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1 *os_win32.txt* For Vim version 7.0c. Last change: 2006 Apr 02
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4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by George Reilly
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5
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6
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7 *win32* *Win32* *MS-Windows*
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8 This file documents the idiosyncrasies of the Win32 version of Vim.
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9
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10 The Win32 version of Vim works on both Windows NT and Windows 95. There are
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11 both console and GUI versions. There is GUI version for use in the Win32s
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12 subsystem in Windows 3.1[1]. You can also use the 32-bit DOS version of Vim
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13 instead. See |os_msdos.txt|.
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14
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15 1. Known problems |win32-problems|
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16 2. Startup |win32-startup|
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17 3. Restore screen contents |win32-restore|
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18 4. Using the mouse |win32-mouse|
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19 5. Running under Windows 3.1 |win32-win3.1|
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20 6. Win32 mini FAQ |win32-faq|
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21
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22 Additionally, there are a number of common Win32 and DOS items:
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23 File locations |dos-locations|
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24 Using backslashes |dos-backslash|
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25 Standard mappings |dos-standard-mappings|
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26 Screen output and colors |dos-colors|
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27 File formats |dos-file-formats|
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28 :cd command |dos-:cd|
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29 Interrupting |dos-CTRL-Break|
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30 Temp files |dos-temp-files|
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31 Shell option default |dos-shell|
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32
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33 Win32 GUI |gui-w32|
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34
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35 Credits:
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36 The Win32 version was written by George V. Reilly <george@reilly.org>.
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37 The original Windows NT port was done by Roger Knobbe <RogerK@wonderware.com>.
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38 The GUI version was made by George V. Reilly and Robert Webb.
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39
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40 For compiling see "src/INSTALL.pc". *win32-compiling*
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41
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42 ==============================================================================
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43 1. Known problems *windows95* *win32-problems*
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44
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45 There are a few known problems with running in a console on Windows 95. As
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46 far as we know, this is the same in Windows 98 and Windows ME.
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47
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48 Comments from somebody working at Microsoft: "Win95 console support has always
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49 been and will always be flaky".
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50 1. Dead key support doesn't work.
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51 2. Resizing the window with ":set columns=nn lines=nn" works, but executing
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52 external commands MAY CAUSE THE SYSTEM TO HANG OR CRASH.
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53 3. Screen updating is slow, unless you change 'columns' or 'lines' to a
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54 non-DOS value. But then the second problem applies!
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55
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56 If this bothers you, use the 32 bit MS-DOS version or the Win32 GUI version.
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57
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58 When doing file name completion, Vim also finds matches for the short file
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59 name. But Vim will still find and use the corresponding long file name. For
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60 example, if you have the long file name "this_is_a_test" with the short file
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61 name "this_i~1", the command ":e *1" will start editing "this_is_a_test".
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62
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63 ==============================================================================
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64 2. Startup *win32-startup*
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65
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66 Current directory *win32-curdir*
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67
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68 If Vim is started with a single file name argument, and it has a full path
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69 (starts with "x:\"), Vim assumes it was started from the file explorer and
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70 will set the current directory to where that file is. To avoid this when
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71 typing a command to start Vim, use a forward slash instead of a backslash.
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72 Example: >
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73
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74 vim c:\text\files\foo.txt
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75
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76 Will change to the "C:\text\files" directory. >
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77
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78 vim c:/text\files\foo.txt
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79
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80 Will use the current directory.
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81
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82
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83 Term option *win32-term*
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84
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85 The only kind of terminal type that the Win32 version of Vim understands is
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86 "win32", which is built-in. If you set 'term' to anything else, you will
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87 probably get very strange behavior from Vim. Therefore Vim does not obtain
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88 the default value of 'term' from the environment variable "TERM".
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89
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90 $PATH *win32-PATH*
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91
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92 The directory of the Vim executable is appended to $PATH. This is mostly to
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93 make "!xxd' work, as it is in the Tools menu. And it also means that when
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94 executable() returns 1 the executable can actually be executed.
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95
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96 ==============================================================================
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97 3. Restore screen contents *win32-restore*
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98
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99 When 'restorescreen' is set (which is the default), Vim will restore the
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100 original contents of the console when exiting or when executing external
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101 commands. If you don't want this, use ":set nors". |'restorescreen'|
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102
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103 ==============================================================================
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104 4. Using the mouse *win32-mouse*
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105
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106 The Win32 version of Vim supports using the mouse. If you have a two-button
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107 mouse, the middle button can be emulated by pressing both left and right
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108 buttons simultaneously - but note that in the Win32 GUI, if you have the right
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109 mouse button pop-up menu enabled (see 'mouse'), you should err on the side of
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110 pressing the left button first. |mouse-using|
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111
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112 When the mouse doesn't work, try disabling the "Quick Edit Mode" feature of
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113 the console.
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114
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115 ==============================================================================
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116 5. Running under Windows 3.1 *win32-win3.1*
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117
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118 *win32s* *windows-3.1*
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119 There is a special version of Gvim that runs under Windows 3.1 and 3.11. You
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120 need the gvim.exe that was compiled with Visual C++ 4.1.
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121
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122 To run the Win32 version under Windows 3.1, you need to install Win32s. You
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123 might have it already from another Win32 application which you have installed.
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124 If Vim doesn't seem to be running properly, get the latest version: 1.30c.
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125 You can find it at:
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126
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127 http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/pw1118.exe
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128
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129 (Microsoft moved it again, we don't know where it is now :-( ).
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130
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131 The reason for having two versions of gvim.exe is that the Win32s version was
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132 compiled with VC++ 4.1. This is the last version of VC++ that supports Win32s
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133 programs. VC++ 5.0 is better, so that one was used for the Win32 version.
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134 Apart from that, there is no difference between the programs. If you are in a
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135 mixed environment, you can use the gvim.exe for Win32s on both.
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136
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137 The Win32s version works the same way as the Win32 version under 95/NT. When
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138 running under Win32s the following differences apply:
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139 - You cannot use long file names, because Windows 3.1 doesn't support them!
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140 - When executing an external command, it doesn't return an exit code. After
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141 doing ":make" you have to do ":cn" yourself.
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142
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143 ==============================================================================
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144 6. Win32 mini FAQ *win32-faq*
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145
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146 Q. Why does the Win32 version of Vim update the screen so slowly on Windows 95?
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147 A. The support for Win32 console mode applications is very buggy in Win95.
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148 For some unknown reason, the screen updates very slowly when Vim is run at
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149 one of the standard resolutions (80x25, 80x43, or 80x50) and the 16-bit DOS
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150 version updates the screen much more quickly than the Win32 version.
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151 However, if the screen is set to some other resolution, such as by ":set
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152 columns=100" or ":set lines=40", screen updating becomes about as fast as
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153 it is with the 16-bit version.
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154
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155 WARNING: Changing 'columns' may make Windows 95 crash while updating the
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156 window (complaints --> Microsoft). Since this mostly works, this has not
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157 been disabled, but be careful with changing 'columns'.
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158
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159 Changing the screen resolution makes updates faster, but it brings
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160 additional problems. External commands (e.g., ":!dir") can cause Vim to
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161 freeze when the screen is set to a non-standard resolution, particularly
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162 when 'columns' is not equal to 80. It is not possible for Vim to reliably
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163 set the screen resolution back to the value it had upon startup before
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164 running external commands, so if you change the number of 'lines' or
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165 'columns', be very, very careful. In fact, Vim will not allow you to
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166 execute external commands when 'columns' is not equal to 80, because it is
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167 so likely to freeze up afterwards.
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168
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169 None of the above applies on Windows NT. Screen updates are fast, no
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170 matter how many 'lines' or 'columns' the window has, and external commands
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171 do not cause Vim to freeze.
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172
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173 Q. So if the Win32 version updates the screen so slowly on Windows 95 and the
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174 16-bit DOS version updates the screen quickly, why would I want to run the
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175 Win32 version?
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176 A. Firstly, the Win32 version isn't that slow, especially when the screen is
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177 set to some non-standard number of 'lines' or 'columns'. Secondly, the
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178 16-bit DOS version has some severe limitations: It can't do big changes and
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179 it doesn't know about long file names. The Win32 version doesn't have these
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180 limitations and it's faster overall (the same is true for the 32-bit DJGPP
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181 DOS version of Vim). The Win32 version is smarter about handling the
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182 screen, the mouse, and the keyboard than the DJGPP version is.
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183
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184 Q. And what about the 16-bit DOS version versus the Win32 version on NT?
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185 A. There are no good reasons to run the 16-bit DOS version on NT. The Win32
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186 version updates the screen just as fast as the 16-bit version does when
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187 running on NT. All of the above disadvantages apply. Finally, DOS
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188 applications can take a long time to start up and will run more slowly. On
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189 non-Intel NT platforms, the DOS version is almost unusably slow, because it
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190 runs on top of an 80x86 emulator.
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191
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192 Q. How do I change the font?
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193 A. In the GUI version, you can use the 'guifont' option. Example: >
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194 :set guifont=Lucida_Console:h15:cDEFAULT
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195 < In the console version, you need to set the font of the console itself.
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196 You cannot do this from within Vim.
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197
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198 Q. When I change the size of the console window with ':set lines=xx' or
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199 similar, the font changes! (Win95)
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200 A. You have the console font set to 'Auto' in Vim's (or your MS-DOS prompt's)
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237
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201 properties. This makes W95 guess (badly!) what font is best. Set an explicit
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202 font instead.
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203
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204 Q. Why can't I paste into Vim when running Windows 95?
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205 A. In the properties dialog box for the MS-DOS window, go to "MS-DOS
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206 Prompt/Misc/Fast pasting" and make sure that it is NOT checked. You should
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207 also do ":set paste" in Vim to avoid unexpected effects. |'paste'|
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208
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209 Q. How do I type dead keys on Windows 95, in the console version?
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210 (A dead key is an accent key, such as acute, grave, or umlaut, that doesn't
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211 produce a character by itself, but when followed by another key, produces
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212 an accented character, such as a-acute, e-grave, u-umlaut, n-tilde, and so
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213 on. Very useful for most European languages. English-language keyboard
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214 layouts don't use dead keys, as far as we know.)
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215 A. You don't. The console mode input routines simply do not work correctly in
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216 Windows 95, and I have not been able to work around them. In the words
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217 of a senior developer at Microsoft:
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218 Win95 console support has always been and will always be flaky.
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219
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220 The flakiness is unavoidable because we are stuck between the world of
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221 MS-DOS keyboard TSRs like KEYB (which wants to cook the data;
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222 important for international) and the world of Win32.
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223
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224 So keys that don't "exist" in MS-DOS land (like dead keys) have a
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225 very tenuous existence in Win32 console land. Keys that act
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226 differently between MS-DOS land and Win32 console land (like
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227 capslock) will act flaky.
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228
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229 Don't even _mention_ the problems with multiple language keyboard
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230 layouts...
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231
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232 You may be able to fashion some sort of workaround with the digraphs
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233 mechanism. |digraphs|
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234
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235 The best solution is to use the Win32 GUI version gvim.exe. Alternatively,
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236 you can try one of the DOS versions of Vim where dead keys reportedly do
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237 work.
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238
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239 Q. How do I type dead keys on Windows NT?
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240 A. Dead keys work on NT 3.51. Just type them as you would in any other
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241 application.
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242 On NT 4.0, you need to make sure that the default locale (set in the
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243 Keyboard part of the Control Panel) is the same as the currently active
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244 locale. Otherwise the NT code will get confused and crash! This is a NT
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245 4.0 problem, not really a Vim problem.
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246
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247 Q. I'm using Vim to edit a symbolically linked file on a Unix NFS file server.
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248 When I write the file, Vim does not "write through" the symlink. Instead,
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249 it deletes the symbolic link and creates a new file in its place. Why?
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250 A. On Unix, Vim is prepared for links (symbolic or hard). A backup copy of
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251 the original file is made and then the original file is overwritten. This
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252 assures that all properties of the file remain the same. On non-Unix
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253 systems, the original file is renamed and a new file is written. Only the
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254 protection bits are set like the original file. However, this doesn't work
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255 properly when working on an NFS-mounted file system where links and other
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256 things exist. The only way to fix this in the current version is not
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257 making a backup file, by ":set nobackup nowritebackup" |'writebackup'|
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258
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259 Q. I'm using Vim to edit a file on a Unix file server through Samba. When I
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260 write the file, the owner of the file is changed. Why?
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261 A. When writing a file Vim renames the original file, this is a backup (in
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262 case writing the file fails halfway). Then the file is written as a new
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263 file. Samba then gives it the default owner for the file system, which may
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264 differ from the original owner.
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265 To avoid this set the 'backupcopy' option to "yes". Vim will then make a
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266 copy of the file for the backup, and overwrite the original file. The
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267 owner isn't changed then.
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268
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269 Q. How do I get to see the output of ":make" while it's running?
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270 A. Basically what you need is to put a tee program that will copy its input
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271 (the output from make) to both stdout and to the errorfile. You can find a
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272 copy of tee (and a number of other GNU tools tools) at
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273 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net or http://unxutils.sourceforge.net
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274 Alternatively, try the more recent Cygnus version of the GNU tools at
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275 http://www.cygwin.com Other Unix-style tools for Win32 are listed at
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276 http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Unix/Win32/
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277 When you do get a copy of tee, you'll need to add >
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278 :set shellpipe=\|\ tee
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279 < to your _vimrc.
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280
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281 Q. I'm storing files on a remote machine that works with VisionFS, and files
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282 disappear!
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283 A. VisionFS can't handle certain dot (.) three letter extension file names.
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284 SCO declares this behavior required for backwards compatibility with 16bit
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285 DOS/Windows environments. The two commands below demonstrate the behavior:
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286 >
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287 echo Hello > file.bat~
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288 dir > file.bat
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289 <
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290 The result is that the "dir" command updates the "file.bat~" file, instead
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291 of creating a new "file.bat" file. This same behavior is exhibited in Vim
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292 when editing an existing file named "foo.bat" because the default behavior
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293 of Vim is to create a temporary file with a '~' character appended to the
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294 name. When the file is written, it winds up being deleted.
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295
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296 Solution: Add this command to your _vimrc file: >
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297 :set backupext=.temporary
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298
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299 Q. How do I change the blink rate of the cursor?
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300 A. You can't! This is a limitation of the NT console. NT 5.0 is reported to
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301 be able to set the blink rate for all console windows at the same time.
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302
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303 *:!start*
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304 Q. How can I run an external command or program asynchronously?
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305 A. When using :! to run an external command, you can run it with "start": >
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306 :!start winfile.exe<CR>
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307 < Using "start" stops Vim switching to another screen, opening a new console,
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308 or waiting for the program to complete; it indicates that you are running a
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309 program that does not effect the files you are editing. Programs begun
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310 with :!start do not get passed Vim's open file handles, which means they do
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311 not have to be closed before Vim.
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312 To avoid this special treatment, use ":! start".
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313
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314 Q. I'm using Win32s, and when I try to run an external command like "make",
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237
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315 Vim doesn't wait for it to finish! Help!
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316 A. The problem is that a 32-bit application (Vim) can't get notification from
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317 Windows that a 16-bit application (your DOS session) has finished. Vim
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318 includes a work-around for this, but you must set up your DOS commands to
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237
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319 run in a window, not full-screen. Unfortunately the default when you
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320 install Windows is full-screen. To change this:
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321 1) Start PIF editor (in the Main program group).
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322 2) Open the file "_DEFAULT.PIF" in your Windows directory.
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323 3) Changes the display option from "Full Screen" to "Windowed".
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324 4) Save and exit.
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325
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326 To test, start Vim and type >
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327 :!dir C:\<CR>".
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328 < You should see a DOS box window appear briefly with the directory listing.
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329
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237
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330 Q. I use Vim under Win32s and NT. In NT, I can define the console to default to
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331 50 lines, so that I get a 80x50 shell when I ':sh'. Can I do the same in
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332 W3.1x, or am I stuck with 80x25?
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237
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333 A. Edit SYSTEM.INI and add 'ScreenLines=50' to the [NonWindowsApp] section. DOS
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334 prompts and external DOS commands will now run in a 50-line window.
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335
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336 vim:tw=78:fo=tcq2:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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