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Bram Moolenaar1c6737b2020-09-07 22:18:52 +02001*message.txt* For Vim version 8.2. Last change: 2020 Sep 07
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 Moolenaar207f0092020-08-30 17:20:20 +020022 :mes[sages] Show all messages.
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020023
Bram Moolenaar207f0092020-08-30 17:20:20 +020024 :{count}mes[sages] Show the {count} most recent messages.
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020025
Bram Moolenaar207f0092020-08-30 17:20:20 +020026 :mes[sages] clear Clear all messages.
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020027
Bram Moolenaar207f0092020-08-30 17:20:20 +020028 :{count}mes[sages] clear
29 Clear messages, keeping only the {count} most
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020030 recent ones.
31
Bram Moolenaar6773b2b2010-05-30 16:01:37 +020032The number of remembered messages is fixed at 20 for the tiny version and 200
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +000033for other versions.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000034
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000035 *g<*
36The "g<" command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +000037This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaardd2a3cd2007-05-05 17:10:09 +000038prompt. You are then back at the hit-enter prompt and can then scroll further
39back.
Bram Moolenaar446beb42011-05-10 17:18:44 +020040Note: If the output has been stopped with "q" at the more prompt, it will only
41be displayed up to this point.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000042The previous command output is cleared when another command produces output.
Bram Moolenaar64d8e252016-09-06 22:12:34 +020043The "g<" output is not redirected.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000044
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000045If you are using translated messages, the first printed line tells who
46maintains the messages or the translations. You can use this to contact the
47maintainer when you spot a mistake.
48
49If you want to find help on a specific (error) message, use the ID at the
50start of the message. For example, to get help on the message: >
51
52 E72: Close error on swap file
53
54or (translated): >
55
56 E72: Errore durante chiusura swap file
57
58Use: >
59
60 :help E72
61
62If you are lazy, it also works without the shift key: >
63
64 :help e72
65
66==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaarf2330482008-06-24 20:19:36 +0000672. Error messages *error-messages* *errors*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000068
69When an error message is displayed, but it is removed before you could read
70it, you can see it again with: >
71 :echo errmsg
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020072Or view a list of recent messages with: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000073 :messages
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020074See `:messages` above.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000075
76
77LIST OF MESSAGES
Bram Moolenaar1c6737b2020-09-07 22:18:52 +020078 *E222* *E228* *E232* *E293* *E298* *E304* *E317*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000079 *E318* *E356* *E438* *E439* *E440* *E316* *E320* *E322*
Bram Moolenaar4b7cdca2020-01-01 16:18:38 +010080 *E323* *E341* *E473* *E570* *E685* *E292* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000081 Add to read buffer
82 makemap: Illegal mode
83 Cannot create BalloonEval with both message and callback
84 Hangul automata ERROR
85 block was not locked
86 Didn't get block nr {N}?
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +010087 ml_upd_block0(): Didn't get block 0??
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000088 pointer block id wrong {N}
89 Updated too many blocks?
90 get_varp ERROR
91 u_undo: line numbers wrong
92 undo list corrupt
93 undo line missing
94 ml_get: cannot find line {N}
95 cannot find line {N}
96 line number out of range: {N} past the end
97 line count wrong in block {N}
98 Internal error
Bram Moolenaarcf3630f2005-01-08 16:04:29 +000099 Internal error: {function}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000100 fatal error in cs_manage_matches
Bram Moolenaar72540672018-02-09 22:00:53 +0100101 Invalid count for del_bytes(): {N}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000102
103This is an internal error. If you can reproduce it, please send in a bug
104report. |bugs|
105
106>
107 ATTENTION
108 Found a swap file by the name ...
109
110See |ATTENTION|.
111
112 *E92* >
113 Buffer {N} not found
114
115The buffer you requested does not exist. This can also happen when you have
116wiped out a buffer which contains a mark or is referenced in another way.
117|:bwipeout|
118
119 *E95* >
120 Buffer with this name already exists
121
122You cannot have two buffers with the same name.
123
124 *E72* >
125 Close error on swap file
126
127The |swap-file|, that is used to keep a copy of the edited text, could not be
128closed properly. Mostly harmless.
129
130 *E169* >
131 Command too recursive
132
133This happens when an Ex command executes an Ex command that executes an Ex
Bram Moolenaarbc2eada2017-01-02 21:27:47 +0100134command, etc. The limit is 200 or the value of 'maxfuncdepth', whatever is
135larger. When it's more there probably is an endless loop. Probably a
136|:execute| or |:source| command is involved.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000137
138 *E254* >
139 Cannot allocate color {name}
140
141The color name {name} is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that
142are available on most systems.
143
144 *E458* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000145 Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect
146
147This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still
148run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try
149stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting
150gvim.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100151Browsers are known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this with
152netscape by telling it to use its own colormap: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000153 netscape -install
154Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): >
155 netscape -ncols 64
156This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: >
157 Netscape*installColormap: Yes
158or >
159 Netscape*maxImageColors: 64
160<
161 *E79* >
162 Cannot expand wildcards
163
164A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to
165attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no
166matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal.
167
168 *E459* >
169 Cannot go back to previous directory
170
171While expanding a file name, Vim failed to go back to the previously used
172directory. All file names being used may be invalid now! You need to have
173execute permission on the current directory.
174
175 *E190* *E212* >
176 Cannot open "{filename}" for writing
177 Can't open file for writing
178
179For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten.
180The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory
181or the file name is not valid.
182
183 *E166* >
184 Can't open linked file for writing
185
186You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is
187a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be
188possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but
189Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its
190place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its
191place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to
192manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim
193can overwrite.
194
195 *E46* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100196 Cannot change read-only variable "{name}"
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000197
198You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim
199internal variable |v:var| which is read-only.
200
201 *E90* >
202 Cannot unload last buffer
203
204Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing
205to display in the window.
206
207 *E40* >
208 Can't open errorfile <filename>
209
210When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error
211messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes:
212- 'shellredir' has a wrong value.
213- The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another
214 directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make
215 command is still executed in the wrong directory.
216- 'makeef' has a wrong value.
217- The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be
218 detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH.
219
220 >
221 Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP
222
223On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was
224to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by
225many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and
226related options. It might also be that the external command was not found,
227there is no different error message for that.
228
229 *E12* >
230 Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search
231
232Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly
233come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags
234file. Also see 'secure'.
235
236 *E74* >
237 Command too complex
238
239A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a
240mapping that indirectly calls itself.
241
242>
243 CONVERSION ERROR
244
245When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that
246some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the
247format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care
248about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value
249that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't
250care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option.
Bram Moolenaar68e65602019-05-26 21:33:31 +0200251If there is a backup file, when 'writebackup' or 'backup' is set, it will not
252be deleted, so you can move it back into place if you want to discard the
253changes.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000254
255 *E302* >
256 Could not rename swap file
257
258When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well.
259This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless.
260
261 *E43* *E44* >
262 Damaged match string
263 Corrupted regexp program
264
265Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you
266know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
267
268 *E208* *E209* *E210* >
269 Error writing to "{filename}"
270 Error closing "{filename}"
271 Error reading "{filename}"
272
273This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file
274name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed.
275The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist
276and the destination file may be incomplete.
277
278>
279 Vim: Error reading input, exiting...
280
281This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required.
282Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both
283stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim.
284
285 *E47* >
286 Error while reading errorfile
287
288Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error
289message that was not recognized.
290
291 *E80* >
292 Error while writing
293
294Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably
295incomplete.
296
297 *E13* *E189* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100298 File exists (add ! to override)
299 "{filename}" exists (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000300
301You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to
302write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command.
303Example: >
304 :w /tmp/test
305changes to: >
306 :w! /tmp/test
307<
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000308 *E768* >
309 Swap file exists: {filename} (:silent! overrides)
310
311You are protected from overwriting a file that is being edited by Vim. This
312happens when you use ":w! filename" and a swapfile is found.
313- If the swapfile was left over from an old crashed edit session you may want
314 to delete the swapfile. Edit {filename} to find out information about the
315 swapfile.
316- If you want to write anyway prepend ":silent!" to the command. For example: >
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000317 :silent! w! /tmp/test
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000318< The special command is needed, since you already added the ! for overwriting
319 an existing file.
320
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000321 *E139* >
322 File is loaded in another buffer
323
324You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another
325buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file.
326
327 *E142* >
328 File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option
329
330The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file
331generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument.
332You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write".
333
334 *E25* >
335 GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time
336
337You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore
338"gvim" and ":gui" don't work.
339
340 *E49* >
341 Invalid scroll size
342
343This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or
344'scrolloff' options.
345
346 *E17* >
347 "{filename}" is a directory
348
349You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible.
350You probably need to append a file name.
351
352 *E19* >
353 Mark has invalid line number
354
355You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can
356happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has
357deleted lines from it.
358
359 *E219* *E220* >
360 Missing {.
361 Missing }.
362
363Using a {} construct in a file name, but there is a { without a matching } or
364the other way around. It should be used like this: {foo,bar}. This matches
365"foo" and "bar".
366
367 *E315* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100368 ml_get: invalid lnum: {number}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000369
370This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be
371reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|.
372
373 *E173* >
374 {number} more files to edit
375
376You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been
377edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more
378files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it
379again and it will work.
380
381 *E23* *E194* >
382 No alternate file
383 No alternate file name to substitute for '#'
384
385The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|.
386
387 *E32* >
388 No file name
389
390The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the
391buffer a name with ":file fname".
392
393 *E141* >
394 No file name for buffer {number}
395
396One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it
397cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: >
398 :buffer {number}
399 :file {filename}
400<
401 *E33* >
402 No previous substitute regular expression
403
404When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously
405used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has
Bram Moolenaardf177f62005-02-22 08:39:57 +0000406been used yet. See |/~|. This also happens when using ":s/pat/%/", where the
407"%" stands for the previous substitute string.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000408
409 *E35* >
410 No previous regular expression
411
412When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But
413that is not possible if there was no previous search.
414
415 *E24* >
416 No such abbreviation
417
418You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an
419existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message:
420":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space.
421
422>
423 /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
424
425Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio
426device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error.
427
428 *E31* >
429 No such mapping
430
431You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing
432mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap",
Bram Moolenaar4c3f5362006-04-11 21:38:50 +0000433":unmap!", etc. A few hints:
434- Check for trailing white space.
435- If the mapping is buffer-local you need to use ":unmap <buffer>".
436 |:map-<buffer>|
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000437
438 *E37* *E89* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100439 No write since last change (add ! to override)
440 No write since last change for buffer {N} (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000441
442You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from
443losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you
444are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by
445adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: >
446 :e other_file
447changes to: >
448 :e! other_file
449<
450 *E162* >
451 No write since last change for buffer "{name}"
452
453This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You
454will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to
455abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you
456don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten
457about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set.
458
Bram Moolenaard4755bb2004-09-02 19:12:26 +0000459>
460 [No write since last change]
461
462This appears when executing a shell command while at least one buffer was
463changed. To avoid the message reset the 'warn' option.
464
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000465 *E38* >
466 Null argument
467
468Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know
469how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
470
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000471 *E41* *E82* *E83* *E342* >
472 Out of memory!
473 Out of memory! (allocating {number} bytes)
474 Cannot allocate any buffer, exiting...
475 Cannot allocate buffer, using other one...
476
477Oh, oh. You must have been doing something complicated, or some other program
478is consuming your memory. Be careful! Vim is not completely prepared for an
479out-of-memory situation. First make sure that any changes are saved. Then
480try to solve the memory shortage. To stay on the safe side, exit Vim and
Bram Moolenaar0ed0eea2010-07-26 22:21:27 +0200481start again.
482
Bram Moolenaar06fe74a2019-08-31 16:20:32 +0200483If this happens while Vim is still initializing, editing files is very
Bram Moolenaar2e693a82019-10-16 22:35:02 +0200484unlikely to work, therefore Vim will exit with value 123.
Bram Moolenaar06fe74a2019-08-31 16:20:32 +0200485
Bram Moolenaar0ed0eea2010-07-26 22:21:27 +0200486Buffers are only partly kept in memory, thus editing a very large file is
487unlikely to cause an out-of-memory situation. Undo information is completely
488in memory, you can reduce that with these options:
489- 'undolevels' Set to a low value, or to -1 to disable undo completely. This
490 helps for a change that affects all lines.
491- 'undoreload' Set to zero to disable.
492
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000493 *E339* >
494 Pattern too long
495
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100496This happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000497longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern.
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100498It also happens when the offset of a rule doesn't fit in the space available.
499Try simplifying the pattern.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000500
501 *E45* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100502 'readonly' option is set (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000503
504You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the
505file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just
506after the command you used. Example: >
507 :w
508changes to: >
509 :w!
510<
511 *E294* *E295* *E301* >
512 Read error in swap file
513 Seek error in swap file read
514 Oops, lost the swap file!!!
515
516Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The
517text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you
518write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for
519differences.
520
521 *E192* >
522 Recursive use of :normal too deep
523
524You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal"
525command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This
526example illustrates how to get this message: >
527 :map gq :normal gq<CR>
528If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again.
529
530 *E22* >
531 Scripts nested too deep
532
533Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source"
534command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue
535for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a
536recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message.
537
538 *E319* >
539 Sorry, the command is not available in this version
540
541You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are
542using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or
543disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating
544system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The
545|:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with.
546
547 *E300* >
548 Swap file already exists (symlink attack?)
549
550This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it
551already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen,
552because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else
553opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is
554attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when
555'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice).
556
557 *E432* >
558 Tags file not sorted: {file name}
559
560Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching
561can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags
562files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option.
563This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a
Bram Moolenaar7fc0c062010-08-10 21:43:35 +0200564tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even though the tags file is not
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000565properly sorted.
566
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000567 *E424* >
568 Too many different highlighting attributes in use
569
570Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run
571into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different
572arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted.
573
574 *E77* >
575 Too many file names
576
577When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is
578allowed for the command that was used.
579
580 *E303* >
581 Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible
582
583Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100584Vim unexpectedly exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000585memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option
Bram Moolenaar00e192b2019-10-19 17:01:28 +0200586to avoid this error. This error is not given when 'directory' is empty. See
587|swap-file|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000588
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
Bram Moolenaar62e1bb42019-04-08 16:25:07 +0200714 *E474* *E475* *E983* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000715 Invalid argument
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100716 Invalid argument: {arg}
Bram Moolenaar62e1bb42019-04-08 16:25:07 +0200717 Duplicate argument: {arg}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000718
Bram Moolenaar62e1bb42019-04-08 16:25:07 +0200719An Ex command or function has been executed, but an invalid argument has been
720specified.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000721
722 *E488* >
723 Trailing characters
724
725An argument has been added to an Ex command that does not permit one.
726
727 *E477* *E478* >
728 No ! allowed
729 Don't panic!
730
731You have added a "!" after an Ex command that doesn't permit one.
732
733 *E481* >
734 No range allowed
735
736A range was specified for an Ex command that doesn't permit one. See
737|cmdline-ranges|.
738
739 *E482* *E483* >
740 Can't create file {filename}
741 Can't get temp file name
742
743Vim cannot create a temporary file.
744
745 *E484* *E485* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100746 Can't open file {filename}
747 Can't read file {filename}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000748
Bram Moolenaar34700a62013-03-07 13:20:54 +0100749Vim cannot read a temporary file. Especially on Windows, this can be caused
750by wrong escaping of special characters for cmd.exe; the approach was
751changed with patch 7.3.443. Try using |shellescape()| for all shell arguments
752given to |system()|, or explicitly add escaping with ^. Also see
753'shellxquote' and 'shellxescape'.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000754
755 *E464* >
756 Ambiguous use of user-defined command
757
758There are two user-defined commands with a common name prefix, and you used
759Command-line completion to execute one of them. |user-cmd-ambiguous|
760Example: >
761 :command MyCommand1 echo "one"
762 :command MyCommand2 echo "two"
763 :MyCommand
764<
765 *E492* >
766 Not an editor command
767
768You tried to execute a command that is neither an Ex command nor
769a user-defined command.
770
Bram Moolenaare0720cb2017-03-29 13:48:40 +0200771 *E943* >
772 Command table needs to be updated, run 'make cmdidxs'
773
774This can only happen when changing the source code, when adding a command in
775src/ex_cmds.h. The lookup table then needs to be updated, by running: >
776 make cmdidxs
777
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000778==============================================================================
7793. Messages *messages*
780
781This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives:
782
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000783 *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return*
784 *press-return* *hit-enter-prompt*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000785
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000786 Press ENTER or type command to continue
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000787
788This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read,
789and the screen is about to be redrawn:
790- After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "=").
791- Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of
792 the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output.
793
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000794-> Press <Enter> or <Space> to redraw the screen and continue, without that
795 key being used otherwise.
796-> Press ':' or any other Normal mode command character to start that command.
Bram Moolenaare1438bb2006-03-01 22:01:55 +0000797-> Press 'k', <Up>, 'u', 'b' or 'g' to scroll back in the messages. This
798 works the same way as at the |more-prompt|. Only works when 'compatible'
799 is off and 'more' is on.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100800-> Pressing 'j', 'f', 'd' or <Down> is ignored when messages scrolled off the
801 top of the screen, 'compatible' is off and 'more' is on, to avoid that
802 typing one 'j' or 'f' too many causes the messages to disappear.
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000803-> Press <C-Y> to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000804-> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used.
805-> When 'mouse' contains the 'r' flag, clicking the left mouse button works
806 like pressing <Space>. This makes it impossible to select text though.
807-> For the GUI clicking the left mouse button in the last line works like
808 pressing <Space>.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000809
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000810If you accidentally hit <Enter> or <Space> and you want to see the displayed
811text then use |g<|. This only works when 'more' is set.
812
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000813To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts:
814- Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher.
815- Add flags to 'shortmess'.
816- Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'.
Bram Moolenaar06fe74a2019-08-31 16:20:32 +0200817- Make sure `:echo` text is shorter than or equal to |v:echospace| screen
818 cells.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000819
Bram Moolenaarbb15b652005-10-03 21:52:09 +0000820If your script causes the hit-enter prompt and you don't know why, you may
821find the |v:scrollstart| variable useful.
822
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000823Also see 'mouse'. The hit-enter message is highlighted with the |hl-Question|
824group.
825
826
827 *more-prompt* *pager* >
828 -- More --
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000829 -- More -- SPACE/d/j: screen/page/line down, b/u/k: up, q: quit
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000830
831This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only
832given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg|
833group.
834
835Type effect ~
836 <CR> or <NL> or j or <Down> one more line
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000837 d down a page (half a screen)
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100838 <Space> or f or <PageDown> down a screen
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000839 G down all the way, until the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000840 prompt
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000841
Bram Moolenaar25c9c682019-05-05 18:13:34 +0200842 <BS> or k or <Up> one line back
843 u up a page (half a screen)
844 b or <PageUp> back a screen
845 g back to the start
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000846
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000847 q, <Esc> or CTRL-C stop the listing
848 : stop the listing and enter a
849 command-line
850 <C-Y> yank (copy) a modeless selection to
851 the clipboard ("* and "+ registers)
852 {menu-entry} what the menu is defined to in
853 Cmdline-mode.
Bram Moolenaar25c9c682019-05-05 18:13:34 +0200854 <LeftMouse> next page (*)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000855
856Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed.
857
Bram Moolenaar25c9c682019-05-05 18:13:34 +0200858(*) Clicking the left mouse button only works:
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000859 - For the GUI: in the last line of the screen.
860 - When 'r' is included in 'mouse' (but then selecting text won't work).
861
862
863Note: The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped
864and typeahead is ignored.
865
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +0000866The |g<| command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
867This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
868prompt.
869
Bram Moolenaar91f84f62018-07-29 15:07:52 +0200870 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: