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Bram Moolenaar071d4272004-06-13 20:20:40 +00001*gui.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2004 Jun 02
2
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
27included. You can check this with the ":version" command, it should include
28"+GUI_Athena", "+GUI_BeOS", "+GUI_GTK", "+GUI_Motif" or "MS-Windows ... bit
29GUI version".
30
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
38 *gui-init* *gvimrc* *.gvimrc* *_gvimrc*
39When the GUI starts up initializations are carried out, in this order:
40- The termcap options are reset to their default value for the GUI.
41- If the system menu file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
42 normally "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". You can check this with ":version". Also
43 see |$VIMRUNTIME|. To skip loading the system menu include 'M' in
44 'guioptions'. *buffers-menu* *no_buffers_menu*
45 The system menu file includes a "Buffers" menu. If you don't want this, set
46 the "no_buffers_menu" variable in your .vimrc (not .gvimrc!): >
47 :let no_buffers_menu = 1
48< NOTE: Switching on syntax highlighting also loads the menu file, thus
49 disabling the Buffers menu must be done before ":syntax on".
50 The path names are truncated to 35 characters. You can truncate them at a
51 different length, for example 50, like this: >
52 :let bmenu_max_pathlen = 50
53- If the "-U {gvimrc}" command-line option has been used when starting Vim,
54 the {gvimrc} file will be read for initializations. The following
55 initializations are skipped.
56- For Unix and MS-Windows, if the system gvimrc exists, it is sourced. The
57 name of this file is normally "$VIM/gvimrc". You can check this with
58 ":version". Also see |$VIM|.
59- The following are tried, and only the first one that exists is used:
60 - If the GVIMINIT environment variable exists and is not empty, it is
61 executed as an Ex command.
62 - If the user gvimrc file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is
63 normally "$HOME/.gvimrc". You can check this with ":version".
64 - For Win32, when $HOME is not set, "$VIM\_gvimrc" is used.
65 - When a "_gvimrc" file is not found, ".gvimrc" is tried too. And vice
66 versa.
67- If the 'exrc' option is set (which is NOT the default) the file ./.gvimrc
68 is sourced, if it exists and isn't the same file as the system or user
69 gvimrc file. If this file is not owned by you, some security restrictions
70 apply. When ".gvimrc" is not found, "_gvimrc" is tried too. For Macintosh
71 and DOS/Win32 "_gvimrc" is tried first.
72
73NOTE: All but the first one are not carried out if Vim was started with
74"-u NONE" and no "-U" argument was given, or when started with "-U NONE".
75
76All this happens AFTER the normal Vim initializations, like reading your
77.vimrc file. See |initialization|.
78But the GUI window is only opened after all the initializations have been
79carried out. If you want some commands to be executed just after opening the
80GUI window, use the |GUIEnter| autocommand event. Example: >
81 :autocommand GUIEnter * winpos 100 50
82
83You can use the gvimrc files to set up your own customized menus (see |:menu|)
84and initialize other things that you may want to set up differently from the
85terminal version.
86
87Recommended place for your personal GUI initializations:
88 Unix $HOME/.gvimrc
89 OS/2 $HOME/.gvimrc or $VIM/.gvimrc
90 MS-DOS and Win32 $HOME/_gvimrc or $VIM/_gvimrc
91 Amiga s:.gvimrc or $VIM/.gvimrc
92
93There are a number of options which only have meaning in the GUI version of
94Vim. These are 'guicursor', 'guifont', 'guipty' and 'guioptions'. They are
95documented in |options.txt| with all the other options.
96
97If using the Motif or Athena version of the GUI (but not for the GTK+ or Win32
98version), a number of X resources are available. See |gui-resources|.
99
100Another way to set the colors for different occasions is with highlight
101groups. The "Normal" group is used to set the background and foreground
102colors. Example (which looks nice): >
103
104 :highlight Normal guibg=grey90
105
106The "guibg" and "guifg" settings override the normal background and
107foreground settings. The other settings for the Normal highlight group are
108not used. Use the 'guifont' option to set the font.
109
110Also check out the 'guicursor' option, to set the colors for the cursor in
111various modes.
112
113Vim tries to make the window fit on the screen when it starts up. This avoids
114that you can't see part of it. On the X Window System this requires a bit of
115guesswork. You can change the height that is used for the window title and a
116task bar with the 'guiheadroom' option.
117
118 *:winp* *:winpos* *E188*
119:winp[os]
120 Display current position of the top left corner of the GUI vim
121 window in pixels. Does not work in all versions.
122
123:winp[os] {X} {Y} *E466*
124 Put the GUI vim window at the given {X} and {Y} coordinates.
125 The coordinates should specify the position in pixels of the
126 top left corner of the window. Does not work in all versions.
127 Does work in an (new) xterm |xterm-color|.
128 When the GUI window has not been opened yet, the values are
129 remembered until the window is opened. The position is
130 adjusted to make the window fit on the screen (if possible).
131
132 *:win* *:winsize* *E465*
133:win[size] {width} {height}
134 Set the window height to {width} by {height} characters.
135 Obsolete, use ":set lines=11 columns=22".
136 If you get less lines than expected, check the 'guiheadroom'
137 option.
138
139If you are running the X Window System, you can get information about the
140window Vim is running in with this command: >
141 :!xwininfo -id $WINDOWID
142
143==============================================================================
1442. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars*
145
146There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbars. You may
147configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option.
148
149The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"):
150
151 +------------------------------+
152 | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m)
153 +-+--------------------------+-+
154 |^| |^|
155 |#| Text area. |#|
156 | | | |
157 |v|__________________________|v|
158 Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-|
159 between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^|
160 | | | |
161 | | Another file buffer. | |
162 | | | |
163 |#| |#|
164 Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right
165 |#| |#| scrollbar (r)
166 | | | |
167 |v| |v|
168 +-+--------------------------+-+
169 | |< #### >| | <- Bottom
170 +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b)
171
172Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the
173appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is
174only useful when 'nowrap' is set.
175
176
177VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll*
178
179Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down
180to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb
181indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window.
182When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file
183will appear in the top of the window.
184
185If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its
186scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored.
187
188If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the
189current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a
190vertical line, this line goes through the window.
191When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window
192is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for
193the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side.
194
195
196HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll*
197
198The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to
199scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The
200scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be
201scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when
202necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is
203set).
204
205Computing the length of the longest visible takes quite a bit of computation,
206and it has to be done every time something changes. If this takes too much
207time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line, include the 'h'
208flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the text of the
209current cursor line.
210
211 *athena-intellimouse*
212If you have an Intellimouse and an X server that supports using the wheel,
213then you can use the wheel to scroll the text up and down in gvim. This works
214with XFree86 4.0 and later, and with some older versions when you add patches.
215See |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
216
217For older versions of XFree86 you must patch your X server. The following
218page has a bit of information about using the Intellimouse on Linux as well as
219links to the patches and X server binaries (may not have the one you need
220though):
221 http://www.inria.fr/koala/colas/mouse-wheel-scroll/
222
223==============================================================================
2243. Mouse Control *gui-mouse*
225
226The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set.
227When the GUI is switched on, and 'mouse' wasn't set yet, the 'mouse' option is
228automatically set to "a", enabling it for all modes except for the
229|hit-enter| prompt. If you don't want this, a good place to change the
230'mouse' option is the "gvimrc" file.
231
232Other options that are relevant:
233'mousefocus' window focus follows mouse pointer |gui-mouse-focus|
234'mousemodel' what mouse button does which action
235'mousehide' hide mouse pointer while typing text
236'selectmode' whether to start Select mode or Visual mode
237
238A quick way to set these is with the ":behave" command.
239 *:behave* *:be*
240:be[have] {model} Set behavior for mouse and selection. Valid
241 arguments are:
242 mswin MS-Windows behavior
243 xterm Xterm behavior
244
245 Using ":behave" changes these options:
246 option mswin xterm ~
247 'selectmode' "mouse,key" ""
248 'mousemodel' "popup" "extend"
249 'keymodel' "startsel,stopsel" ""
250 'selection' "exclusive" "inclusive"
251
252In the $VIMRUNTIME directory, there is a script called |mswin.vim|, which will
253also map a few keys to the MS-Windows cut/copy/paste commands. This is NOT
254compatible, since it uses the CTRL-V, CTRL-X and CTRL-C keys. If you don't
255mind, use this command: >
256 :so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim
257
258For scrolling with a wheel on a mouse, see |scroll-mouse-wheel|.
259
260
2613.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move*
262
263Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the
264cursor to go, and it does!
265This works in when 'mouse' contains ~
266Normal mode 'n' or 'a'
267Visual mode 'v' or 'a'
268Insert mode 'i' or 'a'
269
270Select mode is handled like Visual mode.
271
272You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current
273cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit
274'd' and then click the mouse somewhere.
275
276 *gui-mouse-focus*
277The 'mousefocus' option can be set to make the keyboard focus follow the
278mouse pointer. This means that the window where the mouse pointer is, is the
279active window. Warning: this doesn't work very well when using a menu,
280because the menu command will always be applied to the top window.
281
282If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right
283mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains
284'c', 'a' or 'A').
285
286In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current
287selection.
288
289
2903.2 Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select*
291
292The mouse can be used to start a selection. How depends on the 'mousemodel'
293option:
294'mousemodel' is "extend": use the right mouse button
295'mousemodel' is "popup": use the left mouse button, while keeping the Shift
296key pressed.
297
298If there was no selection yet, this starts a selection from the old cursor
299position to the position pointed to with the mouse. If there already is a
300selection then the closest end will be extended.
301
302If 'selectmode' contains "mouse", then the selection will be in Select mode.
303This means that typing normal text will replace the selection. See
304|Select-mode|. Otherwise, the selection will be in Visual mode.
305
306Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking
307makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise.
308
309See |gui-selections| on how the selection is used.
310
311
3123.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-modeless*
313 *modeless-selection*
314A different kind of selection is used when:
315- in Command-line mode
316- in the Command-line window and pointing in another window
317- at the |hit-enter| prompt
318- whenever the current mode is not in the 'mouse' option
319- when holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys in the GUI
320Since Vim continues like the selection isn't there, and there is no mode
321associated with the selection, this is called modeless selection. Any text in
322the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse
323button at the start, drag to the end and release. To extend the selection,
324use the right mouse button when 'mousemodel' is "extend", or the left mouse
325button with the shift key pressed when 'mousemodel' is "popup".
326The middle mouse button pastes the text.
327The selection is removed when the selected text is scrolled or changed.
328On the command line CTRL-Y can be used to copy the selection into the
329clipboard. To do this from Insert mode, use CTRL-O : CTRL-Y <CR>.
330
331
3323.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status*
333
334Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim
335window makes that window the current window. This actually happens on button
336release (to be able to distinguish a click from a drag action).
337
338With the left mouse button a status line can be dragged up and down, thus
339resizing the windows above and below it. This does not change window focus.
340
341The same can be used on the vertical separator: click to give the window left
342of it focus, drag left and right to make windows wider and narrower.
343
344
3453.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various*
346
347 <S-LeftMouse> Search forward for the word under the mouse click.
348 When 'mousemodel' is "popup" this starts or extends a
349 selection.
350 <S-RightMouse> Search backward for the word under the mouse click.
351 <C-LeftMouse> Jump to the tag name under the mouse click.
352 <C-RightMouse> Jump back to position before the previous tag jump
353 (same as "CTRL-T")
354
355
3563.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping*
357
358The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: >
359 :map <S-LeftMouse> <RightMouse>
360 :map <S-LeftDrag> <RightDrag>
361 :map <S-LeftRelease> <RightRelease>
362 :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse>
363 :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag>
364 :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease>
365 :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse>
366 :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag>
367 :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease>
368 :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse>
369 :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag>
370 :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease>
371These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif
372application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area
373rather than the right mouse button.
374
375Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for modeless selection.
376
377
3783.7 Drag and drop *drag-n-drop*
379
380You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will
381be opened as if a |:drop| command was used.
382
383If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped
384file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the
385file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed.
386
387You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for
388that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error
389message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead.
390
391If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files
392and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these
393names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and
394'|'; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped.
395
396==============================================================================
3974. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections*
398
399 *quotestar*
400You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using
401Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then
402whenever a selection is started (Visual or Select mode), or when the selection
403is changed, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection
404(on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used; under X11, the |x11-selection| is
405used - you should read whichever of these is appropriate now).
406
407 *clipboard*
408There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "*
409register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is
410selected is about to change (eg with a left mouse click somewhere), or when
411another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put
412in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current
413selection/put it on the clipboard: >
414
415 "*dd
416
417Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g.,
418by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register
419first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the
420selection (contents of the clipboard): >
421
422 "*p
423
424When using this register under X11, also see |x11-selection|. This also
425explains the related "+ register.
426
427Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type
428of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. For other
429applications the type is always character. However, if the text gets
430transferred via the |x11-cut-buffer|, the selection type is ALWAYS lost.
431
432When the "unnamed" string is included in the 'clipboard' option, the unnamed
433register is the same as the "* register. Thus you can yank to and paste the
434selection without prepending "* to commands.
435
436==============================================================================
4375. Menus *menus*
438
439For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual.
440
441
4425.1 Using Menus *using-menus*
443
444Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own
445menus, as many as you like.
446Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own
447menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember
448what the key sequence was.
449
450For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|.
451
452 *menu.vim*
453The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See
454|$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus.
455Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or,
456if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus
457|:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding
458this line to your .vimrc file (NOT your .gvimrc file!): >
459 :let did_install_default_menus = 1
460If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: >
461 :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1
462If you do want the Syntax menu but not all the entries for each available
463syntax file (which take quite a bit of time to load): >
464 :let skip_syntax_sel_menu = 1
465<
466 *console-menus*
467Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus
468in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is
469not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line
470completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu
471system. To do this, put these commands in your .vimrc file: >
472 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim
473 :set wildmenu
474 :set cpo-=<
475 :set wcm=<C-Z>
476 :map <F4> :emenu <C-Z>
477Pressing <F4> will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select
478a menu entry. Hit <Enter> to execute it. Hit <Esc> if you want to cancel.
479This does require the |+menu| feature enabled at compile time.
480
481 *tear-off-menus*
482GTK+ and Motif support Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or
483pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work
484correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in the
485defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead.
486
487The Win32 GUI version emulates Motif's tear-off menus. Actually, a Motif user
488will spot the differences easily, but hopefully they're just as useful. You
489can also use the |:tearoff| command together with |hidden-menus| to create
490floating menus that do not appear on the main menu bar.
491
492
4935.2 Creating New Menus *creating-menus*
494
495 *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu*
496 *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu*
497 *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu*
498 *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu*
499 *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu*
500 *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu*
501 *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu*
502 *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333*
503 *E328* *E329* *E337*
504To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like
505the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given
506as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them. eg: >
507
508 :menu File.Save :w<CR>
509 :inoremenu File.Save <C-O>:w<CR>
510 :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g<CR>
511
512This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding
513the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item
514"Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces",
515which when selected, performs the operation.
516
517Special characters in a menu name:
518
519 & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each
520 shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to
521 insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&".
522 <Tab> Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be
523 used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "<Tab>"
524 can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real
525 Tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it!
526Example: >
527
528 :amenu &File.&Open<Tab>:e :browse e<CR>
529
530[typed literally]
531With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the <Alt> key pressed), and then "O",
532this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e"
533is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut.
534
535The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once.
536To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for
537some modes:
538 mode inserted appended ~
539 Normal nothing nothing
540 Visual <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
541 Insert <C-O>
542 Cmdline <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
543 Op-pending <C-C> <C-\><C-G>
544
545Appending CTRL-\ CTRL-G is for going back to insert mode when 'insertmode' is
546set. |CTRL-\_CTRL-G|
547
548Example: >
549
550 :amenu File.Next :next^M
551
552is equal to: >
553
554 :nmenu File.Next :next^M
555 :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
556 :imenu File.Next ^O:next^M
557 :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
558 :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G
559
560Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command,
561because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use
562the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the
563expression register: >
564
565 :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'<CR>P
566
567Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when
568included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized).
569
570Note that <Esc> in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This
571is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode.
572
573 *:menu-<silent>* *:menu-silent*
574To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add
575"<silent>" as the first argument. Example: >
576 :menu <silent> Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic<CR>
577The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the
578executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent"
579in the executed command: >
580 :menu <silent> Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r"<CR>
581<
582 *:menu-<script>* *:menu-script*
583The "to" part of the menu will be inspected for mappings. If you don't want
584this, use the ":noremenu" command (or the similar one for a specific mode).
585If you do want to use script-local mappings, add "<script>" as the very first
586argument to the ":menu" command or after "<silent>".
587
588 *menu-priority*
589You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to
590the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command.
591Example: >
592 :80menu Buffer.next :bn<CR>
593
594The default menus have these priorities:
595 File 10
596 Edit 20
597 Tools 40
598 Syntax 50
599 Buffers 60
600 Window 70
601 Help 9999
602
603When no or zero priority is given, 500 is used.
604The priority for the PopUp menu is not used.
605
606The Help menu will be placed on the far right side of the menu bar on systems
607which support this (Motif and GTK+). For GTK+ 2, this is not done anymore
608because right-aligning the Help menu is now discouraged UI design.
609
610You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu,
611but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is
612about 32000. The lowest is 1.
613
614 *sub-menu-priority*
615The same mechanism can be used to position a sub-menu. The priority is then
616given as a dot-separated list of priorities, before the menu name: >
617 :menu 80.500 Buffer.next :bn<CR>
618Giving the sub-menu priority is only needed when the item is not to be put
619in a normal position. For example, to put a sub-menu before the other items: >
620 :menu 80.100 Buffer.first :brew<CR>
621Or to put a sub-menu after the other items, and further items with default
622priority will be put before it: >
623 :menu 80.900 Buffer.last :blast<CR>
624When a number is missing, the default value 500 will be used: >
625 :menu .900 myMenu.test :echo "text"<CR>
626The menu priority is only used when creating a new menu. When it already
627existed, e.g., in another mode, the priority will not change. Thus, the
628priority only needs to be given the first time a menu is used.
629An exception is the PopUp menu. There is a separate menu for each mode
630(Normal, Op-pending, Visual, Insert, Cmdline). The order in each of these
631menus can be different. This is different from menu-bar menus, which have
632the same order for all modes.
633NOTE: sub-menu priorities currently don't work for all versions of the GUI.
634
635 *menu-separator* *E332*
636Menu items can be separated by a special item that inserts some space between
637items. Depending on the system this is displayed as a line or a dotted line.
638These items must start with a '-' and end in a '-'. The part in between is
639used to give it a unique name. Priorities can be used as with normal items.
640Example: >
641 :menu Example.item1 :do something
642 :menu Example.-Sep- :
643 :menu Example.item2 :do something different
644Note that the separator also requires a rhs. It doesn't matter what it is,
645because the item will never be selected. Use a single colon to keep it
646simple.
647
648 *gui-toolbar*
649The toolbar is currently available in the Win32, Athena, Motif, GTK+ (X11) and
650Photon GUI. It should turn up in other GUIs in due course. The default
651toolbar is setup in menu.vim.
652The display of the toolbar is controlled by the 'guioptions' letter 'T'. You
653can thus have menu & toolbar together, or either on its own, or neither.
654The appearance is controlled by the 'toolbar' option. You can chose between
655an image, text or both.
656
657 *toolbar-icon*
658The toolbar is defined as a special menu called ToolBar, which only has one
659level. Vim interprets the items in this menu as follows:
6601) If an "icon=" argument was specified, the file with this name is used.
661 The file can either be specified with the full path or with the base name.
662 In the last case it is searched for in the "bitmaps" directory in
663 'runtimepath', like in point 3). Examples: >
664 :amenu icon=/usr/local/pixmaps/foo_icon.xpm ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
665 :amenu icon=FooIcon ToolBar.Foo :echo "Foo"<CR>
666< Note that in the first case the extension is included, while in the second
667 case it is omitted.
668 If the file cannot be opened the next points are tried.
669 A space in the file name must be escaped with a backslash.
670 A menu priority must come _after_ the icon argument: >
671 :amenu icon=foo 1.42 ToolBar.Foo :echo "42!"<CR>
6722) An item called 'BuiltIn##', where ## is a number, is taken as number ## of
673 the built-in bitmaps available in Vim. Currently there are 31 numbered
674 from 0 to 30 which cover most common editing operations |builtin-tools|. >
675 :amenu ToolBar.BuiltIn22 :call SearchNext("back")<CR>
6763) An item with another name is first searched for in the directory
677 "bitmaps" in 'runtimepath'. If found, the bitmap file is used as the
678 toolbar button image. Note that the exact filename is OS-specific: For
679 example, under Win32 the command >
680 :amenu ToolBar.Hello :echo "hello"<CR>
681< would find the file 'hello.bmp'. Under GTK+/X11 it is 'Hello.xpm'. With
682 GTK+ 2 the files 'Hello.png', 'Hello.xpm' and 'Hello.bmp' are checked for
683 existence, and the first one found would be used.
684 For MS-Windows and GTK+ 2 the bitmap is scaled to fit the button. For
685 MS-Windows a size of 18 by 18 pixels works best.
686 For MS-Windows the bitmap should have 16 colors with the standard palette.
687 The light grey pixels will be changed to the Window frame color and the
688 dark grey pixels to the window shadow color. More colors might also work,
689 depending on your system.
6904) If the bitmap is still not found, Vim checks for a match against its list
691 of built-in names. Each built-in button image has a name.
692 So the command >
693 :amenu ToolBar.Open :e
694< will show the built-in "open a file" button image if no open.bmp exists.
695 All the built-in names can be seen used in menu.vim.
6965) If all else fails, a blank, but functioning, button is displayed.
697
698 *builtin-tools*
699nr Name Normal action ~
70000 New open new window
70101 Open browse for file to open in current window
70202 Save write buffer to file
70303 Undo undo last change
70404 Redo redo last undone change
70505 Cut delete selected text to clipboard
70606 Copy copy selected text to clipboard
70707 Paste paste text from clipboard
70808 Print print current buffer
70909 Help open a buffer on Vim's builtin help
71010 Find start a search command
71111 SaveAll write all modified buffers to file
71212 SaveSesn write session file for current situation
71313 NewSesn write new session file
71414 LoadSesn load session file
71515 RunScript browse for file to run as a Vim script
71616 Replace prompt for substitute command
71717 WinClose close current window
71818 WinMax make current window use many lines
71919 WinMin make current window use few lines
72020 WinSplit split current window
72121 Shell start a shell
72222 FindPrev search again, backward
72323 FindNext search again, forward
72424 FindHelp prompt for word to search help for
72525 Make run make and jump to first error
72626 TagJump jump to tag under the cursor
72727 RunCtags build tags for files in current directory
72828 WinVSplit split current window vertically
72929 WinMaxWidth make current window use many columns
73030 WinMinWidth make current window use few columns
731
732 *hidden-menus* *win32-hidden-menus*
733In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, starting a menu name with ']' excludes that menu
734from the main menu bar. You must then use the |:popup| or |:tearoff| command
735to display it.
736
737 *popup-menu*
738In the Win32, GTK+, Motif, Athena and Photon GUI, you can define the special
739menu "PopUp". This is the menu that is displayed when the right mouse button
740is pressed, if 'mousemodel' is set to popup or popup_setpos.
741
742
7435.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *showing-menus*
744
745To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the
746menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu
747specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown.
748If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown
749for the appropriate mode (eg, Command-line mode for :cmenu).
750
751Special characters in the list, just before the rhs:
752* The menu was defined with "nore" to disallow remapping.
753& The menu was defined with "<script>" to allow remapping script-local
754 mappings only.
755- The menu was disabled.
756
757Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after a menu command may
758be used to complete the name of the menu item.
759
760
7615.4 Executing Menus *execute-menus*
762
763 *:em* *:emenu* *E334* *E335*
764:[range]em[enu] {menu} Execute {menu} from the command line.
765 The default is to execute the Normal mode
766 menu. If a range is specified, it executes
767 the Visual mode menu.
768 If used from <c-o>, it executes the
769 insert-mode menu Eg: >
770 :emenu File.Exit
771
772If the console-mode vim has been compiled with WANT_MENU defined, you can
773use :emenu to access useful menu items you may have got used to from GUI
774mode. See 'wildmenu' for an option that works well with this. See
775|console-menus| for an example.
776
777When using a range, if the lines match with '<,'>, then the menu is executed
778using the last visual selection.
779
780
7815.5 Deleting Menus *delete-menus*
782
783 *:unme* *:unmenu*
784 *:aun* *:aunmenu*
785 *:nunme* *:nunmenu*
786 *:ounme* *:ounmenu*
787 *:vunme* *:vunmenu*
788 *:iunme* *:iunmenu*
789 *:cunme* *:cunmenu*
790To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are
791analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: >
792 :unmenu! Edit.Paste
793
794This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and
795Command-line modes.
796
797Note that hitting <Tab> while entering a menu name after an umenu command
798may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode.
799
800To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* >
801 :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode
802 :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode
803 :aunmenu * " remove all menus in all modes
804
805If you want to get rid of the menu bar: >
806 :set guioptions-=m
807
808
8095.6 Disabling Menus *disable-menus*
810
811 *:menu-disable* *:menu-enable*
812If you do not want to remove a menu, but disable it for a moment, this can be
813done by adding the "enable" or "disable" keyword to a ":menu" command.
814Examples: >
815 :menu disable &File.&Open\.\.\.
816 :amenu enable *
817 :amenu disable &Tools.*
818
819The command applies to the modes as used with all menu commands. Note that
820characters like "&" need to be included for translated names to be found.
821When the argument is "*", all menus are affected. Otherwise the given menu
822name and all existing submenus below it are affected.
823
824
8255.7 Examples for Menus *menu-examples*
826
827Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu
828item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. >
829
830 :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>
831 :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
832 :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z <CR>
833 :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>
834 :imenu Words.Add\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:menu! Words.<C-R>z <C-R>z<CR>a
835 :imenu Words.Remove\ Var <Esc>wb"zye:unmenu! Words.<C-R>z<CR>a
836
837(the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the
838mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "<C-R>" is CTRL-R, "<CR>" is
839the <CR> key. |<>|)
840
841
8425.8 Tooltips & Menu tips
843
844See section |42.4| in the user manual.
845
846 *:tmenu* *:tm*
847:tm[enu] {menupath} {rhs} Define a tip for a menu or tool. {only in
848 X11 and Win32 GUI}
849
850:tm[enu] [menupath] List menu tips. {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
851
852 *:tunmenu* *:tu*
853:tu[nmenu] {menupath} Remove a tip for a menu or tool.
854 {only in X11 and Win32 GUI}
855
856When a tip is defined for a menu item, it appears in the command-line area
857when the mouse is over that item, much like a standard Windows menu hint in
858the status bar. (Except when Vim is in Command-line mode, when of course
859nothing is displayed.)
860When a tip is defined for a ToolBar item, it appears as a tooltip when the
861mouse pauses over that button, in the usual fashion. Use the |hl-Tooltip|
862highlight group to change its colors.
863
864A "tip" can be defined for each menu item. For example, when defining a menu
865item like this: >
866 :amenu MyMenu.Hello :echo "Hello"<CR>
867The tip is defined like this: >
868 :tmenu MyMenu.Hello Displays a greeting.
869And delete it with: >
870 :tunmenu MyMenu.Hello
871
872Tooltips are currently only supported for the X11 and Win32 GUI. However, they
873should appear for the other gui platforms in the not too distant future.
874
875The ":tmenu" command works just like other menu commands, it uses the same
876arguments. ":tunmenu" deletes an existing menu tip, in the same way as the
877other unmenu commands.
878
879If a menu item becomes invalid (i.e. its actions in all modes are deleted) Vim
880deletes the menu tip (and the item) for you. This means that :aunmenu deletes
881a menu item - you don't need to do a :tunmenu as well.
882
883
8845.9 Popup Menus
885
886In the Win32 and GTK+ GUI, you can cause a menu to popup at the cursor.
887This behaves similarly to the PopUp menus except that any menu tree can
888be popped up.
889
890This command is for backwards compatibility, using it is discouraged, because
891it behaves in a strange way.
892
893 *:popup* *:popu*
894:popu[p] {name} Popup the menu {name}. The menu named must
895 have at least one subentry, but need not
896 appear on the menu-bar (see |hidden-menus|).
897 {only available for Win32 and GTK GUI}
898
899Example: >
900 :popup File
901will make the "File" menu (if there is one) appear at the text cursor. >
902
903 :amenu ]Toolbar.Make :make<CR>
904 :popup ]Toolbar
905This creates a popup menu that doesn't exist on the main menu-bar.
906
907Note that a menu that starts with ']' will not be displayed.
908
909==============================================================================
9106. Extras *gui-extras*
911
912This section describes other features which are related to the GUI.
913
914- With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because
915 the key codes don't start with <Esc>.
916
917- Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "<Key>", since
918 the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to
919 get "<Modifiers-Key>".
920
921- In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within
922 mappings of special keys and mouse events. eg: :map <M-LeftDrag> <LeftDrag>
923
924- In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these
925 are <Space>, <Tab>, <NL>, <CR>, <Esc>.
926
927- To check in a Vim script if the GUI is being used, you can use something
928 like this: >
929
930 if has("gui_running")
931 echo "yes, we have a GUI"
932 else
933 echo "Boring old console"
934 endif
935
936==============================================================================
9377. Shell Commands *gui-shell*
938
939For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window.
940See |gui-pty|.
941
942WARNING: Executing an external command from the X11 GUI will not always
943work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine.
944Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't
945work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be
946careful!
947
948For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window.
949See |gui-shell-win32|.
950
951 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: