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1 *gui_mac.txt* For Vim version 7.1. Last change: 2008 May 19
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bjorn Winckler
7 The MacVim Graphical User Interface *macvim* *gui-macvim*
9 0. Important! |macvim-important|
10 1. MacVim differences |macvim-differences|
11 2. Starting MacVim |macvim-start|
12 3. Preferences |macvim-preferences|
13 4. Special colors |macvim-colors|
14 5. Menus |macvim-menus|
15 6. Toolbar |macvim-toolbar|
16 7. Dialogs |macvim-dialogs|
17 8. System services |macvim-services|
18 9. Known bugs/missing features |macvim-todo|
19 10. Hints |macvim-hints|
21 Other relevant documentation:
22 |gui.txt| For generic items of the GUI.
23 |os_mac.txt| For Mac specific items.
25 {Vi does not have a GUI}
27 ==============================================================================
28 0. Important! *macvim-important*
30 MacVim is still under development...this is not the finished product! If you
31 have problems with MacVim then make it known either by adding an issue report
32 on the MacVim project page >
33 http://code.google.com/p/macvim
34 or by posting to the vim_mac mailing list *vim_mac* >
35 http://groups.google.com/group/vim_mac
37 Remember to keep checking the project page for new snapshots or use the
38 automatic updating feature which can be enabled in the preferences pane. (If
39 you downloaded this copy from somewhere else, you might want to go there now
40 to make sure that you have got the latest version.)
42 ==============================================================================
43 1. MacVim differences *macvim-differences*
45 One of the goals of MacVim is to make Vim behave like a proper Mac OS X
46 application. For this reason MacVim behaves slightly different from other GUI
47 ports of Vim. Most of the modifications are provided in the system gvimrc
48 file; you can quickly open this file and look at it yourself by typing: >
49 :tabe $VIM/gvimrc
50 Note that this file will be overwritten each time you update MacVim, so it is
51 better to keep your own modifications inside "~/.gvimrc".
53 *macvim-windows*
54 There is some confusion regarding the term "window" in MacVim since it means
55 one thing to Vim and another to MacVim. A "window" in Vim is what opens up
56 when you type ":sp", whereas a "window" in MacVim is the GUI window which
57 contains the text view, scrollbars, toolbar and tabline. To avoid confusion,
58 the former is referred to as a Vim-window, whereas the latter is simply called
59 a window.
61 *macvim-encoding*
62 It is not possible to modify 'termencoding' in MacVim; this option is forcibly
63 set to "utf-8". The option 'encoding' also defaults to "utf-8" (as opposed to
64 "latin1" in the other GUI ports).
66 Note: UTF-8 can represent all characters defined in Unicode, which includes
67 all characters in all other standard encodings, so it should be perfectly safe
68 to edit files in any encoding while 'encoding' is set to "utf-8". Of course,
69 you may need to set 'fileencodings' to auto-detect the encoding of the files
70 you edit, or force the detection with |++enc| on the command line.
72 However, if you are editing files that use multiple encodings (container
73 formats like MIME or Unix mbox files) or no standard encoding (binary data,
74 see also |edit-binary|), you may want to prevent MacVim from re-encoding the
75 file at all. In this situation, you will need to set both 'encoding' and
76 'fileencodings' to a simple single-byte encoding such as Latin1 so that when
77 the file is read into memory, the original bytes are left untouched.
79 *macvim-movement*
80 Some Mac OS X standard key mappings involving Cmd or Option and an arrow key
81 are set up by default in "$VIM/gvimrc". You can quickly disable all of these
82 by adding the following lines to your "~/.vimrc" (not .gvimrc) file: >
83 if has("gui_macvim")
84 let macvim_skip_cmd_opt_movement = 1
85 endif
86 Note: These are the only key mappings that MacVim makes (not counting menu key
87 equivalents which are not set up with :map).
89 *macvim-shift-movement*
90 Text editors on Mac OS X lets the user hold down shift+movement key to extend
91 the selection. Also, pressing a printable key whilst selecting replaces the
92 current selection with that character. MacVim can emulate this kind of
93 behaviour (by providing key bindings and by setting 'keymodel' and
94 'selectmode' to non-default values) although it is not enabled by default. To
95 make MacVim behave more like TextEdit and less like Vim, add the following
96 lines to your "~/.vimrc" (not .gvimrc) file: >
97 if has("gui_macvim")
98 let macvim_hig_shift_movement = 1
99 endif
100 <
101 *macvim-drag-n-drop*
102 Dragging files and dropping them on a window opens those files in tabs in that
103 window, unless Vim is in command-line mode. In command-line mode the names of
104 the files are added to the command line. Holding down modifier keys whilst
105 dragging is not supported.
107 If a file is dropped on the Dock icon, it is always opened in a new tab
108 regardless of the mode Vim is currently in. The same holds if you
109 double-click on a file in the Finder.
111 *macvim-default-menu*
112 The default menu in MacVim has been changed to conform better with the Apple
113 Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). At the moment this breaks the localized
114 menus, so only English menus are supported.
116 Note: The menus are a work in progress. If you know something about the HIG
117 and want to contribute to MacVim you could do so by making the menus better.
119 *macvim-window-title*
120 The default window title does not include the argument list because it looks
121 really bad once you start using tabs. For example, dropping two files, then
122 dropping two more, and switching back to the first tab would cause weird
123 strings like "((3) of 2)" to appear in the window title.
125 *macvim-options*
126 These are the non-standard options that MacVim supports:
127 'fullscreen' 'fuoptions' 'toolbariconsize' 'transparency' 'antialias'
129 *macvim-find*
130 Whenever you search for something in Vim (e.g. using "/") the search query is
131 copied to the OS X "Find Pasteboard". The idea is that if you search for
132 something and switch to another application, then you can hit <D-g> (or <D-G>)
133 to repeat the search in the new app. The same feature works if you search in
134 some app, switch to MacVim and hit <D-g>.
136 Note that the command |n| is not the same as <D-g>. The former will repeat
137 the last search made in Vim, whereas the latter searches for the string on the
138 OS X Find Pasteboard using the action findNext: (see |:macaction|).
140 The <D-g> key equivalent is a great way to bring a search from one window to
141 another in MacVim. Simply search for something in one window (using "/") then
142 switch to another (e.g. with <D-`>) and hit <D-g> and the search will be
143 repeated in the new window.
145 ==============================================================================
146 2. Starting MacVim *macvim-start*
148 The easiest way to start MacVim is by double-clicking its icon in the Finder,
149 but most users will probably prefer to use the Terminal. First some Finder
150 related ways of starting MacVim are described, then Terminal is discussed.
151 Note that you can put MacVim anywhere on your hard drive, but in this help
152 file it is assumed that you have put it inside your /Applications folder.
154 MacVim automatically registers itself as an editor of several standard file
155 formats. This enables you to double-click a file to open it with MacVim (if
156 it is not associated with another program), or to right-click a file to bring
157 up the "Open with" menu. You can also drag and drop files onto the Dock icon
158 to open them in tabs in a new window, or you can drop them in an already open
159 window to open the files in tabs in that specific window. Finally, you can
160 use Mac OS X System Services to open files in MacVim, see |macvim-services|.
162 There are essentially two ways to start MacVim from Terminal: either call the
163 Vim binary with the -g switch >
164 /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -g file ...
165 or use the "open" command (which is of limited use since it cannot be used to
166 pass parameters to Vim) >
167 open -a MacVim file ...
168 <
169 *mvim*
170 To save yourself from having to type the entire path to the Vim binary each
171 time you start MacVim, you could create an alias such as >
172 alias gvim='/Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -g'
173 and add that to "~/.profile". A more flexible way to start MacVim is to use
174 the shell script "mvim" which comes bundled with MacVim. Put this script in a
175 folder in your path and then simply type "mvim" to start MacVim. This script
176 will try to find MacVim.app in various typical folders such as >
177 ~/Applications ~/Applications/vim
178 /Applications /Applications/vim
179 /Applications/Utilities /Applications/Utilities/vim
180 If you would rather put MacVim.app in some other directory then that is also
181 possible, simply set the environment variable VIM_APP_DIR to whatever folder
182 you have placed MacVim.app in.
184 Note: Starting MacVim by creating a symlink to >
185 .../MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim
186 with 'ln -s' does not work.
188 Once in terminal Vim it is possible to start MacVim by using the following
189 command:
190 :gui [++opt] [+cmd] [-f|-b] [files...]
191 Note: Forking ("-b") currently does not work.
193 *odbeditor* *external-editor*
194 MacVim can act as an 'external editor' for Mac OS X applications that support
195 the ODB Editor Protocol (or the 'external editor' protocol). Each application
196 has different ways of configuring this option, check the application's
197 documentation. Once configured properly MacVim can be used to open files in
198 such an application.
200 A technical note: MacVim handles file open, modified and closed events. In
201 the open event the FTok and Burl parameters are parsed (the latter is ignored
202 at the moment though). In the modified and closed events the Tokn parameter
203 is sent back to the server application.
205 ==============================================================================
206 3. Preferences *macvim-prefs* *macvim-preferences*
208 Some settings are global to the MacVim application and would not make sense as
209 Vim options. These settings are stored in a user default database and can be
210 accessed via the "MacVim/Preferences..." menu item.
212 Not all entries in the user defaults database are exposed via the preference
213 panel, usually because they should not be changed by the user under normal
214 circumstances. These options can still be changed with the "defaults" command
215 by opening Terminal and typing >
216 defaults write org.vim.MacVim KEY VALUE
217 Check the man page on "defaults" for more information on this command as well
218 as general information regarding Mac OS X user defaults.
220 Here is a list of relevant dictionary entries:
222 KEY VALUE ~
223 MMAtsuiRenderer enable ATSUI renderer [bool]
224 MMCellWidthMultiplier width of a normal glyph in em units [float]
225 MMLoginShellArgument login shell parameter [string]
226 MMLoginShellCommand which shell to use to launch Vim [string]
227 MMNoFontSubstitution disable automatic font substitution [bool]
228 MMTabMaxWidth maximum width of a tab [int]
229 MMTabMinWidth minimum width of a tab [int]
230 MMTabOptimumWidth default width of a tab [int]
231 MMTextInsetBottom text area offset in pixels [int]
232 MMTextInsetLeft text area offset in pixels [int]
233 MMTextInsetRight text area offset in pixels [int]
234 MMTextInsetTop text area offset in pixels [int]
235 MMTexturedWindow use brushed metal window (Tiger only) [bool]
236 MMTranslateCtrlClick interpret ctrl-click as right-click [bool]
237 MMZoomBoth zoom button maximizes both directions [bool]
239 As an example, if you have more than one mouse button and would wish to free
240 up Ctrl-click so you can bind it to something else, then the appropriate
241 command is: >
242 defaults write org.vim.MacVim MMTranslateCtrlClick 0
244 If you wish to restore all user defaults to their starting values, open
245 Terminal and type: >
246 defaults delete org.vim.MacVim
247 <
248 *macvim-login-shell*
249 Applications opened from the Finder do not automatically source the user's
250 environment variables (which are typically set in .profile or .bashrc). This
251 presents a problem when using |:!| to execute commands in the shell since e.g.
252 $PATH might not be set properly. To work around this problem MacVim can start
253 new Vim processes via a login shell so that all environment variables are set.
255 By default MacVim uses the $SHELL environment variable to determine which
256 shell to use (if $SHELL is not set "/bin/bash" is used). It is possible to
257 override this choice by setting the user default MMLoginShellCommand to the
258 shell that should be used (e.g. "/bin/tcsh"). MacVim tries to make the shell
259 a login shell by prepending argv[0] with a dash. If you use an exotic shell
260 and need to pass it a parameter to make it a login shell then you can set the
261 user default MMLoginShellArgument (e.g. to "-l"). Finally, if the "bash"
262 shell is used, then "-l" is automatically added as an argument. To override
263 this behaviour set MMLoginShellArgument to "--".
265 ==============================================================================
266 4. Special colors *macvim-colors*
268 The colors in MacVim are defined in two dictionaries inside the "Resources"
269 folder of the application bundle (MacVim.app/Contents/Resources). It is
270 possible to add more colors by modifying these files. Color names are case
271 insensitive when accessed from Vim, but in the dictionary they must be
272 lowercase.
274 *SystemColors.plist*
275 There are only a few system colors that can be accessed from Vim. These
276 colors are defined in the dictionary "SystemColors.plist". This dictionary
277 stores (key, value) pairs where the key is the name of the color and the
278 value is an NSColor selector name.
280 The most useful system colors are: >
281 MacSelectedTextBackgroundColor
282 MacSecondarySelectedColor
283 The former is the "Highlight Color" which can be changed in the "Appearance"
284 section of the System Preferences. The latter is the selection color used by
285 a Cocoa application when it is not in focus.
287 *Colors.plist*
288 Apart from the system colors, it is also possible to use the standard X11
289 color names (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names) which usually
290 come in a file called "rgb.txt". MacVim does not have such a file, instead it
291 keeps these colors in a dictionary called "Colors.plist". The key in this
292 dictionary is the name of the color and the value is an RGB value on the form
293 #rrggbb stored as an integer.
295 *macvim-colorscheme*
296 MacVim ships with a custom color scheme that is used instead of the default
297 Vim color scheme. The color scheme can be changed with >
298 :colorscheme macvim
299 If you prefer a dark background color, then type >
300 :set bg=dark
301 after having loaded the "macvim" color scheme.
303 The color scheme uses the the system "Highlight Color", which can be changed in
304 the "Appearance" pane of the System Preferences. It also changes the
305 highlight color when a window becomes inactive.
307 If you have any comments regarding this colors cheme (is it better or worse
308 than the default?) then post them to |vim_mac|.
310 ==============================================================================
311 5. Menus *macvim-menus*
313 Menus in Mac OS X behave slightly different from other platforms. For that
314 reason two new commands have been added to Vim. To understand what these
315 commands do you must first understand how menus work on OS X.
317 Each entry in a menu is called a "menu item". With each menu item is
318 associated: a title, a key equivalent and an action message. When a menu is
319 displayed the title is shown on the left and the key equivalent (if any) is
320 shown on the right. Key equivalents enable you to access a menu item using
321 the keyboard instead of having to use the mouse. When a menu item is clicked
322 it will send it's associated action message. Actions can be used to instruct
323 MacVim to paste some text (paste:), open a new window (newWindow:), etc.
324 Certain actions are standard throughout OS X which is why MacVim must be able
325 to set these for each menu item. (E.g. the menu item "Edit.Paste" must be
326 bound to the action "paste:" otherwise pasting won't work in dialogs since
327 that is the action that instructs them to paste something.)
329 Menus are configured using the |:macmenu| command and the |:macaction| command
330 can be used to send action messages.
332 *:maca* *:macaction*
333 :maca[ction] {action:} Send the message "action:" to the first responder.
334 The list of allowed actions can be seen by typing
335 :maca <C-d>
336 An attempt to send an action not listed here will
337 result in an error. This list is specified in a
338 property list file called |Actions.plist|.
340 *:macm* *:macmenu*
341 :mac[menu] {menu} {key}={arg} ...
342 Set Mac specific properties for {menu}. The
343 properties that can be set are:
344 action the action this menu sends
345 alt "yes" if alternate of previous menu
346 key the key equivalent of this menu
347 This command must be used in a startup file, for
348 example in "~/.gvimrc". It has no effect otherwise.
350 For convenience, a menu with "action=name:" which is
351 bound to <Nop> will act as if bound to
352 ":maca name:<CR>". Thus, if "Menu.Item" is given by
353 :an Menu.Item <Nop>
354 :macm Menu.Item action=name:
355 then ":emenu Menu.Item" is equivalent to
356 ":maca name:".
358 The key equivalent is specified with the <D-..>
359 syntax. Note that key equivalents must contain the
360 Cmd modifier flag (<D-...>), and they take precedence
361 over normal mappings.
362 Use the syntax "key=<nop>" to clear the key equivalent
363 of a menu. This can be used to free up a key
364 combination that is set in the system gvimrc so that
365 it may be mapped to using ":map".
367 Recognised values of "alt" are "0", "no", "1", and
368 "yes". The default is "no". An alternate menu must
369 have the same key equivalent as the previous menu,
370 except the modifier flags must differ. The alternate
371 menu is by default hidden and only shows up when the
372 modifier is held down.
374 Here are some examples on how to use these commands:
376 1. Create a menu item with title "New Window" under the "File" menu, with key
377 equivalent Cmd-n, which opens a new window when selected: >
378 :an 10.290 File.New\ Window <Nop>
379 :macm File.New\ Window action=newWindow: key=<D-n>
380 2. Change the key equivalent to cycle through tabs to Cmd-Left/Right: >
381 :macm Window.Previous\ Tab key=<D-Left>
382 :macm Window.Next\ Tab key=<D-Right>
383 3. Create a mapping in normal mode which closes the current tab/window: >
384 :map <C-w> :maca performClose:<CR>
385 >
386 *Actions.plist*
387 Some action messages would not be suitable to call from within Vim, so there
388 is a dictionary called "Actions.plist" (in the Resources folder of the
389 application bundle) which contains all actions that may be called. The key in
390 this dictionary is the name of the action message (case sensitive), the value
391 is not used.
393 Hint: The |:macaction| command supports command-line completion so you can
394 enter ":maca<Space><C-d>" to see a list of all available actions.
396 Here is a random assortment of actions from Actions.plist which might be
397 useful.
399 Action Description ~
400 findNext: Search forward using the "Find Pasteboard"
401 findPrevious: Search backward using the "Find Pasteboard"
402 fontSizeDown: Decrease font size
403 fontSizeUp: Increase font size
404 newWindow: Open a new (empty) window
405 orderFrontCharacterPalette: Show the the "Special Characters" dialog
406 orderFrontFontPanel: Show the Font panel
407 orderFrontPreferencePanel: Show the Preferences panel
408 performClose: Close tab/window
409 performZoom: Zoom window (same as clicking the green blob)
410 selectNextWindow: Select next window (similar to <D-`>)
411 selectPreviousWindow: Select previous window (similar to <S-D-`>)
413 ==============================================================================
414 6. Toolbar *macvim-toolbar*
416 The toolbar in MacVim works just like in the other GUIs (see |gui-toolbar|),
417 with the addition of two separator items (see |menu-separator|). You can use
418 them as follows: >
419 :an ToolBar.-space1- <Nop>
420 :an ToolBar.-flexspace2- <Nop>
421 The first example creates an empty space on the toolbar, the second creates an
422 empty space which will shink or expand so that the items to the right of it
423 are right-aligned. A space (flexspace) will be created for any toolbar item
424 whose name begins with "-space" ("-flexspace") and ends with "-"
426 Toolbar icons should be tiff, png or icns, of dimension 32x32 or 24x24 pixels.
427 The larger size is used when 'tbis' is "medium" or "large", otherwise the
428 smaller size is used (which is the default). If the icon file only contains
429 one dimension then Mac OS X will scale the icon to the appropriate dimension
430 if necessary. To avoid this, use a file format which supports multiple
431 resolutions (such as icns) and provide both 32x32 and 24x24 versions of the
432 icon.
434 Note: Only a subset of the builtin toolbar items presently have icons. If no
435 icon can be found a warning triangle is displayed instead.
437 ==============================================================================
438 7. Dialogs *macvim-dialogs*
440 Dialogs can be controlled with the keyboard in two ways. By default each
441 button in a dialog is bound to a key. The button that is highlighted by blue
442 is bound to Enter, and any button with the title "Cancel" is bound to Escape.
443 Other buttons are usually bound to the first letter in the title of the
444 button. There is no visual feedback to indicate which letter a button is
445 bound to, so sometimes some experimentation might be required in order to
446 figure out which key to press.
448 The second way of controlling dialogs with the keyboard is to enable "Full
449 keyboard access" in the "Keyboard & Mouse" pane of the System Preferences (you
450 can also toggle this on or off by pressing Ctrl-F7). Once keyboard access is
451 enabled it is possible to move between buttons with Tab and pressing Space to
452 select the current button. The current button is indicated with a blue
453 outline.
455 ==============================================================================
456 8. System services *macvim-services*
458 MacVim supports a few system services. These can be accessed from the MacVim
459 submenu in the Services menu. For services to work, MacVim.app should be
460 located in the /Applications folder. (You might have to logout and then login
461 again before Mac OS X detects the MacVim services.)
463 These are the currently supported services:
464 * New Tab Containing Selection: Opens a new tab in the topmost window and
465 pastes the currently selected text in that tab. A new window will be
466 opened if necessary.
467 * Open Selected File in Tab: If the selected text represents a file
468 name, then the corresponding file is opened in a new tab in the topmost
469 window.
470 * Open Selected File in Window: Same as the above, but always open in a new
471 window.
473 ==============================================================================
474 9. Known bugs/missing features *macvim-todo*
476 Here are some of the bigger bugs in MacVim. Of course there are others, but
477 these are ones that are know and/or which were judged major.
479 - Localized menus are not supported. Choosing anything but "English" in the
480 "International" pane of "System Prefences" may break the menus (and
481 toolbar).
482 - Some Unicode characters are not handled well (e.g. nonspacing marks)
483 - Sometimes multibyte characters look "too wide", i.e. they overlap the
484 following character. It might help to change 'ambiwidth', or override the
485 automatic font substitution by setting 'guifontwide' manually.
486 - Printing
487 - No find/replace dialog
489 If you find new bugs then add a new issue at http://code.google.com/p/macvim/
490 or post your findings to the |vim_mac| mailing list. If you are missing
491 feature X in MacVim then voice your opinion on the |vim_mac| mailing list; it
492 might be simple to implement, but unless somebody asks for a particular
493 feature then there is little incentive to add it.
495 ==============================================================================
496 10. Hints *macvim-hints*
498 In this section some general (not necessarily MacVim specific) hints are
499 given.
501 Scenario: ~
502 You try opening a bunch of files in tabs but not all files get
503 opened in their own tab.
504 Solution: ~
505 To get around this, set 'tabpagemax' to something big in your
506 .gvimrc file (e.g. ":set tabpagemax=100").
508 Scenario: ~
509 You want to open a file in a tab in an already opened window, but typing
510 "mvim filename" in Terminal opens it up in a separate window.
511 Solution: ~
512 Use the |--remote-tab| switch. If you have several windows open you
513 might have to specify which window you want the file to open in by using the
514 |--servername| switch. The title of a window usually ends in something like
515 "VIM" or "VIM3" --- this is the server name of that window. So to open a file
516 named "foobar.txt" in a window whose title ends in "VIM3" you would type (the
517 order of the arguments matters): >
518 mvim --servername VIM3 --remote-tab foobar.txt
519 For more information, consult the |client-server| manual page.
521 Scenario: ~
522 You like to be able to select text by holding down shift and
523 pressing the arrow keys and find the Vim way of selecting text strange.
524 Solution: ~
525 See |macvim-shift-movement|.
527 Scenario: ~
528 You do not want MacVim to set up any key mappings.
529 Solution: ~
530 See |macvim-movement|.
532 Scenario: ~
533 Enabling localized menus breaks the toolbar and the menus as well.
534 Solution: ~
535 This is a know problem, see |macvim-todo|.
537 Scenario: ~
538 You dislike the default font (DejaVu Sans Mono).
539 Solution: ~
540 The standard fixed width font on other Mac OS X applications is
541 Monaco. If you prefer this font then add the following line to your
542 "~/.gvimrc" (note that Monaco does not come in italic and bold variants): >
543 set guifont=Monaco:h10
544 The suffix ":h10" specifies the point size of the font should be "10" (see
545 'guifont' for more information on how to set the font).
547 Scenario: ~
548 When you click the (green) zoom button you want the window to maximize
549 horizontally as well as vertically.
550 Solution: ~
551 Hold down Cmd and click the zoom button. If you prefer this to be the default
552 action, then set the user default MMZoomBoth (see |macvim-prefs|).
554 Scenario: ~
555 Typing feels sluggish when the cursor is just before a right bracket (i.e. ')',
556 '}', or ']').
557 Solution: ~
558 Disable the "matchparen" plugin (see |matchparen|) by typing :NoMatchParen.
559 If that helps, then you can permanently disable "matchparen" by adding the
560 following line to your "~/.vimrc": >
561 let loaded_matchparen=1
562 <
564 Scenario: ~
565 You can't find the information on MacVim you thought should be in
566 this manual page.
567 Solution: ~
568 Post your question on the |vim_mac| mailing list and wait for an
569 answer.
571 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: