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Bram Moolenaar5302d9e2011-09-14 17:55:08 +02001*gui.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2011 Jul 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
Bram Moolenaar5302d9e2011-09-14 17:55:08 +0200150<
151 *gui-IME* *iBus*
152Input methods for international characters in X that rely on the XIM
153framework, most notably iBus, have been known to produce undesirable results
154in gVim. These may include an inability to enter spaces, or long delays
155between typing a character and it being recognized by the application.
156
157One workaround that has been successful, for unknown reasons, is to prevent
158gvim from forking into the background by starting it with the |-f| argument.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000159
160==============================================================================
1612. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars*
162
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000163There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbar. You may
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000164configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option.
165
166The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"):
167
Bram Moolenaar166af9b2010-11-16 20:34:40 +0100168 +------------------------------+ `
169 | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m) `
170 +-+--------------------------+-+ `
171 |^| |^| `
172 |#| Text area. |#| `
173 | | | | `
174 |v|__________________________|v| `
175 Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-| `
176 between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^| `
177 | | | | `
178 | | Another file buffer. | | `
179 | | | | `
180 |#| |#| `
181 Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right `
182 |#| |#| scrollbar (r) `
183 | | | | `
184 |v| |v| `
185 +-+--------------------------+-+ `
186 | |< #### >| | <- Bottom `
187 +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b) `
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000188
189Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the
190appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is
191only useful when 'nowrap' is set.
192
193
194VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll*
195
196Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down
197to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb
198indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window.
199When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file
200will appear in the top of the window.
201
202If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000203scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000204
205If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the
206current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a
207vertical line, this line goes through the window.
208When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window
209is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for
210the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side.
211
212
213HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll*
214
215The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to
216scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The
217scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be
218scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when
219necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is
220set).
221
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000222Computing the length of the longest visible line takes quite a bit of
223computation, and it has to be done every time something changes. If this
224takes too much time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line,
225include the 'h' flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the
226text of the current cursor line.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000227
228 *athena-intellimouse*
229If you have an Intellimouse and an X server that supports using the wheel,
230then you can use the wheel to scroll the text up and down in gvim. This works
231with XFree86 4.0 and later, and with some older versions when you add patches.
232See |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
233
234For older versions of XFree86 you must patch your X server. The following
235page has a bit of information about using the Intellimouse on Linux as well as
236links to the patches and X server binaries (may not have the one you need
237though):
238 http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
239
240==============================================================================
2413. Mouse Control *gui-mouse*
242
243The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set.
244When the GUI is switched on, and 'mouse' wasn't set yet, the 'mouse' option is
245automatically set to "a", enabling it for all modes except for the
246|hit-enter| prompt. If you don't want this, a good place to change the
247'mouse' option is the "gvimrc" file.
248
249Other options that are relevant:
250'mousefocus' window focus follows mouse pointer |gui-mouse-focus|
251'mousemodel' what mouse button does which action
252'mousehide' hide mouse pointer while typing text
253'selectmode' whether to start Select mode or Visual mode
254
255A quick way to set these is with the ":behave" command.
256 *:behave* *:be*
257:be[have] {model} Set behavior for mouse and selection. Valid
258 arguments are:
259 mswin MS-Windows behavior
260 xterm Xterm behavior
261
262 Using ":behave" changes these options:
263 option mswin xterm ~
264 'selectmode' "mouse,key" ""
265 'mousemodel' "popup" "extend"
266 'keymodel' "startsel,stopsel" ""
267 'selection' "exclusive" "inclusive"
268
269In the $VIMRUNTIME directory, there is a script called |mswin.vim|, which will
270also map a few keys to the MS-Windows cut/copy/paste commands. This is NOT
271compatible, since it uses the CTRL-V, CTRL-X and CTRL-C keys. If you don't
272mind, use this command: >
273 :so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim
274
275For scrolling with a wheel on a mouse, see |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
276
277
2783.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move*
279
280Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the
281cursor to go, and it does!
282This works in when 'mouse' contains ~
283Normal mode 'n' or 'a'
284Visual mode 'v' or 'a'
285Insert mode 'i' or 'a'
286
287Select mode is handled like Visual mode.
288
289You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current
290cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit
291'd' and then click the mouse somewhere.
292
293 *gui-mouse-focus*
294The 'mousefocus' option can be set to make the keyboard focus follow the
295mouse pointer. This means that the window where the mouse pointer is, is the
296active window. Warning: this doesn't work very well when using a menu,
297because the menu command will always be applied to the top window.
298
299If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right
300mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains
301'c', 'a' or 'A').
302
303In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current
304selection.
305
306
3073.2 Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select*
308
309The mouse can be used to start a selection. How depends on the 'mousemodel'
310option:
311'mousemodel' is "extend": use the right mouse button
312'mousemodel' is "popup": use the left mouse button, while keeping the Shift
313key pressed.
314
315If there was no selection yet, this starts a selection from the old cursor
316position to the position pointed to with the mouse. If there already is a
317selection then the closest end will be extended.
318
319If 'selectmode' contains "mouse", then the selection will be in Select mode.
320This means that typing normal text will replace the selection. See
321|Select-mode|. Otherwise, the selection will be in Visual mode.
322
323Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking
324makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise.
325
326See |gui-selections| on how the selection is used.
327
328
3293.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-modeless*
330 *modeless-selection*
331A different kind of selection is used when:
332- in Command-line mode
333- in the Command-line window and pointing in another window
334- at the |hit-enter| prompt
335- whenever the current mode is not in the 'mouse' option
336- when holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys in the GUI
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000337
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000338Since Vim continues like the selection isn't there, and there is no mode
339associated with the selection, this is called modeless selection. Any text in
340the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse
341button at the start, drag to the end and release. To extend the selection,
342use the right mouse button when 'mousemodel' is "extend", or the left mouse
343button with the shift key pressed when 'mousemodel' is "popup".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000344The selection is removed when the selected text is scrolled or changed.
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000345
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000346On the command line CTRL-Y can be used to copy the selection into the
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000347clipboard. To do this from Insert mode, use CTRL-O : CTRL-Y <CR>. When
348'guioptions' contains a or A (default on X11), the selection is automatically
349copied to the "* register.
350
351The middle mouse button can then paste the text. On non-X11 systems, you can
352use CTRL-R +.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000353
354
3553.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status*
356
357Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim
358window makes that window the current window. This actually happens on button
359release (to be able to distinguish a click from a drag action).
360
361With the left mouse button a status line can be dragged up and down, thus
362resizing the windows above and below it. This does not change window focus.
363
364The same can be used on the vertical separator: click to give the window left
365of it focus, drag left and right to make windows wider and narrower.
366
367
3683.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various*
369
370 <S-LeftMouse> Search forward for the word under the mouse click.
371 When 'mousemodel' is "popup" this starts or extends a
372 selection.
373 <S-RightMouse> Search backward for the word under the mouse click.
374 <C-LeftMouse> Jump to the tag name under the mouse click.
375 <C-RightMouse> Jump back to position before the previous tag jump
376 (same as "CTRL-T")
377
378
3793.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping*
380
381The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: >
382 :map <S-LeftMouse> <RightMouse>
383 :map <S-LeftDrag> <RightDrag>
384 :map <S-LeftRelease> <RightRelease>
385 :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse>
386 :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag>
387 :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease>
388 :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse>
389 :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag>
390 :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease>
391 :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse>
392 :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag>
393 :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease>
394These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif
395application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area
396rather than the right mouse button.
397
398Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for modeless selection.
399
400
4013.7 Drag and drop *drag-n-drop*
402
403You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will
404be opened as if a |:drop| command was used.
405
406If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped
407file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the
408file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed.
409
410You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for
411that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error
412message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead.
413
414If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files
415and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these
416names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and
417'|'; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped.
418
419==============================================================================
4204. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections*
421
422 *quotestar*
423You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using
424Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then
425whenever a selection is started (Visual or Select mode), or when the selection
426is changed, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection
427(on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used; under X11, the |x11-selection| is
428used - you should read whichever of these is appropriate now).
429
430 *clipboard*
431There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "*
432register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000433selected is about to change (e.g. with a left mouse click somewhere), or when
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000434another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put
435in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current
436selection/put it on the clipboard: >
437
438 "*dd
439
440Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g.,
441by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register
442first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the
443selection (contents of the clipboard): >
444
445 "*p
446
447When using this register under X11, also see |x11-selection|. This also
448explains the related "+ register.
449
450Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type
451of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. For other
452applications the type is always character. However, if the text gets
453transferred via the |x11-cut-buffer|, the selection type is ALWAYS lost.
454
455When the "unnamed" string is included in the 'clipboard' option, the unnamed
456register is the same as the "* register. Thus you can yank to and paste the
457selection without prepending "* to commands.
458
459==============================================================================
4605. Menus *menus*
461
462For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual.
463
464
4655.1 Using Menus *using-menus*
466
467Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own
468menus, as many as you like.
469Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own
470menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember
471what the key sequence was.
472
473For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|.
474
475 *menu.vim*
476The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See
477|$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus.
478Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or,
479if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus
480|:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding
481this line to your .vimrc file (NOT your .gvimrc file!): >
482 :let did_install_default_menus = 1
483If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: >
484 :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100485The first item in the Syntax menu can be used to show all available filetypes
486in the menu (which can take a bit of time to load). If you want to have all
487filetypes already present at startup, add: >
488 :let do_syntax_sel_menu = 1
489
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000490<
491 *console-menus*
492Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus
493in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is
494not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line
495completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu
496system. To do this, put these commands in your .vimrc file: >
497 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
498 :set wildmenu
499 :set cpo-=<
500 :set wcm=<C-Z>
501 :map <F4> :emenu <C-Z>
502Pressing <F4> will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select
503a menu entry. Hit <Enter> to execute it. Hit <Esc> if you want to cancel.
504This does require the |+menu| feature enabled at compile time.
505
506 *tear-off-menus*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000507GTK+ and Motif support Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000508pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work
509correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in the
510defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead.
511
512The Win32 GUI version emulates Motif's tear-off menus. Actually, a Motif user
513will spot the differences easily, but hopefully they're just as useful. You
514can also use the |:tearoff| command together with |hidden-menus| to create
515floating menus that do not appear on the main menu bar.
516
517
5185.2 Creating New Menus *creating-menus*
519
520 *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu*
521 *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu*
522 *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu*
523 *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu*
524 *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000525 *:xme* *:xmenu* *:xnoreme* *:xnoremenu*
526 *:sme* *:smenu* *:snoreme* *:snoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000527 *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu*
528 *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu*
529 *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333*
Bram Moolenaard5ab34b2007-05-05 17:15:44 +0000530 *E328* *E329* *E337* *E792*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000531To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like
532the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000533as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them, e.g.: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000534
535 :menu File.Save :w<CR>
536 :inoremenu File.Save <C-O>:w<CR>
537 :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g<CR>
538
539This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding
540the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item
541"Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces",
542which when selected, performs the operation.
543
544Special characters in a menu name:
545
546 & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each
547 shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to
548 insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&".
549 <Tab> Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be
550 used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "<Tab>"
551 can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real
Bram Moolenaarb5ba0022007-05-12 13:06:29 +0000552 tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it!
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000553Example: >
554
555 :amenu &File.&Open<Tab>:e :browse e<CR>
556
557[typed literally]
558With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the <Alt> key pressed), and then "O",
559this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e"
560is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut.
561
562The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once.
563To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for
564some modes:
565 mode inserted appended ~
566 Normal nothing nothing
567 Visual <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
Bram Moolenaar00a927d2010-05-14 23:24:24 +0200568 Insert <C-\><C-O>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000569 Cmdline <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
570 Op-pending <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
571
572Appending CTRL-\ CTRL-G is for going back to insert mode when 'insertmode' is
573set. |CTRL-\_CTRL-G|
574
575Example: >
576
577 :amenu File.Next :next^M
578
579is equal to: >
580
581 :nmenu File.Next :next^M
582 :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
Bram Moolenaar00a927d2010-05-14 23:24:24 +0200583 :imenu File.Next ^\^O:next^M
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000584 :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
585 :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
586
587Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command,
588because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use
589the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the
590expression register: >
591
592 :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'<CR>P
593
594Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when
595included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized).
596
597Note that <Esc> in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This
598is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode.
599
600 *:menu-<silent>* *:menu-silent*
601To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add
602"<silent>" as the first argument. Example: >
603 :menu <silent> Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic<CR>
604The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the
605executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent"
606in the executed command: >
607 :menu <silent> Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r"<CR>
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000608"<silent>" may also appear just after "<special>" or "<script>".
609
610 *:menu-<special>* *:menu-special*
611Define a menu with <> notation for special keys, even though the "<" flag
612may appear in 'cpoptions'. This is useful if the side effect of setting
613'cpoptions' is not desired. Example: >
614 :menu <special> Search.Header /Header<CR>
615"<special>" must appear as the very first argument to the ":menu" command or
616just after "<silent>" or "<script>".
617
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000618 *:menu-<script>* *:menu-script*
619The "to" part of the menu will be inspected for mappings. If you don't want
620this, use the ":noremenu" command (or the similar one for a specific mode).
621If you do want to use script-local mappings, add "<script>" as the very first
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000622argument to the ":menu" command or just after "<silent>" or "<special>".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000623
624 *menu-priority*
625You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to
626the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command.
627Example: >
628 :80menu Buffer.next :bn<CR>
629
630The default menus have these priorities:
631 File 10
632 Edit 20
633 Tools 40
634 Syntax 50
635 Buffers 60
636 Window 70
637 Help 9999
638
639When no or zero priority is given, 500 is used.
640The priority for the PopUp menu is not used.
641
642The Help menu will be placed on the far right side of the menu bar on systems
643which support this (Motif and GTK+). For GTK+ 2, this is not done anymore
644because right-aligning the Help menu is now discouraged UI design.
645
646You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu,
647but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is
648about 32000. The lowest is 1.
649
650 *sub-menu-priority*
651The same mechanism can be used to position a sub-menu. The priority is then
652given as a dot-separated list of priorities, before the menu name: >
653 :menu 80.500 Buffer.next :bn<CR>
654Giving the sub-menu priority is only needed when the item is not to be put
655in a normal position. For example, to put a sub-menu before the other items: >
656 :menu 80.100 Buffer.first :brew<CR>
657Or to put a sub-menu after the other items, and further items with default
658priority will be put before it: >
659 :menu 80.900 Buffer.last :blast<CR>
660When a number is missing, the default value 500 will be used: >
661 :menu .900 myMenu.test :echo "text"<CR>
662The menu priority is only used when creating a new menu. When it already
663existed, e.g., in another mode, the priority will not change. Thus, the
664priority only needs to be given the first time a menu is used.
665An exception is the PopUp menu. There is a separate menu for each mode
666(Normal, Op-pending, Visual, Insert, Cmdline). The order in each of these
667menus can be different. This is different from menu-bar menus, which have
668the same order for all modes.
669NOTE: sub-menu priorities currently don't work for all versions of the GUI.
670
671 *menu-separator* *E332*
672Menu items can be separated by a special item that inserts some space between
673items. Depending on the system this is displayed as a line or a dotted line.
674These items must start with a '-' and end in a '-'. The part in between is
675used to give it a unique name. Priorities can be used as with normal items.
676Example: >
677 :menu Example.item1 :do something
678 :menu Example.-Sep- :
679 :menu Example.item2 :do something different
680Note that the separator also requires a rhs. It doesn't matter what it is,
681because the item will never be selected. Use a single colon to keep it
682simple.
683
684 *gui-toolbar*
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000685The toolbar is currently available in the Win32, Athena, Motif, GTK+ (X11),
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000686and Photon GUI. It should turn up in other GUIs in due course. The
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000687default toolbar is setup in menu.vim.
688The display of the toolbar is controlled by the 'guioptions' letter 'T'. You
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000689can thus have menu & toolbar together, or either on its own, or neither.
Bram Moolenaar06b5d512010-05-22 15:37:44 +0200690The appearance is controlled by the 'toolbar' option. You can choose between
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000691an image, text or both.
692
693 *toolbar-icon*
694The toolbar is defined as a special menu called ToolBar, which only has one
695level. Vim interprets the items in this menu as follows:
6961) If an "icon=" argument was specified, the file with this name is used.
697 The file can either be specified with the full path or with the base name.
698 In the last case it is searched for in the "bitmaps" directory in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000699 'runtimepath', like in point 3. Examples: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000700 :amenu icon=/usr/local/pixmaps/foo_icon.xpm ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
701 :amenu icon=FooIcon ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
702< Note that in the first case the extension is included, while in the second
703 case it is omitted.
704 If the file cannot be opened the next points are tried.
705 A space in the file name must be escaped with a backslash.
706 A menu priority must come _after_ the icon argument: >
707 :amenu icon=foo 1.42 ToolBar.Foo :echo "42!"<CR>
7082) An item called 'BuiltIn##', where ## is a number, is taken as number ## of
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000709 the built-in bitmaps available in Vim. Currently there are 31 numbered
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000710 from 0 to 30 which cover most common editing operations |builtin-tools|. >
711 :amenu ToolBar.BuiltIn22 :call SearchNext("back")<CR>
7123) An item with another name is first searched for in the directory
713 "bitmaps" in 'runtimepath'. If found, the bitmap file is used as the
714 toolbar button image. Note that the exact filename is OS-specific: For
715 example, under Win32 the command >
716 :amenu ToolBar.Hello :echo "hello"<CR>
717< would find the file 'hello.bmp'. Under GTK+/X11 it is 'Hello.xpm'. With
718 GTK+ 2 the files 'Hello.png', 'Hello.xpm' and 'Hello.bmp' are checked for
719 existence, and the first one found would be used.
720 For MS-Windows and GTK+ 2 the bitmap is scaled to fit the button. For
721 MS-Windows a size of 18 by 18 pixels works best.
722 For MS-Windows the bitmap should have 16 colors with the standard palette.
723 The light grey pixels will be changed to the Window frame color and the
724 dark grey pixels to the window shadow color. More colors might also work,
725 depending on your system.
7264) If the bitmap is still not found, Vim checks for a match against its list
727 of built-in names. Each built-in button image has a name.
728 So the command >
729 :amenu ToolBar.Open :e
730< will show the built-in "open a file" button image if no open.bmp exists.
731 All the built-in names can be seen used in menu.vim.
7325) If all else fails, a blank, but functioning, button is displayed.
733
734 *builtin-tools*
735nr Name Normal action ~
73600 New open new window
73701 Open browse for file to open in current window
73802 Save write buffer to file
73903 Undo undo last change
74004 Redo redo last undone change
74105 Cut delete selected text to clipboard
74206 Copy copy selected text to clipboard
74307 Paste paste text from clipboard
74408 Print print current buffer
74509 Help open a buffer on Vim's builtin help
74610 Find start a search command
74711 SaveAll write all modified buffers to file
74812 SaveSesn write session file for current situation
74913 NewSesn write new session file
75014 LoadSesn load session file
75115 RunScript browse for file to run as a Vim script
75216 Replace prompt for substitute command
75317 WinClose close current window
75418 WinMax make current window use many lines
75519 WinMin make current window use few lines
75620 WinSplit split current window
75721 Shell start a shell
75822 FindPrev search again, backward
75923 FindNext search again, forward
76024 FindHelp prompt for word to search help for
76125 Make run make and jump to first error
76226 TagJump jump to tag under the cursor
76327 RunCtags build tags for files in current directory
76428 WinVSplit split current window vertically
76529 WinMaxWidth make current window use many columns
76630 WinMinWidth make current window use few columns
767
768 *hidden-menus* *win32-hidden-menus*
769In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, starting a menu name with ']' excludes that menu
770from the main menu bar. You must then use the |:popup| or |:tearoff| command
771to display it.
772
773 *popup-menu*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000774In the Win32, GTK+, Motif, Athena and Photon GUI, you can define the
Bram Moolenaara3ffd9c2005-07-21 21:03:15 +0000775special menu "PopUp". This is the menu that is displayed when the right mouse
776button is pressed, if 'mousemodel' is set to popup or popup_setpos.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000777
778
7795.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *showing-menus*
780
781To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the
782menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu
783specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown.
784If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000785for the appropriate mode (e.g., Command-line mode for :cmenu).
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000786
787Special characters in the list, just before the rhs:
788* The menu was defined with "nore" to disallow remapping.
789& The menu was defined with "<script>" to allow remapping script-local
790 mappings only.
791- The menu was disabled.
792
793Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after a menu command may
794be used to complete the name of the menu item.
795
796
7975.4 Executing Menus *execute-menus*
798
799 *:em* *:emenu* *E334* *E335*
800:[range]em[enu] {menu} Execute {menu} from the command line.
801 The default is to execute the Normal mode
802 menu. If a range is specified, it executes
803 the Visual mode menu.
804 If used from <c-o>, it executes the
805 insert-mode menu Eg: >
806 :emenu File.Exit
807
808If the console-mode vim has been compiled with WANT_MENU defined, you can
809use :emenu to access useful menu items you may have got used to from GUI
810mode. See 'wildmenu' for an option that works well with this. See
811|console-menus| for an example.
812
813When using a range, if the lines match with '<,'>, then the menu is executed
814using the last visual selection.
815
816
8175.5 Deleting Menus *delete-menus*
818
819 *:unme* *:unmenu*
820 *:aun* *:aunmenu*
821 *:nunme* *:nunmenu*
822 *:ounme* *:ounmenu*
823 *:vunme* *:vunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000824 *:xunme* *:xunmenu*
825 *:sunme* *:sunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000826 *:iunme* *:iunmenu*
827 *:cunme* *:cunmenu*
828To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are
829analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: >
830 :unmenu! Edit.Paste
831
832This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and
833Command-line modes.
834
835Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after an umenu command
836may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode.
837
838To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* >
839 :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode
840 :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode
841 :aunmenu * " remove all menus in all modes
842
843If you want to get rid of the menu bar: >
844 :set guioptions-=m
845
846
8475.6 Disabling Menus *disable-menus*
848
849 *:menu-disable* *:menu-enable*
850If you do not want to remove a menu, but disable it for a moment, this can be
851done by adding the "enable" or "disable" keyword to a ":menu" command.
852Examples: >
853 :menu disable &File.&Open\.\.\.
854 :amenu enable *
855 :amenu disable &Tools.*
856
857The command applies to the modes as used with all menu commands. Note that
858characters like "&" need to be included for translated names to be found.
859When the argument is "*", all menus are affected. Otherwise the given menu
860name and all existing submenus below it are affected.
861
862
8635.7 Examples for Menus *menu-examples*
864
865Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu
866item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. >
867
868 :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>
869 :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
870 :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z <CR>
871 :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
872 :imenu Words.Add\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>a
873 :imenu Words.Remove\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>a
874
875(the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the
876mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "<C-R>" is CTRL-R, "<CR>" is
877the <CR> key. |<>|)
878
879
8805.8 Tooltips & Menu tips
881
882See section |42.4| in the user manual.
883
884 *:tmenu* *:tm*
885:tm[enu] {menupath} {rhs} Define a tip for a menu or tool. {only in
886 X11 and Win32 GUI}
887
888:tm[enu] [menupath] List menu tips. {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
889
890 *:tunmenu* *:tu*
891:tu[nmenu] {menupath} Remove a tip for a menu or tool.
892 {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
893
894When a tip is defined for a menu item, it appears in the command-line area
895when the mouse is over that item, much like a standard Windows menu hint in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000896the status bar. (Except when Vim is in Command-line mode, when of course
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000897nothing is displayed.)
898When a tip is defined for a ToolBar item, it appears as a tooltip when the
899mouse pauses over that button, in the usual fashion. Use the |hl-Tooltip|
900highlight group to change its colors.
901
902A "tip" can be defined for each menu item. For example, when defining a menu
903item like this: >
904 :amenu MyMenu.Hello :echo "Hello"<CR>
905The tip is defined like this: >
906 :tmenu MyMenu.Hello Displays a greeting.
907And delete it with: >
908 :tunmenu MyMenu.Hello
909
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000910Tooltips are currently only supported for the X11 and Win32 GUI. However, they
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000911should appear for the other gui platforms in the not too distant future.
912
913The ":tmenu" command works just like other menu commands, it uses the same
914arguments. ":tunmenu" deletes an existing menu tip, in the same way as the
915other unmenu commands.
916
917If a menu item becomes invalid (i.e. its actions in all modes are deleted) Vim
918deletes the menu tip (and the item) for you. This means that :aunmenu deletes
919a menu item - you don't need to do a :tunmenu as well.
920
921
9225.9 Popup Menus
923
924In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, you can cause a menu to popup at the cursor.
925This behaves similarly to the PopUp menus except that any menu tree can
926be popped up.
927
928This command is for backwards compatibility, using it is discouraged, because
929it behaves in a strange way.
930
931 *:popup* *:popu*
932:popu[p] {name} Popup the menu {name}. The menu named must
933 have at least one subentry, but need not
934 appear on the menu-bar (see |hidden-menus|).
935 {only available for Win32 and GTK GUI}
936
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000937:popu[p]! {name} Like above, but use the position of the mouse
938 pointer instead of the cursor.
939
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000940Example: >
941 :popup File
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000942will make the "File" menu (if there is one) appear at the text cursor (mouse
943pointer if ! was used). >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000944
945 :amenu ]Toolbar.Make :make<CR>
946 :popup ]Toolbar
947This creates a popup menu that doesn't exist on the main menu-bar.
948
949Note that a menu that starts with ']' will not be displayed.
950
951==============================================================================
9526. Extras *gui-extras*
953
954This section describes other features which are related to the GUI.
955
956- With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because
957 the key codes don't start with <Esc>.
958
959- Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "<Key>", since
960 the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to
961 get "<Modifiers-Key>".
962
963- In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000964 mappings of special keys and mouse events. E.g.: :map <M-LeftDrag> <LeftDrag>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000965
966- In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these
967 are <Space>, <Tab>, <NL>, <CR>, <Esc>.
968
969- To check in a Vim script if the GUI is being used, you can use something
970 like this: >
971
972 if has("gui_running")
973 echo "yes, we have a GUI"
974 else
975 echo "Boring old console"
976 endif
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000977< *setting-guifont*
978- When you use the same vimrc file on various systems, you can use something
979 like this to set options specifically for each type of GUI: >
980
981 if has("gui_running")
982 if has("gui_gtk2")
983 :set guifont=Luxi\ Mono\ 12
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000984 elseif has("x11")
985 " Also for GTK 1
986 :set guifont=*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-*-180-*-*-m-*-*
987 elseif has("gui_win32")
988 :set guifont=Luxi_Mono:h12:cANSI
989 endif
990 endif
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000991
Bram Moolenaar030f0df2006-02-21 22:02:53 +0000992A recommended Japanese font is MS Mincho. You can find info here:
993http://www.lexikan.com/mincho.htm
994
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000995==============================================================================
9967. Shell Commands *gui-shell*
997
998For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window.
999See |gui-pty|.
1000
1001WARNING: Executing an external command from the X11 GUI will not always
1002work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine.
1003Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't
1004work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be
1005careful!
1006
1007For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window.
1008See |gui-shell-win32|.
1009
1010 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: