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1 *gui.txt* For Vim version 7.1. Last change: 2007 Sep 27
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
7 Vim's Graphical User Interface *gui* *GUI*
9 1. Starting the GUI |gui-start|
10 2. Scrollbars |gui-scrollbars|
11 3. Mouse Control |gui-mouse|
12 4. Making GUI Selections |gui-selections|
13 5. Menus |menus|
14 6. Extras |gui-extras|
15 7. Shell Commands |gui-shell|
17 Other GUI documentation:
18 |gui_x11.txt| For specific items of the X11 GUI.
19 |gui_w32.txt| For specific items of the Win32 GUI.
21 {Vi does not have any of these commands}
23 ==============================================================================
24 1. Starting the GUI *gui-start* *E229* *E233*
26 First you must make sure you actually have a version of Vim with the GUI code
27 included. You can check this with the ":version" command, it says "with xxx
28 GUI", where "xxx" is Macvim, X11-Motif, X11-Athena, Photon, GTK, GTK2, etc.,
29 or "MS-Windows 32 bit GUI version".
31 How to start the GUI depends on the system used. Mostly you can run the
32 GUI version of Vim with:
33 gvim [options] [files...]
35 The X11 version of Vim can run both in GUI and in non-GUI mode. See
36 |gui-x11-start|.
38 *gui-init* *gvimrc* *.gvimrc* *_gvimrc*
39 The gvimrc file is where GUI-specific startup commands should be placed. It
40 is always sourced after the |vimrc| file. If you have one then the $MYGVIMRC
41 environment variable has its name.
43 When the GUI starts up initializations are carried out, in this order:
44 - The 'term' option is set to "builgin_gui" and terminal options are reset to
45 their default value for the GUI |terminal-options|.
46 - If the system menu file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
47 normally "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". You can check this with ":version". Also
48 see |$VIMRUNTIME|. To skip loading the system menu include 'M' in
49 'guioptions'. *buffers-menu* *no_buffers_menu*
50 The system menu file includes a "Buffers" menu. If you don't want this, set
51 the "no_buffers_menu" variable in your .vimrc (not .gvimrc!): >
52 :let no_buffers_menu = 1
53 < NOTE: Switching on syntax highlighting also loads the menu file, thus
54 disabling the Buffers menu must be done before ":syntax on".
55 The path names are truncated to 35 characters. You can truncate them at a
56 different length, for example 50, like this: >
57 :let bmenu_max_pathlen = 50
58 - If the "-U {gvimrc}" command-line option has been used when starting Vim,
59 the {gvimrc} file will be read for initializations. The following
60 initializations are skipped. When {gvimrc} is "NONE" no file will be read
61 for initializations.
62 - For Unix and MS-Windows, if the system gvimrc exists, it is sourced. The
63 name of this file is normally "$VIM/gvimrc". You can check this with
64 ":version". Also see |$VIM|.
65 - The following are tried, and only the first one that exists is used:
66 - If the GVIMINIT environment variable exists and is not empty, it is
67 executed as an Ex command.
68 - If the user gvimrc file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
69 normally "$HOME/.gvimrc". You can check this with ":version".
70 - For Win32, when $HOME is not set, "$VIM\_gvimrc" is used.
71 - When a "_gvimrc" file is not found, ".gvimrc" is tried too. And vice
72 versa.
73 The name of the first file found is stored in $MYGVIMRC, unless it was
74 already set.
75 - If the 'exrc' option is set (which is NOT the default) the file ./.gvimrc
76 is sourced, if it exists and isn't the same file as the system or user
77 gvimrc file. If this file is not owned by you, some security restrictions
78 apply. When ".gvimrc" is not found, "_gvimrc" is tried too. For Macintosh
79 and DOS/Win32 "_gvimrc" is tried first.
81 NOTE: All but the first one are not carried out if Vim was started with
82 "-u NONE" and no "-U" argument was given, or when started with "-U NONE".
84 All this happens AFTER the normal Vim initializations, like reading your
85 .vimrc file. See |initialization|.
86 But the GUI window is only opened after all the initializations have been
87 carried out. If you want some commands to be executed just after opening the
88 GUI window, use the |GUIEnter| autocommand event. Example: >
89 :autocmd GUIEnter * winpos 100 50
91 You can use the gvimrc files to set up your own customized menus (see |:menu|)
92 and initialize other things that you may want to set up differently from the
93 terminal version.
95 Recommended place for your personal GUI initializations:
96 Unix and Mac OS X $HOME/.gvimrc
97 OS/2 $HOME/.gvimrc or $VIM/.gvimrc
98 MS-DOS and Win32 $HOME/_gvimrc or $VIM/_gvimrc
99 Amiga s:.gvimrc or $VIM/.gvimrc
101 There are a number of options which only have meaning in the GUI version of
102 Vim. These are 'guicursor', 'guifont', 'guipty' and 'guioptions'. They are
103 documented in |options.txt| with all the other options.
105 If using the Motif or Athena version of the GUI (but not for the GTK+ or
106 Win32 version), a number of X resources are available. See |gui-resources|.
108 Another way to set the colors for different occasions is with highlight
109 groups. The "Normal" group is used to set the background and foreground
110 colors. Example (which looks nice): >
112 :highlight Normal guibg=grey90
114 The "guibg" and "guifg" settings override the normal background and
115 foreground settings. The other settings for the Normal highlight group are
116 not used. Use the 'guifont' option to set the font.
118 Also check out the 'guicursor' option, to set the colors for the cursor in
119 various modes.
121 Vim tries to make the window fit on the screen when it starts up. This avoids
122 that you can't see part of it. On the X Window System this requires a bit of
123 guesswork. You can change the height that is used for the window title and a
124 task bar with the 'guiheadroom' option.
126 *:winp* *:winpos* *E188*
127 :winp[os]
128 Display current position of the top left corner of the GUI vim
129 window in pixels. Does not work in all versions.
131 :winp[os] {X} {Y} *E466*
132 Put the GUI vim window at the given {X} and {Y} coordinates.
133 The coordinates should specify the position in pixels of the
134 top left corner of the window. Does not work in all versions.
135 Does work in an (new) xterm |xterm-color|.
136 When the GUI window has not been opened yet, the values are
137 remembered until the window is opened. The position is
138 adjusted to make the window fit on the screen (if possible).
140 *:win* *:winsize* *E465*
141 :win[size] {width} {height}
142 Set the window height to {width} by {height} characters.
143 Obsolete, use ":set lines=11 columns=22".
144 If you get less lines than expected, check the 'guiheadroom'
145 option.
147 If you are running the X Window System, you can get information about the
148 window Vim is running in with this command: >
149 :!xwininfo -id $WINDOWID
151 ==============================================================================
152 2. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars*
154 There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbar. You may
155 configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option.
157 The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"):
159 +------------------------------+
160 | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m)
161 +-+--------------------------+-+
162 |^| |^|
163 |#| Text area. |#|
164 | | | |
165 |v|__________________________|v|
166 Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-|
167 between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^|
168 | | | |
169 | | Another file buffer. | |
170 | | | |
171 |#| |#|
172 Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right
173 |#| |#| scrollbar (r)
174 | | | |
175 |v| |v|
176 +-+--------------------------+-+
177 | |< #### >| | <- Bottom
178 +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b)
180 Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the
181 appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is
182 only useful when 'nowrap' is set.
185 VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll*
187 Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down
188 to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb
189 indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window.
190 When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file
191 will appear in the top of the window.
193 If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its
194 scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored.
196 If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the
197 current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a
198 vertical line, this line goes through the window.
199 When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window
200 is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for
201 the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side.
204 HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll*
206 The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to
207 scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The
208 scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be
209 scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when
210 necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is
211 set).
213 Computing the length of the longest visible line takes quite a bit of
214 computation, and it has to be done every time something changes. If this
215 takes too much time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line,
216 include the 'h' flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the
217 text of the current cursor line.
219 *athena-intellimouse*
220 If you have an Intellimouse and an X server that supports using the wheel,
221 then you can use the wheel to scroll the text up and down in gvim. This works
222 with XFree86 4.0 and later, and with some older versions when you add patches.
223 See |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
225 For older versions of XFree86 you must patch your X server. The following
226 page has a bit of information about using the Intellimouse on Linux as well as
227 links to the patches and X server binaries (may not have the one you need
228 though):
229 http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
231 ==============================================================================
232 3. Mouse Control *gui-mouse*
234 The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set.
235 When the GUI is switched on, and 'mouse' wasn't set yet, the 'mouse' option is
236 automatically set to "a", enabling it for all modes except for the
237 |hit-enter| prompt. If you don't want this, a good place to change the
238 'mouse' option is the "gvimrc" file.
240 Other options that are relevant:
241 'mousefocus' window focus follows mouse pointer |gui-mouse-focus|
242 'mousemodel' what mouse button does which action
243 'mousehide' hide mouse pointer while typing text
244 'selectmode' whether to start Select mode or Visual mode
246 A quick way to set these is with the ":behave" command.
247 *:behave* *:be*
248 :be[have] {model} Set behavior for mouse and selection. Valid
249 arguments are:
250 mswin MS-Windows behavior
251 xterm Xterm behavior
253 Using ":behave" changes these options:
254 option mswin xterm ~
255 'selectmode' "mouse,key" ""
256 'mousemodel' "popup" "extend"
257 'keymodel' "startsel,stopsel" ""
258 'selection' "exclusive" "inclusive"
260 In the $VIMRUNTIME directory, there is a script called |mswin.vim|, which will
261 also map a few keys to the MS-Windows cut/copy/paste commands. This is NOT
262 compatible, since it uses the CTRL-V, CTRL-X and CTRL-C keys. If you don't
263 mind, use this command: >
264 :so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim
266 For scrolling with a wheel on a mouse, see |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
269 3.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move*
271 Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the
272 cursor to go, and it does!
273 This works in when 'mouse' contains ~
274 Normal mode 'n' or 'a'
275 Visual mode 'v' or 'a'
276 Insert mode 'i' or 'a'
278 Select mode is handled like Visual mode.
280 You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current
281 cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit
282 'd' and then click the mouse somewhere.
284 *gui-mouse-focus*
285 The 'mousefocus' option can be set to make the keyboard focus follow the
286 mouse pointer. This means that the window where the mouse pointer is, is the
287 active window. Warning: this doesn't work very well when using a menu,
288 because the menu command will always be applied to the top window.
290 If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right
291 mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains
292 'c', 'a' or 'A').
294 In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current
295 selection.
298 3.2 Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select*
300 The mouse can be used to start a selection. How depends on the 'mousemodel'
301 option:
302 'mousemodel' is "extend": use the right mouse button
303 'mousemodel' is "popup": use the left mouse button, while keeping the Shift
304 key pressed.
306 If there was no selection yet, this starts a selection from the old cursor
307 position to the position pointed to with the mouse. If there already is a
308 selection then the closest end will be extended.
310 If 'selectmode' contains "mouse", then the selection will be in Select mode.
311 This means that typing normal text will replace the selection. See
312 |Select-mode|. Otherwise, the selection will be in Visual mode.
314 Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking
315 makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise.
317 See |gui-selections| on how the selection is used.
320 3.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-modeless*
321 *modeless-selection*
322 A different kind of selection is used when:
323 - in Command-line mode
324 - in the Command-line window and pointing in another window
325 - at the |hit-enter| prompt
326 - whenever the current mode is not in the 'mouse' option
327 - when holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys in the GUI
328 Since Vim continues like the selection isn't there, and there is no mode
329 associated with the selection, this is called modeless selection. Any text in
330 the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse
331 button at the start, drag to the end and release. To extend the selection,
332 use the right mouse button when 'mousemodel' is "extend", or the left mouse
333 button with the shift key pressed when 'mousemodel' is "popup".
334 The middle mouse button pastes the text.
335 The selection is removed when the selected text is scrolled or changed.
336 On the command line CTRL-Y can be used to copy the selection into the
337 clipboard. To do this from Insert mode, use CTRL-O : CTRL-Y <CR>.
340 3.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status*
342 Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim
343 window makes that window the current window. This actually happens on button
344 release (to be able to distinguish a click from a drag action).
346 With the left mouse button a status line can be dragged up and down, thus
347 resizing the windows above and below it. This does not change window focus.
349 The same can be used on the vertical separator: click to give the window left
350 of it focus, drag left and right to make windows wider and narrower.
353 3.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various*
355 <S-LeftMouse> Search forward for the word under the mouse click.
356 When 'mousemodel' is "popup" this starts or extends a
357 selection.
358 <S-RightMouse> Search backward for the word under the mouse click.
359 <C-LeftMouse> Jump to the tag name under the mouse click.
360 <C-RightMouse> Jump back to position before the previous tag jump
361 (same as "CTRL-T")
364 3.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping*
366 The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: >
367 :map <S-LeftMouse> <RightMouse>
368 :map <S-LeftDrag> <RightDrag>
369 :map <S-LeftRelease> <RightRelease>
370 :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse>
371 :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag>
372 :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease>
373 :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse>
374 :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag>
375 :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease>
376 :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse>
377 :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag>
378 :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease>
379 These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif
380 application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area
381 rather than the right mouse button.
383 Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for modeless selection.
386 3.7 Drag and drop *drag-n-drop*
388 You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will
389 be opened as if a |:drop| command was used.
391 If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped
392 file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the
393 file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed.
395 You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for
396 that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error
397 message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead.
399 If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files
400 and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these
401 names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and
402 '|'; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped.
404 ==============================================================================
405 4. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections*
407 *quotestar*
408 You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using
409 Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then
410 whenever a selection is started (Visual or Select mode), or when the selection
411 is changed, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection
412 (on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used; under X11, the |x11-selection| is
413 used - you should read whichever of these is appropriate now).
415 *clipboard*
416 There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "*
417 register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is
418 selected is about to change (e.g. with a left mouse click somewhere), or when
419 another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put
420 in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current
421 selection/put it on the clipboard: >
423 "*dd
425 Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g.,
426 by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register
427 first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the
428 selection (contents of the clipboard): >
430 "*p
432 When using this register under X11, also see |x11-selection|. This also
433 explains the related "+ register.
435 Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type
436 of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. For other
437 applications the type is always character. However, if the text gets
438 transferred via the |x11-cut-buffer|, the selection type is ALWAYS lost.
440 When the "unnamed" string is included in the 'clipboard' option, the unnamed
441 register is the same as the "* register. Thus you can yank to and paste the
442 selection without prepending "* to commands.
444 ==============================================================================
445 5. Menus *menus*
447 For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual.
450 5.1 Using Menus *using-menus*
452 Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own
453 menus, as many as you like.
454 Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own
455 menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember
456 what the key sequence was.
458 For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|.
460 *menu.vim*
461 The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See
462 |$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus.
463 Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or,
464 if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus
465 |:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding
466 this line to your .vimrc file (NOT your .gvimrc file!): >
467 :let did_install_default_menus = 1
468 If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: >
469 :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1
470 If you do want the Syntax menu but not all the entries for each available
471 syntax file (which take quite a bit of time to load): >
472 :let skip_syntax_sel_menu = 1
473 <
474 *console-menus*
475 Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus
476 in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is
477 not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line
478 completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu
479 system. To do this, put these commands in your .vimrc file: >
480 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
481 :set wildmenu
482 :set cpo-=<
483 :set wcm=<C-Z>
484 :map <F4> :emenu <C-Z>
485 Pressing <F4> will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select
486 a menu entry. Hit <Enter> to execute it. Hit <Esc> if you want to cancel.
487 This does require the |+menu| feature enabled at compile time.
489 *tear-off-menus*
490 GTK+ and Motif support Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or
491 pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work
492 correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in the
493 defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead.
495 The Win32 GUI version emulates Motif's tear-off menus. Actually, a Motif user
496 will spot the differences easily, but hopefully they're just as useful. You
497 can also use the |:tearoff| command together with |hidden-menus| to create
498 floating menus that do not appear on the main menu bar.
501 5.2 Creating New Menus *creating-menus*
503 *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu*
504 *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu*
505 *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu*
506 *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu*
507 *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu*
508 *:xme* *:xmenu* *:xnoreme* *:xnoremenu*
509 *:sme* *:smenu* *:snoreme* *:snoremenu*
510 *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu*
511 *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu*
512 *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333*
513 *E328* *E329* *E337* *E792*
514 To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like
515 the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given
516 as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them, e.g.: >
518 :menu File.Save :w<CR>
519 :inoremenu File.Save <C-O>:w<CR>
520 :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g<CR>
522 This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding
523 the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item
524 "Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces",
525 which when selected, performs the operation.
527 Special characters in a menu name:
529 & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each
530 shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to
531 insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&".
532 <Tab> Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be
533 used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "<Tab>"
534 can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real
535 tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it!
536 Example: >
538 :amenu &File.&Open<Tab>:e :browse e<CR>
540 [typed literally]
541 With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the <Alt> key pressed), and then "O",
542 this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e"
543 is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut.
545 The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once.
546 To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for
547 some modes:
548 mode inserted appended ~
549 Normal nothing nothing
550 Visual <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
551 Insert <C-O>
552 Cmdline <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
553 Op-pending <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
555 Appending CTRL-\ CTRL-G is for going back to insert mode when 'insertmode' is
556 set. |CTRL-\_CTRL-G|
558 Example: >
560 :amenu File.Next :next^M
562 is equal to: >
564 :nmenu File.Next :next^M
565 :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
566 :imenu File.Next ^O:next^M
567 :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
568 :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
570 Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command,
571 because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use
572 the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the
573 expression register: >
575 :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'<CR>P
577 Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when
578 included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized).
580 Note that <Esc> in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This
581 is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode.
583 *:menu-<silent>* *:menu-silent*
584 To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add
585 "<silent>" as the first argument. Example: >
586 :menu <silent> Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic<CR>
587 The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the
588 executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent"
589 in the executed command: >
590 :menu <silent> Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r"<CR>
591 "<silent>" may also appear just after "<special>" or "<script>".
593 *:menu-<special>* *:menu-special*
594 Define a menu with <> notation for special keys, even though the "<" flag
595 may appear in 'cpoptions'. This is useful if the side effect of setting
596 'cpoptions' is not desired. Example: >
597 :menu <special> Search.Header /Header<CR>
598 "<special>" must appear as the very first argument to the ":menu" command or
599 just after "<silent>" or "<script>".
601 *:menu-<script>* *:menu-script*
602 The "to" part of the menu will be inspected for mappings. If you don't want
603 this, use the ":noremenu" command (or the similar one for a specific mode).
604 If you do want to use script-local mappings, add "<script>" as the very first
605 argument to the ":menu" command or just after "<silent>" or "<special>".
607 *menu-priority*
608 You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to
609 the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command.
610 Example: >
611 :80menu Buffer.next :bn<CR>
613 The default menus have these priorities:
614 File 10
615 Edit 20
616 Tools 40
617 Syntax 50
618 Buffers 60
619 Window 70
620 Help 9999
622 When no or zero priority is given, 500 is used.
623 The priority for the PopUp menu is not used.
625 The Help menu will be placed on the far right side of the menu bar on systems
626 which support this (Motif and GTK+). For GTK+ 2, this is not done anymore
627 because right-aligning the Help menu is now discouraged UI design.
629 You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu,
630 but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is
631 about 32000. The lowest is 1.
633 *sub-menu-priority*
634 The same mechanism can be used to position a sub-menu. The priority is then
635 given as a dot-separated list of priorities, before the menu name: >
636 :menu 80.500 Buffer.next :bn<CR>
637 Giving the sub-menu priority is only needed when the item is not to be put
638 in a normal position. For example, to put a sub-menu before the other items: >
639 :menu 80.100 Buffer.first :brew<CR>
640 Or to put a sub-menu after the other items, and further items with default
641 priority will be put before it: >
642 :menu 80.900 Buffer.last :blast<CR>
643 When a number is missing, the default value 500 will be used: >
644 :menu .900 myMenu.test :echo "text"<CR>
645 The menu priority is only used when creating a new menu. When it already
646 existed, e.g., in another mode, the priority will not change. Thus, the
647 priority only needs to be given the first time a menu is used.
648 An exception is the PopUp menu. There is a separate menu for each mode
649 (Normal, Op-pending, Visual, Insert, Cmdline). The order in each of these
650 menus can be different. This is different from menu-bar menus, which have
651 the same order for all modes.
652 NOTE: sub-menu priorities currently don't work for all versions of the GUI.
654 *menu-separator* *E332*
655 Menu items can be separated by a special item that inserts some space between
656 items. Depending on the system this is displayed as a line or a dotted line.
657 These items must start with a '-' and end in a '-'. The part in between is
658 used to give it a unique name. Priorities can be used as with normal items.
659 Example: >
660 :menu Example.item1 :do something
661 :menu Example.-Sep- :
662 :menu Example.item2 :do something different
663 Note that the separator also requires a rhs. It doesn't matter what it is,
664 because the item will never be selected. Use a single colon to keep it
665 simple.
667 *gui-toolbar*
668 The toolbar is currently available in the MacVim, Win32, Athena, Motif, GTK+
669 (X11), and Photon GUI. It should turn up in other GUIs in due course. The
670 default toolbar is setup in menu.vim. (Note: The MacVim toolbar is modified
671 in "$VIM/gvimrc".)
672 The display of the toolbar is controlled by the 'guioptions' letter 'T'. You
673 can thus have menu & toolbar together, or either on its own, or neither.
674 The appearance is controlled by the 'toolbar' option. You can chose between
675 an image, text or both.
677 *toolbar-icon*
678 The toolbar is defined as a special menu called ToolBar, which only has one
679 level. Vim interprets the items in this menu as follows:
680 1) If an "icon=" argument was specified, the file with this name is used.
681 The file can either be specified with the full path or with the base name.
682 In the last case it is searched for in the "bitmaps" directory in
683 'runtimepath', like in point 3. Examples: >
684 :amenu icon=/usr/local/pixmaps/foo_icon.xpm ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
685 :amenu icon=FooIcon ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
686 < Note that in the first case the extension is included, while in the second
687 case it is omitted.
688 If the file cannot be opened the next points are tried.
689 A space in the file name must be escaped with a backslash.
690 A menu priority must come _after_ the icon argument: >
691 :amenu icon=foo 1.42 ToolBar.Foo :echo "42!"<CR>
692 2) An item called 'BuiltIn##', where ## is a number, is taken as number ## of
693 the built-in bitmaps available in Vim. Currently there are 31 numbered
694 from 0 to 30 which cover most common editing operations |builtin-tools|. >
695 :amenu ToolBar.BuiltIn22 :call SearchNext("back")<CR>
696 3) An item with another name is first searched for in the directory
697 "bitmaps" in 'runtimepath'. If found, the bitmap file is used as the
698 toolbar button image. Note that the exact filename is OS-specific: For
699 example, under Win32 the command >
700 :amenu ToolBar.Hello :echo "hello"<CR>
701 < would find the file 'hello.bmp'. Under GTK+/X11 it is 'Hello.xpm'. With
702 GTK+ 2 the files 'Hello.png', 'Hello.xpm' and 'Hello.bmp' are checked for
703 existence, and the first one found would be used.
704 For MS-Windows and GTK+ 2 the bitmap is scaled to fit the button. For
705 MS-Windows a size of 18 by 18 pixels works best.
706 For MS-Windows the bitmap should have 16 colors with the standard palette.
707 The light grey pixels will be changed to the Window frame color and the
708 dark grey pixels to the window shadow color. More colors might also work,
709 depending on your system.
710 4) If the bitmap is still not found, Vim checks for a match against its list
711 of built-in names. Each built-in button image has a name.
712 So the command >
713 :amenu ToolBar.Open :e
714 < will show the built-in "open a file" button image if no open.bmp exists.
715 All the built-in names can be seen used in menu.vim.
716 5) If all else fails, a blank, but functioning, button is displayed.
718 *builtin-tools*
719 nr Name Normal action ~
720 00 New open new window
721 01 Open browse for file to open in current window
722 02 Save write buffer to file
723 03 Undo undo last change
724 04 Redo redo last undone change
725 05 Cut delete selected text to clipboard
726 06 Copy copy selected text to clipboard
727 07 Paste paste text from clipboard
728 08 Print print current buffer
729 09 Help open a buffer on Vim's builtin help
730 10 Find start a search command
731 11 SaveAll write all modified buffers to file
732 12 SaveSesn write session file for current situation
733 13 NewSesn write new session file
734 14 LoadSesn load session file
735 15 RunScript browse for file to run as a Vim script
736 16 Replace prompt for substitute command
737 17 WinClose close current window
738 18 WinMax make current window use many lines
739 19 WinMin make current window use few lines
740 20 WinSplit split current window
741 21 Shell start a shell
742 22 FindPrev search again, backward
743 23 FindNext search again, forward
744 24 FindHelp prompt for word to search help for
745 25 Make run make and jump to first error
746 26 TagJump jump to tag under the cursor
747 27 RunCtags build tags for files in current directory
748 28 WinVSplit split current window vertically
749 29 WinMaxWidth make current window use many columns
750 30 WinMinWidth make current window use few columns
752 *hidden-menus* *win32-hidden-menus*
753 In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, starting a menu name with ']' excludes that menu
754 from the main menu bar. You must then use the |:popup| or |:tearoff| command
755 to display it.
757 *popup-menu*
758 In the Win32, GTK+, Motif, Athena and Photon GUI, you can define the
759 special menu "PopUp". This is the menu that is displayed when the right mouse
760 button is pressed, if 'mousemodel' is set to popup or popup_setpos.
763 5.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *showing-menus*
765 To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the
766 menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu
767 specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown.
768 If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown
769 for the appropriate mode (e.g., Command-line mode for :cmenu).
771 Special characters in the list, just before the rhs:
772 * The menu was defined with "nore" to disallow remapping.
773 & The menu was defined with "<script>" to allow remapping script-local
774 mappings only.
775 - The menu was disabled.
777 Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after a menu command may
778 be used to complete the name of the menu item.
781 5.4 Executing Menus *execute-menus*
783 *:em* *:emenu* *E334* *E335*
784 :[range]em[enu] {menu} Execute {menu} from the command line.
785 The default is to execute the Normal mode
786 menu. If a range is specified, it executes
787 the Visual mode menu.
788 If used from <c-o>, it executes the
789 insert-mode menu Eg: >
790 :emenu File.Exit
792 If the console-mode vim has been compiled with WANT_MENU defined, you can
793 use :emenu to access useful menu items you may have got used to from GUI
794 mode. See 'wildmenu' for an option that works well with this. See
795 |console-menus| for an example.
797 When using a range, if the lines match with '<,'>, then the menu is executed
798 using the last visual selection.
801 5.5 Deleting Menus *delete-menus*
803 *:unme* *:unmenu*
804 *:aun* *:aunmenu*
805 *:nunme* *:nunmenu*
806 *:ounme* *:ounmenu*
807 *:vunme* *:vunmenu*
808 *:xunme* *:xunmenu*
809 *:sunme* *:sunmenu*
810 *:iunme* *:iunmenu*
811 *:cunme* *:cunmenu*
812 To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are
813 analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: >
814 :unmenu! Edit.Paste
816 This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and
817 Command-line modes.
819 Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after an umenu command
820 may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode.
822 To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* >
823 :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode
824 :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode
825 :aunmenu * " remove all menus in all modes
827 If you want to get rid of the menu bar: >
828 :set guioptions-=m
831 5.6 Disabling Menus *disable-menus*
833 *:menu-disable* *:menu-enable*
834 If you do not want to remove a menu, but disable it for a moment, this can be
835 done by adding the "enable" or "disable" keyword to a ":menu" command.
836 Examples: >
837 :menu disable &File.&Open\.\.\.
838 :amenu enable *
839 :amenu disable &Tools.*
841 The command applies to the modes as used with all menu commands. Note that
842 characters like "&" need to be included for translated names to be found.
843 When the argument is "*", all menus are affected. Otherwise the given menu
844 name and all existing submenus below it are affected.
847 5.7 Examples for Menus *menu-examples*
849 Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu
850 item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. >
852 :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>
853 :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
854 :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z <CR>
855 :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
856 :imenu Words.Add\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>a
857 :imenu Words.Remove\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>a
859 (the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the
860 mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "<C-R>" is CTRL-R, "<CR>" is
861 the <CR> key. |<>|)
864 5.8 Tooltips & Menu tips
866 See section |42.4| in the user manual.
868 *:tmenu* *:tm*
869 :tm[enu] {menupath} {rhs} Define a tip for a menu or tool. {only in
870 X11 and Win32 GUI}
872 :tm[enu] [menupath] List menu tips. {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
874 *:tunmenu* *:tu*
875 :tu[nmenu] {menupath} Remove a tip for a menu or tool.
876 {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
878 When a tip is defined for a menu item, it appears in the command-line area
879 when the mouse is over that item, much like a standard Windows menu hint in
880 the status bar. (Except when Vim is in Command-line mode, when of course
881 nothing is displayed.)
882 When a tip is defined for a ToolBar item, it appears as a tooltip when the
883 mouse pauses over that button, in the usual fashion. Use the |hl-Tooltip|
884 highlight group to change its colors.
886 A "tip" can be defined for each menu item. For example, when defining a menu
887 item like this: >
888 :amenu MyMenu.Hello :echo "Hello"<CR>
889 The tip is defined like this: >
890 :tmenu MyMenu.Hello Displays a greeting.
891 And delete it with: >
892 :tunmenu MyMenu.Hello
894 Tooltips are currently only supported for the X11 and Win32 GUI. However, they
895 should appear for the other gui platforms in the not too distant future.
897 The ":tmenu" command works just like other menu commands, it uses the same
898 arguments. ":tunmenu" deletes an existing menu tip, in the same way as the
899 other unmenu commands.
901 If a menu item becomes invalid (i.e. its actions in all modes are deleted) Vim
902 deletes the menu tip (and the item) for you. This means that :aunmenu deletes
903 a menu item - you don't need to do a :tunmenu as well.
906 5.9 Popup Menus
908 In the Win32, MacVim, and GTK+ GUI, you can cause a menu to popup at the
909 cursor. This behaves similarly to the PopUp menus except that any menu tree
910 can be popped up.
912 This command is for backwards compatibility, using it is discouraged, because
913 it behaves in a strange way.
915 *:popup* *:popu*
916 :popu[p] {name} Popup the menu {name}. The menu named must
917 have at least one subentry, but need not
918 appear on the menu-bar (see |hidden-menus|).
919 {only available for Win32, MacVim, and GTK GUI}
921 :popu[p]! {name} Like above, but use the position of the mouse
922 pointer instead of the cursor.
924 Example: >
925 :popup File
926 will make the "File" menu (if there is one) appear at the text cursor (mouse
927 pointer if ! was used). >
929 :amenu ]Toolbar.Make :make<CR>
930 :popup ]Toolbar
931 This creates a popup menu that doesn't exist on the main menu-bar.
933 Note that a menu that starts with ']' will not be displayed.
935 ==============================================================================
936 6. Extras *gui-extras*
938 This section describes other features which are related to the GUI.
940 - With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because
941 the key codes don't start with <Esc>.
943 - Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "<Key>", since
944 the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to
945 get "<Modifiers-Key>".
947 - In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within
948 mappings of special keys and mouse events. E.g.: :map <M-LeftDrag> <LeftDrag>
950 - In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these
951 are <Space>, <Tab>, <NL>, <CR>, <Esc>.
953 - To check in a Vim script if the GUI is being used, you can use something
954 like this: >
956 if has("gui_running")
957 echo "yes, we have a GUI"
958 else
959 echo "Boring old console"
960 endif
961 < *setting-guifont*
962 - When you use the same vimrc file on various systems, you can use something
963 like this to set options specifically for each type of GUI: >
965 if has("gui_running")
966 if has("gui_gtk2")
967 :set guifont=Luxi\ Mono\ 12
968 elseif has("x11")
969 " Also for GTK 1
970 :set guifont=*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-*-180-*-*-m-*-*
971 elseif has("gui_win32")
972 :set guifont=Luxi_Mono:h12:cANSI
973 elseif has("gui_macvim")
974 :set guifont=DejaVu\ Sans\ Mono:h13
975 endif
976 endif
978 A recommended Japanese font is MS Mincho. You can find info here:
979 http://www.lexikan.com/mincho.htm
981 ==============================================================================
982 7. Shell Commands *gui-shell*
984 For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window.
985 See |gui-pty|.
987 WARNING: Executing an external command from the X11 GUI will not always
988 work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine.
989 Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't
990 work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be
991 careful!
993 For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window.
994 See |gui-shell-win32|.
996 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: