1 *helphelp.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2010 Jul 29
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
7 Help on help files *helphelp*
9 1. Help commands |online-help|
10 2. Translating help files |help-translated|
11 3. Writing help files |help-writing|
13 ==============================================================================
14 1. Help commands *online-help*
16 *help* *<Help>* *:h* *:help* *<F1>* *i_<F1>* *i_<Help>*
18 :h[elp] Open a window and display the help file in read-only
19 mode. If there is a help window open already, use
20 that one. Otherwise, if the current window uses the
21 full width of the screen or is at least 80 characters
22 wide, the help window will appear just above the
23 current window. Otherwise the new window is put at
25 The 'helplang' option is used to select a language, if
26 the main help file is available in several languages.
29 *{subject}* *E149* *E661*
30 :h[elp] {subject} Like ":help", additionally jump to the tag {subject}.
31 {subject} can include wildcards like "*", "?" and
33 :help z? jump to help for any "z" command
34 :help z. jump to the help for "z."
35 If there is no full match for the pattern, or there
36 are several matches, the "best" match will be used.
37 A sophisticated algorithm is used to decide which
38 match is better than another one. These items are
39 considered in the computation:
40 - A match with same case is much better than a match
42 - A match that starts after a non-alphanumeric
43 character is better than a match in the middle of a
45 - A match at or near the beginning of the tag is
46 better than a match further on.
47 - The more alphanumeric characters match, the better.
48 - The shorter the length of the match, the better.
50 The 'helplang' option is used to select a language, if
51 the {subject} is available in several languages.
52 To find a tag in a specific language, append "@ab",
53 where "ab" is the two-letter language code. See
56 Note that the longer the {subject} you give, the less
57 matches will be found. You can get an idea how this
58 all works by using commandline completion (type CTRL-D
59 after ":help subject" |c_CTRL-D|).
60 If there are several matches, you can have them listed
61 by hitting CTRL-D. Example: >
64 < Instead of typing ":help CTRL-V" to search for help
65 for CTRL-V you can type: >
67 < This also works together with other characters, for
68 example to find help for CTRL-V in Insert mode: >
71 To use a regexp |pattern|, first do ":help" and then
72 use ":tag {pattern}" in the help window. The
73 ":tnext" command can then be used to jump to other
74 matches, "tselect" to list matches and choose one. >
77 < When there is no argument you will see matches for
78 "help", to avoid listing all possible matches (that
80 The number of matches displayed is limited to 300.
82 This command can be followed by '|' and another
83 command, but you don't need to escape the '|' inside a
84 help command. So these both work: >
87 < Note that a space before the '|' is seen as part of
89 You can also use <LF> or <CR> to separate the help
90 command from a following command. You need to type
91 CTRL-V first to insert the <LF> or <CR>. Example: >
95 :h[elp]! [subject] Like ":help", but in non-English help files prefer to
96 find a tag in a file with the same language as the
97 current file. See |help-translated|.
100 :helpg[rep] {pattern}[@xx]
101 Search all help text files and make a list of lines
102 in which {pattern} matches. Jumps to the first match.
103 The optional [@xx] specifies that only matches in the
104 "xx" language are to be found.
105 You can navigate through the matches with the
106 |quickfix| commands, e.g., |:cnext| to jump to the
107 next one. Or use |:cwindow| to get the list of
108 matches in the quickfix window.
109 {pattern} is used as a Vim regexp |pattern|.
110 'ignorecase' is not used, add "\c" to ignore case.
111 Example for case sensitive search: >
113 < Example for case ignoring search: >
115 < Example for searching in French help: >
116 :helpgrep backspace@fr
117 < The pattern does not support line breaks, it must
118 match within one line. You can use |:grep| instead,
119 but then you need to get the list of help files in a
121 Cannot be followed by another command, everything is
122 used as part of the pattern. But you can use
123 |:execute| when needed.
124 Compressed help files will not be searched (Fedora
125 compresses the help files).
129 :lh[elpgrep] {pattern}[@xx]
130 Same as ":helpgrep", except the location list is used
131 instead of the quickfix list. If the help window is
132 already opened, then the location list for that window
133 is used. Otherwise, a new help window is opened and
134 the location list for that window is set. The
135 location list for the current window is not changed.
138 :exu[sage] Show help on Ex commands. Added to simulate the Nvi
142 :viu[sage] Show help on Normal mode commands. Added to simulate
143 the Nvi command. {not in Vi}
145 When no argument is given to |:help| the file given with the 'helpfile' option
146 will be opened. Otherwise the specified tag is searched for in all "doc/tags"
147 files in the directories specified in the 'runtimepath' option.
149 The initial height of the help window can be set with the 'helpheight' option
152 Jump to specific subjects by using tags. This can be done in two ways:
153 - Use the "CTRL-]" command while standing on the name of a command or option.
154 This only works when the tag is a keyword. "<C-Leftmouse>" and
155 "g<LeftMouse>" work just like "CTRL-]".
156 - use the ":ta {subject}" command. This also works with non-keyword
159 Use CTRL-T or CTRL-O to jump back.
160 Use ":q" to close the help window.
162 If there are several matches for an item you are looking for, this is how you
163 can jump to each one of them:
164 1. Open a help window
165 2. Use the ":tag" command with a slash prepended to the tag. E.g.: >
167 3. Use ":tnext" to jump to the next matching tag.
169 It is possible to add help files for plugins and other items. You don't need
170 to change the distributed help files for that. See |add-local-help|.
172 To write a local help file, see |write-local-help|.
174 Note that the title lines from the local help files are automagically added to
175 the "LOCAL ADDITIONS" section in the "help.txt" help file |local-additions|.
176 This is done when viewing the file in Vim, the file itself is not changed. It
177 is done by going through all help files and obtaining the first line of each
178 file. The files in $VIMRUNTIME/doc are skipped.
181 If you want to have the help in another xterm window, you could use this
183 :!xterm -e vim +help &
187 :helpf[ind] Like |:help|, but use a dialog to enter the argument.
188 Only for backwards compatibility. It now executes the
189 ToolBar.FindHelp menu entry instead of using a builtin
190 dialog. {only when compiled with |+GUI_GTK|}
194 *E154* *E150* *E151* *E152* *E153* *E670*
195 :helpt[ags] [++t] {dir}
196 Generate the help tags file(s) for directory {dir}.
197 All "*.txt" and "*.??x" files in the directory are
198 scanned for a help tag definition in between stars.
199 The "*.??x" files are for translated docs, they
200 generate the "tags-??" file, see |help-translated|.
201 The generated tags files are sorted.
202 When there are duplicates an error message is given.
203 An existing tags file is silently overwritten.
204 The optional "++t" argument forces adding the
205 "help-tags" tag. This is also done when the {dir} is
206 equal to $VIMRUNTIME/doc.
207 To rebuild the help tags in the runtime directory
208 (requires write permission there): >
209 :helptags $VIMRUNTIME/doc
213 ==============================================================================
214 2. Translated help files *help-translated*
216 It is possible to add translated help files, next to the original English help
217 files. Vim will search for all help in "doc" directories in 'runtimepath'.
218 This is only available when compiled with the |+multi_lang| feature.
220 At this moment translations are available for:
221 Chinese - multiple authors
222 French - translated by David Blanchet
223 Italian - translated by Antonio Colombo
224 Polish - translated by Mikolaj Machowski
225 Russian - translated by Vassily Ragosin
226 See the Vim website to find them: http://www.vim.org/translations.php
228 A set of translated help files consists of these files:
235 "ab" is the two-letter language code. Thus for Italian the names are:
242 The 'helplang' option can be set to the preferred language(s). The default is
243 set according to the environment. Vim will first try to find a matching tag
244 in the preferred language(s). English is used when it cannot be found.
246 To find a tag in a specific language, append "@ab" to a tag, where "ab" is the
247 two-letter language code. Example: >
250 The first one finds the Italian user manual, even when 'helplang' is empty.
251 The second one finds the English user manual, even when 'helplang' is set to
254 When using command-line completion for the ":help" command, the "@en"
255 extension is only shown when a tag exists for multiple languages. When the
256 tag only exists for English "@en" is omitted.
258 When using |CTRL-]| or ":help!" in a non-English help file Vim will try to
259 find the tag in the same language. If not found then 'helplang' will be used
260 to select a language.
262 Help files must use latin1 or utf-8 encoding. Vim assumes the encoding is
263 utf-8 when finding non-ASCII characters in the first line. Thus you must
264 translate the header with "For Vim version".
266 The same encoding must be used for the help files of one language in one
267 directory. You can use a different encoding for different languages and use
268 a different encoding for help files of the same language but in a different
271 Hints for translators:
272 - Do not translate the tags. This makes it possible to use 'helplang' to
273 specify the preferred language. You may add new tags in your language.
274 - When you do not translate a part of a file, add tags to the English version,
275 using the "tag@en" notation.
276 - Make a package with all the files and the tags file available for download.
277 Users can drop it in one of the "doc" directories and start use it.
278 Report this to Bram, so that he can add a link on www.vim.org.
279 - Use the |:helptags| command to generate the tags files. It will find all
280 languages in the specified directory.
282 ==============================================================================
283 3. Writing help files *help-writing*
285 For ease of use, a Vim help file for a plugin should follow the format of the
286 standard Vim help files. If you are writing a new help file it's best to copy
287 one of the existing files and use it as a template.
289 The first line in a help file should have the following format:
291 *helpfile_name.txt* For Vim version 7.3 Last change: 2010 June 4
293 The first field is a link to the help file name. The second field describes
294 the applicable Vim version. The last field specifies the last modification
295 date of the file. Each field is separated by a tab.
297 At the bottom of the help file, place a Vim modeline to set the 'textwidth'
298 and 'tabstop' options and the 'filetype' to 'help'. Never set a global option
299 in such a modeline, that can have consequences undesired by whoever reads that
305 To define a help tag, place the name between asterisks (*tag-name*). The
306 tag-name should be different from all the Vim help tag names and ideally
307 should begin with the name of the Vim plugin. The tag name is usually right
310 When referring to an existing help tag and to create a hot-link, place the
311 name between two bars (|) eg. |help-writing|.
313 When referring to a Vim option in the help file, place the option name between
314 two single quotes, eg. 'statusline'
319 To define a column heading, use a tilde character at the end of the line.
320 This will highlight the column heading in a different color. E.g.
324 To separate sections in a help file, place a series of '=' characters in a
325 line starting from the first column. The section separator line is highlighted
328 To quote a block of ex-commands verbatim, place a greater than (>) character
329 at the end of the line before the block and a less than (<) character as the
330 first non-blank on a line following the block. Any line starting in column 1
331 also implicitly stops the block of ex-commands before it. E.g. >
332 function Example_Func()
337 The following are highlighted differently in a Vim help file:
338 - a special key name expressed either in <> notation as in <PageDown>, or
339 as a Ctrl character as in CTRL-X
340 - anything between {braces}, e.g. {lhs} and {rhs}
342 The word "Note", "Notes" and similar automagically receive distinctive
343 highlighting. So do these:
344 *Todo something to do
345 *Error something wrong
347 You can find the details in $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/help.vim
349 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: