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1 *usr_02.txt* For Vim version 7.0. Last change: 2006 Apr 24
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7
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2
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3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
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4
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5 The first steps in Vim
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6
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7
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8 This chapter provides just enough information to edit a file with Vim. Not
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9 well or fast, but you can edit. Take some time to practice with these
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10 commands, they form the base for what follows.
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11
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12 |02.1| Running Vim for the First Time
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13 |02.2| Inserting text
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14 |02.3| Moving around
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15 |02.4| Deleting characters
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16 |02.5| Undo and Redo
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17 |02.6| Other editing commands
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18 |02.7| Getting out
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19 |02.8| Finding help
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20
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21 Next chapter: |usr_03.txt| Moving around
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22 Previous chapter: |usr_01.txt| About the manuals
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23 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
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24
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25 ==============================================================================
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26 *02.1* Running Vim for the First Time
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27
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28 To start Vim, enter this command: >
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29
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30 gvim file.txt
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31
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32 In UNIX you can type this at any command prompt. If you are running Microsoft
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33 Windows, open an MS-DOS prompt window and enter the command.
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34 In either case, Vim starts editing a file called file.txt. Because this
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35 is a new file, you get a blank window. This is what your screen will look
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36 like:
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37
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38 +---------------------------------------+
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39 |# |
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40 |~ |
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41 |~ |
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42 |~ |
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43 |~ |
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44 |"file.txt" [New file] |
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45 +---------------------------------------+
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46 ('#" is the cursor position.)
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47
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48 The tilde (~) lines indicate lines not in the file. In other words, when Vim
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49 runs out of file to display, it displays tilde lines. At the bottom of the
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50 screen, a message line indicates the file is named file.txt and shows that you
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51 are creating a new file. The message information is temporary and other
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52 information overwrites it.
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53
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54
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55 THE VIM COMMAND
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56
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57 The gvim command causes the editor to create a new window for editing. If you
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58 use this command: >
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59
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60 vim file.txt
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61
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62 the editing occurs inside your command window. In other words, if you are
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63 running inside an xterm, the editor uses your xterm window. If you are using
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64 an MS-DOS command prompt window under Microsoft Windows, the editing occurs
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65 inside this window. The text in the window will look the same for both
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66 versions, but with gvim you have extra features, like a menu bar. More about
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67 that later.
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68
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69 ==============================================================================
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70 *02.2* Inserting text
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71
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72 The Vim editor is a modal editor. That means that the editor behaves
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73 differently, depending on which mode you are in. The two basic modes are
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74 called Normal mode and Insert mode. In Normal mode the characters you type
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75 are commands. In Insert mode the characters are inserted as text.
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76 Since you have just started Vim it will be in Normal mode. To start Insert
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77 mode you type the "i" command (i for Insert). Then you can enter
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78 the text. It will be inserted into the file. Do not worry if you make
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79 mistakes; you can correct them later. To enter the following programmer's
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80 limerick, this is what you type: >
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81
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82 iA very intelligent turtle
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83 Found programming UNIX a hurdle
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84
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85 After typing "turtle" you press the <Enter> key to start a new line. Finally
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86 you press the <Esc> key to stop Insert mode and go back to Normal mode. You
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87 now have two lines of text in your Vim window:
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88
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89 +---------------------------------------+
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90 |A very intelligent turtle |
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91 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle |
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92 |~ |
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93 |~ |
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94 | |
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95 +---------------------------------------+
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96
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97
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98 WHAT IS THE MODE?
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99
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100 To be able to see what mode you are in, type this command: >
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101
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102 :set showmode
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103
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104 You will notice that when typing the colon Vim moves the cursor to the last
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105 line of the window. That's where you type colon commands (commands that start
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106 with a colon). Finish this command by pressing the <Enter> key (all commands
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107 that start with a colon are finished this way).
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108 Now, if you type the "i" command Vim will display --INSERT-- at the bottom
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109 of the window. This indicates you are in Insert mode.
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110
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111 +---------------------------------------+
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112 |A very intelligent turtle |
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113 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle |
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114 |~ |
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115 |~ |
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116 |-- INSERT -- |
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117 +---------------------------------------+
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118
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119 If you press <Esc> to go back to Normal mode the last line will be made blank.
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120
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121
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122 GETTING OUT OF TROUBLE
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123
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124 One of the problems for Vim novices is mode confusion, which is caused by
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125 forgetting which mode you are in or by accidentally typing a command that
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126 switches modes. To get back to Normal mode, no matter what mode you are in,
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127 press the <Esc> key. Sometimes you have to press it twice. If Vim beeps back
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128 at you, you already are in Normal mode.
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129
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130 ==============================================================================
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131 *02.3* Moving around
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132
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133 After you return to Normal mode, you can move around by using these keys:
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134
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135 h left *hjkl*
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136 j down
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137 k up
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138 l right
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139
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140 At first, it may appear that these commands were chosen at random. After all,
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141 who ever heard of using l for right? But actually, there is a very good
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142 reason for these choices: Moving the cursor is the most common thing you do in
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143 an editor, and these keys are on the home row of your right hand. In other
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144 words, these commands are placed where you can type them the fastest
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145 (especially when you type with ten fingers).
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146
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147 Note:
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148 You can also move the cursor by using the arrow keys. If you do,
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149 however, you greatly slow down your editing because to press the arrow
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150 keys, you must move your hand from the text keys to the arrow keys.
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151 Considering that you might be doing it hundreds of times an hour, this
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152 can take a significant amount of time.
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153 Also, there are keyboards which do not have arrow keys, or which
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154 locate them in unusual places; therefore, knowing the use of the hjkl
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155 keys helps in those situations.
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156
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157 One way to remember these commands is that h is on the left, l is on the
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158 right and j points down. In a picture: >
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159
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160 k
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161 h l
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162 j
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163
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164 The best way to learn these commands is by using them. Use the "i" command to
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165 insert some more lines of text. Then use the hjkl keys to move around and
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166 insert a word somewhere. Don't forget to press <Esc> to go back to Normal
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167 mode. The |vimtutor| is also a nice way to learn by doing.
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168
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169 For Japanese users, Hiroshi Iwatani suggested using this:
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170
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171 Komsomolsk
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172 ^
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173 |
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174 Huan Ho <--- ---> Los Angeles
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175 (Yellow river) |
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176 v
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177 Java (the island, not the programming language)
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178
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179 ==============================================================================
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180 *02.4* Deleting characters
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181
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182 To delete a character, move the cursor over it and type "x". (This is a
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183 throwback to the old days of the typewriter, when you deleted things by typing
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184 xxxx over them.) Move the cursor to the beginning of the first line, for
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185 example, and type xxxxxxx (seven x's) to delete "A very ". The result should
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186 look like this:
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187
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188 +---------------------------------------+
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189 |intelligent turtle |
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190 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle |
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191 |~ |
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192 |~ |
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193 | |
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194 +---------------------------------------+
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195
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196 Now you can insert new text, for example by typing: >
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197
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198 iA young <Esc>
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199
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200 This begins an insert (the i), inserts the words "A young", and then exits
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201 insert mode (the final <Esc>). The result:
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202
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203 +---------------------------------------+
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204 |A young intelligent turtle |
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205 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle |
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206 |~ |
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207 |~ |
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208 | |
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209 +---------------------------------------+
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210
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211
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212 DELETING A LINE
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213
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214 To delete a whole line use the "dd" command. The following line will
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215 then move up to fill the gap:
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216
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217 +---------------------------------------+
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218 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle |
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219 |~ |
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220 |~ |
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221 |~ |
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222 | |
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223 +---------------------------------------+
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224
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225
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226 DELETING A LINE BREAK
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227
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228 In Vim you can join two lines together, which means that the line break
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229 between them is deleted. The "J" command does this.
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230 Take these two lines:
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231
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232 A young intelligent ~
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233 turtle ~
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234
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235 Move the cursor to the first line and press "J":
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236
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237 A young intelligent turtle ~
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238
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239 ==============================================================================
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240 *02.5* Undo and Redo
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241
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242 Suppose you delete too much. Well, you can type it in again, but an easier
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243 way exists. The "u" command undoes the last edit. Take a look at this in
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244 action: After using "dd" to delete the first line, "u" brings it back.
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245 Another one: Move the cursor to the A in the first line:
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246
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247 A young intelligent turtle ~
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248
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249 Now type xxxxxxx to delete "A young". The result is as follows:
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250
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251 intelligent turtle ~
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252
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253 Type "u" to undo the last delete. That delete removed the g, so the undo
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254 restores the character.
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255
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256 g intelligent turtle ~
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257
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258 The next u command restores the next-to-last character deleted:
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259
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260 ng intelligent turtle ~
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261
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262 The next u command gives you the u, and so on:
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263
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264 ung intelligent turtle ~
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265 oung intelligent turtle ~
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266 young intelligent turtle ~
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267 young intelligent turtle ~
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268 A young intelligent turtle ~
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269
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270 Note:
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271 If you type "u" twice, and the result is that you get the same text
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272 back, you have Vim configured to work Vi compatible. Look here to fix
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273 this: |not-compatible|.
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274 This text assumes you work "The Vim Way". You might prefer to use
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275 the good old Vi way, but you will have to watch out for small
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276 differences in the text then.
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277
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278
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279 REDO
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280
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281 If you undo too many times, you can press CTRL-R (redo) to reverse the
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282 preceding command. In other words, it undoes the undo. To see this in
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283 action, press CTRL-R twice. The character A and the space after it disappear:
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284
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285 young intelligent turtle ~
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286
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287 There's a special version of the undo command, the "U" (undo line) command.
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288 The undo line command undoes all the changes made on the last line that was
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289 edited. Typing this command twice cancels the preceding "U".
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290
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291 A very intelligent turtle ~
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292 xxxx Delete very
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293
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294 A intelligent turtle ~
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295 xxxxxx Delete turtle
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296
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297 A intelligent ~
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298 Restore line with "U"
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299 A very intelligent turtle ~
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300 Undo "U" with "u"
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301 A intelligent ~
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302
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303 The "U" command is a change by itself, which the "u" command undoes and CTRL-R
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304 redoes. This might be a bit confusing. Don't worry, with "u" and CTRL-R you
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305 can go to any of the situations you had. More about that in section ||.
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306
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307 ==============================================================================
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308 *02.6* Other editing commands
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309
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310 Vim has a large number of commands to change the text. See |Q_in| and below.
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311 Here are a few often used ones.
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312
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313
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314 APPENDING
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315
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316 The "i" command inserts a character before the character under the cursor.
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317 That works fine; but what happens if you want to add stuff to the end of the
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318 line? For that you need to insert text after the cursor. This is done with
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319 the "a" (append) command.
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320 For example, to change the line
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321
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322 and that's not saying much for the turtle. ~
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323 to
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324 and that's not saying much for the turtle!!! ~
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325
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326 move the cursor over to the dot at the end of the line. Then type "x" to
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327 delete the period. The cursor is now positioned at the end of the line on the
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328 e in turtle. Now type >
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329
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330 a!!!<Esc>
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331
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332 to append three exclamation points after the e in turtle:
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333
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334 and that's not saying much for the turtle!!! ~
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335
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336
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337 OPENING UP A NEW LINE
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338
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339 The "o" command creates a new, empty line below the cursor and puts Vim in
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340 Insert mode. Then you can type the text for the new line.
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341 Suppose the cursor is somewhere in the first of these two lines:
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342
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343 A very intelligent turtle ~
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344 Found programming UNIX a hurdle ~
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345
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346 If you now use the "o" command and type new text: >
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347
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348 oThat liked using Vim<Esc>
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349
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350 The result is:
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351
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352 A very intelligent turtle ~
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353 That liked using Vim ~
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354 Found programming UNIX a hurdle ~
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355
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356 The "O" command (uppercase) opens a line above the cursor.
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357
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358
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359 USING A COUNT
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360
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361 Suppose you want to move up nine lines. You can type "kkkkkkkkk" or you can
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362 enter the command "9k". In fact, you can precede many commands with a number.
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363 Earlier in this chapter, for instance, you added three exclamation points to
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364 the end of a line by typing "a!!!<Esc>". Another way to do this is to use the
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365 command "3a!<Esc>". The count of 3 tells the command that follows to triple
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366 its effect. Similarly, to delete three characters, use the command "3x". The
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367 count always comes before the command it applies to.
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368
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369 ==============================================================================
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370 *02.7* Getting out
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371
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372 To exit, use the "ZZ" command. This command writes the file and exits.
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373
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374 Note:
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375 Unlike many other editors, Vim does not automatically make a backup
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376 file. If you type "ZZ", your changes are committed and there's no
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377 turning back. You can configure the Vim editor to produce backup
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378 files, see |07.4|.
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379
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380
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381 DISCARDING CHANGES
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382
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383 Sometimes you will make a sequence of changes and suddenly realize you were
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384 better off before you started. Not to worry; Vim has a
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385 quit-and-throw-things-away command. It is: >
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386
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387 :q!
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388
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389 Don't forget to press <Enter> to finish the command.
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390
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391 For those of you interested in the details, the three parts of this command
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392 are the colon (:), which enters Command-line mode; the q command, which tells
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393 the editor to quit; and the override command modifier (!).
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394 The override command modifier is needed because Vim is reluctant to throw
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395 away changes. If you were to just type ":q", Vim would display an error
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396 message and refuse to exit:
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397
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398 E37: No write since last change (use ! to override) ~
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399
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400 By specifying the override, you are in effect telling Vim, "I know that what
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401 I'm doing looks stupid, but I'm a big boy and really want to do this."
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402
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403 If you want to continue editing with Vim: The ":e!" command reloads the
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404 original version of the file.
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405
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406 ==============================================================================
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407 *02.8* Finding help
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408
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409 Everything you always wanted to know can be found in the Vim help files.
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410 Don't be afraid to ask!
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411 To get generic help use this command: >
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412
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413 :help
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414
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415 You could also use the first function key <F1>. If your keyboard has a <Help>
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416 key it might work as well.
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417 If you don't supply a subject, ":help" displays the general help window.
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418 The creators of Vim did something very clever (or very lazy) with the help
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419 system: They made the help window a normal editing window. You can use all
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420 the normal Vim commands to move through the help information. Therefore h, j,
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421 k, and l move left, down, up and right.
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422 To get out of the help window, use the same command you use to get out of
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423 the editor: "ZZ". This will only close the help window, not exit Vim.
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424
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425 As you read the help text, you will notice some text enclosed in vertical bars
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426 (for example, |help|). This indicates a hyperlink. If you position the
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427 cursor anywhere between the bars and press CTRL-] (jump to tag), the help
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428 system takes you to the indicated subject. (For reasons not discussed here,
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429 the Vim terminology for a hyperlink is tag. So CTRL-] jumps to the location
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430 of the tag given by the word under the cursor.)
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431 After a few jumps, you might want to go back. CTRL-T (pop tag) takes you
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432 back to the preceding position. CTRL-O (jump to older position) also works
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433 nicely here.
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434 At the top of the help screen, there is the notation *help.txt*. This name
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435 between "*" characters is used by the help system to define a tag (hyperlink
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436 destination).
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437 See |29.1| for details about using tags.
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438
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439 To get help on a given subject, use the following command: >
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440
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441 :help {subject}
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442
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443 To get help on the "x" command, for example, enter the following: >
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444
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445 :help x
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446
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447 To find out how to delete text, use this command: >
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448
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449 :help deleting
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450
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451 To get a complete index of all Vim commands, use the following command: >
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452
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453 :help index
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454
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455 When you need to get help for a control character command (for example,
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456 CTRL-A), you need to spell it with the prefix "CTRL-". >
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457
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458 :help CTRL-A
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459
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460 The Vim editor has many different modes. By default, the help system displays
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461 the normal-mode commands. For example, the following command displays help
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462 for the normal-mode CTRL-H command: >
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463
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464 :help CTRL-H
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465
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466 To identify other modes, use a mode prefix. If you want the help for the
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467 insert-mode version of a command, use "i_". For CTRL-H this gives you the
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468 following command: >
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469
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470 :help i_CTRL-H
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471
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472 When you start the Vim editor, you can use several command-line arguments.
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473 These all begin with a dash (-). To find what the -t argument does, for
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474 example, use the command: >
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475
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476 :help -t
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477
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478 The Vim editor has a number of options that enable you to configure and
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479 customize the editor. If you want help for an option, you need to enclose it
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480 in single quotation marks. To find out what the 'number' option does, for
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481 example, use the following command: >
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482
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483 :help 'number'
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484
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485 The table with all mode prefixes can be found here: |help-context|.
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486
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487 Special keys are enclosed in angle brackets. To find help on the up-arrow key
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488 in Insert mode, for instance, use this command: >
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489
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490 :help i_<Up>
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491
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492 If you see an error message that you don't understand, for example:
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493
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494 E37: No write since last change (use ! to override) ~
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495
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496 You can use the error ID at the start to find help about it: >
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497
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498 :help E37
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499
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500 ==============================================================================
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501
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502 Next chapter: |usr_03.txt| Moving around
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503
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504 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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