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Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +01001*gui.txt* For Vim version 7.2. Last change: 2009 Jan 22
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00002
3
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
5
6
7Vim's Graphical User Interface *gui* *GUI*
8
91. Starting the GUI |gui-start|
102. Scrollbars |gui-scrollbars|
113. Mouse Control |gui-mouse|
124. Making GUI Selections |gui-selections|
135. Menus |menus|
146. Extras |gui-extras|
157. Shell Commands |gui-shell|
16
17Other GUI documentation:
18|gui_x11.txt| For specific items of the X11 GUI.
19|gui_w32.txt| For specific items of the Win32 GUI.
20
21{Vi does not have any of these commands}
22
23==============================================================================
241. Starting the GUI *gui-start* *E229* *E233*
25
26First you must make sure you actually have a version of Vim with the GUI code
Bram Moolenaar5e3cb7e2006-02-27 23:58:35 +000027included. You can check this with the ":version" command, it says "with xxx
28GUI", where "xxx" is X11-Motif, X11-Athena, Photon, GTK, GTK2, etc., or
29"MS-Windows 32 bit GUI version".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000030
31How to start the GUI depends on the system used. Mostly you can run the
32GUI version of Vim with:
33 gvim [options] [files...]
34
35The X11 version of Vim can run both in GUI and in non-GUI mode. See
36|gui-x11-start|.
37
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +010038 *gui-init* *gvimrc* *.gvimrc* *_gvimrc* *$MYGVIMRC*
Bram Moolenaar910f66f2006-04-05 20:41:53 +000039The gvimrc file is where GUI-specific startup commands should be placed. It
40is always sourced after the |vimrc| file. If you have one then the $MYGVIMRC
41environment variable has its name.
42
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000043When the GUI starts up initializations are carried out, in this order:
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +010044- The 'term' option is set to "builtin_gui" and terminal options are reset to
Bram Moolenaar1d2ba7f2006-02-14 22:29:30 +000045 their default value for the GUI |terminal-options|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000046- If the system menu file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
47 normally "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". You can check this with ":version". Also
48 see |$VIMRUNTIME|. To skip loading the system menu include 'M' in
49 'guioptions'. *buffers-menu* *no_buffers_menu*
50 The system menu file includes a "Buffers" menu. If you don't want this, set
51 the "no_buffers_menu" variable in your .vimrc (not .gvimrc!): >
52 :let no_buffers_menu = 1
53< NOTE: Switching on syntax highlighting also loads the menu file, thus
54 disabling the Buffers menu must be done before ":syntax on".
55 The path names are truncated to 35 characters. You can truncate them at a
56 different length, for example 50, like this: >
57 :let bmenu_max_pathlen = 50
58- If the "-U {gvimrc}" command-line option has been used when starting Vim,
59 the {gvimrc} file will be read for initializations. The following
Bram Moolenaar81695252004-12-29 20:58:21 +000060 initializations are skipped. When {gvimrc} is "NONE" no file will be read
61 for initializations.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000062- For Unix and MS-Windows, if the system gvimrc exists, it is sourced. The
63 name of this file is normally "$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.
Bram Moolenaar910f66f2006-04-05 20:41:53 +000073 The name of the first file found is stored in $MYGVIMRC, unless it was
74 already set.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000075- 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.
80
81NOTE: 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".
83
84All this happens AFTER the normal Vim initializations, like reading your
85.vimrc file. See |initialization|.
86But the GUI window is only opened after all the initializations have been
87carried out. If you want some commands to be executed just after opening the
88GUI window, use the |GUIEnter| autocommand event. Example: >
Bram Moolenaar648120b2005-08-08 21:57:35 +000089 :autocmd GUIEnter * winpos 100 50
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000090
91You can use the gvimrc files to set up your own customized menus (see |:menu|)
92and initialize other things that you may want to set up differently from the
93terminal version.
94
95Recommended place for your personal GUI initializations:
96 Unix $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
100
101There are a number of options which only have meaning in the GUI version of
102Vim. These are 'guicursor', 'guifont', 'guipty' and 'guioptions'. They are
103documented in |options.txt| with all the other options.
104
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000105If using the Motif or Athena version of the GUI (but not for the GTK+ or
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000106Win32 version), a number of X resources are available. See |gui-resources|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000107
108Another way to set the colors for different occasions is with highlight
109groups. The "Normal" group is used to set the background and foreground
110colors. Example (which looks nice): >
111
112 :highlight Normal guibg=grey90
113
114The "guibg" and "guifg" settings override the normal background and
115foreground settings. The other settings for the Normal highlight group are
116not used. Use the 'guifont' option to set the font.
117
118Also check out the 'guicursor' option, to set the colors for the cursor in
119various modes.
120
121Vim tries to make the window fit on the screen when it starts up. This avoids
122that you can't see part of it. On the X Window System this requires a bit of
123guesswork. You can change the height that is used for the window title and a
124task bar with the 'guiheadroom' option.
125
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.
130
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).
139
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.
146
147If you are running the X Window System, you can get information about the
148window Vim is running in with this command: >
149 :!xwininfo -id $WINDOWID
150
151==============================================================================
1522. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars*
153
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000154There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbar. You may
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000155configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option.
156
157The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"):
158
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)
179
180Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the
181appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is
182only useful when 'nowrap' is set.
183
184
185VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll*
186
187Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down
188to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb
189indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window.
190When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file
191will appear in the top of the window.
192
193If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000194scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000195
196If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the
197current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a
198vertical line, this line goes through the window.
199When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window
200is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for
201the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side.
202
203
204HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll*
205
206The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to
207scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The
208scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be
209scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when
210necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is
211set).
212
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000213Computing the length of the longest visible line takes quite a bit of
214computation, and it has to be done every time something changes. If this
215takes too much time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line,
216include the 'h' flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the
217text of the current cursor line.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000218
219 *athena-intellimouse*
220If you have an Intellimouse and an X server that supports using the wheel,
221then you can use the wheel to scroll the text up and down in gvim. This works
222with XFree86 4.0 and later, and with some older versions when you add patches.
223See |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
224
225For older versions of XFree86 you must patch your X server. The following
226page has a bit of information about using the Intellimouse on Linux as well as
227links to the patches and X server binaries (may not have the one you need
228though):
229 http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
230
231==============================================================================
2323. Mouse Control *gui-mouse*
233
234The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set.
235When the GUI is switched on, and 'mouse' wasn't set yet, the 'mouse' option is
236automatically 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.
239
240Other 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
245
246A 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
252
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"
259
260In the $VIMRUNTIME directory, there is a script called |mswin.vim|, which will
261also map a few keys to the MS-Windows cut/copy/paste commands. This is NOT
262compatible, since it uses the CTRL-V, CTRL-X and CTRL-C keys. If you don't
263mind, use this command: >
264 :so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim
265
266For scrolling with a wheel on a mouse, see |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
267
268
2693.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move*
270
271Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the
272cursor to go, and it does!
273This works in when 'mouse' contains ~
274Normal mode 'n' or 'a'
275Visual mode 'v' or 'a'
276Insert mode 'i' or 'a'
277
278Select mode is handled like Visual mode.
279
280You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current
281cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit
282'd' and then click the mouse somewhere.
283
284 *gui-mouse-focus*
285The 'mousefocus' option can be set to make the keyboard focus follow the
286mouse pointer. This means that the window where the mouse pointer is, is the
287active window. Warning: this doesn't work very well when using a menu,
288because the menu command will always be applied to the top window.
289
290If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right
291mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains
292'c', 'a' or 'A').
293
294In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current
295selection.
296
297
2983.2 Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select*
299
300The mouse can be used to start a selection. How depends on the 'mousemodel'
301option:
302'mousemodel' is "extend": use the right mouse button
303'mousemodel' is "popup": use the left mouse button, while keeping the Shift
304key pressed.
305
306If there was no selection yet, this starts a selection from the old cursor
307position to the position pointed to with the mouse. If there already is a
308selection then the closest end will be extended.
309
310If 'selectmode' contains "mouse", then the selection will be in Select mode.
311This means that typing normal text will replace the selection. See
312|Select-mode|. Otherwise, the selection will be in Visual mode.
313
314Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking
315makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise.
316
317See |gui-selections| on how the selection is used.
318
319
3203.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-modeless*
321 *modeless-selection*
322A 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
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000328
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000329Since Vim continues like the selection isn't there, and there is no mode
330associated with the selection, this is called modeless selection. Any text in
331the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse
332button at the start, drag to the end and release. To extend the selection,
333use the right mouse button when 'mousemodel' is "extend", or the left mouse
334button with the shift key pressed when 'mousemodel' is "popup".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000335The selection is removed when the selected text is scrolled or changed.
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000336
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000337On the command line CTRL-Y can be used to copy the selection into the
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000338clipboard. To do this from Insert mode, use CTRL-O : CTRL-Y <CR>. When
339'guioptions' contains a or A (default on X11), the selection is automatically
340copied to the "* register.
341
342The middle mouse button can then paste the text. On non-X11 systems, you can
343use CTRL-R +.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000344
345
3463.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status*
347
348Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim
349window makes that window the current window. This actually happens on button
350release (to be able to distinguish a click from a drag action).
351
352With the left mouse button a status line can be dragged up and down, thus
353resizing the windows above and below it. This does not change window focus.
354
355The same can be used on the vertical separator: click to give the window left
356of it focus, drag left and right to make windows wider and narrower.
357
358
3593.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various*
360
361 <S-LeftMouse> Search forward for the word under the mouse click.
362 When 'mousemodel' is "popup" this starts or extends a
363 selection.
364 <S-RightMouse> Search backward for the word under the mouse click.
365 <C-LeftMouse> Jump to the tag name under the mouse click.
366 <C-RightMouse> Jump back to position before the previous tag jump
367 (same as "CTRL-T")
368
369
3703.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping*
371
372The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: >
373 :map <S-LeftMouse> <RightMouse>
374 :map <S-LeftDrag> <RightDrag>
375 :map <S-LeftRelease> <RightRelease>
376 :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse>
377 :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag>
378 :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease>
379 :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse>
380 :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag>
381 :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease>
382 :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse>
383 :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag>
384 :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease>
385These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif
386application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area
387rather than the right mouse button.
388
389Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for modeless selection.
390
391
3923.7 Drag and drop *drag-n-drop*
393
394You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will
395be opened as if a |:drop| command was used.
396
397If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped
398file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the
399file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed.
400
401You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for
402that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error
403message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead.
404
405If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files
406and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these
407names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and
408'|'; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped.
409
410==============================================================================
4114. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections*
412
413 *quotestar*
414You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using
415Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then
416whenever a selection is started (Visual or Select mode), or when the selection
417is changed, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection
418(on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used; under X11, the |x11-selection| is
419used - you should read whichever of these is appropriate now).
420
421 *clipboard*
422There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "*
423register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000424selected is about to change (e.g. with a left mouse click somewhere), or when
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000425another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put
426in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current
427selection/put it on the clipboard: >
428
429 "*dd
430
431Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g.,
432by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register
433first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the
434selection (contents of the clipboard): >
435
436 "*p
437
438When using this register under X11, also see |x11-selection|. This also
439explains the related "+ register.
440
441Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type
442of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. For other
443applications the type is always character. However, if the text gets
444transferred via the |x11-cut-buffer|, the selection type is ALWAYS lost.
445
446When the "unnamed" string is included in the 'clipboard' option, the unnamed
447register is the same as the "* register. Thus you can yank to and paste the
448selection without prepending "* to commands.
449
450==============================================================================
4515. Menus *menus*
452
453For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual.
454
455
4565.1 Using Menus *using-menus*
457
458Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own
459menus, as many as you like.
460Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own
461menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember
462what the key sequence was.
463
464For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|.
465
466 *menu.vim*
467The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See
468|$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus.
469Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or,
470if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus
471|:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding
472this line to your .vimrc file (NOT your .gvimrc file!): >
473 :let did_install_default_menus = 1
474If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: >
475 :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100476The first item in the Syntax menu can be used to show all available filetypes
477in the menu (which can take a bit of time to load). If you want to have all
478filetypes already present at startup, add: >
479 :let do_syntax_sel_menu = 1
480
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000481<
482 *console-menus*
483Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus
484in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is
485not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line
486completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu
487system. To do this, put these commands in your .vimrc file: >
488 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
489 :set wildmenu
490 :set cpo-=<
491 :set wcm=<C-Z>
492 :map <F4> :emenu <C-Z>
493Pressing <F4> will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select
494a menu entry. Hit <Enter> to execute it. Hit <Esc> if you want to cancel.
495This does require the |+menu| feature enabled at compile time.
496
497 *tear-off-menus*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000498GTK+ and Motif support Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000499pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work
500correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in the
501defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead.
502
503The Win32 GUI version emulates Motif's tear-off menus. Actually, a Motif user
504will spot the differences easily, but hopefully they're just as useful. You
505can also use the |:tearoff| command together with |hidden-menus| to create
506floating menus that do not appear on the main menu bar.
507
508
5095.2 Creating New Menus *creating-menus*
510
511 *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu*
512 *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu*
513 *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu*
514 *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu*
515 *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000516 *:xme* *:xmenu* *:xnoreme* *:xnoremenu*
517 *:sme* *:smenu* *:snoreme* *:snoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000518 *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu*
519 *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu*
520 *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333*
Bram Moolenaard5ab34b2007-05-05 17:15:44 +0000521 *E328* *E329* *E337* *E792*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000522To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like
523the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000524as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them, e.g.: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000525
526 :menu File.Save :w<CR>
527 :inoremenu File.Save <C-O>:w<CR>
528 :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g<CR>
529
530This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding
531the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item
532"Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces",
533which when selected, performs the operation.
534
535Special characters in a menu name:
536
537 & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each
538 shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to
539 insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&".
540 <Tab> Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be
541 used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "<Tab>"
542 can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real
Bram Moolenaarb5ba0022007-05-12 13:06:29 +0000543 tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it!
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000544Example: >
545
546 :amenu &File.&Open<Tab>:e :browse e<CR>
547
548[typed literally]
549With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the <Alt> key pressed), and then "O",
550this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e"
551is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut.
552
553The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once.
554To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for
555some modes:
556 mode inserted appended ~
557 Normal nothing nothing
558 Visual <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
559 Insert <C-O>
560 Cmdline <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
561 Op-pending <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
562
563Appending CTRL-\ CTRL-G is for going back to insert mode when 'insertmode' is
564set. |CTRL-\_CTRL-G|
565
566Example: >
567
568 :amenu File.Next :next^M
569
570is equal to: >
571
572 :nmenu File.Next :next^M
573 :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
574 :imenu File.Next ^O:next^M
575 :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
576 :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
577
578Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command,
579because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use
580the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the
581expression register: >
582
583 :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'<CR>P
584
585Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when
586included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized).
587
588Note that <Esc> in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This
589is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode.
590
591 *:menu-<silent>* *:menu-silent*
592To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add
593"<silent>" as the first argument. Example: >
594 :menu <silent> Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic<CR>
595The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the
596executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent"
597in the executed command: >
598 :menu <silent> Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r"<CR>
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000599"<silent>" may also appear just after "<special>" or "<script>".
600
601 *:menu-<special>* *:menu-special*
602Define a menu with <> notation for special keys, even though the "<" flag
603may appear in 'cpoptions'. This is useful if the side effect of setting
604'cpoptions' is not desired. Example: >
605 :menu <special> Search.Header /Header<CR>
606"<special>" must appear as the very first argument to the ":menu" command or
607just after "<silent>" or "<script>".
608
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000609 *:menu-<script>* *:menu-script*
610The "to" part of the menu will be inspected for mappings. If you don't want
611this, use the ":noremenu" command (or the similar one for a specific mode).
612If you do want to use script-local mappings, add "<script>" as the very first
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000613argument to the ":menu" command or just after "<silent>" or "<special>".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000614
615 *menu-priority*
616You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to
617the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command.
618Example: >
619 :80menu Buffer.next :bn<CR>
620
621The default menus have these priorities:
622 File 10
623 Edit 20
624 Tools 40
625 Syntax 50
626 Buffers 60
627 Window 70
628 Help 9999
629
630When no or zero priority is given, 500 is used.
631The priority for the PopUp menu is not used.
632
633The Help menu will be placed on the far right side of the menu bar on systems
634which support this (Motif and GTK+). For GTK+ 2, this is not done anymore
635because right-aligning the Help menu is now discouraged UI design.
636
637You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu,
638but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is
639about 32000. The lowest is 1.
640
641 *sub-menu-priority*
642The same mechanism can be used to position a sub-menu. The priority is then
643given as a dot-separated list of priorities, before the menu name: >
644 :menu 80.500 Buffer.next :bn<CR>
645Giving the sub-menu priority is only needed when the item is not to be put
646in a normal position. For example, to put a sub-menu before the other items: >
647 :menu 80.100 Buffer.first :brew<CR>
648Or to put a sub-menu after the other items, and further items with default
649priority will be put before it: >
650 :menu 80.900 Buffer.last :blast<CR>
651When a number is missing, the default value 500 will be used: >
652 :menu .900 myMenu.test :echo "text"<CR>
653The menu priority is only used when creating a new menu. When it already
654existed, e.g., in another mode, the priority will not change. Thus, the
655priority only needs to be given the first time a menu is used.
656An exception is the PopUp menu. There is a separate menu for each mode
657(Normal, Op-pending, Visual, Insert, Cmdline). The order in each of these
658menus can be different. This is different from menu-bar menus, which have
659the same order for all modes.
660NOTE: sub-menu priorities currently don't work for all versions of the GUI.
661
662 *menu-separator* *E332*
663Menu items can be separated by a special item that inserts some space between
664items. Depending on the system this is displayed as a line or a dotted line.
665These items must start with a '-' and end in a '-'. The part in between is
666used to give it a unique name. Priorities can be used as with normal items.
667Example: >
668 :menu Example.item1 :do something
669 :menu Example.-Sep- :
670 :menu Example.item2 :do something different
671Note that the separator also requires a rhs. It doesn't matter what it is,
672because the item will never be selected. Use a single colon to keep it
673simple.
674
675 *gui-toolbar*
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000676The toolbar is currently available in the Win32, Athena, Motif, GTK+ (X11),
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000677and Photon GUI. It should turn up in other GUIs in due course. The
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000678default toolbar is setup in menu.vim.
679The display of the toolbar is controlled by the 'guioptions' letter 'T'. You
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000680can thus have menu & toolbar together, or either on its own, or neither.
681The appearance is controlled by the 'toolbar' option. You can chose between
682an image, text or both.
683
684 *toolbar-icon*
685The toolbar is defined as a special menu called ToolBar, which only has one
686level. Vim interprets the items in this menu as follows:
6871) If an "icon=" argument was specified, the file with this name is used.
688 The file can either be specified with the full path or with the base name.
689 In the last case it is searched for in the "bitmaps" directory in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000690 'runtimepath', like in point 3. Examples: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000691 :amenu icon=/usr/local/pixmaps/foo_icon.xpm ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
692 :amenu icon=FooIcon ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
693< Note that in the first case the extension is included, while in the second
694 case it is omitted.
695 If the file cannot be opened the next points are tried.
696 A space in the file name must be escaped with a backslash.
697 A menu priority must come _after_ the icon argument: >
698 :amenu icon=foo 1.42 ToolBar.Foo :echo "42!"<CR>
6992) An item called 'BuiltIn##', where ## is a number, is taken as number ## of
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000700 the built-in bitmaps available in Vim. Currently there are 31 numbered
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000701 from 0 to 30 which cover most common editing operations |builtin-tools|. >
702 :amenu ToolBar.BuiltIn22 :call SearchNext("back")<CR>
7033) An item with another name is first searched for in the directory
704 "bitmaps" in 'runtimepath'. If found, the bitmap file is used as the
705 toolbar button image. Note that the exact filename is OS-specific: For
706 example, under Win32 the command >
707 :amenu ToolBar.Hello :echo "hello"<CR>
708< would find the file 'hello.bmp'. Under GTK+/X11 it is 'Hello.xpm'. With
709 GTK+ 2 the files 'Hello.png', 'Hello.xpm' and 'Hello.bmp' are checked for
710 existence, and the first one found would be used.
711 For MS-Windows and GTK+ 2 the bitmap is scaled to fit the button. For
712 MS-Windows a size of 18 by 18 pixels works best.
713 For MS-Windows the bitmap should have 16 colors with the standard palette.
714 The light grey pixels will be changed to the Window frame color and the
715 dark grey pixels to the window shadow color. More colors might also work,
716 depending on your system.
7174) If the bitmap is still not found, Vim checks for a match against its list
718 of built-in names. Each built-in button image has a name.
719 So the command >
720 :amenu ToolBar.Open :e
721< will show the built-in "open a file" button image if no open.bmp exists.
722 All the built-in names can be seen used in menu.vim.
7235) If all else fails, a blank, but functioning, button is displayed.
724
725 *builtin-tools*
726nr Name Normal action ~
72700 New open new window
72801 Open browse for file to open in current window
72902 Save write buffer to file
73003 Undo undo last change
73104 Redo redo last undone change
73205 Cut delete selected text to clipboard
73306 Copy copy selected text to clipboard
73407 Paste paste text from clipboard
73508 Print print current buffer
73609 Help open a buffer on Vim's builtin help
73710 Find start a search command
73811 SaveAll write all modified buffers to file
73912 SaveSesn write session file for current situation
74013 NewSesn write new session file
74114 LoadSesn load session file
74215 RunScript browse for file to run as a Vim script
74316 Replace prompt for substitute command
74417 WinClose close current window
74518 WinMax make current window use many lines
74619 WinMin make current window use few lines
74720 WinSplit split current window
74821 Shell start a shell
74922 FindPrev search again, backward
75023 FindNext search again, forward
75124 FindHelp prompt for word to search help for
75225 Make run make and jump to first error
75326 TagJump jump to tag under the cursor
75427 RunCtags build tags for files in current directory
75528 WinVSplit split current window vertically
75629 WinMaxWidth make current window use many columns
75730 WinMinWidth make current window use few columns
758
759 *hidden-menus* *win32-hidden-menus*
760In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, starting a menu name with ']' excludes that menu
761from the main menu bar. You must then use the |:popup| or |:tearoff| command
762to display it.
763
764 *popup-menu*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000765In the Win32, GTK+, Motif, Athena and Photon GUI, you can define the
Bram Moolenaara3ffd9c2005-07-21 21:03:15 +0000766special menu "PopUp". This is the menu that is displayed when the right mouse
767button is pressed, if 'mousemodel' is set to popup or popup_setpos.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000768
769
7705.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *showing-menus*
771
772To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the
773menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu
774specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown.
775If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000776for the appropriate mode (e.g., Command-line mode for :cmenu).
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000777
778Special characters in the list, just before the rhs:
779* The menu was defined with "nore" to disallow remapping.
780& The menu was defined with "<script>" to allow remapping script-local
781 mappings only.
782- The menu was disabled.
783
784Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after a menu command may
785be used to complete the name of the menu item.
786
787
7885.4 Executing Menus *execute-menus*
789
790 *:em* *:emenu* *E334* *E335*
791:[range]em[enu] {menu} Execute {menu} from the command line.
792 The default is to execute the Normal mode
793 menu. If a range is specified, it executes
794 the Visual mode menu.
795 If used from <c-o>, it executes the
796 insert-mode menu Eg: >
797 :emenu File.Exit
798
799If the console-mode vim has been compiled with WANT_MENU defined, you can
800use :emenu to access useful menu items you may have got used to from GUI
801mode. See 'wildmenu' for an option that works well with this. See
802|console-menus| for an example.
803
804When using a range, if the lines match with '<,'>, then the menu is executed
805using the last visual selection.
806
807
8085.5 Deleting Menus *delete-menus*
809
810 *:unme* *:unmenu*
811 *:aun* *:aunmenu*
812 *:nunme* *:nunmenu*
813 *:ounme* *:ounmenu*
814 *:vunme* *:vunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000815 *:xunme* *:xunmenu*
816 *:sunme* *:sunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000817 *:iunme* *:iunmenu*
818 *:cunme* *:cunmenu*
819To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are
820analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: >
821 :unmenu! Edit.Paste
822
823This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and
824Command-line modes.
825
826Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after an umenu command
827may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode.
828
829To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* >
830 :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode
831 :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode
832 :aunmenu * " remove all menus in all modes
833
834If you want to get rid of the menu bar: >
835 :set guioptions-=m
836
837
8385.6 Disabling Menus *disable-menus*
839
840 *:menu-disable* *:menu-enable*
841If you do not want to remove a menu, but disable it for a moment, this can be
842done by adding the "enable" or "disable" keyword to a ":menu" command.
843Examples: >
844 :menu disable &File.&Open\.\.\.
845 :amenu enable *
846 :amenu disable &Tools.*
847
848The command applies to the modes as used with all menu commands. Note that
849characters like "&" need to be included for translated names to be found.
850When the argument is "*", all menus are affected. Otherwise the given menu
851name and all existing submenus below it are affected.
852
853
8545.7 Examples for Menus *menu-examples*
855
856Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu
857item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. >
858
859 :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>
860 :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
861 :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z <CR>
862 :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
863 :imenu Words.Add\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>a
864 :imenu Words.Remove\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>a
865
866(the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the
867mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "<C-R>" is CTRL-R, "<CR>" is
868the <CR> key. |<>|)
869
870
8715.8 Tooltips & Menu tips
872
873See section |42.4| in the user manual.
874
875 *:tmenu* *:tm*
876:tm[enu] {menupath} {rhs} Define a tip for a menu or tool. {only in
877 X11 and Win32 GUI}
878
879:tm[enu] [menupath] List menu tips. {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
880
881 *:tunmenu* *:tu*
882:tu[nmenu] {menupath} Remove a tip for a menu or tool.
883 {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
884
885When a tip is defined for a menu item, it appears in the command-line area
886when the mouse is over that item, much like a standard Windows menu hint in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000887the status bar. (Except when Vim is in Command-line mode, when of course
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000888nothing is displayed.)
889When a tip is defined for a ToolBar item, it appears as a tooltip when the
890mouse pauses over that button, in the usual fashion. Use the |hl-Tooltip|
891highlight group to change its colors.
892
893A "tip" can be defined for each menu item. For example, when defining a menu
894item like this: >
895 :amenu MyMenu.Hello :echo "Hello"<CR>
896The tip is defined like this: >
897 :tmenu MyMenu.Hello Displays a greeting.
898And delete it with: >
899 :tunmenu MyMenu.Hello
900
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000901Tooltips are currently only supported for the X11 and Win32 GUI. However, they
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000902should appear for the other gui platforms in the not too distant future.
903
904The ":tmenu" command works just like other menu commands, it uses the same
905arguments. ":tunmenu" deletes an existing menu tip, in the same way as the
906other unmenu commands.
907
908If a menu item becomes invalid (i.e. its actions in all modes are deleted) Vim
909deletes the menu tip (and the item) for you. This means that :aunmenu deletes
910a menu item - you don't need to do a :tunmenu as well.
911
912
9135.9 Popup Menus
914
915In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, you can cause a menu to popup at the cursor.
916This behaves similarly to the PopUp menus except that any menu tree can
917be popped up.
918
919This command is for backwards compatibility, using it is discouraged, because
920it behaves in a strange way.
921
922 *:popup* *:popu*
923:popu[p] {name} Popup the menu {name}. The menu named must
924 have at least one subentry, but need not
925 appear on the menu-bar (see |hidden-menus|).
926 {only available for Win32 and GTK GUI}
927
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000928:popu[p]! {name} Like above, but use the position of the mouse
929 pointer instead of the cursor.
930
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000931Example: >
932 :popup File
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000933will make the "File" menu (if there is one) appear at the text cursor (mouse
934pointer if ! was used). >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000935
936 :amenu ]Toolbar.Make :make<CR>
937 :popup ]Toolbar
938This creates a popup menu that doesn't exist on the main menu-bar.
939
940Note that a menu that starts with ']' will not be displayed.
941
942==============================================================================
9436. Extras *gui-extras*
944
945This section describes other features which are related to the GUI.
946
947- With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because
948 the key codes don't start with <Esc>.
949
950- Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "<Key>", since
951 the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to
952 get "<Modifiers-Key>".
953
954- In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000955 mappings of special keys and mouse events. E.g.: :map <M-LeftDrag> <LeftDrag>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000956
957- In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these
958 are <Space>, <Tab>, <NL>, <CR>, <Esc>.
959
960- To check in a Vim script if the GUI is being used, you can use something
961 like this: >
962
963 if has("gui_running")
964 echo "yes, we have a GUI"
965 else
966 echo "Boring old console"
967 endif
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000968< *setting-guifont*
969- When you use the same vimrc file on various systems, you can use something
970 like this to set options specifically for each type of GUI: >
971
972 if has("gui_running")
973 if has("gui_gtk2")
974 :set guifont=Luxi\ Mono\ 12
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000975 elseif has("x11")
976 " Also for GTK 1
977 :set guifont=*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-*-180-*-*-m-*-*
978 elseif has("gui_win32")
979 :set guifont=Luxi_Mono:h12:cANSI
980 endif
981 endif
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000982
Bram Moolenaar030f0df2006-02-21 22:02:53 +0000983A recommended Japanese font is MS Mincho. You can find info here:
984http://www.lexikan.com/mincho.htm
985
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000986==============================================================================
9877. Shell Commands *gui-shell*
988
989For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window.
990See |gui-pty|.
991
992WARNING: Executing an external command from the X11 GUI will not always
993work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine.
994Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't
995work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be
996careful!
997
998For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window.
999See |gui-shell-win32|.
1000
1001 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: