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Bram Moolenaardae8d212016-02-27 22:40:16 +01001*help.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2016 Feb 27
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00002
3 VIM - main help file
4 k
5 Move around: Use the cursor keys, or "h" to go left, h l
6 "j" to go down, "k" to go up, "l" to go right. j
7Close this window: Use ":q<Enter>".
8 Get out of Vim: Use ":qa!<Enter>" (careful, all changes are lost!).
9
Bram Moolenaar14716812006-05-04 21:54:08 +000010Jump to a subject: Position the cursor on a tag (e.g. |bars|) and hit CTRL-].
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000011 With the mouse: ":set mouse=a" to enable the mouse (in xterm or GUI).
Bram Moolenaar14716812006-05-04 21:54:08 +000012 Double-click the left mouse button on a tag, e.g. |bars|.
Bram Moolenaar345efa02016-01-15 20:57:49 +010013 Jump back: Type CTRL-T or CTRL-O. Repeat to go further back.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000014
15Get specific help: It is possible to go directly to whatever you want help
Bram Moolenaar1423b9d2006-05-07 15:16:06 +000016 on, by giving an argument to the |:help| command.
Bram Moolenaar345efa02016-01-15 20:57:49 +010017 Prepend something to specify the context: *help-context*
18
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000019 WHAT PREPEND EXAMPLE ~
Bram Moolenaar345efa02016-01-15 20:57:49 +010020 Normal mode command :help x
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +000021 Visual mode command v_ :help v_u
22 Insert mode command i_ :help i_<Esc>
23 Command-line command : :help :quit
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000024 Command-line editing c_ :help c_<Del>
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +000025 Vim command argument - :help -r
26 Option ' :help 'textwidth'
Bram Moolenaar5a5f4592015-04-13 12:43:06 +020027 Regular expression / :help /[
Bram Moolenaar345efa02016-01-15 20:57:49 +010028 See |help-summary| for more contexts and an explanation.
Bram Moolenaaracb4f222016-01-10 15:59:26 +010029
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000030 Search for help: Type ":help word", then hit CTRL-D to see matching
31 help entries for "word".
Bram Moolenaar91604412010-06-03 20:25:18 +020032 Or use ":helpgrep word". |:helpgrep|
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000033
34VIM stands for Vi IMproved. Most of VIM was made by Bram Moolenaar, but only
35through the help of many others. See |credits|.
36------------------------------------------------------------------------------
37 *doc-file-list* *Q_ct*
38BASIC:
39|quickref| Overview of the most common commands you will use
40|tutor| 30 minutes training course for beginners
41|copying| About copyrights
42|iccf| Helping poor children in Uganda
43|sponsor| Sponsor Vim development, become a registered Vim user
44|www| Vim on the World Wide Web
45|bugs| Where to send bug reports
46
47USER MANUAL: These files explain how to accomplish an editing task.
48
49|usr_toc.txt| Table Of Contents
50
51Getting Started ~
52|usr_01.txt| About the manuals
53|usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim
54|usr_03.txt| Moving around
55|usr_04.txt| Making small changes
56|usr_05.txt| Set your settings
57|usr_06.txt| Using syntax highlighting
58|usr_07.txt| Editing more than one file
59|usr_08.txt| Splitting windows
60|usr_09.txt| Using the GUI
61|usr_10.txt| Making big changes
62|usr_11.txt| Recovering from a crash
63|usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
64
65Editing Effectively ~
66|usr_20.txt| Typing command-line commands quickly
67|usr_21.txt| Go away and come back
68|usr_22.txt| Finding the file to edit
69|usr_23.txt| Editing other files
70|usr_24.txt| Inserting quickly
71|usr_25.txt| Editing formatted text
72|usr_26.txt| Repeating
73|usr_27.txt| Search commands and patterns
74|usr_28.txt| Folding
75|usr_29.txt| Moving through programs
76|usr_30.txt| Editing programs
77|usr_31.txt| Exploiting the GUI
Bram Moolenaarc01140a2006-03-24 22:21:52 +000078|usr_32.txt| The undo tree
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000079
80Tuning Vim ~
81|usr_40.txt| Make new commands
82|usr_41.txt| Write a Vim script
83|usr_42.txt| Add new menus
84|usr_43.txt| Using filetypes
85|usr_44.txt| Your own syntax highlighted
86|usr_45.txt| Select your language
87
88Making Vim Run ~
89|usr_90.txt| Installing Vim
90
91
Bram Moolenaar910f66f2006-04-05 20:41:53 +000092REFERENCE MANUAL: These files explain every detail of Vim. *reference_toc*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000093
94General subjects ~
95|intro.txt| general introduction to Vim; notation used in help files
96|help.txt| overview and quick reference (this file)
Bram Moolenaar91604412010-06-03 20:25:18 +020097|helphelp.txt| about using the help files
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000098|index.txt| alphabetical index of all commands
99|help-tags| all the tags you can jump to (index of tags)
100|howto.txt| how to do the most common editing tasks
101|tips.txt| various tips on using Vim
102|message.txt| (error) messages and explanations
103|quotes.txt| remarks from users of Vim
104|todo.txt| known problems and desired extensions
105|develop.txt| development of Vim
Bram Moolenaare344bea2005-09-01 20:46:49 +0000106|debug.txt| debugging Vim itself
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000107|uganda.txt| Vim distribution conditions and what to do with your money
108
109Basic editing ~
110|starting.txt| starting Vim, Vim command arguments, initialisation
111|editing.txt| editing and writing files
112|motion.txt| commands for moving around
113|scroll.txt| scrolling the text in the window
114|insert.txt| Insert and Replace mode
115|change.txt| deleting and replacing text
116|indent.txt| automatic indenting for C and other languages
117|undo.txt| Undo and Redo
118|repeat.txt| repeating commands, Vim scripts and debugging
119|visual.txt| using the Visual mode (selecting a text area)
120|various.txt| various remaining commands
121|recover.txt| recovering from a crash
122
123Advanced editing ~
124|cmdline.txt| Command-line editing
125|options.txt| description of all options
126|pattern.txt| regexp patterns and search commands
127|map.txt| key mapping and abbreviations
128|tagsrch.txt| tags and special searches
129|quickfix.txt| commands for a quick edit-compile-fix cycle
130|windows.txt| commands for using multiple windows and buffers
Bram Moolenaar7e8fd632006-02-18 22:14:51 +0000131|tabpage.txt| commands for using multiple tab pages
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000132|syntax.txt| syntax highlighting
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000133|spell.txt| spell checking
Bram Moolenaare37d50a2008-08-06 17:06:04 +0000134|diff.txt| working with two to four versions of the same file
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000135|autocmd.txt| automatically executing commands on an event
136|filetype.txt| settings done specifically for a type of file
137|eval.txt| expression evaluation, conditional commands
138|fold.txt| hide (fold) ranges of lines
139
140Special issues ~
Bram Moolenaar8299df92004-07-10 09:47:34 +0000141|print.txt| printing
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000142|remote.txt| using Vim as a server or client
143|term.txt| using different terminals and mice
144|digraph.txt| list of available digraphs
145|mbyte.txt| multi-byte text support
146|mlang.txt| non-English language support
147|arabic.txt| Arabic language support and editing
148|farsi.txt| Farsi (Persian) editing
149|hebrew.txt| Hebrew language support and editing
150|russian.txt| Russian language support and editing
Bram Moolenaar446cb832008-06-24 21:56:24 +0000151|ft_ada.txt| Ada (the programming language) support
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100152|ft_sql.txt| about the SQL filetype plugin
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000153|hangulin.txt| Hangul (Korean) input mode
154|rileft.txt| right-to-left editing mode
155
156GUI ~
157|gui.txt| Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000158|gui_w32.txt| Win32 GUI
159|gui_x11.txt| X11 GUI
160
161Interfaces ~
Bram Moolenaar325b7a22004-07-05 15:58:32 +0000162|if_cscop.txt| using Cscope with Vim
Bram Moolenaar0ba04292010-07-14 23:23:17 +0200163|if_lua.txt| Lua interface
Bram Moolenaar325b7a22004-07-05 15:58:32 +0000164|if_mzsch.txt| MzScheme interface
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000165|if_perl.txt| Perl interface
166|if_pyth.txt| Python interface
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000167|if_tcl.txt| Tcl interface
168|if_ole.txt| OLE automation interface for Win32
169|if_ruby.txt| Ruby interface
170|debugger.txt| Interface with a debugger
171|workshop.txt| Sun Visual Workshop interface
172|netbeans.txt| NetBeans External Editor interface
173|sign.txt| debugging signs
174
175Versions ~
176|vi_diff.txt| Main differences between Vim and Vi
177|version4.txt| Differences between Vim version 3.0 and 4.x
178|version5.txt| Differences between Vim version 4.6 and 5.x
179|version6.txt| Differences between Vim version 5.7 and 6.x
Bram Moolenaarc6fe9192006-04-09 21:54:49 +0000180|version7.txt| Differences between Vim version 6.4 and 7.x
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000181 *sys-file-list*
182Remarks about specific systems ~
183|os_390.txt| OS/390 Unix
184|os_amiga.txt| Amiga
185|os_beos.txt| BeOS and BeBox
186|os_dos.txt| MS-DOS and MS-Windows NT/95 common items
187|os_mac.txt| Macintosh
188|os_mint.txt| Atari MiNT
189|os_msdos.txt| MS-DOS (plain DOS and DOS box under Windows)
190|os_os2.txt| OS/2
191|os_qnx.txt| QNX
192|os_risc.txt| RISC-OS
193|os_unix.txt| Unix
194|os_vms.txt| VMS
195|os_win32.txt| MS-Windows 95/98/NT
196 *standard-plugin-list*
197Standard plugins ~
Bram Moolenaar9964e462007-05-05 17:54:07 +0000198|pi_getscript.txt| Downloading latest version of Vim scripts
Bram Moolenaara3e6bc92013-01-30 14:18:00 +0100199|pi_gzip.txt| Reading and writing compressed files
Bram Moolenaar979243b2015-06-26 19:35:49 +0200200|pi_logipat.txt| Logical operators on patterns
Bram Moolenaara3e6bc92013-01-30 14:18:00 +0100201|pi_netrw.txt| Reading and writing files over a network
202|pi_paren.txt| Highlight matching parens
203|pi_tar.txt| Tar file explorer
Bram Moolenaar9964e462007-05-05 17:54:07 +0000204|pi_vimball.txt| Create a self-installing Vim script
Bram Moolenaara3e6bc92013-01-30 14:18:00 +0100205|pi_zip.txt| Zip archive explorer
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000206
207LOCAL ADDITIONS: *local-additions*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000208
209------------------------------------------------------------------------------
210*bars* Bars example
211
212Now that you've jumped here with CTRL-] or a double mouse click, you can use
213CTRL-T, CTRL-O, g<RightMouse>, or <C-RightMouse> to go back to where you were.
Bram Moolenaar14716812006-05-04 21:54:08 +0000214
215Note that tags are within | characters, but when highlighting is enabled these
Bram Moolenaar91604412010-06-03 20:25:18 +0200216characters are hidden. That makes it easier to read a command.
Bram Moolenaar14716812006-05-04 21:54:08 +0000217
218Anyway, you can use CTRL-] on any word, also when it is not within |, and Vim
Bram Moolenaar91604412010-06-03 20:25:18 +0200219will try to find help for it. Especially for options in single quotes, e.g.
220'compatible'.
Bram Moolenaar14716812006-05-04 21:54:08 +0000221
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000222------------------------------------------------------------------------------
223 vim:tw=78:fo=tcq2:isk=!-~,^*,^\|,^\":ts=8:ft=help:norl: