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Bram Moolenaarbb76f242016-09-12 14:24:39 +02001*message.txt* For Vim version 8.0. Last change: 2016 Sep 01
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00002
3
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
5
6
7This file contains an alphabetical list of messages and error messages that
8Vim produces. You can use this if you don't understand what the message
9means. It is not complete though.
10
111. Old messages |:messages|
122. Error messages |error-messages|
133. Messages |messages|
14
15==============================================================================
161. Old messages *:messages* *:mes* *message-history*
17
18The ":messages" command can be used to view previously given messages. This
19is especially useful when messages have been overwritten or truncated. This
20depends on the 'shortmess' option.
21
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020022 :messages Show all messages.
23
24 :{count}messages Show the {count} most recent messages.
25
26 :messages clear Clear all messages.
27
28 :{count}messages clear Clear messages, keeping only the {count} most
29 recent ones.
30
Bram Moolenaar6773b2b2010-05-30 16:01:37 +020031The number of remembered messages is fixed at 20 for the tiny version and 200
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +000032for other versions.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000033
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000034 *g<*
35The "g<" command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +000036This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaardd2a3cd2007-05-05 17:10:09 +000037prompt. You are then back at the hit-enter prompt and can then scroll further
38back.
Bram Moolenaar446beb42011-05-10 17:18:44 +020039Note: If the output has been stopped with "q" at the more prompt, it will only
40be displayed up to this point.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000041The previous command output is cleared when another command produces output.
Bram Moolenaar64d8e252016-09-06 22:12:34 +020042The "g<" output is not redirected.
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +000043
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000044If you are using translated messages, the first printed line tells who
45maintains the messages or the translations. You can use this to contact the
46maintainer when you spot a mistake.
47
48If you want to find help on a specific (error) message, use the ID at the
49start of the message. For example, to get help on the message: >
50
51 E72: Close error on swap file
52
53or (translated): >
54
55 E72: Errore durante chiusura swap file
56
57Use: >
58
59 :help E72
60
61If you are lazy, it also works without the shift key: >
62
63 :help e72
64
65==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaarf2330482008-06-24 20:19:36 +0000662. Error messages *error-messages* *errors*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000067
68When an error message is displayed, but it is removed before you could read
69it, you can see it again with: >
70 :echo errmsg
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020071Or view a list of recent messages with: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000072 :messages
Bram Moolenaar451f8492016-04-14 17:16:22 +020073See `:messages` above.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000074
75
76LIST OF MESSAGES
77 *E222* *E228* *E232* *E256* *E293* *E298* *E304* *E317*
78 *E318* *E356* *E438* *E439* *E440* *E316* *E320* *E322*
Bram Moolenaar24ea3ba2010-09-19 19:01:21 +020079 *E323* *E341* *E473* *E570* *E685* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000080 Add to read buffer
81 makemap: Illegal mode
82 Cannot create BalloonEval with both message and callback
83 Hangul automata ERROR
84 block was not locked
85 Didn't get block nr {N}?
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +010086 ml_upd_block0(): Didn't get block 0??
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000087 pointer block id wrong {N}
88 Updated too many blocks?
89 get_varp ERROR
90 u_undo: line numbers wrong
91 undo list corrupt
92 undo line missing
93 ml_get: cannot find line {N}
94 cannot find line {N}
95 line number out of range: {N} past the end
96 line count wrong in block {N}
97 Internal error
Bram Moolenaarcf3630f2005-01-08 16:04:29 +000098 Internal error: {function}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +000099 fatal error in cs_manage_matches
100
101This is an internal error. If you can reproduce it, please send in a bug
102report. |bugs|
103
104>
105 ATTENTION
106 Found a swap file by the name ...
107
108See |ATTENTION|.
109
110 *E92* >
111 Buffer {N} not found
112
113The buffer you requested does not exist. This can also happen when you have
114wiped out a buffer which contains a mark or is referenced in another way.
115|:bwipeout|
116
117 *E95* >
118 Buffer with this name already exists
119
120You cannot have two buffers with the same name.
121
122 *E72* >
123 Close error on swap file
124
125The |swap-file|, that is used to keep a copy of the edited text, could not be
126closed properly. Mostly harmless.
127
128 *E169* >
129 Command too recursive
130
131This happens when an Ex command executes an Ex command that executes an Ex
132command, etc. This is only allowed 200 times. When it's more there probably
133is an endless loop. Probably a |:execute| or |:source| command is involved.
134
135 *E254* >
136 Cannot allocate color {name}
137
138The color name {name} is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that
139are available on most systems.
140
141 *E458* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000142 Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect
143
144This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still
145run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try
146stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting
147gvim.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100148Browsers are known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this with
149netscape by telling it to use its own colormap: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000150 netscape -install
151Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): >
152 netscape -ncols 64
153This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: >
154 Netscape*installColormap: Yes
155or >
156 Netscape*maxImageColors: 64
157<
158 *E79* >
159 Cannot expand wildcards
160
161A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to
162attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no
163matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal.
164
165 *E459* >
166 Cannot go back to previous directory
167
168While expanding a file name, Vim failed to go back to the previously used
169directory. All file names being used may be invalid now! You need to have
170execute permission on the current directory.
171
172 *E190* *E212* >
173 Cannot open "{filename}" for writing
174 Can't open file for writing
175
176For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten.
177The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory
178or the file name is not valid.
179
180 *E166* >
181 Can't open linked file for writing
182
183You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is
184a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be
185possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but
186Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its
187place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its
188place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to
189manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim
190can overwrite.
191
192 *E46* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100193 Cannot change read-only variable "{name}"
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000194
195You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim
196internal variable |v:var| which is read-only.
197
198 *E90* >
199 Cannot unload last buffer
200
201Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing
202to display in the window.
203
204 *E40* >
205 Can't open errorfile <filename>
206
207When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error
208messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes:
209- 'shellredir' has a wrong value.
210- The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another
211 directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make
212 command is still executed in the wrong directory.
213- 'makeef' has a wrong value.
214- The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be
215 detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH.
216
217 >
218 Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP
219
220On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was
221to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by
222many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and
223related options. It might also be that the external command was not found,
224there is no different error message for that.
225
226 *E12* >
227 Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search
228
229Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly
230come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags
231file. Also see 'secure'.
232
233 *E74* >
234 Command too complex
235
236A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a
237mapping that indirectly calls itself.
238
239>
240 CONVERSION ERROR
241
242When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that
243some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the
244format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care
245about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value
246that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't
247care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option.
248
249 *E302* >
250 Could not rename swap file
251
252When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well.
253This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless.
254
255 *E43* *E44* >
256 Damaged match string
257 Corrupted regexp program
258
259Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you
260know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
261
262 *E208* *E209* *E210* >
263 Error writing to "{filename}"
264 Error closing "{filename}"
265 Error reading "{filename}"
266
267This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file
268name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed.
269The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist
270and the destination file may be incomplete.
271
272>
273 Vim: Error reading input, exiting...
274
275This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required.
276Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both
277stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim.
278
279 *E47* >
280 Error while reading errorfile
281
282Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error
283message that was not recognized.
284
285 *E80* >
286 Error while writing
287
288Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably
289incomplete.
290
291 *E13* *E189* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100292 File exists (add ! to override)
293 "{filename}" exists (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000294
295You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to
296write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command.
297Example: >
298 :w /tmp/test
299changes to: >
300 :w! /tmp/test
301<
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000302 *E768* >
303 Swap file exists: {filename} (:silent! overrides)
304
305You are protected from overwriting a file that is being edited by Vim. This
306happens when you use ":w! filename" and a swapfile is found.
307- If the swapfile was left over from an old crashed edit session you may want
308 to delete the swapfile. Edit {filename} to find out information about the
309 swapfile.
310- If you want to write anyway prepend ":silent!" to the command. For example: >
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000311 :silent! w! /tmp/test
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000312< The special command is needed, since you already added the ! for overwriting
313 an existing file.
314
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000315 *E139* >
316 File is loaded in another buffer
317
318You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another
319buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file.
320
321 *E142* >
322 File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option
323
324The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file
325generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument.
326You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write".
327
328 *E25* >
329 GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time
330
331You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore
332"gvim" and ":gui" don't work.
333
334 *E49* >
335 Invalid scroll size
336
337This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or
338'scrolloff' options.
339
340 *E17* >
341 "{filename}" is a directory
342
343You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible.
344You probably need to append a file name.
345
346 *E19* >
347 Mark has invalid line number
348
349You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can
350happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has
351deleted lines from it.
352
353 *E219* *E220* >
354 Missing {.
355 Missing }.
356
357Using a {} construct in a file name, but there is a { without a matching } or
358the other way around. It should be used like this: {foo,bar}. This matches
359"foo" and "bar".
360
361 *E315* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100362 ml_get: invalid lnum: {number}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000363
364This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be
365reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|.
366
367 *E173* >
368 {number} more files to edit
369
370You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been
371edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more
372files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it
373again and it will work.
374
375 *E23* *E194* >
376 No alternate file
377 No alternate file name to substitute for '#'
378
379The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|.
380
381 *E32* >
382 No file name
383
384The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the
385buffer a name with ":file fname".
386
387 *E141* >
388 No file name for buffer {number}
389
390One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it
391cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: >
392 :buffer {number}
393 :file {filename}
394<
395 *E33* >
396 No previous substitute regular expression
397
398When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously
399used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has
Bram Moolenaardf177f62005-02-22 08:39:57 +0000400been used yet. See |/~|. This also happens when using ":s/pat/%/", where the
401"%" stands for the previous substitute string.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000402
403 *E35* >
404 No previous regular expression
405
406When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But
407that is not possible if there was no previous search.
408
409 *E24* >
410 No such abbreviation
411
412You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an
413existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message:
414":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space.
415
416>
417 /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
418
419Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio
420device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error.
421
422 *E31* >
423 No such mapping
424
425You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing
426mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap",
Bram Moolenaar4c3f5362006-04-11 21:38:50 +0000427":unmap!", etc. A few hints:
428- Check for trailing white space.
429- If the mapping is buffer-local you need to use ":unmap <buffer>".
430 |:map-<buffer>|
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000431
432 *E37* *E89* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100433 No write since last change (add ! to override)
434 No write since last change for buffer {N} (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000435
436You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from
437losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you
438are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by
439adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: >
440 :e other_file
441changes to: >
442 :e! other_file
443<
444 *E162* >
445 No write since last change for buffer "{name}"
446
447This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You
448will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to
449abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you
450don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten
451about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set.
452
Bram Moolenaard4755bb2004-09-02 19:12:26 +0000453>
454 [No write since last change]
455
456This appears when executing a shell command while at least one buffer was
457changed. To avoid the message reset the 'warn' option.
458
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000459 *E38* >
460 Null argument
461
462Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know
463how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
464
465 *E172* >
466 Only one file name allowed
467
468The ":edit" command only accepts one file name. When you want to specify
469several files for editing use ":next" |:next|.
470
471 *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
483Buffers are only partly kept in memory, thus editing a very large file is
484unlikely to cause an out-of-memory situation. Undo information is completely
485in memory, you can reduce that with these options:
486- 'undolevels' Set to a low value, or to -1 to disable undo completely. This
487 helps for a change that affects all lines.
488- 'undoreload' Set to zero to disable.
489
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000490 *E339* >
491 Pattern too long
492
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100493This happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000494longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern.
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100495It also happens when the offset of a rule doesn't fit in the space available.
496Try simplifying the pattern.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000497
498 *E45* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100499 'readonly' option is set (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000500
501You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the
502file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just
503after the command you used. Example: >
504 :w
505changes to: >
506 :w!
507<
508 *E294* *E295* *E301* >
509 Read error in swap file
510 Seek error in swap file read
511 Oops, lost the swap file!!!
512
513Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The
514text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you
515write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for
516differences.
517
518 *E192* >
519 Recursive use of :normal too deep
520
521You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal"
522command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This
523example illustrates how to get this message: >
524 :map gq :normal gq<CR>
525If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again.
526
527 *E22* >
528 Scripts nested too deep
529
530Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source"
531command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue
532for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a
533recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message.
534
535 *E319* >
536 Sorry, the command is not available in this version
537
538You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are
539using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or
540disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating
541system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The
542|:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with.
543
544 *E300* >
545 Swap file already exists (symlink attack?)
546
547This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it
548already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen,
549because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else
550opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is
551attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when
552'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice).
553
554 *E432* >
555 Tags file not sorted: {file name}
556
557Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching
558can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags
559files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option.
560This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a
Bram Moolenaar7fc0c062010-08-10 21:43:35 +0200561tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even though the tags file is not
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000562properly sorted.
563
564 *E460* >
565 The resource fork would be lost (add ! to override)
566
567On the Macintosh (classic), when writing a file, Vim attempts to preserve all
568info about a file, including its resource fork. If this is not possible you
569get this error message. Append "!" to the command name to write anyway (and
570lose the info).
571
572 *E424* >
573 Too many different highlighting attributes in use
574
575Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run
576into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different
577arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted.
578
579 *E77* >
580 Too many file names
581
582When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is
583allowed for the command that was used.
584
585 *E303* >
586 Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible
587
588Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100589Vim unexpectedly exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000590memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option
591to avoid this error. See |swap-file|.
592
593 *E140* >
594 Use ! to write partial buffer
595
596When using a range to write part of a buffer, it is unusual to overwrite the
597original file. It is probably a mistake (e.g., when Visual mode was active
598when using ":w"), therefore Vim requires using a ! after the command, e.g.:
599":3,10w!".
600>
601
602 Warning: Cannot convert string "<Key>Escape,_Key_Cancel" to type
603 VirtualBinding
604
605Messages like this appear when starting up. This is not a Vim problem, your
606X11 configuration is wrong. You can find a hint on how to solve this here:
607http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisonintel/message/12179.
Bram Moolenaara17d4c12010-05-30 18:30:36 +0200608[this URL is no longer valid]
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000609
610 *W10* >
611 Warning: Changing a readonly file
612
613The file is read-only and you are making a change to it anyway. You can use
614the |FileChangedRO| autocommand event to avoid this message (the autocommand
615must reset the 'readonly' option). See 'modifiable' to completely disallow
616making changes to a file.
Bram Moolenaard5cdbeb2005-10-10 20:59:28 +0000617This message is only given for the first change after 'readonly' has been set.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000618
619 *W13* >
620 Warning: File "{filename}" has been created after editing started
621
622You are editing a file in Vim when it didn't exist, but it does exist now.
623You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in Vim or the newly
624created file. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
625
626 *W11* >
627 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started
628
629The file which you have started editing has got another timestamp and the
630contents changed (more precisely: When reading the file again with the current
631option settings and autocommands you would end up with different text). This
632probably means that some other program changed the file. You will have to
633find out what happened, and decide which version of the file you want to keep.
634Set the 'autoread' option if you want to do this automatically.
635This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
636
637There is one situation where you get this message even though there is nothing
638wrong: If you save a file in Windows on the day the daylight saving time
639starts. It can be fixed in one of these ways:
640- Add this line in your autoexec.bat: >
641 SET TZ=-1
642< Adjust the "-1" for your time zone.
643- Disable "automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes".
644- Just write the file again the next day. Or set your clock to the next day,
645 write the file twice and set the clock back.
646
647 *W12* >
648 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed and the buffer was changed in Vim as well
649
650Like the above, and the buffer for the file was changed in this Vim as well.
651You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in this Vim or the one
652on disk. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
653
654 *W16* >
655 Warning: Mode of file "{filename}" has changed since editing started
656
657When the timestamp for a buffer was changed and the contents are still the
658same but the mode (permissions) have changed. This usually occurs when
659checking out a file from a version control system, which causes the read-only
660bit to be reset. It should be safe to reload the file. Set 'autoread' to
661automatically reload the file.
662
663 *E211* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100664 File "{filename}" no longer available
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000665
666The file which you have started editing has disappeared, or is no longer
667accessible. Make sure you write the buffer somewhere to avoid losing
668changes. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
669
670 *W14* >
671 Warning: List of file names overflow
672
673You must be using an awful lot of buffers. It's now possible that two buffers
674have the same number, which causes various problems. You might want to exit
675Vim and restart it.
676
Bram Moolenaar269f5952016-07-15 22:54:41 +0200677 *E931* >
678 Buffer cannot be registered
679
Bram Moolenaar42ebd062016-07-17 13:35:14 +0200680Out of memory or a duplicate buffer number. May happen after W14. Looking up
Bram Moolenaar269f5952016-07-15 22:54:41 +0200681a buffer will not always work, better restart Vim.
682
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000683 *E296* *E297* >
684 Seek error in swap file write
685 Write error in swap file
686
687This mostly happens when the disk is full. Vim could not write text into the
688|swap-file|. It's not directly harmful, but when Vim unexpectedly exits some
689text may be lost without recovery being possible. Vim might run out of memory
690when this problem persists.
691
692 *connection-refused* >
693 Xlib: connection to "<machine-name:0.0" refused by server
694
695This happens when Vim tries to connect to the X server, but the X server does
696not allow a connection. The connection to the X server is needed to be able
697to restore the title and for the xterm clipboard support. Unfortunately this
698error message cannot be avoided, except by disabling the |+xterm_clipboard|
699and |+X11| features.
700
701 *E10* >
702 \\ should be followed by /, ? or &
703
704A command line started with a backslash or the range of a command contained a
705backslash in a wrong place. This is often caused by command-line continuation
706being disabled. Remove the 'C' flag from the 'cpoptions' option to enable it.
Bram Moolenaar5eb86f92004-07-26 12:53:41 +0000707Or use ":set nocp".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000708
709 *E471* >
710 Argument required
711
712This happens when an Ex command with mandatory argument(s) was executed, but
713no argument has been specified.
714
715 *E474* *E475* >
716 Invalid argument
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100717 Invalid argument: {arg}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000718
719An Ex command has been executed, but an invalid argument has been specified.
720
721 *E488* >
722 Trailing characters
723
724An argument has been added to an Ex command that does not permit one.
725
726 *E477* *E478* >
727 No ! allowed
728 Don't panic!
729
730You have added a "!" after an Ex command that doesn't permit one.
731
732 *E481* >
733 No range allowed
734
735A range was specified for an Ex command that doesn't permit one. See
736|cmdline-ranges|.
737
738 *E482* *E483* >
739 Can't create file {filename}
740 Can't get temp file name
741
742Vim cannot create a temporary file.
743
744 *E484* *E485* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100745 Can't open file {filename}
746 Can't read file {filename}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000747
Bram Moolenaar34700a62013-03-07 13:20:54 +0100748Vim cannot read a temporary file. Especially on Windows, this can be caused
749by wrong escaping of special characters for cmd.exe; the approach was
750changed with patch 7.3.443. Try using |shellescape()| for all shell arguments
751given to |system()|, or explicitly add escaping with ^. Also see
752'shellxquote' and 'shellxescape'.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000753
754 *E464* >
755 Ambiguous use of user-defined command
756
757There are two user-defined commands with a common name prefix, and you used
758Command-line completion to execute one of them. |user-cmd-ambiguous|
759Example: >
760 :command MyCommand1 echo "one"
761 :command MyCommand2 echo "two"
762 :MyCommand
763<
764 *E492* >
765 Not an editor command
766
767You tried to execute a command that is neither an Ex command nor
768a user-defined command.
769
770==============================================================================
7713. Messages *messages*
772
773This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives:
774
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000775 *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return*
776 *press-return* *hit-enter-prompt*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000777
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000778 Press ENTER or type command to continue
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000779
780This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read,
781and the screen is about to be redrawn:
782- After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "=").
783- Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of
784 the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output.
785
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000786-> Press <Enter> or <Space> to redraw the screen and continue, without that
787 key being used otherwise.
788-> Press ':' or any other Normal mode command character to start that command.
Bram Moolenaare1438bb2006-03-01 22:01:55 +0000789-> Press 'k', <Up>, 'u', 'b' or 'g' to scroll back in the messages. This
790 works the same way as at the |more-prompt|. Only works when 'compatible'
791 is off and 'more' is on.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100792-> Pressing 'j', 'f', 'd' or <Down> is ignored when messages scrolled off the
793 top of the screen, 'compatible' is off and 'more' is on, to avoid that
794 typing one 'j' or 'f' too many causes the messages to disappear.
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000795-> Press <C-Y> to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000796-> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used.
797-> When 'mouse' contains the 'r' flag, clicking the left mouse button works
798 like pressing <Space>. This makes it impossible to select text though.
799-> For the GUI clicking the left mouse button in the last line works like
800 pressing <Space>.
801{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted}
802
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000803If you accidentally hit <Enter> or <Space> and you want to see the displayed
804text then use |g<|. This only works when 'more' is set.
805
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000806To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts:
807- Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher.
808- Add flags to 'shortmess'.
809- Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'.
810
Bram Moolenaarbb15b652005-10-03 21:52:09 +0000811If your script causes the hit-enter prompt and you don't know why, you may
812find the |v:scrollstart| variable useful.
813
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000814Also see 'mouse'. The hit-enter message is highlighted with the |hl-Question|
815group.
816
817
818 *more-prompt* *pager* >
819 -- More --
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000820 -- More -- SPACE/d/j: screen/page/line down, b/u/k: up, q: quit
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000821
822This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only
823given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg|
824group.
825
826Type effect ~
827 <CR> or <NL> or j or <Down> one more line
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000828 d down a page (half a screen)
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100829 <Space> or f or <PageDown> down a screen
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000830 G down all the way, until the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000831 prompt
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000832
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000833 <BS> or k or <Up> one line back (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000834 u up a page (half a screen) (*)
835 b or <PageUp> back a screen (*)
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000836 g back to the start (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000837
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000838 q, <Esc> or CTRL-C stop the listing
839 : stop the listing and enter a
840 command-line
841 <C-Y> yank (copy) a modeless selection to
842 the clipboard ("* and "+ registers)
843 {menu-entry} what the menu is defined to in
844 Cmdline-mode.
845 <LeftMouse> (**) next page
846
847Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed.
848
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000849(*) backwards scrolling is {not in Vi}. Only scrolls back to where messages
850 started to scroll.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000851(**) Clicking the left mouse button only works:
852 - For the GUI: in the last line of the screen.
853 - When 'r' is included in 'mouse' (but then selecting text won't work).
854
855
856Note: The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped
857and typeahead is ignored.
858
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +0000859The |g<| command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
860This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
861prompt.
862
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000863 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: