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annotate runtime/doc/usr_07.txt @ 11159:c13ab9398ce9
Added tag v8.0.0466 for changeset 501f46f7644c4348f21bcbe45b74f8053010f846
| author | Christian Brabandt <cb@256bit.org> |
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| date | Thu, 16 Mar 2017 17:30:07 +0100 |
| parents | 9f48eab77d62 |
| children | 444ad56c0cac |
| rev | line source |
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commit https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/bb76f24af2010943387ce696a7092175b4ecccf2
Christian Brabandt <cb@256bit.org>
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1 *usr_07.txt* For Vim version 8.0. Last change: 2006 Apr 24 |
| 7 | 2 |
| 3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar | |
| 4 | |
| 5 Editing more than one file | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 No matter how many files you have, you can edit them without leaving Vim. | |
| 9 Define a list of files to work on and jump from one to the other. Copy text | |
| 10 from one file and put it in another one. | |
| 11 | |
| 12 |07.1| Edit another file | |
| 13 |07.2| A list of files | |
| 14 |07.3| Jumping from file to file | |
| 15 |07.4| Backup files | |
| 16 |07.5| Copy text between files | |
| 17 |07.6| Viewing a file | |
| 18 |07.7| Changing the file name | |
| 19 | |
| 20 Next chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows | |
| 21 Previous chapter: |usr_06.txt| Using syntax highlighting | |
| 22 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| | |
| 23 | |
| 24 ============================================================================== | |
| 25 *07.1* Edit another file | |
| 26 | |
| 27 So far you had to start Vim for every file you wanted to edit. There is a | |
| 28 simpler way. To start editing another file, use this command: > | |
| 29 | |
| 30 :edit foo.txt | |
| 31 | |
| 32 You can use any file name instead of "foo.txt". Vim will close the current | |
| 33 file and open the new one. If the current file has unsaved changes, however, | |
| 34 Vim displays an error message and does not open the new file: | |
| 35 | |
| 36 E37: No write since last change (use ! to override) ~ | |
| 37 | |
| 38 Note: | |
| 39 Vim puts an error ID at the start of each error message. If you do | |
| 40 not understand the message or what caused it, look in the help system | |
| 41 for this ID. In this case: > | |
| 42 | |
| 43 :help E37 | |
| 44 | |
| 45 At this point, you have a number of alternatives. You can write the file | |
| 46 using this command: > | |
| 47 | |
| 48 :write | |
| 49 | |
| 50 Or you can force Vim to discard your changes and edit the new file, using the | |
| 51 force (!) character: > | |
| 52 | |
| 53 :edit! foo.txt | |
| 54 | |
| 55 If you want to edit another file, but not write the changes in the current | |
| 56 file yet, you can make it hidden: > | |
| 57 | |
| 58 :hide edit foo.txt | |
| 59 | |
| 60 The text with changes is still there, but you can't see it. This is further | |
| 61 explained in section |22.4|: The buffer list. | |
| 62 | |
| 63 ============================================================================== | |
| 64 *07.2* A list of files | |
| 65 | |
| 66 You can start Vim to edit a sequence of files. For example: > | |
| 67 | |
| 68 vim one.c two.c three.c | |
| 69 | |
| 70 This command starts Vim and tells it that you will be editing three files. | |
| 71 Vim displays just the first file. After you have done your thing in this | |
| 72 file, to edit the next file you use this command: > | |
| 73 | |
| 74 :next | |
| 75 | |
| 76 If you have unsaved changes in the current file, you will get an error | |
| 77 message and the ":next" will not work. This is the same problem as with | |
| 78 ":edit" mentioned in the previous section. To abandon the changes: > | |
| 79 | |
| 80 :next! | |
| 81 | |
| 82 But mostly you want to save the changes and move on to the next file. There | |
| 83 is a special command for this: > | |
| 84 | |
| 85 :wnext | |
| 86 | |
| 87 This does the same as using two separate commands: > | |
| 88 | |
| 89 :write | |
| 90 :next | |
| 91 | |
| 92 | |
| 93 WHERE AM I? | |
| 94 | |
| 95 To see which file in the argument list you are editing, look in the window | |
| 96 title. It should show something like "(2 of 3)". This means you are editing | |
| 97 the second file out of three files. | |
| 98 If you want to see the list of files, use this command: > | |
| 99 | |
| 100 :args | |
| 101 | |
| 102 This is short for "arguments". The output might look like this: | |
| 103 | |
| 104 one.c [two.c] three.c ~ | |
| 105 | |
| 106 These are the files you started Vim with. The one you are currently editing, | |
| 107 "two.c", is in square brackets. | |
| 108 | |
| 109 | |
| 110 MOVING TO OTHER ARGUMENTS | |
| 111 | |
| 112 To go back one file: > | |
| 113 | |
| 114 :previous | |
| 115 | |
| 116 This is just like the ":next" command, except that it moves in the other | |
| 117 direction. Again, there is a shortcut command for when you want to write the | |
| 118 file first: > | |
| 119 | |
| 120 :wprevious | |
| 121 | |
| 122 To move to the very last file in the list: > | |
| 123 | |
| 124 :last | |
| 125 | |
| 126 And to move back to the first one again: > | |
| 127 | |
| 128 :first | |
| 129 | |
| 130 There is no ":wlast" or ":wfirst" command though! | |
| 131 | |
| 132 You can use a count for ":next" and ":previous". To skip two files forward: > | |
| 133 | |
| 134 :2next | |
| 135 | |
| 136 | |
| 137 AUTOMATIC WRITING | |
| 138 | |
| 139 When moving around the files and making changes, you have to remember to use | |
| 140 ":write". Otherwise you will get an error message. If you are sure you | |
| 141 always want to write modified files, you can tell Vim to automatically write | |
| 142 them: > | |
| 143 | |
| 144 :set autowrite | |
| 145 | |
| 146 When you are editing a file which you may not want to write, switch it off | |
| 147 again: > | |
| 148 | |
| 149 :set noautowrite | |
| 150 | |
| 151 | |
| 152 EDITING ANOTHER LIST OF FILES | |
| 153 | |
| 154 You can redefine the list of files without the need to exit Vim and start it | |
| 155 again. Use this command to edit three other files: > | |
| 156 | |
| 157 :args five.c six.c seven.h | |
| 158 | |
| 159 Or use a wildcard, like it's used in the shell: > | |
| 160 | |
| 161 :args *.txt | |
| 162 | |
| 163 Vim will take you to the first file in the list. Again, if the current file | |
| 164 has changes, you can either write the file first, or use ":args!" (with ! | |
| 165 added) to abandon the changes. | |
| 166 | |
| 167 | |
| 168 DID YOU EDIT THE LAST FILE? | |
| 169 *arglist-quit* | |
| 170 When you use a list of files, Vim assumes you want to edit them all. To | |
| 171 protect you from exiting too early, you will get this error when you didn't | |
| 172 edit the last file in the list yet: | |
| 173 | |
| 174 E173: 46 more files to edit ~ | |
| 175 | |
| 176 If you really want to exit, just do it again. Then it will work (but not when | |
| 177 you did other commands in between). | |
| 178 | |
| 179 ============================================================================== | |
| 180 *07.3* Jumping from file to file | |
| 181 | |
| 182 To quickly jump between two files, press CTRL-^ (on English-US keyboards the ^ | |
| 183 is above the 6 key). Example: > | |
| 184 | |
| 185 :args one.c two.c three.c | |
| 186 | |
| 187 You are now in one.c. > | |
| 188 | |
| 189 :next | |
| 190 | |
| 191 Now you are in two.c. Now use CTRL-^ to go back to one.c. Another CTRL-^ and | |
| 192 you are back in two.c. Another CTRL-^ and you are in one.c again. If you now | |
| 193 do: > | |
| 194 | |
| 195 :next | |
| 196 | |
| 197 You are in three.c. Notice that the CTRL-^ command does not change the idea | |
| 198 of where you are in the list of files. Only commands like ":next" and | |
| 199 ":previous" do that. | |
| 200 | |
| 201 The file you were previously editing is called the "alternate" file. When you | |
| 202 just started Vim CTRL-^ will not work, since there isn't a previous file. | |
| 203 | |
| 204 | |
| 205 PREDEFINED MARKS | |
| 206 | |
| 207 After jumping to another file, you can use two predefined marks which are very | |
| 208 useful: > | |
| 209 | |
| 210 `" | |
| 211 | |
| 212 This takes you to the position where the cursor was when you left the file. | |
| 213 Another mark that is remembered is the position where you made the last | |
| 214 change: > | |
| 215 | |
| 216 `. | |
| 217 | |
| 218 Suppose you are editing the file "one.txt". Somewhere halfway the file you | |
| 219 use "x" to delete a character. Then you go to the last line with "G" and | |
| 220 write the file with ":w". You edit several other files, and then use ":edit | |
| 221 one.txt" to come back to "one.txt". If you now use `" Vim jumps to the last | |
| 222 line of the file. Using `. takes you to the position where you deleted the | |
| 223 character. Even when you move around in the file `" and `. will take you to | |
| 224 the remembered position. At least until you make another change or leave the | |
| 225 file. | |
| 226 | |
| 227 | |
| 228 FILE MARKS | |
| 229 | |
| 230 In chapter 4 was explained how you can place a mark in a file with "mx" and | |
| 231 jump to that position with "`x". That works within one file. If you edit | |
| 232 another file and place marks there, these are specific for that file. Thus | |
| 233 each file has its own set of marks, they are local to the file. | |
| 234 So far we were using marks with a lowercase letter. There are also marks | |
| 235 with an uppercase letter. These are global, they can be used from any file. | |
| 236 For example suppose that we are editing the file "foo.txt". Go to halfway the | |
| 237 file ("50%") and place the F mark there (F for foo): > | |
| 238 | |
| 239 50%mF | |
| 240 | |
| 241 Now edit the file "bar.txt" and place the B mark (B for bar) at its last line: | |
| 242 > | |
| 243 GmB | |
| 244 | |
| 245 Now you can use the "'F" command to jump back to halfway foo.txt. Or edit yet | |
| 246 another file, type "'B" and you are at the end of bar.txt again. | |
| 247 | |
| 248 The file marks are remembered until they are placed somewhere else. Thus you | |
| 249 can place the mark, do hours of editing and still be able to jump back to that | |
| 250 mark. | |
| 251 It's often useful to think of a simple connection between the mark letter | |
| 252 and where it is placed. For example, use the H mark in a header file, M in | |
| 253 a Makefile and C in a C code file. | |
| 254 | |
| 255 To see where a specific mark is, give an argument to the ":marks" command: > | |
| 256 | |
| 257 :marks M | |
| 258 | |
| 259 You can also give several arguments: > | |
| 260 | |
| 261 :marks MCP | |
| 262 | |
| 263 Don't forget that you can use CTRL-O and CTRL-I to jump to older and newer | |
| 264 positions without placing marks there. | |
| 265 | |
| 266 ============================================================================== | |
| 267 *07.4* Backup files | |
| 268 | |
| 237 | 269 Usually Vim does not produce a backup file. If you want to have one, all you |
| 7 | 270 need to do is execute the following command: > |
| 271 | |
| 272 :set backup | |
| 273 | |
| 274 The name of the backup file is the original file with a ~ added to the end. | |
| 275 If your file is named data.txt, for example, the backup file name is | |
| 276 data.txt~. | |
| 277 If you do not like the fact that the backup files end with ~, you can | |
| 278 change the extension: > | |
| 279 | |
| 280 :set backupext=.bak | |
| 281 | |
| 282 This will use data.txt.bak instead of data.txt~. | |
| 283 Another option that matters here is 'backupdir'. It specifies where the | |
| 284 backup file is written. The default, to write the backup in the same | |
| 285 directory as the original file, will mostly be the right thing. | |
| 286 | |
| 287 Note: | |
| 288 When the 'backup' option isn't set but the 'writebackup' is, Vim will | |
| 289 still create a backup file. However, it is deleted as soon as writing | |
| 290 the file was completed successfully. This functions as a safety | |
| 291 against losing your original file when writing fails in some way (disk | |
| 292 full is the most common cause; being hit by lightning might be | |
| 293 another, although less common). | |
| 294 | |
| 295 | |
| 296 KEEPING THE ORIGINAL FILE | |
| 297 | |
| 298 If you are editing source files, you might want to keep the file before you | |
| 299 make any changes. But the backup file will be overwritten each time you write | |
| 300 the file. Thus it only contains the previous version, not the first one. | |
| 301 To make Vim keep the original file, set the 'patchmode' option. This | |
| 302 specifies the extension used for the first backup of a changed file. Usually | |
| 303 you would do this: > | |
| 304 | |
| 305 :set patchmode=.orig | |
| 306 | |
| 307 When you now edit the file data.txt for the first time, make changes and write | |
| 308 the file, Vim will keep a copy of the unchanged file under the name | |
| 309 "data.txt.orig". | |
| 310 If you make further changes to the file, Vim will notice that | |
| 311 "data.txt.orig" already exists and leave it alone. Further backup files will | |
| 312 then be called "data.txt~" (or whatever you specified with 'backupext'). | |
| 313 If you leave 'patchmode' empty (that is the default), the original file | |
| 314 will not be kept. | |
| 315 | |
| 316 ============================================================================== | |
| 317 *07.5* Copy text between files | |
| 318 | |
| 319 This explains how to copy text from one file to another. Let's start with a | |
| 320 simple example. Edit the file that contains the text you want to copy. Move | |
| 321 the cursor to the start of the text and press "v". This starts Visual mode. | |
| 322 Now move the cursor to the end of the text and press "y". This yanks (copies) | |
| 323 the selected text. | |
| 324 To copy the above paragraph, you would do: > | |
| 325 | |
| 326 :edit thisfile | |
| 327 /This | |
| 328 vjjjj$y | |
| 329 | |
| 330 Now edit the file you want to put the text in. Move the cursor to the | |
| 331 character where you want the text to appear after. Use "p" to put the text | |
| 332 there. > | |
| 333 :edit otherfile | |
| 334 /There | |
| 335 p | |
| 336 | |
| 337 Of course you can use many other commands to yank the text. For example, to | |
| 338 select whole lines start Visual mode with "V". Or use CTRL-V to select a | |
| 339 rectangular block. Or use "Y" to yank a single line, "yaw" to yank-a-word, | |
| 340 etc. | |
| 341 The "p" command puts the text after the cursor. Use "P" to put the text | |
| 342 before the cursor. Notice that Vim remembers if you yanked a whole line or a | |
| 343 block, and puts it back that way. | |
| 344 | |
| 345 | |
| 346 USING REGISTERS | |
| 347 | |
| 348 When you want to copy several pieces of text from one file to another, having | |
| 349 to switch between the files and writing the target file takes a lot of time. | |
| 350 To avoid this, copy each piece of text to its own register. | |
| 351 A register is a place where Vim stores text. Here we will use the | |
| 352 registers named a to z (later you will find out there are others). Let's copy | |
| 353 a sentence to the f register (f for First): > | |
| 354 | |
| 355 "fyas | |
| 356 | |
| 357 The "yas" command yanks a sentence like before. It's the "f that tells Vim | |
| 358 the text should be place in the f register. This must come just before the | |
| 359 yank command. | |
| 360 Now yank three whole lines to the l register (l for line): > | |
| 361 | |
| 362 "l3Y | |
| 363 | |
| 364 The count could be before the "l just as well. To yank a block of text to the | |
| 365 b (for block) register: > | |
| 366 | |
| 367 CTRL-Vjjww"by | |
| 368 | |
| 369 Notice that the register specification "b is just before the "y" command. | |
| 370 This is required. If you would have put it before the "w" command, it would | |
| 371 not have worked. | |
| 372 Now you have three pieces of text in the f, l and b registers. Edit | |
| 373 another file, move around and place the text where you want it: > | |
| 374 | |
| 375 "fp | |
| 376 | |
| 377 Again, the register specification "f comes before the "p" command. | |
| 378 You can put the registers in any order. And the text stays in the register | |
| 379 until you yank something else into it. Thus you can put it as many times as | |
| 380 you like. | |
| 381 | |
| 382 When you delete text, you can also specify a register. Use this to move | |
| 383 several pieces of text around. For example, to delete-a-word and write it in | |
| 384 the w register: > | |
| 385 | |
| 386 "wdaw | |
| 387 | |
| 388 Again, the register specification comes before the delete command "d". | |
| 389 | |
| 390 | |
| 391 APPENDING TO A FILE | |
| 392 | |
| 393 When collecting lines of text into one file, you can use this command: > | |
| 394 | |
| 395 :write >> logfile | |
| 396 | |
| 397 This will write the text of the current file to the end of "logfile". Thus it | |
| 398 is appended. This avoids that you have to copy the lines, edit the log file | |
| 399 and put them there. Thus you save two steps. But you can only append to the | |
| 400 end of a file. | |
| 401 To append only a few lines, select them in Visual mode before typing | |
| 402 ":write". In chapter 10 you will learn other ways to select a range of lines. | |
| 403 | |
| 404 ============================================================================== | |
| 405 *07.6* Viewing a file | |
| 406 | |
| 407 Sometimes you only want to see what a file contains, without the intention to | |
| 408 ever write it back. There is the risk that you type ":w" without thinking and | |
| 409 overwrite the original file anyway. To avoid this, edit the file read-only. | |
| 410 To start Vim in readonly mode, use this command: > | |
| 411 | |
| 412 vim -R file | |
| 413 | |
| 414 On Unix this command should do the same thing: > | |
| 415 | |
| 416 view file | |
| 417 | |
| 418 You are now editing "file" in read-only mode. When you try using ":w" you | |
| 419 will get an error message and the file won't be written. | |
| 420 When you try to make a change to the file Vim will give you a warning: | |
| 421 | |
| 422 W10: Warning: Changing a readonly file ~ | |
| 423 | |
| 424 The change will be done though. This allows for formatting the file, for | |
| 425 example, to be able to read it easily. | |
| 426 If you make changes to a file and forgot that it was read-only, you can | |
| 427 still write it. Add the ! to the write command to force writing. | |
| 428 | |
| 429 If you really want to forbid making changes in a file, do this: > | |
| 430 | |
| 431 vim -M file | |
| 432 | |
| 433 Now every attempt to change the text will fail. The help files are like this, | |
| 434 for example. If you try to make a change you get this error message: | |
| 435 | |
| 436 E21: Cannot make changes, 'modifiable' is off ~ | |
| 437 | |
| 438 You could use the -M argument to setup Vim to work in a viewer mode. This is | |
| 439 only voluntary though, since these commands will remove the protection: > | |
| 440 | |
| 441 :set modifiable | |
| 442 :set write | |
| 443 | |
| 444 ============================================================================== | |
| 445 *07.7* Changing the file name | |
| 446 | |
| 447 A clever way to start editing a new file is by using an existing file that | |
| 448 contains most of what you need. For example, you start writing a new program | |
| 449 to move a file. You know that you already have a program that copies a file, | |
| 450 thus you start with: > | |
| 451 | |
| 452 :edit copy.c | |
| 453 | |
| 454 You can delete the stuff you don't need. Now you need to save the file under | |
| 455 a new name. The ":saveas" command can be used for this: > | |
| 456 | |
| 457 :saveas move.c | |
| 458 | |
| 459 Vim will write the file under the given name, and edit that file. Thus the | |
| 460 next time you do ":write", it will write "move.c". "copy.c" remains | |
| 461 unmodified. | |
| 462 When you want to change the name of the file you are editing, but don't | |
| 463 want to write the file, you can use this command: > | |
| 464 | |
| 465 :file move.c | |
| 466 | |
| 467 Vim will mark the file as "not edited". This means that Vim knows this is not | |
| 468 the file you started editing. When you try to write the file, you might get | |
| 469 this message: | |
| 470 | |
| 471 E13: File exists (use ! to override) ~ | |
| 472 | |
| 473 This protects you from accidentally overwriting another file. | |
| 474 | |
| 475 ============================================================================== | |
| 476 | |
| 477 Next chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows | |
| 478 | |
| 479 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: |