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1 *usr_20.txt* For Vim version 9.0. Last change: 2021 Nov 18
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3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
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4
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5 Typing command-line commands quickly
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6
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7
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8 Vim has a few generic features that makes it easier to enter commands. Colon
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9 commands can be abbreviated, edited and repeated. Completion is available for
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10 nearly everything.
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11
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12 |20.1| Command line editing
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13 |20.2| Command line abbreviations
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14 |20.3| Command line completion
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15 |20.4| Command line history
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16 |20.5| Command line window
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17
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18 Next chapter: |usr_21.txt| Go away and come back
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19 Previous chapter: |usr_12.txt| Clever tricks
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20 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
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21
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22 ==============================================================================
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23 *20.1* Command line editing
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24
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25 When you use a colon (:) command or search for a string with / or ?, Vim puts
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26 the cursor on the bottom of the screen. There you type the command or search
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27 pattern. This is called the Command line. Also when it's used for entering a
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28 search command.
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29
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30 The most obvious way to edit the command you type is by pressing the <BS> key.
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31 This erases the character before the cursor. To erase another character,
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32 typed earlier, first move the cursor with the cursor keys.
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33 For example, you have typed this: >
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34
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35 :s/col/pig/
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36
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37 Before you hit <Enter>, you notice that "col" should be "cow". To correct
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38 this, you type <Left> five times. The cursor is now just after "col". Type
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39 <BS> and "w" to correct: >
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40
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41 :s/cow/pig/
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42
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43 Now you can press <Enter> directly. You don't have to move the cursor to the
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44 end of the line before executing the command.
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45
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46 The most often used keys to move around in the command line:
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47
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48 <Left> one character left
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49 <Right> one character right
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50 <S-Left> or <C-Left> one word left
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51 <S-Right> or <C-Right> one word right
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52 CTRL-B or <Home> to begin of command line
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53 CTRL-E or <End> to end of command line
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54
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55 Note:
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56 <S-Left> (cursor left key with Shift key pressed) and <C-Left> (cursor
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57 left key with Control pressed) will not work on all keyboards. Same
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58 for the other Shift and Control combinations.
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59
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60 You can also use the mouse to move the cursor.
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61
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62
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63 DELETING
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64
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65 As mentioned, <BS> deletes the character before the cursor. To delete a whole
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66 word use CTRL-W.
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67
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68 /the fine pig ~
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69
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70 CTRL-W
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71
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72 /the fine ~
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73
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74 CTRL-U removes all text, thus allows you to start all over again.
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75
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76
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77 OVERSTRIKE
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78
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79 The <Insert> key toggles between inserting characters and replacing the
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80 existing ones. Start with this text:
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81
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82 /the fine pig ~
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83
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84 Move the cursor to the start of "fine" with <S-Left> twice (or <Left> eight
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85 times, if <S-Left> doesn't work). Now press <Insert> to switch to overstrike
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86 and type "great":
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87
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88 /the greatpig ~
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89
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90 Oops, we lost the space. Now, don't use <BS>, because it would delete the
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91 "t" (this is different from Replace mode). Instead, press <Insert> to switch
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92 from overstrike to inserting, and type the space:
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93
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94 /the great pig ~
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95
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96
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97 CANCELLING
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98
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99 You thought of executing a : or / command, but changed your mind. To get rid
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100 of what you already typed, without executing it, press CTRL-C or <Esc>.
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101
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102 Note:
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103 <Esc> is the universal "get out" key. Unfortunately, in the good old
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104 Vi pressing <Esc> in a command line executed the command! Since that
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105 might be considered to be a bug, Vim uses <Esc> to cancel the command.
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106 But with the 'cpoptions' option it can be made Vi compatible. And
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107 when using a mapping (which might be written for Vi) <Esc> also works
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108 Vi compatible. Therefore, using CTRL-C is a method that always works.
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109
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110 If you are at the start of the command line, pressing <BS> will cancel the
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111 command. It's like deleting the ":" or "/" that the line starts with.
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112
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113 ==============================================================================
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114 *20.2* Command line abbreviations
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115
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116 Some of the ":" commands are really long. We already mentioned that
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117 ":substitute" can be abbreviated to ":s". This is a generic mechanism, all
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118 ":" commands can be abbreviated.
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119
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120 How short can a command get? There are 26 letters, and many more commands.
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121 For example, ":set" also starts with ":s", but ":s" doesn't start a ":set"
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122 command. Instead ":set" can be abbreviated to ":se".
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123 When the shorter form of a command could be used for two commands, it
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124 stands for only one of them. There is no logic behind which one, you have to
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125 learn them. In the help files the shortest form that works is mentioned. For
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126 example: >
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127
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128 :s[ubstitute]
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129
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130 This means that the shortest form of ":substitute" is ":s". The following
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131 characters are optional. Thus ":su" and ":sub" also work.
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132
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133 In the user manual we will either use the full name of command, or a short
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134 version that is still readable. For example, ":function" can be abbreviated
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135 to ":fu". But since most people don't understand what that stands for, we
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136 will use ":fun". (Vim doesn't have a ":funny" command, otherwise ":fun" would
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137 be confusing too.)
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138
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139 It is recommended that in Vim scripts you write the full command name. That
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140 makes it easier to read back when you make later changes. Except for some
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141 often used commands like ":w" (":write") and ":r" (":read").
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142 A particularly confusing one is ":end", which could stand for ":endif",
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143 ":endwhile" or ":endfunction". Therefore, always use the full name.
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144
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145
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146 SHORT OPTION NAMES
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147
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148 In the user manual the long version of the option names is used. Many options
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149 also have a short name. Unlike ":" commands, there is only one short name
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150 that works. For example, the short name of 'autoindent' is 'ai'. Thus these
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151 two commands do the same thing: >
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152
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153 :set autoindent
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154 :set ai
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155
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156 You can find the full list of long and short names here: |option-list|.
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157
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158 ==============================================================================
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159 *20.3* Command line completion
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160
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161 This is one of those Vim features that, by itself, is a reason to switch from
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162 Vi to Vim. Once you have used this, you can't do without.
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163
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164 Suppose you have a directory that contains these files:
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165
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166 info.txt
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167 intro.txt
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168 bodyofthepaper.txt
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169
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170 To edit the last one, you use the command: >
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171
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172 :edit bodyofthepaper.txt
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173
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174 It's easy to type this wrong. A much quicker way is: >
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175
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176 :edit b<Tab>
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177
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178 Which will result in the same command. What happened? The <Tab> key does
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179 completion of the word before the cursor. In this case "b". Vim looks in the
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180 directory and finds only one file that starts with a "b". That must be the
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181 one you are looking for, thus Vim completes the file name for you.
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182
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183 Now type: >
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184
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185 :edit i<Tab>
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186
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187 Vim will beep, and give you: >
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188
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189 :edit info.txt
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190
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191 The beep means that Vim has found more than one match. It then uses the first
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192 match it found (alphabetically). If you press <Tab> again, you get: >
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193
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194 :edit intro.txt
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195
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196 Thus, if the first <Tab> doesn't give you the file you were looking for, press
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197 it again. If there are more matches, you will see them all, one at a time.
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198 If you press <Tab> on the last matching entry, you will go back to what you
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199 first typed: >
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200
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201 :edit i
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202
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203 Then it starts all over again. Thus Vim cycles through the list of matches.
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204 Use CTRL-P to go through the list in the other direction:
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205
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206 <------------------- <Tab> -------------------------+
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207 |
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208 <Tab> --> <Tab> -->
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209 :edit i :edit info.txt :edit intro.txt
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210 <-- CTRL-P <-- CTRL-P
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211 |
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212 +---------------------- CTRL-P ------------------------>
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213
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214
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215 CONTEXT
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216
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217 When you type ":set i" instead of ":edit i" and press <Tab> you get: >
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218
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219 :set icon
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220
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221 Hey, why didn't you get ":set info.txt"? That's because Vim has context
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222 sensitive completion. The kind of words Vim will look for depends on the
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223 command before it. Vim knows that you cannot use a file name just after a
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224 ":set" command, but you can use an option name.
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225 Again, if you repeat typing the <Tab>, Vim will cycle through all matches.
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226 There are quite a few, it's better to type more characters first: >
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227
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228 :set isk<Tab>
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229
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230 Gives: >
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231
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232 :set iskeyword
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233
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234 Now type "=" and press <Tab>: >
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235
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236 :set iskeyword=@,48-57,_,192-255
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237
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238 What happens here is that Vim inserts the old value of the option. Now you
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239 can edit it.
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240 What is completed with <Tab> is what Vim expects in that place. Just try
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241 it out to see how it works. In some situations you will not get what you
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242 want. That's either because Vim doesn't know what you want, or because
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243 completion was not implemented for that situation. In that case you will get
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244 a <Tab> inserted (displayed as ^I).
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245
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246
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247 LIST MATCHES
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248
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249 When there are many matches, you would like to see an overview. Do this by
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250 pressing CTRL-D. For example, pressing CTRL-D after: >
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251
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252 :set is
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253
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254 results in: >
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255
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256 :set is
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257 incsearch isfname isident iskeyword isprint
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258 :set is
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259
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260 Vim lists the matches and then comes back with the text you typed. You can
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261 now check the list for the item you wanted. If it isn't there, you can use
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262 <BS> to correct the word. If there are many matches, type a few more
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263 characters before pressing <Tab> to complete the rest.
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264 If you have watched carefully, you will have noticed that "incsearch"
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265 doesn't start with "is". In this case "is" stands for the short name of
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237
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266 "incsearch". (Many options have a short and a long name.) Vim is clever
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267 enough to know that you might have wanted to expand the short name of the
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268 option into the long name.
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269
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270
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271 THERE IS MORE
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272
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273 The CTRL-L command completes the word to the longest unambiguous string. If
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274 you type ":edit i" and there are files "info.txt" and "info_backup.txt" you
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275 will get ":edit info".
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276
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277 The 'wildmode' option can be used to change the way completion works.
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278 The 'wildmenu' option can be used to get a menu-like list of matches.
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279 Use the 'suffixes' option to specify files that are less important and appear
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280 at the end of the list of files.
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281 The 'wildignore' option specifies files that are not listed at all.
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282
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283 More about all of this here: |cmdline-completion|
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284
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285 ==============================================================================
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286 *20.4* Command line history
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287
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288 In chapter 3 we briefly mentioned the history. The basics are that you can
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289 use the <Up> key to recall an older command line. <Down> then takes you back
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290 to newer commands.
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291
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26148
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292 There are actually five histories. The ones we will mention here are for ":"
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293 commands and for "/" and "?" search commands. The "/" and "?" commands share
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294 the same history, because they are both search commands. The three other
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295 histories are for expressions, debug mode commands and input lines for the
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296 input() function. |cmdline-history|
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297
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298 Suppose you have done a ":set" command, typed ten more colon commands and then
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299 want to repeat that ":set" command again. You could press ":" and then ten
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300 times <Up>. There is a quicker way: >
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301
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302 :se<Up>
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303
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304 Vim will now go back to the previous command that started with "se". You have
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305 a good chance that this is the ":set" command you were looking for. At least
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306 you should not have to press <Up> very often (unless ":set" commands is all
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307 you have done).
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308
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309 The <Up> key will use the text typed so far and compare it with the lines in
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310 the history. Only matching lines will be used.
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311 If you do not find the line you were looking for, use <Down> to go back to
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312 what you typed and correct that. Or use CTRL-U to start all over again.
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313
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314 To see all the lines in the history: >
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315
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316 :history
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317
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318 That's the history of ":" commands. The search history is displayed with this
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319 command: >
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320
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321 :history /
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322
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323 CTRL-P will work like <Up>, except that it doesn't matter what you already
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324 typed. Similarly for CTRL-N and <Down>. CTRL-P stands for previous, CTRL-N
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325 for next.
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326
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327 ==============================================================================
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328 *20.5* Command line window
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329
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330 Typing the text in the command line works differently from typing text in
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331 Insert mode. It doesn't allow many commands to change the text. For most
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332 commands that's OK, but sometimes you have to type a complicated command.
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333 That's where the command line window is useful.
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334
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335 Open the command line window with this command: >
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336
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337 q:
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338
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339 Vim now opens a (small) window at the bottom. It contains the command line
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340 history, and an empty line at the end:
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341
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342 +-------------------------------------+
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343 |other window |
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344 |~ |
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345 |file.txt=============================|
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346 |:e c |
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347 |:e config.h.in |
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348 |:set path=.,/usr/include,, |
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349 |:set iskeyword=@,48-57,_,192-255 |
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350 |:set is |
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351 |:q |
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352 |: |
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353 |command-line=========================|
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354 | |
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355 +-------------------------------------+
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356
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357 You are now in Normal mode. You can use the "hjkl" keys to move around. For
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358 example, move up with "5k" to the ":e config.h.in" line. Type "$h" to go to
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359 the "i" of "in" and type "cwout". Now you have changed the line to:
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360
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361 :e config.h.out ~
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362
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363 Now press <Enter> and this command will be executed. The command line window
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364 will close.
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365 The <Enter> command will execute the line under the cursor. It doesn't
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366 matter whether Vim is in Insert mode or in Normal mode.
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367 Changes in the command line window are lost. They do not result in the
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368 history to be changed. Except that the command you execute will be added to
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369 the end of the history, like with all executed commands.
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370
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371 The command line window is very useful when you want to have overview of the
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372 history, lookup a similar command, change it a bit and execute it. A search
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373 command can be used to find something.
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374 In the previous example the "?config" search command could have been used
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375 to find the previous command that contains "config". It's a bit strange,
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376 because you are using a command line to search in the command line window.
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377 While typing that search command you can't open another command line window,
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378 there can be only one.
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379
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380 ==============================================================================
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381
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382 Next chapter: |usr_21.txt| Go away and come back
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383
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14519
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384 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl:
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