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Vim documentation: various

*various.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2011 Mar 03 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar Various commands *various* 1. Various commands |various-cmds| 2. Using Vim like less or more |less| ============================================================================== 1. Various commands *various-cmds* *CTRL-L* CTRL-L Clear and redraw the screen. The redraw may happen later, after processing typeahead. *:redr* *:redraw* :redr[aw][!] Redraw the screen right now. When ! is included it is cleared first. Useful to update the screen halfway executing a script or function. Also when halfway a mapping and 'lazyredraw' is set. *:redraws* *:redrawstatus* :redraws[tatus][!] Redraw the status line of the current window. When ! is included all status lines are redrawn. Useful to update the status line(s) when 'statusline' includes an item that doesn't cause automatic updating. *N<Del>* <Del> When entering a number: Remove the last digit. Note: if you like to use <BS> for this, add this mapping to your .vimrc: :map CTRL-V <BS> CTRL-V <Del> See |:fixdel| if your <Del> key does not do what you want. :as[cii] or *ga* *:as* *:ascii* ga Print the ascii value of the character under the cursor in decimal, hexadecimal and octal. For example, when the cursor is on a 'R': <R> 82, Hex 52, Octal 122 When the character is a non-standard ASCII character, but printable according to the 'isprint' option, the non-printable version is also given. When the character is larger than 127, the <M-x> form is also printed. For example: <~A> <M-^A> 129, Hex 81, Octal 201 <p> <|~> <M-~> 254, Hex fe, Octal 376 (where <p> is a special character) The <Nul> character in a file is stored internally as <NL>, but it will be shown as: <^@> 0, Hex 00, Octal 000 If the character has composing characters these are also shown. The value of 'maxcombine' doesn't matter. Mnemonic: Get Ascii value. {not in Vi} *g8* g8 Print the hex values of the bytes used in the character under the cursor, assuming it is in |UTF-8| encoding. This also shows composing characters. The value of 'maxcombine' doesn't matter. Example of a character with two composing characters: e0 b8 81 + e0 b8 b9 + e0 b9 89 {not in Vi} {only when compiled with the |+multi_byte| feature} *8g8* 8g8 Find an illegal UTF-8 byte sequence at or after the cursor. This works in two situations: 1. when 'encoding' is any 8-bit encoding 2. when 'encoding' is "utf-8" and 'fileencoding' is any 8-bit encoding Thus it can be used when editing a file that was supposed to be UTF-8 but was read as if it is an 8-bit encoding because it contains illegal bytes. Does not wrap around the end of the file. Note that when the cursor is on an illegal byte or the cursor is halfway a multi-byte character the command won't move the cursor. {not in Vi} {only when compiled with the |+multi_byte| feature} *:p* *:pr* *:print* *E749* :[range]p[rint] [flags] Print [range] lines (default current line). Note: If you are looking for a way to print your text on paper see |:hardcopy|. In the GUI you can use the File.Print menu entry. See |ex-flags| for [flags]. :[range]p[rint] {count} [flags] Print {count} lines, starting with [range] (default current line |cmdline-ranges|). See |ex-flags| for [flags]. *:P* *:Print* :[range]P[rint] [count] [flags] Just as ":print". Was apparently added to Vi for people that keep the shift key pressed too long... Note: A user command can overrule this command. See |ex-flags| for [flags]. *:l* *:list* :[range]l[ist] [count] [flags] Same as :print, but display unprintable characters with '^' and put $ after the line. This can be further changed with the 'listchars' option. See |ex-flags| for [flags]. *:nu* *:number* :[range]nu[mber] [count] [flags] Same as :print, but precede each line with its line number. (See also 'highlight' and 'numberwidth' option). See |ex-flags| for [flags]. *:#* :[range]# [count] [flags] synonym for :number. *:#!* :#!{anything} Ignored, so that you can start a Vim script with: #!vim -S echo "this is a Vim script" quit *:z* *E144* :{range}z[+-^.=]{count} Display several lines of text surrounding the line specified with {range}, or around the current line if there is no {range}. If there is a {count}, that's how many lines you'll see; if there is only one window then twice the value of the 'scroll' option is used, otherwise the current window height minus 3 is used. :z can be used either alone or followed by any of several punctuation marks. These have the following effect: mark first line last line new cursor line ---- ---------- --------- ------------ + current line 1 scr forward 1 scr forward - 1 scr back current line current line ^ 2 scr back 1 scr back 1 scr back . 1/2 scr back 1/2 scr fwd 1/2 scr fwd = 1/2 scr back 1/2 scr fwd current line Specifying no mark at all is the same as "+". If the mark is "=", a line of dashes is printed around the current line. :{range}z#[+-^.=]{count} *:z#* Like ":z", but number the lines. {not in all versions of Vi, not with these arguments} *:=* := [flags] Print the last line number. See |ex-flags| for [flags]. :{range}= [flags] Prints the last line number in {range}. For example, this prints the current line number: :.= See |ex-flags| for [flags]. :norm[al][!] {commands} *:norm* *:normal* Execute Normal mode commands {commands}. This makes it possible to execute Normal mode commands typed on the command-line. {commands} are executed like they are typed. For undo all commands are undone together. Execution stops when an error is encountered. If the [!] is given, mappings will not be used. {commands} should be a complete command. If {commands} does not finish a command, the last one will be aborted as if <Esc> or <C-C> was typed. The display isn't updated while ":normal" is busy. This implies that an insert command must be completed (to start Insert mode, see |:startinsert|). A ":" command must be completed as well. And you can't use "Q" or "gQ" to start Ex mode. {commands} cannot start with a space. Put a count of 1 (one) before it, "1 " is one space. The 'insertmode' option is ignored for {commands}. This command cannot be followed by another command, since any '|' is considered part of the command. This command can be used recursively, but the depth is limited by 'maxmapdepth'. When this command is called from a non-remappable mapping |:noremap|, the argument can be mapped anyway. An alternative is to use |:execute|, which uses an expression as argument. This allows the use of printable characters to represent special characters. Example: :exe "normal \<c-w>\<c-w>" {not in Vi, of course} {not available when the |+ex_extra| feature was disabled at compile time} :{range}norm[al][!] {commands} *:normal-range* Execute Normal mode commands {commands} for each line in the {range}. Before executing the {commands}, the cursor is positioned in the first column of the range, for each line. Otherwise it's the same as the ":normal" command without a range. {not in Vi} {not available when |+ex_extra| feature was disabled at compile time} *:sh* *:shell* *E371* :sh[ell] This command starts a shell. When the shell exits (after the "exit" command) you return to Vim. The name for the shell command comes from 'shell' option. *E360* Note: This doesn't work when Vim on the Amiga was started in QuickFix mode from a compiler, because the compiler will have set stdin to a non-interactive mode. *:!cmd* *:!* *E34* :!{cmd} Execute {cmd} with the shell. See also the 'shell' and 'shelltype' option. Any '!' in {cmd} is replaced with the previous external command (see also 'cpoptions'). But not when there is a backslash before the '!', then that backslash is removed. Example: ":!ls" followed by ":!echo ! \! \\!" executes "echo ls ! \!". After the command has been executed, the timestamp of the current file is checked |timestamp|. A '|' in {cmd} is passed to the shell, you cannot use it to append a Vim command. See |:bar|. A newline character ends {cmd}, what follows is interpreted as a following ":" command. However, if there is a backslash before the newline it is removed and {cmd} continues. It doesn't matter how many backslashes are before the newline, only one is removed. On Unix the command normally runs in a non-interactive shell. If you want an interactive shell to be used (to use aliases) set 'shellcmdflag' to "-ic". For Win32 also see |:!start|. Vim redraws the screen after the command is finished, because it may have printed any text. This requires a hit-enter prompt, so that you can read any messages. To avoid this use: :silent !{cmd} The screen is not redrawn then, thus you have to use CTRL-L or ":redraw!" if the command did display something. Also see |shell-window|. *:!!* :!! Repeat last ":!{cmd}". *:ve* *:version* :ve[rsion] Print the version number of the editor. If the compiler used understands "__DATE__" the compilation date is mentioned. Otherwise a fixed release-date is shown. The following lines contain information about which features were enabled when Vim was compiled. When there is a preceding '+', the feature is included, when there is a '-' it is excluded. To change this, you have to edit feature.h and recompile Vim. To check for this in an expression, see |has()|. Here is an overview of the features. The first column shows the smallest version in which they are included: T tiny S small N normal B big H huge m manually enabled or depends on other features (none) system dependent Thus if a feature is marked with "N", it is included in the normal, big and huge versions of Vim. *+feature-list* *+ARP* Amiga only: ARP support included B *+arabic* |Arabic| language support N *+autocmd* |:autocmd|, automatic commands m *+balloon_eval* |balloon-eval| support. Included when compiling with supported GUI (Motif, GTK, GUI) and either Netbeans/Sun Workshop integration or |+eval| feature. N *+browse* |:browse| command N *+builtin_terms* some terminals builtin |builtin-terms| B *++builtin_terms* maximal terminals builtin |builtin-terms| N *+byte_offset* support for 'o' flag in 'statusline' option, "go" and ":goto" commands. N *+cindent* |'cindent'|, C indenting N *+clientserver* Unix and Win32: Remote invocation |clientserver| *+clipboard* |clipboard| support N *+cmdline_compl* command line completion |cmdline-completion| N *+cmdline_hist* command line history |cmdline-history| N *+cmdline_info* |'showcmd'| and |'ruler'| N *+comments* |'comments'| support B *+conceal* "conceal" support, see |conceal| |:syn-conceal| etc. N *+cryptv* encryption support |encryption| B *+cscope* |cscope| support m *+cursorbind* |'cursorbind'| support m *+cursorshape* |termcap-cursor-shape| support m *+debug* Compiled for debugging. N *+dialog_gui* Support for |:confirm| with GUI dialog. N *+dialog_con* Support for |:confirm| with console dialog. N *+dialog_con_gui* Support for |:confirm| with GUI and console dialog. N *+diff* |vimdiff| and 'diff' N *+digraphs* |digraphs| *E196* *+dnd* Support for DnD into the "~ register |quote_~|. B *+emacs_tags* |emacs-tags| files N *+eval* expression evaluation |eval.txt| N *+ex_extra* Vim's extra Ex commands: |:center|, |:left|, |:normal|, |:retab| and |:right| N *+extra_search* |'hlsearch'| and |'incsearch'| options. B *+farsi* |farsi| language N *+file_in_path* |gf|, |CTRL-W_f| and |<cfile>| N *+find_in_path* include file searches: |[I|, |:isearch|, |CTRL-W_CTRL-I|, |:checkpath|, etc. N *+folding* |folding| *+footer* |gui-footer| *+fork* Unix only: |fork| shell commands *+float* Floating point support N *+gettext* message translations |multi-lang| *+GUI_Athena* Unix only: Athena |GUI| *+GUI_neXtaw* Unix only: neXtaw |GUI| *+GUI_GTK* Unix only: GTK+ |GUI| *+GUI_Motif* Unix only: Motif |GUI| *+GUI_Photon* QNX only: Photon |GUI| m *+hangul_input* Hangul input support |hangul| *+iconv* Compiled with the |iconv()| function *+iconv/dyn* Likewise |iconv-dynamic| |/dyn| N *+insert_expand* |insert_expand| Insert mode completion N *+jumplist* |jumplist| B *+keymap* |'keymap'| B *+langmap* |'langmap'| N *+libcall* |libcall()| N *+linebreak* |'linebreak'|, |'breakat'| and |'showbreak'| N *+lispindent* |'lisp'| N *+listcmds* Vim commands for the list of buffers |buffer-hidden| and argument list |:argdelete| N *+localmap* Support for mappings local to a buffer |:map-local| m *+lua* |Lua| interface m *+lua/dyn* |Lua| interface |/dyn| N *+menu* |:menu| N *+mksession* |:mksession| N *+modify_fname* |filename-modifiers| N *+mouse* Mouse handling |mouse-using| N *+mouseshape* |'mouseshape'| B *+mouse_dec* Unix only: Dec terminal mouse handling |dec-mouse| N *+mouse_gpm* Unix only: Linux console mouse handling |gpm-mouse| B *+mouse_netterm* Unix only: netterm mouse handling |netterm-mouse| N *+mouse_pterm* QNX only: pterm mouse handling |qnx-terminal| N *+mouse_sysmouse* Unix only: *BSD console mouse handling |sysmouse| N *+mouse_xterm* Unix only: xterm mouse handling |xterm-mouse| B *+multi_byte* 16 and 32 bit characters |multibyte| *+multi_byte_ime* Win32 input method for multibyte chars |multibyte-ime| N *+multi_lang* non-English language support |multi-lang| m *+mzscheme* Mzscheme interface |mzscheme| m *+mzscheme/dyn* Mzscheme interface |mzscheme-dynamic| |/dyn| m *+netbeans_intg* |netbeans| m *+ole* Win32 GUI only: |ole-interface| *+osfiletype* Support for the 'osfiletype' option and filetype checking in automatic commands. |autocmd-osfiletypes| N *+path_extra* Up/downwards search in 'path' and 'tags' m *+perl* Perl interface |perl| m *+perl/dyn* Perl interface |perl-dynamic| |/dyn| N *+persistent_undo* Persistent undo |undo-persistence| *+postscript* |:hardcopy| writes a PostScript file N *+printer* |:hardcopy| command H *+profile* |:profile| command m *+python* Python 2 interface |python| m *+python/dyn* Python 2 interface |python-dynamic| |/dyn| m *+python3* Python 3 interface |python| m *+python3/dyn* Python 3 interface |python-dynamic| |/dyn| N *+quickfix* |:make| and |quickfix| commands N *+reltime* |reltime()| function, 'hlsearch'/'incsearch' timeout, 'redrawtime' option B *+rightleft* Right to left typing |'rightleft'| m *+ruby* Ruby interface |ruby| m *+ruby/dyn* Ruby interface |ruby-dynamic| |/dyn| N *+scrollbind* |'scrollbind'| B *+signs* |:sign| N *+smartindent* |'smartindent'| m *+sniff* SniFF interface |sniff| N *+startuptime* |--startuptime| argument N *+statusline* Options 'statusline', 'rulerformat' and special formats of 'titlestring' and 'iconstring' m *+sun_workshop* |workshop| N *+syntax* Syntax highlighting |syntax| *+system()* Unix only: opposite of |+fork| N *+tag_binary* binary searching in tags file |tag-binary-search| N *+tag_old_static* old method for static tags |tag-old-static| m *+tag_any_white* any white space allowed in tags file |tag-any-white| m *+tcl* Tcl interface |tcl| m *+tcl/dyn* Tcl interface |tcl-dynamic| |/dyn| *+terminfo* uses |terminfo| instead of termcap N *+termresponse* support for |t_RV| and |v:termresponse| N *+textobjects* |text-objects| selection *+tgetent* non-Unix only: able to use external termcap N *+title* Setting the window 'title' and 'icon' N *+toolbar* |gui-toolbar| N *+user_commands* User-defined commands. |user-commands| N *+viminfo* |'viminfo'| N *+vertsplit* Vertically split windows |:vsplit| N *+virtualedit* |'virtualedit'| S *+visual* Visual mode |Visual-mode| N *+visualextra* extra Visual mode commands |blockwise-operators| N *+vreplace* |gR| and |gr| N *+wildignore* |'wildignore'| N *+wildmenu* |'wildmenu'| S *+windows* more than one window m *+writebackup* |'writebackup'| is default on m *+xim* X input method |xim| *+xfontset* X fontset support |xfontset| *+xsmp* XSMP (X session management) support *+xsmp_interact* interactive XSMP (X session management) support N *+xterm_clipboard* Unix only: xterm clipboard handling m *+xterm_save* save and restore xterm screen |xterm-screens| N *+X11* Unix only: can restore window title |X11| */dyn* *E370* *E448* To some of the features "/dyn" is added when the feature is only available when the related library can be dynamically loaded. :ve[rsion] {nr} Is now ignored. This was previously used to check the version number of a .vimrc file. It was removed, because you can now use the ":if" command for version-dependent behavior. {not in Vi} *:redi* *:redir* :redi[r][!] > {file} Redirect messages to file {file}. The messages which are the output of commands are written to that file, until redirection ends. The messages are also still shown on the screen. When [!] is included, an existing file is overwritten. When [!] is omitted, and {file} exists, this command fails. Only one ":redir" can be active at a time. Calls to ":redir" will close any active redirection before starting redirection to the new target. To stop the messages and commands from being echoed to the screen, put the commands in a function and call it with ":silent call Function()". An alternative is to use the 'verbosefile' option, this can be used in combination with ":redir". {not in Vi} :redi[r] >> {file} Redirect messages to file {file}. Append if {file} already exists. {not in Vi} :redi[r] @{a-zA-Z} :redi[r] @{a-zA-Z}> Redirect messages to register {a-z}. Append to the contents of the register if its name is given uppercase {A-Z}. The ">" after the register name is optional. {not in Vi} :redi[r] @{a-z}>> Append messages to register {a-z}. {not in Vi} :redi[r] @*> :redi[r] @+> Redirect messages to the selection or clipboard. For backward compatibility, the ">" after the register name can be omitted. See |quotestar| and |quoteplus|. {not in Vi} :redi[r] @*>> :redi[r] @+>> Append messages to the selection or clipboard. {not in Vi} :redi[r] @"> Redirect messages to the unnamed register. For backward compatibility, the ">" after the register name can be omitted. {not in Vi} :redi[r] @">> Append messages to the unnamed register. {not in Vi} :redi[r] => {var} Redirect messages to a variable. If the variable doesn't exist, then it is created. If the variable exists, then it is initialized to an empty string. The variable will remain empty until redirection ends. Only string variables can be used. After the redirection starts, if the variable is removed or locked or the variable type is changed, then further command output messages will cause errors. {not in Vi} :redi[r] =>> {var} Append messages to an existing variable. Only string variables can be used. {not in Vi} :redi[r] END End redirecting messages. {not in Vi} *:sil* *:silent* :sil[ent][!] {command} Execute {command} silently. Normal messages will not be given or added to the message history. When [!] is added, error messages will also be skipped, and commands and mappings will not be aborted when an error is detected. |v:errmsg| is still set. When [!] is not used, an error message will cause further messages to be displayed normally. Redirection, started with |:redir|, will continue as usual, although there might be small differences. This will allow redirecting the output of a command without seeing it on the screen. Example: :redir >/tmp/foobar :silent g/Aap/p :redir END To execute a Normal mode command silently, use the |:normal| command. For example, to search for a string without messages: :silent exe "normal /path\<CR>" ":silent!" is useful to execute a command that may fail, but the failure is to be ignored. Example: :let v:errmsg = "" :silent! /^begin :if v:errmsg != "" : ... pattern was not found ":silent" will also avoid the hit-enter prompt. When using this for an external command, this may cause the screen to be messed up. Use |CTRL-L| to clean it up then. ":silent menu ..." defines a menu that will not echo a Command-line command. The command will still produce messages though. Use ":silent" in the command itself to avoid that: ":silent menu .... :silent command". *:uns* *:unsilent* :uns[ilent] {command} Execute {command} not silently. Only makes a difference when |:silent| was used to get to this command. Use this for giving a message even when |:silent| was used. In this example |:silent| is used to avoid the message about reading the file and |:unsilent| to be able to list the first line of each file. :silent argdo unsilent echo expand('%') . ": " . getline(1) *:verb* *:verbose* :[count]verb[ose] {command} Execute {command} with 'verbose' set to [count]. If [count] is omitted one is used. ":0verbose" can be used to set 'verbose' to zero. The additional use of ":silent" makes messages generated but not displayed. The combination of ":silent" and ":verbose" can be used to generate messages and check them with |v:statusmsg| and friends. For example: :let v:statusmsg = "" :silent verbose runtime foobar.vim :if v:statusmsg != "" : " foobar.vim could not be found :endif When concatenating another command, the ":verbose" only applies to the first one: :4verbose set verbose | set verbose verbose=4 verbose=0 For logging verbose messages in a file use the 'verbosefile' option. *:verbose-cmd* When 'verbose' is non-zero, listing the value of a Vim option or a key map or an abbreviation or a user-defined function or a command or a highlight group or an autocommand will also display where it was last defined. If it was defined manually then there will be no "Last set" message. When it was defined while executing a function, user command or autocommand, the script in which it was defined is reported. {not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} *K* K Run a program to lookup the keyword under the cursor. The name of the program is given with the 'keywordprg' (kp) option (default is "man"). The keyword is formed of letters, numbers and the characters in 'iskeyword'. The keyword under or right of the cursor is used. The same can be done with the command :!{program} {keyword} There is an example of a program to use in the tools directory of Vim. It is called 'ref' and does a simple spelling check. Special cases: - If 'keywordprg' is empty, the ":help" command is used. It's a good idea to include more characters in 'iskeyword' then, to be able to find more help. - When 'keywordprg' is equal to "man", a count before "K" is inserted after the "man" command and before the keyword. For example, using "2K" while the cursor is on "mkdir", results in: !man 2 mkdir - When 'keywordprg' is equal to "man -s", a count before "K" is inserted after the "-s". If there is no count, the "-s" is removed. {not in Vi} *v_K* {Visual}K Like "K", but use the visually highlighted text for the keyword. Only works when the highlighted text is not more than one line. {not in Vi} [N]gs *gs* *:sl* *:sleep* :[N]sl[eep] [N] [m] Do nothing for [N] seconds. When [m] is included, sleep for [N] milliseconds. The count for "gs" always uses seconds. The default is one second. :sleep "sleep for one second :5sleep "sleep for five seconds :sleep 100m "sleep for a hundred milliseconds 10gs "sleep for ten seconds Can be interrupted with CTRL-C (CTRL-Break on MS-DOS). "gs" stands for "goto sleep". While sleeping the cursor is positioned in the text, if at a visible position. {not in Vi} *g_CTRL-A* g CTRL-A Only when Vim was compiled with MEM_PROFILING defined (which is very rare): print memory usage statistics. Only useful for debugging Vim. ============================================================================== 2. Using Vim like less or more *less* If you use the less or more program to view a file, you don't get syntax highlighting. Thus you would like to use Vim instead. You can do this by using the shell script "$VIMRUNTIME/macros/less.sh". This shell script uses the Vim script "$VIMRUNTIME/macros/less.vim". It sets up mappings to simulate the commands that less supports. Otherwise, you can still use the Vim commands. This isn't perfect. For example, when viewing a short file Vim will still use the whole screen. But it works good enough for most uses, and you get syntax highlighting. The "h" key will give you a short overview of the available commands. top - main help file



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