| *usr_01.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2010 Nov 03 |
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| VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar |
| |
| About the manuals |
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| |
| This chapter introduces the manuals available with Vim. Read this to know the |
| conditions under which the commands are explained. |
| |
| |01.1| Two manuals |
| |01.2| Vim installed |
| |01.3| Using the Vim tutor |
| |01.4| Copyright |
| |
| Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim |
| Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| *01.1* Two manuals |
| |
| The Vim documentation consists of two parts: |
| |
| 1. The User manual |
| Task oriented explanations, from simple to complex. Reads from start to |
| end like a book. |
| |
| 2. The Reference manual |
| Precise description of how everything in Vim works. |
| |
| The notation used in these manuals is explained here: |notation| |
| |
| |
| JUMPING AROUND |
| |
| The text contains hyperlinks between the two parts, allowing you to quickly |
| jump between the description of an editing task and a precise explanation of |
| the commands and options used for it. Use these two commands: |
| |
| Press CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor. |
| Press CTRL-O to jump back (repeat to go further back). |
| |
| Many links are in vertical bars, like this: |bars|. The bars themselves may |
| be hidden or invisible, see below. An option name, like 'number', a command |
| in double quotes like ":write" and any other word can also be used as a link. |
| Try it out: Move the cursor to CTRL-] and press CTRL-] on it. |
| |
| Other subjects can be found with the ":help" command, see |help.txt|. |
| |
| The bars and stars are usually hidden with the |conceal| feature. They also |
| use |hl-Ignore|, using the same color for the text as the background. You can |
| make them visible with: > |
| :set conceallevel=0 |
| :hi link HelpBar Normal |
| :hi link HelpStar Normal |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| *01.2* Vim installed |
| |
| Most of the manuals assume that Vim has been properly installed. If you |
| didn't do that yet, or if Vim doesn't run properly (e.g., files can't be found |
| or in the GUI the menus do not show up) first read the chapter on |
| installation: |usr_90.txt|. |
| *not-compatible* |
| The manuals often assume you are using Vim with Vi-compatibility switched |
| off. For most commands this doesn't matter, but sometimes it is important, |
| e.g., for multi-level undo. An easy way to make sure you are using a nice |
| setup is to copy the example vimrc file. By doing this inside Vim you don't |
| have to check out where it is located. How to do this depends on the system |
| you are using: |
| |
| Unix: > |
| :!cp -i $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim ~/.vimrc |
| MS-DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2: > |
| :!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/_vimrc |
| Amiga: > |
| :!copy $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim $VIM/.vimrc |
| |
| If the file already exists you probably want to keep it. |
| |
| If you start Vim now, the 'compatible' option should be off. You can check it |
| with this command: > |
| |
| :set compatible? |
| |
| If it responds with "nocompatible" you are doing well. If the response is |
| "compatible" you are in trouble. You will have to find out why the option is |
| still set. Perhaps the file you wrote above is not found. Use this command |
| to find out: > |
| |
| :scriptnames |
| |
| If your file is not in the list, check its location and name. If it is in the |
| list, there must be some other place where the 'compatible' option is switched |
| back on. |
| |
| For more info see |vimrc| and |compatible-default|. |
| |
| Note: |
| This manual is about using Vim in the normal way. There is an |
| alternative called "evim" (easy Vim). This is still Vim, but used in |
| a way that resembles a click-and-type editor like Notepad. It always |
| stays in Insert mode, thus it feels very different. It is not |
| explained in the user manual, since it should be mostly self |
| explanatory. See |evim-keys| for details. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| *01.3* Using the Vim tutor *tutor* *vimtutor* |
| |
| Instead of reading the text (boring!) you can use the vimtutor to learn your |
| first Vim commands. This is a 30 minute tutorial that teaches the most basic |
| Vim functionality hands-on. |
| |
| On Unix, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start it from the shell: |
| > |
| vimtutor |
| |
| On MS-Windows you can find it in the Program/Vim menu. Or execute |
| vimtutor.bat in the $VIMRUNTIME directory. |
| |
| This will make a copy of the tutor file, so that you can edit it without |
| the risk of damaging the original. |
| There are a few translated versions of the tutor. To find out if yours is |
| available, use the two-letter language code. For French: > |
| |
| vimtutor fr |
| |
| On Unix, if you prefer using the GUI version of Vim, use "gvimtutor" or |
| "vimtutor -g" instead of "vimtutor". |
| |
| For OpenVMS, if Vim has been properly installed, you can start vimtutor from a |
| VMS prompt with: > |
| |
| @VIM:vimtutor |
| |
| Optionally add the two-letter language code as above. |
| |
| |
| On other systems, you have to do a little work: |
| |
| 1. Copy the tutor file. You can do this with Vim (it knows where to find it): |
| > |
| vim -u NONE -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q' |
| < |
| This will write the file "TUTORCOPY" in the current directory. To use a |
| translated version of the tutor, append the two-letter language code to the |
| filename. For French: |
| > |
| vim -u NONE -c 'e $VIMRUNTIME/tutor/tutor.fr' -c 'w! TUTORCOPY' -c 'q' |
| < |
| 2. Edit the copied file with Vim: |
| > |
| vim -u NONE -c "set nocp" TUTORCOPY |
| < |
| The extra arguments make sure Vim is started in a good mood. |
| |
| 3. Delete the copied file when you are finished with it: |
| > |
| del TUTORCOPY |
| < |
| ============================================================================== |
| *01.4* Copyright *manual-copyright* |
| |
| The Vim user manual and reference manual are Copyright (c) 1988-2003 by Bram |
| Moolenaar. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and |
| conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later. The |
| latest version is presently available at: |
| http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/ |
| |
| People who contribute to the manuals must agree with the above copyright |
| notice. |
| *frombook* |
| Parts of the user manual come from the book "Vi IMproved - Vim" by Steve |
| Oualline (published by New Riders Publishing, ISBN: 0735710015). The Open |
| Publication License applies to this book. Only selected parts are included |
| and these have been modified (e.g., by removing the pictures, updating the |
| text for Vim 6.0 and later, fixing mistakes). The omission of the |frombook| |
| tag does not mean that the text does not come from the book. |
| |
| Many thanks to Steve Oualline and New Riders for creating this book and |
| publishing it under the OPL! It has been a great help while writing the user |
| manual. Not only by providing literal text, but also by setting the tone and |
| style. |
| |
| If you make money through selling the manuals, you are strongly encouraged to |
| donate part of the profit to help AIDS victims in Uganda. See |iccf|. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
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| Next chapter: |usr_02.txt| The first steps in Vim |
| |
| Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: |