blob: 32689d81d8605333303ea33caa13f0dc64012c83 [file] [log] [blame]
Bram Moolenaarfff2bee2010-05-15 13:56:02 +02001*message.txt* For Vim version 7.3a. Last change: 2010 Feb 17
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 Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +000022The number of remembered messages is fixed at 20 for the tiny version and 100
23for other versions.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000024
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000025 *g<*
26The "g<" command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +000027This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaardd2a3cd2007-05-05 17:10:09 +000028prompt. You are then back at the hit-enter prompt and can then scroll further
29back.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000030Note: when you stopped the output with "q" at the more prompt only up to that
31point will be displayed.
32The previous command output is cleared when another command produces output.
33
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000034If you are using translated messages, the first printed line tells who
35maintains the messages or the translations. You can use this to contact the
36maintainer when you spot a mistake.
37
38If you want to find help on a specific (error) message, use the ID at the
39start of the message. For example, to get help on the message: >
40
41 E72: Close error on swap file
42
43or (translated): >
44
45 E72: Errore durante chiusura swap file
46
47Use: >
48
49 :help E72
50
51If you are lazy, it also works without the shift key: >
52
53 :help e72
54
55==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaarf2330482008-06-24 20:19:36 +0000562. Error messages *error-messages* *errors*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000057
58When an error message is displayed, but it is removed before you could read
59it, you can see it again with: >
60 :echo errmsg
61or view a list of recent messages with: >
62 :messages
63
64
65LIST OF MESSAGES
66 *E222* *E228* *E232* *E256* *E293* *E298* *E304* *E317*
67 *E318* *E356* *E438* *E439* *E440* *E316* *E320* *E322*
Bram Moolenaarcf3630f2005-01-08 16:04:29 +000068 *E323* *E341* *E473* *E570* *E685* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000069 Add to read buffer
70 makemap: Illegal mode
71 Cannot create BalloonEval with both message and callback
72 Hangul automata ERROR
73 block was not locked
74 Didn't get block nr {N}?
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +010075 ml_upd_block0(): Didn't get block 0??
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000076 pointer block id wrong {N}
77 Updated too many blocks?
78 get_varp ERROR
79 u_undo: line numbers wrong
80 undo list corrupt
81 undo line missing
82 ml_get: cannot find line {N}
83 cannot find line {N}
84 line number out of range: {N} past the end
85 line count wrong in block {N}
86 Internal error
Bram Moolenaarcf3630f2005-01-08 16:04:29 +000087 Internal error: {function}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000088 fatal error in cs_manage_matches
89
90This is an internal error. If you can reproduce it, please send in a bug
91report. |bugs|
92
93>
94 ATTENTION
95 Found a swap file by the name ...
96
97See |ATTENTION|.
98
99 *E92* >
100 Buffer {N} not found
101
102The buffer you requested does not exist. This can also happen when you have
103wiped out a buffer which contains a mark or is referenced in another way.
104|:bwipeout|
105
106 *E95* >
107 Buffer with this name already exists
108
109You cannot have two buffers with the same name.
110
111 *E72* >
112 Close error on swap file
113
114The |swap-file|, that is used to keep a copy of the edited text, could not be
115closed properly. Mostly harmless.
116
117 *E169* >
118 Command too recursive
119
120This happens when an Ex command executes an Ex command that executes an Ex
121command, etc. This is only allowed 200 times. When it's more there probably
122is an endless loop. Probably a |:execute| or |:source| command is involved.
123
124 *E254* >
125 Cannot allocate color {name}
126
127The color name {name} is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that
128are available on most systems.
129
130 *E458* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000131 Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect
132
133This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still
134run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try
135stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting
136gvim.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100137Browsers are known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this with
138netscape by telling it to use its own colormap: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000139 netscape -install
140Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): >
141 netscape -ncols 64
142This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: >
143 Netscape*installColormap: Yes
144or >
145 Netscape*maxImageColors: 64
146<
147 *E79* >
148 Cannot expand wildcards
149
150A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to
151attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no
152matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal.
153
154 *E459* >
155 Cannot go back to previous directory
156
157While expanding a file name, Vim failed to go back to the previously used
158directory. All file names being used may be invalid now! You need to have
159execute permission on the current directory.
160
161 *E190* *E212* >
162 Cannot open "{filename}" for writing
163 Can't open file for writing
164
165For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten.
166The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory
167or the file name is not valid.
168
169 *E166* >
170 Can't open linked file for writing
171
172You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is
173a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be
174possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but
175Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its
176place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its
177place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to
178manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim
179can overwrite.
180
181 *E46* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100182 Cannot change read-only variable "{name}"
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000183
184You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim
185internal variable |v:var| which is read-only.
186
187 *E90* >
188 Cannot unload last buffer
189
190Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing
191to display in the window.
192
193 *E40* >
194 Can't open errorfile <filename>
195
196When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error
197messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes:
198- 'shellredir' has a wrong value.
199- The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another
200 directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make
201 command is still executed in the wrong directory.
202- 'makeef' has a wrong value.
203- The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be
204 detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH.
205
206 >
207 Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP
208
209On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was
210to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by
211many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and
212related options. It might also be that the external command was not found,
213there is no different error message for that.
214
215 *E12* >
216 Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search
217
218Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly
219come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags
220file. Also see 'secure'.
221
222 *E74* >
223 Command too complex
224
225A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a
226mapping that indirectly calls itself.
227
228>
229 CONVERSION ERROR
230
231When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that
232some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the
233format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care
234about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value
235that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't
236care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option.
237
238 *E302* >
239 Could not rename swap file
240
241When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well.
242This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless.
243
244 *E43* *E44* >
245 Damaged match string
246 Corrupted regexp program
247
248Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you
249know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
250
251 *E208* *E209* *E210* >
252 Error writing to "{filename}"
253 Error closing "{filename}"
254 Error reading "{filename}"
255
256This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file
257name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed.
258The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist
259and the destination file may be incomplete.
260
261>
262 Vim: Error reading input, exiting...
263
264This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required.
265Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both
266stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim.
267
268 *E47* >
269 Error while reading errorfile
270
271Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error
272message that was not recognized.
273
274 *E80* >
275 Error while writing
276
277Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably
278incomplete.
279
280 *E13* *E189* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100281 File exists (add ! to override)
282 "{filename}" exists (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000283
284You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to
285write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command.
286Example: >
287 :w /tmp/test
288changes to: >
289 :w! /tmp/test
290<
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000291 *E768* >
292 Swap file exists: {filename} (:silent! overrides)
293
294You are protected from overwriting a file that is being edited by Vim. This
295happens when you use ":w! filename" and a swapfile is found.
296- If the swapfile was left over from an old crashed edit session you may want
297 to delete the swapfile. Edit {filename} to find out information about the
298 swapfile.
299- If you want to write anyway prepend ":silent!" to the command. For example: >
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000300 :silent! w! /tmp/test
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000301< The special command is needed, since you already added the ! for overwriting
302 an existing file.
303
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000304 *E139* >
305 File is loaded in another buffer
306
307You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another
308buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file.
309
310 *E142* >
311 File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option
312
313The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file
314generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument.
315You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write".
316
317 *E25* >
318 GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time
319
320You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore
321"gvim" and ":gui" don't work.
322
323 *E49* >
324 Invalid scroll size
325
326This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or
327'scrolloff' options.
328
329 *E17* >
330 "{filename}" is a directory
331
332You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible.
333You probably need to append a file name.
334
335 *E19* >
336 Mark has invalid line number
337
338You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can
339happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has
340deleted lines from it.
341
342 *E219* *E220* >
343 Missing {.
344 Missing }.
345
346Using a {} construct in a file name, but there is a { without a matching } or
347the other way around. It should be used like this: {foo,bar}. This matches
348"foo" and "bar".
349
350 *E315* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100351 ml_get: invalid lnum: {number}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000352
353This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be
354reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|.
355
356 *E173* >
357 {number} more files to edit
358
359You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been
360edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more
361files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it
362again and it will work.
363
364 *E23* *E194* >
365 No alternate file
366 No alternate file name to substitute for '#'
367
368The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|.
369
370 *E32* >
371 No file name
372
373The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the
374buffer a name with ":file fname".
375
376 *E141* >
377 No file name for buffer {number}
378
379One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it
380cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: >
381 :buffer {number}
382 :file {filename}
383<
384 *E33* >
385 No previous substitute regular expression
386
387When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously
388used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has
Bram Moolenaardf177f62005-02-22 08:39:57 +0000389been used yet. See |/~|. This also happens when using ":s/pat/%/", where the
390"%" stands for the previous substitute string.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000391
392 *E35* >
393 No previous regular expression
394
395When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But
396that is not possible if there was no previous search.
397
398 *E24* >
399 No such abbreviation
400
401You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an
402existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message:
403":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space.
404
405>
406 /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
407
408Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio
409device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error.
410
411 *E31* >
412 No such mapping
413
414You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing
415mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap",
Bram Moolenaar4c3f5362006-04-11 21:38:50 +0000416":unmap!", etc. A few hints:
417- Check for trailing white space.
418- If the mapping is buffer-local you need to use ":unmap <buffer>".
419 |:map-<buffer>|
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000420
421 *E37* *E89* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100422 No write since last change (add ! to override)
423 No write since last change for buffer {N} (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000424
425You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from
426losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you
427are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by
428adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: >
429 :e other_file
430changes to: >
431 :e! other_file
432<
433 *E162* >
434 No write since last change for buffer "{name}"
435
436This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You
437will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to
438abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you
439don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten
440about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set.
441
Bram Moolenaard4755bb2004-09-02 19:12:26 +0000442>
443 [No write since last change]
444
445This appears when executing a shell command while at least one buffer was
446changed. To avoid the message reset the 'warn' option.
447
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000448 *E38* >
449 Null argument
450
451Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know
452how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
453
454 *E172* >
455 Only one file name allowed
456
457The ":edit" command only accepts one file name. When you want to specify
458several files for editing use ":next" |:next|.
459
460 *E41* *E82* *E83* *E342* >
461 Out of memory!
462 Out of memory! (allocating {number} bytes)
463 Cannot allocate any buffer, exiting...
464 Cannot allocate buffer, using other one...
465
466Oh, oh. You must have been doing something complicated, or some other program
467is consuming your memory. Be careful! Vim is not completely prepared for an
468out-of-memory situation. First make sure that any changes are saved. Then
469try to solve the memory shortage. To stay on the safe side, exit Vim and
470start again. Also see |msdos-limitations|.
471
472 *E339* >
473 Pattern too long
474
475This only happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is
476longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern.
477
478 *E45* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100479 'readonly' option is set (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000480
481You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the
482file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just
483after the command you used. Example: >
484 :w
485changes to: >
486 :w!
487<
488 *E294* *E295* *E301* >
489 Read error in swap file
490 Seek error in swap file read
491 Oops, lost the swap file!!!
492
493Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The
494text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you
495write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for
496differences.
497
498 *E192* >
499 Recursive use of :normal too deep
500
501You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal"
502command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This
503example illustrates how to get this message: >
504 :map gq :normal gq<CR>
505If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again.
506
507 *E22* >
508 Scripts nested too deep
509
510Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source"
511command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue
512for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a
513recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message.
514
515 *E319* >
516 Sorry, the command is not available in this version
517
518You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are
519using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or
520disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating
521system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The
522|:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with.
523
524 *E300* >
525 Swap file already exists (symlink attack?)
526
527This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it
528already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen,
529because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else
530opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is
531attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when
532'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice).
533
534 *E432* >
535 Tags file not sorted: {file name}
536
537Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching
538can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags
539files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option.
540This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a
541tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even thought the tags file is not
542properly sorted.
543
544 *E460* >
545 The resource fork would be lost (add ! to override)
546
547On the Macintosh (classic), when writing a file, Vim attempts to preserve all
548info about a file, including its resource fork. If this is not possible you
549get this error message. Append "!" to the command name to write anyway (and
550lose the info).
551
552 *E424* >
553 Too many different highlighting attributes in use
554
555Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run
556into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different
557arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted.
558
559 *E77* >
560 Too many file names
561
562When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is
563allowed for the command that was used.
564
565 *E303* >
566 Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible
567
568Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100569Vim unexpectedly exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000570memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option
571to avoid this error. See |swap-file|.
572
573 *E140* >
574 Use ! to write partial buffer
575
576When using a range to write part of a buffer, it is unusual to overwrite the
577original file. It is probably a mistake (e.g., when Visual mode was active
578when using ":w"), therefore Vim requires using a ! after the command, e.g.:
579":3,10w!".
580>
581
582 Warning: Cannot convert string "<Key>Escape,_Key_Cancel" to type
583 VirtualBinding
584
585Messages like this appear when starting up. This is not a Vim problem, your
586X11 configuration is wrong. You can find a hint on how to solve this here:
587http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisonintel/message/12179.
588
589 *W10* >
590 Warning: Changing a readonly file
591
592The file is read-only and you are making a change to it anyway. You can use
593the |FileChangedRO| autocommand event to avoid this message (the autocommand
594must reset the 'readonly' option). See 'modifiable' to completely disallow
595making changes to a file.
Bram Moolenaard5cdbeb2005-10-10 20:59:28 +0000596This message is only given for the first change after 'readonly' has been set.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000597
598 *W13* >
599 Warning: File "{filename}" has been created after editing started
600
601You are editing a file in Vim when it didn't exist, but it does exist now.
602You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in Vim or the newly
603created file. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
604
605 *W11* >
606 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started
607
608The file which you have started editing has got another timestamp and the
609contents changed (more precisely: When reading the file again with the current
610option settings and autocommands you would end up with different text). This
611probably means that some other program changed the file. You will have to
612find out what happened, and decide which version of the file you want to keep.
613Set the 'autoread' option if you want to do this automatically.
614This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
615
616There is one situation where you get this message even though there is nothing
617wrong: If you save a file in Windows on the day the daylight saving time
618starts. It can be fixed in one of these ways:
619- Add this line in your autoexec.bat: >
620 SET TZ=-1
621< Adjust the "-1" for your time zone.
622- Disable "automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes".
623- Just write the file again the next day. Or set your clock to the next day,
624 write the file twice and set the clock back.
625
626 *W12* >
627 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed and the buffer was changed in Vim as well
628
629Like the above, and the buffer for the file was changed in this Vim as well.
630You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in this Vim or the one
631on disk. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
632
633 *W16* >
634 Warning: Mode of file "{filename}" has changed since editing started
635
636When the timestamp for a buffer was changed and the contents are still the
637same but the mode (permissions) have changed. This usually occurs when
638checking out a file from a version control system, which causes the read-only
639bit to be reset. It should be safe to reload the file. Set 'autoread' to
640automatically reload the file.
641
642 *E211* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100643 File "{filename}" no longer available
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000644
645The file which you have started editing has disappeared, or is no longer
646accessible. Make sure you write the buffer somewhere to avoid losing
647changes. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
648
649 *W14* >
650 Warning: List of file names overflow
651
652You must be using an awful lot of buffers. It's now possible that two buffers
653have the same number, which causes various problems. You might want to exit
654Vim and restart it.
655
656 *E296* *E297* >
657 Seek error in swap file write
658 Write error in swap file
659
660This mostly happens when the disk is full. Vim could not write text into the
661|swap-file|. It's not directly harmful, but when Vim unexpectedly exits some
662text may be lost without recovery being possible. Vim might run out of memory
663when this problem persists.
664
665 *connection-refused* >
666 Xlib: connection to "<machine-name:0.0" refused by server
667
668This happens when Vim tries to connect to the X server, but the X server does
669not allow a connection. The connection to the X server is needed to be able
670to restore the title and for the xterm clipboard support. Unfortunately this
671error message cannot be avoided, except by disabling the |+xterm_clipboard|
672and |+X11| features.
673
674 *E10* >
675 \\ should be followed by /, ? or &
676
677A command line started with a backslash or the range of a command contained a
678backslash in a wrong place. This is often caused by command-line continuation
679being disabled. Remove the 'C' flag from the 'cpoptions' option to enable it.
Bram Moolenaar5eb86f92004-07-26 12:53:41 +0000680Or use ":set nocp".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000681
682 *E471* >
683 Argument required
684
685This happens when an Ex command with mandatory argument(s) was executed, but
686no argument has been specified.
687
688 *E474* *E475* >
689 Invalid argument
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100690 Invalid argument: {arg}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000691
692An Ex command has been executed, but an invalid argument has been specified.
693
694 *E488* >
695 Trailing characters
696
697An argument has been added to an Ex command that does not permit one.
698
699 *E477* *E478* >
700 No ! allowed
701 Don't panic!
702
703You have added a "!" after an Ex command that doesn't permit one.
704
705 *E481* >
706 No range allowed
707
708A range was specified for an Ex command that doesn't permit one. See
709|cmdline-ranges|.
710
711 *E482* *E483* >
712 Can't create file {filename}
713 Can't get temp file name
714
715Vim cannot create a temporary file.
716
717 *E484* *E485* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100718 Can't open file {filename}
719 Can't read file {filename}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000720
721Vim cannot read a temporary file.
722
723 *E464* >
724 Ambiguous use of user-defined command
725
726There are two user-defined commands with a common name prefix, and you used
727Command-line completion to execute one of them. |user-cmd-ambiguous|
728Example: >
729 :command MyCommand1 echo "one"
730 :command MyCommand2 echo "two"
731 :MyCommand
732<
733 *E492* >
734 Not an editor command
735
736You tried to execute a command that is neither an Ex command nor
737a user-defined command.
738
739==============================================================================
7403. Messages *messages*
741
742This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives:
743
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000744 *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return*
745 *press-return* *hit-enter-prompt*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000746
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000747 Press ENTER or type command to continue
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000748
749This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read,
750and the screen is about to be redrawn:
751- After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "=").
752- Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of
753 the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output.
754
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000755-> Press <Enter> or <Space> to redraw the screen and continue, without that
756 key being used otherwise.
757-> Press ':' or any other Normal mode command character to start that command.
Bram Moolenaare1438bb2006-03-01 22:01:55 +0000758-> Press 'k', <Up>, 'u', 'b' or 'g' to scroll back in the messages. This
759 works the same way as at the |more-prompt|. Only works when 'compatible'
760 is off and 'more' is on.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100761-> Pressing 'j', 'f', 'd' or <Down> is ignored when messages scrolled off the
762 top of the screen, 'compatible' is off and 'more' is on, to avoid that
763 typing one 'j' or 'f' too many causes the messages to disappear.
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000764-> Press <C-Y> to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000765-> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used.
766-> When 'mouse' contains the 'r' flag, clicking the left mouse button works
767 like pressing <Space>. This makes it impossible to select text though.
768-> For the GUI clicking the left mouse button in the last line works like
769 pressing <Space>.
770{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted}
771
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000772If you accidentally hit <Enter> or <Space> and you want to see the displayed
773text then use |g<|. This only works when 'more' is set.
774
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000775To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts:
776- Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher.
777- Add flags to 'shortmess'.
778- Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'.
779
Bram Moolenaarbb15b652005-10-03 21:52:09 +0000780If your script causes the hit-enter prompt and you don't know why, you may
781find the |v:scrollstart| variable useful.
782
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000783Also see 'mouse'. The hit-enter message is highlighted with the |hl-Question|
784group.
785
786
787 *more-prompt* *pager* >
788 -- More --
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000789 -- More -- SPACE/d/j: screen/page/line down, b/u/k: up, q: quit
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000790
791This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only
792given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg|
793group.
794
795Type effect ~
796 <CR> or <NL> or j or <Down> one more line
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000797 d down a page (half a screen)
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100798 <Space> or f or <PageDown> down a screen
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000799 G down all the way, until the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000800 prompt
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000801
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000802 <BS> or k or <Up> one line back (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000803 u up a page (half a screen) (*)
804 b or <PageUp> back a screen (*)
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000805 g back to the start (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000806
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000807 q, <Esc> or CTRL-C stop the listing
808 : stop the listing and enter a
809 command-line
810 <C-Y> yank (copy) a modeless selection to
811 the clipboard ("* and "+ registers)
812 {menu-entry} what the menu is defined to in
813 Cmdline-mode.
814 <LeftMouse> (**) next page
815
816Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed.
817
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000818(*) backwards scrolling is {not in Vi}. Only scrolls back to where messages
819 started to scroll.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000820(**) Clicking the left mouse button only works:
821 - For the GUI: in the last line of the screen.
822 - When 'r' is included in 'mouse' (but then selecting text won't work).
823
824
825Note: The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped
826and typeahead is ignored.
827
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +0000828The |g<| command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
829This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
830prompt.
831
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000832 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: