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Bram Moolenaar08589172014-03-08 18:38:28 +01001*gui.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2014 Mar 08
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00002
3
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
5
6
7Vim's Graphical User Interface *gui* *GUI*
8
91. Starting the GUI |gui-start|
102. Scrollbars |gui-scrollbars|
113. Mouse Control |gui-mouse|
124. Making GUI Selections |gui-selections|
135. Menus |menus|
146. Extras |gui-extras|
157. Shell Commands |gui-shell|
16
17Other GUI documentation:
18|gui_x11.txt| For specific items of the X11 GUI.
19|gui_w32.txt| For specific items of the Win32 GUI.
20
21{Vi does not have any of these commands}
22
23==============================================================================
241. Starting the GUI *gui-start* *E229* *E233*
25
26First you must make sure you actually have a version of Vim with the GUI code
Bram Moolenaar5e3cb7e2006-02-27 23:58:35 +000027included. You can check this with the ":version" command, it says "with xxx
28GUI", where "xxx" is X11-Motif, X11-Athena, Photon, GTK, GTK2, etc., or
29"MS-Windows 32 bit GUI version".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000030
31How to start the GUI depends on the system used. Mostly you can run the
32GUI version of Vim with:
33 gvim [options] [files...]
34
35The X11 version of Vim can run both in GUI and in non-GUI mode. See
36|gui-x11-start|.
37
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +010038 *gui-init* *gvimrc* *.gvimrc* *_gvimrc* *$MYGVIMRC*
Bram Moolenaar910f66f2006-04-05 20:41:53 +000039The gvimrc file is where GUI-specific startup commands should be placed. It
40is always sourced after the |vimrc| file. If you have one then the $MYGVIMRC
41environment variable has its name.
42
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000043When the GUI starts up initializations are carried out, in this order:
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +010044- The 'term' option is set to "builtin_gui" and terminal options are reset to
Bram Moolenaar1d2ba7f2006-02-14 22:29:30 +000045 their default value for the GUI |terminal-options|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000046- If the system menu file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
47 normally "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". You can check this with ":version". Also
48 see |$VIMRUNTIME|. To skip loading the system menu include 'M' in
49 'guioptions'. *buffers-menu* *no_buffers_menu*
50 The system menu file includes a "Buffers" menu. If you don't want this, set
51 the "no_buffers_menu" variable in your .vimrc (not .gvimrc!): >
52 :let no_buffers_menu = 1
53< NOTE: Switching on syntax highlighting also loads the menu file, thus
54 disabling the Buffers menu must be done before ":syntax on".
55 The path names are truncated to 35 characters. You can truncate them at a
56 different length, for example 50, like this: >
57 :let bmenu_max_pathlen = 50
58- If the "-U {gvimrc}" command-line option has been used when starting Vim,
59 the {gvimrc} file will be read for initializations. The following
Bram Moolenaar81695252004-12-29 20:58:21 +000060 initializations are skipped. When {gvimrc} is "NONE" no file will be read
61 for initializations.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000062- For Unix and MS-Windows, if the system gvimrc exists, it is sourced. The
63 name of this file is normally "$VIM/gvimrc". You can check this with
64 ":version". Also see |$VIM|.
65- The following are tried, and only the first one that exists is used:
66 - If the GVIMINIT environment variable exists and is not empty, it is
67 executed as an Ex command.
68 - If the user gvimrc file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
69 normally "$HOME/.gvimrc". You can check this with ":version".
70 - For Win32, when $HOME is not set, "$VIM\_gvimrc" is used.
71 - When a "_gvimrc" file is not found, ".gvimrc" is tried too. And vice
72 versa.
Bram Moolenaar910f66f2006-04-05 20:41:53 +000073 The name of the first file found is stored in $MYGVIMRC, unless it was
74 already set.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000075- If the 'exrc' option is set (which is NOT the default) the file ./.gvimrc
76 is sourced, if it exists and isn't the same file as the system or user
77 gvimrc file. If this file is not owned by you, some security restrictions
78 apply. When ".gvimrc" is not found, "_gvimrc" is tried too. For Macintosh
79 and DOS/Win32 "_gvimrc" is tried first.
80
81NOTE: All but the first one are not carried out if Vim was started with
82"-u NONE" and no "-U" argument was given, or when started with "-U NONE".
83
84All this happens AFTER the normal Vim initializations, like reading your
85.vimrc file. See |initialization|.
86But the GUI window is only opened after all the initializations have been
87carried out. If you want some commands to be executed just after opening the
88GUI window, use the |GUIEnter| autocommand event. Example: >
Bram Moolenaar648120b2005-08-08 21:57:35 +000089 :autocmd GUIEnter * winpos 100 50
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000090
91You can use the gvimrc files to set up your own customized menus (see |:menu|)
92and initialize other things that you may want to set up differently from the
93terminal version.
94
95Recommended place for your personal GUI initializations:
Bram Moolenaar22971aa2013-06-12 20:35:58 +020096 Unix $HOME/.gvimrc or $HOME/.vim/gvimrc
97 OS/2 $HOME/.gvimrc, $HOME/vimfiles/gvimrc
98 or $VIM/.gvimrc
99 MS-DOS and Win32 $HOME/_gvimrc, $HOME/vimfiles/gvimrc
100 or $VIM/_gvimrc
101 Amiga s:.gvimrc, home:.gvimrc, home:vimfiles:gvimrc
102 or $VIM/.gvimrc
103
104The personal initialization files are searched in the order specified above
105and only the first one that is found is read.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000106
107There are a number of options which only have meaning in the GUI version of
108Vim. These are 'guicursor', 'guifont', 'guipty' and 'guioptions'. They are
109documented in |options.txt| with all the other options.
110
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000111If using the Motif or Athena version of the GUI (but not for the GTK+ or
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000112Win32 version), a number of X resources are available. See |gui-resources|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000113
114Another way to set the colors for different occasions is with highlight
115groups. The "Normal" group is used to set the background and foreground
116colors. Example (which looks nice): >
117
118 :highlight Normal guibg=grey90
119
120The "guibg" and "guifg" settings override the normal background and
121foreground settings. The other settings for the Normal highlight group are
122not used. Use the 'guifont' option to set the font.
123
124Also check out the 'guicursor' option, to set the colors for the cursor in
125various modes.
126
127Vim tries to make the window fit on the screen when it starts up. This avoids
128that you can't see part of it. On the X Window System this requires a bit of
129guesswork. You can change the height that is used for the window title and a
130task bar with the 'guiheadroom' option.
131
132 *:winp* *:winpos* *E188*
133:winp[os]
134 Display current position of the top left corner of the GUI vim
135 window in pixels. Does not work in all versions.
Bram Moolenaar08589172014-03-08 18:38:28 +0100136 Also see |getwinposx()| and |getwinposy()|.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000137
138:winp[os] {X} {Y} *E466*
139 Put the GUI vim window at the given {X} and {Y} coordinates.
140 The coordinates should specify the position in pixels of the
141 top left corner of the window. Does not work in all versions.
142 Does work in an (new) xterm |xterm-color|.
143 When the GUI window has not been opened yet, the values are
144 remembered until the window is opened. The position is
145 adjusted to make the window fit on the screen (if possible).
146
147 *:win* *:winsize* *E465*
148:win[size] {width} {height}
149 Set the window height to {width} by {height} characters.
150 Obsolete, use ":set lines=11 columns=22".
151 If you get less lines than expected, check the 'guiheadroom'
152 option.
153
154If you are running the X Window System, you can get information about the
Bram Moolenaar08589172014-03-08 18:38:28 +0100155window Vim is running in with these commands: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000156 :!xwininfo -id $WINDOWID
Bram Moolenaar08589172014-03-08 18:38:28 +0100157 :!xprop -id $WINDOWID
158 :execute '!xwininfo -id ' . v:windowid
159 :execute '!xprop -id ' . v:windowid
Bram Moolenaar5302d9e2011-09-14 17:55:08 +0200160<
161 *gui-IME* *iBus*
162Input methods for international characters in X that rely on the XIM
163framework, most notably iBus, have been known to produce undesirable results
164in gVim. These may include an inability to enter spaces, or long delays
165between typing a character and it being recognized by the application.
166
167One workaround that has been successful, for unknown reasons, is to prevent
168gvim from forking into the background by starting it with the |-f| argument.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000169
170==============================================================================
1712. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars*
172
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000173There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbar. You may
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000174configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option.
175
176The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"):
177
Bram Moolenaar166af9b2010-11-16 20:34:40 +0100178 +------------------------------+ `
179 | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m) `
180 +-+--------------------------+-+ `
181 |^| |^| `
182 |#| Text area. |#| `
183 | | | | `
184 |v|__________________________|v| `
185 Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-| `
186 between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^| `
187 | | | | `
188 | | Another file buffer. | | `
189 | | | | `
190 |#| |#| `
191 Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right `
192 |#| |#| scrollbar (r) `
193 | | | | `
194 |v| |v| `
195 +-+--------------------------+-+ `
196 | |< #### >| | <- Bottom `
197 +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b) `
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000198
199Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the
200appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is
201only useful when 'nowrap' is set.
202
203
204VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll*
205
206Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down
207to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb
208indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window.
209When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file
210will appear in the top of the window.
211
212If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000213scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000214
215If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the
216current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a
217vertical line, this line goes through the window.
218When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window
219is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for
220the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side.
221
222
223HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll*
224
225The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to
226scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The
227scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be
228scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when
229necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is
230set).
231
Bram Moolenaarfd371682005-01-14 21:42:54 +0000232Computing the length of the longest visible line takes quite a bit of
233computation, and it has to be done every time something changes. If this
234takes too much time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line,
235include the 'h' flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the
236text of the current cursor line.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000237
238 *athena-intellimouse*
239If you have an Intellimouse and an X server that supports using the wheel,
240then you can use the wheel to scroll the text up and down in gvim. This works
241with XFree86 4.0 and later, and with some older versions when you add patches.
242See |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
243
244For older versions of XFree86 you must patch your X server. The following
245page has a bit of information about using the Intellimouse on Linux as well as
246links to the patches and X server binaries (may not have the one you need
247though):
248 http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
249
250==============================================================================
2513. Mouse Control *gui-mouse*
252
253The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set.
254When the GUI is switched on, and 'mouse' wasn't set yet, the 'mouse' option is
255automatically set to "a", enabling it for all modes except for the
256|hit-enter| prompt. If you don't want this, a good place to change the
257'mouse' option is the "gvimrc" file.
258
259Other options that are relevant:
260'mousefocus' window focus follows mouse pointer |gui-mouse-focus|
261'mousemodel' what mouse button does which action
262'mousehide' hide mouse pointer while typing text
263'selectmode' whether to start Select mode or Visual mode
264
265A quick way to set these is with the ":behave" command.
266 *:behave* *:be*
267:be[have] {model} Set behavior for mouse and selection. Valid
268 arguments are:
269 mswin MS-Windows behavior
270 xterm Xterm behavior
271
272 Using ":behave" changes these options:
273 option mswin xterm ~
274 'selectmode' "mouse,key" ""
275 'mousemodel' "popup" "extend"
276 'keymodel' "startsel,stopsel" ""
277 'selection' "exclusive" "inclusive"
278
279In the $VIMRUNTIME directory, there is a script called |mswin.vim|, which will
280also map a few keys to the MS-Windows cut/copy/paste commands. This is NOT
281compatible, since it uses the CTRL-V, CTRL-X and CTRL-C keys. If you don't
282mind, use this command: >
283 :so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim
284
285For scrolling with a wheel on a mouse, see |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
286
287
2883.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move*
289
290Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the
291cursor to go, and it does!
292This works in when 'mouse' contains ~
293Normal mode 'n' or 'a'
294Visual mode 'v' or 'a'
295Insert mode 'i' or 'a'
296
297Select mode is handled like Visual mode.
298
299You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current
300cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit
301'd' and then click the mouse somewhere.
302
303 *gui-mouse-focus*
304The 'mousefocus' option can be set to make the keyboard focus follow the
305mouse pointer. This means that the window where the mouse pointer is, is the
306active window. Warning: this doesn't work very well when using a menu,
307because the menu command will always be applied to the top window.
308
309If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right
310mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains
311'c', 'a' or 'A').
312
313In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current
314selection.
315
316
3173.2 Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select*
318
319The mouse can be used to start a selection. How depends on the 'mousemodel'
320option:
321'mousemodel' is "extend": use the right mouse button
322'mousemodel' is "popup": use the left mouse button, while keeping the Shift
323key pressed.
324
325If there was no selection yet, this starts a selection from the old cursor
326position to the position pointed to with the mouse. If there already is a
327selection then the closest end will be extended.
328
329If 'selectmode' contains "mouse", then the selection will be in Select mode.
330This means that typing normal text will replace the selection. See
331|Select-mode|. Otherwise, the selection will be in Visual mode.
332
333Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking
334makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise.
335
336See |gui-selections| on how the selection is used.
337
338
3393.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-modeless*
340 *modeless-selection*
341A different kind of selection is used when:
342- in Command-line mode
343- in the Command-line window and pointing in another window
344- at the |hit-enter| prompt
345- whenever the current mode is not in the 'mouse' option
346- when holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys in the GUI
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000347
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000348Since Vim continues like the selection isn't there, and there is no mode
349associated with the selection, this is called modeless selection. Any text in
350the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse
351button at the start, drag to the end and release. To extend the selection,
352use the right mouse button when 'mousemodel' is "extend", or the left mouse
353button with the shift key pressed when 'mousemodel' is "popup".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000354The selection is removed when the selected text is scrolled or changed.
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000355
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000356On the command line CTRL-Y can be used to copy the selection into the
Bram Moolenaara7241f52008-06-24 20:39:31 +0000357clipboard. To do this from Insert mode, use CTRL-O : CTRL-Y <CR>. When
358'guioptions' contains a or A (default on X11), the selection is automatically
359copied to the "* register.
360
361The middle mouse button can then paste the text. On non-X11 systems, you can
362use CTRL-R +.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000363
364
3653.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status*
366
367Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim
368window makes that window the current window. This actually happens on button
369release (to be able to distinguish a click from a drag action).
370
371With the left mouse button a status line can be dragged up and down, thus
372resizing the windows above and below it. This does not change window focus.
373
374The same can be used on the vertical separator: click to give the window left
375of it focus, drag left and right to make windows wider and narrower.
376
377
3783.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various*
379
380 <S-LeftMouse> Search forward for the word under the mouse click.
381 When 'mousemodel' is "popup" this starts or extends a
382 selection.
383 <S-RightMouse> Search backward for the word under the mouse click.
384 <C-LeftMouse> Jump to the tag name under the mouse click.
385 <C-RightMouse> Jump back to position before the previous tag jump
386 (same as "CTRL-T")
387
388
3893.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping*
390
391The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: >
392 :map <S-LeftMouse> <RightMouse>
393 :map <S-LeftDrag> <RightDrag>
394 :map <S-LeftRelease> <RightRelease>
395 :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse>
396 :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag>
397 :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease>
398 :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse>
399 :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag>
400 :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease>
401 :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse>
402 :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag>
403 :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease>
404These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif
405application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area
406rather than the right mouse button.
407
408Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for modeless selection.
409
410
4113.7 Drag and drop *drag-n-drop*
412
413You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will
414be opened as if a |:drop| command was used.
415
416If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped
417file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the
418file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed.
419
420You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for
421that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error
422message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead.
423
424If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files
425and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these
426names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and
427'|'; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped.
428
429==============================================================================
4304. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections*
431
432 *quotestar*
433You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using
434Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then
435whenever a selection is started (Visual or Select mode), or when the selection
436is changed, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection
437(on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used; under X11, the |x11-selection| is
438used - you should read whichever of these is appropriate now).
439
440 *clipboard*
441There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "*
442register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000443selected is about to change (e.g. with a left mouse click somewhere), or when
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000444another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put
445in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current
446selection/put it on the clipboard: >
447
448 "*dd
449
450Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g.,
451by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register
452first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the
453selection (contents of the clipboard): >
454
455 "*p
456
457When using this register under X11, also see |x11-selection|. This also
458explains the related "+ register.
459
460Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type
461of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. For other
462applications the type is always character. However, if the text gets
463transferred via the |x11-cut-buffer|, the selection type is ALWAYS lost.
464
465When the "unnamed" string is included in the 'clipboard' option, the unnamed
466register is the same as the "* register. Thus you can yank to and paste the
467selection without prepending "* to commands.
468
469==============================================================================
4705. Menus *menus*
471
472For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual.
473
474
4755.1 Using Menus *using-menus*
476
477Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own
478menus, as many as you like.
479Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own
480menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember
481what the key sequence was.
482
483For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|.
484
485 *menu.vim*
486The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See
487|$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus.
488Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or,
489if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus
490|:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding
491this line to your .vimrc file (NOT your .gvimrc file!): >
492 :let did_install_default_menus = 1
493If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: >
494 :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100495The first item in the Syntax menu can be used to show all available filetypes
496in the menu (which can take a bit of time to load). If you want to have all
497filetypes already present at startup, add: >
498 :let do_syntax_sel_menu = 1
499
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000500<
501 *console-menus*
502Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus
503in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is
504not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line
505completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu
506system. To do this, put these commands in your .vimrc file: >
507 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
508 :set wildmenu
509 :set cpo-=<
510 :set wcm=<C-Z>
511 :map <F4> :emenu <C-Z>
512Pressing <F4> will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select
513a menu entry. Hit <Enter> to execute it. Hit <Esc> if you want to cancel.
514This does require the |+menu| feature enabled at compile time.
515
516 *tear-off-menus*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000517GTK+ and Motif support Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000518pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work
519correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in the
520defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead.
521
522The Win32 GUI version emulates Motif's tear-off menus. Actually, a Motif user
523will spot the differences easily, but hopefully they're just as useful. You
524can also use the |:tearoff| command together with |hidden-menus| to create
525floating menus that do not appear on the main menu bar.
526
527
5285.2 Creating New Menus *creating-menus*
529
530 *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu*
531 *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu*
532 *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu*
533 *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu*
534 *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000535 *:xme* *:xmenu* *:xnoreme* *:xnoremenu*
536 *:sme* *:smenu* *:snoreme* *:snoremenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000537 *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu*
538 *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu*
539 *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333*
Bram Moolenaard5ab34b2007-05-05 17:15:44 +0000540 *E328* *E329* *E337* *E792*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000541To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like
542the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000543as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them, e.g.: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000544
545 :menu File.Save :w<CR>
546 :inoremenu File.Save <C-O>:w<CR>
547 :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g<CR>
548
549This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding
550the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item
551"Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces",
552which when selected, performs the operation.
553
554Special characters in a menu name:
555
556 & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each
557 shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to
558 insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&".
559 <Tab> Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be
560 used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "<Tab>"
561 can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real
Bram Moolenaarb5ba0022007-05-12 13:06:29 +0000562 tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it!
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000563Example: >
564
565 :amenu &File.&Open<Tab>:e :browse e<CR>
566
567[typed literally]
568With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the <Alt> key pressed), and then "O",
569this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e"
570is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut.
571
572The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once.
573To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for
574some modes:
575 mode inserted appended ~
576 Normal nothing nothing
577 Visual <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
Bram Moolenaar00a927d2010-05-14 23:24:24 +0200578 Insert <C-\><C-O>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000579 Cmdline <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
580 Op-pending <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
581
582Appending CTRL-\ CTRL-G is for going back to insert mode when 'insertmode' is
583set. |CTRL-\_CTRL-G|
584
585Example: >
586
587 :amenu File.Next :next^M
588
589is equal to: >
590
591 :nmenu File.Next :next^M
592 :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
Bram Moolenaar00a927d2010-05-14 23:24:24 +0200593 :imenu File.Next ^\^O:next^M
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000594 :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
595 :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
596
597Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command,
598because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use
599the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the
600expression register: >
601
602 :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'<CR>P
603
604Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when
605included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized).
606
607Note that <Esc> in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This
608is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode.
609
610 *:menu-<silent>* *:menu-silent*
611To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add
612"<silent>" as the first argument. Example: >
613 :menu <silent> Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic<CR>
614The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the
615executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent"
616in the executed command: >
617 :menu <silent> Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r"<CR>
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000618"<silent>" may also appear just after "<special>" or "<script>".
619
620 *:menu-<special>* *:menu-special*
621Define a menu with <> notation for special keys, even though the "<" flag
622may appear in 'cpoptions'. This is useful if the side effect of setting
623'cpoptions' is not desired. Example: >
624 :menu <special> Search.Header /Header<CR>
625"<special>" must appear as the very first argument to the ":menu" command or
626just after "<silent>" or "<script>".
627
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000628 *:menu-<script>* *:menu-script*
629The "to" part of the menu will be inspected for mappings. If you don't want
630this, use the ":noremenu" command (or the similar one for a specific mode).
631If you do want to use script-local mappings, add "<script>" as the very first
Bram Moolenaar9c102382006-05-03 21:26:49 +0000632argument to the ":menu" command or just after "<silent>" or "<special>".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000633
634 *menu-priority*
635You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to
636the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command.
637Example: >
638 :80menu Buffer.next :bn<CR>
639
640The default menus have these priorities:
641 File 10
642 Edit 20
643 Tools 40
644 Syntax 50
645 Buffers 60
646 Window 70
647 Help 9999
648
649When no or zero priority is given, 500 is used.
650The priority for the PopUp menu is not used.
651
652The Help menu will be placed on the far right side of the menu bar on systems
653which support this (Motif and GTK+). For GTK+ 2, this is not done anymore
654because right-aligning the Help menu is now discouraged UI design.
655
656You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu,
657but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is
658about 32000. The lowest is 1.
659
660 *sub-menu-priority*
661The same mechanism can be used to position a sub-menu. The priority is then
662given as a dot-separated list of priorities, before the menu name: >
663 :menu 80.500 Buffer.next :bn<CR>
664Giving the sub-menu priority is only needed when the item is not to be put
665in a normal position. For example, to put a sub-menu before the other items: >
666 :menu 80.100 Buffer.first :brew<CR>
667Or to put a sub-menu after the other items, and further items with default
668priority will be put before it: >
669 :menu 80.900 Buffer.last :blast<CR>
670When a number is missing, the default value 500 will be used: >
671 :menu .900 myMenu.test :echo "text"<CR>
672The menu priority is only used when creating a new menu. When it already
673existed, e.g., in another mode, the priority will not change. Thus, the
674priority only needs to be given the first time a menu is used.
675An exception is the PopUp menu. There is a separate menu for each mode
676(Normal, Op-pending, Visual, Insert, Cmdline). The order in each of these
677menus can be different. This is different from menu-bar menus, which have
678the same order for all modes.
679NOTE: sub-menu priorities currently don't work for all versions of the GUI.
680
681 *menu-separator* *E332*
682Menu items can be separated by a special item that inserts some space between
683items. Depending on the system this is displayed as a line or a dotted line.
684These items must start with a '-' and end in a '-'. The part in between is
685used to give it a unique name. Priorities can be used as with normal items.
686Example: >
687 :menu Example.item1 :do something
688 :menu Example.-Sep- :
689 :menu Example.item2 :do something different
690Note that the separator also requires a rhs. It doesn't matter what it is,
691because the item will never be selected. Use a single colon to keep it
692simple.
693
694 *gui-toolbar*
Bram Moolenaar843ee412004-06-30 16:16:41 +0000695The toolbar is currently available in the Win32, Athena, Motif, GTK+ (X11),
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000696and Photon GUI. It should turn up in other GUIs in due course. The
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000697default toolbar is setup in menu.vim.
698The display of the toolbar is controlled by the 'guioptions' letter 'T'. You
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000699can thus have menu & toolbar together, or either on its own, or neither.
Bram Moolenaar06b5d512010-05-22 15:37:44 +0200700The appearance is controlled by the 'toolbar' option. You can choose between
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000701an image, text or both.
702
703 *toolbar-icon*
704The toolbar is defined as a special menu called ToolBar, which only has one
705level. Vim interprets the items in this menu as follows:
7061) If an "icon=" argument was specified, the file with this name is used.
707 The file can either be specified with the full path or with the base name.
708 In the last case it is searched for in the "bitmaps" directory in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000709 'runtimepath', like in point 3. Examples: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000710 :amenu icon=/usr/local/pixmaps/foo_icon.xpm ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
711 :amenu icon=FooIcon ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
712< Note that in the first case the extension is included, while in the second
713 case it is omitted.
714 If the file cannot be opened the next points are tried.
715 A space in the file name must be escaped with a backslash.
716 A menu priority must come _after_ the icon argument: >
717 :amenu icon=foo 1.42 ToolBar.Foo :echo "42!"<CR>
7182) An item called 'BuiltIn##', where ## is a number, is taken as number ## of
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000719 the built-in bitmaps available in Vim. Currently there are 31 numbered
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000720 from 0 to 30 which cover most common editing operations |builtin-tools|. >
721 :amenu ToolBar.BuiltIn22 :call SearchNext("back")<CR>
7223) An item with another name is first searched for in the directory
723 "bitmaps" in 'runtimepath'. If found, the bitmap file is used as the
724 toolbar button image. Note that the exact filename is OS-specific: For
725 example, under Win32 the command >
726 :amenu ToolBar.Hello :echo "hello"<CR>
727< would find the file 'hello.bmp'. Under GTK+/X11 it is 'Hello.xpm'. With
728 GTK+ 2 the files 'Hello.png', 'Hello.xpm' and 'Hello.bmp' are checked for
729 existence, and the first one found would be used.
730 For MS-Windows and GTK+ 2 the bitmap is scaled to fit the button. For
731 MS-Windows a size of 18 by 18 pixels works best.
732 For MS-Windows the bitmap should have 16 colors with the standard palette.
733 The light grey pixels will be changed to the Window frame color and the
734 dark grey pixels to the window shadow color. More colors might also work,
735 depending on your system.
7364) If the bitmap is still not found, Vim checks for a match against its list
737 of built-in names. Each built-in button image has a name.
738 So the command >
739 :amenu ToolBar.Open :e
740< will show the built-in "open a file" button image if no open.bmp exists.
741 All the built-in names can be seen used in menu.vim.
7425) If all else fails, a blank, but functioning, button is displayed.
743
744 *builtin-tools*
745nr Name Normal action ~
74600 New open new window
74701 Open browse for file to open in current window
74802 Save write buffer to file
74903 Undo undo last change
75004 Redo redo last undone change
75105 Cut delete selected text to clipboard
75206 Copy copy selected text to clipboard
75307 Paste paste text from clipboard
75408 Print print current buffer
75509 Help open a buffer on Vim's builtin help
75610 Find start a search command
75711 SaveAll write all modified buffers to file
75812 SaveSesn write session file for current situation
75913 NewSesn write new session file
76014 LoadSesn load session file
76115 RunScript browse for file to run as a Vim script
76216 Replace prompt for substitute command
76317 WinClose close current window
76418 WinMax make current window use many lines
76519 WinMin make current window use few lines
76620 WinSplit split current window
76721 Shell start a shell
76822 FindPrev search again, backward
76923 FindNext search again, forward
77024 FindHelp prompt for word to search help for
77125 Make run make and jump to first error
77226 TagJump jump to tag under the cursor
77327 RunCtags build tags for files in current directory
77428 WinVSplit split current window vertically
77529 WinMaxWidth make current window use many columns
77630 WinMinWidth make current window use few columns
777
778 *hidden-menus* *win32-hidden-menus*
779In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, starting a menu name with ']' excludes that menu
780from the main menu bar. You must then use the |:popup| or |:tearoff| command
781to display it.
782
783 *popup-menu*
Bram Moolenaara9587612006-05-04 21:47:50 +0000784In the Win32, GTK+, Motif, Athena and Photon GUI, you can define the
Bram Moolenaara3ffd9c2005-07-21 21:03:15 +0000785special menu "PopUp". This is the menu that is displayed when the right mouse
786button is pressed, if 'mousemodel' is set to popup or popup_setpos.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000787
788
7895.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *showing-menus*
790
791To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the
792menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu
793specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown.
794If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000795for the appropriate mode (e.g., Command-line mode for :cmenu).
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000796
797Special characters in the list, just before the rhs:
798* The menu was defined with "nore" to disallow remapping.
799& The menu was defined with "<script>" to allow remapping script-local
800 mappings only.
801- The menu was disabled.
802
803Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after a menu command may
804be used to complete the name of the menu item.
805
806
8075.4 Executing Menus *execute-menus*
808
809 *:em* *:emenu* *E334* *E335*
810:[range]em[enu] {menu} Execute {menu} from the command line.
811 The default is to execute the Normal mode
812 menu. If a range is specified, it executes
813 the Visual mode menu.
814 If used from <c-o>, it executes the
815 insert-mode menu Eg: >
816 :emenu File.Exit
817
818If the console-mode vim has been compiled with WANT_MENU defined, you can
819use :emenu to access useful menu items you may have got used to from GUI
820mode. See 'wildmenu' for an option that works well with this. See
821|console-menus| for an example.
822
823When using a range, if the lines match with '<,'>, then the menu is executed
824using the last visual selection.
825
826
8275.5 Deleting Menus *delete-menus*
828
829 *:unme* *:unmenu*
830 *:aun* *:aunmenu*
831 *:nunme* *:nunmenu*
832 *:ounme* *:ounmenu*
833 *:vunme* *:vunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar371d5402006-03-20 21:47:49 +0000834 *:xunme* *:xunmenu*
835 *:sunme* *:sunmenu*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000836 *:iunme* *:iunmenu*
837 *:cunme* *:cunmenu*
838To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are
839analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: >
840 :unmenu! Edit.Paste
841
842This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and
843Command-line modes.
844
845Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after an umenu command
846may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode.
847
848To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* >
849 :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode
850 :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode
851 :aunmenu * " remove all menus in all modes
852
853If you want to get rid of the menu bar: >
854 :set guioptions-=m
855
856
8575.6 Disabling Menus *disable-menus*
858
859 *:menu-disable* *:menu-enable*
860If you do not want to remove a menu, but disable it for a moment, this can be
861done by adding the "enable" or "disable" keyword to a ":menu" command.
862Examples: >
863 :menu disable &File.&Open\.\.\.
864 :amenu enable *
865 :amenu disable &Tools.*
866
867The command applies to the modes as used with all menu commands. Note that
868characters like "&" need to be included for translated names to be found.
869When the argument is "*", all menus are affected. Otherwise the given menu
870name and all existing submenus below it are affected.
871
872
8735.7 Examples for Menus *menu-examples*
874
875Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu
876item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. >
877
878 :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>
879 :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
880 :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z <CR>
881 :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
882 :imenu Words.Add\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>a
883 :imenu Words.Remove\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>a
884
885(the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the
886mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "<C-R>" is CTRL-R, "<CR>" is
887the <CR> key. |<>|)
888
889
8905.8 Tooltips & Menu tips
891
892See section |42.4| in the user manual.
893
894 *:tmenu* *:tm*
895:tm[enu] {menupath} {rhs} Define a tip for a menu or tool. {only in
896 X11 and Win32 GUI}
897
898:tm[enu] [menupath] List menu tips. {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
899
900 *:tunmenu* *:tu*
901:tu[nmenu] {menupath} Remove a tip for a menu or tool.
902 {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
903
904When a tip is defined for a menu item, it appears in the command-line area
905when the mouse is over that item, much like a standard Windows menu hint in
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000906the status bar. (Except when Vim is in Command-line mode, when of course
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000907nothing is displayed.)
908When a tip is defined for a ToolBar item, it appears as a tooltip when the
909mouse pauses over that button, in the usual fashion. Use the |hl-Tooltip|
910highlight group to change its colors.
911
912A "tip" can be defined for each menu item. For example, when defining a menu
913item like this: >
914 :amenu MyMenu.Hello :echo "Hello"<CR>
915The tip is defined like this: >
916 :tmenu MyMenu.Hello Displays a greeting.
917And delete it with: >
918 :tunmenu MyMenu.Hello
919
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000920Tooltips are currently only supported for the X11 and Win32 GUI. However, they
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000921should appear for the other gui platforms in the not too distant future.
922
923The ":tmenu" command works just like other menu commands, it uses the same
924arguments. ":tunmenu" deletes an existing menu tip, in the same way as the
925other unmenu commands.
926
927If a menu item becomes invalid (i.e. its actions in all modes are deleted) Vim
928deletes the menu tip (and the item) for you. This means that :aunmenu deletes
929a menu item - you don't need to do a :tunmenu as well.
930
931
9325.9 Popup Menus
933
934In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, you can cause a menu to popup at the cursor.
935This behaves similarly to the PopUp menus except that any menu tree can
936be popped up.
937
938This command is for backwards compatibility, using it is discouraged, because
939it behaves in a strange way.
940
941 *:popup* *:popu*
942:popu[p] {name} Popup the menu {name}. The menu named must
943 have at least one subentry, but need not
944 appear on the menu-bar (see |hidden-menus|).
945 {only available for Win32 and GTK GUI}
946
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000947:popu[p]! {name} Like above, but use the position of the mouse
948 pointer instead of the cursor.
949
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000950Example: >
951 :popup File
Bram Moolenaar97409f12005-07-08 22:17:29 +0000952will make the "File" menu (if there is one) appear at the text cursor (mouse
953pointer if ! was used). >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000954
955 :amenu ]Toolbar.Make :make<CR>
956 :popup ]Toolbar
957This creates a popup menu that doesn't exist on the main menu-bar.
958
959Note that a menu that starts with ']' will not be displayed.
960
961==============================================================================
9626. Extras *gui-extras*
963
964This section describes other features which are related to the GUI.
965
966- With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because
967 the key codes don't start with <Esc>.
968
969- Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "<Key>", since
970 the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to
971 get "<Modifiers-Key>".
972
973- In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within
Bram Moolenaar402d2fe2005-04-15 21:00:38 +0000974 mappings of special keys and mouse events. E.g.: :map <M-LeftDrag> <LeftDrag>
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000975
976- In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these
977 are <Space>, <Tab>, <NL>, <CR>, <Esc>.
978
979- To check in a Vim script if the GUI is being used, you can use something
980 like this: >
981
982 if has("gui_running")
983 echo "yes, we have a GUI"
984 else
985 echo "Boring old console"
986 endif
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000987< *setting-guifont*
988- When you use the same vimrc file on various systems, you can use something
989 like this to set options specifically for each type of GUI: >
990
991 if has("gui_running")
992 if has("gui_gtk2")
993 :set guifont=Luxi\ Mono\ 12
Bram Moolenaared203462004-06-16 11:19:22 +0000994 elseif has("x11")
995 " Also for GTK 1
996 :set guifont=*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-*-*-180-*-*-m-*-*
997 elseif has("gui_win32")
998 :set guifont=Luxi_Mono:h12:cANSI
999 endif
1000 endif
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00001001
Bram Moolenaar030f0df2006-02-21 22:02:53 +00001002A recommended Japanese font is MS Mincho. You can find info here:
1003http://www.lexikan.com/mincho.htm
1004
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00001005==============================================================================
10067. Shell Commands *gui-shell*
1007
1008For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window.
1009See |gui-pty|.
1010
1011WARNING: Executing an external command from the X11 GUI will not always
1012work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine.
1013Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't
1014work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be
1015careful!
1016
1017For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window.
1018See |gui-shell-win32|.
1019
1020 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: