blob: 1ae54951cdf7c1c3af20bf8d94992920b63e8171 [file] [log] [blame]
Bram Moolenaar3b1db362013-08-10 15:00:24 +02001*gui.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2013 Jun 12
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:
Bram Moolenaar22971aa2013-06-12 20:35:58 +020096 Unix $HOME/.gvimrc or $HOME/.vim/gvimrc
97 OS/2 $HOME/.gvimrc, $HOME/vimfiles/gvimrc
98 or $VIM/.gvimrc
99 MS-DOS and Win32 $HOME/_gvimrc, $HOME/vimfiles/gvimrc
100 or $VIM/_gvimrc
101 Amiga s:.gvimrc, home:.gvimrc, home:vimfiles:gvimrc
102 or $VIM/.gvimrc
103
104The personal initialization files are searched in the order specified above
105and only the first one that is found is read.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000106
107There are a number of options which only have meaning in the GUI version of
108Vim. These are 'guicursor', 'guifont', 'guipty' and 'guioptions'. They are
109documented in |options.txt| with all the other options.
110
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000111If using the Motif or Athena version of the GUI (but not for the GTK+ or
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000112Win32 version), a number of X resources are available. See |gui-resources|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000113
114Another way to set the colors for different occasions is with highlight
115groups. The "Normal" group is used to set the background and foreground
116colors. Example (which looks nice): >
117
118 :highlight Normal guibg=grey90
119
120The "guibg" and "guifg" settings override the normal background and
121foreground settings. The other settings for the Normal highlight group are
122not used. Use the 'guifont' option to set the font.
123
124Also check out the 'guicursor' option, to set the colors for the cursor in
125various modes.
126
127Vim tries to make the window fit on the screen when it starts up. This avoids
128that you can't see part of it. On the X Window System this requires a bit of
129guesswork. You can change the height that is used for the window title and a
130task bar with the 'guiheadroom' option.
131
132 *:winp* *:winpos* *E188*
133:winp[os]
134 Display current position of the top left corner of the GUI vim
135 window in pixels. Does not work in all versions.
136
137:winp[os] {X} {Y} *E466*
138 Put the GUI vim window at the given {X} and {Y} coordinates.
139 The coordinates should specify the position in pixels of the
140 top left corner of the window. Does not work in all versions.
141 Does work in an (new) xterm |xterm-color|.
142 When the GUI window has not been opened yet, the values are
143 remembered until the window is opened. The position is
144 adjusted to make the window fit on the screen (if possible).
145
146 *:win* *:winsize* *E465*
147:win[size] {width} {height}
148 Set the window height to {width} by {height} characters.
149 Obsolete, use ":set lines=11 columns=22".
150 If you get less lines than expected, check the 'guiheadroom'
151 option.
152
153If you are running the X Window System, you can get information about the
154window Vim is running in with this command: >
155 :!xwininfo -id $WINDOWID
Bram Moolenaar5302d9e2011-09-14 17:55:08 +0200156<
157 *gui-IME* *iBus*
158Input methods for international characters in X that rely on the XIM
159framework, most notably iBus, have been known to produce undesirable results
160in gVim. These may include an inability to enter spaces, or long delays
161between typing a character and it being recognized by the application.
162
163One workaround that has been successful, for unknown reasons, is to prevent
164gvim from forking into the background by starting it with the |-f| argument.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000165
166==============================================================================
1672. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars*
168
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000169There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbar. You may
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000170configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option.
171
172The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"):
173
Bram Moolenaar166af9b2010-11-16 20:34:40 +0100174 +------------------------------+ `
175 | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m) `
176 +-+--------------------------+-+ `
177 |^| |^| `
178 |#| Text area. |#| `
179 | | | | `
180 |v|__________________________|v| `
181 Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-| `
182 between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^| `
183 | | | | `
184 | | Another file buffer. | | `
185 | | | | `
186 |#| |#| `
187 Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right `
188 |#| |#| scrollbar (r) `
189 | | | | `
190 |v| |v| `
191 +-+--------------------------+-+ `
192 | |< #### >| | <- Bottom `
193 +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b) `
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000194
195Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the
196appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is
197only useful when 'nowrap' is set.
198
199
200VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll*
201
202Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down
203to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb
204indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window.
205When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file
206will appear in the top of the window.
207
208If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000209scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000210
211If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the
212current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a
213vertical line, this line goes through the window.
214When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window
215is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for
216the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side.
217
218
219HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll*
220
221The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to
222scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The
223scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be
224scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when
225necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is
226set).
227
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000228Computing the length of the longest visible line takes quite a bit of
229computation, and it has to be done every time something changes. If this
230takes too much time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line,
231include the 'h' flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the
232text of the current cursor line.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000233
234 *athena-intellimouse*
235If you have an Intellimouse and an X server that supports using the wheel,
236then you can use the wheel to scroll the text up and down in gvim. This works
237with XFree86 4.0 and later, and with some older versions when you add patches.
238See |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
239
240For older versions of XFree86 you must patch your X server. The following
241page has a bit of information about using the Intellimouse on Linux as well as
242links to the patches and X server binaries (may not have the one you need
243though):
244 http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
245
246==============================================================================
2473. Mouse Control *gui-mouse*
248
249The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set.
250When the GUI is switched on, and 'mouse' wasn't set yet, the 'mouse' option is
251automatically set to "a", enabling it for all modes except for the
252|hit-enter| prompt. If you don't want this, a good place to change the
253'mouse' option is the "gvimrc" file.
254
255Other options that are relevant:
256'mousefocus' window focus follows mouse pointer |gui-mouse-focus|
257'mousemodel' what mouse button does which action
258'mousehide' hide mouse pointer while typing text
259'selectmode' whether to start Select mode or Visual mode
260
261A quick way to set these is with the ":behave" command.
262 *:behave* *:be*
263:be[have] {model} Set behavior for mouse and selection. Valid
264 arguments are:
265 mswin MS-Windows behavior
266 xterm Xterm behavior
267
268 Using ":behave" changes these options:
269 option mswin xterm ~
270 'selectmode' "mouse,key" ""
271 'mousemodel' "popup" "extend"
272 'keymodel' "startsel,stopsel" ""
273 'selection' "exclusive" "inclusive"
274
275In the $VIMRUNTIME directory, there is a script called |mswin.vim|, which will
276also map a few keys to the MS-Windows cut/copy/paste commands. This is NOT
277compatible, since it uses the CTRL-V, CTRL-X and CTRL-C keys. If you don't
278mind, use this command: >
279 :so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim
280
281For scrolling with a wheel on a mouse, see |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
282
283
2843.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move*
285
286Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the
287cursor to go, and it does!
288This works in when 'mouse' contains ~
289Normal mode 'n' or 'a'
290Visual mode 'v' or 'a'
291Insert mode 'i' or 'a'
292
293Select mode is handled like Visual mode.
294
295You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current
296cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit
297'd' and then click the mouse somewhere.
298
299 *gui-mouse-focus*
300The 'mousefocus' option can be set to make the keyboard focus follow the
301mouse pointer. This means that the window where the mouse pointer is, is the
302active window. Warning: this doesn't work very well when using a menu,
303because the menu command will always be applied to the top window.
304
305If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right
306mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains
307'c', 'a' or 'A').
308
309In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current
310selection.
311
312
3133.2 Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select*
314
315The mouse can be used to start a selection. How depends on the 'mousemodel'
316option:
317'mousemodel' is "extend": use the right mouse button
318'mousemodel' is "popup": use the left mouse button, while keeping the Shift
319key pressed.
320
321If there was no selection yet, this starts a selection from the old cursor
322position to the position pointed to with the mouse. If there already is a
323selection then the closest end will be extended.
324
325If 'selectmode' contains "mouse", then the selection will be in Select mode.
326This means that typing normal text will replace the selection. See
327|Select-mode|. Otherwise, the selection will be in Visual mode.
328
329Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking
330makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise.
331
332See |gui-selections| on how the selection is used.
333
334
3353.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-modeless*
336 *modeless-selection*
337A different kind of selection is used when:
338- in Command-line mode
339- in the Command-line window and pointing in another window
340- at the |hit-enter| prompt
341- whenever the current mode is not in the 'mouse' option
342- when holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys in the GUI
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000343
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000344Since Vim continues like the selection isn't there, and there is no mode
345associated with the selection, this is called modeless selection. Any text in
346the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse
347button at the start, drag to the end and release. To extend the selection,
348use the right mouse button when 'mousemodel' is "extend", or the left mouse
349button with the shift key pressed when 'mousemodel' is "popup".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000350The selection is removed when the selected text is scrolled or changed.
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000351
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000352On the command line CTRL-Y can be used to copy the selection into the
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000353clipboard. To do this from Insert mode, use CTRL-O : CTRL-Y <CR>. When
354'guioptions' contains a or A (default on X11), the selection is automatically
355copied to the "* register.
356
357The middle mouse button can then paste the text. On non-X11 systems, you can
358use CTRL-R +.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000359
360
3613.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status*
362
363Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim
364window makes that window the current window. This actually happens on button
365release (to be able to distinguish a click from a drag action).
366
367With the left mouse button a status line can be dragged up and down, thus
368resizing the windows above and below it. This does not change window focus.
369
370The same can be used on the vertical separator: click to give the window left
371of it focus, drag left and right to make windows wider and narrower.
372
373
3743.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various*
375
376 <S-LeftMouse> Search forward for the word under the mouse click.
377 When 'mousemodel' is "popup" this starts or extends a
378 selection.
379 <S-RightMouse> Search backward for the word under the mouse click.
380 <C-LeftMouse> Jump to the tag name under the mouse click.
381 <C-RightMouse> Jump back to position before the previous tag jump
382 (same as "CTRL-T")
383
384
3853.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping*
386
387The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: >
388 :map <S-LeftMouse> <RightMouse>
389 :map <S-LeftDrag> <RightDrag>
390 :map <S-LeftRelease> <RightRelease>
391 :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse>
392 :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag>
393 :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease>
394 :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse>
395 :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag>
396 :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease>
397 :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse>
398 :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag>
399 :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease>
400These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif
401application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area
402rather than the right mouse button.
403
404Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for modeless selection.
405
406
4073.7 Drag and drop *drag-n-drop*
408
409You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will
410be opened as if a |:drop| command was used.
411
412If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped
413file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the
414file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed.
415
416You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for
417that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error
418message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead.
419
420If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files
421and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these
422names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and
423'|'; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped.
424
425==============================================================================
4264. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections*
427
428 *quotestar*
429You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using
430Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then
431whenever a selection is started (Visual or Select mode), or when the selection
432is changed, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection
433(on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used; under X11, the |x11-selection| is
434used - you should read whichever of these is appropriate now).
435
436 *clipboard*
437There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "*
438register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000439selected is about to change (e.g. with a left mouse click somewhere), or when
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000440another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put
441in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current
442selection/put it on the clipboard: >
443
444 "*dd
445
446Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g.,
447by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register
448first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the
449selection (contents of the clipboard): >
450
451 "*p
452
453When using this register under X11, also see |x11-selection|. This also
454explains the related "+ register.
455
456Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type
457of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. For other
458applications the type is always character. However, if the text gets
459transferred via the |x11-cut-buffer|, the selection type is ALWAYS lost.
460
461When the "unnamed" string is included in the 'clipboard' option, the unnamed
462register is the same as the "* register. Thus you can yank to and paste the
463selection without prepending "* to commands.
464
465==============================================================================
4665. Menus *menus*
467
468For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual.
469
470
4715.1 Using Menus *using-menus*
472
473Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own
474menus, as many as you like.
475Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own
476menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember
477what the key sequence was.
478
479For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|.
480
481 *menu.vim*
482The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See
483|$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus.
484Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or,
485if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus
486|:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding
487this line to your .vimrc file (NOT your .gvimrc file!): >
488 :let did_install_default_menus = 1
489If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: >
490 :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100491The first item in the Syntax menu can be used to show all available filetypes
492in the menu (which can take a bit of time to load). If you want to have all
493filetypes already present at startup, add: >
494 :let do_syntax_sel_menu = 1
495
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000496<
497 *console-menus*
498Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus
499in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is
500not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line
501completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu
502system. To do this, put these commands in your .vimrc file: >
503 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
504 :set wildmenu
505 :set cpo-=<
506 :set wcm=<C-Z>
507 :map <F4> :emenu <C-Z>
508Pressing <F4> will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select
509a menu entry. Hit <Enter> to execute it. Hit <Esc> if you want to cancel.
510This does require the |+menu| feature enabled at compile time.
511
512 *tear-off-menus*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000513GTK+ and Motif support Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000514pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work
515correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in the
516defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead.
517
518The Win32 GUI version emulates Motif's tear-off menus. Actually, a Motif user
519will spot the differences easily, but hopefully they're just as useful. You
520can also use the |:tearoff| command together with |hidden-menus| to create
521floating menus that do not appear on the main menu bar.
522
523
5245.2 Creating New Menus *creating-menus*
525
526 *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu*
527 *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu*
528 *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu*
529 *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu*
530 *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000531 *:xme* *:xmenu* *:xnoreme* *:xnoremenu*
532 *:sme* *:smenu* *:snoreme* *:snoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000533 *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu*
534 *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu*
535 *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333*
Bram Moolenaard5ab34b2007-05-05 17:15:44 +0000536 *E328* *E329* *E337* *E792*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000537To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like
538the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000539as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them, e.g.: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000540
541 :menu File.Save :w<CR>
542 :inoremenu File.Save <C-O>:w<CR>
543 :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g<CR>
544
545This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding
546the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item
547"Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces",
548which when selected, performs the operation.
549
550Special characters in a menu name:
551
552 & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each
553 shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to
554 insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&".
555 <Tab> Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be
556 used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "<Tab>"
557 can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real
Bram Moolenaarb5ba0022007-05-12 13:06:29 +0000558 tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it!
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000559Example: >
560
561 :amenu &File.&Open<Tab>:e :browse e<CR>
562
563[typed literally]
564With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the <Alt> key pressed), and then "O",
565this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e"
566is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut.
567
568The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once.
569To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for
570some modes:
571 mode inserted appended ~
572 Normal nothing nothing
573 Visual <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
Bram Moolenaar00a927d2010-05-14 23:24:24 +0200574 Insert <C-\><C-O>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000575 Cmdline <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
576 Op-pending <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
577
578Appending CTRL-\ CTRL-G is for going back to insert mode when 'insertmode' is
579set. |CTRL-\_CTRL-G|
580
581Example: >
582
583 :amenu File.Next :next^M
584
585is equal to: >
586
587 :nmenu File.Next :next^M
588 :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
Bram Moolenaar00a927d2010-05-14 23:24:24 +0200589 :imenu File.Next ^\^O:next^M
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000590 :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
591 :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
592
593Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command,
594because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use
595the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the
596expression register: >
597
598 :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'<CR>P
599
600Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when
601included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized).
602
603Note that <Esc> in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This
604is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode.
605
606 *:menu-<silent>* *:menu-silent*
607To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add
608"<silent>" as the first argument. Example: >
609 :menu <silent> Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic<CR>
610The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the
611executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent"
612in the executed command: >
613 :menu <silent> Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r"<CR>
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000614"<silent>" may also appear just after "<special>" or "<script>".
615
616 *:menu-<special>* *:menu-special*
617Define a menu with <> notation for special keys, even though the "<" flag
618may appear in 'cpoptions'. This is useful if the side effect of setting
619'cpoptions' is not desired. Example: >
620 :menu <special> Search.Header /Header<CR>
621"<special>" must appear as the very first argument to the ":menu" command or
622just after "<silent>" or "<script>".
623
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000624 *:menu-<script>* *:menu-script*
625The "to" part of the menu will be inspected for mappings. If you don't want
626this, use the ":noremenu" command (or the similar one for a specific mode).
627If you do want to use script-local mappings, add "<script>" as the very first
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000628argument to the ":menu" command or just after "<silent>" or "<special>".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000629
630 *menu-priority*
631You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to
632the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command.
633Example: >
634 :80menu Buffer.next :bn<CR>
635
636The default menus have these priorities:
637 File 10
638 Edit 20
639 Tools 40
640 Syntax 50
641 Buffers 60
642 Window 70
643 Help 9999
644
645When no or zero priority is given, 500 is used.
646The priority for the PopUp menu is not used.
647
648The Help menu will be placed on the far right side of the menu bar on systems
649which support this (Motif and GTK+). For GTK+ 2, this is not done anymore
650because right-aligning the Help menu is now discouraged UI design.
651
652You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu,
653but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is
654about 32000. The lowest is 1.
655
656 *sub-menu-priority*
657The same mechanism can be used to position a sub-menu. The priority is then
658given as a dot-separated list of priorities, before the menu name: >
659 :menu 80.500 Buffer.next :bn<CR>
660Giving the sub-menu priority is only needed when the item is not to be put
661in a normal position. For example, to put a sub-menu before the other items: >
662 :menu 80.100 Buffer.first :brew<CR>
663Or to put a sub-menu after the other items, and further items with default
664priority will be put before it: >
665 :menu 80.900 Buffer.last :blast<CR>
666When a number is missing, the default value 500 will be used: >
667 :menu .900 myMenu.test :echo "text"<CR>
668The menu priority is only used when creating a new menu. When it already
669existed, e.g., in another mode, the priority will not change. Thus, the
670priority only needs to be given the first time a menu is used.
671An exception is the PopUp menu. There is a separate menu for each mode
672(Normal, Op-pending, Visual, Insert, Cmdline). The order in each of these
673menus can be different. This is different from menu-bar menus, which have
674the same order for all modes.
675NOTE: sub-menu priorities currently don't work for all versions of the GUI.
676
677 *menu-separator* *E332*
678Menu items can be separated by a special item that inserts some space between
679items. Depending on the system this is displayed as a line or a dotted line.
680These items must start with a '-' and end in a '-'. The part in between is
681used to give it a unique name. Priorities can be used as with normal items.
682Example: >
683 :menu Example.item1 :do something
684 :menu Example.-Sep- :
685 :menu Example.item2 :do something different
686Note that the separator also requires a rhs. It doesn't matter what it is,
687because the item will never be selected. Use a single colon to keep it
688simple.
689
690 *gui-toolbar*
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000691The toolbar is currently available in the Win32, Athena, Motif, GTK+ (X11),
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000692and Photon GUI. It should turn up in other GUIs in due course. The
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000693default toolbar is setup in menu.vim.
694The display of the toolbar is controlled by the 'guioptions' letter 'T'. You
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000695can thus have menu & toolbar together, or either on its own, or neither.
Bram Moolenaar06b5d512010-05-22 15:37:44 +0200696The appearance is controlled by the 'toolbar' option. You can choose between
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000697an image, text or both.
698
699 *toolbar-icon*
700The toolbar is defined as a special menu called ToolBar, which only has one
701level. Vim interprets the items in this menu as follows:
7021) If an "icon=" argument was specified, the file with this name is used.
703 The file can either be specified with the full path or with the base name.
704 In the last case it is searched for in the "bitmaps" directory in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000705 'runtimepath', like in point 3. Examples: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000706 :amenu icon=/usr/local/pixmaps/foo_icon.xpm ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
707 :amenu icon=FooIcon ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
708< Note that in the first case the extension is included, while in the second
709 case it is omitted.
710 If the file cannot be opened the next points are tried.
711 A space in the file name must be escaped with a backslash.
712 A menu priority must come _after_ the icon argument: >
713 :amenu icon=foo 1.42 ToolBar.Foo :echo "42!"<CR>
7142) An item called 'BuiltIn##', where ## is a number, is taken as number ## of
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000715 the built-in bitmaps available in Vim. Currently there are 31 numbered
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000716 from 0 to 30 which cover most common editing operations |builtin-tools|. >
717 :amenu ToolBar.BuiltIn22 :call SearchNext("back")<CR>
7183) An item with another name is first searched for in the directory
719 "bitmaps" in 'runtimepath'. If found, the bitmap file is used as the
720 toolbar button image. Note that the exact filename is OS-specific: For
721 example, under Win32 the command >
722 :amenu ToolBar.Hello :echo "hello"<CR>
723< would find the file 'hello.bmp'. Under GTK+/X11 it is 'Hello.xpm'. With
724 GTK+ 2 the files 'Hello.png', 'Hello.xpm' and 'Hello.bmp' are checked for
725 existence, and the first one found would be used.
726 For MS-Windows and GTK+ 2 the bitmap is scaled to fit the button. For
727 MS-Windows a size of 18 by 18 pixels works best.
728 For MS-Windows the bitmap should have 16 colors with the standard palette.
729 The light grey pixels will be changed to the Window frame color and the
730 dark grey pixels to the window shadow color. More colors might also work,
731 depending on your system.
7324) If the bitmap is still not found, Vim checks for a match against its list
733 of built-in names. Each built-in button image has a name.
734 So the command >
735 :amenu ToolBar.Open :e
736< will show the built-in "open a file" button image if no open.bmp exists.
737 All the built-in names can be seen used in menu.vim.
7385) If all else fails, a blank, but functioning, button is displayed.
739
740 *builtin-tools*
741nr Name Normal action ~
74200 New open new window
74301 Open browse for file to open in current window
74402 Save write buffer to file
74503 Undo undo last change
74604 Redo redo last undone change
74705 Cut delete selected text to clipboard
74806 Copy copy selected text to clipboard
74907 Paste paste text from clipboard
75008 Print print current buffer
75109 Help open a buffer on Vim's builtin help
75210 Find start a search command
75311 SaveAll write all modified buffers to file
75412 SaveSesn write session file for current situation
75513 NewSesn write new session file
75614 LoadSesn load session file
75715 RunScript browse for file to run as a Vim script
75816 Replace prompt for substitute command
75917 WinClose close current window
76018 WinMax make current window use many lines
76119 WinMin make current window use few lines
76220 WinSplit split current window
76321 Shell start a shell
76422 FindPrev search again, backward
76523 FindNext search again, forward
76624 FindHelp prompt for word to search help for
76725 Make run make and jump to first error
76826 TagJump jump to tag under the cursor
76927 RunCtags build tags for files in current directory
77028 WinVSplit split current window vertically
77129 WinMaxWidth make current window use many columns
77230 WinMinWidth make current window use few columns
773
774 *hidden-menus* *win32-hidden-menus*
775In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, starting a menu name with ']' excludes that menu
776from the main menu bar. You must then use the |:popup| or |:tearoff| command
777to display it.
778
779 *popup-menu*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000780In the Win32, GTK+, Motif, Athena and Photon GUI, you can define the
Bram Moolenaara3ffd9c2005-07-21 21:03:15 +0000781special menu "PopUp". This is the menu that is displayed when the right mouse
782button is pressed, if 'mousemodel' is set to popup or popup_setpos.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000783
784
7855.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *showing-menus*
786
787To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the
788menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu
789specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown.
790If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000791for the appropriate mode (e.g., Command-line mode for :cmenu).
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000792
793Special characters in the list, just before the rhs:
794* The menu was defined with "nore" to disallow remapping.
795& The menu was defined with "<script>" to allow remapping script-local
796 mappings only.
797- The menu was disabled.
798
799Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after a menu command may
800be used to complete the name of the menu item.
801
802
8035.4 Executing Menus *execute-menus*
804
805 *:em* *:emenu* *E334* *E335*
806:[range]em[enu] {menu} Execute {menu} from the command line.
807 The default is to execute the Normal mode
808 menu. If a range is specified, it executes
809 the Visual mode menu.
810 If used from <c-o>, it executes the
811 insert-mode menu Eg: >
812 :emenu File.Exit
813
814If the console-mode vim has been compiled with WANT_MENU defined, you can
815use :emenu to access useful menu items you may have got used to from GUI
816mode. See 'wildmenu' for an option that works well with this. See
817|console-menus| for an example.
818
819When using a range, if the lines match with '<,'>, then the menu is executed
820using the last visual selection.
821
822
8235.5 Deleting Menus *delete-menus*
824
825 *:unme* *:unmenu*
826 *:aun* *:aunmenu*
827 *:nunme* *:nunmenu*
828 *:ounme* *:ounmenu*
829 *:vunme* *:vunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000830 *:xunme* *:xunmenu*
831 *:sunme* *:sunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000832 *:iunme* *:iunmenu*
833 *:cunme* *:cunmenu*
834To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are
835analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: >
836 :unmenu! Edit.Paste
837
838This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and
839Command-line modes.
840
841Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after an umenu command
842may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode.
843
844To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* >
845 :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode
846 :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode
847 :aunmenu * " remove all menus in all modes
848
849If you want to get rid of the menu bar: >
850 :set guioptions-=m
851
852
8535.6 Disabling Menus *disable-menus*
854
855 *:menu-disable* *:menu-enable*
856If you do not want to remove a menu, but disable it for a moment, this can be
857done by adding the "enable" or "disable" keyword to a ":menu" command.
858Examples: >
859 :menu disable &File.&Open\.\.\.
860 :amenu enable *
861 :amenu disable &Tools.*
862
863The command applies to the modes as used with all menu commands. Note that
864characters like "&" need to be included for translated names to be found.
865When the argument is "*", all menus are affected. Otherwise the given menu
866name and all existing submenus below it are affected.
867
868
8695.7 Examples for Menus *menu-examples*
870
871Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu
872item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. >
873
874 :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>
875 :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
876 :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z <CR>
877 :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
878 :imenu Words.Add\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>a
879 :imenu Words.Remove\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>a
880
881(the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the
882mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "<C-R>" is CTRL-R, "<CR>" is
883the <CR> key. |<>|)
884
885
8865.8 Tooltips & Menu tips
887
888See section |42.4| in the user manual.
889
890 *:tmenu* *:tm*
891:tm[enu] {menupath} {rhs} Define a tip for a menu or tool. {only in
892 X11 and Win32 GUI}
893
894:tm[enu] [menupath] List menu tips. {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
895
896 *:tunmenu* *:tu*
897:tu[nmenu] {menupath} Remove a tip for a menu or tool.
898 {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
899
900When a tip is defined for a menu item, it appears in the command-line area
901when the mouse is over that item, much like a standard Windows menu hint in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000902the status bar. (Except when Vim is in Command-line mode, when of course
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000903nothing is displayed.)
904When a tip is defined for a ToolBar item, it appears as a tooltip when the
905mouse pauses over that button, in the usual fashion. Use the |hl-Tooltip|
906highlight group to change its colors.
907
908A "tip" can be defined for each menu item. For example, when defining a menu
909item like this: >
910 :amenu MyMenu.Hello :echo "Hello"<CR>
911The tip is defined like this: >
912 :tmenu MyMenu.Hello Displays a greeting.
913And delete it with: >
914 :tunmenu MyMenu.Hello
915
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000916Tooltips are currently only supported for the X11 and Win32 GUI. However, they
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000917should appear for the other gui platforms in the not too distant future.
918
919The ":tmenu" command works just like other menu commands, it uses the same
920arguments. ":tunmenu" deletes an existing menu tip, in the same way as the
921other unmenu commands.
922
923If a menu item becomes invalid (i.e. its actions in all modes are deleted) Vim
924deletes the menu tip (and the item) for you. This means that :aunmenu deletes
925a menu item - you don't need to do a :tunmenu as well.
926
927
9285.9 Popup Menus
929
930In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, you can cause a menu to popup at the cursor.
931This behaves similarly to the PopUp menus except that any menu tree can
932be popped up.
933
934This command is for backwards compatibility, using it is discouraged, because
935it behaves in a strange way.
936
937 *:popup* *:popu*
938:popu[p] {name} Popup the menu {name}. The menu named must
939 have at least one subentry, but need not
940 appear on the menu-bar (see |hidden-menus|).
941 {only available for Win32 and GTK GUI}
942
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000943:popu[p]! {name} Like above, but use the position of the mouse
944 pointer instead of the cursor.
945
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000946Example: >
947 :popup File
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000948will make the "File" menu (if there is one) appear at the text cursor (mouse
949pointer if ! was used). >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000950
951 :amenu ]Toolbar.Make :make<CR>
952 :popup ]Toolbar
953This creates a popup menu that doesn't exist on the main menu-bar.
954
955Note that a menu that starts with ']' will not be displayed.
956
957==============================================================================
9586. Extras *gui-extras*
959
960This section describes other features which are related to the GUI.
961
962- With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because
963 the key codes don't start with <Esc>.
964
965- Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "<Key>", since
966 the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to
967 get "<Modifiers-Key>".
968
969- In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000970 mappings of special keys and mouse events. E.g.: :map <M-LeftDrag> <LeftDrag>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000971
972- In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these
973 are <Space>, <Tab>, <NL>, <CR>, <Esc>.
974
975- To check in a Vim script if the GUI is being used, you can use something
976 like this: >
977
978 if has("gui_running")
979 echo "yes, we have a GUI"
980 else
981 echo "Boring old console"
982 endif
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000983< *setting-guifont*
984- When you use the same vimrc file on various systems, you can use something
985 like this to set options specifically for each type of GUI: >
986
987 if has("gui_running")
988 if has("gui_gtk2")
989 :set guifont=Luxi\ Mono\ 12
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000990 elseif has("x11")
991 " Also for GTK 1
992 :set guifont=*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-*-180-*-*-m-*-*
993 elseif has("gui_win32")
994 :set guifont=Luxi_Mono:h12:cANSI
995 endif
996 endif
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000997
Bram Moolenaar030f0df2006-02-21 22:02:53 +0000998A recommended Japanese font is MS Mincho. You can find info here:
999http://www.lexikan.com/mincho.htm
1000
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00001001==============================================================================
10027. Shell Commands *gui-shell*
1003
1004For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window.
1005See |gui-pty|.
1006
1007WARNING: Executing an external command from the X11 GUI will not always
1008work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine.
1009Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't
1010work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be
1011careful!
1012
1013For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window.
1014See |gui-shell-win32|.
1015
1016 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: