1 *various.txt* For Vim version 7.2. Last change: 2008 Nov 13
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
7 Various commands *various*
9 1. Various commands |various-cmds|
10 2. Online help |online-help|
11 3. Using Vim like less or more |less|
13 ==============================================================================
14 1. Various commands *various-cmds*
17 CTRL-L Clear and redraw the screen. The redraw may happen
18 later, after processing typeahead.
21 :redr[aw][!] Redraw the screen right now. When ! is included it is
23 Useful to update the screen halfway executing a script
24 or function. Also when halfway a mapping and
27 *:redraws* *:redrawstatus*
28 :redraws[tatus][!] Redraw the status line of the current window. When !
29 is included all status lines are redrawn.
30 Useful to update the status line(s) when 'statusline'
31 includes an item that doesn't cause automatic
35 <Del> When entering a number: Remove the last digit.
36 Note: if you like to use <BS> for this, add this
37 mapping to your .vimrc: >
38 :map CTRL-V <BS> CTRL-V <Del>
39 < See |:fixdel| if your <Del> key does not do what you
42 :as[cii] or *ga* *:as* *:ascii*
43 ga Print the ascii value of the character under the
44 cursor in decimal, hexadecimal and octal. For
45 example, when the cursor is on a 'R':
46 <R> 82, Hex 52, Octal 122 ~
47 When the character is a non-standard ASCII character,
48 but printable according to the 'isprint' option, the
49 non-printable version is also given. When the
50 character is larger than 127, the <M-x> form is also
52 <~A> <M-^A> 129, Hex 81, Octal 201 ~
53 <p> <|~> <M-~> 254, Hex fe, Octal 376 ~
54 (where <p> is a special character)
55 The <Nul> character in a file is stored internally as
56 <NL>, but it will be shown as:
57 <^@> 0, Hex 00, Octal 000 ~
58 If the character has composing characters these are
59 also shown. The value of 'maxcombine' doesn't matter.
60 Mnemonic: Get Ascii value. {not in Vi}
63 g8 Print the hex values of the bytes used in the
64 character under the cursor, assuming it is in |UTF-8|
65 encoding. This also shows composing characters. The
66 value of 'maxcombine' doesn't matter.
67 Example of a character with two composing characters:
68 e0 b8 81 + e0 b8 b9 + e0 b9 89 ~
69 {not in Vi} {only when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
73 8g8 Find an illegal UTF-8 byte sequence at or after the
74 cursor. This works in two situations:
75 1. when 'encoding' is any 8-bit encoding
76 2. when 'encoding' is "utf-8" and 'fileencoding' is
78 Thus it can be used when editing a file that was
79 supposed to be UTF-8 but was read as if it is an 8-bit
80 encoding because it contains illegal bytes.
81 Does not wrap around the end of the file.
82 Note that when the cursor is on an illegal byte or the
83 cursor is halfway a multi-byte character the command
84 won't move the cursor.
85 {not in Vi} {only when compiled with the |+multi_byte|
88 *:p* *:pr* *:print* *E749*
89 :[range]p[rint] [flags]
90 Print [range] lines (default current line).
91 Note: If you are looking for a way to print your text
92 on paper see |:hardcopy|. In the GUI you can use the
93 File.Print menu entry.
94 See |ex-flags| for [flags].
96 :[range]p[rint] {count} [flags]
97 Print {count} lines, starting with [range] (default
98 current line |cmdline-ranges|).
99 See |ex-flags| for [flags].
102 :[range]P[rint] [count] [flags]
103 Just as ":print". Was apparently added to Vi for
104 people that keep the shift key pressed too long...
105 See |ex-flags| for [flags].
108 :[range]l[ist] [count] [flags]
109 Same as :print, but display unprintable characters
110 with '^' and put $ after the line.
111 See |ex-flags| for [flags].
114 :[range]nu[mber] [count] [flags]
115 Same as :print, but precede each line with its line
116 number. (See also 'highlight' and 'numberwidth'
118 See |ex-flags| for [flags].
121 :[range]# [count] [flags]
125 :#!{anything} Ignored, so that you can start a Vim script with: >
127 echo "this is a Vim script"
131 :{range}z[+-^.=]{count} Display several lines of text surrounding the line
132 specified with {range}, or around the current line
133 if there is no {range}. If there is a {count}, that's
134 how many lines you'll see; if there is only one window
135 then the 'window' option is used, otherwise the
136 current window size is used.
138 :z can be used either alone or followed by any of
139 several punctuation marks. These have the following
142 mark first line last line new location ~
143 ---- ---------- --------- ------------
144 + current line 1 scr forward 1 scr forward
145 - 1 scr back current line current line
146 ^ 2 scr back 1 scr back 1 scr back
147 . 1/2 scr back 1/2 scr fwd 1/2 scr fwd
148 = 1/2 scr back 1/2 scr fwd current line
150 Specifying no mark at all is the same as "+".
151 If the mark is "=", a line of dashes is printed
152 around the current line.
154 :{range}z#[+-^.=]{count} *:z#*
155 Like ":z", but number the lines.
156 {not in all versions of Vi, not with these arguments}
159 := [flags] Print the last line number.
160 See |ex-flags| for [flags].
162 :{range}= [flags] Prints the last line number in {range}. For example,
163 this prints the current line number: >
165 < See |ex-flags| for [flags].
167 :norm[al][!] {commands} *:norm* *:normal*
168 Execute Normal mode commands {commands}. This makes
169 it possible to execute Normal mode commands typed on
170 the command-line. {commands} is executed like it is
171 typed. For undo all commands are undone together.
172 Execution stops when an error is encountered.
173 If the [!] is given, mappings will not be used.
174 {commands} should be a complete command. If
175 {commands} does not finish a command, the last one
176 will be aborted as if <Esc> or <C-C> was typed.
177 The display isn't updated while ":normal" is busy.
178 This implies that an insert command must be completed
179 (to start Insert mode, see |:startinsert|). A ":"
180 command must be completed as well. And you can't use
181 "Q" or "gQ" to start Ex mode.
182 {commands} cannot start with a space. Put a count of
183 1 (one) before it, "1 " is one space.
184 The 'insertmode' option is ignored for {commands}.
185 This command cannot be followed by another command,
186 since any '|' is considered part of the command.
187 This command can be used recursively, but the depth is
188 limited by 'maxmapdepth'.
189 When this command is called from a non-remappable
190 mapping |:noremap|, the argument can be mapped anyway.
191 An alternative is to use |:execute|, which uses an
192 expression as argument. This allows the use of
193 printable characters. Example: >
194 :exe "normal \<c-w>\<c-w>"
195 < {not in Vi, of course}
196 {not available when the |+ex_extra| feature was
197 disabled at compile time}
199 :{range}norm[al][!] {commands} *:normal-range*
200 Execute Normal mode commands {commands} for each line
201 in the {range}. Before executing the {commands}, the
202 cursor is positioned in the first column of the range,
203 for each line. Otherwise it's the same as the
204 ":normal" command without a range.
206 Not available when |+ex_extra| feature was disabled at
209 *:sh* *:shell* *E371*
210 :sh[ell] This command starts a shell. When the shell exits
211 (after the "exit" command) you return to Vim. The
212 name for the shell command comes from 'shell' option.
214 Note: This doesn't work when Vim on the Amiga was
215 started in QuickFix mode from a compiler, because the
216 compiler will have set stdin to a non-interactive
220 :!{cmd} Execute {cmd} with the shell. See also the 'shell'
221 and 'shelltype' option.
222 Any '!' in {cmd} is replaced with the previous
223 external command (see also 'cpoptions'). But not when
224 there is a backslash before the '!', then that
225 backslash is removed. Example: ":!ls" followed by
226 ":!echo ! \! \\!" executes "echo ls ! \!".
227 After the command has been executed, the timestamp of
228 the current file is checked |timestamp|.
229 A '|' in {cmd} is passed to the shell, you cannot use
230 it to append a Vim command. See |:bar|.
231 A newline character ends {cmd}, what follows is
232 interpreted as a following ":" command. However, if
233 there is a backslash before the newline it is removed
234 and {cmd} continues. It doesn't matter how many
235 backslashes are before the newline, only one is
237 On Unix the command normally runs in a non-interactive
238 shell. If you want an interactive shell to be used
239 (to use aliases) set 'shellcmdflag' to "-ic".
240 For Win32 also see |:!start|.
241 Vim redraws the screen after the command is finished,
242 because it may have printed any text. This requires a
243 hit-enter prompt, so that you can read any messages.
246 < The screen is not redrawn then, thus you have to use
247 CTRL-L or ":redraw!" if the command did display
249 Also see |shell-window|.
252 :!! Repeat last ":!{cmd}".
255 :ve[rsion] Print the version number of the editor. If the
256 compiler used understands "__DATE__" the compilation
257 date is mentioned. Otherwise a fixed release-date is
259 The following lines contain information about which
260 features were enabled when Vim was compiled. When
261 there is a preceding '+', the feature is included,
262 when there is a '-' it is excluded. To change this,
263 you have to edit feature.h and recompile Vim.
264 To check for this in an expression, see |has()|.
265 Here is an overview of the features.
266 The first column shows the smallest version in which
273 m manually enabled or depends on other features
274 (none) system dependent
275 Thus if a feature is marked with "N", it is included
276 in the normal, big and huge versions of Vim.
279 *+ARP* Amiga only: ARP support included
280 B *+arabic* |Arabic| language support
281 N *+autocmd* |:autocmd|, automatic commands
282 m *+balloon_eval* |balloon-eval| support. Included when compiling with
283 supported GUI (Motif, GTK, GUI) and either
284 Netbeans/Sun Workshop integration or |+eval| feature.
285 N *+browse* |:browse| command
286 N *+builtin_terms* some terminals builtin |builtin-terms|
287 B *++builtin_terms* maximal terminals builtin |builtin-terms|
288 N *+byte_offset* support for 'o' flag in 'statusline' option, "go"
289 and ":goto" commands.
290 N *+cindent* |'cindent'|, C indenting
291 N *+clientserver* Unix and Win32: Remote invocation |clientserver|
292 *+clipboard* |clipboard| support
293 N *+cmdline_compl* command line completion |cmdline-completion|
294 N *+cmdline_hist* command line history |cmdline-history|
295 N *+cmdline_info* |'showcmd'| and |'ruler'|
296 N *+comments* |'comments'| support
297 N *+cryptv* encryption support |encryption|
298 B *+cscope* |cscope| support
299 m *+cursorshape* |termcap-cursor-shape| support
300 m *+debug* Compiled for debugging.
301 N *+dialog_gui* Support for |:confirm| with GUI dialog.
302 N *+dialog_con* Support for |:confirm| with console dialog.
303 N *+dialog_con_gui* Support for |:confirm| with GUI and console dialog.
304 N *+diff* |vimdiff| and 'diff'
305 N *+digraphs* |digraphs| *E196*
306 *+dnd* Support for DnD into the "~ register |quote_~|.
307 B *+emacs_tags* |emacs-tags| files
308 N *+eval* expression evaluation |eval.txt|
309 N *+ex_extra* Vim's extra Ex commands: |:center|, |:left|,
310 |:normal|, |:retab| and |:right|
311 N *+extra_search* |'hlsearch'| and |'incsearch'| options.
312 B *+farsi* |farsi| language
313 N *+file_in_path* |gf|, |CTRL-W_f| and |<cfile>|
314 N *+find_in_path* include file searches: |[I|, |:isearch|,
315 |CTRL-W_CTRL-I|, |:checkpath|, etc.
316 N *+folding* |folding|
317 *+footer* |gui-footer|
318 *+fork* Unix only: |fork| shell commands
319 m *+fullscreen* MacVim only: edit in full-screen
320 *+float* Floating point support
321 N *+gettext* message translations |multi-lang|
322 *+GUI_Athena* Unix only: Athena |GUI|
323 *+GUI_neXtaw* Unix only: neXtaw |GUI|
324 *+GUI_GTK* Unix only: GTK+ |GUI|
325 *+GUI_Motif* Unix only: Motif |GUI|
326 *+GUI_Photon* QNX only: Photon |GUI|
327 m *+hangul_input* Hangul input support |hangul|
328 *+iconv* Compiled with the |iconv()| function
329 *+iconv/dyn* Likewise |iconv-dynamic| |/dyn|
330 N *+insert_expand* |insert_expand| Insert mode completion
331 N *+jumplist* |jumplist|
332 B *+keymap* |'keymap'|
333 B *+langmap* |'langmap'|
334 N *+libcall* |libcall()|
335 N *+linebreak* |'linebreak'|, |'breakat'| and |'showbreak'|
336 N *+lispindent* |'lisp'|
337 N *+listcmds* Vim commands for the list of buffers |buffer-hidden|
338 and argument list |:argdelete|
339 N *+localmap* Support for mappings local to a buffer |:map-local|
341 N *+mksession* |:mksession|
342 N *+modify_fname* |filename-modifiers|
343 N *+mouse* Mouse handling |mouse-using|
344 N *+mouseshape* |'mouseshape'|
345 B *+mouse_dec* Unix only: Dec terminal mouse handling |dec-mouse|
346 N *+mouse_gpm* Unix only: Linux console mouse handling |gpm-mouse|
347 B *+mouse_netterm* Unix only: netterm mouse handling |netterm-mouse|
348 N *+mouse_pterm* QNX only: pterm mouse handling |qnx-terminal|
349 N *+mouse_sysmouse* Unix only: *BSD console mouse handling |sysmouse|
350 N *+mouse_xterm* Unix only: xterm mouse handling |xterm-mouse|
351 B *+multi_byte* Korean and other languages |multibyte|
352 *+multi_byte_ime* Win32 input method for multibyte chars |multibyte-ime|
353 N *+multi_lang* non-English language support |multi-lang|
354 m *+mzscheme* Mzscheme interface |mzscheme|
355 m *+mzscheme/dyn* Mzscheme interface |mzscheme-dynamic| |/dyn|
356 m *+netbeans_intg* |netbeans|
357 m *+odbeditor* MacVim only: ODB Editor Protocol support |odbeditor|
358 m *+ole* Win32 GUI only: |ole-interface|
359 *+osfiletype* Support for the 'osfiletype' option and filetype
360 checking in automatic commands. |autocmd-osfiletypes|
361 N *+path_extra* Up/downwards search in 'path' and 'tags'
362 m *+perl* Perl interface |perl|
363 m *+perl/dyn* Perl interface |perl-dynamic| |/dyn|
364 *+postscript* |:hardcopy| writes a PostScript file
365 N *+printer* |:hardcopy| command
366 H *+profile* |:profile| command
367 m *+python* Python interface |python|
368 m *+python/dyn* Python interface |python-dynamic| |/dyn|
369 N *+quickfix* |:make| and |quickfix| commands
370 N *+reltime* |reltime()| function, 'hlsearch'/'incsearch' timeout,
372 B *+rightleft* Right to left typing |'rightleft'|
373 m *+ruby* Ruby interface |ruby|
374 m *+ruby/dyn* Ruby interface |ruby-dynamic| |/dyn|
375 N *+scrollbind* |'scrollbind'|
377 N *+smartindent* |'smartindent'|
378 m *+sniff* SniFF interface |sniff|
379 N *+statusline* Options 'statusline', 'rulerformat' and special
380 formats of 'titlestring' and 'iconstring'
381 m *+sun_workshop* |workshop|
382 N *+syntax* Syntax highlighting |syntax|
383 *+system()* Unix only: opposite of |+fork|
384 N *+tag_binary* binary searching in tags file |tag-binary-search|
385 N *+tag_old_static* old method for static tags |tag-old-static|
386 m *+tag_any_white* any white space allowed in tags file |tag-any-white|
387 m *+tcl* Tcl interface |tcl|
388 m *+tcl/dyn* Tcl interface |tcl-dynamic| |/dyn|
389 *+terminfo* uses |terminfo| instead of termcap
390 N *+termresponse* support for |t_RV| and |v:termresponse|
391 N *+textobjects* |text-objects| selection
392 *+tgetent* non-Unix only: able to use external termcap
393 N *+title* Setting the window 'title' and 'icon'
394 N *+toolbar* |gui-toolbar|
395 m *+transparency* MacVim only: window background transparency
396 N *+user_commands* User-defined commands. |user-commands|
397 N *+viminfo* |'viminfo'|
398 N *+vertsplit* Vertically split windows |:vsplit|
399 N *+virtualedit* |'virtualedit'|
400 S *+visual* Visual mode |Visual-mode|
401 N *+visualextra* extra Visual mode commands |blockwise-operators|
402 N *+vreplace* |gR| and |gr|
403 N *+wildignore* |'wildignore'|
404 N *+wildmenu* |'wildmenu'|
405 S *+windows* more than one window
406 m *+writebackup* |'writebackup'| is default on
407 m *+xim* X input method |xim|
408 *+xfontset* X fontset support |xfontset|
409 *+xsmp* XSMP (X session management) support
410 *+xsmp_interact* interactive XSMP (X session management) support
411 N *+xterm_clipboard* Unix only: xterm clipboard handling
412 m *+xterm_save* save and restore xterm screen |xterm-screens|
413 N *+X11* Unix only: can restore window title |X11|
416 To some of the features "/dyn" is added when the
417 feature is only available when the related library can
418 be dynamically loaded.
420 :ve[rsion] {nr} Is now ignored. This was previously used to check the
421 version number of a .vimrc file. It was removed,
422 because you can now use the ":if" command for
423 version-dependent behavior. {not in Vi}
426 :redi[r][!] > {file} Redirect messages to file {file}. The messages which
427 are the output of commands are written to that file,
428 until redirection ends. The messages are also still
429 shown on the screen. When [!] is included, an
430 existing file is overwritten. When [!] is omitted,
431 and {file} exists, this command fails.
432 Only one ":redir" can be active at a time. Calls to
433 ":redir" will close any active redirection before
434 starting redirection to the new target.
435 To stop the messages and commands from being echoed to
436 the screen, put the commands in a function and call it
437 with ":silent call Function()".
438 An alternative is to use the 'verbosefile' option,
439 this can be used in combination with ":redir".
442 :redi[r] >> {file} Redirect messages to file {file}. Append if {file}
443 already exists. {not in Vi}
446 :redi[r] @{a-zA-Z}> Redirect messages to register {a-z}. Append to the
447 contents of the register if its name is given
448 uppercase {A-Z}. The ">" after the register name is
449 optional. {not in Vi}
450 :redi[r] @{a-z}>> Append messages to register {a-z}. {not in Vi}
453 :redi[r] @+> Redirect messages to the selection or clipboard. For
454 backward compatibility, the ">" after the register
455 name can be omitted. See |quotestar| and |quoteplus|.
458 :redi[r] @+>> Append messages to the selection or clipboard.
461 :redi[r] @"> Redirect messages to the unnamed register. For
462 backward compatibility, the ">" after the register
463 name can be omitted. {not in Vi}
464 :redi[r] @">> Append messages to the unnamed register. {not in Vi}
466 :redi[r] => {var} Redirect messages to a variable. If the variable
467 doesn't exist, then it is created. If the variable
468 exists, then it is initialized to an empty string.
469 The variable will remain empty until redirection ends.
470 Only string variables can be used. After the
471 redirection starts, if the variable is removed or
472 locked or the variable type is changed, then further
473 command output messages will cause errors. {not in Vi}
475 :redi[r] =>> {var} Append messages to an existing variable. Only string
476 variables can be used. {not in Vi}
478 :redi[r] END End redirecting messages. {not in Vi}
481 :sil[ent][!] {command} Execute {command} silently. Normal messages will not
482 be given or added to the message history.
483 When [!] is added, error messages will also be
484 skipped, and commands and mappings will not be aborted
485 when an error is detected. |v:errmsg| is still set.
486 When [!] is not used, an error message will cause
487 further messages to be displayed normally.
488 Redirection, started with |:redir|, will continue as
489 usual, although there might be small differences.
490 This will allow redirecting the output of a command
491 without seeing it on the screen. Example: >
495 < To execute a Normal mode command silently, use the
496 |:normal| command. For example, to search for a
497 string without messages: >
498 :silent exe "normal /path\<CR>"
499 < ":silent!" is useful to execute a command that may
500 fail, but the failure is to be ignored. Example: >
504 : ... pattern was not found
505 < ":silent" will also avoid the hit-enter prompt. When
506 using this for an external command, this may cause the
507 screen to be messed up. Use |CTRL-L| to clean it up
509 ":silent menu ..." defines a menu that will not echo a
510 Command-line command. The command will still produce
511 messages though. Use ":silent" in the command itself
512 to avoid that: ":silent menu .... :silent command".
515 :[count]verb[ose] {command}
516 Execute {command} with 'verbose' set to [count]. If
517 [count] is omitted one is used. ":0verbose" can be
518 used to set 'verbose' to zero.
519 The additional use of ":silent" makes messages
520 generated but not displayed.
521 The combination of ":silent" and ":verbose" can be
522 used to generate messages and check them with
523 |v:statusmsg| and friends. For example: >
524 :let v:statusmsg = ""
525 :silent verbose runtime foobar.vim
526 :if v:statusmsg != ""
527 : " foobar.vim could not be found
529 < When concatenating another command, the ":verbose"
530 only applies to the first one: >
531 :4verbose set verbose | set verbose
534 For logging verbose messages in a file use the
535 'verbosefile' option.
538 When 'verbose' is non-zero, listing the value of a Vim option or a key map or
539 an abbreviation or a user-defined function or a command or a highlight group
540 or an autocommand will also display where it was last defined. If it was
541 defined manually then there will be no "Last set" message. When it was
542 defined while executing a function, user command or autocommand, the script in
543 which it was defined is reported.
544 {not available when compiled without the +eval feature}
547 K Run a program to lookup the keyword under the
548 cursor. The name of the program is given with the
549 'keywordprg' (kp) option (default is "man"). The
550 keyword is formed of letters, numbers and the
551 characters in 'iskeyword'. The keyword under or
552 right of the cursor is used. The same can be done
554 :!{program} {keyword}
555 < There is an example of a program to use in the tools
556 directory of Vim. It is called 'ref' and does a
557 simple spelling check.
559 - If 'keywordprg' is empty, the ":help" command is
560 used. It's a good idea to include more characters
561 in 'iskeyword' then, to be able to find more help.
562 - When 'keywordprg' is equal to "man", a count before
563 "K" is inserted after the "man" command and before
564 the keyword. For example, using "2K" while the
565 cursor is on "mkdir", results in: >
567 < - When 'keywordprg' is equal to "man -s", a count
568 before "K" is inserted after the "-s". If there is
569 no count, the "-s" is removed.
573 {Visual}K Like "K", but use the visually highlighted text for
574 the keyword. Only works when the highlighted text is
575 not more than one line. {not in Vi}
577 [N]gs *gs* *:sl* *:sleep*
578 :[N]sl[eep] [N] [m] Do nothing for [N] seconds. When [m] is included,
579 sleep for [N] milliseconds. The count for "gs" always
580 uses seconds. The default is one second. >
581 :sleep "sleep for one second
582 :5sleep "sleep for five seconds
583 :sleep 100m "sleep for a hundred milliseconds
584 10gs "sleep for ten seconds
585 < Can be interrupted with CTRL-C (CTRL-Break on MS-DOS).
586 "gs" stands for "goto sleep".
587 While sleeping the cursor is positioned in the text,
588 if at a visible position. {not in Vi}
591 g CTRL-A Only when Vim was compiled with MEM_PROFILING defined
592 (which is very rare): print memory usage statistics.
593 Only useful for debugging Vim.
595 ==============================================================================
596 2. Online help *online-help*
598 *help* *<Help>* *:h* *:help* *<F1>* *i_<F1>* *i_<Help>*
600 :h[elp] Open a window and display the help file in read-only
601 mode. If there is a help window open already, use
602 that one. Otherwise, if the current window uses the
603 full width of the screen or is at least 80 characters
604 wide, the help window will appear just above the
605 current window. Otherwise the new window is put at
607 The 'helplang' option is used to select a language, if
608 the main help file is available in several languages.
611 *{subject}* *E149* *E661*
612 :h[elp] {subject} Like ":help", additionally jump to the tag {subject}.
613 {subject} can include wildcards like "*", "?" and
615 :help z? jump to help for any "z" command
616 :help z. jump to the help for "z."
617 If there is no full match for the pattern, or there
618 are several matches, the "best" match will be used.
619 A sophisticated algorithm is used to decide which
620 match is better than another one. These items are
621 considered in the computation:
622 - A match with same case is much better than a match
624 - A match that starts after a non-alphanumeric
625 character is better than a match in the middle of a
627 - A match at or near the beginning of the tag is
628 better than a match further on.
629 - The more alphanumeric characters match, the better.
630 - The shorter the length of the match, the better.
632 The 'helplang' option is used to select a language, if
633 the {subject} is available in several languages.
634 To find a tag in a specific language, append "@ab",
635 where "ab" is the two-letter language code. See
638 Note that the longer the {subject} you give, the less
639 matches will be found. You can get an idea how this
640 all works by using commandline completion (type CTRL-D
641 after ":help subject" |c_CTRL-D|).
642 If there are several matches, you can have them listed
643 by hitting CTRL-D. Example: >
645 < To use a regexp |pattern|, first do ":help" and then
646 use ":tag {pattern}" in the help window. The
647 ":tnext" command can then be used to jump to other
648 matches, "tselect" to list matches and choose one. >
650 < When there is no argument you will see matches for
651 "help", to avoid listing all possible matches (that
653 The number of matches displayed is limited to 300.
655 This command can be followed by '|' and another
656 command, but you don't need to escape the '|' inside a
657 help command. So these both work: >
660 < Note that a space before the '|' is seen as part of
661 the ":help" argument.
662 You can also use <LF> or <CR> to separate the help
663 command from a following command. You need to type
664 CTRL-V first to insert the <LF> or <CR>. Example: >
665 :help so<C-V><CR>only
668 :h[elp]! [subject] Like ":help", but in non-English help files prefer to
669 find a tag in a file with the same language as the
670 current file. See |help-translated|.
673 :helpg[rep] {pattern}[@xx]
674 Search all help text files and make a list of lines
675 in which {pattern} matches. Jumps to the first match.
676 The optional [@xx] specifies that only matches in the
677 "xx" language are to be found.
678 You can navigate through the matches with the
679 |quickfix| commands, e.g., |:cnext| to jump to the
680 next one. Or use |:cwindow| to get the list of
681 matches in the quickfix window.
682 {pattern} is used as a Vim regexp |pattern|.
683 'ignorecase' is not used, add "\c" to ignore case.
684 Example for case sensitive search: >
686 < Example for case ignoring search: >
688 < Example for searching in French help: >
689 :helpgrep backspace@fr
690 < The pattern does not support line breaks, it must
691 match within one line. You can use |:grep| instead,
692 but then you need to get the list of help files in a
694 Cannot be followed by another command, everything is
695 used as part of the pattern. But you can use
696 |:execute| when needed.
697 Compressed help files will not be searched (Fedora
698 compresses the help files).
702 :lh[elpgrep] {pattern}[@xx]
703 Same as ":helpgrep", except the location list is used
704 instead of the quickfix list. If the help window is
705 already opened, then the location list for that window
706 is used. Otherwise, a new help window is opened and
707 the location list for that window is set. The
708 location list for the current window is not changed.
711 :exu[sage] Show help on Ex commands. Added to simulate the Nvi
715 :viu[sage] Show help on Normal mode commands. Added to simulate
716 the Nvi command. {not in Vi}
718 When no argument is given to |:help| the file given with the 'helpfile' option
719 will be opened. Otherwise the specified tag is searched for in all "doc/tags"
720 files in the directories specified in the 'runtimepath' option.
722 The initial height of the help window can be set with the 'helpheight' option
725 Jump to specific subjects by using tags. This can be done in two ways:
726 - Use the "CTRL-]" command while standing on the name of a command or option.
727 This only works when the tag is a keyword. "<C-Leftmouse>" and
728 "g<LeftMouse>" work just like "CTRL-]".
729 - use the ":ta {subject}" command. This also works with non-keyword
732 Use CTRL-T or CTRL-O to jump back.
733 Use ":q" to close the help window.
735 If there are several matches for an item you are looking for, this is how you
736 can jump to each one of them:
737 1. Open a help window
738 2. Use the ":tag" command with a slash prepended to the tag. E.g.: >
740 3. Use ":tnext" to jump to the next matching tag.
742 It is possible to add help files for plugins and other items. You don't need
743 to change the distributed help files for that. See |add-local-help|.
745 To write a local help file, see |write-local-help|.
747 Note that the title lines from the local help files are automagically added to
748 the "LOCAL ADDITIONS" section in the "help.txt" help file |local-additions|.
749 This is done when viewing the file in Vim, the file itself is not changed. It
750 is done by going through all help files and obtaining the first line of each
751 file. The files in $VIMRUNTIME/doc are skipped.
754 If you want to have the help in another xterm window, you could use this
756 :!xterm -e vim +help &
760 :helpf[ind] Like |:help|, but use a dialog to enter the argument.
761 Only for backwards compatibility. It now executes the
762 ToolBar.FindHelp menu entry instead of using a builtin
763 dialog. {only when compiled with |+GUI_GTK|}
767 *E154* *E150* *E151* *E152* *E153* *E670*
768 :helpt[ags] [++t] {dir}
769 Generate the help tags file(s) for directory {dir}.
770 All "*.txt" and "*.??x" files in the directory are
771 scanned for a help tag definition in between stars.
772 The "*.??x" files are for translated docs, they
773 generate the "tags-??" file, see |help-translated|.
774 The generated tags files are sorted.
775 When there are duplicates an error message is given.
776 An existing tags file is silently overwritten.
777 The optional "++t" argument forces adding the
778 "help-tags" tag. This is also done when the {dir} is
779 equal to $VIMRUNTIME/doc.
780 To rebuild the help tags in the runtime directory
781 (requires write permission there): >
782 :helptags $VIMRUNTIME/doc
786 TRANSLATED HELP *help-translated*
788 It is possible to add translated help files, next to the original English help
789 files. Vim will search for all help in "doc" directories in 'runtimepath'.
790 This is only available when compiled with the |+multi_lang| feature.
792 At this moment translations are available for:
793 Chinese - multiple authors
794 French - translated by David Blanchet
795 Italian - translated by Antonio Colombo
796 Polish - translated by Mikolaj Machowski
797 Russian - translated by Vassily Ragosin
798 See the Vim website to find them: http://www.vim.org/translations.php
800 A set of translated help files consists of these files:
807 "ab" is the two-letter language code. Thus for Italian the names are:
814 The 'helplang' option can be set to the preferred language(s). The default is
815 set according to the environment. Vim will first try to find a matching tag
816 in the preferred language(s). English is used when it cannot be found.
818 To find a tag in a specific language, append "@ab" to a tag, where "ab" is the
819 two-letter language code. Example: >
822 The first one finds the Italian user manual, even when 'helplang' is empty.
823 The second one finds the English user manual, even when 'helplang' is set to
826 When using command-line completion for the ":help" command, the "@en"
827 extension is only shown when a tag exists for multiple languages. When the
828 tag only exists for English "@en" is omitted.
830 When using |CTRL-]| or ":help!" in a non-English help file Vim will try to
831 find the tag in the same language. If not found then 'helplang' will be used
832 to select a language.
834 Help files must use latin1 or utf-8 encoding. Vim assumes the encoding is
835 utf-8 when finding non-ASCII characters in the first line. Thus you must
836 translate the header with "For Vim version".
838 The same encoding must be used for the help files of one language in one
839 directory. You can use a different encoding for different languages and use
840 a different encoding for help files of the same language but in a different
843 Hints for translators:
844 - Do not translate the tags. This makes it possible to use 'helplang' to
845 specify the preferred language. You may add new tags in your language.
846 - When you do not translate a part of a file, add tags to the English version,
847 using the "tag@en" notation.
848 - Make a package with all the files and the tags file available for download.
849 Users can drop it in one of the "doc" directories and start use it.
850 Report this to Bram, so that he can add a link on www.vim.org.
851 - Use the |:helptags| command to generate the tags files. It will find all
852 languages in the specified directory.
854 ==============================================================================
855 3. Using Vim like less or more *less*
857 If you use the less or more program to view a file, you don't get syntax
858 highlighting. Thus you would like to use Vim instead. You can do this by
859 using the shell script "$VIMRUNTIME/macros/less.sh".
861 This shell script uses the Vim script "$VIMRUNTIME/macros/less.vim". It sets
862 up mappings to simulate the commands that less supports. Otherwise, you can
863 still use the Vim commands.
865 This isn't perfect. For example, when viewing a short file Vim will still use
866 the whole screen. But it works good enough for most uses, and you get syntax
869 The "h" key will give you a short overview of the available commands.
871 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: