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1 *usr_25.txt* For Vim version 7.1. Last change: 2007 May 11
3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
5 Editing formatted text
8 Text hardly ever comes in one sentence per line. This chapter is about
9 breaking sentences to make them fit on a page and other formatting.
10 Vim also has useful features for editing single-line paragraphs and tables.
12 |25.1| Breaking lines
13 |25.2| Aligning text
14 |25.3| Indents and tabs
15 |25.4| Dealing with long lines
16 |25.5| Editing tables
18 Next chapter: |usr_26.txt| Repeating
19 Previous chapter: |usr_24.txt| Inserting quickly
20 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
22 ==============================================================================
23 *25.1* Breaking lines
25 Vim has a number of functions that make dealing with text easier. By default,
26 the editor does not perform automatic line breaks. In other words, you have
27 to press <Enter> yourself. This is useful when you are writing programs where
28 you want to decide where the line ends. It is not so good when you are
29 creating documentation and want the text to be at most 70 character wide.
30 If you set the 'textwidth' option, Vim automatically inserts line breaks.
31 Suppose, for example, that you want a very narrow column of only 30
32 characters. You need to execute the following command: >
34 :set textwidth=30
36 Now you start typing (ruler added):
38 1 2 3
39 12345678901234567890123456789012345
40 I taught programming for a whi ~
42 If you type "l" next, this makes the line longer than the 30-character limit.
43 When Vim sees this, it inserts a line break and you get the following:
45 1 2 3
46 12345678901234567890123456789012345
47 I taught programming for a ~
48 whil ~
50 Continuing on, you can type in the rest of the paragraph:
52 1 2 3
53 12345678901234567890123456789012345
54 I taught programming for a ~
55 while. One time, I was stopped ~
56 by the Fort Worth police, ~
57 because my homework was too ~
58 hard. True story. ~
60 You do not have to type newlines; Vim puts them in automatically.
62 Note:
63 The 'wrap' option makes Vim display lines with a line break, but this
64 doesn't insert a line break in the file.
67 REFORMATTING
69 The Vim editor is not a word processor. In a word processor, if you delete
70 something at the beginning of the paragraph, the line breaks are reworked. In
71 Vim they are not; so if you delete the word "programming" from the first line,
72 all you get is a short line:
74 1 2 3
75 12345678901234567890123456789012345
76 I taught for a ~
77 while. One time, I was stopped ~
78 by the Fort Worth police, ~
79 because my homework was too ~
80 hard. True story. ~
82 This does not look good. To get the paragraph into shape you use the "gq"
83 operator.
84 Let's first use this with a Visual selection. Starting from the first
85 line, type: >
87 v4jgq
89 "v" to start Visual mode, "4j' to move to the end of the paragraph and then
90 the "gq" operator. The result is:
92 1 2 3
93 12345678901234567890123456789012345
94 I taught for a while. One ~
95 time, I was stopped by the ~
96 Fort Worth police, because my ~
97 homework was too hard. True ~
98 story. ~
100 Note: there is a way to do automatic formatting for specific types of text
101 layouts, see |auto-format|.
103 Since "gq" is an operator, you can use one of the three ways to select the
104 text it works on: With Visual mode, with a movement and with a text object.
105 The example above could also be done with "gq4j". That's less typing, but
106 you have to know the line count. A more useful motion command is "}". This
107 moves to the end of a paragraph. Thus "gq}" formats from the cursor to the
108 end of the current paragraph.
109 A very useful text object to use with "gq" is the paragraph. Try this: >
111 gqap
113 "ap" stands for "a-paragraph". This formats the text of one paragraph
114 (separated by empty lines). Also the part before the cursor.
115 If you have your paragraphs separated by empty lines, you can format the
116 whole file by typing this: >
118 gggqG
120 "gg" to move to the first line, "gqG" to format until the last line.
121 Warning: If your paragraphs are not properly separated, they will be joined
122 together. A common mistake is to have a line with a space or tab. That's a
123 blank line, but not an empty line.
125 Vim is able to format more than just plain text. See |fo-table| for how to
126 change this. See the 'joinspaces' option to change the number of spaces used
127 after a full stop.
128 It is possible to use an external program for formatting. This is useful
129 if your text can't be properly formatted with Vim's builtin command. See the
130 'formatprg' option.
132 ==============================================================================
133 *25.2* Aligning text
135 To center a range of lines, use the following command: >
137 :{range}center [width]
139 {range} is the usual command-line range. [width] is an optional line width to
140 use for centering. If [width] is not specified, it defaults to the value of
141 'textwidth'. (If 'textwidth' is 0, the default is 80.)
142 For example: >
144 :1,5center 40
146 results in the following:
148 I taught for a while. One ~
149 time, I was stopped by the ~
150 Fort Worth police, because my ~
151 homework was too hard. True ~
152 story. ~
155 RIGHT ALIGNMENT
157 Similarly, the ":right" command right-justifies the text: >
159 :1,5right 37
161 gives this result:
163 I taught for a while. One ~
164 time, I was stopped by the ~
165 Fort Worth police, because my ~
166 homework was too hard. True ~
167 story. ~
169 LEFT ALIGNMENT
171 Finally there is this command: >
173 :{range}left [margin]
175 Unlike ":center" and ":right", however, the argument to ":left" is not the
176 length of the line. Instead it is the left margin. If it is omitted, the
177 text will be put against the left side of the screen (using a zero margin
178 would do the same). If it is 5, the text will be indented 5 spaces. For
179 example, use these commands: >
181 :1left 5
182 :2,5left
184 This results in the following:
186 I taught for a while. One ~
187 time, I was stopped by the ~
188 Fort Worth police, because my ~
189 homework was too hard. True ~
190 story. ~
193 JUSTIFYING TEXT
195 Vim has no built-in way of justifying text. However, there is a neat macro
196 package that does the job. To use this package, execute the following
197 command: >
199 :runtime macros/justify.vim
201 This Vim script file defines a new visual command "_j". To justify a block of
202 text, highlight the text in Visual mode and then execute "_j".
203 Look in the file for more explanations. To go there, do "gf" on this name:
204 $VIMRUNTIME/macros/justify.vim.
206 An alternative is to filter the text through an external program. Example: >
208 :%!fmt
210 ==============================================================================
211 *25.3* Indents and tabs
213 Indents can be used to make text stand out from the rest. The example texts
214 in this manual, for example, are indented by eight spaces or a tab. You would
215 normally enter this by typing a tab at the start of each line. Take this
216 text:
217 the first line ~
218 the second line ~
220 This is entered by typing a tab, some text, <Enter>, tab and more text.
221 The 'autoindent' option inserts indents automatically: >
223 :set autoindent
225 When a new line is started it gets the same indent as the previous line. In
226 the above example, the tab after the <Enter> is not needed anymore.
229 INCREASING INDENT
231 To increase the amount of indent in a line, use the ">" operator. Often this
232 is used as ">>", which adds indent to the current line.
233 The amount of indent added is specified with the 'shiftwidth' option. The
234 default value is 8. To make ">>" insert four spaces worth of indent, for
235 example, type this: >
237 :set shiftwidth=4
239 When used on the second line of the example text, this is what you get:
241 the first line ~
242 the second line ~
244 "4>>" will increase the indent of four lines.
247 TABSTOP
249 If you want to make indents a multiple of 4, you set 'shiftwidth' to 4. But
250 when pressing a <Tab> you still get 8 spaces worth of indent. To change this,
251 set the 'softtabstop' option: >
253 :set softtabstop=4
255 This will make the <Tab> key insert 4 spaces worth of indent. If there are
256 already four spaces, a <Tab> character is used (saving seven characters in the
257 file). (If you always want spaces and no tab characters, set the 'expandtab'
258 option.)
260 Note:
261 You could set the 'tabstop' option to 4. However, if you edit the
262 file another time, with 'tabstop' set to the default value of 8, it
263 will look wrong. In other programs and when printing the indent will
264 also be wrong. Therefore it is recommended to keep 'tabstop' at eight
265 all the time. That's the standard value everywhere.
268 CHANGING TABS
270 You edit a file which was written with a tabstop of 3. In Vim it looks ugly,
271 because it uses the normal tabstop value of 8. You can fix this by setting
272 'tabstop' to 3. But you have to do this every time you edit this file.
273 Vim can change the use of tabstops in your file. First, set 'tabstop' to
274 make the indents look good, then use the ":retab" command: >
276 :set tabstop=3
277 :retab 8
279 The ":retab" command will change 'tabstop' to 8, while changing the text such
280 that it looks the same. It changes spans of white space into tabs and spaces
281 for this. You can now write the file. Next time you edit it the indents will
282 be right without setting an option.
283 Warning: When using ":retab" on a program, it may change white space inside
284 a string constant. Therefore it's a good habit to use "\t" instead of a
285 real tab.
287 ==============================================================================
288 *25.4* Dealing with long lines
290 Sometimes you will be editing a file that is wider than the number of columns
291 in the window. When that occurs, Vim wraps the lines so that everything fits
292 on the screen.
293 If you switch the 'wrap' option off, each line in the file shows up as one
294 line on the screen. Then the ends of the long lines disappear off the screen
295 to the right.
296 When you move the cursor to a character that can't be seen, Vim will scroll
297 the text to show it. This is like moving a viewport over the text in the
298 horizontal direction.
299 By default, Vim does not display a horizontal scrollbar in the GUI. If you
300 want to enable one, use the following command: >
302 :set guioptions+=b
304 One horizontal scrollbar will appear at the bottom of the Vim window.
306 If you don't have a scrollbar or don't want to use it, use these commands to
307 scroll the text. The cursor will stay in the same place, but it's move back
308 into the visible text if necessary.
310 zh scroll right
311 4zh scroll four characters right
312 zH scroll half a window width right
313 ze scroll right to put the cursor at the end
314 zl scroll left
315 4zl scroll four characters left
316 zL scroll half a window width left
317 zs scroll left to put the cursor at the start
319 Let's attempt to show this with one line of text. The cursor is on the "w" of
320 "which". The "current window" above the line indicates the text that is
321 currently visible. The "window"s below the text indicate the text that is
322 visible after the command left of it.
324 |<-- current window -->|
325 some long text, part of which is visible in the window ~
326 ze |<-- window -->|
327 zH |<-- window -->|
328 4zh |<-- window -->|
329 zh |<-- window -->|
330 zl |<-- window -->|
331 4zl |<-- window -->|
332 zL |<-- window -->|
333 zs |<-- window -->|
336 MOVING WITH WRAP OFF
338 When 'wrap' is off and the text has scrolled horizontally, you can use the
339 following commands to move the cursor to a character you can see. Thus text
340 left and right of the window is ignored. These never cause the text to
341 scroll:
343 g0 to first visible character in this line
344 g^ to first non-blank visible character in this line
345 gm to middle of this line
346 g$ to last visible character in this line
348 |<-- window -->|
349 some long text, part of which is visible ~
350 g0 g^ gm g$
353 BREAKING AT WORDS *edit-no-break*
355 When preparing text for use by another program, you might have to make
356 paragraphs without a line break. A disadvantage of using 'nowrap' is that you
357 can't see the whole sentence you are working on. When 'wrap' is on, words are
358 broken halfway, which makes them hard to read.
359 A good solution for editing this kind of paragraph is setting the
360 'linebreak' option. Vim then breaks lines at an appropriate place when
361 displaying the line. The text in the file remains unchanged.
362 Without 'linebreak' text might look like this:
364 +---------------------------------+
365 |letter generation program for a b|
366 |ank. They wanted to send out a s|
367 |pecial, personalized letter to th|
368 |eir richest 1000 customers. Unfo|
369 |rtunately for the programmer, he |
370 +---------------------------------+
371 After: >
373 :set linebreak
375 it looks like this:
377 +---------------------------------+
378 |letter generation program for a |
379 |bank. They wanted to send out a |
380 |special, personalized letter to |
381 |their richest 1000 customers. |
382 |Unfortunately for the programmer,|
383 +---------------------------------+
385 Related options:
386 'breakat' specifies the characters where a break can be inserted.
387 'showbreak' specifies a string to show at the start of broken line.
388 Set 'textwidth' to zero to avoid a paragraph to be split.
391 MOVING BY VISIBLE LINES
393 The "j" and "k" commands move to the next and previous lines. When used on
394 a long line, this means moving a lot of screen lines at once.
395 To move only one screen line, use the "gj" and "gk" commands. When a line
396 doesn't wrap they do the same as "j" and "k". When the line does wrap, they
397 move to a character displayed one line below or above.
398 You might like to use these mappings, which bind these movement commands to
399 the cursor keys: >
401 :map <Up> gk
402 :map <Down> gj
405 TURNING A PARAGRAPH INTO ONE LINE
407 If you want to import text into a program like MS-Word, each paragraph should
408 be a single line. If your paragraphs are currently separated with empty
409 lines, this is how you turn each paragraph into a single line: >
411 :g/./,/^$/join
413 That looks complicated. Let's break it up in pieces:
415 :g/./ A ":global" command that finds all lines that contain
416 at least one character.
417 ,/^$/ A range, starting from the current line (the non-empty
418 line) until an empty line.
419 join The ":join" command joins the range of lines together
420 into one line.
422 Starting with this text, containing eight lines broken at column 30:
424 +----------------------------------+
425 |A letter generation program |
426 |for a bank. They wanted to |
427 |send out a special, |
428 |personalized letter. |
429 | |
430 |To their richest 1000 |
431 |customers. Unfortunately for |
432 |the programmer, |
433 +----------------------------------+
435 You end up with two lines:
437 +----------------------------------+
438 |A letter generation program for a |
439 |bank. They wanted to send out a s|
440 |pecial, personalized letter. |
441 |To their richest 1000 customers. |
442 |Unfortunately for the programmer, |
443 +----------------------------------+
445 Note that this doesn't work when the separating line is blank but not empty;
446 when it contains spaces and/or tabs. This command does work with blank lines:
447 >
448 :g/\S/,/^\s*$/join
450 This still requires a blank or empty line at the end of the file for the last
451 paragraph to be joined.
453 ==============================================================================
454 *25.5* Editing tables
456 Suppose you are editing a table with four columns:
458 nice table test 1 test 2 test 3 ~
459 input A 0.534 ~
460 input B 0.913 ~
462 You need to enter numbers in the third column. You could move to the second
463 line, use "A", enter a lot of spaces and type the text.
464 For this kind of editing there is a special option: >
466 set virtualedit=all
468 Now you can move the cursor to positions where there isn't any text. This is
469 called "virtual space". Editing a table is a lot easier this way.
470 Move the cursor by searching for the header of the last column: >
472 /test 3
474 Now press "j" and you are right where you can enter the value for "input A".
475 Typing "0.693" results in:
477 nice table test 1 test 2 test 3 ~
478 input A 0.534 0.693 ~
479 input B 0.913 ~
481 Vim has automatically filled the gap in front of the new text for you. Now,
482 to enter the next field in this column use "Bj". "B" moves back to the start
483 of a white space separated word. Then "j" moves to the place where the next
484 field can be entered.
486 Note:
487 You can move the cursor anywhere in the display, also beyond the end
488 of a line. But Vim will not insert spaces there, until you insert a
489 character in that position.
492 COPYING A COLUMN
494 You want to add a column, which should be a copy of the third column and
495 placed before the "test 1" column. Do this in seven steps:
496 1. Move the cursor to the left upper corner of this column, e.g., with
497 "/test 3".
498 2. Press CTRL-V to start blockwise Visual mode.
499 3. Move the cursor down two lines with "2j". You are now in "virtual space":
500 the "input B" line of the "test 3" column.
501 4. Move the cursor right, to include the whole column in the selection, plus
502 the space that you want between the columns. "9l" should do it.
503 5. Yank the selected rectangle with "y".
504 6. Move the cursor to "test 1", where the new column must be placed.
505 7. Press "P".
507 The result should be:
509 nice table test 3 test 1 test 2 test 3 ~
510 input A 0.693 0.534 0.693 ~
511 input B 0.913 ~
513 Notice that the whole "test 1" column was shifted right, also the line where
514 the "test 3" column didn't have text.
516 Go back to non-virtual cursor movements with: >
518 :set virtualedit=
521 VIRTUAL REPLACE MODE
523 The disadvantage of using 'virtualedit' is that it "feels" different. You
524 can't recognize tabs or spaces beyond the end of line when moving the cursor
525 around. Another method can be used: Virtual Replace mode.
526 Suppose you have a line in a table that contains both tabs and other
527 characters. Use "rx" on the first tab:
529 inp 0.693 0.534 0.693 ~
531 |
532 rx |
533 V
535 inpx0.693 0.534 0.693 ~
537 The layout is messed up. To avoid that, use the "gr" command:
539 inp 0.693 0.534 0.693 ~
541 |
542 grx |
543 V
545 inpx 0.693 0.534 0.693 ~
547 What happens is that the "gr" command makes sure the new character takes the
548 right amount of screen space. Extra spaces or tabs are inserted to fill the
549 gap. Thus what actually happens is that a tab is replaced by "x" and then
550 blanks added to make the text after it keep it's place. In this case a
551 tab is inserted.
552 When you need to replace more than one character, you use the "R" command
553 to go to Replace mode (see |04.9|). This messes up the layout and replaces
554 the wrong characters:
556 inp 0 0.534 0.693 ~
558 |
559 R0.786 |
560 V
562 inp 0.78634 0.693 ~
564 The "gR" command uses Virtual Replace mode. This preserves the layout:
566 inp 0 0.534 0.693 ~
568 |
569 gR0.786 |
570 V
572 inp 0.786 0.534 0.693 ~
574 ==============================================================================
576 Next chapter: |usr_26.txt| Repeating
578 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: