VIM

VIM

See ViNotes

NAME

vim - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor

SYNOPSIS

vim [options? [file ..? vim [options? - vim [options? -t tag vim [options? -q [errorfile?

ex view gvim gview rvim rview rgvim rgview

DESCRIPTION

Vim is a text editor that is upwards compatible to Vi. It can be used to edit all kinds of plain text. It is especially useful for editing programs.

There are a lot of enhancements above Vi: multi level undo, multi windows and buffers, syntax highlighting, command line editing, filename completion, on-line help, visual selection, etc.. See Vim__ and Vi.

While running Vim a lot of help can be obtained from the on-line help system, with the __

Most often Vim is started to edit a single file with the command

vim file

More generally Vim is started with:

vim [options? [filelist?

If the filelist is missing, the editor will start with an empty buffer. Otherwise exactly one out of the following four may be used to choose one or more files to be edited.

file ..

A list of filenames. The first one will be the current file and read into the buffer. The cursor will be positioned on the first line of the buffer. You can get to the other files with the

• The file to edit is read from stdin. Commands are read

from stderr, which should be a tty.

• t {tag}

The file to edit and the initial cursor position depends on a

• q [errorfile?

Start in quickFix mode. The file [errorfile? is read and the first error is displayed. If [errorfile? is omitted, the filename is obtained from the 'errorfile' option (defaults to

Vim behaves differently, depending on the name of the command (the executable may still be the same file).

vim

The

ex Start in Ex mode. Go to Normal mode with the

view

Start in read-only mode. You will be protected from writing the files. Can also be done with the

gvim gview

The GUI version. Starts a new window. Can also be done with the

rvim rview rgvim rgview

Like the above, but with restrictions. It will not be possible to start shell commands, or suspend Vim. Can also be done with the __

OPTIONS

The options may be given in any order, before or after filenames. Options without an argument can be combined after a single dash.

• [num?

For the first file the cursor will be positioned on line

• /{pat}

For the first file the cursor will be positioned on the first occurrence of {pat}. See

• {command}
• c {command}

{command} will be executed after the first file has been read. {command} is interpreted as an Ex command. If the {command} contains spaces it must be enclosed in double quotes (this depends on the shell that is used). Example: Vim Note: You can use up to 10

--cmd {command}

Like using

• b Binary mode. A few options will be set that makes it

possible to edit a binary or executable file.

• C Compatible. Set the 'compatible' option. This will make

Vim behave mostly like Vi, even though a .vimrc file exists.

• d Start in diff mode. There should be two or three file

name arguments. Vim will open all the files and show differences between them. Works like vimdiff(1).

• d {device}

Open {device} for use as a terminal. Only on the Amiga. Example:

• e Start Vim in Ex mode, just like the executable was

called __

• f Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not fork

and detach from the shell it was started in. On the Amiga, Vim is not restarted to open a new window. This option should be used when Vim is executed by a program that will wait for the edit session to finish (e.g. mail). On the Amiga the __

• F If Vim has been compiled with FKMAP support for

editing right-to-left oriented files and Farsi keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Farsi mode, i.e. 'fkmap' and 'rightleft' are set. Otherwise an error message is given and Vim aborts.

• g If Vim has been compiled with GUI support, this

option enables the GUI. If no GUI support was compiled in, an error message is given and Vim aborts.

• h Give a bit of help about the command line arguments and

options. After this Vim exits.

• H If Vim has been compiled with RIGHTLEFT support

for editing right-to-left oriented files and Hebrew keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Hebrew mode, i.e. 'hkmap' and 'rightleft' are set. Otherwise an error message is given and Vim aborts.

• i {viminfo}

When using the viminfo file is enabled, this option sets the filename to use, instead of the default

• L Same as -r.
• l Lisp mode. Sets the 'lisp' and 'showmatch' options

on.

• m Modifying files is disabled. Resets the 'write' option,

so that writing files is not possible.

• N No-compatible mode. Reset the 'compatible' option. This

will make Vim behave a bit better, but less Vi compatible, even though a .vimrc file does not exist.

• n No swap file will be used. Recovery after a crash will be

impossible. Handy if you want to edit a file on a very slow medium (e.g. floppy). Can also be done with

• o[N?

Open N windows. When N is omitted, open one window for each file.

• R Read-only mode. The 'readonly' option will be set. You

can still edit the buffer, but will be prevented from accidently overwriting a file. If you do want to overwrite a file, add an exclamation mark to the Ex command, as in

• r List swap files, with information about using them for

recovery.

• r {file}

Recovery mode. The swap file is used to recover a crashed editing session. The swap file is a file with the same filename as the text file with

• s Silent mode. Only when started as
• s {scriptin}

The script file {scriptin} is read. The characters in the file are interpreted as if you had typed them. The same can be done with the command

• T {terminal}

Tells Vim the name of the terminal you are using. Only required when the automatic way doesn't work. Should be a terminal known to Vim (builtin) or defined in the termcap or terminfo file.

• u {vimrc}

Use the commands in the file {vimrc} for initializations. All the other initializations are skipped. Use this to edit a special kind of files. It can also be used to skip all initializations by giving the name

• U {gvimrc}

Use the commands in the file {gvimrc} for GUI initializations. All the other GUI initializations are skipped. It can also be used to skip all GUI initializations by giving the name

• V Verbose. Give messages about which files are sourced and

for reading and writing a viminfo file.

• v Start Vim in Vi mode, just like the executable was

called __

• w {scriptout}

All the characters that you type are recorded in the file {scriptout}, until you exit Vim. This is useful if you want to create a script file to be used with __

• W {scriptout}

Like -w, but an existing file is overwritten.

• x Use encryption when writing files. Will prompt for a

crypt key.

• Z Restricted mode. Works like the executable starts with

-- Denotes the end of the options. Arguments after this will be handled as a file name. This can be used to edit a filename that starts with a '-'.

--help

Give a help message and exit, just like

--version

Print version information and exit.

--remote

Connect to a Vim server and make it edit the files given in the rest of the arguments.

--serverlist

List the names of all Vim servers that can be found.

--servername {name}

Use {name} as the server name. Used for the current Vim, unless used with a --serversend or --remote, then it's the name of the server to connect to.

--serversend {keys}

Connect to a Vim server and send {keys} to it.

--socketid {id}

GTK GUI only: Use the !GtkPlug? mechanism to run gvim in another window.

--echo-wid

GTK GUI only: Echo the Window ID on stdout

ON-LINE HELP

Type Vim to get started. Type

FILES

/usr/share/vim/vim61/doc/*.txt

The Vim documentation files. Use __

/usr/share/vim/vim61/doc/tags

The tags file used for finding information in the documentation files.

/usr/share/vim/vim61/syntax/syntax.vim

System wide syntax initializations.

/usr/share/vim/vim61/syntax/*.vim

Syntax files for various languages.

/usr/share/vim/vimrc

System wide Vim initializations.

/usr/share/vim/gvimrc

System wide gvim initializations.

/usr/share/vim/vim61/optwin.vim

Script used for the

/usr/share/vim/vim61/menu.vim

System wide menu initializations for gvim.

/usr/share/vim/vim61/bugreport.vim

Script to generate a bug report. See

/usr/share/vim/vim61/filetype.vim

Script to detect the type of a file by its name. See

/usr/share/vim/vim61/scripts.vim

Script to detect the type of a file by its contents. See

/usr/share/vim/vim61/*.ps

Files used for !PostScript printing.

For recent info read the VIM home page:

SEE ALSO

vimtutor(1)

AUTHOR

Most of Vim was made by Bram Moolenaar, with a lot of help from others. See Vim. Vim is based on Stevie, worked on by: Tim Thompson, Tony Andrews and G.R. (Fred) Walter. Although hardly any of the original code remains.

BUGS

Probably. See

Note that a number of things that may be regarded as bugs by some, are in fact caused by a too-faithful reproduction of Vi's behaviour. And if you think other things are bugs