blob: c23ae65d0e885a33f67fe1961eb1a67959470d7a [file] [log] [blame]
Bram Moolenaarb1c91982018-05-17 17:04:55 +02001*message.txt* For Vim version 8.1. Last change: 2018 Feb 04
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00002
3
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
5
6
7This file contains an alphabetical list of messages and error messages that
8Vim produces. You can use this if you don't understand what the message
9means. It is not complete though.
10
111. Old messages |:messages|
122. Error messages |error-messages|
133. Messages |messages|
14
15==============================================================================
161. Old messages *:messages* *:mes* *message-history*
17
18The ":messages" command can be used to view previously given messages. This
19is especially useful when messages have been overwritten or truncated. This
20depends on the 'shortmess' option.
21
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020022 :messages Show all messages.
23
24 :{count}messages Show the {count} most recent messages.
25
26 :messages clear Clear all messages.
27
28 :{count}messages clear Clear messages, keeping only the {count} most
29 recent ones.
30
Bram Moolenaar6773b2b2010-05-30 16:01:37 +020031The number of remembered messages is fixed at 20 for the tiny version and 200
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +000032for other versions.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000033
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000034 *g<*
35The "g<" command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +000036This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaardd2a3cd2007-05-05 17:10:09 +000037prompt. You are then back at the hit-enter prompt and can then scroll further
38back.
Bram Moolenaar446beb42011-05-10 17:18:44 +020039Note: If the output has been stopped with "q" at the more prompt, it will only
40be displayed up to this point.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000041The previous command output is cleared when another command produces output.
Bram Moolenaar64d8e252016-09-06 22:12:34 +020042The "g<" output is not redirected.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000043
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000044If you are using translated messages, the first printed line tells who
45maintains the messages or the translations. You can use this to contact the
46maintainer when you spot a mistake.
47
48If you want to find help on a specific (error) message, use the ID at the
49start of the message. For example, to get help on the message: >
50
51 E72: Close error on swap file
52
53or (translated): >
54
55 E72: Errore durante chiusura swap file
56
57Use: >
58
59 :help E72
60
61If you are lazy, it also works without the shift key: >
62
63 :help e72
64
65==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaarf2330482008-06-24 20:19:36 +0000662. Error messages *error-messages* *errors*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000067
68When an error message is displayed, but it is removed before you could read
69it, you can see it again with: >
70 :echo errmsg
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020071Or view a list of recent messages with: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000072 :messages
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020073See `:messages` above.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000074
75
76LIST OF MESSAGES
77 *E222* *E228* *E232* *E256* *E293* *E298* *E304* *E317*
78 *E318* *E356* *E438* *E439* *E440* *E316* *E320* *E322*
Bram Moolenaar72540672018-02-09 22:00:53 +010079 *E323* *E341* *E473* *E570* *E685* *E950* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000080 Add to read buffer
81 makemap: Illegal mode
82 Cannot create BalloonEval with both message and callback
83 Hangul automata ERROR
84 block was not locked
85 Didn't get block nr {N}?
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +010086 ml_upd_block0(): Didn't get block 0??
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000087 pointer block id wrong {N}
88 Updated too many blocks?
89 get_varp ERROR
90 u_undo: line numbers wrong
91 undo list corrupt
92 undo line missing
93 ml_get: cannot find line {N}
94 cannot find line {N}
95 line number out of range: {N} past the end
96 line count wrong in block {N}
97 Internal error
Bram Moolenaarcf3630f2005-01-08 16:04:29 +000098 Internal error: {function}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000099 fatal error in cs_manage_matches
Bram Moolenaar72540672018-02-09 22:00:53 +0100100 Invalid count for del_bytes(): {N}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000101
102This is an internal error. If you can reproduce it, please send in a bug
103report. |bugs|
104
105>
106 ATTENTION
107 Found a swap file by the name ...
108
109See |ATTENTION|.
110
111 *E92* >
112 Buffer {N} not found
113
114The buffer you requested does not exist. This can also happen when you have
115wiped out a buffer which contains a mark or is referenced in another way.
116|:bwipeout|
117
118 *E95* >
119 Buffer with this name already exists
120
121You cannot have two buffers with the same name.
122
123 *E72* >
124 Close error on swap file
125
126The |swap-file|, that is used to keep a copy of the edited text, could not be
127closed properly. Mostly harmless.
128
129 *E169* >
130 Command too recursive
131
132This happens when an Ex command executes an Ex command that executes an Ex
Bram Moolenaarbc2eada2017-01-02 21:27:47 +0100133command, etc. The limit is 200 or the value of 'maxfuncdepth', whatever is
134larger. When it's more there probably is an endless loop. Probably a
135|:execute| or |:source| command is involved.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000136
137 *E254* >
138 Cannot allocate color {name}
139
140The color name {name} is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that
141are available on most systems.
142
143 *E458* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000144 Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect
145
146This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still
147run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try
148stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting
149gvim.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100150Browsers are known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this with
151netscape by telling it to use its own colormap: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000152 netscape -install
153Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): >
154 netscape -ncols 64
155This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: >
156 Netscape*installColormap: Yes
157or >
158 Netscape*maxImageColors: 64
159<
160 *E79* >
161 Cannot expand wildcards
162
163A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to
164attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no
165matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal.
166
167 *E459* >
168 Cannot go back to previous directory
169
170While expanding a file name, Vim failed to go back to the previously used
171directory. All file names being used may be invalid now! You need to have
172execute permission on the current directory.
173
174 *E190* *E212* >
175 Cannot open "{filename}" for writing
176 Can't open file for writing
177
178For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten.
179The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory
180or the file name is not valid.
181
182 *E166* >
183 Can't open linked file for writing
184
185You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is
186a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be
187possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but
188Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its
189place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its
190place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to
191manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim
192can overwrite.
193
194 *E46* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100195 Cannot change read-only variable "{name}"
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000196
197You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim
198internal variable |v:var| which is read-only.
199
200 *E90* >
201 Cannot unload last buffer
202
203Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing
204to display in the window.
205
206 *E40* >
207 Can't open errorfile <filename>
208
209When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error
210messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes:
211- 'shellredir' has a wrong value.
212- The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another
213 directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make
214 command is still executed in the wrong directory.
215- 'makeef' has a wrong value.
216- The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be
217 detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH.
218
219 >
220 Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP
221
222On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was
223to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by
224many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and
225related options. It might also be that the external command was not found,
226there is no different error message for that.
227
228 *E12* >
229 Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search
230
231Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly
232come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags
233file. Also see 'secure'.
234
235 *E74* >
236 Command too complex
237
238A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a
239mapping that indirectly calls itself.
240
241>
242 CONVERSION ERROR
243
244When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that
245some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the
246format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care
247about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value
248that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't
249care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option.
250
251 *E302* >
252 Could not rename swap file
253
254When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well.
255This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless.
256
257 *E43* *E44* >
258 Damaged match string
259 Corrupted regexp program
260
261Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you
262know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
263
264 *E208* *E209* *E210* >
265 Error writing to "{filename}"
266 Error closing "{filename}"
267 Error reading "{filename}"
268
269This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file
270name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed.
271The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist
272and the destination file may be incomplete.
273
274>
275 Vim: Error reading input, exiting...
276
277This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required.
278Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both
279stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim.
280
281 *E47* >
282 Error while reading errorfile
283
284Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error
285message that was not recognized.
286
287 *E80* >
288 Error while writing
289
290Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably
291incomplete.
292
293 *E13* *E189* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100294 File exists (add ! to override)
295 "{filename}" exists (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000296
297You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to
298write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command.
299Example: >
300 :w /tmp/test
301changes to: >
302 :w! /tmp/test
303<
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000304 *E768* >
305 Swap file exists: {filename} (:silent! overrides)
306
307You are protected from overwriting a file that is being edited by Vim. This
308happens when you use ":w! filename" and a swapfile is found.
309- If the swapfile was left over from an old crashed edit session you may want
310 to delete the swapfile. Edit {filename} to find out information about the
311 swapfile.
312- If you want to write anyway prepend ":silent!" to the command. For example: >
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000313 :silent! w! /tmp/test
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000314< The special command is needed, since you already added the ! for overwriting
315 an existing file.
316
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000317 *E139* >
318 File is loaded in another buffer
319
320You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another
321buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file.
322
323 *E142* >
324 File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option
325
326The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file
327generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument.
328You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write".
329
330 *E25* >
331 GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time
332
333You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore
334"gvim" and ":gui" don't work.
335
336 *E49* >
337 Invalid scroll size
338
339This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or
340'scrolloff' options.
341
342 *E17* >
343 "{filename}" is a directory
344
345You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible.
346You probably need to append a file name.
347
348 *E19* >
349 Mark has invalid line number
350
351You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can
352happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has
353deleted lines from it.
354
355 *E219* *E220* >
356 Missing {.
357 Missing }.
358
359Using a {} construct in a file name, but there is a { without a matching } or
360the other way around. It should be used like this: {foo,bar}. This matches
361"foo" and "bar".
362
363 *E315* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100364 ml_get: invalid lnum: {number}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000365
366This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be
367reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|.
368
369 *E173* >
370 {number} more files to edit
371
372You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been
373edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more
374files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it
375again and it will work.
376
377 *E23* *E194* >
378 No alternate file
379 No alternate file name to substitute for '#'
380
381The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|.
382
383 *E32* >
384 No file name
385
386The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the
387buffer a name with ":file fname".
388
389 *E141* >
390 No file name for buffer {number}
391
392One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it
393cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: >
394 :buffer {number}
395 :file {filename}
396<
397 *E33* >
398 No previous substitute regular expression
399
400When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously
401used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has
Bram Moolenaardf177f62005-02-22 08:39:57 +0000402been used yet. See |/~|. This also happens when using ":s/pat/%/", where the
403"%" stands for the previous substitute string.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000404
405 *E35* >
406 No previous regular expression
407
408When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But
409that is not possible if there was no previous search.
410
411 *E24* >
412 No such abbreviation
413
414You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an
415existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message:
416":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space.
417
418>
419 /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
420
421Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio
422device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error.
423
424 *E31* >
425 No such mapping
426
427You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing
428mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap",
Bram Moolenaar4c3f5362006-04-11 21:38:50 +0000429":unmap!", etc. A few hints:
430- Check for trailing white space.
431- If the mapping is buffer-local you need to use ":unmap <buffer>".
432 |:map-<buffer>|
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000433
434 *E37* *E89* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100435 No write since last change (add ! to override)
436 No write since last change for buffer {N} (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000437
438You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from
439losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you
440are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by
441adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: >
442 :e other_file
443changes to: >
444 :e! other_file
445<
446 *E162* >
447 No write since last change for buffer "{name}"
448
449This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You
450will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to
451abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you
452don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten
453about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set.
454
Bram Moolenaard4755bb2004-09-02 19:12:26 +0000455>
456 [No write since last change]
457
458This appears when executing a shell command while at least one buffer was
459changed. To avoid the message reset the 'warn' option.
460
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000461 *E38* >
462 Null argument
463
464Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know
465how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
466
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000467 *E41* *E82* *E83* *E342* >
468 Out of memory!
469 Out of memory! (allocating {number} bytes)
470 Cannot allocate any buffer, exiting...
471 Cannot allocate buffer, using other one...
472
473Oh, oh. You must have been doing something complicated, or some other program
474is consuming your memory. Be careful! Vim is not completely prepared for an
475out-of-memory situation. First make sure that any changes are saved. Then
476try to solve the memory shortage. To stay on the safe side, exit Vim and
Bram Moolenaar0ed0eea2010-07-26 22:21:27 +0200477start again.
478
479Buffers are only partly kept in memory, thus editing a very large file is
480unlikely to cause an out-of-memory situation. Undo information is completely
481in memory, you can reduce that with these options:
482- 'undolevels' Set to a low value, or to -1 to disable undo completely. This
483 helps for a change that affects all lines.
484- 'undoreload' Set to zero to disable.
485
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000486 *E339* >
487 Pattern too long
488
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100489This happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000490longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern.
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100491It also happens when the offset of a rule doesn't fit in the space available.
492Try simplifying the pattern.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000493
494 *E45* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100495 'readonly' option is set (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000496
497You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the
498file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just
499after the command you used. Example: >
500 :w
501changes to: >
502 :w!
503<
504 *E294* *E295* *E301* >
505 Read error in swap file
506 Seek error in swap file read
507 Oops, lost the swap file!!!
508
509Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The
510text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you
511write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for
512differences.
513
514 *E192* >
515 Recursive use of :normal too deep
516
517You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal"
518command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This
519example illustrates how to get this message: >
520 :map gq :normal gq<CR>
521If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again.
522
523 *E22* >
524 Scripts nested too deep
525
526Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source"
527command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue
528for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a
529recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message.
530
531 *E319* >
532 Sorry, the command is not available in this version
533
534You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are
535using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or
536disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating
537system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The
538|:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with.
539
540 *E300* >
541 Swap file already exists (symlink attack?)
542
543This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it
544already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen,
545because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else
546opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is
547attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when
548'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice).
549
550 *E432* >
551 Tags file not sorted: {file name}
552
553Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching
554can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags
555files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option.
556This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a
Bram Moolenaar7fc0c062010-08-10 21:43:35 +0200557tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even though the tags file is not
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000558properly sorted.
559
560 *E460* >
561 The resource fork would be lost (add ! to override)
562
563On the Macintosh (classic), when writing a file, Vim attempts to preserve all
564info about a file, including its resource fork. If this is not possible you
565get this error message. Append "!" to the command name to write anyway (and
566lose the info).
567
568 *E424* >
569 Too many different highlighting attributes in use
570
571Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run
572into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different
573arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted.
574
575 *E77* >
576 Too many file names
577
578When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is
579allowed for the command that was used.
580
581 *E303* >
582 Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible
583
584Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100585Vim unexpectedly exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000586memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option
587to avoid this error. See |swap-file|.
588
589 *E140* >
590 Use ! to write partial buffer
591
592When using a range to write part of a buffer, it is unusual to overwrite the
593original file. It is probably a mistake (e.g., when Visual mode was active
594when using ":w"), therefore Vim requires using a ! after the command, e.g.:
595":3,10w!".
596>
597
598 Warning: Cannot convert string "<Key>Escape,_Key_Cancel" to type
599 VirtualBinding
600
601Messages like this appear when starting up. This is not a Vim problem, your
602X11 configuration is wrong. You can find a hint on how to solve this here:
603http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisonintel/message/12179.
Bram Moolenaara17d4c12010-05-30 18:30:36 +0200604[this URL is no longer valid]
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000605
606 *W10* >
607 Warning: Changing a readonly file
608
609The file is read-only and you are making a change to it anyway. You can use
610the |FileChangedRO| autocommand event to avoid this message (the autocommand
611must reset the 'readonly' option). See 'modifiable' to completely disallow
612making changes to a file.
Bram Moolenaard5cdbeb2005-10-10 20:59:28 +0000613This message is only given for the first change after 'readonly' has been set.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000614
615 *W13* >
616 Warning: File "{filename}" has been created after editing started
617
618You are editing a file in Vim when it didn't exist, but it does exist now.
619You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in Vim or the newly
620created file. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
621
622 *W11* >
623 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started
624
625The file which you have started editing has got another timestamp and the
626contents changed (more precisely: When reading the file again with the current
627option settings and autocommands you would end up with different text). This
628probably means that some other program changed the file. You will have to
629find out what happened, and decide which version of the file you want to keep.
630Set the 'autoread' option if you want to do this automatically.
631This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
632
633There is one situation where you get this message even though there is nothing
634wrong: If you save a file in Windows on the day the daylight saving time
635starts. It can be fixed in one of these ways:
636- Add this line in your autoexec.bat: >
637 SET TZ=-1
638< Adjust the "-1" for your time zone.
639- Disable "automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes".
640- Just write the file again the next day. Or set your clock to the next day,
641 write the file twice and set the clock back.
642
Bram Moolenaar01164a62017-11-02 22:58:42 +0100643If you get W11 all the time, you may need to disable "Acronis Active
Bram Moolenaarb0d45e72017-11-05 18:19:24 +0100644Protection" or register Vim as a trusted service/application.
Bram Moolenaar01164a62017-11-02 22:58:42 +0100645
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000646 *W12* >
647 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed and the buffer was changed in Vim as well
648
649Like the above, and the buffer for the file was changed in this Vim as well.
650You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in this Vim or the one
651on disk. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
652
653 *W16* >
654 Warning: Mode of file "{filename}" has changed since editing started
655
656When the timestamp for a buffer was changed and the contents are still the
657same but the mode (permissions) have changed. This usually occurs when
658checking out a file from a version control system, which causes the read-only
659bit to be reset. It should be safe to reload the file. Set 'autoread' to
660automatically reload the file.
661
662 *E211* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100663 File "{filename}" no longer available
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000664
665The file which you have started editing has disappeared, or is no longer
666accessible. Make sure you write the buffer somewhere to avoid losing
667changes. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
668
669 *W14* >
670 Warning: List of file names overflow
671
672You must be using an awful lot of buffers. It's now possible that two buffers
673have the same number, which causes various problems. You might want to exit
674Vim and restart it.
675
Bram Moolenaar269f5952016-07-15 22:54:41 +0200676 *E931* >
677 Buffer cannot be registered
678
Bram Moolenaar42ebd062016-07-17 13:35:14 +0200679Out of memory or a duplicate buffer number. May happen after W14. Looking up
Bram Moolenaar269f5952016-07-15 22:54:41 +0200680a buffer will not always work, better restart Vim.
681
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000682 *E296* *E297* >
683 Seek error in swap file write
684 Write error in swap file
685
686This mostly happens when the disk is full. Vim could not write text into the
687|swap-file|. It's not directly harmful, but when Vim unexpectedly exits some
688text may be lost without recovery being possible. Vim might run out of memory
689when this problem persists.
690
691 *connection-refused* >
692 Xlib: connection to "<machine-name:0.0" refused by server
693
694This happens when Vim tries to connect to the X server, but the X server does
695not allow a connection. The connection to the X server is needed to be able
696to restore the title and for the xterm clipboard support. Unfortunately this
697error message cannot be avoided, except by disabling the |+xterm_clipboard|
698and |+X11| features.
699
700 *E10* >
701 \\ should be followed by /, ? or &
702
703A command line started with a backslash or the range of a command contained a
704backslash in a wrong place. This is often caused by command-line continuation
705being disabled. Remove the 'C' flag from the 'cpoptions' option to enable it.
Bram Moolenaar5eb86f92004-07-26 12:53:41 +0000706Or use ":set nocp".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000707
708 *E471* >
709 Argument required
710
711This happens when an Ex command with mandatory argument(s) was executed, but
712no argument has been specified.
713
714 *E474* *E475* >
715 Invalid argument
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100716 Invalid argument: {arg}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000717
718An Ex command has been executed, but an invalid argument has been specified.
719
720 *E488* >
721 Trailing characters
722
723An argument has been added to an Ex command that does not permit one.
724
725 *E477* *E478* >
726 No ! allowed
727 Don't panic!
728
729You have added a "!" after an Ex command that doesn't permit one.
730
731 *E481* >
732 No range allowed
733
734A range was specified for an Ex command that doesn't permit one. See
735|cmdline-ranges|.
736
737 *E482* *E483* >
738 Can't create file {filename}
739 Can't get temp file name
740
741Vim cannot create a temporary file.
742
743 *E484* *E485* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100744 Can't open file {filename}
745 Can't read file {filename}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000746
Bram Moolenaar34700a62013-03-07 13:20:54 +0100747Vim cannot read a temporary file. Especially on Windows, this can be caused
748by wrong escaping of special characters for cmd.exe; the approach was
749changed with patch 7.3.443. Try using |shellescape()| for all shell arguments
750given to |system()|, or explicitly add escaping with ^. Also see
751'shellxquote' and 'shellxescape'.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000752
753 *E464* >
754 Ambiguous use of user-defined command
755
756There are two user-defined commands with a common name prefix, and you used
757Command-line completion to execute one of them. |user-cmd-ambiguous|
758Example: >
759 :command MyCommand1 echo "one"
760 :command MyCommand2 echo "two"
761 :MyCommand
762<
763 *E492* >
764 Not an editor command
765
766You tried to execute a command that is neither an Ex command nor
767a user-defined command.
768
Bram Moolenaare0720cb2017-03-29 13:48:40 +0200769 *E943* >
770 Command table needs to be updated, run 'make cmdidxs'
771
772This can only happen when changing the source code, when adding a command in
773src/ex_cmds.h. The lookup table then needs to be updated, by running: >
774 make cmdidxs
775
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000776==============================================================================
7773. Messages *messages*
778
779This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives:
780
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000781 *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return*
782 *press-return* *hit-enter-prompt*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000783
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000784 Press ENTER or type command to continue
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000785
786This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read,
787and the screen is about to be redrawn:
788- After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "=").
789- Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of
790 the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output.
791
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000792-> Press <Enter> or <Space> to redraw the screen and continue, without that
793 key being used otherwise.
794-> Press ':' or any other Normal mode command character to start that command.
Bram Moolenaare1438bb2006-03-01 22:01:55 +0000795-> Press 'k', <Up>, 'u', 'b' or 'g' to scroll back in the messages. This
796 works the same way as at the |more-prompt|. Only works when 'compatible'
797 is off and 'more' is on.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100798-> Pressing 'j', 'f', 'd' or <Down> is ignored when messages scrolled off the
799 top of the screen, 'compatible' is off and 'more' is on, to avoid that
800 typing one 'j' or 'f' too many causes the messages to disappear.
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000801-> Press <C-Y> to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000802-> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used.
803-> When 'mouse' contains the 'r' flag, clicking the left mouse button works
804 like pressing <Space>. This makes it impossible to select text though.
805-> For the GUI clicking the left mouse button in the last line works like
806 pressing <Space>.
807{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted}
808
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000809If you accidentally hit <Enter> or <Space> and you want to see the displayed
810text then use |g<|. This only works when 'more' is set.
811
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000812To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts:
813- Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher.
814- Add flags to 'shortmess'.
815- Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'.
816
Bram Moolenaarbb15b652005-10-03 21:52:09 +0000817If your script causes the hit-enter prompt and you don't know why, you may
818find the |v:scrollstart| variable useful.
819
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000820Also see 'mouse'. The hit-enter message is highlighted with the |hl-Question|
821group.
822
823
824 *more-prompt* *pager* >
825 -- More --
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000826 -- More -- SPACE/d/j: screen/page/line down, b/u/k: up, q: quit
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000827
828This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only
829given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg|
830group.
831
832Type effect ~
833 <CR> or <NL> or j or <Down> one more line
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000834 d down a page (half a screen)
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100835 <Space> or f or <PageDown> down a screen
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000836 G down all the way, until the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000837 prompt
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000838
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000839 <BS> or k or <Up> one line back (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000840 u up a page (half a screen) (*)
841 b or <PageUp> back a screen (*)
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000842 g back to the start (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000843
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000844 q, <Esc> or CTRL-C stop the listing
845 : stop the listing and enter a
846 command-line
847 <C-Y> yank (copy) a modeless selection to
848 the clipboard ("* and "+ registers)
849 {menu-entry} what the menu is defined to in
850 Cmdline-mode.
851 <LeftMouse> (**) next page
852
853Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed.
854
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000855(*) backwards scrolling is {not in Vi}. Only scrolls back to where messages
856 started to scroll.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000857(**) Clicking the left mouse button only works:
858 - For the GUI: in the last line of the screen.
859 - When 'r' is included in 'mouse' (but then selecting text won't work).
860
861
862Note: The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped
863and typeahead is ignored.
864
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +0000865The |g<| command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
866This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
867prompt.
868
Bram Moolenaar91f84f62018-07-29 15:07:52 +0200869 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: