Mercurial > vim
annotate runtime/doc/usr_02.txt @ 5146:6ec6b7ff2d43 v7.4a
Vim 7.4a BETA release.
| author | Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Sat, 06 Jul 2013 15:44:11 +0200 |
| parents | 073ff46fe397 |
| children | 09c88160095d |
| rev | line source |
|---|---|
| 5146 | 1 *usr_02.txt* For Vim version 7.4a. Last change: 2010 Jul 20 |
| 7 | 2 |
| 3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar | |
| 4 | |
| 5 The first steps in Vim | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 This chapter provides just enough information to edit a file with Vim. Not | |
| 9 well or fast, but you can edit. Take some time to practice with these | |
| 10 commands, they form the base for what follows. | |
| 11 | |
| 12 |02.1| Running Vim for the First Time | |
| 13 |02.2| Inserting text | |
| 14 |02.3| Moving around | |
| 15 |02.4| Deleting characters | |
| 16 |02.5| Undo and Redo | |
| 17 |02.6| Other editing commands | |
| 18 |02.7| Getting out | |
| 19 |02.8| Finding help | |
| 20 | |
| 21 Next chapter: |usr_03.txt| Moving around | |
| 22 Previous chapter: |usr_01.txt| About the manuals | |
| 23 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| | |
| 24 | |
| 25 ============================================================================== | |
| 26 *02.1* Running Vim for the First Time | |
| 27 | |
| 28 To start Vim, enter this command: > | |
| 29 | |
| 30 gvim file.txt | |
| 31 | |
| 32 In UNIX you can type this at any command prompt. If you are running Microsoft | |
| 33 Windows, open an MS-DOS prompt window and enter the command. | |
| 34 In either case, Vim starts editing a file called file.txt. Because this | |
| 35 is a new file, you get a blank window. This is what your screen will look | |
| 36 like: | |
| 37 | |
| 38 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 39 |# | | |
| 40 |~ | | |
| 41 |~ | | |
| 42 |~ | | |
| 43 |~ | | |
| 44 |"file.txt" [New file] | | |
| 45 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 46 ('#" is the cursor position.) | |
| 47 | |
| 48 The tilde (~) lines indicate lines not in the file. In other words, when Vim | |
| 49 runs out of file to display, it displays tilde lines. At the bottom of the | |
| 50 screen, a message line indicates the file is named file.txt and shows that you | |
| 51 are creating a new file. The message information is temporary and other | |
| 52 information overwrites it. | |
| 53 | |
| 54 | |
| 55 THE VIM COMMAND | |
| 56 | |
| 57 The gvim command causes the editor to create a new window for editing. If you | |
| 58 use this command: > | |
| 59 | |
| 60 vim file.txt | |
| 61 | |
| 62 the editing occurs inside your command window. In other words, if you are | |
| 63 running inside an xterm, the editor uses your xterm window. If you are using | |
| 64 an MS-DOS command prompt window under Microsoft Windows, the editing occurs | |
| 65 inside this window. The text in the window will look the same for both | |
| 66 versions, but with gvim you have extra features, like a menu bar. More about | |
| 67 that later. | |
| 68 | |
| 69 ============================================================================== | |
| 70 *02.2* Inserting text | |
| 71 | |
| 72 The Vim editor is a modal editor. That means that the editor behaves | |
| 73 differently, depending on which mode you are in. The two basic modes are | |
| 74 called Normal mode and Insert mode. In Normal mode the characters you type | |
| 75 are commands. In Insert mode the characters are inserted as text. | |
| 76 Since you have just started Vim it will be in Normal mode. To start Insert | |
| 77 mode you type the "i" command (i for Insert). Then you can enter | |
| 78 the text. It will be inserted into the file. Do not worry if you make | |
| 79 mistakes; you can correct them later. To enter the following programmer's | |
| 80 limerick, this is what you type: > | |
| 81 | |
| 82 iA very intelligent turtle | |
| 83 Found programming UNIX a hurdle | |
| 84 | |
| 85 After typing "turtle" you press the <Enter> key to start a new line. Finally | |
| 86 you press the <Esc> key to stop Insert mode and go back to Normal mode. You | |
| 87 now have two lines of text in your Vim window: | |
| 88 | |
| 89 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 90 |A very intelligent turtle | | |
| 91 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle | | |
| 92 |~ | | |
| 93 |~ | | |
| 94 | | | |
| 95 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 96 | |
| 97 | |
| 98 WHAT IS THE MODE? | |
| 99 | |
| 100 To be able to see what mode you are in, type this command: > | |
| 101 | |
| 102 :set showmode | |
| 103 | |
| 104 You will notice that when typing the colon Vim moves the cursor to the last | |
| 105 line of the window. That's where you type colon commands (commands that start | |
| 106 with a colon). Finish this command by pressing the <Enter> key (all commands | |
| 107 that start with a colon are finished this way). | |
| 108 Now, if you type the "i" command Vim will display --INSERT-- at the bottom | |
| 109 of the window. This indicates you are in Insert mode. | |
| 110 | |
| 111 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 112 |A very intelligent turtle | | |
| 113 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle | | |
| 114 |~ | | |
| 115 |~ | | |
| 116 |-- INSERT -- | | |
| 117 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 118 | |
| 119 If you press <Esc> to go back to Normal mode the last line will be made blank. | |
| 120 | |
| 121 | |
| 122 GETTING OUT OF TROUBLE | |
| 123 | |
| 124 One of the problems for Vim novices is mode confusion, which is caused by | |
| 125 forgetting which mode you are in or by accidentally typing a command that | |
| 126 switches modes. To get back to Normal mode, no matter what mode you are in, | |
| 127 press the <Esc> key. Sometimes you have to press it twice. If Vim beeps back | |
| 128 at you, you already are in Normal mode. | |
| 129 | |
| 130 ============================================================================== | |
| 131 *02.3* Moving around | |
| 132 | |
| 133 After you return to Normal mode, you can move around by using these keys: | |
| 134 | |
| 135 h left *hjkl* | |
| 136 j down | |
| 137 k up | |
| 138 l right | |
| 139 | |
| 140 At first, it may appear that these commands were chosen at random. After all, | |
| 141 who ever heard of using l for right? But actually, there is a very good | |
| 142 reason for these choices: Moving the cursor is the most common thing you do in | |
| 143 an editor, and these keys are on the home row of your right hand. In other | |
| 144 words, these commands are placed where you can type them the fastest | |
| 145 (especially when you type with ten fingers). | |
| 146 | |
| 147 Note: | |
| 148 You can also move the cursor by using the arrow keys. If you do, | |
| 149 however, you greatly slow down your editing because to press the arrow | |
| 150 keys, you must move your hand from the text keys to the arrow keys. | |
| 151 Considering that you might be doing it hundreds of times an hour, this | |
| 152 can take a significant amount of time. | |
| 153 Also, there are keyboards which do not have arrow keys, or which | |
| 154 locate them in unusual places; therefore, knowing the use of the hjkl | |
| 155 keys helps in those situations. | |
| 156 | |
| 157 One way to remember these commands is that h is on the left, l is on the | |
| 158 right and j points down. In a picture: > | |
| 159 | |
| 160 k | |
| 161 h l | |
| 162 j | |
| 163 | |
| 164 The best way to learn these commands is by using them. Use the "i" command to | |
| 165 insert some more lines of text. Then use the hjkl keys to move around and | |
| 166 insert a word somewhere. Don't forget to press <Esc> to go back to Normal | |
| 167 mode. The |vimtutor| is also a nice way to learn by doing. | |
| 168 | |
| 169 For Japanese users, Hiroshi Iwatani suggested using this: | |
| 170 | |
| 171 Komsomolsk | |
| 172 ^ | |
| 173 | | |
| 174 Huan Ho <--- ---> Los Angeles | |
| 175 (Yellow river) | | |
| 176 v | |
| 177 Java (the island, not the programming language) | |
| 178 | |
| 179 ============================================================================== | |
| 180 *02.4* Deleting characters | |
| 181 | |
| 182 To delete a character, move the cursor over it and type "x". (This is a | |
| 183 throwback to the old days of the typewriter, when you deleted things by typing | |
| 184 xxxx over them.) Move the cursor to the beginning of the first line, for | |
| 185 example, and type xxxxxxx (seven x's) to delete "A very ". The result should | |
| 186 look like this: | |
| 187 | |
| 188 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 189 |intelligent turtle | | |
| 190 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle | | |
| 191 |~ | | |
| 192 |~ | | |
| 193 | | | |
| 194 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 195 | |
| 196 Now you can insert new text, for example by typing: > | |
| 197 | |
| 198 iA young <Esc> | |
| 199 | |
| 200 This begins an insert (the i), inserts the words "A young", and then exits | |
| 201 insert mode (the final <Esc>). The result: | |
| 202 | |
| 203 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 204 |A young intelligent turtle | | |
| 205 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle | | |
| 206 |~ | | |
| 207 |~ | | |
| 208 | | | |
| 209 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 210 | |
| 211 | |
| 212 DELETING A LINE | |
| 213 | |
| 214 To delete a whole line use the "dd" command. The following line will | |
| 215 then move up to fill the gap: | |
| 216 | |
| 217 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 218 |Found programming UNIX a hurdle | | |
| 219 |~ | | |
| 220 |~ | | |
| 221 |~ | | |
| 222 | | | |
| 223 +---------------------------------------+ | |
| 224 | |
| 225 | |
| 226 DELETING A LINE BREAK | |
| 227 | |
| 228 In Vim you can join two lines together, which means that the line break | |
| 229 between them is deleted. The "J" command does this. | |
| 230 Take these two lines: | |
| 231 | |
| 232 A young intelligent ~ | |
| 233 turtle ~ | |
| 234 | |
| 235 Move the cursor to the first line and press "J": | |
| 236 | |
| 237 A young intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 238 | |
| 239 ============================================================================== | |
| 240 *02.5* Undo and Redo | |
| 241 | |
| 242 Suppose you delete too much. Well, you can type it in again, but an easier | |
| 243 way exists. The "u" command undoes the last edit. Take a look at this in | |
| 244 action: After using "dd" to delete the first line, "u" brings it back. | |
| 245 Another one: Move the cursor to the A in the first line: | |
| 246 | |
| 247 A young intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 248 | |
| 249 Now type xxxxxxx to delete "A young". The result is as follows: | |
| 250 | |
| 251 intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 252 | |
| 253 Type "u" to undo the last delete. That delete removed the g, so the undo | |
| 254 restores the character. | |
| 255 | |
| 256 g intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 257 | |
| 258 The next u command restores the next-to-last character deleted: | |
| 259 | |
| 260 ng intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 261 | |
| 262 The next u command gives you the u, and so on: | |
| 263 | |
| 264 ung intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 265 oung intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 266 young intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 267 young intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 268 A young intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 269 | |
| 270 Note: | |
| 271 If you type "u" twice, and the result is that you get the same text | |
| 272 back, you have Vim configured to work Vi compatible. Look here to fix | |
| 273 this: |not-compatible|. | |
| 274 This text assumes you work "The Vim Way". You might prefer to use | |
| 275 the good old Vi way, but you will have to watch out for small | |
| 276 differences in the text then. | |
| 277 | |
| 278 | |
| 279 REDO | |
| 280 | |
| 281 If you undo too many times, you can press CTRL-R (redo) to reverse the | |
| 282 preceding command. In other words, it undoes the undo. To see this in | |
| 283 action, press CTRL-R twice. The character A and the space after it disappear: | |
| 284 | |
| 285 young intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 286 | |
| 287 There's a special version of the undo command, the "U" (undo line) command. | |
| 288 The undo line command undoes all the changes made on the last line that was | |
| 289 edited. Typing this command twice cancels the preceding "U". | |
| 290 | |
| 291 A very intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 292 xxxx Delete very | |
| 293 | |
| 294 A intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 295 xxxxxx Delete turtle | |
| 296 | |
| 297 A intelligent ~ | |
| 298 Restore line with "U" | |
| 299 A very intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 300 Undo "U" with "u" | |
| 301 A intelligent ~ | |
| 302 | |
| 303 The "U" command is a change by itself, which the "u" command undoes and CTRL-R | |
| 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 |32.2|. |
| 7 | 306 |
| 307 ============================================================================== | |
| 308 *02.6* Other editing commands | |
| 309 | |
| 310 Vim has a large number of commands to change the text. See |Q_in| and below. | |
| 311 Here are a few often used ones. | |
| 312 | |
| 313 | |
| 314 APPENDING | |
| 315 | |
| 316 The "i" command inserts a character before the character under the cursor. | |
| 317 That works fine; but what happens if you want to add stuff to the end of the | |
| 318 line? For that you need to insert text after the cursor. This is done with | |
| 319 the "a" (append) command. | |
| 320 For example, to change the line | |
| 321 | |
| 322 and that's not saying much for the turtle. ~ | |
| 323 to | |
| 324 and that's not saying much for the turtle!!! ~ | |
| 325 | |
| 326 move the cursor over to the dot at the end of the line. Then type "x" to | |
| 327 delete the period. The cursor is now positioned at the end of the line on the | |
| 328 e in turtle. Now type > | |
| 329 | |
| 330 a!!!<Esc> | |
| 331 | |
| 332 to append three exclamation points after the e in turtle: | |
| 333 | |
| 334 and that's not saying much for the turtle!!! ~ | |
| 335 | |
| 336 | |
| 337 OPENING UP A NEW LINE | |
| 338 | |
| 339 The "o" command creates a new, empty line below the cursor and puts Vim in | |
| 340 Insert mode. Then you can type the text for the new line. | |
| 341 Suppose the cursor is somewhere in the first of these two lines: | |
| 342 | |
| 343 A very intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 344 Found programming UNIX a hurdle ~ | |
| 345 | |
| 346 If you now use the "o" command and type new text: > | |
| 347 | |
| 348 oThat liked using Vim<Esc> | |
| 349 | |
| 350 The result is: | |
| 351 | |
| 352 A very intelligent turtle ~ | |
| 353 That liked using Vim ~ | |
| 354 Found programming UNIX a hurdle ~ | |
| 355 | |
| 356 The "O" command (uppercase) opens a line above the cursor. | |
| 357 | |
| 358 | |
| 359 USING A COUNT | |
| 360 | |
| 361 Suppose you want to move up nine lines. You can type "kkkkkkkkk" or you can | |
| 362 enter the command "9k". In fact, you can precede many commands with a number. | |
| 363 Earlier in this chapter, for instance, you added three exclamation points to | |
| 364 the end of a line by typing "a!!!<Esc>". Another way to do this is to use the | |
| 365 command "3a!<Esc>". The count of 3 tells the command that follows to triple | |
| 366 its effect. Similarly, to delete three characters, use the command "3x". The | |
| 367 count always comes before the command it applies to. | |
| 368 | |
| 369 ============================================================================== | |
| 370 *02.7* Getting out | |
| 371 | |
| 372 To exit, use the "ZZ" command. This command writes the file and exits. | |
| 373 | |
| 374 Note: | |
| 375 Unlike many other editors, Vim does not automatically make a backup | |
| 376 file. If you type "ZZ", your changes are committed and there's no | |
| 377 turning back. You can configure the Vim editor to produce backup | |
| 378 files, see |07.4|. | |
| 379 | |
| 380 | |
| 381 DISCARDING CHANGES | |
| 382 | |
| 383 Sometimes you will make a sequence of changes and suddenly realize you were | |
| 384 better off before you started. Not to worry; Vim has a | |
| 385 quit-and-throw-things-away command. It is: > | |
| 386 | |
| 387 :q! | |
| 388 | |
| 389 Don't forget to press <Enter> to finish the command. | |
| 390 | |
| 391 For those of you interested in the details, the three parts of this command | |
| 392 are the colon (:), which enters Command-line mode; the q command, which tells | |
| 393 the editor to quit; and the override command modifier (!). | |
| 394 The override command modifier is needed because Vim is reluctant to throw | |
| 395 away changes. If you were to just type ":q", Vim would display an error | |
| 396 message and refuse to exit: | |
| 397 | |
| 398 E37: No write since last change (use ! to override) ~ | |
| 399 | |
| 400 By specifying the override, you are in effect telling Vim, "I know that what | |
| 401 I'm doing looks stupid, but I'm a big boy and really want to do this." | |
| 402 | |
| 403 If you want to continue editing with Vim: The ":e!" command reloads the | |
| 404 original version of the file. | |
| 405 | |
| 406 ============================================================================== | |
| 407 *02.8* Finding help | |
| 408 | |
| 409 Everything you always wanted to know can be found in the Vim help files. | |
| 410 Don't be afraid to ask! | |
| 411 To get generic help use this command: > | |
| 412 | |
| 413 :help | |
| 414 | |
| 415 You could also use the first function key <F1>. If your keyboard has a <Help> | |
| 416 key it might work as well. | |
| 417 If you don't supply a subject, ":help" displays the general help window. | |
| 418 The creators of Vim did something very clever (or very lazy) with the help | |
| 419 system: They made the help window a normal editing window. You can use all | |
| 420 the normal Vim commands to move through the help information. Therefore h, j, | |
| 421 k, and l move left, down, up and right. | |
| 422 To get out of the help window, use the same command you use to get out of | |
| 423 the editor: "ZZ". This will only close the help window, not exit Vim. | |
| 424 | |
| 425 As you read the help text, you will notice some text enclosed in vertical bars | |
| 426 (for example, |help|). This indicates a hyperlink. If you position the | |
| 427 cursor anywhere between the bars and press CTRL-] (jump to tag), the help | |
| 236 | 428 system takes you to the indicated subject. (For reasons not discussed here, |
| 7 | 429 the Vim terminology for a hyperlink is tag. So CTRL-] jumps to the location |
| 430 of the tag given by the word under the cursor.) | |
| 431 After a few jumps, you might want to go back. CTRL-T (pop tag) takes you | |
| 432 back to the preceding position. CTRL-O (jump to older position) also works | |
| 433 nicely here. | |
| 434 At the top of the help screen, there is the notation *help.txt*. This name | |
| 435 between "*" characters is used by the help system to define a tag (hyperlink | |
| 436 destination). | |
| 437 See |29.1| for details about using tags. | |
| 438 | |
| 439 To get help on a given subject, use the following command: > | |
| 440 | |
| 441 :help {subject} | |
| 442 | |
| 443 To get help on the "x" command, for example, enter the following: > | |
| 444 | |
| 445 :help x | |
| 446 | |
| 447 To find out how to delete text, use this command: > | |
| 448 | |
| 449 :help deleting | |
| 450 | |
| 451 To get a complete index of all Vim commands, use the following command: > | |
| 452 | |
| 453 :help index | |
| 454 | |
| 455 When you need to get help for a control character command (for example, | |
| 456 CTRL-A), you need to spell it with the prefix "CTRL-". > | |
| 457 | |
| 458 :help CTRL-A | |
| 459 | |
| 460 The Vim editor has many different modes. By default, the help system displays | |
| 461 the normal-mode commands. For example, the following command displays help | |
| 462 for the normal-mode CTRL-H command: > | |
| 463 | |
| 464 :help CTRL-H | |
| 465 | |
| 466 To identify other modes, use a mode prefix. If you want the help for the | |
| 467 insert-mode version of a command, use "i_". For CTRL-H this gives you the | |
| 468 following command: > | |
| 469 | |
| 470 :help i_CTRL-H | |
| 471 | |
| 472 When you start the Vim editor, you can use several command-line arguments. | |
| 473 These all begin with a dash (-). To find what the -t argument does, for | |
| 474 example, use the command: > | |
| 475 | |
| 476 :help -t | |
| 477 | |
| 478 The Vim editor has a number of options that enable you to configure and | |
| 479 customize the editor. If you want help for an option, you need to enclose it | |
| 480 in single quotation marks. To find out what the 'number' option does, for | |
| 481 example, use the following command: > | |
| 482 | |
| 483 :help 'number' | |
| 484 | |
| 485 The table with all mode prefixes can be found here: |help-context|. | |
| 486 | |
| 236 | 487 Special keys are enclosed in angle brackets. To find help on the up-arrow key |
| 7 | 488 in Insert mode, for instance, use this command: > |
| 489 | |
| 490 :help i_<Up> | |
| 491 | |
| 492 If you see an error message that you don't understand, for example: | |
| 493 | |
| 494 E37: No write since last change (use ! to override) ~ | |
| 495 | |
| 496 You can use the error ID at the start to find help about it: > | |
| 497 | |
| 498 :help E37 | |
| 499 | |
| 1121 | 500 |
| 501 Summary: *help-summary* > | |
| 502 :help | |
| 503 < Gives you very general help. Scroll down to see a list of all | |
| 504 helpfiles, including those added locally (i.e. not distributed | |
| 505 with Vim). > | |
| 506 :help user-toc.txt | |
| 507 < Table of contents of the User Manual. > | |
| 508 :help :subject | |
| 509 < Ex-command "subject", for instance the following: > | |
| 510 :help :help | |
| 511 < Help on getting help. > | |
| 512 :help abc | |
| 513 < normal-mode command "abc". > | |
| 514 :help CTRL-B | |
| 515 < Control key <C-B> in Normal mode. > | |
| 516 :help i_abc | |
| 517 :help i_CTRL-B | |
| 518 < The same in Insert mode. > | |
| 519 :help v_abc | |
| 520 :help v_CTRL-B | |
| 521 < The same in Visual mode. > | |
| 522 :help c_abc | |
| 523 :help c_CTRL-B | |
| 524 < The same in Command-line mode. > | |
| 525 :help 'subject' | |
| 526 < Option 'subject'. > | |
| 527 :help subject() | |
| 528 < Function "subject". > | |
| 529 :help -subject | |
| 530 < Command-line option "-subject". > | |
| 531 :help +subject | |
|
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532 < Compile-time feature "+subject". > |
| 1121 | 533 :help EventName |
| 534 < Autocommand event "EventName". > | |
| 535 :help digraphs.txt | |
| 536 < The top of the helpfile "digraph.txt". | |
| 537 Similarly for any other helpfile. > | |
| 538 :help pattern<Tab> | |
| 539 < Find a help tag starting with "pattern". Repeat <Tab> for | |
| 540 others. > | |
| 541 :help pattern<Ctrl-D> | |
| 542 < See all possible help tag matches "pattern" at once. > | |
| 543 :helpgrep pattern | |
| 544 < Search the whole text of all help files for pattern "pattern". | |
| 545 Jumps to the first match. Jump to other matches with: > | |
| 546 :cn | |
| 547 < next match > | |
| 548 :cprev | |
| 549 :cN | |
| 550 < previous match > | |
| 551 :cfirst | |
| 552 :clast | |
| 553 < first or last match > | |
| 554 :copen | |
| 555 :cclose | |
| 556 < open/close the quickfix window; press <Enter> to jump | |
| 557 to the item under the cursor | |
| 558 | |
| 559 | |
| 7 | 560 ============================================================================== |
| 561 | |
| 562 Next chapter: |usr_03.txt| Moving around | |
| 563 | |
| 564 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: |