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Bram Moolenaarbc2eada2017-01-02 21:27:47 +01001*message.txt* For Vim version 8.0. Last change: 2017 Jan 02
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
Bram Moolenaarbc2eada2017-01-02 21:27:47 +0100132command, etc. The limit is 200 or the value of 'maxfuncdepth', whatever is
133larger. When it's more there probably is an endless loop. Probably a
134|:execute| or |:source| command is involved.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000135
136 *E254* >
137 Cannot allocate color {name}
138
139The color name {name} is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that
140are available on most systems.
141
142 *E458* >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000143 Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect
144
145This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still
146run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try
147stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting
148gvim.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100149Browsers are known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this with
150netscape by telling it to use its own colormap: >
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000151 netscape -install
152Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): >
153 netscape -ncols 64
154This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: >
155 Netscape*installColormap: Yes
156or >
157 Netscape*maxImageColors: 64
158<
159 *E79* >
160 Cannot expand wildcards
161
162A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to
163attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no
164matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal.
165
166 *E459* >
167 Cannot go back to previous directory
168
169While expanding a file name, Vim failed to go back to the previously used
170directory. All file names being used may be invalid now! You need to have
171execute permission on the current directory.
172
173 *E190* *E212* >
174 Cannot open "{filename}" for writing
175 Can't open file for writing
176
177For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten.
178The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory
179or the file name is not valid.
180
181 *E166* >
182 Can't open linked file for writing
183
184You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is
185a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be
186possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but
187Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its
188place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its
189place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to
190manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim
191can overwrite.
192
193 *E46* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100194 Cannot change read-only variable "{name}"
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000195
196You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim
197internal variable |v:var| which is read-only.
198
199 *E90* >
200 Cannot unload last buffer
201
202Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing
203to display in the window.
204
205 *E40* >
206 Can't open errorfile <filename>
207
208When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error
209messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes:
210- 'shellredir' has a wrong value.
211- The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another
212 directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make
213 command is still executed in the wrong directory.
214- 'makeef' has a wrong value.
215- The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be
216 detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH.
217
218 >
219 Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP
220
221On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was
222to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by
223many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and
224related options. It might also be that the external command was not found,
225there is no different error message for that.
226
227 *E12* >
228 Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search
229
230Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly
231come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags
232file. Also see 'secure'.
233
234 *E74* >
235 Command too complex
236
237A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a
238mapping that indirectly calls itself.
239
240>
241 CONVERSION ERROR
242
243When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that
244some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the
245format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care
246about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value
247that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't
248care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option.
249
250 *E302* >
251 Could not rename swap file
252
253When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well.
254This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless.
255
256 *E43* *E44* >
257 Damaged match string
258 Corrupted regexp program
259
260Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you
261know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
262
263 *E208* *E209* *E210* >
264 Error writing to "{filename}"
265 Error closing "{filename}"
266 Error reading "{filename}"
267
268This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file
269name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed.
270The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist
271and the destination file may be incomplete.
272
273>
274 Vim: Error reading input, exiting...
275
276This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required.
277Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both
278stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim.
279
280 *E47* >
281 Error while reading errorfile
282
283Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error
284message that was not recognized.
285
286 *E80* >
287 Error while writing
288
289Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably
290incomplete.
291
292 *E13* *E189* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100293 File exists (add ! to override)
294 "{filename}" exists (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000295
296You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to
297write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command.
298Example: >
299 :w /tmp/test
300changes to: >
301 :w! /tmp/test
302<
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000303 *E768* >
304 Swap file exists: {filename} (:silent! overrides)
305
306You are protected from overwriting a file that is being edited by Vim. This
307happens when you use ":w! filename" and a swapfile is found.
308- If the swapfile was left over from an old crashed edit session you may want
309 to delete the swapfile. Edit {filename} to find out information about the
310 swapfile.
311- If you want to write anyway prepend ":silent!" to the command. For example: >
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000312 :silent! w! /tmp/test
Bram Moolenaarecf07c82005-08-01 21:52:12 +0000313< The special command is needed, since you already added the ! for overwriting
314 an existing file.
315
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000316 *E139* >
317 File is loaded in another buffer
318
319You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another
320buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file.
321
322 *E142* >
323 File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option
324
325The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file
326generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument.
327You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write".
328
329 *E25* >
330 GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time
331
332You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore
333"gvim" and ":gui" don't work.
334
335 *E49* >
336 Invalid scroll size
337
338This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or
339'scrolloff' options.
340
341 *E17* >
342 "{filename}" is a directory
343
344You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible.
345You probably need to append a file name.
346
347 *E19* >
348 Mark has invalid line number
349
350You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can
351happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has
352deleted lines from it.
353
354 *E219* *E220* >
355 Missing {.
356 Missing }.
357
358Using a {} construct in a file name, but there is a { without a matching } or
359the other way around. It should be used like this: {foo,bar}. This matches
360"foo" and "bar".
361
362 *E315* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100363 ml_get: invalid lnum: {number}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000364
365This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be
366reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|.
367
368 *E173* >
369 {number} more files to edit
370
371You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been
372edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more
373files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it
374again and it will work.
375
376 *E23* *E194* >
377 No alternate file
378 No alternate file name to substitute for '#'
379
380The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|.
381
382 *E32* >
383 No file name
384
385The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the
386buffer a name with ":file fname".
387
388 *E141* >
389 No file name for buffer {number}
390
391One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it
392cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: >
393 :buffer {number}
394 :file {filename}
395<
396 *E33* >
397 No previous substitute regular expression
398
399When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously
400used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has
Bram Moolenaardf177f62005-02-22 08:39:57 +0000401been used yet. See |/~|. This also happens when using ":s/pat/%/", where the
402"%" stands for the previous substitute string.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000403
404 *E35* >
405 No previous regular expression
406
407When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But
408that is not possible if there was no previous search.
409
410 *E24* >
411 No such abbreviation
412
413You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an
414existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message:
415":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space.
416
417>
418 /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
419
420Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio
421device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error.
422
423 *E31* >
424 No such mapping
425
426You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing
427mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap",
Bram Moolenaar4c3f5362006-04-11 21:38:50 +0000428":unmap!", etc. A few hints:
429- Check for trailing white space.
430- If the mapping is buffer-local you need to use ":unmap <buffer>".
431 |:map-<buffer>|
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000432
433 *E37* *E89* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100434 No write since last change (add ! to override)
435 No write since last change for buffer {N} (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000436
437You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from
438losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you
439are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by
440adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: >
441 :e other_file
442changes to: >
443 :e! other_file
444<
445 *E162* >
446 No write since last change for buffer "{name}"
447
448This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You
449will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to
450abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you
451don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten
452about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set.
453
Bram Moolenaard4755bb2004-09-02 19:12:26 +0000454>
455 [No write since last change]
456
457This appears when executing a shell command while at least one buffer was
458changed. To avoid the message reset the 'warn' option.
459
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000460 *E38* >
461 Null argument
462
463Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know
464how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs|
465
466 *E172* >
467 Only one file name allowed
468
469The ":edit" command only accepts one file name. When you want to specify
470several files for editing use ":next" |:next|.
471
472 *E41* *E82* *E83* *E342* >
473 Out of memory!
474 Out of memory! (allocating {number} bytes)
475 Cannot allocate any buffer, exiting...
476 Cannot allocate buffer, using other one...
477
478Oh, oh. You must have been doing something complicated, or some other program
479is consuming your memory. Be careful! Vim is not completely prepared for an
480out-of-memory situation. First make sure that any changes are saved. Then
481try to solve the memory shortage. To stay on the safe side, exit Vim and
Bram Moolenaar0ed0eea2010-07-26 22:21:27 +0200482start again.
483
484Buffers are only partly kept in memory, thus editing a very large file is
485unlikely to cause an out-of-memory situation. Undo information is completely
486in memory, you can reduce that with these options:
487- 'undolevels' Set to a low value, or to -1 to disable undo completely. This
488 helps for a change that affects all lines.
489- 'undoreload' Set to zero to disable.
490
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000491 *E339* >
492 Pattern too long
493
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100494This happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000495longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern.
Bram Moolenaard58e9292011-02-09 17:07:58 +0100496It also happens when the offset of a rule doesn't fit in the space available.
497Try simplifying the pattern.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000498
499 *E45* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100500 'readonly' option is set (add ! to override)
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000501
502You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the
503file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just
504after the command you used. Example: >
505 :w
506changes to: >
507 :w!
508<
509 *E294* *E295* *E301* >
510 Read error in swap file
511 Seek error in swap file read
512 Oops, lost the swap file!!!
513
514Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The
515text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you
516write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for
517differences.
518
519 *E192* >
520 Recursive use of :normal too deep
521
522You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal"
523command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This
524example illustrates how to get this message: >
525 :map gq :normal gq<CR>
526If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again.
527
528 *E22* >
529 Scripts nested too deep
530
531Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source"
532command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue
533for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a
534recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message.
535
536 *E319* >
537 Sorry, the command is not available in this version
538
539You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are
540using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or
541disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating
542system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The
543|:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with.
544
545 *E300* >
546 Swap file already exists (symlink attack?)
547
548This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it
549already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen,
550because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else
551opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is
552attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when
553'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice).
554
555 *E432* >
556 Tags file not sorted: {file name}
557
558Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching
559can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags
560files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option.
561This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a
Bram Moolenaar7fc0c062010-08-10 21:43:35 +0200562tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even though the tags file is not
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000563properly sorted.
564
565 *E460* >
566 The resource fork would be lost (add ! to override)
567
568On the Macintosh (classic), when writing a file, Vim attempts to preserve all
569info about a file, including its resource fork. If this is not possible you
570get this error message. Append "!" to the command name to write anyway (and
571lose the info).
572
573 *E424* >
574 Too many different highlighting attributes in use
575
576Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run
577into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different
578arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted.
579
580 *E77* >
581 Too many file names
582
583When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is
584allowed for the command that was used.
585
586 *E303* >
587 Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible
588
589Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100590Vim unexpectedly exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000591memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option
592to avoid this error. See |swap-file|.
593
594 *E140* >
595 Use ! to write partial buffer
596
597When using a range to write part of a buffer, it is unusual to overwrite the
598original file. It is probably a mistake (e.g., when Visual mode was active
599when using ":w"), therefore Vim requires using a ! after the command, e.g.:
600":3,10w!".
601>
602
603 Warning: Cannot convert string "<Key>Escape,_Key_Cancel" to type
604 VirtualBinding
605
606Messages like this appear when starting up. This is not a Vim problem, your
607X11 configuration is wrong. You can find a hint on how to solve this here:
608http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisonintel/message/12179.
Bram Moolenaara17d4c12010-05-30 18:30:36 +0200609[this URL is no longer valid]
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000610
611 *W10* >
612 Warning: Changing a readonly file
613
614The file is read-only and you are making a change to it anyway. You can use
615the |FileChangedRO| autocommand event to avoid this message (the autocommand
616must reset the 'readonly' option). See 'modifiable' to completely disallow
617making changes to a file.
Bram Moolenaard5cdbeb2005-10-10 20:59:28 +0000618This message is only given for the first change after 'readonly' has been set.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000619
620 *W13* >
621 Warning: File "{filename}" has been created after editing started
622
623You are editing a file in Vim when it didn't exist, but it does exist now.
624You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in Vim or the newly
625created file. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
626
627 *W11* >
628 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started
629
630The file which you have started editing has got another timestamp and the
631contents changed (more precisely: When reading the file again with the current
632option settings and autocommands you would end up with different text). This
633probably means that some other program changed the file. You will have to
634find out what happened, and decide which version of the file you want to keep.
635Set the 'autoread' option if you want to do this automatically.
636This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
637
638There is one situation where you get this message even though there is nothing
639wrong: If you save a file in Windows on the day the daylight saving time
640starts. It can be fixed in one of these ways:
641- Add this line in your autoexec.bat: >
642 SET TZ=-1
643< Adjust the "-1" for your time zone.
644- Disable "automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes".
645- Just write the file again the next day. Or set your clock to the next day,
646 write the file twice and set the clock back.
647
648 *W12* >
649 Warning: File "{filename}" has changed and the buffer was changed in Vim as well
650
651Like the above, and the buffer for the file was changed in this Vim as well.
652You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in this Vim or the one
653on disk. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
654
655 *W16* >
656 Warning: Mode of file "{filename}" has changed since editing started
657
658When the timestamp for a buffer was changed and the contents are still the
659same but the mode (permissions) have changed. This usually occurs when
660checking out a file from a version control system, which causes the read-only
661bit to be reset. It should be safe to reload the file. Set 'autoread' to
662automatically reload the file.
663
664 *E211* >
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100665 File "{filename}" no longer available
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000666
667The file which you have started editing has disappeared, or is no longer
668accessible. Make sure you write the buffer somewhere to avoid losing
669changes. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty.
670
671 *W14* >
672 Warning: List of file names overflow
673
674You must be using an awful lot of buffers. It's now possible that two buffers
675have the same number, which causes various problems. You might want to exit
676Vim and restart it.
677
Bram Moolenaar269f5952016-07-15 22:54:41 +0200678 *E931* >
679 Buffer cannot be registered
680
Bram Moolenaar42ebd062016-07-17 13:35:14 +0200681Out of memory or a duplicate buffer number. May happen after W14. Looking up
Bram Moolenaar269f5952016-07-15 22:54:41 +0200682a buffer will not always work, better restart Vim.
683
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000684 *E296* *E297* >
685 Seek error in swap file write
686 Write error in swap file
687
688This mostly happens when the disk is full. Vim could not write text into the
689|swap-file|. It's not directly harmful, but when Vim unexpectedly exits some
690text may be lost without recovery being possible. Vim might run out of memory
691when this problem persists.
692
693 *connection-refused* >
694 Xlib: connection to "<machine-name:0.0" refused by server
695
696This happens when Vim tries to connect to the X server, but the X server does
697not allow a connection. The connection to the X server is needed to be able
698to restore the title and for the xterm clipboard support. Unfortunately this
699error message cannot be avoided, except by disabling the |+xterm_clipboard|
700and |+X11| features.
701
702 *E10* >
703 \\ should be followed by /, ? or &
704
705A command line started with a backslash or the range of a command contained a
706backslash in a wrong place. This is often caused by command-line continuation
707being disabled. Remove the 'C' flag from the 'cpoptions' option to enable it.
Bram Moolenaar5eb86f92004-07-26 12:53:41 +0000708Or use ":set nocp".
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000709
710 *E471* >
711 Argument required
712
713This happens when an Ex command with mandatory argument(s) was executed, but
714no argument has been specified.
715
716 *E474* *E475* >
717 Invalid argument
Bram Moolenaar5e3dae82010-03-02 16:19:40 +0100718 Invalid argument: {arg}
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000719
720An Ex command has been executed, but an invalid argument has been specified.
721
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
771==============================================================================
7723. Messages *messages*
773
774This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives:
775
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000776 *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return*
777 *press-return* *hit-enter-prompt*
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000778
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000779 Press ENTER or type command to continue
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000780
781This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read,
782and the screen is about to be redrawn:
783- After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "=").
784- Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of
785 the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output.
786
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000787-> Press <Enter> or <Space> to redraw the screen and continue, without that
788 key being used otherwise.
789-> Press ':' or any other Normal mode command character to start that command.
Bram Moolenaare1438bb2006-03-01 22:01:55 +0000790-> Press 'k', <Up>, 'u', 'b' or 'g' to scroll back in the messages. This
791 works the same way as at the |more-prompt|. Only works when 'compatible'
792 is off and 'more' is on.
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100793-> Pressing 'j', 'f', 'd' or <Down> is ignored when messages scrolled off the
794 top of the screen, 'compatible' is off and 'more' is on, to avoid that
795 typing one 'j' or 'f' too many causes the messages to disappear.
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000796-> Press <C-Y> to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000797-> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used.
798-> When 'mouse' contains the 'r' flag, clicking the left mouse button works
799 like pressing <Space>. This makes it impossible to select text though.
800-> For the GUI clicking the left mouse button in the last line works like
801 pressing <Space>.
802{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted}
803
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000804If you accidentally hit <Enter> or <Space> and you want to see the displayed
805text then use |g<|. This only works when 'more' is set.
806
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000807To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts:
808- Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher.
809- Add flags to 'shortmess'.
810- Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'.
811
Bram Moolenaarbb15b652005-10-03 21:52:09 +0000812If your script causes the hit-enter prompt and you don't know why, you may
813find the |v:scrollstart| variable useful.
814
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000815Also see 'mouse'. The hit-enter message is highlighted with the |hl-Question|
816group.
817
818
819 *more-prompt* *pager* >
820 -- More --
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000821 -- More -- SPACE/d/j: screen/page/line down, b/u/k: up, q: quit
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000822
823This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only
824given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg|
825group.
826
827Type effect ~
828 <CR> or <NL> or j or <Down> one more line
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000829 d down a page (half a screen)
Bram Moolenaar8f3f58f2010-01-06 20:52:26 +0100830 <Space> or f or <PageDown> down a screen
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000831 G down all the way, until the hit-enter
Bram Moolenaarc9b4b052006-04-30 18:54:39 +0000832 prompt
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000833
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000834 <BS> or k or <Up> one line back (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000835 u up a page (half a screen) (*)
836 b or <PageUp> back a screen (*)
Bram Moolenaarcfc7d632005-07-28 22:28:16 +0000837 g back to the start (*)
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000838
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000839 q, <Esc> or CTRL-C stop the listing
840 : stop the listing and enter a
841 command-line
842 <C-Y> yank (copy) a modeless selection to
843 the clipboard ("* and "+ registers)
844 {menu-entry} what the menu is defined to in
845 Cmdline-mode.
846 <LeftMouse> (**) next page
847
848Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed.
849
Bram Moolenaar87e25fd2005-07-27 21:13:01 +0000850(*) backwards scrolling is {not in Vi}. Only scrolls back to where messages
851 started to scroll.
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000852(**) Clicking the left mouse button only works:
853 - For the GUI: in the last line of the screen.
854 - When 'r' is included in 'mouse' (but then selecting text won't work).
855
856
857Note: The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped
858and typeahead is ignored.
859
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +0000860The |g<| command can be used to see the last page of previous command output.
861This is especially useful if you accidentally typed <Space> at the hit-enter
862prompt.
863
Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000864 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: