect of the |:mksession| command. It is a comma
5498 separated list of words. Each word enables saving and restoring
5500 word save and restore ~
5502 buffers hidden and unloaded buffers, not just those in windows
5503 curdir the current directory
5504 folds manually created folds, opened/closed folds and local
5506 globals global variables that start with an uppercase letter
5507 and contain at least one lowercase letter. Only
5508 String and Number types are stored.
5509 help the help window
5510 localoptions options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not
5511 global values for local options)
5512 options all options and mappings (also global values for local
5514 resize size of the Vim window: 'lines' and 'columns'
5515 sesdir the directory in which the session file is located
5516 will become the current directory (useful with
5517 projects accessed over a network from different
5519 slash backslashes in file names replaced with forward
5521 tabpages all tab pages; without this only the current tab page
5522 is restored, so that you can make a session for each
5524 unix with Unix end-of-line format (single <NL>), even when
5526 winpos position of the whole Vim window
5527 winsize window sizes
5529 Don't include both "curdir" and "sesdir".
5530 There is no option to include tab pages yet, only the current tab page
5531 is stored in the session. |tab-page|
5532 When "curdir" nor "sesdir" is included, file names are stored with
5534 "slash" and "unix" are useful on Windows when sharing session files
5535 with Unix. The Unix version of Vim cannot source dos format scripts,
5536 but the Windows version of Vim can source unix format scripts.
5538 *'shell'* *'sh'* *E91*
5539 'shell' 'sh' string (default $SHELL or "sh",
5540 MS-DOS and Win32: "command.com" or
5541 "cmd.exe", OS/2: "cmd")
5543 Name of the shell to use for ! and :! commands. When changing the
5544 value also check these options: 'shelltype', 'shellpipe', 'shellslash'
5545 'shellredir', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote' and 'shellcmdflag'.
5546 It is allowed to give an argument to the command, e.g. "csh -f".
5547 See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.
5548 Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
5549 If the name of the shell contains a space, you might need to enclose
5550 it in quotes. Example: >
5551 :set shell=\"c:\program\ files\unix\sh.exe\"\ -f
5552 < Note the backslash before each quote (to avoid starting a comment) and
5553 each space (to avoid ending the option value). Also note that the
5554 "-f" is not inside the quotes, because it is not part of the command
5555 name. And Vim automagically recognizes the backslashes that are path
5557 For Dos 32 bits (DJGPP), you can set the $DJSYSFLAGS environment
5558 variable to change the way external commands are executed. See the
5559 libc.inf file of DJGPP.
5560 Under MS-Windows, when the executable ends in ".com" it must be
5561 included. Thus setting the shell to "command.com" or "4dos.com"
5562 works, but "command" and "4dos" do not work for all commands (e.g.,
5564 For unknown reasons, when using "4dos.com" the current directory is
5565 changed to "C:\". To avoid this set 'shell' like this: >
5566 :set shell=command.com\ /c\ 4dos
5567 < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5570 *'shellcmdflag'* *'shcf'*
5571 'shellcmdflag' 'shcf' string (default: "-c", MS-DOS and Win32, when 'shell'
5572 does not contain "sh" somewhere: "/c")
5575 Flag passed to the shell to execute "!" and ":!" commands; e.g.,
5576 "bash.exe -c ls" or "command.com /c dir". For the MS-DOS-like
5577 systems, the default is set according to the value of 'shell', to
5578 reduce the need to set this option by the user. It's not used for
5579 OS/2 (EMX figures this out itself). See |option-backslash| about
5580 including spaces and backslashes. See |dos-shell|.
5581 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5584 *'shellpipe'* *'sp'*
5585 'shellpipe' 'sp' string (default ">", "| tee", "|& tee" or "2>&1| tee")
5588 {not available when compiled without the |+quickfix|
5590 String to be used to put the output of the ":make" command in the
5591 error file. See also |:make_makeprg|. See |option-backslash| about
5592 including spaces and backslashes.
5593 The name of the temporary file can be represented by "%s" if necessary
5594 (the file name is appended automatically if no %s appears in the value
5596 For the Amiga and MS-DOS the default is ">". The output is directly
5597 saved in a file and not echoed to the screen.
5598 For Unix the default it "| tee". The stdout of the compiler is saved
5599 in a file and echoed to the screen. If the 'shell' option is "csh" or
5600 "tcsh" after initializations, the default becomes "|& tee". If the
5601 'shell' option is "sh", "ksh", "zsh" or "bash" the default becomes
5602 "2>&1| tee". This means that stderr is also included.
5603 The initialization of this option is done after reading the ".vimrc"
5604 and the other initializations, so that when the 'shell' option is set
5605 there, the 'shellpipe' option changes automatically, unless it was
5606 explicitly set before.
5607 When 'shellpipe' is set to an empty string, no redirection of the
5608 ":make" output will be done. This is useful if you use a 'makeprg'
5609 that writes to 'makeef' by itself. If you want no piping, but do
5610 want to include the 'makeef', set 'shellpipe' to a single space.
5611 Don't forget to precede the space with a backslash: ":set sp=\ ".
5612 In the future pipes may be used for filtering and this option will
5613 become obsolete (at least for Unix).
5614 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5617 *'shellquote'* *'shq'*
5618 'shellquote' 'shq' string (default: ""; MS-DOS and Win32, when 'shell'
5619 contains "sh" somewhere: "\"")
5622 Quoting character(s), put around the command passed to the shell, for
5623 the "!" and ":!" commands. The redirection is kept outside of the
5624 quoting. See 'shellxquote' to include the redirection. It's
5625 probably not useful to set both options.
5626 This is an empty string by default. Only known to be useful for
5627 third-party shells on MS-DOS-like systems, such as the MKS Korn Shell
5628 or bash, where it should be "\"". The default is adjusted according
5629 the value of 'shell', to reduce the need to set this option by the
5630 user. See |dos-shell|.
5631 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5634 *'shellredir'* *'srr'*
5635 'shellredir' 'srr' string (default ">", ">&" or ">%s 2>&1")
5638 String to be used to put the output of a filter command in a temporary
5639 file. See also |:!|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces
5641 The name of the temporary file can be represented by "%s" if necessary
5642 (the file name is appended automatically if no %s appears in the value
5644 The default is ">". For Unix, if the 'shell' option is "csh", "tcsh"
5645 or "zsh" during initializations, the default becomes ">&". If the
5646 'shell' option is "sh", "ksh" or "bash" the default becomes
5647 ">%s 2>&1". This means that stderr is also included.
5648 For Win32, the Unix checks are done and additionally "cmd" is checked
5649 for, which makes the default ">%s 2>&1". Also, the same names with
5650 ".exe" appended are checked for.
5651 The initialization of this option is done after reading the ".vimrc"
5652 and the other initializations, so that when the 'shell' option is set
5653 there, the 'shellredir' option changes automatically unless it was
5654 explicitly set before.
5655 In the future pipes may be used for filtering and this option will
5656 become obsolete (at least for Unix).
5657 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5660 *'shellslash'* *'ssl'* *'noshellslash'* *'nossl'*
5661 'shellslash' 'ssl' boolean (default off)
5663 {not in Vi} {only for MSDOS, MS-Windows and OS/2}
5664 When set, a forward slash is used when expanding file names. This is
5665 useful when a Unix-like shell is used instead of command.com or
5666 cmd.exe. Backward slashes can still be typed, but they are changed to
5667 forward slashes by Vim.
5668 Note that setting or resetting this option has no effect for some
5669 existing file names, thus this option needs to be set before opening
5670 any file for best results. This might change in the future.
5671 'shellslash' only works when a backslash can be used as a path
5672 separator. To test if this is so use: >
5673 if exists('+shellslash')
5675 *'shelltemp'* *'stmp'* *'noshelltemp'* *'nostmp'*
5676 'shelltemp' 'stmp' boolean (Vi default off, Vim default on)
5679 When on, use temp files for shell commands. When off use a pipe.
5680 When using a pipe is not possible temp files are used anyway.
5681 Currently a pipe is only supported on Unix. You can check it with: >
5682 :if has("filterpipe")
5683 < The advantage of using a pipe is that nobody can read the temp file
5684 and the 'shell' command does not need to support redirection.
5685 The advantage of using a temp file is that the file type and encoding
5687 The |FilterReadPre|, |FilterReadPost| and |FilterWritePre|,
5688 |FilterWritePost| autocommands event are not triggered when
5691 *'shelltype'* *'st'*
5692 'shelltype' 'st' number (default 0)
5694 {not in Vi} {only for the Amiga}
5695 On the Amiga this option influences the way how the commands work
5697 0 and 1: always use the shell
5698 2 and 3: use the shell only to filter lines
5699 4 and 5: use shell only for ':sh' command
5700 When not using the shell, the command is executed directly.
5702 0 and 2: use "shell 'shellcmdflag' cmd" to start external commands
5703 1 and 3: use "shell cmd" to start external commands
5705 *'shellxquote'* *'sxq'*
5706 'shellxquote' 'sxq' string (default: "";
5707 for Win32, when 'shell' contains "sh"
5709 for Unix, when using system(): "\"")
5712 Quoting character(s), put around the command passed to the shell, for
5713 the "!" and ":!" commands. Includes the redirection. See
5714 'shellquote' to exclude the redirection. It's probably not useful
5715 to set both options.
5716 This is an empty string by default. Known to be useful for
5717 third-party shells when using the Win32 version, such as the MKS Korn
5718 Shell or bash, where it should be "\"". The default is adjusted
5719 according the value of 'shell', to reduce the need to set this option
5720 by the user. See |dos-shell|.
5721 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
5724 *'shiftround'* *'sr'* *'noshiftround'* *'nosr'*
5725 'shiftround' 'sr' boolean (default off)
5728 Round indent to multiple of 'shiftwidth'. Applies to > and <
5729 commands. CTRL-T and CTRL-D in Insert mode always round the indent to
5730 a multiple of 'shiftwidth' (this is Vi compatible).
5731 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5733 *'shiftwidth'* *'sw'*
5734 'shiftwidth' 'sw' number (default 8)
5736 Number of spaces to use for each step of (auto)indent. Used for
5737 |'cindent'|, |>>|, |<<|, etc.
5739 *'shortmess'* *'shm'*
5740 'shortmess' 'shm' string (Vim default "filnxtToO", Vi default: "",
5744 This option helps to avoid all the |hit-enter| prompts caused by file
5745 messages, for example with CTRL-G, and to avoid some other messages.
5746 It is a list of flags:
5747 flag meaning when present ~
5748 f use "(3 of 5)" instead of "(file 3 of 5)"
5749 i use "[noeol]" instead of "[Incomplete last line]"
5750 l use "999L, 888C" instead of "999 lines, 888 characters"
5751 m use "[+]" instead of "[Modified]"
5752 n use "[New]" instead of "[New File]"
5753 r use "[RO]" instead of "[readonly]"
5754 w use "[w]" instead of "written" for file write message
5755 and "[a]" instead of "appended" for ':w >> file' command
5756 x use "[dos]" instead of "[dos format]", "[unix]" instead of
5757 "[unix format]" and "[mac]" instead of "[mac format]".
5758 a all of the above abbreviations
5760 o overwrite message for writing a file with subsequent message
5761 for reading a file (useful for ":wn" or when 'autowrite' on)
5762 O message for reading a file overwrites any previous message.
5763 Also for quickfix message (e.g., ":cn").
5764 s don't give "search hit BOTTOM, continuing at TOP" or "search
5765 hit TOP, continuing at BOTTOM" messages
5766 t truncate file message at the start if it is too long to fit
5767 on the command-line, "<" will appear in the left most column.
5769 T truncate other messages in the middle if they are too long to
5770 fit on the command line. "..." will appear in the middle.
5772 W don't give "written" or "[w]" when writing a file
5773 A don't give the "ATTENTION" message when an existing swap file
5775 I don't give the intro message when starting Vim |:intro|.
5777 This gives you the opportunity to avoid that a change between buffers
5778 requires you to hit <Enter>, but still gives as useful a message as
5779 possible for the space available. To get the whole message that you
5780 would have got with 'shm' empty, use ":file!"
5782 shm= No abbreviation of message.
5783 shm=a Abbreviation, but no loss of information.
5784 shm=at Abbreviation, and truncate message when necessary.
5786 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
5787 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
5789 *'shortname'* *'sn'* *'noshortname'* *'nosn'*
5790 'shortname' 'sn' boolean (default off)
5792 {not in Vi, not in MS-DOS versions}
5793 Filenames are assumed to be 8 characters plus one extension of 3
5794 characters. Multiple dots in file names are not allowed. When this
5795 option is on, dots in file names are replaced with underscores when
5796 adding an extension (".~" or ".swp"). This option is not available
5797 for MS-DOS, because then it would always be on. This option is useful
5798 when editing files on an MS-DOS compatible filesystem, e.g., messydos
5799 or crossdos. When running the Win32 GUI version under Win32s, this
5800 option is always on by default.
5802 *'showbreak'* *'sbr'* *E595*
5803 'showbreak' 'sbr' string (default "")
5806 {not available when compiled without the |+linebreak|
5808 String to put at the start of lines that have been wrapped. Useful
5809 values are "> " or "+++ ".
5810 Only printable single-cell characters are allowed, excluding <Tab> and
5811 comma (in a future version the comma might be used to separate the
5812 part that is shown at the end and at the start of a line).
5813 The characters are highlighted according to the '@' flag in
5815 Note that tabs after the showbreak will be displayed differently.
5816 If you want the 'showbreak' to appear in between line numbers, add the
5817 "n" flag to 'cpoptions'.
5819 *'showcmd'* *'sc'* *'noshowcmd'* *'nosc'*
5820 'showcmd' 'sc' boolean (Vim default: on, off for Unix, Vi default:
5824 {not available when compiled without the
5825 |+cmdline_info| feature}
5826 Show (partial) command in status line. Set this option off if your
5828 In Visual mode the size of the selected area is shown:
5829 - When selecting characters within a line, the number of characters.
5830 - When selecting more than one line, the number of lines.
5831 - When selecting a block, the size in screen characters: linesxcolumns.
5832 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
5833 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
5835 *'showfulltag'* *'sft'* *'noshowfulltag'* *'nosft'*
5836 'showfulltag' 'sft' boolean (default off)
5839 When completing a word in insert mode (see |ins-completion|) from the
5840 tags file, show both the tag name and a tidied-up form of the search
5841 pattern (if there is one) as possible matches. Thus, if you have
5842 matched a C function, you can see a template for what arguments are
5843 required (coding style permitting).
5845 *'showmatch'* *'sm'* *'noshowmatch'* *'nosm'*
5846 'showmatch' 'sm' boolean (default off)
5848 When a bracket is inserted, briefly jump to the matching one. The
5849 jump is only done if the match can be seen on the screen. The time to
5850 show the match can be set with 'matchtime'.
5851 A Beep is given if there is no match (no matter if the match can be
5852 seen or not). This option is reset when the 'paste' option is set.
5853 When the 'm' flag is not included in 'cpoptions', typing a character
5854 will immediately move the cursor back to where it belongs.
5855 See the "sm" field in 'guicursor' for setting the cursor shape and
5856 blinking when showing the match.
5857 The 'matchpairs' option can be used to specify the characters to show
5858 matches for. 'rightleft' and 'revins' are used to look for opposite
5860 Also see the matchparen plugin for highlighting the match when moving
5861 around |pi_paren.txt|.
5862 Note: Use of the short form is rated PG.
5864 *'showmode'* *'smd'* *'noshowmode'* *'nosmd'*
5865 'showmode' 'smd' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
5867 If in Insert, Replace or Visual mode put a message on the last line.
5868 Use the 'M' flag in 'highlight' to set the type of highlighting for
5870 When |XIM| may be used the message will include "XIM". But this
5871 doesn't mean XIM is really active, especially when 'imactivatekey' is
5873 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
5874 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
5876 *'showtabline'* *'stal'*
5877 'showtabline' 'stal' number (default 1)
5880 {not available when compiled without the +windows
5882 The value of this option specifies when the line with tab page labels
5885 1: only if there are at least two tab pages
5887 This is both for the GUI and non-GUI implementation of the tab pages
5889 See |tab-page| for more information about tab pages.
5891 *'sidescroll'* *'ss'*
5892 'sidescroll' 'ss' number (default 0)
5895 The minimal number of columns to scroll horizontally. Used only when
5896 the 'wrap' option is off and the cursor is moved off of the screen.
5897 When it is zero the cursor will be put in the middle of the screen.
5898 When using a slow terminal set it to a large number or 0. When using
5899 a fast terminal use a small number or 1. Not used for "zh" and "zl"
5902 *'sidescrolloff'* *'siso'*
5903 'sidescrolloff' 'siso' number (default 0)
5906 The minimal number of screen columns to keep to the left and to the
5907 right of the cursor if 'nowrap' is set. Setting this option to a
5908 value greater than 0 while having |'sidescroll'| also at a non-zero
5909 value makes some context visible in the line you are scrolling in
5910 horizontally (except at beginning of the line). Setting this option
5911 to a large value (like 999) has the effect of keeping the cursor
5912 horizontally centered in the window, as long as one does not come too
5913 close to the beginning of the line.
5914 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
5916 Example: Try this together with 'sidescroll' and 'listchars' as
5917 in the following example to never allow the cursor to move
5918 onto the "extends" character:
5920 :set nowrap sidescroll=1 listchars=extends:>,precedes:<
5921 :set sidescrolloff=1
5924 *'smartcase'* *'scs'* *'nosmartcase'* *'noscs'*
5925 'smartcase' 'scs' boolean (default off)
5928 Override the 'ignorecase' option if the search pattern contains upper
5929 case characters. Only used when the search pattern is typed and
5930 'ignorecase' option is on. Used for the commands "/", "?", "n", "N",
5931 ":g" and ":s". Not used for "*", "#", "gd", tag search, etc.. After
5932 "*" and "#" you can make 'smartcase' used by doing a "/" command,
5933 recalling the search pattern from history and hitting <Enter>.
5934 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5936 *'smartindent'* *'si'* *'nosmartindent'* *'nosi'*
5937 'smartindent' 'si' boolean (default off)
5940 {not available when compiled without the
5941 |+smartindent| feature}
5942 Do smart autoindenting when starting a new line. Works for C-like
5943 programs, but can also be used for other languages. 'cindent' does
5944 something like this, works better in most cases, but is more strict,
5945 see |C-indenting|. When 'cindent' is on, setting 'si' has no effect.
5946 'indentexpr' is a more advanced alternative.
5947 Normally 'autoindent' should also be on when using 'smartindent'.
5948 An indent is automatically inserted:
5949 - After a line ending in '{'.
5950 - After a line starting with a keyword from 'cinwords'.
5951 - Before a line starting with '}' (only with the "O" command).
5952 When typing '}' as the first character in a new line, that line is
5953 given the same indent as the matching '{'.
5954 When typing '#' as the first character in a new line, the indent for
5955 that line is removed, the '#' is put in the first column. The indent
5956 is restored for the next line. If you don't want this, use this
5957 mapping: ":inoremap # X^H#", where ^H is entered with CTRL-V CTRL-H.
5958 When using the ">>" command, lines starting with '#' are not shifted
5960 NOTE: 'smartindent' is reset when 'compatible' is set. When 'paste'
5961 is set smart indenting is disabled.
5963 *'smarttab'* *'sta'* *'nosmarttab'* *'nosta'*
5964 'smarttab' 'sta' boolean (default off)
5967 When on, a <Tab> in front of a line inserts blanks according to
5968 'shiftwidth'. 'tabstop' or 'softtabstop' is used in other places. A
5969 <BS> will delete a 'shiftwidth' worth of space at the start of the
5971 When off, a <Tab> always inserts blanks according to 'tabstop' or
5972 'softtabstop'. 'shiftwidth' is only used for shifting text left or
5973 right |shift-left-right|.
5974 What gets inserted (a Tab or spaces) depends on the 'expandtab'
5975 option. Also see |ins-expandtab|. When 'expandtab' is not set, the
5976 number of spaces is minimized by using <Tab>s.
5977 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
5979 *'softtabstop'* *'sts'*
5980 'softtabstop' 'sts' number (default 0)
5983 Number of spaces that a <Tab> counts for while performing editing
5984 operations, like inserting a <Tab> or using <BS>. It "feels" like
5985 <Tab>s are being inserted, while in fact a mix of spaces and <Tab>s is
5986 used. This is useful to keep the 'ts' setting at its standard value
5987 of 8, while being able to edit like it is set to 'sts'. However,
5988 commands like "x" still work on the actual characters.
5989 When 'sts' is zero, this feature is off.
5990 'softtabstop' is set to 0 when the 'paste' option is set.
5991 See also |ins-expandtab|. When 'expandtab' is not set, the number of
5992 spaces is minimized by using <Tab>s.
5993 The 'L' flag in 'cpoptions' changes how tabs are used when 'list' is
5995 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
5997 *'spell'* *'nospell'*
5998 'spell' boolean (default off)
6001 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6003 When on spell checking will be done. See |spell|.
6004 The languages are specified with 'spelllang'.
6006 *'spellcapcheck'* *'spc'*
6007 'spellcapcheck' 'spc' string (default "[.?!]\_[\])'" \t]\+")
6010 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6012 Pattern to locate the end of a sentence. The following word will be
6013 checked to start with a capital letter. If not then it is highlighted
6014 with SpellCap |hl-SpellCap| (unless the word is also badly spelled).
6015 When this check is not wanted make this option empty.
6016 Only used when 'spell' is set.
6017 Be careful with special characters, see |option-backslash| about
6018 including spaces and backslashes.
6019 To set this option automatically depending on the language, see
6022 *'spellfile'* *'spf'*
6023 'spellfile' 'spf' string (default empty)
6026 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6028 Name of the word list file where words are added for the |zg| and |zw|
6029 commands. It must end in ".{encoding}.add". You need to include the
6030 path, otherwise the file is placed in the current directory.
6032 It may also be a comma separated list of names. A count before the
6033 |zg| and |zw| commands can be used to access each. This allows using
6034 a personal word list file and a project word list file.
6035 When a word is added while this option is empty Vim will set it for
6036 you: Using the first directory in 'runtimepath' that is writable. If
6037 there is no "spell" directory yet it will be created. For the file
6038 name the first language name that appears in 'spelllang' is used,
6039 ignoring the region.
6040 The resulting ".spl" file will be used for spell checking, it does not
6041 have to appear in 'spelllang'.
6042 Normally one file is used for all regions, but you can add the region
6043 name if you want to. However, it will then only be used when
6044 'spellfile' is set to it, for entries in 'spelllang' only files
6045 without region name will be found.
6046 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
6049 *'spelllang'* *'spl'*
6050 'spelllang' 'spl' string (default "en")
6053 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6055 A comma separated list of word list names. When the 'spell' option is
6056 on spellchecking will be done for these languages. Example: >
6057 set spelllang=en_us,nl,medical
6058 < This means US English, Dutch and medical words are recognized. Words
6059 that are not recognized will be highlighted.
6060 The word list name must not include a comma or dot. Using a dash is
6061 recommended to separate the two letter language name from a
6062 specification. Thus "en-rare" is used for rare English words.
6063 A region name must come last and have the form "_xx", where "xx" is
6064 the two-letter, lower case region name. You can use more than one
6065 region by listing them: "en_us,en_ca" supports both US and Canadian
6066 English, but not words specific for Australia, New Zealand or Great
6069 As a special case the name of a .spl file can be given as-is. The
6070 first "_xx" in the name is removed and used as the region name
6071 (_xx is an underscore, two letters and followed by a non-letter).
6072 This is mainly for testing purposes. You must make sure the correct
6073 encoding is used, Vim doesn't check it.
6074 When 'encoding' is set the word lists are reloaded. Thus it's a good
6075 idea to set 'spelllang' after setting 'encoding' to avoid loading the
6077 How the related spell files are found is explained here: |spell-load|.
6079 If the |spellfile.vim| plugin is active and you use a language name
6080 for which Vim cannot find the .spl file in 'runtimepath' the plugin
6081 will ask you if you want to download the file.
6083 After this option has been set successfully, Vim will source the files
6084 "spell/LANG.vim" in 'runtimepath'. "LANG" is the value of 'spelllang'
6085 up to the first comma, dot or underscore.
6086 Also see |set-spc-auto|.
6089 *'spellsuggest'* *'sps'*
6090 'spellsuggest' 'sps' string (default "best")
6093 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6095 Methods used for spelling suggestions. Both for the |z=| command and
6096 the |spellsuggest()| function. This is a comma-separated list of
6099 best Internal method that works best for English. Finds
6100 changes like "fast" and uses a bit of sound-a-like
6101 scoring to improve the ordering.
6103 double Internal method that uses two methods and mixes the
6104 results. The first method is "fast", the other method
6105 computes how much the suggestion sounds like the bad
6106 word. That only works when the language specifies
6107 sound folding. Can be slow and doesn't always give
6110 fast Internal method that only checks for simple changes:
6111 character inserts/deletes/swaps. Works well for
6112 simple typing mistakes.
6114 {number} The maximum number of suggestions listed for |z=|.
6115 Not used for |spellsuggest()|. The number of
6116 suggestions is never more than the value of 'lines'
6119 file:{filename} Read file {filename}, which must have two columns,
6120 separated by a slash. The first column contains the
6121 bad word, the second column the suggested good word.
6124 Use this for common mistakes that do not appear at the
6125 top of the suggestion list with the internal methods.
6126 Lines without a slash are ignored, use this for
6128 The file is used for all languages.
6130 expr:{expr} Evaluate expression {expr}. Use a function to avoid
6131 trouble with spaces. |v:val| holds the badly spelled
6132 word. The expression must evaluate to a List of
6133 Lists, each with a suggestion and a score.
6135 [['the', 33], ['that', 44]]
6136 Set 'verbose' and use |z=| to see the scores that the
6137 internal methods use. A lower score is better.
6138 This may invoke |spellsuggest()| if you temporarily
6139 set 'spellsuggest' to exclude the "expr:" part.
6140 Errors are silently ignored, unless you set the
6141 'verbose' option to a non-zero value.
6143 Only one of "best", "double" or "fast" may be used. The others may
6144 appear several times in any order. Example: >
6145 :set sps=file:~/.vim/sugg,best,expr:MySuggest()
6147 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
6151 *'splitbelow'* *'sb'* *'nosplitbelow'* *'nosb'*
6152 'splitbelow' 'sb' boolean (default off)
6155 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6157 When on, splitting a window will put the new window below the current
6160 *'splitright'* *'spr'* *'nosplitright'* *'nospr'*
6161 'splitright' 'spr' boolean (default off)
6164 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
6166 When on, splitting a window will put the new window right of the
6167 current one. |:vsplit|
6169 *'startofline'* *'sol'* *'nostartofline'* *'nosol'*
6170 'startofline' 'sol' boolean (default on)
6173 When "on" the commands listed below move the cursor to the first
6174 non-blank of the line. When off the cursor is kept in the same column
6175 (if possible). This applies to the commands: CTRL-D, CTRL-U, CTRL-B,
6176 CTRL-F, "G", "H", "M", "L", gg, and to the commands "d", "<<" and ">>"
6177 with a linewise operator, with "%" with a count and to buffer changing
6178 commands (CTRL-^, :bnext, :bNext, etc.). Also for an Ex command that
6179 only has a line number, e.g., ":25" or ":+".
6180 In case of buffer changing commands the cursor is placed at the column
6181 where it was the last time the buffer was edited.
6182 NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.
6184 *'statusline'* *'stl'* *E540* *E541* *E542*
6185 'statusline' 'stl' string (default empty)
6186 global or local to window |global-local|
6188 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline|
6190 When nonempty, this option determines the content of the status line.
6191 Also see |status-line|.
6193 The option consists of printf style '%' items interspersed with
6194 normal text. Each status line item is of the form:
6195 %-0{minwid}.{maxwid}{item}
6196 All fields except the {item} is optional. A single percent sign can
6197 be given as "%%". Up to 80 items can be specified.
6199 When the option starts with "%!" then it is used as an expression,
6200 evaluated and the result is used as the option value. Example: >
6201 :set statusline=%!MyStatusLine()
6202 < The result can contain %{} items that will be evaluated too.
6204 When there is error while evaluating the option then it will be made
6205 empty to avoid further errors. Otherwise screen updating would loop.
6207 Note that the only effect of 'ruler' when this option is set (and
6208 'laststatus' is 2) is controlling the output of |CTRL-G|.
6211 - Left justify the item. The default is right justified
6212 when minwid is larger than the length of the item.
6213 0 Leading zeroes in numeric items. Overridden by '-'.
6214 minwid Minimum width of the item, padding as set by '-' & '0'.
6215 Value must be 50 or less.
6216 maxwid Maximum width of the item. Truncation occurs with a '<'
6217 on the left for text items. Numeric items will be
6218 shifted down to maxwid-2 digits followed by '>'number
6219 where number is the amount of missing digits, much like
6220 an exponential notation.
6221 item A one letter code as described below.
6223 Following is a description of the possible statusline items. The
6224 second character in "item" is the type:
6227 F for flags as described below
6231 f S Path to the file in the buffer, relative to current directory.
6232 F S Full path to the file in the buffer.
6233 t S File name (tail) of file in the buffer.
6234 m F Modified flag, text is " [+]"; " [-]" if 'modifiable' is off.
6235 M F Modified flag, text is ",+" or ",-".
6236 r F Readonly flag, text is " [RO]".
6237 R F Readonly flag, text is ",RO".
6238 h F Help buffer flag, text is " [help]".
6239 H F Help buffer flag, text is ",HLP".
6240 w F Preview window flag, text is " [Preview]".
6241 W F Preview window flag, text is ",PRV".
6242 y F Type of file in the buffer, e.g., " [vim]". See 'filetype'.
6243 Y F Type of file in the buffer, e.g., ",VIM". See 'filetype'.
6244 {not available when compiled without |+autocmd| feature}
6245 k S Value of "b:keymap_name" or 'keymap' when |:lmap| mappings are
6246 being used: "<keymap>"
6248 b N Value of byte under cursor.
6249 B N As above, in hexadecimal.
6250 o N Byte number in file of byte under cursor, first byte is 1.
6251 Mnemonic: Offset from start of file (with one added)
6252 {not available when compiled without |+byte_offset| feature}
6253 O N As above, in hexadecimal.
6254 N N Printer page number. (Only works in the 'printheader' option.)
6256 L N Number of lines in buffer.
6258 v N Virtual column number.
6259 V N Virtual column number as -{num}. Not displayed if equal to 'c'.
6260 p N Percentage through file in lines as in |CTRL-G|.
6261 P S Percentage through file of displayed window. This is like the
6262 percentage described for 'ruler'. Always 3 in length.
6263 a S Argument list status as in default title. ({current} of {max})
6264 Empty if the argument file count is zero or one.
6265 { NF Evaluate expression between '%{' and '}' and substitute result.
6266 Note that there is no '%' before the closing '}'.
6267 ( - Start of item group. Can be used for setting the width and
6268 alignment of a section. Must be followed by %) somewhere.
6269 ) - End of item group. No width fields allowed.
6270 T N For 'tabline': start of tab page N label. Use %T after the last
6271 label. This information is used for mouse clicks.
6272 X N For 'tabline': start of close tab N label. Use %X after the
6273 label, e.g.: %3Xclose%X. Use %999X for a "close current tab"
6274 mark. This information is used for mouse clicks.
6275 < - Where to truncate line if too long. Default is at the start.
6276 No width fields allowed.
6277 = - Separation point between left and right aligned items.
6278 No width fields allowed.
6279 # - Set highlight group. The name must follow and then a # again.
6280 Thus use %#HLname# for highlight group HLname. The same
6281 highlighting is used, also for the statusline of non-current
6283 * - Set highlight group to User{N}, where {N} is taken from the
6284 minwid field, e.g. %1*. Restore normal highlight with %* or %0*.
6285 The difference between User{N} and StatusLine will be applied
6286 to StatusLineNC for the statusline of non-current windows.
6287 The number N must be between 1 and 9. See |hl-User1..9|
6289 Display of flags are controlled by the following heuristic:
6290 If a flag text starts with comma it is assumed that it wants to
6291 separate itself from anything but preceding plaintext. If it starts
6292 with a space it is assumed that it wants to separate itself from
6293 anything but other flags. That is: A leading comma is removed if the
6294 preceding character stems from plaintext. A leading space is removed
6295 if the preceding character stems from another active flag. This will
6296 make a nice display when flags are used like in the examples below.
6298 When all items in a group becomes an empty string (i.e. flags that are
6299 not set) and a minwid is not set for the group, the whole group will
6300 become empty. This will make a group like the following disappear
6301 completely from the statusline when none of the flags are set. >
6302 :set statusline=...%(\ [%M%R%H]%)...
6304 Beware that an expression is evaluated each and every time the status
6305 line is displayed. The current buffer and current window will be set
6306 temporarily to that of the window (and buffer) whose statusline is
6307 currently being drawn. The expression will evaluate in this context.
6308 The variable "actual_curbuf" is set to the 'bufnr()' number of the
6309 real current buffer.
6311 The 'statusline' option may be evaluated in the |sandbox|, see
6314 It is not allowed to change text or jump to another window while
6315 evaluating 'statusline' |textlock|.
6317 If the statusline is not updated when you want it (e.g., after setting
6318 a variable that's used in an expression), you can force an update by
6319 setting an option without changing its value. Example: >
6322 < A result of all digits is regarded a number for display purposes.
6323 Otherwise the result is taken as flag text and applied to the rules
6326 Watch out for errors in expressions. They may render Vim unusable!
6327 If you are stuck, hold down ':' or 'Q' to get a prompt, then quit and
6328 edit your .vimrc or whatever with "vim -u NONE" to get it right.
6331 Emulate standard status line with 'ruler' set >
6332 :set statusline=%<%f\ %h%m%r%=%-14.(%l,%c%V%)\ %P
6333 < Similar, but add ASCII value of char under the cursor (like "ga") >
6334 :set statusline=%<%f%h%m%r%=%b\ 0x%B\ \ %l,%c%V\ %P
6335 < Display byte count and byte value, modified flag in red. >
6336 :set statusline=%<%f%=\ [%1*%M%*%n%R%H]\ %-19(%3l,%02c%03V%)%O'%02b'
6337 :hi User1 term=inverse,bold cterm=inverse,bold ctermfg=red
6338 < Display a ,GZ flag if a compressed file is loaded >
6339 :set statusline=...%r%{VarExists('b:gzflag','\ [GZ]')}%h...
6340 < In the |:autocmd|'s: >
6344 < And define this function: >
6345 :function VarExists(var, val)
6346 : if exists(a:var) | return a:val | else | return '' | endif
6350 'suffixes' 'su' string (default ".bak,~,.o,.h,.info,.swp,.obj")
6353 Files with these suffixes get a lower priority when multiple files
6354 match a wildcard. See |suffixes|. Commas can be used to separate the
6355 suffixes. Spaces after the comma are ignored. A dot is also seen as
6356 the start of a suffix. To avoid a dot or comma being recognized as a
6357 separator, precede it with a backslash (see |option-backslash| about
6358 including spaces and backslashes).
6359 See 'wildignore' for completely ignoring files.
6360 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
6361 suffixes from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
6362 uses another default.
6364 *'suffixesadd'* *'sua'*
6365 'suffixesadd' 'sua' string (default "")
6368 {not available when compiled without the
6369 |+file_in_path| feature}
6370 Comma separated list of suffixes, which are used when searching for a
6371 file for the "gf", "[I", etc. commands. Example: >
6372 :set suffixesadd=.java
6374 *'swapfile'* *'swf'* *'noswapfile'* *'noswf'*
6375 'swapfile' 'swf' boolean (default on)
6378 Use a swapfile for the buffer. This option can be reset when a
6379 swapfile is not wanted for a specific buffer. For example, with
6380 confidential information that even root must not be able to access.
6381 Careful: All text will be in memory:
6382 - Don't use this for big files.
6383 - Recovery will be impossible!
6384 A swapfile will only be present when |'updatecount'| is non-zero and
6386 When 'swapfile' is reset, the swap file for the current buffer is
6387 immediately deleted. When 'swapfile' is set, and 'updatecount' is
6388 non-zero, a swap file is immediately created.
6389 Also see |swap-file| and |'swapsync'|.
6391 This option is used together with 'bufhidden' and 'buftype' to
6392 specify special kinds of buffers. See |special-buffers|.
6394 *'swapsync'* *'sws'*
6395 'swapsync' 'sws' string (default "fsync")
6398 When this option is not empty a swap file is synced to disk after
6399 writing to it. This takes some time, especially on busy unix systems.
6400 When this option is empty parts of the swap file may be in memory and
6401 not written to disk. When the system crashes you may lose more work.
6402 On Unix the system does a sync now and then without Vim asking for it,
6403 so the disadvantage of setting this option off is small. On some
6404 systems the swap file will not be written at all. For a unix system
6405 setting it to "sync" will use the sync() call instead of the default
6406 fsync(), which may work better on some systems.
6407 The 'fsync' option is used for the actual file.
6409 *'switchbuf'* *'swb'*
6410 'switchbuf' 'swb' string (default "")
6413 This option controls the behavior when switching between buffers.
6414 Possible values (comma separated list):
6415 useopen If included, jump to the first open window that
6416 contains the specified buffer (if there is one).
6417 Otherwise: Do not examine other windows.
6418 This setting is checked with |quickfix| commands, when
6419 jumping to errors (":cc", ":cn", "cp", etc.). It is
6420 also used in all buffer related split commands, for
6421 example ":sbuffer", ":sbnext", or ":sbrewind".
6422 usetab Like "useopen", but also consider windows in other tab
6424 split If included, split the current window before loading
6425 a buffer. Otherwise: do not split, use current window.
6426 Supported in |quickfix| commands that display errors.
6428 *'synmaxcol'* *'smc'*
6429 'synmaxcol' 'smc' number (default 3000)
6432 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6434 Maximum column in which to search for syntax items. In long lines the
6435 text after this column is not highlighted and following lines may not
6436 be highlighted correctly, because the syntax state is cleared.
6437 This helps to avoid very slow redrawing for an XML file that is one
6439 Set to zero to remove the limit.
6442 'syntax' 'syn' string (default empty)
6445 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax|
6447 When this option is set, the syntax with this name is loaded, unless
6448 syntax highlighting has been switched off with ":syntax off".
6449 Otherwise this option does not always reflect the current syntax (the
6450 b:current_syntax variable does).
6451 This option is most useful in a modeline, for a file which syntax is
6452 not automatically recognized. Example, in an IDL file:
6453 /* vim: set syntax=idl : */ ~
6454 When a dot appears in the value then this separates two filetype
6456 /* vim: set syntax=c.doxygen : */ ~
6457 This will use the "c" syntax first, then the "doxygen" syntax.
6458 Note that the second one must be prepared to be loaded as an addition,
6459 otherwise it will be skipped. More than one dot may appear.
6460 To switch off syntax highlighting for the current file, use: >
6462 < To switch syntax highlighting on according to the current value of the
6463 'filetype' option: >
6465 < What actually happens when setting the 'syntax' option is that the
6466 Syntax autocommand event is triggered with the value as argument.
6467 This option is not copied to another buffer, independent of the 's' or
6468 'S' flag in 'cpoptions'.
6469 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/\*?[|<>" are illegal.
6472 'tabline' 'tal' string (default empty)
6475 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6477 When nonempty, this option determines the content of the tab pages
6478 line at the top of the Vim window. When empty Vim will use a default
6479 tab pages line. See |setting-tabline| for more info.
6481 The tab pages line only appears as specified with the 'showtabline'
6482 option and only when there is no GUI tab line. When 'e' is in
6483 'guioptions' and the GUI supports a tab line 'guitablabel' is used
6486 The value is evaluated like with 'statusline'. You can use
6487 |tabpagenr()|, |tabpagewinnr()| and |tabpagebuflist()| to figure out
6488 the text to be displayed. Use "%1T" for the first label, "%2T" for
6489 the second one, etc. Use "%X" items for closing labels.
6491 Keep in mind that only one of the tab pages is the current one, others
6492 are invisible and you can't jump to their windows.
6495 *'tabpagemax'* *'tpm'*
6496 'tabpagemax' 'tpm' number (default 10)
6499 {not available when compiled without the +windows
6501 Maximum number of tab pages to be opened by the |-p| command line
6502 argument or the ":tab all" command. |tabpage|
6506 'tabstop' 'ts' number (default 8)
6508 Number of spaces that a <Tab> in the file counts for. Also see
6509 |:retab| command, and 'softtabstop' option.
6511 Note: Setting 'tabstop' to any other value than 8 can make your file
6512 appear wrong in many places (e.g., when printing it).
6514 There are four main ways to use tabs in Vim:
6515 1. Always keep 'tabstop' at 8, set 'softtabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to 4
6516 (or 3 or whatever you prefer) and use 'noexpandtab'. Then Vim
6517 will use a mix of tabs and spaces, but typing Tab and BS will
6518 behave like a tab appears every 4 (or 3) characters.
6519 2. Set 'tabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to whatever you prefer and use
6520 'expandtab'. This way you will always insert spaces. The
6521 formatting will never be messed up when 'tabstop' is changed.
6522 3. Set 'tabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to whatever you prefer and use a
6523 |modeline| to set these values when editing the file again. Only
6524 works when using Vim to edit the file.
6525 4. Always set 'tabstop' and 'shiftwidth' to the same value, and
6526 'noexpandtab'. This should then work (for initial indents only)
6527 for any tabstop setting that people use. It might be nice to have
6528 tabs after the first non-blank inserted as spaces if you do this
6529 though. Otherwise aligned comments will be wrong when 'tabstop' is
6532 *'tagbsearch'* *'tbs'* *'notagbsearch'* *'notbs'*
6533 'tagbsearch' 'tbs' boolean (default on)
6536 When searching for a tag (e.g., for the |:ta| command), Vim can either
6537 use a binary search or a linear search in a tags file. Binary
6538 searching makes searching for a tag a LOT faster, but a linear search
6539 will find more tags if the tags file wasn't properly sorted.
6540 Vim normally assumes that your tags files are sorted, or indicate that
6541 they are not sorted. Only when this is not the case does the
6542 'tagbsearch' option need to be switched off.
6544 When 'tagbsearch' is on, binary searching is first used in the tags
6545 files. In certain situations, Vim will do a linear search instead for
6546 certain files, or retry all files with a linear search. When
6547 'tagbsearch' is off, only a linear search is done.
6549 Linear searching is done anyway, for one file, when Vim finds a line
6550 at the start of the file indicating that it's not sorted: >
6551 !_TAG_FILE_SORTED 0 /some command/
6552 < [The whitespace before and after the '0' must be a single <Tab>]
6554 When a binary search was done and no match was found in any of the
6555 files listed in 'tags', and 'ignorecase' is set or a pattern is used
6556 instead of a normal tag name, a retry is done with a linear search.
6557 Tags in unsorted tags files, and matches with different case will only
6558 be found in the retry.
6560 If a tag file indicates that it is case-fold sorted, the second,
6561 linear search can be avoided for the 'ignorecase' case. Use a value
6562 of '2' in the "!_TAG_FILE_SORTED" line for this. A tag file can be
6563 case-fold sorted with the -f switch to "sort" in most unices, as in
6564 the command: "sort -f -o tags tags". For "Exuberant ctags" version
6565 5.3 or higher the -f or --fold-case-sort switch can be used for this
6566 as well. Note that case must be folded to uppercase for this to work.
6568 When 'tagbsearch' is off, tags searching is slower when a full match
6569 exists, but faster when no full match exists. Tags in unsorted tags
6570 files may only be found with 'tagbsearch' off.
6571 When the tags file is not sorted, or sorted in a wrong way (not on
6572 ASCII byte value), 'tagbsearch' should be off, or the line given above
6573 must be included in the tags file.
6574 This option doesn't affect commands that find all matching tags (e.g.,
6575 command-line completion and ":help").
6576 {Vi: always uses binary search in some versions}
6578 *'taglength'* *'tl'*
6579 'taglength' 'tl' number (default 0)
6581 If non-zero, tags are significant up to this number of characters.
6583 *'tagrelative'* *'tr'* *'notagrelative'* *'notr'*
6584 'tagrelative' 'tr' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
6587 If on and using a tags file in another directory, file names in that
6588 tags file are relative to the directory where the tags file is.
6589 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
6590 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
6592 *'tags'* *'tag'* *E433*
6593 'tags' 'tag' string (default "./tags,tags", when compiled with
6594 |+emacs_tags|: "./tags,./TAGS,tags,TAGS")
6595 global or local to buffer |global-local|
6596 Filenames for the tag command, separated by spaces or commas. To
6597 include a space or comma in a file name, precede it with a backslash
6598 (see |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes).
6599 When a file name starts with "./", the '.' is replaced with the path
6600 of the current file. But only when the 'd' flag is not included in
6601 'cpoptions'. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. Also see
6603 "*", "**" and other wildcards can be used to search for tags files in
6604 a directory tree. See |file-searching|. {not available when compiled
6605 without the |+path_extra| feature}
6606 The |tagfiles()| function can be used to get a list of the file names
6608 If Vim was compiled with the |+emacs_tags| feature, Emacs-style tag
6609 files are also supported. They are automatically recognized. The
6610 default value becomes "./tags,./TAGS,tags,TAGS", unless case
6611 differences are ignored (MS-Windows). |emacs-tags|
6612 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
6613 file names from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
6614 uses another default.
6615 {Vi: default is "tags /usr/lib/tags"}
6617 *'tagstack'* *'tgst'* *'notagstack'* *'notgst'*
6618 'tagstack' 'tgst' boolean (default on)
6620 {not in all versions of Vi}
6621 When on, the |tagstack| is used normally. When off, a ":tag" or
6622 ":tselect" command with an argument will not push the tag onto the
6623 tagstack. A following ":tag" without an argument, a ":pop" command or
6624 any other command that uses the tagstack will use the unmodified
6625 tagstack, but does change the pointer to the active entry.
6626 Resetting this option is useful when using a ":tag" command in a
6627 mapping which should not change the tagstack.
6629 *'term'* *E529* *E530* *E531*
6630 'term' string (default is $TERM, if that fails:
6631 in the GUI: "builtin_gui"
6633 on BeOS: "beos-ansi"
6642 Name of the terminal. Used for choosing the terminal control
6643 characters. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
6648 *'termbidi'* *'tbidi'*
6649 *'notermbidi'* *'notbidi'*
6650 'termbidi' 'tbidi' boolean (default off, on for "mlterm")
6653 {only available when compiled with the |+arabic|
6655 The terminal is in charge of Bi-directionality of text (as specified
6656 by Unicode). The terminal is also expected to do the required shaping
6657 that some languages (such as Arabic) require.
6658 Setting this option implies that 'rightleft' will not be set when
6659 'arabic' is set and the value of 'arabicshape' will be ignored.
6660 Note that setting 'termbidi' has the immediate effect that
6661 'arabicshape' is ignored, but 'rightleft' isn't changed automatically.
6662 This option is reset when the GUI is started.
6663 For further details see |arabic.txt|.
6665 *'termencoding'* *'tenc'*
6666 'termencoding' 'tenc' string (default ""; with GTK+ 2 GUI: "utf-8"; with
6667 Macintosh GUI: "macroman")
6669 {only available when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
6672 Encoding used for the terminal. This specifies what character
6673 encoding the keyboard produces and the display will understand. For
6674 the GUI it only applies to the keyboard ('encoding' is used for the
6676 In the Win32 console version the default value is the console codepage
6677 when it differs from the ANSI codepage.
6679 Note: This does not apply to the GTK+ 2 GUI. After the GUI has been
6680 successfully initialized, 'termencoding' is forcibly set to "utf-8".
6681 Any attempts to set a different value will be rejected, and an error
6683 For the Win32 GUI 'termencoding' is not used for typed characters,
6684 because the Win32 system always passes Unicode characters.
6685 When empty, the same encoding is used as for the 'encoding' option.
6686 This is the normal value.
6687 Not all combinations for 'termencoding' and 'encoding' are valid. See
6689 The value for this option must be supported by internal conversions or
6690 iconv(). When this is not possible no conversion will be done and you
6691 will probably experience problems with non-ASCII characters.
6692 Example: You are working with the locale set to euc-jp (Japanese) and
6693 want to edit a UTF-8 file: >
6694 :let &termencoding = &encoding
6696 < You need to do this when your system has no locale support for UTF-8.
6698 *'terse'* *'noterse'*
6699 'terse' boolean (default off)
6701 When set: Add 's' flag to 'shortmess' option (this makes the message
6702 for a search that hits the start or end of the file not being
6703 displayed). When reset: Remove 's' flag from 'shortmess' option. {Vi
6704 shortens a lot of messages}
6706 *'textauto'* *'ta'* *'notextauto'* *'nota'*
6707 'textauto' 'ta' boolean (Vim default: on, Vi default: off)
6710 This option is obsolete. Use 'fileformats'.
6711 For backwards compatibility, when 'textauto' is set, 'fileformats' is
6712 set to the default value for the current system. When 'textauto' is
6713 reset, 'fileformats' is made empty.
6714 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
6715 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
6717 *'textmode'* *'tx'* *'notextmode'* *'notx'*
6718 'textmode' 'tx' boolean (MS-DOS, Win32 and OS/2: default on,
6719 others: default off)
6722 This option is obsolete. Use 'fileformat'.
6723 For backwards compatibility, when 'textmode' is set, 'fileformat' is
6724 set to "dos". When 'textmode' is reset, 'fileformat' is set to
6727 *'textwidth'* *'tw'*
6728 'textwidth' 'tw' number (default 0)
6731 Maximum width of text that is being inserted. A longer line will be
6732 broken after white space to get this width. A zero value disables
6733 this. 'textwidth' is set to 0 when the 'paste' option is set. When
6734 'textwidth' is zero, 'wrapmargin' may be used. See also
6735 'formatoptions' and |ins-textwidth|.
6736 When 'formatexpr' is set it will be used to break the line.
6737 NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.
6739 *'thesaurus'* *'tsr'*
6740 'thesaurus' 'tsr' string (default "")
6741 global or local to buffer |global-local|
6743 List of file names, separated by commas, that are used to lookup words
6744 for thesaurus completion commands |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T|. Each line in
6745 the file should contain words with similar meaning, separated by
6746 non-keyword characters (white space is preferred). Maximum line
6747 length is 510 bytes.
6748 To obtain a file to be used here, check out the wordlist FAQ at
6749 http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk .
6750 To include a comma in a file name precede it with a backslash. Spaces
6751 after a comma are ignored, otherwise spaces are included in the file
6752 name. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes.
6753 The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
6754 directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
6755 uses another default.
6756 Backticks cannot be used in this option for security reasons.
6758 *'tildeop'* *'top'* *'notildeop'* *'notop'*
6759 'tildeop' 'top' boolean (default off)
6762 When on: The tilde command "~" behaves like an operator.
6763 NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.
6765 *'timeout'* *'to'* *'notimeout'* *'noto'*
6766 'timeout' 'to' boolean (default on)
6768 *'ttimeout'* *'nottimeout'*
6769 'ttimeout' boolean (default off)
6772 These two options together determine the behavior when part of a
6773 mapped key sequence or keyboard code has been received:
6775 'timeout' 'ttimeout' action ~
6776 off off do not time out
6777 on on or off time out on :mappings and key codes
6778 off on time out on key codes
6780 If both options are off, Vim will wait until either the complete
6781 mapping or key sequence has been received, or it is clear that there
6782 is no mapping or key sequence for the received characters. For
6783 example: if you have mapped "vl" and Vim has received 'v', the next
6784 character is needed to see if the 'v' is followed by an 'l'.
6785 When one of the options is on, Vim will wait for about 1 second for
6786 the next character to arrive. After that the already received
6787 characters are interpreted as single characters. The waiting time can
6788 be changed with the 'timeoutlen' option.
6789 On slow terminals or very busy systems timing out may cause
6790 malfunctioning cursor keys. If both options are off, Vim waits
6791 forever after an entered <Esc> if there are key codes that start
6792 with <Esc>. You will have to type <Esc> twice. If you do not have
6793 problems with key codes, but would like to have :mapped key
6794 sequences not timing out in 1 second, set the 'ttimeout' option and
6795 reset the 'timeout' option.
6797 NOTE: 'ttimeout' is reset when 'compatible' is set.
6799 *'timeoutlen'* *'tm'*
6800 'timeoutlen' 'tm' number (default 1000)
6802 {not in all versions of Vi}
6803 *'ttimeoutlen'* *'ttm'*
6804 'ttimeoutlen' 'ttm' number (default -1)
6807 The time in milliseconds that is waited for a key code or mapped key
6808 sequence to complete. Also used for CTRL-\ CTRL-N and CTRL-\ CTRL-G
6809 when part of a command has been typed.
6810 Normally only 'timeoutlen' is used and 'ttimeoutlen' is -1. When a
6811 different timeout value for key codes is desired set 'ttimeoutlen' to
6812 a non-negative number.
6814 ttimeoutlen mapping delay key code delay ~
6815 < 0 'timeoutlen' 'timeoutlen'
6816 >= 0 'timeoutlen' 'ttimeoutlen'
6818 The timeout only happens when the 'timeout' and 'ttimeout' options
6819 tell so. A useful setting would be >
6820 :set timeout timeoutlen=3000 ttimeoutlen=100
6821 < (time out on mapping after three seconds, time out on key codes after
6822 a tenth of a second).
6824 *'title'* *'notitle'*
6825 'title' boolean (default off, on when title can be restored)
6828 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
6830 When on, the title of the window will be set to the value of
6831 'titlestring' (if it is not empty), or to:
6832 filename [+=-] (path) - VIM
6834 filename the name of the file being edited
6835 - indicates the file cannot be modified, 'ma' off
6836 + indicates the file was modified
6837 = indicates the file is read-only
6838 =+ indicates the file is read-only and modified
6839 (path) is the path of the file being edited
6840 - VIM the server name |v:servername| or "VIM"
6841 Only works if the terminal supports setting window titles
6842 (currently Amiga console, Win32 console, all GUI versions and
6843 terminals with a non- empty 't_ts' option - these are Unix xterm and
6844 iris-ansi by default, where 't_ts' is taken from the builtin termcap).
6846 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original title will
6847 be restored if possible. The output of ":version" will include "+X11"
6848 when HAVE_X11 was defined, otherwise it will be "-X11". This also
6849 works for the icon name |'icon'|.
6850 But: When Vim was started with the |-X| argument, restoring the title
6851 will not work (except in the GUI).
6852 If the title cannot be restored, it is set to the value of 'titleold'.
6853 You might want to restore the title outside of Vim then.
6854 When using an xterm from a remote machine you can use this command:
6855 rsh machine_name xterm -display $DISPLAY &
6856 then the WINDOWID environment variable should be inherited and the
6857 title of the window should change back to what it should be after
6861 'titlelen' number (default 85)
6864 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
6866 Gives the percentage of 'columns' to use for the length of the window
6867 title. When the title is longer, only the end of the path name is
6868 shown. A '<' character before the path name is used to indicate this.
6869 Using a percentage makes this adapt to the width of the window. But
6870 it won't work perfectly, because the actual number of characters
6871 available also depends on the font used and other things in the title
6872 bar. When 'titlelen' is zero the full path is used. Otherwise,
6873 values from 1 to 30000 percent can be used.
6874 'titlelen' is also used for the 'titlestring' option.
6877 'titleold' string (default "Thanks for flying Vim")
6880 {only available when compiled with the |+title|
6882 This option will be used for the window title when exiting Vim if the
6883 original title cannot be restored. Only happens if 'title' is on or
6884 'titlestring' is not empty.
6885 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
6888 'titlestring' string (default "")
6891 {not available when compiled without the |+title|
6893 When this option is not empty, it will be used for the title of the
6894 window. This happens only when the 'title' option is on.
6895 Only works if the terminal supports setting window titles (currently
6896 Amiga console, Win32 console, all GUI versions and terminals with a
6897 non-empty 't_ts' option).
6898 When Vim was compiled with HAVE_X11 defined, the original title will
6899 be restored if possible |X11|.
6900 When this option contains printf-style '%' items, they will be
6901 expanded according to the rules used for 'statusline'.
6903 :auto BufEnter * let &titlestring = hostname() . "/" . expand("%:p")
6904 :set title titlestring=%<%F%=%l/%L-%P titlelen=70
6905 < The value of 'titlelen' is used to align items in the middle or right
6906 of the available space.
6907 Some people prefer to have the file name first: >
6908 :set titlestring=%t%(\ %M%)%(\ (%{expand(\"%:~:.:h\")})%)%(\ %a%)
6909 < Note the use of "%{ }" and an expression to get the path of the file,
6910 without the file name. The "%( %)" constructs are used to add a
6911 separating space only when needed.
6912 NOTE: Use of special characters in 'titlestring' may cause the display
6913 to be garbled (e.g., when it contains a CR or NL character).
6914 {not available when compiled without the |+statusline| feature}
6917 'toolbar' 'tb' string (default "icons,tooltips")
6919 {only for |+GUI_GTK|, |+GUI_Athena|, |+GUI_Motif| and
6921 The contents of this option controls various toolbar settings. The
6922 possible values are:
6923 icons Toolbar buttons are shown with icons.
6924 text Toolbar buttons shown with text.
6925 horiz Icon and text of a toolbar button are
6926 horizontally arranged. {only in GTK+ 2 GUI}
6927 tooltips Tooltips are active for toolbar buttons.
6928 Tooltips refer to the popup help text which appears after the mouse
6929 cursor is placed over a toolbar button for a brief moment.
6931 If you want the toolbar to be shown with icons as well as text, do the
6934 < Motif and Athena cannot display icons and text at the same time. They
6935 will show icons if both are requested.
6937 If none of the strings specified in 'toolbar' are valid or if
6938 'toolbar' is empty, this option is ignored. If you want to disable
6939 the toolbar, you need to set the 'guioptions' option. For example: >
6941 < Also see |gui-toolbar|.
6943 *'toolbariconsize'* *'tbis'*
6944 'toolbariconsize' 'tbis' string (default "small")
6947 {only in the GTK+ 2 GUI}
6948 Controls the size of toolbar icons. The possible values are:
6949 tiny Use tiny toolbar icons.
6950 small Use small toolbar icons (default).
6951 medium Use medium-sized toolbar icons.
6952 large Use large toolbar icons.
6953 The exact dimensions in pixels of the various icon sizes depend on
6954 the current theme. Common dimensions are large=32x32, medium=24x24,
6955 small=20x20 and tiny=16x16.
6957 If 'toolbariconsize' is empty, the global default size as determined
6958 by user preferences or the current theme is used.
6960 *'ttybuiltin'* *'tbi'* *'nottybuiltin'* *'notbi'*
6961 'ttybuiltin' 'tbi' boolean (default on)
6964 When on, the builtin termcaps are searched before the external ones.
6965 When off the builtin termcaps are searched after the external ones.
6966 When this option is changed, you should set the 'term' option next for
6967 the change to take effect, for example: >
6968 :set notbi term=$TERM
6969 < See also |termcap|.
6970 Rationale: The default for this option is "on", because the builtin
6971 termcap entries are generally better (many systems contain faulty
6974 *'ttyfast'* *'tf'* *'nottyfast'* *'notf'*
6975 'ttyfast' 'tf' boolean (default off, on when 'term' is xterm, hpterm,
6976 sun-cmd, screen, rxvt, dtterm or
6977 iris-ansi; also on when running Vim in
6981 Indicates a fast terminal connection. More characters will be sent to
6982 the screen for redrawing, instead of using insert/delete line
6983 commands. Improves smoothness of redrawing when there are multiple
6984 windows and the terminal does not support a scrolling region.
6985 Also enables the extra writing of characters at the end of each screen
6986 line for lines that wrap. This helps when using copy/paste with the
6987 mouse in an xterm and other terminals.
6989 *'ttymouse'* *'ttym'*
6990 'ttymouse' 'ttym' string (default depends on 'term')
6993 {only in Unix and VMS, doesn't work in the GUI; not
6994 available when compiled without |+mouse|}
6995 Name of the terminal type for which mouse codes are to be recognized.
6996 Currently these three strings are valid:
6998 xterm xterm-like mouse handling. The mouse generates
6999 "<Esc>[Mscr", where "scr" is three bytes:
7001 "c" = column plus 33
7003 This only works up to 223 columns! See "dec" for a
7005 xterm2 Works like "xterm", but with the xterm reporting the
7006 mouse position while the mouse is dragged. This works
7007 much faster and more precise. Your xterm must at
7008 least at patchlevel 88 / XFree 3.3.3 for this to
7009 work. See below for how Vim detects this
7012 netterm NetTerm mouse handling. The mouse generates
7013 "<Esc>}r,c<CR>", where "r,c" are two decimal numbers
7014 for the row and column.
7016 dec DEC terminal mouse handling. The mouse generates a
7017 rather complex sequence, starting with "<Esc>[".
7018 This is also available for an Xterm, if it was
7019 configured with "--enable-dec-locator".
7021 jsbterm JSB term mouse handling.
7023 pterm QNX pterm mouse handling.
7025 The mouse handling must be enabled at compile time |+mouse_xterm|
7026 |+mouse_dec| |+mouse_netterm|.
7027 Only "xterm"(2) is really recognized. NetTerm mouse codes are always
7028 recognized, if enabled at compile time. DEC terminal mouse codes
7029 are recognized if enabled at compile time, and 'ttymouse' is not
7030 "xterm" (because the xterm and dec mouse codes conflict).
7031 This option is automatically set to "xterm", when the 'term' option is
7032 set to a name that starts with "xterm", and 'ttymouse' is not "xterm"
7033 or "xterm2" already. The main use of this option is to set it to
7034 "xterm", when the terminal name doesn't start with "xterm", but it can
7035 handle xterm mouse codes.
7036 The "xterm2" value will be set if the xterm version is reported to be
7037 95 of higher. This only works when compiled with the |+termresponse|
7038 feature and if |t_RV| is set to the escape sequence to request the
7039 xterm version number. Otherwise "xterm2" must be set explicitly.
7040 If you do not want 'ttymouse' to be set to "xterm2" automatically, set
7041 t_RV to an empty string: >
7044 *'ttyscroll'* *'tsl'*
7045 'ttyscroll' 'tsl' number (default 999)
7047 Maximum number of lines to scroll the screen. If there are more lines
7048 to scroll the window is redrawn. For terminals where scrolling is
7049 very slow and redrawing is not slow this can be set to a small number,
7050 e.g., 3, to speed up displaying.
7053 'ttytype' 'tty' string (default from $TERM)
7055 Alias for 'term', see above.
7057 *'undolevels'* *'ul'*
7058 'undolevels' 'ul' number (default 100, 1000 for Unix, VMS,
7062 Maximum number of changes that can be undone. Since undo information
7063 is kept in memory, higher numbers will cause more memory to be used
7064 (nevertheless, a single change can use an unlimited amount of memory).
7065 Set to 0 for Vi compatibility: One level of undo and "u" undoes
7068 < But you can also get Vi compatibility by including the 'u' flag in
7069 'cpoptions', and still be able to use CTRL-R to repeat undo.
7070 Set to a negative number for no undo at all: >
7072 < This helps when you run out of memory for a single change.
7073 Also see |undo-two-ways|.
7075 *'updatecount'* *'uc'*
7076 'updatecount' 'uc' number (default: 200)
7079 After typing this many characters the swap file will be written to
7080 disk. When zero, no swap file will be created at all (see chapter on
7081 recovery |crash-recovery|). 'updatecount' is set to zero by starting
7082 Vim with the "-n" option, see |startup|. When editing in readonly
7083 mode this option will be initialized to 10000.
7084 The swapfile can be disabled per buffer with |'swapfile'|.
7085 When 'updatecount' is set from zero to non-zero, swap files are
7086 created for all buffers that have 'swapfile' set. When 'updatecount'
7087 is set to zero, existing swap files are not deleted.
7088 Also see |'swapsync'|.
7089 This option has no meaning in buffers where |'buftype'| is "nofile"
7092 *'updatetime'* *'ut'*
7093 'updatetime' 'ut' number (default 4000)
7096 If this many milliseconds nothing is typed the swap file will be
7097 written to disk (see |crash-recovery|). Also used for the
7098 |CursorHold| autocommand event.
7101 'verbose' 'vbs' number (default 0)
7103 {not in Vi, although some versions have a boolean
7105 When bigger than zero, Vim will give messages about what it is doing.
7106 Currently, these messages are given:
7107 >= 1 When the viminfo file is read or written.
7108 >= 2 When a file is ":source"'ed.
7109 >= 5 Every searched tags file and include file.
7110 >= 8 Files for which a group of autocommands is executed.
7111 >= 9 Every executed autocommand.
7112 >= 12 Every executed function.
7113 >= 13 When an exception is thrown, caught, finished, or discarded.
7114 >= 14 Anything pending in a ":finally" clause.
7115 >= 15 Every executed Ex command (truncated at 200 characters).
7117 This option can also be set with the "-V" argument. See |-V|.
7118 This option is also set by the |:verbose| command.
7120 When the 'verbosefile' option is set then the verbose messages are not
7123 *'verbosefile'* *'vfile'*
7124 'verbosefile' 'vfile' string (default empty)
7127 When not empty all messages are written in a file with this name.
7128 When the file exists messages are appended.
7129 Writing to the file ends when Vim exits or when 'verbosefile' is made
7131 Setting 'verbosefile' to a new value is like making it empty first.
7132 The difference with |:redir| is that verbose messages are not
7133 displayed when 'verbosefile' is set.
7135 *'viewdir'* *'vdir'*
7136 'viewdir' 'vdir' string (default for Amiga, MS-DOS, OS/2 and Win32:
7137 "$VIM/vimfiles/view",
7138 for Unix: "~/.vim/view",
7139 for Macintosh: "$VIM:vimfiles:view"
7140 for VMS: "sys$login:vimfiles/view"
7141 for RiscOS: "Choices:vimfiles/view")
7144 {not available when compiled without the +mksession
7146 Name of the directory where to store files for |:mkview|.
7147 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
7150 *'viewoptions'* *'vop'*
7151 'viewoptions' 'vop' string (default: "folds,options,cursor")
7154 {not available when compiled without the +mksession
7156 Changes the effect of the |:mkview| command. It is a comma separated
7157 list of words. Each word enables saving and restoring something:
7158 word save and restore ~
7159 cursor cursor position in file and in window
7160 folds manually created folds, opened/closed folds and local
7162 options options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not
7163 global values for local options)
7164 slash backslashes in file names replaced with forward
7166 unix with Unix end-of-line format (single <NL>), even when
7169 "slash" and "unix" are useful on Windows when sharing view files
7170 with Unix. The Unix version of Vim cannot source dos format scripts,
7171 but the Windows version of Vim can source unix format scripts.
7173 *'viminfo'* *'vi'* *E526* *E527* *E528*
7174 'viminfo' 'vi' string (Vi default: "", Vim default for MS-DOS,
7175 Windows and OS/2: '20,<50,s10,h,rA:,rB:,
7176 for Amiga: '20,<50,s10,h,rdf0:,rdf1:,rdf2:
7177 for others: '20,<50,s10,h)
7180 {not available when compiled without the |+viminfo|
7182 When non-empty, the viminfo file is read upon startup and written
7183 when exiting Vim (see |viminfo-file|). The string should be a comma
7184 separated list of parameters, each consisting of a single character
7185 identifying the particular parameter, followed by a number or string
7186 which specifies the value of that parameter. If a particular
7187 character is left out, then the default value is used for that
7188 parameter. The following is a list of the identifying characters and
7189 the effect of their value.
7191 ! When included, save and restore global variables that start
7192 with an uppercase letter, and don't contain a lowercase
7193 letter. Thus "KEEPTHIS and "K_L_M" are stored, but "KeepThis"
7194 and "_K_L_M" are not. Only String and Number types are
7196 " Maximum number of lines saved for each register. Old name of
7197 the '<' item, with the disadvantage that you need to put a
7198 backslash before the ", otherwise it will be recognized as the
7200 % When included, save and restore the buffer list. If Vim is
7201 started with a file name argument, the buffer list is not
7202 restored. If Vim is started without a file name argument, the
7203 buffer list is restored from the viminfo file. Buffers
7204 without a file name and buffers for help files are not written
7205 to the viminfo file.
7206 When followed by a number, the number specifies the maximum
7207 number of buffers that are stored. Without a number all
7209 ' Maximum number of previously edited files for which the marks
7210 are remembered. This parameter must always be included when
7211 'viminfo' is non-empty.
7212 Including this item also means that the |jumplist| and the
7213 |changelist| are stored in the viminfo file.
7214 / Maximum number of items in the search pattern history to be
7215 saved. If non-zero, then the previous search and substitute
7216 patterns are also saved. When not included, the value of
7218 : Maximum number of items in the command-line history to be
7219 saved. When not included, the value of 'history' is used.
7220 < Maximum number of lines saved for each register. If zero then
7221 registers are not saved. When not included, all lines are
7222 saved. '"' is the old name for this item.
7223 Also see the 's' item below: limit specified in Kbyte.
7224 @ Maximum number of items in the input-line history to be
7225 saved. When not included, the value of 'history' is used.
7226 c When included, convert the text in the viminfo file from the
7227 'encoding' used when writing the file to the current
7228 'encoding'. See |viminfo-encoding|.
7229 f Whether file marks need to be stored. If zero, file marks ('0
7230 to '9, 'A to 'Z) are not stored. When not present or when
7231 non-zero, they are all stored. '0 is used for the current
7232 cursor position (when exiting or when doing ":wviminfo").
7233 h Disable the effect of 'hlsearch' when loading the viminfo
7234 file. When not included, it depends on whether ":nohlsearch"
7235 has been used since the last search command.
7236 n Name of the viminfo file. The name must immediately follow
7237 the 'n'. Must be the last one! If the "-i" argument was
7238 given when starting Vim, that file name overrides the one
7239 given here with 'viminfo'. Environment variables are expanded
7240 when opening the file, not when setting the option.
7241 r Removable media. The argument is a string (up to the next
7242 ','). This parameter can be given several times. Each
7243 specifies the start of a path for which no marks will be
7244 stored. This is to avoid removable media. For MS-DOS you
7245 could use "ra:,rb:", for Amiga "rdf0:,rdf1:,rdf2:". You can
7246 also use it for temp files, e.g., for Unix: "r/tmp". Case is
7247 ignored. Maximum length of each 'r' argument is 50
7249 s Maximum size of an item in Kbyte. If zero then registers are
7250 not saved. Currently only applies to registers. The default
7251 "s10" will exclude registers with more than 10 Kbyte of text.
7252 Also see the '<' item above: line count limit.
7255 :set viminfo='50,<1000,s100,:0,n~/vim/viminfo
7257 '50 Marks will be remembered for the last 50 files you
7259 <1000 Contents of registers (up to 1000 lines each) will be
7261 s100 Registers with more than 100 Kbyte text are skipped.
7262 :0 Command-line history will not be saved.
7263 n~/vim/viminfo The name of the file to use is "~/vim/viminfo".
7264 no / Since '/' is not specified, the default will be used,
7265 that is, save all of the search history, and also the
7266 previous search and substitute patterns.
7267 no % The buffer list will not be saved nor read back.
7268 no h 'hlsearch' highlighting will be restored.
7270 When setting 'viminfo' from an empty value you can use |:rviminfo| to
7271 load the contents of the file, this is not done automatically.
7273 This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for
7276 *'virtualedit'* *'ve'*
7277 'virtualedit' 've' string (default "")
7280 {not available when compiled without the
7281 |+virtualedit| feature}
7282 A comma separated list of these words:
7283 block Allow virtual editing in Visual block mode.
7284 insert Allow virtual editing in Insert mode.
7285 all Allow virtual editing in all modes.
7286 onemore Allow the cursor to move just past the end of the line
7288 Virtual editing means that the cursor can be positioned where there is
7289 no actual character. This can be halfway into a Tab or beyond the end
7290 of the line. Useful for selecting a rectangle in Visual mode and
7292 "onemore" is not the same, it will only allow moving the cursor just
7293 after the last character of the line. This makes some commands more
7294 consistent. Previously the cursor was always past the end of the line
7295 if the line was empty. But it is far from Vi compatible. It may also
7296 break some plugins or Vim scripts. For example because |l| can move
7297 the cursor after the last character. Use with care!
7298 Using the |$| command will move to the last character in the line, not
7299 past it. This may actually move the cursor to the left!
7300 It doesn't make sense to combine "all" with "onemore", but you will
7301 not get a warning for it.
7303 *'visualbell'* *'vb'* *'novisualbell'* *'novb'* *beep*
7304 'visualbell' 'vb' boolean (default off)
7307 Use visual bell instead of beeping. The terminal code to display the
7308 visual bell is given with 't_vb'. When no beep or flash is wanted,
7309 use ":set vb t_vb=".
7310 Note: When the GUI starts, 't_vb' is reset to its default value. You
7311 might want to set it again in your |gvimrc|.
7312 In the GUI, 't_vb' defaults to "<Esc>|f", which inverts the display
7313 for 20 msec. If you want to use a different time, use "<Esc>|40f",
7314 where 40 is the time in msec.
7315 Does not work on the Amiga, you always get a screen flash.
7316 Also see 'errorbells'.
7319 'warn' boolean (default on)
7321 Give a warning message when a shell command is used while the buffer
7324 *'weirdinvert'* *'wiv'* *'noweirdinvert'* *'nowiv'*
7325 'weirdinvert' 'wiv' boolean (default off)
7328 This option has the same effect as the 't_xs' terminal option.
7329 It is provided for backwards compatibility with version 4.x.
7330 Setting 'weirdinvert' has the effect of making 't_xs' non-empty, and
7331 vice versa. Has no effect when the GUI is running.
7333 *'whichwrap'* *'ww'*
7334 'whichwrap' 'ww' string (Vim default: "b,s", Vi default: "")
7337 Allow specified keys that move the cursor left/right to move to the
7338 previous/next line when the cursor is on the first/last character in
7339 the line. Concatenate characters to allow this for these keys:
7341 b <BS> Normal and Visual
7342 s <Space> Normal and Visual
7343 h "h" Normal and Visual (not recommended)
7344 l "l" Normal and Visual (not recommended)
7345 < <Left> Normal and Visual
7346 > <Right> Normal and Visual
7348 [ <Left> Insert and Replace
7349 ] <Right> Insert and Replace
7352 < allows wrap only when cursor keys are used.
7353 When the movement keys are used in combination with a delete or change
7354 operator, the <EOL> also counts for a character. This makes "3h"
7355 different from "3dh" when the cursor crosses the end of a line. This
7356 is also true for "x" and "X", because they do the same as "dl" and
7357 "dh". If you use this, you may also want to use the mapping
7358 ":map <BS> X" to make backspace delete the character in front of the
7360 When 'l' is included and it is used after an operator at the end of a
7361 line then it will not move to the next line. This makes "dl", "cl",
7362 "yl" etc. work normally.
7363 NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
7364 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
7367 'wildchar' 'wc' number (Vim default: <Tab>, Vi default: CTRL-E)
7370 Character you have to type to start wildcard expansion in the
7371 command-line, as specified with 'wildmode'.
7372 The character is not recognized when used inside a macro. See
7373 'wildcharm' for that.
7374 Although 'wc' is a number option, you can set it to a special key: >
7376 < NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
7377 set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
7379 *'wildcharm'* *'wcm'*
7380 'wildcharm' 'wcm' number (default: none (0))
7383 'wildcharm' works exactly like 'wildchar', except that it is
7384 recognized when used inside a macro. You can find "spare" command-line
7385 keys suitable for this option by looking at |ex-edit-index|. Normally
7386 you'll never actually type 'wildcharm', just use it in mappings that
7387 automatically invoke completion mode, e.g.: >
7389 :cmap ss so $vim/sessions/*.vim<C-Z>
7390 < Then after typing :ss you can use CTRL-P & CTRL-N.
7392 *'wildignore'* *'wig'*
7393 'wildignore' 'wig' string (default "")
7396 {not available when compiled without the |+wildignore|
7398 A list of file patterns. A file that matches with one of these
7399 patterns is ignored when completing file or directory names.
7400 The pattern is used like with |:autocmd|, see |autocmd-patterns|.
7401 Also see 'suffixes'.
7403 :set wildignore=*.o,*.obj
7404 < The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing
7405 a pattern from the list. This avoids problems when a future version
7406 uses another default.
7408 *'wildmenu'* *'wmnu'* *'nowildmenu'* *'nowmnu'*
7409 'wildmenu' 'wmnu' boolean (default off)
7412 {not available if compiled without the |+wildmenu|
7414 When 'wildmenu' is on, command-line completion operates in an enhanced
7415 mode. On pressing 'wildchar' (usually <Tab>) to invoke completion,
7416 the possible matches are shown just above the command line, with the
7417 first match highlighted (overwriting the status line, if there is
7418 one). Keys that show the previous/next match, such as <Tab> or
7419 CTRL-P/CTRL-N, cause the highlight to move to the appropriate match.
7420 When 'wildmode' is used, "wildmenu" mode is used where "full" is
7421 specified. "longest" and "list" do not start "wildmenu" mode.
7422 If there are more matches than can fit in the line, a ">" is shown on
7423 the right and/or a "<" is shown on the left. The status line scrolls
7425 The "wildmenu" mode is abandoned when a key is hit that is not used
7426 for selecting a completion.
7427 While the "wildmenu" is active the following keys have special
7430 <Left> <Right> - select previous/next match (like CTRL-P/CTRL-N)
7431 <Down> - in filename/menu name completion: move into a
7432 subdirectory or submenu.
7433 <CR> - in menu completion, when the cursor is just after a
7434 dot: move into a submenu.
7435 <Up> - in filename/menu name completion: move up into
7436 parent directory or parent menu.
7438 This makes the menus accessible from the console |console-menus|.
7440 If you prefer the <Left> and <Right> keys to move the cursor instead
7441 of selecting a different match, use this: >
7442 :cnoremap <Left> <Space><BS><Left>
7443 :cnoremap <Right> <Space><BS><Right>
7445 The "WildMenu" highlighting is used for displaying the current match
7448 *'wildmode'* *'wim'*
7449 'wildmode' 'wim' string (Vim default: "full")
7452 Completion mode that is used for the character specified with
7453 'wildchar'. It is a comma separated list of up to four parts. Each
7454 part specifies what to do for each consecutive use of 'wildchar. The
7455 first part specifies the behavior for the first use of 'wildchar',
7456 The second part for the second use, etc.
7457 These are the possible values for each part:
7458 "" Complete only the first match.
7459 "full" Complete the next full match. After the last match,
7460 the original string is used and then the first match
7462 "longest" Complete till longest common string. If this doesn't
7463 result in a longer string, use the next part.
7464 "longest:full" Like "longest", but also start 'wildmenu' if it is
7466 "list" When more than one match, list all matches.
7467 "list:full" When more than one match, list all matches and
7468 complete first match.
7469 "list:longest" When more than one match, list all matches and
7470 complete till longest common string.
7471 When there is only a single match, it is fully completed in all cases.
7475 < Complete first full match, next match, etc. (the default) >
7476 :set wildmode=longest,full
7477 < Complete longest common string, then each full match >
7478 :set wildmode=list:full
7479 < List all matches and complete each full match >
7480 :set wildmode=list,full
7481 < List all matches without completing, then each full match >
7482 :set wildmode=longest,list
7483 < Complete longest common string, then list alternatives.
7485 *'wildoptions'* *'wop'*
7486 'wildoptions' 'wop' string (default "")
7489 {not available when compiled without the |+wildignore|
7491 A list of words that change how command line completion is done.
7492 Currently only one word is allowed:
7493 tagfile When using CTRL-D to list matching tags, the kind of
7494 tag and the file of the tag is listed. Only one match
7495 is displayed per line. Often used tag kinds are:
7498 Also see |cmdline-completion|.
7500 *'winaltkeys'* *'wak'*
7501 'winaltkeys' 'wak' string (default "menu")
7504 {only used in Win32, Motif, GTK and Photon GUI}
7505 Some GUI versions allow the access to menu entries by using the ALT
7506 key in combination with a character that appears underlined in the
7507 menu. This conflicts with the use of the ALT key for mappings and
7508 entering special characters. This option tells what to do:
7509 no Don't use ALT keys for menus. ALT key combinations can be
7510 mapped, but there is no automatic handling. This can then be
7511 done with the |:simalt| command.
7512 yes ALT key handling is done by the windowing system. ALT key
7513 combinations cannot be mapped.
7514 menu Using ALT in combination with a character that is a menu
7515 shortcut key, will be handled by the windowing system. Other
7517 If the menu is disabled by excluding 'm' from 'guioptions', the ALT
7518 key is never used for the menu.
7519 This option is not used for <F10>; on Win32 and with GTK <F10> will
7520 select the menu, unless it has been mapped.
7523 'window' 'wi' number (default screen height - 1)
7525 Window height. Do not confuse this with the height of the Vim window,
7526 use 'lines' for that.
7527 Used for |CTRL-F| and |CTRL-B| when there is only one window and the
7528 value is smaller than 'lines' minus one. The screen will scroll
7529 'window' minus two lines, with a minimum of one.
7530 When 'window' is equal to 'lines' minus one CTRL-F and CTRL-B scroll
7531 in a much smarter way, taking care of wrapping lines.
7532 When resizing the Vim window, the value is smaller than 1 or more than
7533 or equal to 'lines' it will be set to 'lines' minus 1.
7534 {Vi also uses the option to specify the number of displayed lines}
7536 *'winheight'* *'wh'* *E591*
7537 'winheight' 'wh' number (default 1)
7540 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7542 Minimal number of lines for the current window. This is not a hard
7543 minimum, Vim will use fewer lines if there is not enough room. If the
7544 current window is smaller, its size is increased, at the cost of the
7545 height of other windows. Set it to 999 to make the current window
7546 always fill the screen (although this has the drawback that ":all"
7547 will create only two windows). Set it to a small number for normal
7550 The height is not adjusted after one of the commands to change the
7551 height of the current window.
7552 'winheight' applies to the current window. Use 'winminheight' to set
7553 the minimal height for other windows.
7555 *'winfixheight'* *'wfh'* *'nowinfixheight'* *'nowfh'*
7556 'winfixheight' 'wfh' boolean (default off)
7559 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7561 Keep the window height when windows are opened or closed and
7562 'equalalways' is set. Set by default for the |preview-window| and
7564 The height may be changed anyway when running out of room.
7566 *'winfixwidth'* *'wfw'* *'nowinfixwidth'* *'nowfw'*
7567 'winfixwidth' 'wfw' boolean (default off)
7570 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7572 Keep the window width when windows are opened or closed and
7573 'equalalways' is set.
7574 The width may be changed anyway when running out of room.
7576 *'winminheight'* *'wmh'*
7577 'winminheight' 'wmh' number (default 1)
7580 {not available when compiled without the +windows
7582 The minimal height of a window, when it's not the current window.
7583 This is a hard minimum, windows will never become smaller.
7584 When set to zero, windows may be "squashed" to zero lines (i.e. just a
7585 status bar) if necessary. They will return to at least one line when
7586 they become active (since the cursor has to have somewhere to go.)
7587 Use 'winheight' to set the minimal height of the current window.
7588 This option is only checked when making a window smaller. Don't use a
7589 large number, it will cause errors when opening more than a few
7590 windows. A value of 0 to 3 is reasonable.
7592 *'winminwidth'* *'wmw'*
7593 'winminwidth' 'wmw' number (default 1)
7596 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
7598 The minimal width of a window, when it's not the current window.
7599 This is a hard minimum, windows will never become smaller.
7600 When set to zero, windows may be "squashed" to zero columns (i.e. just
7601 a vertical separator) if necessary. They will return to at least one
7602 line when they become active (since the cursor has to have somewhere
7604 Use 'winwidth' to set the minimal width of the current window.
7605 This option is only checked when making a window smaller. Don't use a
7606 large number, it will cause errors when opening more than a few
7607 windows. A value of 0 to 12 is reasonable.
7609 *'winwidth'* *'wiw'* *E592*
7610 'winwidth' 'wiw' number (default 20)
7613 {not available when compiled without the +vertsplit
7615 Minimal number of columns for the current window. This is not a hard
7616 minimum, Vim will use fewer columns if there is not enough room. If
7617 the current window is smaller, its size is increased, at the cost of
7618 the width of other windows. Set it to 999 to make the current window
7619 always fill the screen. Set it to a small number for normal editing.
7620 The width is not adjusted after one of the commands to change the
7621 width of the current window.
7622 'winwidth' applies to the current window. Use 'winminwidth' to set
7623 the minimal width for other windows.
7626 'wrap' boolean (default on)
7629 This option changes how text is displayed. It doesn't change the text
7630 in the buffer, see 'textwidth' for that.
7631 When on, lines longer than the width of the window will wrap and
7632 displaying continues on the next line. When off lines will not wrap
7633 and only part of long lines will be displayed. When the cursor is
7634 moved to a part that is not shown, the screen will scroll
7636 The line will be broken in the middle of a word if necessary. See
7637 'linebreak' to get the break at a word boundary.
7638 To make scrolling horizontally a bit more useful, try this: >
7640 :set listchars+=precedes:<,extends:>
7641 < See 'sidescroll', 'listchars' and |wrap-off|.
7643 *'wrapmargin'* *'wm'*
7644 'wrapmargin' 'wm' number (default 0)
7646 Number of characters from the right window border where wrapping
7647 starts. When typing text beyond this limit, an <EOL> will be inserted
7648 and inserting continues on the next line.
7649 Options that add a margin, such as 'number' and 'foldcolumn', cause
7650 the text width to be further reduced. This is Vi compatible.
7651 When 'textwidth' is non-zero, this option is not used.
7652 See also 'formatoptions' and |ins-textwidth|. {Vi: works differently
7655 *'wrapscan'* *'ws'* *'nowrapscan'* *'nows'*
7656 'wrapscan' 'ws' boolean (default on) *E384* *E385*
7658 Searches wrap around the end of the file. Also applies to |]s| and
7659 |[s|, searching for spelling mistakes.
7661 *'write'* *'nowrite'*
7662 'write' boolean (default on)
7665 Allows writing files. When not set, writing a file is not allowed.
7666 Can be used for a view-only mode, where modifications to the text are
7667 still allowed. Can be reset with the |-m| or |-M| command line
7668 argument. Filtering text is still possible, even though this requires
7669 writing a temporary file.
7671 *'writeany'* *'wa'* *'nowriteany'* *'nowa'*
7672 'writeany' 'wa' boolean (default off)
7674 Allows writing to any file with no need for "!" override.
7676 *'writebackup'* *'wb'* *'nowritebackup'* *'nowb'*
7677 'writebackup' 'wb' boolean (default on with |+writebackup| feature, off
7681 Make a backup before overwriting a file. The backup is removed after
7682 the file was successfully written, unless the 'backup' option is
7683 also on. Reset this option if your file system is almost full. See
7684 |backup-table| for another explanation.
7685 When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a backup is not made anyway.
7686 NOTE: This option is set to the default value when 'compatible' is
7689 *'writedelay'* *'wd'*
7690 'writedelay' 'wd' number (default 0)
7693 The number of microseconds to wait for each character sent to the
7694 screen. When non-zero, characters are sent to the terminal one by
7695 one. For MS-DOS pcterm this does not work. For debugging purposes.
7697 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: