| *eval.txt* For Vim version 7.2. Last change: 2008 Nov 27 |
| |
| |
| VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar |
| |
| |
| Expression evaluation *expression* *expr* *E15* *eval* |
| |
| Using expressions is introduced in chapter 41 of the user manual |usr_41.txt|. |
| |
| Note: Expression evaluation can be disabled at compile time. If this has been |
| done, the features in this document are not available. See |+eval| and |
| |no-eval-feature|. |
| |
| 1. Variables |variables| |
| 1.1 Variable types |
| 1.2 Function references |Funcref| |
| 1.3 Lists |Lists| |
| 1.4 Dictionaries |Dictionaries| |
| 1.5 More about variables |more-variables| |
| 2. Expression syntax |expression-syntax| |
| 3. Internal variable |internal-variables| |
| 4. Builtin Functions |functions| |
| 5. Defining functions |user-functions| |
| 6. Curly braces names |curly-braces-names| |
| 7. Commands |expression-commands| |
| 8. Exception handling |exception-handling| |
| 9. Examples |eval-examples| |
| 10. No +eval feature |no-eval-feature| |
| 11. The sandbox |eval-sandbox| |
| 12. Textlock |textlock| |
| |
| {Vi does not have any of these commands} |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 1. Variables *variables* |
| |
| 1.1 Variable types ~ |
| *E712* |
| There are six types of variables: |
| |
| Number A 32 bit signed number. |expr-number| *Number* |
| Examples: -123 0x10 0177 |
| |
| Float A floating point number. |floating-point-format| *Float* |
| {only when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| Examples: 123.456 1.15e-6 -1.1e3 |
| |
| String A NUL terminated string of 8-bit unsigned characters (bytes). |
| |expr-string| Examples: "ab\txx\"--" 'x-z''a,c' |
| |
| Funcref A reference to a function |Funcref|. |
| Example: function("strlen") |
| |
| List An ordered sequence of items |List|. |
| Example: [1, 2, ['a', 'b']] |
| |
| Dictionary An associative, unordered array: Each entry has a key and a |
| value. |Dictionary| |
| Example: {'blue': "#0000ff", 'red': "#ff0000"} |
| |
| The Number and String types are converted automatically, depending on how they |
| are used. |
| |
| Conversion from a Number to a String is by making the ASCII representation of |
| the Number. Examples: > |
| Number 123 --> String "123" |
| Number 0 --> String "0" |
| Number -1 --> String "-1" |
| |
| Conversion from a String to a Number is done by converting the first digits |
| to a number. Hexadecimal "0xf9" and Octal "017" numbers are recognized. If |
| the String doesn't start with digits, the result is zero. Examples: > |
| String "456" --> Number 456 |
| String "6bar" --> Number 6 |
| String "foo" --> Number 0 |
| String "0xf1" --> Number 241 |
| String "0100" --> Number 64 |
| String "-8" --> Number -8 |
| String "+8" --> Number 0 |
| |
| To force conversion from String to Number, add zero to it: > |
| :echo "0100" + 0 |
| < 64 ~ |
| |
| To avoid a leading zero to cause octal conversion, or for using a different |
| base, use |str2nr()|. |
| |
| For boolean operators Numbers are used. Zero is FALSE, non-zero is TRUE. |
| |
| Note that in the command > |
| :if "foo" |
| "foo" is converted to 0, which means FALSE. To test for a non-empty string, |
| use strlen(): > |
| :if strlen("foo") |
| < *E745* *E728* *E703* *E729* *E730* *E731* |
| List, Dictionary and Funcref types are not automatically converted. |
| |
| *E805* *E806* *E808* |
| When mixing Number and Float the Number is converted to Float. Otherwise |
| there is no automatic conversion of Float. You can use str2float() for String |
| to Float, printf() for Float to String and float2nr() for Float to Number. |
| |
| *E706* *sticky-type-checking* |
| You will get an error if you try to change the type of a variable. You need |
| to |:unlet| it first to avoid this error. String and Number are considered |
| equivalent though, as well are Float and Number. Consider this sequence of |
| commands: > |
| :let l = "string" |
| :let l = 44 " changes type from String to Number |
| :let l = [1, 2, 3] " error! l is still a Number |
| :let l = 4.4 " changes type from Number to Float |
| :let l = "string" " error! |
| |
| |
| 1.2 Function references ~ |
| *Funcref* *E695* *E718* |
| A Funcref variable is obtained with the |function()| function. It can be used |
| in an expression in the place of a function name, before the parenthesis |
| around the arguments, to invoke the function it refers to. Example: > |
| |
| :let Fn = function("MyFunc") |
| :echo Fn() |
| < *E704* *E705* *E707* |
| A Funcref variable must start with a capital, "s:", "w:", "t:" or "b:". You |
| cannot have both a Funcref variable and a function with the same name. |
| |
| A special case is defining a function and directly assigning its Funcref to a |
| Dictionary entry. Example: > |
| :function dict.init() dict |
| : let self.val = 0 |
| :endfunction |
| |
| The key of the Dictionary can start with a lower case letter. The actual |
| function name is not used here. Also see |numbered-function|. |
| |
| A Funcref can also be used with the |:call| command: > |
| :call Fn() |
| :call dict.init() |
| |
| The name of the referenced function can be obtained with |string()|. > |
| :let func = string(Fn) |
| |
| You can use |call()| to invoke a Funcref and use a list variable for the |
| arguments: > |
| :let r = call(Fn, mylist) |
| |
| |
| 1.3 Lists ~ |
| *List* *Lists* *E686* |
| A List is an ordered sequence of items. An item can be of any type. Items |
| can be accessed by their index number. Items can be added and removed at any |
| position in the sequence. |
| |
| |
| List creation ~ |
| *E696* *E697* |
| A List is created with a comma separated list of items in square brackets. |
| Examples: > |
| :let mylist = [1, two, 3, "four"] |
| :let emptylist = [] |
| |
| An item can be any expression. Using a List for an item creates a |
| List of Lists: > |
| :let nestlist = [[11, 12], [21, 22], [31, 32]] |
| |
| An extra comma after the last item is ignored. |
| |
| |
| List index ~ |
| *list-index* *E684* |
| An item in the List can be accessed by putting the index in square brackets |
| after the List. Indexes are zero-based, thus the first item has index zero. > |
| :let item = mylist[0] " get the first item: 1 |
| :let item = mylist[2] " get the third item: 3 |
| |
| When the resulting item is a list this can be repeated: > |
| :let item = nestlist[0][1] " get the first list, second item: 12 |
| < |
| A negative index is counted from the end. Index -1 refers to the last item in |
| the List, -2 to the last but one item, etc. > |
| :let last = mylist[-1] " get the last item: "four" |
| |
| To avoid an error for an invalid index use the |get()| function. When an item |
| is not available it returns zero or the default value you specify: > |
| :echo get(mylist, idx) |
| :echo get(mylist, idx, "NONE") |
| |
| |
| List concatenation ~ |
| |
| Two lists can be concatenated with the "+" operator: > |
| :let longlist = mylist + [5, 6] |
| :let mylist += [7, 8] |
| |
| To prepend or append an item turn the item into a list by putting [] around |
| it. To change a list in-place see |list-modification| below. |
| |
| |
| Sublist ~ |
| |
| A part of the List can be obtained by specifying the first and last index, |
| separated by a colon in square brackets: > |
| :let shortlist = mylist[2:-1] " get List [3, "four"] |
| |
| Omitting the first index is similar to zero. Omitting the last index is |
| similar to -1. > |
| :let endlist = mylist[2:] " from item 2 to the end: [3, "four"] |
| :let shortlist = mylist[2:2] " List with one item: [3] |
| :let otherlist = mylist[:] " make a copy of the List |
| |
| If the first index is beyond the last item of the List or the second item is |
| before the first item, the result is an empty list. There is no error |
| message. |
| |
| If the second index is equal to or greater than the length of the list the |
| length minus one is used: > |
| :let mylist = [0, 1, 2, 3] |
| :echo mylist[2:8] " result: [2, 3] |
| |
| NOTE: mylist[s:e] means using the variable "s:e" as index. Watch out for |
| using a single letter variable before the ":". Insert a space when needed: |
| mylist[s : e]. |
| |
| |
| List identity ~ |
| *list-identity* |
| When variable "aa" is a list and you assign it to another variable "bb", both |
| variables refer to the same list. Thus changing the list "aa" will also |
| change "bb": > |
| :let aa = [1, 2, 3] |
| :let bb = aa |
| :call add(aa, 4) |
| :echo bb |
| < [1, 2, 3, 4] |
| |
| Making a copy of a list is done with the |copy()| function. Using [:] also |
| works, as explained above. This creates a shallow copy of the list: Changing |
| a list item in the list will also change the item in the copied list: > |
| :let aa = [[1, 'a'], 2, 3] |
| :let bb = copy(aa) |
| :call add(aa, 4) |
| :let aa[0][1] = 'aaa' |
| :echo aa |
| < [[1, aaa], 2, 3, 4] > |
| :echo bb |
| < [[1, aaa], 2, 3] |
| |
| To make a completely independent list use |deepcopy()|. This also makes a |
| copy of the values in the list, recursively. Up to a hundred levels deep. |
| |
| The operator "is" can be used to check if two variables refer to the same |
| List. "isnot" does the opposite. In contrast "==" compares if two lists have |
| the same value. > |
| :let alist = [1, 2, 3] |
| :let blist = [1, 2, 3] |
| :echo alist is blist |
| < 0 > |
| :echo alist == blist |
| < 1 |
| |
| Note about comparing lists: Two lists are considered equal if they have the |
| same length and all items compare equal, as with using "==". There is one |
| exception: When comparing a number with a string they are considered |
| different. There is no automatic type conversion, as with using "==" on |
| variables. Example: > |
| echo 4 == "4" |
| < 1 > |
| echo [4] == ["4"] |
| < 0 |
| |
| Thus comparing Lists is more strict than comparing numbers and strings. You |
| can compare simple values this way too by putting them in a list: > |
| |
| :let a = 5 |
| :let b = "5" |
| :echo a == b |
| < 1 > |
| :echo [a] == [b] |
| < 0 |
| |
| |
| List unpack ~ |
| |
| To unpack the items in a list to individual variables, put the variables in |
| square brackets, like list items: > |
| :let [var1, var2] = mylist |
| |
| When the number of variables does not match the number of items in the list |
| this produces an error. To handle any extra items from the list append ";" |
| and a variable name: > |
| :let [var1, var2; rest] = mylist |
| |
| This works like: > |
| :let var1 = mylist[0] |
| :let var2 = mylist[1] |
| :let rest = mylist[2:] |
| |
| Except that there is no error if there are only two items. "rest" will be an |
| empty list then. |
| |
| |
| List modification ~ |
| *list-modification* |
| To change a specific item of a list use |:let| this way: > |
| :let list[4] = "four" |
| :let listlist[0][3] = item |
| |
| To change part of a list you can specify the first and last item to be |
| modified. The value must at least have the number of items in the range: > |
| :let list[3:5] = [3, 4, 5] |
| |
| Adding and removing items from a list is done with functions. Here are a few |
| examples: > |
| :call insert(list, 'a') " prepend item 'a' |
| :call insert(list, 'a', 3) " insert item 'a' before list[3] |
| :call add(list, "new") " append String item |
| :call add(list, [1, 2]) " append a List as one new item |
| :call extend(list, [1, 2]) " extend the list with two more items |
| :let i = remove(list, 3) " remove item 3 |
| :unlet list[3] " idem |
| :let l = remove(list, 3, -1) " remove items 3 to last item |
| :unlet list[3 : ] " idem |
| :call filter(list, 'v:val !~ "x"') " remove items with an 'x' |
| |
| Changing the order of items in a list: > |
| :call sort(list) " sort a list alphabetically |
| :call reverse(list) " reverse the order of items |
| |
| |
| For loop ~ |
| |
| The |:for| loop executes commands for each item in a list. A variable is set |
| to each item in the list in sequence. Example: > |
| :for item in mylist |
| : call Doit(item) |
| :endfor |
| |
| This works like: > |
| :let index = 0 |
| :while index < len(mylist) |
| : let item = mylist[index] |
| : :call Doit(item) |
| : let index = index + 1 |
| :endwhile |
| |
| Note that all items in the list should be of the same type, otherwise this |
| results in error |E706|. To avoid this |:unlet| the variable at the end of |
| the loop. |
| |
| If all you want to do is modify each item in the list then the |map()| |
| function will be a simpler method than a for loop. |
| |
| Just like the |:let| command, |:for| also accepts a list of variables. This |
| requires the argument to be a list of lists. > |
| :for [lnum, col] in [[1, 3], [2, 8], [3, 0]] |
| : call Doit(lnum, col) |
| :endfor |
| |
| This works like a |:let| command is done for each list item. Again, the types |
| must remain the same to avoid an error. |
| |
| It is also possible to put remaining items in a List variable: > |
| :for [i, j; rest] in listlist |
| : call Doit(i, j) |
| : if !empty(rest) |
| : echo "remainder: " . string(rest) |
| : endif |
| :endfor |
| |
| |
| List functions ~ |
| *E714* |
| Functions that are useful with a List: > |
| :let r = call(funcname, list) " call a function with an argument list |
| :if empty(list) " check if list is empty |
| :let l = len(list) " number of items in list |
| :let big = max(list) " maximum value in list |
| :let small = min(list) " minimum value in list |
| :let xs = count(list, 'x') " count nr of times 'x' appears in list |
| :let i = index(list, 'x') " index of first 'x' in list |
| :let lines = getline(1, 10) " get ten text lines from buffer |
| :call append('$', lines) " append text lines in buffer |
| :let list = split("a b c") " create list from items in a string |
| :let string = join(list, ', ') " create string from list items |
| :let s = string(list) " String representation of list |
| :call map(list, '">> " . v:val') " prepend ">> " to each item |
| |
| Don't forget that a combination of features can make things simple. For |
| example, to add up all the numbers in a list: > |
| :exe 'let sum = ' . join(nrlist, '+') |
| |
| |
| 1.4 Dictionaries ~ |
| *Dictionaries* *Dictionary* |
| A Dictionary is an associative array: Each entry has a key and a value. The |
| entry can be located with the key. The entries are stored without a specific |
| ordering. |
| |
| |
| Dictionary creation ~ |
| *E720* *E721* *E722* *E723* |
| A Dictionary is created with a comma separated list of entries in curly |
| braces. Each entry has a key and a value, separated by a colon. Each key can |
| only appear once. Examples: > |
| :let mydict = {1: 'one', 2: 'two', 3: 'three'} |
| :let emptydict = {} |
| < *E713* *E716* *E717* |
| A key is always a String. You can use a Number, it will be converted to a |
| String automatically. Thus the String '4' and the number 4 will find the same |
| entry. Note that the String '04' and the Number 04 are different, since the |
| Number will be converted to the String '4'. |
| |
| A value can be any expression. Using a Dictionary for a value creates a |
| nested Dictionary: > |
| :let nestdict = {1: {11: 'a', 12: 'b'}, 2: {21: 'c'}} |
| |
| An extra comma after the last entry is ignored. |
| |
| |
| Accessing entries ~ |
| |
| The normal way to access an entry is by putting the key in square brackets: > |
| :let val = mydict["one"] |
| :let mydict["four"] = 4 |
| |
| You can add new entries to an existing Dictionary this way, unlike Lists. |
| |
| For keys that consist entirely of letters, digits and underscore the following |
| form can be used |expr-entry|: > |
| :let val = mydict.one |
| :let mydict.four = 4 |
| |
| Since an entry can be any type, also a List and a Dictionary, the indexing and |
| key lookup can be repeated: > |
| :echo dict.key[idx].key |
| |
| |
| Dictionary to List conversion ~ |
| |
| You may want to loop over the entries in a dictionary. For this you need to |
| turn the Dictionary into a List and pass it to |:for|. |
| |
| Most often you want to loop over the keys, using the |keys()| function: > |
| :for key in keys(mydict) |
| : echo key . ': ' . mydict[key] |
| :endfor |
| |
| The List of keys is unsorted. You may want to sort them first: > |
| :for key in sort(keys(mydict)) |
| |
| To loop over the values use the |values()| function: > |
| :for v in values(mydict) |
| : echo "value: " . v |
| :endfor |
| |
| If you want both the key and the value use the |items()| function. It returns |
| a List in which each item is a List with two items, the key and the value: > |
| :for [key, value] in items(mydict) |
| : echo key . ': ' . value |
| :endfor |
| |
| |
| Dictionary identity ~ |
| *dict-identity* |
| Just like Lists you need to use |copy()| and |deepcopy()| to make a copy of a |
| Dictionary. Otherwise, assignment results in referring to the same |
| Dictionary: > |
| :let onedict = {'a': 1, 'b': 2} |
| :let adict = onedict |
| :let adict['a'] = 11 |
| :echo onedict['a'] |
| 11 |
| |
| Two Dictionaries compare equal if all the key-value pairs compare equal. For |
| more info see |list-identity|. |
| |
| |
| Dictionary modification ~ |
| *dict-modification* |
| To change an already existing entry of a Dictionary, or to add a new entry, |
| use |:let| this way: > |
| :let dict[4] = "four" |
| :let dict['one'] = item |
| |
| Removing an entry from a Dictionary is done with |remove()| or |:unlet|. |
| Three ways to remove the entry with key "aaa" from dict: > |
| :let i = remove(dict, 'aaa') |
| :unlet dict.aaa |
| :unlet dict['aaa'] |
| |
| Merging a Dictionary with another is done with |extend()|: > |
| :call extend(adict, bdict) |
| This extends adict with all entries from bdict. Duplicate keys cause entries |
| in adict to be overwritten. An optional third argument can change this. |
| Note that the order of entries in a Dictionary is irrelevant, thus don't |
| expect ":echo adict" to show the items from bdict after the older entries in |
| adict. |
| |
| Weeding out entries from a Dictionary can be done with |filter()|: > |
| :call filter(dict, 'v:val =~ "x"') |
| This removes all entries from "dict" with a value not matching 'x'. |
| |
| |
| Dictionary function ~ |
| *Dictionary-function* *self* *E725* |
| When a function is defined with the "dict" attribute it can be used in a |
| special way with a dictionary. Example: > |
| :function Mylen() dict |
| : return len(self.data) |
| :endfunction |
| :let mydict = {'data': [0, 1, 2, 3], 'len': function("Mylen")} |
| :echo mydict.len() |
| |
| This is like a method in object oriented programming. The entry in the |
| Dictionary is a |Funcref|. The local variable "self" refers to the dictionary |
| the function was invoked from. |
| |
| It is also possible to add a function without the "dict" attribute as a |
| Funcref to a Dictionary, but the "self" variable is not available then. |
| |
| *numbered-function* *anonymous-function* |
| To avoid the extra name for the function it can be defined and directly |
| assigned to a Dictionary in this way: > |
| :let mydict = {'data': [0, 1, 2, 3]} |
| :function mydict.len() dict |
| : return len(self.data) |
| :endfunction |
| :echo mydict.len() |
| |
| The function will then get a number and the value of dict.len is a |Funcref| |
| that references this function. The function can only be used through a |
| |Funcref|. It will automatically be deleted when there is no |Funcref| |
| remaining that refers to it. |
| |
| It is not necessary to use the "dict" attribute for a numbered function. |
| |
| |
| Functions for Dictionaries ~ |
| *E715* |
| Functions that can be used with a Dictionary: > |
| :if has_key(dict, 'foo') " TRUE if dict has entry with key "foo" |
| :if empty(dict) " TRUE if dict is empty |
| :let l = len(dict) " number of items in dict |
| :let big = max(dict) " maximum value in dict |
| :let small = min(dict) " minimum value in dict |
| :let xs = count(dict, 'x') " count nr of times 'x' appears in dict |
| :let s = string(dict) " String representation of dict |
| :call map(dict, '">> " . v:val') " prepend ">> " to each item |
| |
| |
| 1.5 More about variables ~ |
| *more-variables* |
| If you need to know the type of a variable or expression, use the |type()| |
| function. |
| |
| When the '!' flag is included in the 'viminfo' option, global variables that |
| start with an uppercase letter, and don't contain a lowercase letter, are |
| stored in the viminfo file |viminfo-file|. |
| |
| When the 'sessionoptions' option contains "global", global variables that |
| start with an uppercase letter and contain at least one lowercase letter are |
| stored in the session file |session-file|. |
| |
| variable name can be stored where ~ |
| my_var_6 not |
| My_Var_6 session file |
| MY_VAR_6 viminfo file |
| |
| |
| It's possible to form a variable name with curly braces, see |
| |curly-braces-names|. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 2. Expression syntax *expression-syntax* |
| |
| Expression syntax summary, from least to most significant: |
| |
| |expr1| expr2 ? expr1 : expr1 if-then-else |
| |
| |expr2| expr3 || expr3 .. logical OR |
| |
| |expr3| expr4 && expr4 .. logical AND |
| |
| |expr4| expr5 == expr5 equal |
| expr5 != expr5 not equal |
| expr5 > expr5 greater than |
| expr5 >= expr5 greater than or equal |
| expr5 < expr5 smaller than |
| expr5 <= expr5 smaller than or equal |
| expr5 =~ expr5 regexp matches |
| expr5 !~ expr5 regexp doesn't match |
| |
| expr5 ==? expr5 equal, ignoring case |
| expr5 ==# expr5 equal, match case |
| etc. As above, append ? for ignoring case, # for |
| matching case |
| |
| expr5 is expr5 same |List| instance |
| expr5 isnot expr5 different |List| instance |
| |
| |expr5| expr6 + expr6 .. number addition or list concatenation |
| expr6 - expr6 .. number subtraction |
| expr6 . expr6 .. string concatenation |
| |
| |expr6| expr7 * expr7 .. number multiplication |
| expr7 / expr7 .. number division |
| expr7 % expr7 .. number modulo |
| |
| |expr7| ! expr7 logical NOT |
| - expr7 unary minus |
| + expr7 unary plus |
| |
| |
| |expr8| expr8[expr1] byte of a String or item of a |List| |
| expr8[expr1 : expr1] substring of a String or sublist of a |List| |
| expr8.name entry in a |Dictionary| |
| expr8(expr1, ...) function call with |Funcref| variable |
| |
| |expr9| number number constant |
| "string" string constant, backslash is special |
| 'string' string constant, ' is doubled |
| [expr1, ...] |List| |
| {expr1: expr1, ...} |Dictionary| |
| &option option value |
| (expr1) nested expression |
| variable internal variable |
| va{ria}ble internal variable with curly braces |
| $VAR environment variable |
| @r contents of register 'r' |
| function(expr1, ...) function call |
| func{ti}on(expr1, ...) function call with curly braces |
| |
| |
| ".." indicates that the operations in this level can be concatenated. |
| Example: > |
| &nu || &list && &shell == "csh" |
| |
| All expressions within one level are parsed from left to right. |
| |
| |
| expr1 *expr1* *E109* |
| ----- |
| |
| expr2 ? expr1 : expr1 |
| |
| The expression before the '?' is evaluated to a number. If it evaluates to |
| non-zero, the result is the value of the expression between the '?' and ':', |
| otherwise the result is the value of the expression after the ':'. |
| Example: > |
| :echo lnum == 1 ? "top" : lnum |
| |
| Since the first expression is an "expr2", it cannot contain another ?:. The |
| other two expressions can, thus allow for recursive use of ?:. |
| Example: > |
| :echo lnum == 1 ? "top" : lnum == 1000 ? "last" : lnum |
| |
| To keep this readable, using |line-continuation| is suggested: > |
| :echo lnum == 1 |
| :\ ? "top" |
| :\ : lnum == 1000 |
| :\ ? "last" |
| :\ : lnum |
| |
| You should always put a space before the ':', otherwise it can be mistaken for |
| use in a variable such as "a:1". |
| |
| |
| expr2 and expr3 *expr2* *expr3* |
| --------------- |
| |
| *expr-barbar* *expr-&&* |
| The "||" and "&&" operators take one argument on each side. The arguments |
| are (converted to) Numbers. The result is: |
| |
| input output ~ |
| n1 n2 n1 || n2 n1 && n2 ~ |
| zero zero zero zero |
| zero non-zero non-zero zero |
| non-zero zero non-zero zero |
| non-zero non-zero non-zero non-zero |
| |
| The operators can be concatenated, for example: > |
| |
| &nu || &list && &shell == "csh" |
| |
| Note that "&&" takes precedence over "||", so this has the meaning of: > |
| |
| &nu || (&list && &shell == "csh") |
| |
| Once the result is known, the expression "short-circuits", that is, further |
| arguments are not evaluated. This is like what happens in C. For example: > |
| |
| let a = 1 |
| echo a || b |
| |
| This is valid even if there is no variable called "b" because "a" is non-zero, |
| so the result must be non-zero. Similarly below: > |
| |
| echo exists("b") && b == "yes" |
| |
| This is valid whether "b" has been defined or not. The second clause will |
| only be evaluated if "b" has been defined. |
| |
| |
| expr4 *expr4* |
| ----- |
| |
| expr5 {cmp} expr5 |
| |
| Compare two expr5 expressions, resulting in a 0 if it evaluates to false, or 1 |
| if it evaluates to true. |
| |
| *expr-==* *expr-!=* *expr->* *expr->=* |
| *expr-<* *expr-<=* *expr-=~* *expr-!~* |
| *expr-==#* *expr-!=#* *expr->#* *expr->=#* |
| *expr-<#* *expr-<=#* *expr-=~#* *expr-!~#* |
| *expr-==?* *expr-!=?* *expr->?* *expr->=?* |
| *expr-<?* *expr-<=?* *expr-=~?* *expr-!~?* |
| *expr-is* |
| use 'ignorecase' match case ignore case ~ |
| equal == ==# ==? |
| not equal != !=# !=? |
| greater than > ># >? |
| greater than or equal >= >=# >=? |
| smaller than < <# <? |
| smaller than or equal <= <=# <=? |
| regexp matches =~ =~# =~? |
| regexp doesn't match !~ !~# !~? |
| same instance is |
| different instance isnot |
| |
| Examples: |
| "abc" ==# "Abc" evaluates to 0 |
| "abc" ==? "Abc" evaluates to 1 |
| "abc" == "Abc" evaluates to 1 if 'ignorecase' is set, 0 otherwise |
| |
| *E691* *E692* |
| A |List| can only be compared with a |List| and only "equal", "not equal" and |
| "is" can be used. This compares the values of the list, recursively. |
| Ignoring case means case is ignored when comparing item values. |
| |
| *E735* *E736* |
| A |Dictionary| can only be compared with a |Dictionary| and only "equal", "not |
| equal" and "is" can be used. This compares the key/values of the |Dictionary| |
| recursively. Ignoring case means case is ignored when comparing item values. |
| |
| *E693* *E694* |
| A |Funcref| can only be compared with a |Funcref| and only "equal" and "not |
| equal" can be used. Case is never ignored. |
| |
| When using "is" or "isnot" with a |List| this checks if the expressions are |
| referring to the same |List| instance. A copy of a |List| is different from |
| the original |List|. When using "is" without a |List| it is equivalent to |
| using "equal", using "isnot" equivalent to using "not equal". Except that a |
| different type means the values are different. "4 == '4'" is true, "4 is '4'" |
| is false. |
| |
| When comparing a String with a Number, the String is converted to a Number, |
| and the comparison is done on Numbers. This means that "0 == 'x'" is TRUE, |
| because 'x' converted to a Number is zero. |
| |
| When comparing two Strings, this is done with strcmp() or stricmp(). This |
| results in the mathematical difference (comparing byte values), not |
| necessarily the alphabetical difference in the local language. |
| |
| When using the operators with a trailing '#', or the short version and |
| 'ignorecase' is off, the comparing is done with strcmp(): case matters. |
| |
| When using the operators with a trailing '?', or the short version and |
| 'ignorecase' is set, the comparing is done with stricmp(): case is ignored. |
| |
| 'smartcase' is not used. |
| |
| The "=~" and "!~" operators match the lefthand argument with the righthand |
| argument, which is used as a pattern. See |pattern| for what a pattern is. |
| This matching is always done like 'magic' was set and 'cpoptions' is empty, no |
| matter what the actual value of 'magic' or 'cpoptions' is. This makes scripts |
| portable. To avoid backslashes in the regexp pattern to be doubled, use a |
| single-quote string, see |literal-string|. |
| Since a string is considered to be a single line, a multi-line pattern |
| (containing \n, backslash-n) will not match. However, a literal NL character |
| can be matched like an ordinary character. Examples: |
| "foo\nbar" =~ "\n" evaluates to 1 |
| "foo\nbar" =~ "\\n" evaluates to 0 |
| |
| |
| expr5 and expr6 *expr5* *expr6* |
| --------------- |
| expr6 + expr6 .. Number addition or |List| concatenation *expr-+* |
| expr6 - expr6 .. Number subtraction *expr--* |
| expr6 . expr6 .. String concatenation *expr-.* |
| |
| For |Lists| only "+" is possible and then both expr6 must be a list. The |
| result is a new list with the two lists Concatenated. |
| |
| expr7 * expr7 .. number multiplication *expr-star* |
| expr7 / expr7 .. number division *expr-/* |
| expr7 % expr7 .. number modulo *expr-%* |
| |
| For all, except ".", Strings are converted to Numbers. |
| |
| Note the difference between "+" and ".": |
| "123" + "456" = 579 |
| "123" . "456" = "123456" |
| |
| Since '.' has the same precedence as '+' and '-', you need to read: > |
| 1 . 90 + 90.0 |
| As: > |
| (1 . 90) + 90.0 |
| That works, since the String "190" is automatically converted to the Number |
| 190, which can be added to the Float 90.0. However: > |
| 1 . 90 * 90.0 |
| Should be read as: > |
| 1 . (90 * 90.0) |
| Since '.' has lower precedence than '*'. This does NOT work, since this |
| attempts to concatenate a Float and a String. |
| |
| When dividing a Number by zero the result depends on the value: |
| 0 / 0 = -0x80000000 (like NaN for Float) |
| >0 / 0 = 0x7fffffff (like positive infinity) |
| <0 / 0 = -0x7fffffff (like negative infinity) |
| (before Vim 7.2 it was always 0x7fffffff) |
| |
| When the righthand side of '%' is zero, the result is 0. |
| |
| None of these work for |Funcref|s. |
| |
| . and % do not work for Float. *E804* |
| |
| |
| expr7 *expr7* |
| ----- |
| ! expr7 logical NOT *expr-!* |
| - expr7 unary minus *expr-unary--* |
| + expr7 unary plus *expr-unary-+* |
| |
| For '!' non-zero becomes zero, zero becomes one. |
| For '-' the sign of the number is changed. |
| For '+' the number is unchanged. |
| |
| A String will be converted to a Number first. |
| |
| These three can be repeated and mixed. Examples: |
| !-1 == 0 |
| !!8 == 1 |
| --9 == 9 |
| |
| |
| expr8 *expr8* |
| ----- |
| expr8[expr1] item of String or |List| *expr-[]* *E111* |
| |
| If expr8 is a Number or String this results in a String that contains the |
| expr1'th single byte from expr8. expr8 is used as a String, expr1 as a |
| Number. Note that this doesn't recognize multi-byte encodings. |
| |
| Index zero gives the first character. This is like it works in C. Careful: |
| text column numbers start with one! Example, to get the character under the |
| cursor: > |
| :let c = getline(".")[col(".") - 1] |
| |
| If the length of the String is less than the index, the result is an empty |
| String. A negative index always results in an empty string (reason: backwards |
| compatibility). Use [-1:] to get the last byte. |
| |
| If expr8 is a |List| then it results the item at index expr1. See |list-index| |
| for possible index values. If the index is out of range this results in an |
| error. Example: > |
| :let item = mylist[-1] " get last item |
| |
| Generally, if a |List| index is equal to or higher than the length of the |
| |List|, or more negative than the length of the |List|, this results in an |
| error. |
| |
| |
| expr8[expr1a : expr1b] substring or sublist *expr-[:]* |
| |
| If expr8 is a Number or String this results in the substring with the bytes |
| from expr1a to and including expr1b. expr8 is used as a String, expr1a and |
| expr1b are used as a Number. Note that this doesn't recognize multi-byte |
| encodings. |
| |
| If expr1a is omitted zero is used. If expr1b is omitted the length of the |
| string minus one is used. |
| |
| A negative number can be used to measure from the end of the string. -1 is |
| the last character, -2 the last but one, etc. |
| |
| If an index goes out of range for the string characters are omitted. If |
| expr1b is smaller than expr1a the result is an empty string. |
| |
| Examples: > |
| :let c = name[-1:] " last byte of a string |
| :let c = name[-2:-2] " last but one byte of a string |
| :let s = line(".")[4:] " from the fifth byte to the end |
| :let s = s[:-3] " remove last two bytes |
| |
| If expr8 is a |List| this results in a new |List| with the items indicated by |
| the indexes expr1a and expr1b. This works like with a String, as explained |
| just above, except that indexes out of range cause an error. Examples: > |
| :let l = mylist[:3] " first four items |
| :let l = mylist[4:4] " List with one item |
| :let l = mylist[:] " shallow copy of a List |
| |
| Using expr8[expr1] or expr8[expr1a : expr1b] on a |Funcref| results in an |
| error. |
| |
| |
| expr8.name entry in a |Dictionary| *expr-entry* |
| |
| If expr8 is a |Dictionary| and it is followed by a dot, then the following |
| name will be used as a key in the |Dictionary|. This is just like: |
| expr8[name]. |
| |
| The name must consist of alphanumeric characters, just like a variable name, |
| but it may start with a number. Curly braces cannot be used. |
| |
| There must not be white space before or after the dot. |
| |
| Examples: > |
| :let dict = {"one": 1, 2: "two"} |
| :echo dict.one |
| :echo dict .2 |
| |
| Note that the dot is also used for String concatenation. To avoid confusion |
| always put spaces around the dot for String concatenation. |
| |
| |
| expr8(expr1, ...) |Funcref| function call |
| |
| When expr8 is a |Funcref| type variable, invoke the function it refers to. |
| |
| |
| |
| *expr9* |
| number |
| ------ |
| number number constant *expr-number* |
| |
| Decimal, Hexadecimal (starting with 0x or 0X), or Octal (starting with 0). |
| |
| *floating-point-format* |
| Floating point numbers can be written in two forms: |
| |
| [-+]{N}.{M} |
| [-+]{N}.{M}e[-+]{exp} |
| |
| {N} and {M} are numbers. Both {N} and {M} must be present and can only |
| contain digits. |
| [-+] means there is an optional plus or minus sign. |
| {exp} is the exponent, power of 10. |
| Only a decimal point is accepted, not a comma. No matter what the current |
| locale is. |
| {only when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| Examples: |
| 123.456 |
| +0.0001 |
| 55.0 |
| -0.123 |
| 1.234e03 |
| 1.0E-6 |
| -3.1416e+88 |
| |
| These are INVALID: |
| 3. empty {M} |
| 1e40 missing .{M} |
| |
| *float-pi* *float-e* |
| A few useful values to copy&paste: > |
| :let pi = 3.14159265359 |
| :let e = 2.71828182846 |
| |
| Rationale: |
| Before floating point was introduced, the text "123.456" was interpreted as |
| the two numbers "123" and "456", both converted to a string and concatenated, |
| resulting in the string "123456". Since this was considered pointless, and we |
| could not find it intentionally being used in Vim scripts, this backwards |
| incompatibility was accepted in favor of being able to use the normal notation |
| for floating point numbers. |
| |
| *floating-point-precision* |
| The precision and range of floating points numbers depends on what "double" |
| means in the library Vim was compiled with. There is no way to change this at |
| runtime. |
| |
| The default for displaying a |Float| is to use 6 decimal places, like using |
| printf("%g", f). You can select something else when using the |printf()| |
| function. Example: > |
| :echo printf('%.15e', atan(1)) |
| < 7.853981633974483e-01 |
| |
| |
| |
| string *expr-string* *E114* |
| ------ |
| "string" string constant *expr-quote* |
| |
| Note that double quotes are used. |
| |
| A string constant accepts these special characters: |
| \... three-digit octal number (e.g., "\316") |
| \.. two-digit octal number (must be followed by non-digit) |
| \. one-digit octal number (must be followed by non-digit) |
| \x.. byte specified with two hex numbers (e.g., "\x1f") |
| \x. byte specified with one hex number (must be followed by non-hex char) |
| \X.. same as \x.. |
| \X. same as \x. |
| \u.... character specified with up to 4 hex numbers, stored according to the |
| current value of 'encoding' (e.g., "\u02a4") |
| \U.... same as \u.... |
| \b backspace <BS> |
| \e escape <Esc> |
| \f formfeed <FF> |
| \n newline <NL> |
| \r return <CR> |
| \t tab <Tab> |
| \\ backslash |
| \" double quote |
| \<xxx> Special key named "xxx". e.g. "\<C-W>" for CTRL-W. |
| |
| Note that "\xff" is stored as the byte 255, which may be invalid in some |
| encodings. Use "\u00ff" to store character 255 according to the current value |
| of 'encoding'. |
| |
| Note that "\000" and "\x00" force the end of the string. |
| |
| |
| literal-string *literal-string* *E115* |
| --------------- |
| 'string' string constant *expr-'* |
| |
| Note that single quotes are used. |
| |
| This string is taken as it is. No backslashes are removed or have a special |
| meaning. The only exception is that two quotes stand for one quote. |
| |
| Single quoted strings are useful for patterns, so that backslashes do not need |
| to be doubled. These two commands are equivalent: > |
| if a =~ "\\s*" |
| if a =~ '\s*' |
| |
| |
| option *expr-option* *E112* *E113* |
| ------ |
| &option option value, local value if possible |
| &g:option global option value |
| &l:option local option value |
| |
| Examples: > |
| echo "tabstop is " . &tabstop |
| if &insertmode |
| |
| Any option name can be used here. See |options|. When using the local value |
| and there is no buffer-local or window-local value, the global value is used |
| anyway. |
| |
| |
| register *expr-register* *@r* |
| -------- |
| @r contents of register 'r' |
| |
| The result is the contents of the named register, as a single string. |
| Newlines are inserted where required. To get the contents of the unnamed |
| register use @" or @@. See |registers| for an explanation of the available |
| registers. |
| |
| When using the '=' register you get the expression itself, not what it |
| evaluates to. Use |eval()| to evaluate it. |
| |
| |
| nesting *expr-nesting* *E110* |
| ------- |
| (expr1) nested expression |
| |
| |
| environment variable *expr-env* |
| -------------------- |
| $VAR environment variable |
| |
| The String value of any environment variable. When it is not defined, the |
| result is an empty string. |
| *expr-env-expand* |
| Note that there is a difference between using $VAR directly and using |
| expand("$VAR"). Using it directly will only expand environment variables that |
| are known inside the current Vim session. Using expand() will first try using |
| the environment variables known inside the current Vim session. If that |
| fails, a shell will be used to expand the variable. This can be slow, but it |
| does expand all variables that the shell knows about. Example: > |
| :echo $version |
| :echo expand("$version") |
| The first one probably doesn't echo anything, the second echoes the $version |
| variable (if your shell supports it). |
| |
| |
| internal variable *expr-variable* |
| ----------------- |
| variable internal variable |
| See below |internal-variables|. |
| |
| |
| function call *expr-function* *E116* *E118* *E119* *E120* |
| ------------- |
| function(expr1, ...) function call |
| See below |functions|. |
| |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 3. Internal variable *internal-variables* *E121* |
| *E461* |
| An internal variable name can be made up of letters, digits and '_'. But it |
| cannot start with a digit. It's also possible to use curly braces, see |
| |curly-braces-names|. |
| |
| An internal variable is created with the ":let" command |:let|. |
| An internal variable is explicitly destroyed with the ":unlet" command |
| |:unlet|. |
| Using a name that is not an internal variable or refers to a variable that has |
| been destroyed results in an error. |
| |
| There are several name spaces for variables. Which one is to be used is |
| specified by what is prepended: |
| |
| (nothing) In a function: local to a function; otherwise: global |
| |buffer-variable| b: Local to the current buffer. |
| |window-variable| w: Local to the current window. |
| |tabpage-variable| t: Local to the current tab page. |
| |global-variable| g: Global. |
| |local-variable| l: Local to a function. |
| |script-variable| s: Local to a |:source|'ed Vim script. |
| |function-argument| a: Function argument (only inside a function). |
| |vim-variable| v: Global, predefined by Vim. |
| |
| The scope name by itself can be used as a |Dictionary|. For example, to |
| delete all script-local variables: > |
| :for k in keys(s:) |
| : unlet s:[k] |
| :endfor |
| < |
| *buffer-variable* *b:var* |
| A variable name that is preceded with "b:" is local to the current buffer. |
| Thus you can have several "b:foo" variables, one for each buffer. |
| This kind of variable is deleted when the buffer is wiped out or deleted with |
| |:bdelete|. |
| |
| One local buffer variable is predefined: |
| *b:changedtick-variable* *changetick* |
| b:changedtick The total number of changes to the current buffer. It is |
| incremented for each change. An undo command is also a change |
| in this case. This can be used to perform an action only when |
| the buffer has changed. Example: > |
| :if my_changedtick != b:changedtick |
| : let my_changedtick = b:changedtick |
| : call My_Update() |
| :endif |
| < |
| *window-variable* *w:var* |
| A variable name that is preceded with "w:" is local to the current window. It |
| is deleted when the window is closed. |
| |
| *tabpage-variable* *t:var* |
| A variable name that is preceded with "t:" is local to the current tab page, |
| It is deleted when the tab page is closed. {not available when compiled |
| without the +windows feature} |
| |
| *global-variable* *g:var* |
| Inside functions global variables are accessed with "g:". Omitting this will |
| access a variable local to a function. But "g:" can also be used in any other |
| place if you like. |
| |
| *local-variable* *l:var* |
| Inside functions local variables are accessed without prepending anything. |
| But you can also prepend "l:" if you like. However, without prepending "l:" |
| you may run into reserved variable names. For example "count". By itself it |
| refers to "v:count". Using "l:count" you can have a local variable with the |
| same name. |
| |
| *script-variable* *s:var* |
| In a Vim script variables starting with "s:" can be used. They cannot be |
| accessed from outside of the scripts, thus are local to the script. |
| |
| They can be used in: |
| - commands executed while the script is sourced |
| - functions defined in the script |
| - autocommands defined in the script |
| - functions and autocommands defined in functions and autocommands which were |
| defined in the script (recursively) |
| - user defined commands defined in the script |
| Thus not in: |
| - other scripts sourced from this one |
| - mappings |
| - etc. |
| |
| Script variables can be used to avoid conflicts with global variable names. |
| Take this example: > |
| |
| let s:counter = 0 |
| function MyCounter() |
| let s:counter = s:counter + 1 |
| echo s:counter |
| endfunction |
| command Tick call MyCounter() |
| |
| You can now invoke "Tick" from any script, and the "s:counter" variable in |
| that script will not be changed, only the "s:counter" in the script where |
| "Tick" was defined is used. |
| |
| Another example that does the same: > |
| |
| let s:counter = 0 |
| command Tick let s:counter = s:counter + 1 | echo s:counter |
| |
| When calling a function and invoking a user-defined command, the context for |
| script variables is set to the script where the function or command was |
| defined. |
| |
| The script variables are also available when a function is defined inside a |
| function that is defined in a script. Example: > |
| |
| let s:counter = 0 |
| function StartCounting(incr) |
| if a:incr |
| function MyCounter() |
| let s:counter = s:counter + 1 |
| endfunction |
| else |
| function MyCounter() |
| let s:counter = s:counter - 1 |
| endfunction |
| endif |
| endfunction |
| |
| This defines the MyCounter() function either for counting up or counting down |
| when calling StartCounting(). It doesn't matter from where StartCounting() is |
| called, the s:counter variable will be accessible in MyCounter(). |
| |
| When the same script is sourced again it will use the same script variables. |
| They will remain valid as long as Vim is running. This can be used to |
| maintain a counter: > |
| |
| if !exists("s:counter") |
| let s:counter = 1 |
| echo "script executed for the first time" |
| else |
| let s:counter = s:counter + 1 |
| echo "script executed " . s:counter . " times now" |
| endif |
| |
| Note that this means that filetype plugins don't get a different set of script |
| variables for each buffer. Use local buffer variables instead |b:var|. |
| |
| |
| Predefined Vim variables: *vim-variable* *v:var* |
| |
| *v:beval_col* *beval_col-variable* |
| v:beval_col The number of the column, over which the mouse pointer is. |
| This is the byte index in the |v:beval_lnum| line. |
| Only valid while evaluating the 'balloonexpr' option. |
| |
| *v:beval_bufnr* *beval_bufnr-variable* |
| v:beval_bufnr The number of the buffer, over which the mouse pointer is. Only |
| valid while evaluating the 'balloonexpr' option. |
| |
| *v:beval_lnum* *beval_lnum-variable* |
| v:beval_lnum The number of the line, over which the mouse pointer is. Only |
| valid while evaluating the 'balloonexpr' option. |
| |
| *v:beval_text* *beval_text-variable* |
| v:beval_text The text under or after the mouse pointer. Usually a word as |
| it is useful for debugging a C program. 'iskeyword' applies, |
| but a dot and "->" before the position is included. When on a |
| ']' the text before it is used, including the matching '[' and |
| word before it. When on a Visual area within one line the |
| highlighted text is used. |
| Only valid while evaluating the 'balloonexpr' option. |
| |
| *v:beval_winnr* *beval_winnr-variable* |
| v:beval_winnr The number of the window, over which the mouse pointer is. Only |
| valid while evaluating the 'balloonexpr' option. |
| |
| *v:char* *char-variable* |
| v:char Argument for evaluating 'formatexpr'. |
| |
| *v:charconvert_from* *charconvert_from-variable* |
| v:charconvert_from |
| The name of the character encoding of a file to be converted. |
| Only valid while evaluating the 'charconvert' option. |
| |
| *v:charconvert_to* *charconvert_to-variable* |
| v:charconvert_to |
| The name of the character encoding of a file after conversion. |
| Only valid while evaluating the 'charconvert' option. |
| |
| *v:cmdarg* *cmdarg-variable* |
| v:cmdarg This variable is used for two purposes: |
| 1. The extra arguments given to a file read/write command. |
| Currently these are "++enc=" and "++ff=". This variable is |
| set before an autocommand event for a file read/write |
| command is triggered. There is a leading space to make it |
| possible to append this variable directly after the |
| read/write command. Note: The "+cmd" argument isn't |
| included here, because it will be executed anyway. |
| 2. When printing a PostScript file with ":hardcopy" this is |
| the argument for the ":hardcopy" command. This can be used |
| in 'printexpr'. |
| |
| *v:cmdbang* *cmdbang-variable* |
| v:cmdbang Set like v:cmdarg for a file read/write command. When a "!" |
| was used the value is 1, otherwise it is 0. Note that this |
| can only be used in autocommands. For user commands |<bang>| |
| can be used. |
| |
| *v:count* *count-variable* |
| v:count The count given for the last Normal mode command. Can be used |
| to get the count before a mapping. Read-only. Example: > |
| :map _x :<C-U>echo "the count is " . v:count<CR> |
| < Note: The <C-U> is required to remove the line range that you |
| get when typing ':' after a count. |
| Also used for evaluating the 'formatexpr' option. |
| "count" also works, for backwards compatibility. |
| |
| *v:count1* *count1-variable* |
| v:count1 Just like "v:count", but defaults to one when no count is |
| used. |
| |
| *v:ctype* *ctype-variable* |
| v:ctype The current locale setting for characters of the runtime |
| environment. This allows Vim scripts to be aware of the |
| current locale encoding. Technical: it's the value of |
| LC_CTYPE. When not using a locale the value is "C". |
| This variable can not be set directly, use the |:language| |
| command. |
| See |multi-lang|. |
| |
| *v:dying* *dying-variable* |
| v:dying Normally zero. When a deadly signal is caught it's set to |
| one. When multiple signals are caught the number increases. |
| Can be used in an autocommand to check if Vim didn't |
| terminate normally. {only works on Unix} |
| Example: > |
| :au VimLeave * if v:dying | echo "\nAAAAaaaarrrggghhhh!!!\n" | endif |
| < |
| *v:errmsg* *errmsg-variable* |
| v:errmsg Last given error message. It's allowed to set this variable. |
| Example: > |
| :let v:errmsg = "" |
| :silent! next |
| :if v:errmsg != "" |
| : ... handle error |
| < "errmsg" also works, for backwards compatibility. |
| |
| *v:exception* *exception-variable* |
| v:exception The value of the exception most recently caught and not |
| finished. See also |v:throwpoint| and |throw-variables|. |
| Example: > |
| :try |
| : throw "oops" |
| :catch /.*/ |
| : echo "caught" v:exception |
| :endtry |
| < Output: "caught oops". |
| |
| *v:fcs_reason* *fcs_reason-variable* |
| v:fcs_reason The reason why the |FileChangedShell| event was triggered. |
| Can be used in an autocommand to decide what to do and/or what |
| to set v:fcs_choice to. Possible values: |
| deleted file no longer exists |
| conflict file contents, mode or timestamp was |
| changed and buffer is modified |
| changed file contents has changed |
| mode mode of file changed |
| time only file timestamp changed |
| |
| *v:fcs_choice* *fcs_choice-variable* |
| v:fcs_choice What should happen after a |FileChangedShell| event was |
| triggered. Can be used in an autocommand to tell Vim what to |
| do with the affected buffer: |
| reload Reload the buffer (does not work if |
| the file was deleted). |
| ask Ask the user what to do, as if there |
| was no autocommand. Except that when |
| only the timestamp changed nothing |
| will happen. |
| <empty> Nothing, the autocommand should do |
| everything that needs to be done. |
| The default is empty. If another (invalid) value is used then |
| Vim behaves like it is empty, there is no warning message. |
| |
| *v:fname_in* *fname_in-variable* |
| v:fname_in The name of the input file. Valid while evaluating: |
| option used for ~ |
| 'charconvert' file to be converted |
| 'diffexpr' original file |
| 'patchexpr' original file |
| 'printexpr' file to be printed |
| And set to the swap file name for |SwapExists|. |
| |
| *v:fname_out* *fname_out-variable* |
| v:fname_out The name of the output file. Only valid while |
| evaluating: |
| option used for ~ |
| 'charconvert' resulting converted file (*) |
| 'diffexpr' output of diff |
| 'patchexpr' resulting patched file |
| (*) When doing conversion for a write command (e.g., ":w |
| file") it will be equal to v:fname_in. When doing conversion |
| for a read command (e.g., ":e file") it will be a temporary |
| file and different from v:fname_in. |
| |
| *v:fname_new* *fname_new-variable* |
| v:fname_new The name of the new version of the file. Only valid while |
| evaluating 'diffexpr'. |
| |
| *v:fname_diff* *fname_diff-variable* |
| v:fname_diff The name of the diff (patch) file. Only valid while |
| evaluating 'patchexpr'. |
| |
| *v:folddashes* *folddashes-variable* |
| v:folddashes Used for 'foldtext': dashes representing foldlevel of a closed |
| fold. |
| Read-only in the |sandbox|. |fold-foldtext| |
| |
| *v:foldlevel* *foldlevel-variable* |
| v:foldlevel Used for 'foldtext': foldlevel of closed fold. |
| Read-only in the |sandbox|. |fold-foldtext| |
| |
| *v:foldend* *foldend-variable* |
| v:foldend Used for 'foldtext': last line of closed fold. |
| Read-only in the |sandbox|. |fold-foldtext| |
| |
| *v:foldstart* *foldstart-variable* |
| v:foldstart Used for 'foldtext': first line of closed fold. |
| Read-only in the |sandbox|. |fold-foldtext| |
| |
| *v:insertmode* *insertmode-variable* |
| v:insertmode Used for the |InsertEnter| and |InsertChange| autocommand |
| events. Values: |
| i Insert mode |
| r Replace mode |
| v Virtual Replace mode |
| |
| *v:key* *key-variable* |
| v:key Key of the current item of a |Dictionary|. Only valid while |
| evaluating the expression used with |map()| and |filter()|. |
| Read-only. |
| |
| *v:lang* *lang-variable* |
| v:lang The current locale setting for messages of the runtime |
| environment. This allows Vim scripts to be aware of the |
| current language. Technical: it's the value of LC_MESSAGES. |
| The value is system dependent. |
| This variable can not be set directly, use the |:language| |
| command. |
| It can be different from |v:ctype| when messages are desired |
| in a different language than what is used for character |
| encoding. See |multi-lang|. |
| |
| *v:lc_time* *lc_time-variable* |
| v:lc_time The current locale setting for time messages of the runtime |
| environment. This allows Vim scripts to be aware of the |
| current language. Technical: it's the value of LC_TIME. |
| This variable can not be set directly, use the |:language| |
| command. See |multi-lang|. |
| |
| *v:lnum* *lnum-variable* |
| v:lnum Line number for the 'foldexpr' |fold-expr| and 'indentexpr' |
| expressions, tab page number for 'guitablabel' and |
| 'guitabtooltip'. Only valid while one of these expressions is |
| being evaluated. Read-only when in the |sandbox|. |
| |
| *v:mouse_win* *mouse_win-variable* |
| v:mouse_win Window number for a mouse click obtained with |getchar()|. |
| First window has number 1, like with |winnr()|. The value is |
| zero when there was no mouse button click. |
| |
| *v:mouse_lnum* *mouse_lnum-variable* |
| v:mouse_lnum Line number for a mouse click obtained with |getchar()|. |
| This is the text line number, not the screen line number. The |
| value is zero when there was no mouse button click. |
| |
| *v:mouse_col* *mouse_col-variable* |
| v:mouse_col Column number for a mouse click obtained with |getchar()|. |
| This is the screen column number, like with |virtcol()|. The |
| value is zero when there was no mouse button click. |
| |
| *v:oldfiles* *oldfiles-variable* |
| v:oldfiles List of file names that is loaded from the |viminfo| file on |
| startup. These are the files that Vim remembers marks for. |
| The length of the List is limited by the ' argument of the |
| 'viminfo' option (default is 100). |
| Also see |:oldfiles| and |c_#<|. |
| The List can be modified, but this has no effect on what is |
| stored in the |viminfo| file later. If you use values other |
| than String this will cause trouble. |
| {only when compiled with the +viminfo feature} |
| |
| *v:operator* *operator-variable* |
| v:operator The last operator given in Normal mode. This is a single |
| character except for commands starting with <g> or <z>, |
| in which case it is two characters. Best used alongside |
| |v:prevcount| and |v:register|. Useful if you want to cancel |
| Operator-pending mode and then use the operator, e.g.: > |
| :omap O <Esc>:call MyMotion(v:operator)<CR> |
| < The value remains set until another operator is entered, thus |
| don't expect it to be empty. |
| v:operator is not set for |:delete|, |:yank| or other Ex |
| commands. |
| Read-only. |
| |
| *v:prevcount* *prevcount-variable* |
| v:prevcount The count given for the last but one Normal mode command. |
| This is the v:count value of the previous command. Useful if |
| you want to cancel Visual or Operator-pending mode and then |
| use the count, e.g.: > |
| :vmap % <Esc>:call MyFilter(v:prevcount)<CR> |
| < Read-only. |
| |
| *v:profiling* *profiling-variable* |
| v:profiling Normally zero. Set to one after using ":profile start". |
| See |profiling|. |
| |
| *v:progname* *progname-variable* |
| v:progname Contains the name (with path removed) with which Vim was |
| invoked. Allows you to do special initialisations for "view", |
| "evim" etc., or any other name you might symlink to Vim. |
| Read-only. |
| |
| *v:register* *register-variable* |
| v:register The name of the register supplied to the last normal mode |
| command. Empty if none were supplied. |getreg()| |setreg()| |
| |
| *v:scrollstart* *scrollstart-variable* |
| v:scrollstart String describing the script or function that caused the |
| screen to scroll up. It's only set when it is empty, thus the |
| first reason is remembered. It is set to "Unknown" for a |
| typed command. |
| This can be used to find out why your script causes the |
| hit-enter prompt. |
| |
| *v:servername* *servername-variable* |
| v:servername The resulting registered |x11-clientserver| name if any. |
| Read-only. |
| |
| |
| v:searchforward *v:searchforward* *searchforward-variable* |
| Search direction: 1 after a forward search, 0 after a |
| backward search. It is reset to forward when directly setting |
| the last search pattern, see |quote/|. |
| Note that the value is restored when returning from a |
| function. |function-search-undo|. |
| Read-write. |
| |
| *v:shell_error* *shell_error-variable* |
| v:shell_error Result of the last shell command. When non-zero, the last |
| shell command had an error. When zero, there was no problem. |
| This only works when the shell returns the error code to Vim. |
| The value -1 is often used when the command could not be |
| executed. Read-only. |
| Example: > |
| :!mv foo bar |
| :if v:shell_error |
| : echo 'could not rename "foo" to "bar"!' |
| :endif |
| < "shell_error" also works, for backwards compatibility. |
| |
| *v:statusmsg* *statusmsg-variable* |
| v:statusmsg Last given status message. It's allowed to set this variable. |
| |
| *v:swapname* *swapname-variable* |
| v:swapname Only valid when executing |SwapExists| autocommands: Name of |
| the swap file found. Read-only. |
| |
| *v:swapchoice* *swapchoice-variable* |
| v:swapchoice |SwapExists| autocommands can set this to the selected choice |
| for handling an existing swap file: |
| 'o' Open read-only |
| 'e' Edit anyway |
| 'r' Recover |
| 'd' Delete swapfile |
| 'q' Quit |
| 'a' Abort |
| The value should be a single-character string. An empty value |
| results in the user being asked, as would happen when there is |
| no SwapExists autocommand. The default is empty. |
| |
| *v:swapcommand* *swapcommand-variable* |
| v:swapcommand Normal mode command to be executed after a file has been |
| opened. Can be used for a |SwapExists| autocommand to have |
| another Vim open the file and jump to the right place. For |
| example, when jumping to a tag the value is ":tag tagname\r". |
| For ":edit +cmd file" the value is ":cmd\r". |
| |
| *v:termresponse* *termresponse-variable* |
| v:termresponse The escape sequence returned by the terminal for the |t_RV| |
| termcap entry. It is set when Vim receives an escape sequence |
| that starts with ESC [ or CSI and ends in a 'c', with only |
| digits, ';' and '.' in between. |
| When this option is set, the TermResponse autocommand event is |
| fired, so that you can react to the response from the |
| terminal. |
| The response from a new xterm is: "<Esc>[ Pp ; Pv ; Pc c". Pp |
| is the terminal type: 0 for vt100 and 1 for vt220. Pv is the |
| patch level (since this was introduced in patch 95, it's |
| always 95 or bigger). Pc is always zero. |
| {only when compiled with |+termresponse| feature} |
| |
| *v:this_session* *this_session-variable* |
| v:this_session Full filename of the last loaded or saved session file. See |
| |:mksession|. It is allowed to set this variable. When no |
| session file has been saved, this variable is empty. |
| "this_session" also works, for backwards compatibility. |
| |
| *v:throwpoint* *throwpoint-variable* |
| v:throwpoint The point where the exception most recently caught and not |
| finished was thrown. Not set when commands are typed. See |
| also |v:exception| and |throw-variables|. |
| Example: > |
| :try |
| : throw "oops" |
| :catch /.*/ |
| : echo "Exception from" v:throwpoint |
| :endtry |
| < Output: "Exception from test.vim, line 2" |
| |
| *v:val* *val-variable* |
| v:val Value of the current item of a |List| or |Dictionary|. Only |
| valid while evaluating the expression used with |map()| and |
| |filter()|. Read-only. |
| |
| *v:version* *version-variable* |
| v:version Version number of Vim: Major version number times 100 plus |
| minor version number. Version 5.0 is 500. Version 5.1 (5.01) |
| is 501. Read-only. "version" also works, for backwards |
| compatibility. |
| Use |has()| to check if a certain patch was included, e.g.: > |
| if has("patch123") |
| < Note that patch numbers are specific to the version, thus both |
| version 5.0 and 5.1 may have a patch 123, but these are |
| completely different. |
| |
| *v:warningmsg* *warningmsg-variable* |
| v:warningmsg Last given warning message. It's allowed to set this variable. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 4. Builtin Functions *functions* |
| |
| See |function-list| for a list grouped by what the function is used for. |
| |
| (Use CTRL-] on the function name to jump to the full explanation.) |
| |
| USAGE RESULT DESCRIPTION ~ |
| |
| abs( {expr}) Float or Number absolute value of {expr} |
| add( {list}, {item}) List append {item} to |List| {list} |
| append( {lnum}, {string}) Number append {string} below line {lnum} |
| append( {lnum}, {list}) Number append lines {list} below line {lnum} |
| argc() Number number of files in the argument list |
| argidx() Number current index in the argument list |
| argv( {nr}) String {nr} entry of the argument list |
| argv( ) List the argument list |
| atan( {expr}) Float arc tangent of {expr} |
| browse( {save}, {title}, {initdir}, {default}) |
| String put up a file requester |
| browsedir( {title}, {initdir}) String put up a directory requester |
| bufexists( {expr}) Number TRUE if buffer {expr} exists |
| buflisted( {expr}) Number TRUE if buffer {expr} is listed |
| bufloaded( {expr}) Number TRUE if buffer {expr} is loaded |
| bufname( {expr}) String Name of the buffer {expr} |
| bufnr( {expr}) Number Number of the buffer {expr} |
| bufwinnr( {expr}) Number window number of buffer {expr} |
| byte2line( {byte}) Number line number at byte count {byte} |
| byteidx( {expr}, {nr}) Number byte index of {nr}'th char in {expr} |
| call( {func}, {arglist} [, {dict}]) |
| any call {func} with arguments {arglist} |
| ceil( {expr}) Float round {expr} up |
| changenr() Number current change number |
| char2nr( {expr}) Number ASCII value of first char in {expr} |
| cindent( {lnum}) Number C indent for line {lnum} |
| clearmatches() None clear all matches |
| col( {expr}) Number column nr of cursor or mark |
| complete({startcol}, {matches}) String set Insert mode completion |
| complete_add( {expr}) Number add completion match |
| complete_check() Number check for key typed during completion |
| confirm( {msg} [, {choices} [, {default} [, {type}]]]) |
| Number number of choice picked by user |
| copy( {expr}) any make a shallow copy of {expr} |
| cos( {expr}) Float cosine of {expr} |
| count( {list}, {expr} [, {start} [, {ic}]]) |
| Number count how many {expr} are in {list} |
| cscope_connection( [{num} , {dbpath} [, {prepend}]]) |
| Number checks existence of cscope connection |
| cursor( {lnum}, {col} [, {coladd}]) |
| Number move cursor to {lnum}, {col}, {coladd} |
| cursor( {list}) Number move cursor to position in {list} |
| deepcopy( {expr}) any make a full copy of {expr} |
| delete( {fname}) Number delete file {fname} |
| did_filetype() Number TRUE if FileType autocommand event used |
| diff_filler( {lnum}) Number diff filler lines about {lnum} |
| diff_hlID( {lnum}, {col}) Number diff highlighting at {lnum}/{col} |
| empty( {expr}) Number TRUE if {expr} is empty |
| escape( {string}, {chars}) String escape {chars} in {string} with '\' |
| eval( {string}) any evaluate {string} into its value |
| eventhandler( ) Number TRUE if inside an event handler |
| executable( {expr}) Number 1 if executable {expr} exists |
| exists( {expr}) Number TRUE if {expr} exists |
| extend({expr1}, {expr2} [, {expr3}]) |
| List/Dict insert items of {expr2} into {expr1} |
| expand( {expr} [, {flag}]) String expand special keywords in {expr} |
| feedkeys( {string} [, {mode}]) Number add key sequence to typeahead buffer |
| filereadable( {file}) Number TRUE if {file} is a readable file |
| filewritable( {file}) Number TRUE if {file} is a writable file |
| filter( {expr}, {string}) List/Dict remove items from {expr} where |
| {string} is 0 |
| finddir( {name}[, {path}[, {count}]]) |
| String find directory {name} in {path} |
| findfile( {name}[, {path}[, {count}]]) |
| String find file {name} in {path} |
| float2nr( {expr}) Number convert Float {expr} to a Number |
| floor( {expr}) Float round {expr} down |
| fnameescape( {fname}) String escape special characters in {fname} |
| fnamemodify( {fname}, {mods}) String modify file name |
| foldclosed( {lnum}) Number first line of fold at {lnum} if closed |
| foldclosedend( {lnum}) Number last line of fold at {lnum} if closed |
| foldlevel( {lnum}) Number fold level at {lnum} |
| foldtext( ) String line displayed for closed fold |
| foldtextresult( {lnum}) String text for closed fold at {lnum} |
| foreground( ) Number bring the Vim window to the foreground |
| function( {name}) Funcref reference to function {name} |
| garbagecollect( [at_exit]) none free memory, breaking cyclic references |
| get( {list}, {idx} [, {def}]) any get item {idx} from {list} or {def} |
| get( {dict}, {key} [, {def}]) any get item {key} from {dict} or {def} |
| getbufline( {expr}, {lnum} [, {end}]) |
| List lines {lnum} to {end} of buffer {expr} |
| getbufvar( {expr}, {varname}) any variable {varname} in buffer {expr} |
| getchar( [expr]) Number get one character from the user |
| getcharmod( ) Number modifiers for the last typed character |
| getcmdline() String return the current command-line |
| getcmdpos() Number return cursor position in command-line |
| getcmdtype() String return the current command-line type |
| getcwd() String the current working directory |
| getfperm( {fname}) String file permissions of file {fname} |
| getfsize( {fname}) Number size in bytes of file {fname} |
| getfontname( [{name}]) String name of font being used |
| getftime( {fname}) Number last modification time of file |
| getftype( {fname}) String description of type of file {fname} |
| getline( {lnum}) String line {lnum} of current buffer |
| getline( {lnum}, {end}) List lines {lnum} to {end} of current buffer |
| getloclist({nr}) List list of location list items |
| getmatches() List list of current matches |
| getpid() Number process ID of Vim |
| getpos( {expr}) List position of cursor, mark, etc. |
| getqflist() List list of quickfix items |
| getreg( [{regname} [, 1]]) String contents of register |
| getregtype( [{regname}]) String type of register |
| gettabwinvar( {tabnr}, {winnr}, {name}) |
| any {name} in {winnr} in tab page {tabnr} |
| getwinposx() Number X coord in pixels of GUI Vim window |
| getwinposy() Number Y coord in pixels of GUI Vim window |
| getwinvar( {nr}, {varname}) any variable {varname} in window {nr} |
| glob( {expr} [, {flag}]) String expand file wildcards in {expr} |
| globpath( {path}, {expr} [, {flag}]) |
| String do glob({expr}) for all dirs in {path} |
| has( {feature}) Number TRUE if feature {feature} supported |
| has_key( {dict}, {key}) Number TRUE if {dict} has entry {key} |
| haslocaldir() Number TRUE if current window executed |:lcd| |
| hasmapto( {what} [, {mode} [, {abbr}]]) |
| Number TRUE if mapping to {what} exists |
| histadd( {history},{item}) String add an item to a history |
| histdel( {history} [, {item}]) String remove an item from a history |
| histget( {history} [, {index}]) String get the item {index} from a history |
| histnr( {history}) Number highest index of a history |
| hlexists( {name}) Number TRUE if highlight group {name} exists |
| hlID( {name}) Number syntax ID of highlight group {name} |
| hostname() String name of the machine Vim is running on |
| iconv( {expr}, {from}, {to}) String convert encoding of {expr} |
| indent( {lnum}) Number indent of line {lnum} |
| index( {list}, {expr} [, {start} [, {ic}]]) |
| Number index in {list} where {expr} appears |
| input( {prompt} [, {text} [, {completion}]]) |
| String get input from the user |
| inputdialog( {p} [, {t} [, {c}]]) String like input() but in a GUI dialog |
| inputlist( {textlist}) Number let the user pick from a choice list |
| inputrestore() Number restore typeahead |
| inputsave() Number save and clear typeahead |
| inputsecret( {prompt} [, {text}]) String like input() but hiding the text |
| insert( {list}, {item} [, {idx}]) List insert {item} in {list} [before {idx}] |
| isdirectory( {directory}) Number TRUE if {directory} is a directory |
| islocked( {expr}) Number TRUE if {expr} is locked |
| items( {dict}) List key-value pairs in {dict} |
| join( {list} [, {sep}]) String join {list} items into one String |
| keys( {dict}) List keys in {dict} |
| len( {expr}) Number the length of {expr} |
| libcall( {lib}, {func}, {arg}) String call {func} in library {lib} with {arg} |
| libcallnr( {lib}, {func}, {arg}) Number idem, but return a Number |
| line( {expr}) Number line nr of cursor, last line or mark |
| line2byte( {lnum}) Number byte count of line {lnum} |
| lispindent( {lnum}) Number Lisp indent for line {lnum} |
| localtime() Number current time |
| log10( {expr}) Float logarithm of Float {expr} to base 10 |
| map( {expr}, {string}) List/Dict change each item in {expr} to {expr} |
| maparg( {name}[, {mode} [, {abbr}]]) |
| String rhs of mapping {name} in mode {mode} |
| mapcheck( {name}[, {mode} [, {abbr}]]) |
| String check for mappings matching {name} |
| match( {expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) |
| Number position where {pat} matches in {expr} |
| matchadd( {group}, {pattern}[, {priority}[, {id}]]) |
| Number highlight {pattern} with {group} |
| matcharg( {nr}) List arguments of |:match| |
| matchdelete( {id}) Number delete match identified by {id} |
| matchend( {expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) |
| Number position where {pat} ends in {expr} |
| matchlist( {expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) |
| List match and submatches of {pat} in {expr} |
| matchstr( {expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) |
| String {count}'th match of {pat} in {expr} |
| max({list}) Number maximum value of items in {list} |
| min({list}) Number minimum value of items in {list} |
| mkdir({name} [, {path} [, {prot}]]) |
| Number create directory {name} |
| mode( [expr]) String current editing mode |
| nextnonblank( {lnum}) Number line nr of non-blank line >= {lnum} |
| nr2char( {expr}) String single char with ASCII value {expr} |
| pathshorten( {expr}) String shorten directory names in a path |
| pow( {x}, {y}) Float {x} to the power of {y} |
| prevnonblank( {lnum}) Number line nr of non-blank line <= {lnum} |
| printf( {fmt}, {expr1}...) String format text |
| pumvisible() Number whether popup menu is visible |
| range( {expr} [, {max} [, {stride}]]) |
| List items from {expr} to {max} |
| readfile({fname} [, {binary} [, {max}]]) |
| List get list of lines from file {fname} |
| reltime( [{start} [, {end}]]) List get time value |
| reltimestr( {time}) String turn time value into a String |
| remote_expr( {server}, {string} [, {idvar}]) |
| String send expression |
| remote_foreground( {server}) Number bring Vim server to the foreground |
| remote_peek( {serverid} [, {retvar}]) |
| Number check for reply string |
| remote_read( {serverid}) String read reply string |
| remote_send( {server}, {string} [, {idvar}]) |
| String send key sequence |
| remove( {list}, {idx} [, {end}]) any remove items {idx}-{end} from {list} |
| remove( {dict}, {key}) any remove entry {key} from {dict} |
| rename( {from}, {to}) Number rename (move) file from {from} to {to} |
| repeat( {expr}, {count}) String repeat {expr} {count} times |
| resolve( {filename}) String get filename a shortcut points to |
| reverse( {list}) List reverse {list} in-place |
| round( {expr}) Float round off {expr} |
| search( {pattern} [, {flags} [, {stopline} [, {timeout}]]]) |
| Number search for {pattern} |
| searchdecl({name} [, {global} [, {thisblock}]]) |
| Number search for variable declaration |
| searchpair( {start}, {middle}, {end} [, {flags} [, {skip} [...]]]) |
| Number search for other end of start/end pair |
| searchpairpos( {start}, {middle}, {end} [, {flags} [, {skip} [...]]]) |
| List search for other end of start/end pair |
| searchpos( {pattern} [, {flags} [, {stopline} [, {timeout}]]]) |
| List search for {pattern} |
| server2client( {clientid}, {string}) |
| Number send reply string |
| serverlist() String get a list of available servers |
| setbufvar( {expr}, {varname}, {val}) set {varname} in buffer {expr} to {val} |
| setcmdpos( {pos}) Number set cursor position in command-line |
| setline( {lnum}, {line}) Number set line {lnum} to {line} |
| setloclist( {nr}, {list}[, {action}]) |
| Number modify location list using {list} |
| setmatches( {list}) Number restore a list of matches |
| setpos( {expr}, {list}) none set the {expr} position to {list} |
| setqflist( {list}[, {action}]) Number modify quickfix list using {list} |
| setreg( {n}, {v}[, {opt}]) Number set register to value and type |
| settabwinvar( {tabnr}, {winnr}, {varname}, {val}) set {varname} in window |
| {winnr} in tab page {tabnr} to {val} |
| setwinvar( {nr}, {varname}, {val}) set {varname} in window {nr} to {val} |
| shellescape( {string} [, {special}]) |
| String escape {string} for use as shell |
| command argument |
| simplify( {filename}) String simplify filename as much as possible |
| sin( {expr}) Float sine of {expr} |
| sort( {list} [, {func}]) List sort {list}, using {func} to compare |
| soundfold( {word}) String sound-fold {word} |
| spellbadword() String badly spelled word at cursor |
| spellsuggest( {word} [, {max} [, {capital}]]) |
| List spelling suggestions |
| split( {expr} [, {pat} [, {keepempty}]]) |
| List make |List| from {pat} separated {expr} |
| sqrt( {expr} Float squar root of {expr} |
| str2float( {expr}) Float convert String to Float |
| str2nr( {expr} [, {base}]) Number convert String to Number |
| strftime( {format}[, {time}]) String time in specified format |
| stridx( {haystack}, {needle}[, {start}]) |
| Number index of {needle} in {haystack} |
| string( {expr}) String String representation of {expr} value |
| strlen( {expr}) Number length of the String {expr} |
| strpart( {src}, {start}[, {len}]) |
| String {len} characters of {src} at {start} |
| strridx( {haystack}, {needle} [, {start}]) |
| Number last index of {needle} in {haystack} |
| strtrans( {expr}) String translate string to make it printable |
| submatch( {nr}) String specific match in ":substitute" |
| substitute( {expr}, {pat}, {sub}, {flags}) |
| String all {pat} in {expr} replaced with {sub} |
| synID( {lnum}, {col}, {trans}) Number syntax ID at {lnum} and {col} |
| synIDattr( {synID}, {what} [, {mode}]) |
| String attribute {what} of syntax ID {synID} |
| synIDtrans( {synID}) Number translated syntax ID of {synID} |
| synstack({lnum}, {col}) List stack of syntax IDs at {lnum} and {col} |
| system( {expr} [, {input}]) String output of shell command/filter {expr} |
| tabpagebuflist( [{arg}]) List list of buffer numbers in tab page |
| tabpagenr( [{arg}]) Number number of current or last tab page |
| tabpagewinnr( {tabarg}[, {arg}]) |
| Number number of current window in tab page |
| taglist( {expr}) List list of tags matching {expr} |
| tagfiles() List tags files used |
| tempname() String name for a temporary file |
| tolower( {expr}) String the String {expr} switched to lowercase |
| toupper( {expr}) String the String {expr} switched to uppercase |
| tr( {src}, {fromstr}, {tostr}) String translate chars of {src} in {fromstr} |
| to chars in {tostr} |
| trunc( {expr} Float truncate Float {expr} |
| type( {name}) Number type of variable {name} |
| values( {dict}) List values in {dict} |
| virtcol( {expr}) Number screen column of cursor or mark |
| visualmode( [expr]) String last visual mode used |
| winbufnr( {nr}) Number buffer number of window {nr} |
| wincol() Number window column of the cursor |
| winheight( {nr}) Number height of window {nr} |
| winline() Number window line of the cursor |
| winnr( [{expr}]) Number number of current window |
| winrestcmd() String returns command to restore window sizes |
| winrestview({dict}) None restore view of current window |
| winsaveview() Dict save view of current window |
| winwidth( {nr}) Number width of window {nr} |
| writefile({list}, {fname} [, {binary}]) |
| Number write list of lines to file {fname} |
| |
| abs({expr}) *abs()* |
| Return the absolute value of {expr}. When {expr} evaluates to |
| a |Float| abs() returns a |Float|. When {expr} can be |
| converted to a |Number| abs() returns a |Number|. Otherwise |
| abs() gives an error message and returns -1. |
| Examples: > |
| echo abs(1.456) |
| < 1.456 > |
| echo abs(-5.456) |
| < 5.456 > |
| echo abs(-4) |
| < 4 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| add({list}, {expr}) *add()* |
| Append the item {expr} to |List| {list}. Returns the |
| resulting |List|. Examples: > |
| :let alist = add([1, 2, 3], item) |
| :call add(mylist, "woodstock") |
| < Note that when {expr} is a |List| it is appended as a single |
| item. Use |extend()| to concatenate |Lists|. |
| Use |insert()| to add an item at another position. |
| |
| |
| append({lnum}, {expr}) *append()* |
| When {expr} is a |List|: Append each item of the |List| as a |
| text line below line {lnum} in the current buffer. |
| Otherwise append {expr} as one text line below line {lnum} in |
| the current buffer. |
| {lnum} can be zero to insert a line before the first one. |
| Returns 1 for failure ({lnum} out of range or out of memory), |
| 0 for success. Example: > |
| :let failed = append(line('$'), "# THE END") |
| :let failed = append(0, ["Chapter 1", "the beginning"]) |
| < |
| *argc()* |
| argc() The result is the number of files in the argument list of the |
| current window. See |arglist|. |
| |
| *argidx()* |
| argidx() The result is the current index in the argument list. 0 is |
| the first file. argc() - 1 is the last one. See |arglist|. |
| |
| *argv()* |
| argv([{nr}]) The result is the {nr}th file in the argument list of the |
| current window. See |arglist|. "argv(0)" is the first one. |
| Example: > |
| :let i = 0 |
| :while i < argc() |
| : let f = escape(fnameescape(argv(i)), '.') |
| : exe 'amenu Arg.' . f . ' :e ' . f . '<CR>' |
| : let i = i + 1 |
| :endwhile |
| < Without the {nr} argument a |List| with the whole |arglist| is |
| returned. |
| |
| atan({expr}) *atan()* |
| Return the principal value of the arc tangent of {expr}, in |
| the range [-pi/2, +pi/2] radians, as a |Float|. |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo atan(100) |
| < 1.560797 > |
| :echo atan(-4.01) |
| < -1.326405 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| *browse()* |
| browse({save}, {title}, {initdir}, {default}) |
| Put up a file requester. This only works when "has("browse")" |
| returns non-zero (only in some GUI versions). |
| The input fields are: |
| {save} when non-zero, select file to write |
| {title} title for the requester |
| {initdir} directory to start browsing in |
| {default} default file name |
| When the "Cancel" button is hit, something went wrong, or |
| browsing is not possible, an empty string is returned. |
| |
| *browsedir()* |
| browsedir({title}, {initdir}) |
| Put up a directory requester. This only works when |
| "has("browse")" returns non-zero (only in some GUI versions). |
| On systems where a directory browser is not supported a file |
| browser is used. In that case: select a file in the directory |
| to be used. |
| The input fields are: |
| {title} title for the requester |
| {initdir} directory to start browsing in |
| When the "Cancel" button is hit, something went wrong, or |
| browsing is not possible, an empty string is returned. |
| |
| bufexists({expr}) *bufexists()* |
| The result is a Number, which is non-zero if a buffer called |
| {expr} exists. |
| If the {expr} argument is a number, buffer numbers are used. |
| If the {expr} argument is a string it must match a buffer name |
| exactly. The name can be: |
| - Relative to the current directory. |
| - A full path. |
| - The name of a buffer with 'buftype' set to "nofile". |
| - A URL name. |
| Unlisted buffers will be found. |
| Note that help files are listed by their short name in the |
| output of |:buffers|, but bufexists() requires using their |
| long name to be able to find them. |
| bufexists() may report a buffer exists, but to use the name |
| with a |:buffer| command you may need to use |expand()|. Esp |
| for MS-Windows 8.3 names in the form "c:\DOCUME~1" |
| Use "bufexists(0)" to test for the existence of an alternate |
| file name. |
| *buffer_exists()* |
| Obsolete name: buffer_exists(). |
| |
| buflisted({expr}) *buflisted()* |
| The result is a Number, which is non-zero if a buffer called |
| {expr} exists and is listed (has the 'buflisted' option set). |
| The {expr} argument is used like with |bufexists()|. |
| |
| bufloaded({expr}) *bufloaded()* |
| The result is a Number, which is non-zero if a buffer called |
| {expr} exists and is loaded (shown in a window or hidden). |
| The {expr} argument is used like with |bufexists()|. |
| |
| bufname({expr}) *bufname()* |
| The result is the name of a buffer, as it is displayed by the |
| ":ls" command. |
| If {expr} is a Number, that buffer number's name is given. |
| Number zero is the alternate buffer for the current window. |
| If {expr} is a String, it is used as a |file-pattern| to match |
| with the buffer names. This is always done like 'magic' is |
| set and 'cpoptions' is empty. When there is more than one |
| match an empty string is returned. |
| "" or "%" can be used for the current buffer, "#" for the |
| alternate buffer. |
| A full match is preferred, otherwise a match at the start, end |
| or middle of the buffer name is accepted. If you only want a |
| full match then put "^" at the start and "$" at the end of the |
| pattern. |
| Listed buffers are found first. If there is a single match |
| with a listed buffer, that one is returned. Next unlisted |
| buffers are searched for. |
| If the {expr} is a String, but you want to use it as a buffer |
| number, force it to be a Number by adding zero to it: > |
| :echo bufname("3" + 0) |
| < If the buffer doesn't exist, or doesn't have a name, an empty |
| string is returned. > |
| bufname("#") alternate buffer name |
| bufname(3) name of buffer 3 |
| bufname("%") name of current buffer |
| bufname("file2") name of buffer where "file2" matches. |
| < *buffer_name()* |
| Obsolete name: buffer_name(). |
| |
| *bufnr()* |
| bufnr({expr} [, {create}]) |
| The result is the number of a buffer, as it is displayed by |
| the ":ls" command. For the use of {expr}, see |bufname()| |
| above. |
| If the buffer doesn't exist, -1 is returned. Or, if the |
| {create} argument is present and not zero, a new, unlisted, |
| buffer is created and its number is returned. |
| bufnr("$") is the last buffer: > |
| :let last_buffer = bufnr("$") |
| < The result is a Number, which is the highest buffer number |
| of existing buffers. Note that not all buffers with a smaller |
| number necessarily exist, because ":bwipeout" may have removed |
| them. Use bufexists() to test for the existence of a buffer. |
| *buffer_number()* |
| Obsolete name: buffer_number(). |
| *last_buffer_nr()* |
| Obsolete name for bufnr("$"): last_buffer_nr(). |
| |
| bufwinnr({expr}) *bufwinnr()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the number of the first |
| window associated with buffer {expr}. For the use of {expr}, |
| see |bufname()| above. If buffer {expr} doesn't exist or |
| there is no such window, -1 is returned. Example: > |
| |
| echo "A window containing buffer 1 is " . (bufwinnr(1)) |
| |
| < The number can be used with |CTRL-W_w| and ":wincmd w" |
| |:wincmd|. |
| Only deals with the current tab page. |
| |
| |
| byte2line({byte}) *byte2line()* |
| Return the line number that contains the character at byte |
| count {byte} in the current buffer. This includes the |
| end-of-line character, depending on the 'fileformat' option |
| for the current buffer. The first character has byte count |
| one. |
| Also see |line2byte()|, |go| and |:goto|. |
| {not available when compiled without the |+byte_offset| |
| feature} |
| |
| byteidx({expr}, {nr}) *byteidx()* |
| Return byte index of the {nr}'th character in the string |
| {expr}. Use zero for the first character, it returns zero. |
| This function is only useful when there are multibyte |
| characters, otherwise the returned value is equal to {nr}. |
| Composing characters are counted as a separate character. |
| Example : > |
| echo matchstr(str, ".", byteidx(str, 3)) |
| < will display the fourth character. Another way to do the |
| same: > |
| let s = strpart(str, byteidx(str, 3)) |
| echo strpart(s, 0, byteidx(s, 1)) |
| < If there are less than {nr} characters -1 is returned. |
| If there are exactly {nr} characters the length of the string |
| is returned. |
| |
| call({func}, {arglist} [, {dict}]) *call()* *E699* |
| Call function {func} with the items in |List| {arglist} as |
| arguments. |
| {func} can either be a |Funcref| or the name of a function. |
| a:firstline and a:lastline are set to the cursor line. |
| Returns the return value of the called function. |
| {dict} is for functions with the "dict" attribute. It will be |
| used to set the local variable "self". |Dictionary-function| |
| |
| ceil({expr}) *ceil()* |
| Return the smallest integral value greater than or equal to |
| {expr} as a |Float| (round up). |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| echo ceil(1.456) |
| < 2.0 > |
| echo ceil(-5.456) |
| < -5.0 > |
| echo ceil(4.0) |
| < 4.0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| changenr() *changenr()* |
| Return the number of the most recent change. This is the same |
| number as what is displayed with |:undolist| and can be used |
| with the |:undo| command. |
| When a change was made it is the number of that change. After |
| redo it is the number of the redone change. After undo it is |
| one less than the number of the undone change. |
| |
| char2nr({expr}) *char2nr()* |
| Return number value of the first char in {expr}. Examples: > |
| char2nr(" ") returns 32 |
| char2nr("ABC") returns 65 |
| < The current 'encoding' is used. Example for "utf-8": > |
| char2nr("á") returns 225 |
| char2nr("á"[0]) returns 195 |
| < |nr2char()| does the opposite. |
| |
| cindent({lnum}) *cindent()* |
| Get the amount of indent for line {lnum} according the C |
| indenting rules, as with 'cindent'. |
| The indent is counted in spaces, the value of 'tabstop' is |
| relevant. {lnum} is used just like in |getline()|. |
| When {lnum} is invalid or Vim was not compiled the |+cindent| |
| feature, -1 is returned. |
| See |C-indenting|. |
| |
| clearmatches() *clearmatches()* |
| Clears all matches previously defined by |matchadd()| and the |
| |:match| commands. |
| |
| *col()* |
| col({expr}) The result is a Number, which is the byte index of the column |
| position given with {expr}. The accepted positions are: |
| . the cursor position |
| $ the end of the cursor line (the result is the |
| number of characters in the cursor line plus one) |
| 'x position of mark x (if the mark is not set, 0 is |
| returned) |
| Additionally {expr} can be [lnum, col]: a |List| with the line |
| and column number. Most useful when the column is "$", to get |
| the last column of a specific line. When "lnum" or "col" is |
| out of range then col() returns zero. |
| To get the line number use |line()|. To get both use |
| |getpos()|. |
| For the screen column position use |virtcol()|. |
| Note that only marks in the current file can be used. |
| Examples: > |
| col(".") column of cursor |
| col("$") length of cursor line plus one |
| col("'t") column of mark t |
| col("'" . markname) column of mark markname |
| < The first column is 1. 0 is returned for an error. |
| For an uppercase mark the column may actually be in another |
| buffer. |
| For the cursor position, when 'virtualedit' is active, the |
| column is one higher if the cursor is after the end of the |
| line. This can be used to obtain the column in Insert mode: > |
| :imap <F2> <C-O>:let save_ve = &ve<CR> |
| \<C-O>:set ve=all<CR> |
| \<C-O>:echo col(".") . "\n" <Bar> |
| \let &ve = save_ve<CR> |
| < |
| |
| complete({startcol}, {matches}) *complete()* *E785* |
| Set the matches for Insert mode completion. |
| Can only be used in Insert mode. You need to use a mapping |
| with CTRL-R = |i_CTRL-R|. It does not work after CTRL-O or |
| with an expression mapping. |
| {startcol} is the byte offset in the line where the completed |
| text start. The text up to the cursor is the original text |
| that will be replaced by the matches. Use col('.') for an |
| empty string. "col('.') - 1" will replace one character by a |
| match. |
| {matches} must be a |List|. Each |List| item is one match. |
| See |complete-items| for the kind of items that are possible. |
| Note that the after calling this function you need to avoid |
| inserting anything that would completion to stop. |
| The match can be selected with CTRL-N and CTRL-P as usual with |
| Insert mode completion. The popup menu will appear if |
| specified, see |ins-completion-menu|. |
| Example: > |
| inoremap <F5> <C-R>=ListMonths()<CR> |
| |
| func! ListMonths() |
| call complete(col('.'), ['January', 'February', 'March', |
| \ 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'August', 'September', |
| \ 'October', 'November', 'December']) |
| return '' |
| endfunc |
| < This isn't very useful, but it shows how it works. Note that |
| an empty string is returned to avoid a zero being inserted. |
| |
| complete_add({expr}) *complete_add()* |
| Add {expr} to the list of matches. Only to be used by the |
| function specified with the 'completefunc' option. |
| Returns 0 for failure (empty string or out of memory), |
| 1 when the match was added, 2 when the match was already in |
| the list. |
| See |complete-functions| for an explanation of {expr}. It is |
| the same as one item in the list that 'omnifunc' would return. |
| |
| complete_check() *complete_check()* |
| Check for a key typed while looking for completion matches. |
| This is to be used when looking for matches takes some time. |
| Returns non-zero when searching for matches is to be aborted, |
| zero otherwise. |
| Only to be used by the function specified with the |
| 'completefunc' option. |
| |
| *confirm()* |
| confirm({msg} [, {choices} [, {default} [, {type}]]]) |
| Confirm() offers the user a dialog, from which a choice can be |
| made. It returns the number of the choice. For the first |
| choice this is 1. |
| Note: confirm() is only supported when compiled with dialog |
| support, see |+dialog_con| and |+dialog_gui|. |
| {msg} is displayed in a |dialog| with {choices} as the |
| alternatives. When {choices} is missing or empty, "&OK" is |
| used (and translated). |
| {msg} is a String, use '\n' to include a newline. Only on |
| some systems the string is wrapped when it doesn't fit. |
| {choices} is a String, with the individual choices separated |
| by '\n', e.g. > |
| confirm("Save changes?", "&Yes\n&No\n&Cancel") |
| < The letter after the '&' is the shortcut key for that choice. |
| Thus you can type 'c' to select "Cancel". The shortcut does |
| not need to be the first letter: > |
| confirm("file has been modified", "&Save\nSave &All") |
| < For the console, the first letter of each choice is used as |
| the default shortcut key. |
| The optional {default} argument is the number of the choice |
| that is made if the user hits <CR>. Use 1 to make the first |
| choice the default one. Use 0 to not set a default. If |
| {default} is omitted, 1 is used. |
| The optional {type} argument gives the type of dialog. This |
| is only used for the icon of the Win32 GUI. It can be one of |
| these values: "Error", "Question", "Info", "Warning" or |
| "Generic". Only the first character is relevant. When {type} |
| is omitted, "Generic" is used. |
| If the user aborts the dialog by pressing <Esc>, CTRL-C, |
| or another valid interrupt key, confirm() returns 0. |
| |
| An example: > |
| :let choice = confirm("What do you want?", "&Apples\n&Oranges\n&Bananas", 2) |
| :if choice == 0 |
| : echo "make up your mind!" |
| :elseif choice == 3 |
| : echo "tasteful" |
| :else |
| : echo "I prefer bananas myself." |
| :endif |
| < In a GUI dialog, buttons are used. The layout of the buttons |
| depends on the 'v' flag in 'guioptions'. If it is included, |
| the buttons are always put vertically. Otherwise, confirm() |
| tries to put the buttons in one horizontal line. If they |
| don't fit, a vertical layout is used anyway. For some systems |
| the horizontal layout is always used. |
| |
| *copy()* |
| copy({expr}) Make a copy of {expr}. For Numbers and Strings this isn't |
| different from using {expr} directly. |
| When {expr} is a |List| a shallow copy is created. This means |
| that the original |List| can be changed without changing the |
| copy, and vice versa. But the items are identical, thus |
| changing an item changes the contents of both |Lists|. Also |
| see |deepcopy()|. |
| |
| cos({expr}) *cos()* |
| Return the cosine of {expr}, measured in radians, as a |Float|. |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo cos(100) |
| < 0.862319 > |
| :echo cos(-4.01) |
| < -0.646043 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| |
| count({comp}, {expr} [, {ic} [, {start}]]) *count()* |
| Return the number of times an item with value {expr} appears |
| in |List| or |Dictionary| {comp}. |
| If {start} is given then start with the item with this index. |
| {start} can only be used with a |List|. |
| When {ic} is given and it's non-zero then case is ignored. |
| |
| |
| *cscope_connection()* |
| cscope_connection([{num} , {dbpath} [, {prepend}]]) |
| Checks for the existence of a |cscope| connection. If no |
| parameters are specified, then the function returns: |
| 0, if cscope was not available (not compiled in), or |
| if there are no cscope connections; |
| 1, if there is at least one cscope connection. |
| |
| If parameters are specified, then the value of {num} |
| determines how existence of a cscope connection is checked: |
| |
| {num} Description of existence check |
| ----- ------------------------------ |
| 0 Same as no parameters (e.g., "cscope_connection()"). |
| 1 Ignore {prepend}, and use partial string matches for |
| {dbpath}. |
| 2 Ignore {prepend}, and use exact string matches for |
| {dbpath}. |
| 3 Use {prepend}, use partial string matches for both |
| {dbpath} and {prepend}. |
| 4 Use {prepend}, use exact string matches for both |
| {dbpath} and {prepend}. |
| |
| Note: All string comparisons are case sensitive! |
| |
| Examples. Suppose we had the following (from ":cs show"): > |
| |
| # pid database name prepend path |
| 0 27664 cscope.out /usr/local |
| < |
| Invocation Return Val ~ |
| ---------- ---------- > |
| cscope_connection() 1 |
| cscope_connection(1, "out") 1 |
| cscope_connection(2, "out") 0 |
| cscope_connection(3, "out") 0 |
| cscope_connection(3, "out", "local") 1 |
| cscope_connection(4, "out") 0 |
| cscope_connection(4, "out", "local") 0 |
| cscope_connection(4, "cscope.out", "/usr/local") 1 |
| < |
| cursor({lnum}, {col} [, {off}]) *cursor()* |
| cursor({list}) |
| Positions the cursor at the column (byte count) {col} in the |
| line {lnum}. The first column is one. |
| When there is one argument {list} this is used as a |List| |
| with two or three items {lnum}, {col} and {off}. This is like |
| the return value of |getpos()|, but without the first item. |
| Does not change the jumplist. |
| If {lnum} is greater than the number of lines in the buffer, |
| the cursor will be positioned at the last line in the buffer. |
| If {lnum} is zero, the cursor will stay in the current line. |
| If {col} is greater than the number of bytes in the line, |
| the cursor will be positioned at the last character in the |
| line. |
| If {col} is zero, the cursor will stay in the current column. |
| When 'virtualedit' is used {off} specifies the offset in |
| screen columns from the start of the character. E.g., a |
| position within a <Tab> or after the last character. |
| Returns 0 when the position could be set, -1 otherwise. |
| |
| |
| deepcopy({expr}[, {noref}]) *deepcopy()* *E698* |
| Make a copy of {expr}. For Numbers and Strings this isn't |
| different from using {expr} directly. |
| When {expr} is a |List| a full copy is created. This means |
| that the original |List| can be changed without changing the |
| copy, and vice versa. When an item is a |List|, a copy for it |
| is made, recursively. Thus changing an item in the copy does |
| not change the contents of the original |List|. |
| When {noref} is omitted or zero a contained |List| or |
| |Dictionary| is only copied once. All references point to |
| this single copy. With {noref} set to 1 every occurrence of a |
| |List| or |Dictionary| results in a new copy. This also means |
| that a cyclic reference causes deepcopy() to fail. |
| *E724* |
| Nesting is possible up to 100 levels. When there is an item |
| that refers back to a higher level making a deep copy with |
| {noref} set to 1 will fail. |
| Also see |copy()|. |
| |
| delete({fname}) *delete()* |
| Deletes the file by the name {fname}. The result is a Number, |
| which is 0 if the file was deleted successfully, and non-zero |
| when the deletion failed. |
| Use |remove()| to delete an item from a |List|. |
| |
| *did_filetype()* |
| did_filetype() Returns non-zero when autocommands are being executed and the |
| FileType event has been triggered at least once. Can be used |
| to avoid triggering the FileType event again in the scripts |
| that detect the file type. |FileType| |
| When editing another file, the counter is reset, thus this |
| really checks if the FileType event has been triggered for the |
| current buffer. This allows an autocommand that starts |
| editing another buffer to set 'filetype' and load a syntax |
| file. |
| |
| diff_filler({lnum}) *diff_filler()* |
| Returns the number of filler lines above line {lnum}. |
| These are the lines that were inserted at this point in |
| another diff'ed window. These filler lines are shown in the |
| display but don't exist in the buffer. |
| {lnum} is used like with |getline()|. Thus "." is the current |
| line, "'m" mark m, etc. |
| Returns 0 if the current window is not in diff mode. |
| |
| diff_hlID({lnum}, {col}) *diff_hlID()* |
| Returns the highlight ID for diff mode at line {lnum} column |
| {col} (byte index). When the current line does not have a |
| diff change zero is returned. |
| {lnum} is used like with |getline()|. Thus "." is the current |
| line, "'m" mark m, etc. |
| {col} is 1 for the leftmost column, {lnum} is 1 for the first |
| line. |
| The highlight ID can be used with |synIDattr()| to obtain |
| syntax information about the highlighting. |
| |
| empty({expr}) *empty()* |
| Return the Number 1 if {expr} is empty, zero otherwise. |
| A |List| or |Dictionary| is empty when it does not have any |
| items. A Number is empty when its value is zero. |
| For a long |List| this is much faster then comparing the |
| length with zero. |
| |
| escape({string}, {chars}) *escape()* |
| Escape the characters in {chars} that occur in {string} with a |
| backslash. Example: > |
| :echo escape('c:\program files\vim', ' \') |
| < results in: > |
| c:\\program\ files\\vim |
| < Also see |shellescape()|. |
| |
| *eval()* |
| eval({string}) Evaluate {string} and return the result. Especially useful to |
| turn the result of |string()| back into the original value. |
| This works for Numbers, Floats, Strings and composites of |
| them. Also works for |Funcref|s that refer to existing |
| functions. |
| |
| eventhandler() *eventhandler()* |
| Returns 1 when inside an event handler. That is that Vim got |
| interrupted while waiting for the user to type a character, |
| e.g., when dropping a file on Vim. This means interactive |
| commands cannot be used. Otherwise zero is returned. |
| |
| executable({expr}) *executable()* |
| This function checks if an executable with the name {expr} |
| exists. {expr} must be the name of the program without any |
| arguments. |
| executable() uses the value of $PATH and/or the normal |
| searchpath for programs. *PATHEXT* |
| On MS-DOS and MS-Windows the ".exe", ".bat", etc. can |
| optionally be included. Then the extensions in $PATHEXT are |
| tried. Thus if "foo.exe" does not exist, "foo.exe.bat" can be |
| found. If $PATHEXT is not set then ".exe;.com;.bat;.cmd" is |
| used. A dot by itself can be used in $PATHEXT to try using |
| the name without an extension. When 'shell' looks like a |
| Unix shell, then the name is also tried without adding an |
| extension. |
| On MS-DOS and MS-Windows it only checks if the file exists and |
| is not a directory, not if it's really executable. |
| On MS-Windows an executable in the same directory as Vim is |
| always found. Since this directory is added to $PATH it |
| should also work to execute it |win32-PATH|. |
| The result is a Number: |
| 1 exists |
| 0 does not exist |
| -1 not implemented on this system |
| |
| *exists()* |
| exists({expr}) The result is a Number, which is non-zero if {expr} is |
| defined, zero otherwise. The {expr} argument is a string, |
| which contains one of these: |
| &option-name Vim option (only checks if it exists, |
| not if it really works) |
| +option-name Vim option that works. |
| $ENVNAME environment variable (could also be |
| done by comparing with an empty |
| string) |
| *funcname built-in function (see |functions|) |
| or user defined function (see |
| |user-functions|). |
| varname internal variable (see |
| |internal-variables|). Also works |
| for |curly-braces-names|, |Dictionary| |
| entries, |List| items, etc. Beware |
| that evaluating an index may cause an |
| error message for an invalid |
| expression. E.g.: > |
| :let l = [1, 2, 3] |
| :echo exists("l[5]") |
| < 0 > |
| :echo exists("l[xx]") |
| < E121: Undefined variable: xx |
| 0 |
| :cmdname Ex command: built-in command, user |
| command or command modifier |:command|. |
| Returns: |
| 1 for match with start of a command |
| 2 full match with a command |
| 3 matches several user commands |
| To check for a supported command |
| always check the return value to be 2. |
| :2match The |:2match| command. |
| :3match The |:3match| command. |
| #event autocommand defined for this event |
| #event#pattern autocommand defined for this event and |
| pattern (the pattern is taken |
| literally and compared to the |
| autocommand patterns character by |
| character) |
| #group autocommand group exists |
| #group#event autocommand defined for this group and |
| event. |
| #group#event#pattern |
| autocommand defined for this group, |
| event and pattern. |
| ##event autocommand for this event is |
| supported. |
| For checking for a supported feature use |has()|. |
| |
| Examples: > |
| exists("&shortname") |
| exists("$HOSTNAME") |
| exists("*strftime") |
| exists("*s:MyFunc") |
| exists("bufcount") |
| exists(":Make") |
| exists("#CursorHold") |
| exists("#BufReadPre#*.gz") |
| exists("#filetypeindent") |
| exists("#filetypeindent#FileType") |
| exists("#filetypeindent#FileType#*") |
| exists("##ColorScheme") |
| < There must be no space between the symbol (&/$/*/#) and the |
| name. |
| There must be no extra characters after the name, although in |
| a few cases this is ignored. That may become more strict in |
| the future, thus don't count on it! |
| Working example: > |
| exists(":make") |
| < NOT working example: > |
| exists(":make install") |
| |
| < Note that the argument must be a string, not the name of the |
| variable itself. For example: > |
| exists(bufcount) |
| < This doesn't check for existence of the "bufcount" variable, |
| but gets the value of "bufcount", and checks if that exists. |
| |
| expand({expr} [, {flag}]) *expand()* |
| Expand wildcards and the following special keywords in {expr}. |
| The result is a String. |
| |
| When there are several matches, they are separated by <NL> |
| characters. [Note: in version 5.0 a space was used, which |
| caused problems when a file name contains a space] |
| |
| If the expansion fails, the result is an empty string. A name |
| for a non-existing file is not included. |
| |
| When {expr} starts with '%', '#' or '<', the expansion is done |
| like for the |cmdline-special| variables with their associated |
| modifiers. Here is a short overview: |
| |
| % current file name |
| # alternate file name |
| #n alternate file name n |
| <cfile> file name under the cursor |
| <afile> autocmd file name |
| <abuf> autocmd buffer number (as a String!) |
| <amatch> autocmd matched name |
| <sfile> sourced script file name |
| <cword> word under the cursor |
| <cWORD> WORD under the cursor |
| <client> the {clientid} of the last received |
| message |server2client()| |
| Modifiers: |
| :p expand to full path |
| :h head (last path component removed) |
| :t tail (last path component only) |
| :r root (one extension removed) |
| :e extension only |
| |
| Example: > |
| :let &tags = expand("%:p:h") . "/tags" |
| < Note that when expanding a string that starts with '%', '#' or |
| '<', any following text is ignored. This does NOT work: > |
| :let doesntwork = expand("%:h.bak") |
| < Use this: > |
| :let doeswork = expand("%:h") . ".bak" |
| < Also note that expanding "<cfile>" and others only returns the |
| referenced file name without further expansion. If "<cfile>" |
| is "~/.cshrc", you need to do another expand() to have the |
| "~/" expanded into the path of the home directory: > |
| :echo expand(expand("<cfile>")) |
| < |
| There cannot be white space between the variables and the |
| following modifier. The |fnamemodify()| function can be used |
| to modify normal file names. |
| |
| When using '%' or '#', and the current or alternate file name |
| is not defined, an empty string is used. Using "%:p" in a |
| buffer with no name, results in the current directory, with a |
| '/' added. |
| |
| When {expr} does not start with '%', '#' or '<', it is |
| expanded like a file name is expanded on the command line. |
| 'suffixes' and 'wildignore' are used, unless the optional |
| {flag} argument is given and it is non-zero. Names for |
| non-existing files are included. The "**" item can be used to |
| search in a directory tree. For example, to find all "README" |
| files in the current directory and below: > |
| :echo expand("**/README") |
| < |
| Expand() can also be used to expand variables and environment |
| variables that are only known in a shell. But this can be |
| slow, because a shell must be started. See |expr-env-expand|. |
| The expanded variable is still handled like a list of file |
| names. When an environment variable cannot be expanded, it is |
| left unchanged. Thus ":echo expand('$FOOBAR')" results in |
| "$FOOBAR". |
| |
| See |glob()| for finding existing files. See |system()| for |
| getting the raw output of an external command. |
| |
| extend({expr1}, {expr2} [, {expr3}]) *extend()* |
| {expr1} and {expr2} must be both |Lists| or both |
| |Dictionaries|. |
| |
| If they are |Lists|: Append {expr2} to {expr1}. |
| If {expr3} is given insert the items of {expr2} before item |
| {expr3} in {expr1}. When {expr3} is zero insert before the |
| first item. When {expr3} is equal to len({expr1}) then |
| {expr2} is appended. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo sort(extend(mylist, [7, 5])) |
| :call extend(mylist, [2, 3], 1) |
| < When {expr1} is the same List as {expr2} then the number of |
| items copied is equal to the original length of the List. |
| E.g., when {expr3} is 1 you get N new copies of the first item |
| (where N is the original length of the List). |
| Use |add()| to concatenate one item to a list. To concatenate |
| two lists into a new list use the + operator: > |
| :let newlist = [1, 2, 3] + [4, 5] |
| < |
| If they are |Dictionaries|: |
| Add all entries from {expr2} to {expr1}. |
| If a key exists in both {expr1} and {expr2} then {expr3} is |
| used to decide what to do: |
| {expr3} = "keep": keep the value of {expr1} |
| {expr3} = "force": use the value of {expr2} |
| {expr3} = "error": give an error message *E737* |
| When {expr3} is omitted then "force" is assumed. |
| |
| {expr1} is changed when {expr2} is not empty. If necessary |
| make a copy of {expr1} first. |
| {expr2} remains unchanged. |
| Returns {expr1}. |
| |
| |
| feedkeys({string} [, {mode}]) *feedkeys()* |
| Characters in {string} are queued for processing as if they |
| come from a mapping or were typed by the user. They are added |
| to the end of the typeahead buffer, thus if a mapping is still |
| being executed these characters come after them. |
| The function does not wait for processing of keys contained in |
| {string}. |
| To include special keys into {string}, use double-quotes |
| and "\..." notation |expr-quote|. For example, |
| feedkeys("\<CR>") simulates pressing of the <Enter> key. But |
| feedkeys('\<CR>') pushes 5 characters. |
| If {mode} is absent, keys are remapped. |
| {mode} is a String, which can contain these character flags: |
| 'm' Remap keys. This is default. |
| 'n' Do not remap keys. |
| 't' Handle keys as if typed; otherwise they are handled as |
| if coming from a mapping. This matters for undo, |
| opening folds, etc. |
| Return value is always 0. |
| |
| filereadable({file}) *filereadable()* |
| The result is a Number, which is TRUE when a file with the |
| name {file} exists, and can be read. If {file} doesn't exist, |
| or is a directory, the result is FALSE. {file} is any |
| expression, which is used as a String. |
| If you don't care about the file being readable you can use |
| |glob()|. |
| *file_readable()* |
| Obsolete name: file_readable(). |
| |
| |
| filewritable({file}) *filewritable()* |
| The result is a Number, which is 1 when a file with the |
| name {file} exists, and can be written. If {file} doesn't |
| exist, or is not writable, the result is 0. If {file} is a |
| directory, and we can write to it, the result is 2. |
| |
| |
| filter({expr}, {string}) *filter()* |
| {expr} must be a |List| or a |Dictionary|. |
| For each item in {expr} evaluate {string} and when the result |
| is zero remove the item from the |List| or |Dictionary|. |
| Inside {string} |v:val| has the value of the current item. |
| For a |Dictionary| |v:key| has the key of the current item. |
| Examples: > |
| :call filter(mylist, 'v:val !~ "OLD"') |
| < Removes the items where "OLD" appears. > |
| :call filter(mydict, 'v:key >= 8') |
| < Removes the items with a key below 8. > |
| :call filter(var, 0) |
| < Removes all the items, thus clears the |List| or |Dictionary|. |
| |
| Note that {string} is the result of expression and is then |
| used as an expression again. Often it is good to use a |
| |literal-string| to avoid having to double backslashes. |
| |
| The operation is done in-place. If you want a |List| or |
| |Dictionary| to remain unmodified make a copy first: > |
| :let l = filter(copy(mylist), 'v:val =~ "KEEP"') |
| |
| < Returns {expr}, the |List| or |Dictionary| that was filtered. |
| When an error is encountered while evaluating {string} no |
| further items in {expr} are processed. |
| |
| |
| finddir({name}[, {path}[, {count}]]) *finddir()* |
| Find directory {name} in {path}. Supports both downwards and |
| upwards recursive directory searches. See |file-searching| |
| for the syntax of {path}. |
| Returns the path of the first found match. When the found |
| directory is below the current directory a relative path is |
| returned. Otherwise a full path is returned. |
| If {path} is omitted or empty then 'path' is used. |
| If the optional {count} is given, find {count}'s occurrence of |
| {name} in {path} instead of the first one. |
| When {count} is negative return all the matches in a |List|. |
| This is quite similar to the ex-command |:find|. |
| {only available when compiled with the +file_in_path feature} |
| |
| findfile({name}[, {path}[, {count}]]) *findfile()* |
| Just like |finddir()|, but find a file instead of a directory. |
| Uses 'suffixesadd'. |
| Example: > |
| :echo findfile("tags.vim", ".;") |
| < Searches from the directory of the current file upwards until |
| it finds the file "tags.vim". |
| |
| float2nr({expr}) *float2nr()* |
| Convert {expr} to a Number by omitting the part after the |
| decimal point. |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a Number. |
| When the value of {expr} is out of range for a |Number| the |
| result is truncated to 0x7fffffff or -0x7fffffff. NaN results |
| in -0x80000000. |
| Examples: > |
| echo float2nr(3.95) |
| < 3 > |
| echo float2nr(-23.45) |
| < -23 > |
| echo float2nr(1.0e100) |
| < 2147483647 > |
| echo float2nr(-1.0e150) |
| < -2147483647 > |
| echo float2nr(1.0e-100) |
| < 0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| |
| floor({expr}) *floor()* |
| Return the largest integral value less than or equal to |
| {expr} as a |Float| (round down). |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| echo floor(1.856) |
| < 1.0 > |
| echo floor(-5.456) |
| < -6.0 > |
| echo floor(4.0) |
| < 4.0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| fnameescape({string}) *fnameescape()* |
| Escape {string} for use as file name command argument. All |
| characters that have a special meaning, such as '%' and '|' |
| are escaped with a backslash. |
| For most systems the characters escaped are |
| " \t\n*?[{`$\\%#'\"|!<". For systems where a backslash |
| appears in a filename, it depends on the value of 'isfname'. |
| A leading '+' and '>' is also escaped (special after |:edit| |
| and |:write|). And a "-" by itself (special after |:cd|). |
| Example: > |
| :let fname = '+some str%nge|name' |
| :exe "edit " . fnameescape(fname) |
| < results in executing: > |
| edit \+some\ str\%nge\|name |
| |
| fnamemodify({fname}, {mods}) *fnamemodify()* |
| Modify file name {fname} according to {mods}. {mods} is a |
| string of characters like it is used for file names on the |
| command line. See |filename-modifiers|. |
| Example: > |
| :echo fnamemodify("main.c", ":p:h") |
| < results in: > |
| /home/mool/vim/vim/src |
| < Note: Environment variables don't work in {fname}, use |
| |expand()| first then. |
| |
| foldclosed({lnum}) *foldclosed()* |
| The result is a Number. If the line {lnum} is in a closed |
| fold, the result is the number of the first line in that fold. |
| If the line {lnum} is not in a closed fold, -1 is returned. |
| |
| foldclosedend({lnum}) *foldclosedend()* |
| The result is a Number. If the line {lnum} is in a closed |
| fold, the result is the number of the last line in that fold. |
| If the line {lnum} is not in a closed fold, -1 is returned. |
| |
| foldlevel({lnum}) *foldlevel()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the foldlevel of line {lnum} |
| in the current buffer. For nested folds the deepest level is |
| returned. If there is no fold at line {lnum}, zero is |
| returned. It doesn't matter if the folds are open or closed. |
| When used while updating folds (from 'foldexpr') -1 is |
| returned for lines where folds are still to be updated and the |
| foldlevel is unknown. As a special case the level of the |
| previous line is usually available. |
| |
| *foldtext()* |
| foldtext() Returns a String, to be displayed for a closed fold. This is |
| the default function used for the 'foldtext' option and should |
| only be called from evaluating 'foldtext'. It uses the |
| |v:foldstart|, |v:foldend| and |v:folddashes| variables. |
| The returned string looks like this: > |
| +-- 45 lines: abcdef |
| < The number of dashes depends on the foldlevel. The "45" is |
| the number of lines in the fold. "abcdef" is the text in the |
| first non-blank line of the fold. Leading white space, "//" |
| or "/*" and the text from the 'foldmarker' and 'commentstring' |
| options is removed. |
| {not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} |
| |
| foldtextresult({lnum}) *foldtextresult()* |
| Returns the text that is displayed for the closed fold at line |
| {lnum}. Evaluates 'foldtext' in the appropriate context. |
| When there is no closed fold at {lnum} an empty string is |
| returned. |
| {lnum} is used like with |getline()|. Thus "." is the current |
| line, "'m" mark m, etc. |
| Useful when exporting folded text, e.g., to HTML. |
| {not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} |
| |
| *foreground()* |
| foreground() Move the Vim window to the foreground. Useful when sent from |
| a client to a Vim server. |remote_send()| |
| On Win32 systems this might not work, the OS does not always |
| allow a window to bring itself to the foreground. Use |
| |remote_foreground()| instead. |
| {only in the Win32, Athena, Motif and GTK GUI versions and the |
| Win32 console version} |
| |
| |
| function({name}) *function()* *E700* |
| Return a |Funcref| variable that refers to function {name}. |
| {name} can be a user defined function or an internal function. |
| |
| |
| garbagecollect([at_exit]) *garbagecollect()* |
| Cleanup unused |Lists| and |Dictionaries| that have circular |
| references. There is hardly ever a need to invoke this |
| function, as it is automatically done when Vim runs out of |
| memory or is waiting for the user to press a key after |
| 'updatetime'. Items without circular references are always |
| freed when they become unused. |
| This is useful if you have deleted a very big |List| and/or |
| |Dictionary| with circular references in a script that runs |
| for a long time. |
| When the optional "at_exit" argument is one, garbage |
| collection will also be done when exiting Vim, if it wasn't |
| done before. This is useful when checking for memory leaks. |
| |
| get({list}, {idx} [, {default}]) *get()* |
| Get item {idx} from |List| {list}. When this item is not |
| available return {default}. Return zero when {default} is |
| omitted. |
| get({dict}, {key} [, {default}]) |
| Get item with key {key} from |Dictionary| {dict}. When this |
| item is not available return {default}. Return zero when |
| {default} is omitted. |
| |
| *getbufline()* |
| getbufline({expr}, {lnum} [, {end}]) |
| Return a |List| with the lines starting from {lnum} to {end} |
| (inclusive) in the buffer {expr}. If {end} is omitted, a |
| |List| with only the line {lnum} is returned. |
| |
| For the use of {expr}, see |bufname()| above. |
| |
| For {lnum} and {end} "$" can be used for the last line of the |
| buffer. Otherwise a number must be used. |
| |
| When {lnum} is smaller than 1 or bigger than the number of |
| lines in the buffer, an empty |List| is returned. |
| |
| When {end} is greater than the number of lines in the buffer, |
| it is treated as {end} is set to the number of lines in the |
| buffer. When {end} is before {lnum} an empty |List| is |
| returned. |
| |
| This function works only for loaded buffers. For unloaded and |
| non-existing buffers, an empty |List| is returned. |
| |
| Example: > |
| :let lines = getbufline(bufnr("myfile"), 1, "$") |
| |
| getbufvar({expr}, {varname}) *getbufvar()* |
| The result is the value of option or local buffer variable |
| {varname} in buffer {expr}. Note that the name without "b:" |
| must be used. |
| When {varname} is empty returns a dictionary with all the |
| buffer-local variables. |
| This also works for a global or buffer-local option, but it |
| doesn't work for a global variable, window-local variable or |
| window-local option. |
| For the use of {expr}, see |bufname()| above. |
| When the buffer or variable doesn't exist an empty string is |
| returned, there is no error message. |
| Examples: > |
| :let bufmodified = getbufvar(1, "&mod") |
| :echo "todo myvar = " . getbufvar("todo", "myvar") |
| < |
| getchar([expr]) *getchar()* |
| Get a single character from the user or input stream. |
| If [expr] is omitted, wait until a character is available. |
| If [expr] is 0, only get a character when one is available. |
| Return zero otherwise. |
| If [expr] is 1, only check if a character is available, it is |
| not consumed. Return zero if no character available. |
| |
| Without {expr} and when {expr} is 0 a whole character or |
| special key is returned. If it is an 8-bit character, the |
| result is a number. Use nr2char() to convert it to a String. |
| Otherwise a String is returned with the encoded character. |
| For a special key it's a sequence of bytes starting with 0x80 |
| (decimal: 128). This is the same value as the string |
| "\<Key>", e.g., "\<Left>". The returned value is also a |
| String when a modifier (shift, control, alt) was used that is |
| not included in the character. |
| |
| When {expr} is 1 only the first byte is returned. For a |
| one-byte character it is the character itself as a number. |
| Use nr2char() to convert it to a String. |
| |
| When the user clicks a mouse button, the mouse event will be |
| returned. The position can then be found in |v:mouse_col|, |
| |v:mouse_lnum| and |v:mouse_win|. This example positions the |
| mouse as it would normally happen: > |
| let c = getchar() |
| if c == "\<LeftMouse>" && v:mouse_win > 0 |
| exe v:mouse_win . "wincmd w" |
| exe v:mouse_lnum |
| exe "normal " . v:mouse_col . "|" |
| endif |
| < |
| There is no prompt, you will somehow have to make clear to the |
| user that a character has to be typed. |
| There is no mapping for the character. |
| Key codes are replaced, thus when the user presses the <Del> |
| key you get the code for the <Del> key, not the raw character |
| sequence. Examples: > |
| getchar() == "\<Del>" |
| getchar() == "\<S-Left>" |
| < This example redefines "f" to ignore case: > |
| :nmap f :call FindChar()<CR> |
| :function FindChar() |
| : let c = nr2char(getchar()) |
| : while col('.') < col('$') - 1 |
| : normal l |
| : if getline('.')[col('.') - 1] ==? c |
| : break |
| : endif |
| : endwhile |
| :endfunction |
| |
| getcharmod() *getcharmod()* |
| The result is a Number which is the state of the modifiers for |
| the last obtained character with getchar() or in another way. |
| These values are added together: |
| 2 shift |
| 4 control |
| 8 alt (meta) |
| 16 mouse double click |
| 32 mouse triple click |
| 64 mouse quadruple click |
| 128 Macintosh only: command |
| Only the modifiers that have not been included in the |
| character itself are obtained. Thus Shift-a results in "A" |
| with no modifier. |
| |
| getcmdline() *getcmdline()* |
| Return the current command-line. Only works when the command |
| line is being edited, thus requires use of |c_CTRL-\_e| or |
| |c_CTRL-R_=|. |
| Example: > |
| :cmap <F7> <C-\>eescape(getcmdline(), ' \')<CR> |
| < Also see |getcmdtype()|, |getcmdpos()| and |setcmdpos()|. |
| |
| getcmdpos() *getcmdpos()* |
| Return the position of the cursor in the command line as a |
| byte count. The first column is 1. |
| Only works when editing the command line, thus requires use of |
| |c_CTRL-\_e| or |c_CTRL-R_=|. Returns 0 otherwise. |
| Also see |getcmdtype()|, |setcmdpos()| and |getcmdline()|. |
| |
| getcmdtype() *getcmdtype()* |
| Return the current command-line type. Possible return values |
| are: |
| : normal Ex command |
| > debug mode command |debug-mode| |
| / forward search command |
| ? backward search command |
| @ |input()| command |
| - |:insert| or |:append| command |
| Only works when editing the command line, thus requires use of |
| |c_CTRL-\_e| or |c_CTRL-R_=|. Returns an empty string |
| otherwise. |
| Also see |getcmdpos()|, |setcmdpos()| and |getcmdline()|. |
| |
| *getcwd()* |
| getcwd() The result is a String, which is the name of the current |
| working directory. |
| |
| getfsize({fname}) *getfsize()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the size in bytes of the |
| given file {fname}. |
| If {fname} is a directory, 0 is returned. |
| If the file {fname} can't be found, -1 is returned. |
| If the size of {fname} is too big to fit in a Number then -2 |
| is returned. |
| |
| getfontname([{name}]) *getfontname()* |
| Without an argument returns the name of the normal font being |
| used. Like what is used for the Normal highlight group |
| |hl-Normal|. |
| With an argument a check is done whether {name} is a valid |
| font name. If not then an empty string is returned. |
| Otherwise the actual font name is returned, or {name} if the |
| GUI does not support obtaining the real name. |
| Only works when the GUI is running, thus not in your vimrc or |
| gvimrc file. Use the |GUIEnter| autocommand to use this |
| function just after the GUI has started. |
| Note that the GTK 2 GUI accepts any font name, thus checking |
| for a valid name does not work. |
| |
| getfperm({fname}) *getfperm()* |
| The result is a String, which is the read, write, and execute |
| permissions of the given file {fname}. |
| If {fname} does not exist or its directory cannot be read, an |
| empty string is returned. |
| The result is of the form "rwxrwxrwx", where each group of |
| "rwx" flags represent, in turn, the permissions of the owner |
| of the file, the group the file belongs to, and other users. |
| If a user does not have a given permission the flag for this |
| is replaced with the string "-". Example: > |
| :echo getfperm("/etc/passwd") |
| < This will hopefully (from a security point of view) display |
| the string "rw-r--r--" or even "rw-------". |
| |
| getftime({fname}) *getftime()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the last modification time of |
| the given file {fname}. The value is measured as seconds |
| since 1st Jan 1970, and may be passed to strftime(). See also |
| |localtime()| and |strftime()|. |
| If the file {fname} can't be found -1 is returned. |
| |
| getftype({fname}) *getftype()* |
| The result is a String, which is a description of the kind of |
| file of the given file {fname}. |
| If {fname} does not exist an empty string is returned. |
| Here is a table over different kinds of files and their |
| results: |
| Normal file "file" |
| Directory "dir" |
| Symbolic link "link" |
| Block device "bdev" |
| Character device "cdev" |
| Socket "socket" |
| FIFO "fifo" |
| All other "other" |
| Example: > |
| getftype("/home") |
| < Note that a type such as "link" will only be returned on |
| systems that support it. On some systems only "dir" and |
| "file" are returned. |
| |
| *getline()* |
| getline({lnum} [, {end}]) |
| Without {end} the result is a String, which is line {lnum} |
| from the current buffer. Example: > |
| getline(1) |
| < When {lnum} is a String that doesn't start with a |
| digit, line() is called to translate the String into a Number. |
| To get the line under the cursor: > |
| getline(".") |
| < When {lnum} is smaller than 1 or bigger than the number of |
| lines in the buffer, an empty string is returned. |
| |
| When {end} is given the result is a |List| where each item is |
| a line from the current buffer in the range {lnum} to {end}, |
| including line {end}. |
| {end} is used in the same way as {lnum}. |
| Non-existing lines are silently omitted. |
| When {end} is before {lnum} an empty |List| is returned. |
| Example: > |
| :let start = line('.') |
| :let end = search("^$") - 1 |
| :let lines = getline(start, end) |
| |
| < To get lines from another buffer see |getbufline()| |
| |
| getloclist({nr}) *getloclist()* |
| Returns a list with all the entries in the location list for |
| window {nr}. When {nr} is zero the current window is used. |
| For a location list window, the displayed location list is |
| returned. For an invalid window number {nr}, an empty list is |
| returned. Otherwise, same as getqflist(). |
| |
| getmatches() *getmatches()* |
| Returns a |List| with all matches previously defined by |
| |matchadd()| and the |:match| commands. |getmatches()| is |
| useful in combination with |setmatches()|, as |setmatches()| |
| can restore a list of matches saved by |getmatches()|. |
| Example: > |
| :echo getmatches() |
| < [{'group': 'MyGroup1', 'pattern': 'TODO', |
| 'priority': 10, 'id': 1}, {'group': 'MyGroup2', |
| 'pattern': 'FIXME', 'priority': 10, 'id': 2}] > |
| :let m = getmatches() |
| :call clearmatches() |
| :echo getmatches() |
| < [] > |
| :call setmatches(m) |
| :echo getmatches() |
| < [{'group': 'MyGroup1', 'pattern': 'TODO', |
| 'priority': 10, 'id': 1}, {'group': 'MyGroup2', |
| 'pattern': 'FIXME', 'priority': 10, 'id': 2}] > |
| :unlet m |
| < |
| |
| getqflist() *getqflist()* |
| Returns a list with all the current quickfix errors. Each |
| list item is a dictionary with these entries: |
| bufnr number of buffer that has the file name, use |
| bufname() to get the name |
| lnum line number in the buffer (first line is 1) |
| col column number (first column is 1) |
| vcol non-zero: "col" is visual column |
| zero: "col" is byte index |
| nr error number |
| pattern search pattern used to locate the error |
| text description of the error |
| type type of the error, 'E', '1', etc. |
| valid non-zero: recognized error message |
| |
| When there is no error list or it's empty an empty list is |
| returned. Quickfix list entries with non-existing buffer |
| number are returned with "bufnr" set to zero. |
| |
| Useful application: Find pattern matches in multiple files and |
| do something with them: > |
| :vimgrep /theword/jg *.c |
| :for d in getqflist() |
| : echo bufname(d.bufnr) ':' d.lnum '=' d.text |
| :endfor |
| |
| |
| getreg([{regname} [, 1]]) *getreg()* |
| The result is a String, which is the contents of register |
| {regname}. Example: > |
| :let cliptext = getreg('*') |
| < getreg('=') returns the last evaluated value of the expression |
| register. (For use in maps.) |
| getreg('=', 1) returns the expression itself, so that it can |
| be restored with |setreg()|. For other registers the extra |
| argument is ignored, thus you can always give it. |
| If {regname} is not specified, |v:register| is used. |
| |
| |
| getregtype([{regname}]) *getregtype()* |
| The result is a String, which is type of register {regname}. |
| The value will be one of: |
| "v" for |characterwise| text |
| "V" for |linewise| text |
| "<CTRL-V>{width}" for |blockwise-visual| text |
| 0 for an empty or unknown register |
| <CTRL-V> is one character with value 0x16. |
| If {regname} is not specified, |v:register| is used. |
| |
| gettabwinvar({tabnr}, {winnr}, {varname}) *gettabwinvar()* |
| Get the value of window-local variable {varname} in window |
| {winnr} in tab page {tabnr}. |
| When {varname} starts with "&" get the value of a window-local |
| option. |
| Tabs are numbered starting with one. For the current tabpage |
| use |getwinvar()|. |
| When {winnr} is zero the current window is used. |
| This also works for a global option, buffer-local option and |
| window-local option, but it doesn't work for a global variable |
| or buffer-local variable. |
| When {varname} is empty a dictionary with all window-local |
| variables is returned. |
| Note that {varname} must be the name without "w:". |
| Examples: > |
| :let list_is_on = gettabwinvar(1, 2, '&list') |
| :echo "myvar = " . gettabwinvar(3, 1, 'myvar') |
| < |
| *getwinposx()* |
| getwinposx() The result is a Number, which is the X coordinate in pixels of |
| the left hand side of the GUI Vim window. The result will be |
| -1 if the information is not available. |
| |
| *getwinposy()* |
| getwinposy() The result is a Number, which is the Y coordinate in pixels of |
| the top of the GUI Vim window. The result will be -1 if the |
| information is not available. |
| |
| getwinvar({winnr}, {varname}) *getwinvar()* |
| Like |gettabwinvar()| for the current tabpage. |
| Examples: > |
| :let list_is_on = getwinvar(2, '&list') |
| :echo "myvar = " . getwinvar(1, 'myvar') |
| < |
| glob({expr} [, {flag}]) *glob()* |
| Expand the file wildcards in {expr}. See |wildcards| for the |
| use of special characters. |
| The result is a String. |
| When there are several matches, they are separated by <NL> |
| characters. |
| Unless the optional {flag} argument is given and is non-zero, |
| the 'suffixes' and 'wildignore' options apply: Names matching |
| one of the patterns in 'wildignore' will be skipped and |
| 'suffixes' affect the ordering of matches. |
| If the expansion fails, the result is an empty string. |
| A name for a non-existing file is not included. |
| |
| For most systems backticks can be used to get files names from |
| any external command. Example: > |
| :let tagfiles = glob("`find . -name tags -print`") |
| :let &tags = substitute(tagfiles, "\n", ",", "g") |
| < The result of the program inside the backticks should be one |
| item per line. Spaces inside an item are allowed. |
| |
| See |expand()| for expanding special Vim variables. See |
| |system()| for getting the raw output of an external command. |
| |
| globpath({path}, {expr} [, {flag}]) *globpath()* |
| Perform glob() on all directories in {path} and concatenate |
| the results. Example: > |
| :echo globpath(&rtp, "syntax/c.vim") |
| < {path} is a comma-separated list of directory names. Each |
| directory name is prepended to {expr} and expanded like with |
| |glob()|. A path separator is inserted when needed. |
| To add a comma inside a directory name escape it with a |
| backslash. Note that on MS-Windows a directory may have a |
| trailing backslash, remove it if you put a comma after it. |
| If the expansion fails for one of the directories, there is no |
| error message. |
| Unless the optional {flag} argument is given and is non-zero, |
| the 'suffixes' and 'wildignore' options apply: Names matching |
| one of the patterns in 'wildignore' will be skipped and |
| 'suffixes' affect the ordering of matches. |
| |
| The "**" item can be used to search in a directory tree. |
| For example, to find all "README.txt" files in the directories |
| in 'runtimepath' and below: > |
| :echo globpath(&rtp, "**/README.txt") |
| < Upwards search and limiting the depth of "**" is not |
| supported, thus using 'path' will not always work properly. |
| |
| *has()* |
| has({feature}) The result is a Number, which is 1 if the feature {feature} is |
| supported, zero otherwise. The {feature} argument is a |
| string. See |feature-list| below. |
| Also see |exists()|. |
| |
| |
| has_key({dict}, {key}) *has_key()* |
| The result is a Number, which is 1 if |Dictionary| {dict} has |
| an entry with key {key}. Zero otherwise. |
| |
| haslocaldir() *haslocaldir()* |
| The result is a Number, which is 1 when the current |
| window has set a local path via |:lcd|, and 0 otherwise. |
| |
| hasmapto({what} [, {mode} [, {abbr}]]) *hasmapto()* |
| The result is a Number, which is 1 if there is a mapping that |
| contains {what} in somewhere in the rhs (what it is mapped to) |
| and this mapping exists in one of the modes indicated by |
| {mode}. |
| When {abbr} is there and it is non-zero use abbreviations |
| instead of mappings. Don't forget to specify Insert and/or |
| Command-line mode. |
| Both the global mappings and the mappings local to the current |
| buffer are checked for a match. |
| If no matching mapping is found 0 is returned. |
| The following characters are recognized in {mode}: |
| n Normal mode |
| v Visual mode |
| o Operator-pending mode |
| i Insert mode |
| l Language-Argument ("r", "f", "t", etc.) |
| c Command-line mode |
| When {mode} is omitted, "nvo" is used. |
| |
| This function is useful to check if a mapping already exists |
| to a function in a Vim script. Example: > |
| :if !hasmapto('\ABCdoit') |
| : map <Leader>d \ABCdoit |
| :endif |
| < This installs the mapping to "\ABCdoit" only if there isn't |
| already a mapping to "\ABCdoit". |
| |
| histadd({history}, {item}) *histadd()* |
| Add the String {item} to the history {history} which can be |
| one of: *hist-names* |
| "cmd" or ":" command line history |
| "search" or "/" search pattern history |
| "expr" or "=" typed expression history |
| "input" or "@" input line history |
| If {item} does already exist in the history, it will be |
| shifted to become the newest entry. |
| The result is a Number: 1 if the operation was successful, |
| otherwise 0 is returned. |
| |
| Example: > |
| :call histadd("input", strftime("%Y %b %d")) |
| :let date=input("Enter date: ") |
| < This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| |
| histdel({history} [, {item}]) *histdel()* |
| Clear {history}, i.e. delete all its entries. See |hist-names| |
| for the possible values of {history}. |
| |
| If the parameter {item} evaluates to a String, it is used as a |
| regular expression. All entries matching that expression will |
| be removed from the history (if there are any). |
| Upper/lowercase must match, unless "\c" is used |/\c|. |
| If {item} evaluates to a Number, it will be interpreted as |
| an index, see |:history-indexing|. The respective entry will |
| be removed if it exists. |
| |
| The result is a Number: 1 for a successful operation, |
| otherwise 0 is returned. |
| |
| Examples: |
| Clear expression register history: > |
| :call histdel("expr") |
| < |
| Remove all entries starting with "*" from the search history: > |
| :call histdel("/", '^\*') |
| < |
| The following three are equivalent: > |
| :call histdel("search", histnr("search")) |
| :call histdel("search", -1) |
| :call histdel("search", '^'.histget("search", -1).'$') |
| < |
| To delete the last search pattern and use the last-but-one for |
| the "n" command and 'hlsearch': > |
| :call histdel("search", -1) |
| :let @/ = histget("search", -1) |
| |
| histget({history} [, {index}]) *histget()* |
| The result is a String, the entry with Number {index} from |
| {history}. See |hist-names| for the possible values of |
| {history}, and |:history-indexing| for {index}. If there is |
| no such entry, an empty String is returned. When {index} is |
| omitted, the most recent item from the history is used. |
| |
| Examples: |
| Redo the second last search from history. > |
| :execute '/' . histget("search", -2) |
| |
| < Define an Ex command ":H {num}" that supports re-execution of |
| the {num}th entry from the output of |:history|. > |
| :command -nargs=1 H execute histget("cmd", 0+<args>) |
| < |
| histnr({history}) *histnr()* |
| The result is the Number of the current entry in {history}. |
| See |hist-names| for the possible values of {history}. |
| If an error occurred, -1 is returned. |
| |
| Example: > |
| :let inp_index = histnr("expr") |
| < |
| hlexists({name}) *hlexists()* |
| The result is a Number, which is non-zero if a highlight group |
| called {name} exists. This is when the group has been |
| defined in some way. Not necessarily when highlighting has |
| been defined for it, it may also have been used for a syntax |
| item. |
| *highlight_exists()* |
| Obsolete name: highlight_exists(). |
| |
| *hlID()* |
| hlID({name}) The result is a Number, which is the ID of the highlight group |
| with name {name}. When the highlight group doesn't exist, |
| zero is returned. |
| This can be used to retrieve information about the highlight |
| group. For example, to get the background color of the |
| "Comment" group: > |
| :echo synIDattr(synIDtrans(hlID("Comment")), "bg") |
| < *highlightID()* |
| Obsolete name: highlightID(). |
| |
| hostname() *hostname()* |
| The result is a String, which is the name of the machine on |
| which Vim is currently running. Machine names greater than |
| 256 characters long are truncated. |
| |
| iconv({expr}, {from}, {to}) *iconv()* |
| The result is a String, which is the text {expr} converted |
| from encoding {from} to encoding {to}. |
| When the conversion fails an empty string is returned. |
| The encoding names are whatever the iconv() library function |
| can accept, see ":!man 3 iconv". |
| Most conversions require Vim to be compiled with the |+iconv| |
| feature. Otherwise only UTF-8 to latin1 conversion and back |
| can be done. |
| This can be used to display messages with special characters, |
| no matter what 'encoding' is set to. Write the message in |
| UTF-8 and use: > |
| echo iconv(utf8_str, "utf-8", &enc) |
| < Note that Vim uses UTF-8 for all Unicode encodings, conversion |
| from/to UCS-2 is automatically changed to use UTF-8. You |
| cannot use UCS-2 in a string anyway, because of the NUL bytes. |
| {only available when compiled with the +multi_byte feature} |
| |
| *indent()* |
| indent({lnum}) The result is a Number, which is indent of line {lnum} in the |
| current buffer. The indent is counted in spaces, the value |
| of 'tabstop' is relevant. {lnum} is used just like in |
| |getline()|. |
| When {lnum} is invalid -1 is returned. |
| |
| |
| index({list}, {expr} [, {start} [, {ic}]]) *index()* |
| Return the lowest index in |List| {list} where the item has a |
| value equal to {expr}. |
| If {start} is given then start looking at the item with index |
| {start} (may be negative for an item relative to the end). |
| When {ic} is given and it is non-zero, ignore case. Otherwise |
| case must match. |
| -1 is returned when {expr} is not found in {list}. |
| Example: > |
| :let idx = index(words, "the") |
| :if index(numbers, 123) >= 0 |
| |
| |
| input({prompt} [, {text} [, {completion}]]) *input()* |
| The result is a String, which is whatever the user typed on |
| the command-line. The parameter is either a prompt string, or |
| a blank string (for no prompt). A '\n' can be used in the |
| prompt to start a new line. |
| The highlighting set with |:echohl| is used for the prompt. |
| The input is entered just like a command-line, with the same |
| editing commands and mappings. There is a separate history |
| for lines typed for input(). |
| Example: > |
| :if input("Coffee or beer? ") == "beer" |
| : echo "Cheers!" |
| :endif |
| < |
| If the optional {text} is present and not empty, this is used |
| for the default reply, as if the user typed this. Example: > |
| :let color = input("Color? ", "white") |
| |
| < The optional {completion} argument specifies the type of |
| completion supported for the input. Without it completion is |
| not performed. The supported completion types are the same as |
| that can be supplied to a user-defined command using the |
| "-complete=" argument. Refer to |:command-completion| for |
| more information. Example: > |
| let fname = input("File: ", "", "file") |
| < |
| NOTE: This function must not be used in a startup file, for |
| the versions that only run in GUI mode (e.g., the Win32 GUI). |
| Note: When input() is called from within a mapping it will |
| consume remaining characters from that mapping, because a |
| mapping is handled like the characters were typed. |
| Use |inputsave()| before input() and |inputrestore()| |
| after input() to avoid that. Another solution is to avoid |
| that further characters follow in the mapping, e.g., by using |
| |:execute| or |:normal|. |
| |
| Example with a mapping: > |
| :nmap \x :call GetFoo()<CR>:exe "/" . Foo<CR> |
| :function GetFoo() |
| : call inputsave() |
| : let g:Foo = input("enter search pattern: ") |
| : call inputrestore() |
| :endfunction |
| |
| inputdialog({prompt} [, {text} [, {cancelreturn}]]) *inputdialog()* |
| Like input(), but when the GUI is running and text dialogs are |
| supported, a dialog window pops up to input the text. |
| Example: > |
| :let n = inputdialog("value for shiftwidth", &sw) |
| :if n != "" |
| : let &sw = n |
| :endif |
| < When the dialog is cancelled {cancelreturn} is returned. When |
| omitted an empty string is returned. |
| Hitting <Enter> works like pressing the OK button. Hitting |
| <Esc> works like pressing the Cancel button. |
| NOTE: Command-line completion is not supported. |
| |
| inputlist({textlist}) *inputlist()* |
| {textlist} must be a |List| of strings. This |List| is |
| displayed, one string per line. The user will be prompted to |
| enter a number, which is returned. |
| The user can also select an item by clicking on it with the |
| mouse. For the first string 0 is returned. When clicking |
| above the first item a negative number is returned. When |
| clicking on the prompt one more than the length of {textlist} |
| is returned. |
| Make sure {textlist} has less then 'lines' entries, otherwise |
| it won't work. It's a good idea to put the entry number at |
| the start of the string. And put a prompt in the first item. |
| Example: > |
| let color = inputlist(['Select color:', '1. red', |
| \ '2. green', '3. blue']) |
| |
| inputrestore() *inputrestore()* |
| Restore typeahead that was saved with a previous inputsave(). |
| Should be called the same number of times inputsave() is |
| called. Calling it more often is harmless though. |
| Returns 1 when there is nothing to restore, 0 otherwise. |
| |
| inputsave() *inputsave()* |
| Preserve typeahead (also from mappings) and clear it, so that |
| a following prompt gets input from the user. Should be |
| followed by a matching inputrestore() after the prompt. Can |
| be used several times, in which case there must be just as |
| many inputrestore() calls. |
| Returns 1 when out of memory, 0 otherwise. |
| |
| inputsecret({prompt} [, {text}]) *inputsecret()* |
| This function acts much like the |input()| function with but |
| two exceptions: |
| a) the user's response will be displayed as a sequence of |
| asterisks ("*") thereby keeping the entry secret, and |
| b) the user's response will not be recorded on the input |
| |history| stack. |
| The result is a String, which is whatever the user actually |
| typed on the command-line in response to the issued prompt. |
| NOTE: Command-line completion is not supported. |
| |
| insert({list}, {item} [, {idx}]) *insert()* |
| Insert {item} at the start of |List| {list}. |
| If {idx} is specified insert {item} before the item with index |
| {idx}. If {idx} is zero it goes before the first item, just |
| like omitting {idx}. A negative {idx} is also possible, see |
| |list-index|. -1 inserts just before the last item. |
| Returns the resulting |List|. Examples: > |
| :let mylist = insert([2, 3, 5], 1) |
| :call insert(mylist, 4, -1) |
| :call insert(mylist, 6, len(mylist)) |
| < The last example can be done simpler with |add()|. |
| Note that when {item} is a |List| it is inserted as a single |
| item. Use |extend()| to concatenate |Lists|. |
| |
| isdirectory({directory}) *isdirectory()* |
| The result is a Number, which is non-zero when a directory |
| with the name {directory} exists. If {directory} doesn't |
| exist, or isn't a directory, the result is FALSE. {directory} |
| is any expression, which is used as a String. |
| |
| islocked({expr}) *islocked()* *E786* |
| The result is a Number, which is non-zero when {expr} is the |
| name of a locked variable. |
| {expr} must be the name of a variable, |List| item or |
| |Dictionary| entry, not the variable itself! Example: > |
| :let alist = [0, ['a', 'b'], 2, 3] |
| :lockvar 1 alist |
| :echo islocked('alist') " 1 |
| :echo islocked('alist[1]') " 0 |
| |
| < When {expr} is a variable that does not exist you get an error |
| message. Use |exists()| to check for existence. |
| |
| items({dict}) *items()* |
| Return a |List| with all the key-value pairs of {dict}. Each |
| |List| item is a list with two items: the key of a {dict} |
| entry and the value of this entry. The |List| is in arbitrary |
| order. |
| |
| |
| join({list} [, {sep}]) *join()* |
| Join the items in {list} together into one String. |
| When {sep} is specified it is put in between the items. If |
| {sep} is omitted a single space is used. |
| Note that {sep} is not added at the end. You might want to |
| add it there too: > |
| let lines = join(mylist, "\n") . "\n" |
| < String items are used as-is. |Lists| and |Dictionaries| are |
| converted into a string like with |string()|. |
| The opposite function is |split()|. |
| |
| keys({dict}) *keys()* |
| Return a |List| with all the keys of {dict}. The |List| is in |
| arbitrary order. |
| |
| *len()* *E701* |
| len({expr}) The result is a Number, which is the length of the argument. |
| When {expr} is a String or a Number the length in bytes is |
| used, as with |strlen()|. |
| When {expr} is a |List| the number of items in the |List| is |
| returned. |
| When {expr} is a |Dictionary| the number of entries in the |
| |Dictionary| is returned. |
| Otherwise an error is given. |
| |
| *libcall()* *E364* *E368* |
| libcall({libname}, {funcname}, {argument}) |
| Call function {funcname} in the run-time library {libname} |
| with single argument {argument}. |
| This is useful to call functions in a library that you |
| especially made to be used with Vim. Since only one argument |
| is possible, calling standard library functions is rather |
| limited. |
| The result is the String returned by the function. If the |
| function returns NULL, this will appear as an empty string "" |
| to Vim. |
| If the function returns a number, use libcallnr()! |
| If {argument} is a number, it is passed to the function as an |
| int; if {argument} is a string, it is passed as a |
| null-terminated string. |
| This function will fail in |restricted-mode|. |
| |
| libcall() allows you to write your own 'plug-in' extensions to |
| Vim without having to recompile the program. It is NOT a |
| means to call system functions! If you try to do so Vim will |
| very probably crash. |
| |
| For Win32, the functions you write must be placed in a DLL |
| and use the normal C calling convention (NOT Pascal which is |
| used in Windows System DLLs). The function must take exactly |
| one parameter, either a character pointer or a long integer, |
| and must return a character pointer or NULL. The character |
| pointer returned must point to memory that will remain valid |
| after the function has returned (e.g. in static data in the |
| DLL). If it points to allocated memory, that memory will |
| leak away. Using a static buffer in the function should work, |
| it's then freed when the DLL is unloaded. |
| |
| WARNING: If the function returns a non-valid pointer, Vim may |
| crash! This also happens if the function returns a number, |
| because Vim thinks it's a pointer. |
| For Win32 systems, {libname} should be the filename of the DLL |
| without the ".DLL" suffix. A full path is only required if |
| the DLL is not in the usual places. |
| For Unix: When compiling your own plugins, remember that the |
| object code must be compiled as position-independent ('PIC'). |
| {only in Win32 on some Unix versions, when the |+libcall| |
| feature is present} |
| Examples: > |
| :echo libcall("libc.so", "getenv", "HOME") |
| < |
| *libcallnr()* |
| libcallnr({libname}, {funcname}, {argument}) |
| Just like libcall(), but used for a function that returns an |
| int instead of a string. |
| {only in Win32 on some Unix versions, when the |+libcall| |
| feature is present} |
| Examples: > |
| :echo libcallnr("/usr/lib/libc.so", "getpid", "") |
| :call libcallnr("libc.so", "printf", "Hello World!\n") |
| :call libcallnr("libc.so", "sleep", 10) |
| < |
| *line()* |
| line({expr}) The result is a Number, which is the line number of the file |
| position given with {expr}. The accepted positions are: |
| . the cursor position |
| $ the last line in the current buffer |
| 'x position of mark x (if the mark is not set, 0 is |
| returned) |
| w0 first line visible in current window |
| w$ last line visible in current window |
| v In Visual mode: the start of the Visual area (the |
| cursor is the end). When not in Visual mode |
| returns the cursor position. Differs from |'<| in |
| that it's updated right away. |
| Note that a mark in another file can be used. The line number |
| then applies to another buffer. |
| To get the column number use |col()|. To get both use |
| |getpos()|. |
| Examples: > |
| line(".") line number of the cursor |
| line("'t") line number of mark t |
| line("'" . marker) line number of mark marker |
| < *last-position-jump* |
| This autocommand jumps to the last known position in a file |
| just after opening it, if the '" mark is set: > |
| :au BufReadPost * if line("'\"") > 1 && line("'\"") <= line("$") | exe "normal! g'\"" | endif |
| |
| line2byte({lnum}) *line2byte()* |
| Return the byte count from the start of the buffer for line |
| {lnum}. This includes the end-of-line character, depending on |
| the 'fileformat' option for the current buffer. The first |
| line returns 1. |
| This can also be used to get the byte count for the line just |
| below the last line: > |
| line2byte(line("$") + 1) |
| < This is the file size plus one. |
| When {lnum} is invalid, or the |+byte_offset| feature has been |
| disabled at compile time, -1 is returned. |
| Also see |byte2line()|, |go| and |:goto|. |
| |
| lispindent({lnum}) *lispindent()* |
| Get the amount of indent for line {lnum} according the lisp |
| indenting rules, as with 'lisp'. |
| The indent is counted in spaces, the value of 'tabstop' is |
| relevant. {lnum} is used just like in |getline()|. |
| When {lnum} is invalid or Vim was not compiled the |
| |+lispindent| feature, -1 is returned. |
| |
| localtime() *localtime()* |
| Return the current time, measured as seconds since 1st Jan |
| 1970. See also |strftime()| and |getftime()|. |
| |
| |
| log10({expr}) *log10()* |
| Return the logarithm of Float {expr} to base 10 as a |Float|. |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo log10(1000) |
| < 3.0 > |
| :echo log10(0.01) |
| < -2.0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| map({expr}, {string}) *map()* |
| {expr} must be a |List| or a |Dictionary|. |
| Replace each item in {expr} with the result of evaluating |
| {string}. |
| Inside {string} |v:val| has the value of the current item. |
| For a |Dictionary| |v:key| has the key of the current item. |
| Example: > |
| :call map(mylist, '"> " . v:val . " <"') |
| < This puts "> " before and " <" after each item in "mylist". |
| |
| Note that {string} is the result of an expression and is then |
| used as an expression again. Often it is good to use a |
| |literal-string| to avoid having to double backslashes. You |
| still have to double ' quotes |
| |
| The operation is done in-place. If you want a |List| or |
| |Dictionary| to remain unmodified make a copy first: > |
| :let tlist = map(copy(mylist), ' & . "\t"') |
| |
| < Returns {expr}, the |List| or |Dictionary| that was filtered. |
| When an error is encountered while evaluating {string} no |
| further items in {expr} are processed. |
| |
| |
| maparg({name}[, {mode} [, {abbr}]]) *maparg()* |
| Return the rhs of mapping {name} in mode {mode}. When there |
| is no mapping for {name}, an empty String is returned. |
| {mode} can be one of these strings: |
| "n" Normal |
| "v" Visual |
| "o" Operator-pending |
| "i" Insert |
| "c" Cmd-line |
| "l" langmap |language-mapping| |
| "" Normal, Visual and Operator-pending |
| When {mode} is omitted, the modes for "" are used. |
| When {abbr} is there and it is non-zero use abbreviations |
| instead of mappings. |
| The {name} can have special key names, like in the ":map" |
| command. The returned String has special characters |
| translated like in the output of the ":map" command listing. |
| The mappings local to the current buffer are checked first, |
| then the global mappings. |
| This function can be used to map a key even when it's already |
| mapped, and have it do the original mapping too. Sketch: > |
| exe 'nnoremap <Tab> ==' . maparg('<Tab>', 'n') |
| |
| |
| mapcheck({name}[, {mode} [, {abbr}]]) *mapcheck()* |
| Check if there is a mapping that matches with {name} in mode |
| {mode}. See |maparg()| for {mode} and special names in |
| {name}. |
| When {abbr} is there and it is non-zero use abbreviations |
| instead of mappings. |
| A match happens with a mapping that starts with {name} and |
| with a mapping which is equal to the start of {name}. |
| |
| matches mapping "a" "ab" "abc" ~ |
| mapcheck("a") yes yes yes |
| mapcheck("abc") yes yes yes |
| mapcheck("ax") yes no no |
| mapcheck("b") no no no |
| |
| The difference with maparg() is that mapcheck() finds a |
| mapping that matches with {name}, while maparg() only finds a |
| mapping for {name} exactly. |
| When there is no mapping that starts with {name}, an empty |
| String is returned. If there is one, the rhs of that mapping |
| is returned. If there are several mappings that start with |
| {name}, the rhs of one of them is returned. |
| The mappings local to the current buffer are checked first, |
| then the global mappings. |
| This function can be used to check if a mapping can be added |
| without being ambiguous. Example: > |
| :if mapcheck("_vv") == "" |
| : map _vv :set guifont=7x13<CR> |
| :endif |
| < This avoids adding the "_vv" mapping when there already is a |
| mapping for "_v" or for "_vvv". |
| |
| match({expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) *match()* |
| When {expr} is a |List| then this returns the index of the |
| first item where {pat} matches. Each item is used as a |
| String, |Lists| and |Dictionaries| are used as echoed. |
| Otherwise, {expr} is used as a String. The result is a |
| Number, which gives the index (byte offset) in {expr} where |
| {pat} matches. |
| A match at the first character or |List| item returns zero. |
| If there is no match -1 is returned. |
| Example: > |
| :echo match("testing", "ing") " results in 4 |
| :echo match([1, 'x'], '\a') " results in 1 |
| < See |string-match| for how {pat} is used. |
| *strpbrk()* |
| Vim doesn't have a strpbrk() function. But you can do: > |
| :let sepidx = match(line, '[.,;: \t]') |
| < *strcasestr()* |
| Vim doesn't have a strcasestr() function. But you can add |
| "\c" to the pattern to ignore case: > |
| :let idx = match(haystack, '\cneedle') |
| < |
| If {start} is given, the search starts from byte index |
| {start} in a String or item {start} in a |List|. |
| The result, however, is still the index counted from the |
| first character/item. Example: > |
| :echo match("testing", "ing", 2) |
| < result is again "4". > |
| :echo match("testing", "ing", 4) |
| < result is again "4". > |
| :echo match("testing", "t", 2) |
| < result is "3". |
| For a String, if {start} > 0 then it is like the string starts |
| {start} bytes later, thus "^" will match at {start}. Except |
| when {count} is given, then it's like matches before the |
| {start} byte are ignored (this is a bit complicated to keep it |
| backwards compatible). |
| For a String, if {start} < 0, it will be set to 0. For a list |
| the index is counted from the end. |
| If {start} is out of range ({start} > strlen({expr}) for a |
| String or {start} > len({expr}) for a |List|) -1 is returned. |
| |
| When {count} is given use the {count}'th match. When a match |
| is found in a String the search for the next one starts one |
| character further. Thus this example results in 1: > |
| echo match("testing", "..", 0, 2) |
| < In a |List| the search continues in the next item. |
| Note that when {count} is added the way {start} works changes, |
| see above. |
| |
| See |pattern| for the patterns that are accepted. |
| The 'ignorecase' option is used to set the ignore-caseness of |
| the pattern. 'smartcase' is NOT used. The matching is always |
| done like 'magic' is set and 'cpoptions' is empty. |
| |
| *matchadd()* *E798* *E799* *E801* |
| matchadd({group}, {pattern}[, {priority}[, {id}]]) |
| Defines a pattern to be highlighted in the current window (a |
| "match"). It will be highlighted with {group}. Returns an |
| identification number (ID), which can be used to delete the |
| match using |matchdelete()|. |
| |
| The optional {priority} argument assigns a priority to the |
| match. A match with a high priority will have its |
| highlighting overrule that of a match with a lower priority. |
| A priority is specified as an integer (negative numbers are no |
| exception). If the {priority} argument is not specified, the |
| default priority is 10. The priority of 'hlsearch' is zero, |
| hence all matches with a priority greater than zero will |
| overrule it. Syntax highlighting (see 'syntax') is a separate |
| mechanism, and regardless of the chosen priority a match will |
| always overrule syntax highlighting. |
| |
| The optional {id} argument allows the request for a specific |
| match ID. If a specified ID is already taken, an error |
| message will appear and the match will not be added. An ID |
| is specified as a positive integer (zero excluded). IDs 1, 2 |
| and 3 are reserved for |:match|, |:2match| and |:3match|, |
| respectively. If the {id} argument is not specified, |
| |matchadd()| automatically chooses a free ID. |
| |
| The number of matches is not limited, as it is the case with |
| the |:match| commands. |
| |
| Example: > |
| :highlight MyGroup ctermbg=green guibg=green |
| :let m = matchadd("MyGroup", "TODO") |
| < Deletion of the pattern: > |
| :call matchdelete(m) |
| |
| < A list of matches defined by |matchadd()| and |:match| are |
| available from |getmatches()|. All matches can be deleted in |
| one operation by |clearmatches()|. |
| |
| matcharg({nr}) *matcharg()* |
| Selects the {nr} match item, as set with a |:match|, |
| |:2match| or |:3match| command. |
| Return a |List| with two elements: |
| The name of the highlight group used |
| The pattern used. |
| When {nr} is not 1, 2 or 3 returns an empty |List|. |
| When there is no match item set returns ['', '']. |
| This is useful to save and restore a |:match|. |
| Highlighting matches using the |:match| commands are limited |
| to three matches. |matchadd()| does not have this limitation. |
| |
| matchdelete({id}) *matchdelete()* *E802* *E803* |
| Deletes a match with ID {id} previously defined by |matchadd()| |
| or one of the |:match| commands. Returns 0 if successful, |
| otherwise -1. See example for |matchadd()|. All matches can |
| be deleted in one operation by |clearmatches()|. |
| |
| matchend({expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) *matchend()* |
| Same as match(), but return the index of first character after |
| the match. Example: > |
| :echo matchend("testing", "ing") |
| < results in "7". |
| *strspn()* *strcspn()* |
| Vim doesn't have a strspn() or strcspn() function, but you can |
| do it with matchend(): > |
| :let span = matchend(line, '[a-zA-Z]') |
| :let span = matchend(line, '[^a-zA-Z]') |
| < Except that -1 is returned when there are no matches. |
| |
| The {start}, if given, has the same meaning as for match(). > |
| :echo matchend("testing", "ing", 2) |
| < results in "7". > |
| :echo matchend("testing", "ing", 5) |
| < result is "-1". |
| When {expr} is a |List| the result is equal to match(). |
| |
| matchlist({expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) *matchlist()* |
| Same as match(), but return a |List|. The first item in the |
| list is the matched string, same as what matchstr() would |
| return. Following items are submatches, like "\1", "\2", etc. |
| in |:substitute|. When an optional submatch didn't match an |
| empty string is used. Example: > |
| echo matchlist('acd', '\(a\)\?\(b\)\?\(c\)\?\(.*\)') |
| < Results in: ['acd', 'a', '', 'c', 'd', '', '', '', '', ''] |
| When there is no match an empty list is returned. |
| |
| matchstr({expr}, {pat}[, {start}[, {count}]]) *matchstr()* |
| Same as |match()|, but return the matched string. Example: > |
| :echo matchstr("testing", "ing") |
| < results in "ing". |
| When there is no match "" is returned. |
| The {start}, if given, has the same meaning as for match(). > |
| :echo matchstr("testing", "ing", 2) |
| < results in "ing". > |
| :echo matchstr("testing", "ing", 5) |
| < result is "". |
| When {expr} is a |List| then the matching item is returned. |
| The type isn't changed, it's not necessarily a String. |
| |
| *max()* |
| max({list}) Return the maximum value of all items in {list}. |
| If {list} is not a list or one of the items in {list} cannot |
| be used as a Number this results in an error. |
| An empty |List| results in zero. |
| |
| *min()* |
| min({list}) Return the minimum value of all items in {list}. |
| If {list} is not a list or one of the items in {list} cannot |
| be used as a Number this results in an error. |
| An empty |List| results in zero. |
| |
| *mkdir()* *E739* |
| mkdir({name} [, {path} [, {prot}]]) |
| Create directory {name}. |
| If {path} is "p" then intermediate directories are created as |
| necessary. Otherwise it must be "". |
| If {prot} is given it is used to set the protection bits of |
| the new directory. The default is 0755 (rwxr-xr-x: r/w for |
| the user readable for others). Use 0700 to make it unreadable |
| for others. This is only used for the last part of {name}. |
| Thus if you create /tmp/foo/bar then /tmp/foo will be created |
| with 0755. |
| Example: > |
| :call mkdir($HOME . "/tmp/foo/bar", "p", 0700) |
| < This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| Not available on all systems. To check use: > |
| :if exists("*mkdir") |
| < |
| *mode()* |
| mode([expr]) Return a string that indicates the current mode. |
| If [expr] is supplied and it evaluates to a non-zero Number or |
| a non-empty String (|non-zero-arg|), then the full mode is |
| returned, otherwise only the first letter is returned. Note |
| that " " and "0" are also non-empty strings. |
| |
| n Normal |
| no Operator-pending |
| v Visual by character |
| V Visual by line |
| CTRL-V Visual blockwise |
| s Select by character |
| S Select by line |
| CTRL-S Select blockwise |
| i Insert |
| R Replace |R| |
| Rv Virtual Replace |gR| |
| c Command-line |
| cv Vim Ex mode |gQ| |
| ce Normal Ex mode |Q| |
| r Hit-enter prompt |
| rm The -- more -- prompt |
| r? A |:confirm| query of some sort |
| ! Shell or external command is executing |
| This is useful in the 'statusline' option or when used |
| with |remote_expr()| In most other places it always returns |
| "c" or "n". |
| Also see |visualmode()|. |
| |
| nextnonblank({lnum}) *nextnonblank()* |
| Return the line number of the first line at or below {lnum} |
| that is not blank. Example: > |
| if getline(nextnonblank(1)) =~ "Java" |
| < When {lnum} is invalid or there is no non-blank line at or |
| below it, zero is returned. |
| See also |prevnonblank()|. |
| |
| nr2char({expr}) *nr2char()* |
| Return a string with a single character, which has the number |
| value {expr}. Examples: > |
| nr2char(64) returns "@" |
| nr2char(32) returns " " |
| < The current 'encoding' is used. Example for "utf-8": > |
| nr2char(300) returns I with bow character |
| < Note that a NUL character in the file is specified with |
| nr2char(10), because NULs are represented with newline |
| characters. nr2char(0) is a real NUL and terminates the |
| string, thus results in an empty string. |
| |
| *getpid()* |
| getpid() Return a Number which is the process ID of the Vim process. |
| On Unix and MS-Windows this is a unique number, until Vim |
| exits. On MS-DOS it's always zero. |
| |
| *getpos()* |
| getpos({expr}) Get the position for {expr}. For possible values of {expr} |
| see |line()|. |
| The result is a |List| with four numbers: |
| [bufnum, lnum, col, off] |
| "bufnum" is zero, unless a mark like '0 or 'A is used, then it |
| is the buffer number of the mark. |
| "lnum" and "col" are the position in the buffer. The first |
| column is 1. |
| The "off" number is zero, unless 'virtualedit' is used. Then |
| it is the offset in screen columns from the start of the |
| character. E.g., a position within a <Tab> or after the last |
| character. |
| This can be used to save and restore the cursor position: > |
| let save_cursor = getpos(".") |
| MoveTheCursorAround |
| call setpos('.', save_cursor) |
| < Also see |setpos()|. |
| |
| pathshorten({expr}) *pathshorten()* |
| Shorten directory names in the path {expr} and return the |
| result. The tail, the file name, is kept as-is. The other |
| components in the path are reduced to single letters. Leading |
| '~' and '.' characters are kept. Example: > |
| :echo pathshorten('~/.vim/autoload/myfile.vim') |
| < ~/.v/a/myfile.vim ~ |
| It doesn't matter if the path exists or not. |
| |
| pow({x}, {y}) *pow()* |
| Return the power of {x} to the exponent {y} as a |Float|. |
| {x} and {y} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo pow(3, 3) |
| < 27.0 > |
| :echo pow(2, 16) |
| < 65536.0 > |
| :echo pow(32, 0.20) |
| < 2.0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| prevnonblank({lnum}) *prevnonblank()* |
| Return the line number of the first line at or above {lnum} |
| that is not blank. Example: > |
| let ind = indent(prevnonblank(v:lnum - 1)) |
| < When {lnum} is invalid or there is no non-blank line at or |
| above it, zero is returned. |
| Also see |nextnonblank()|. |
| |
| |
| printf({fmt}, {expr1} ...) *printf()* |
| Return a String with {fmt}, where "%" items are replaced by |
| the formatted form of their respective arguments. Example: > |
| printf("%4d: E%d %.30s", lnum, errno, msg) |
| < May result in: |
| " 99: E42 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfas" ~ |
| |
| Often used items are: |
| %s string |
| %6s string right-aligned in 6 bytes |
| %.9s string truncated to 9 bytes |
| %c single byte |
| %d decimal number |
| %5d decimal number padded with spaces to 5 characters |
| %x hex number |
| %04x hex number padded with zeros to at least 4 characters |
| %X hex number using upper case letters |
| %o octal number |
| %f floating point number in the form 123.456 |
| %e floating point number in the form 1.234e3 |
| %E floating point number in the form 1.234E3 |
| %g floating point number, as %f or %e depending on value |
| %G floating point number, as %f or %E depending on value |
| %% the % character itself |
| |
| Conversion specifications start with '%' and end with the |
| conversion type. All other characters are copied unchanged to |
| the result. |
| |
| The "%" starts a conversion specification. The following |
| arguments appear in sequence: |
| |
| % [flags] [field-width] [.precision] type |
| |
| flags |
| Zero or more of the following flags: |
| |
| # The value should be converted to an "alternate |
| form". For c, d, and s conversions, this option |
| has no effect. For o conversions, the precision |
| of the number is increased to force the first |
| character of the output string to a zero (except |
| if a zero value is printed with an explicit |
| precision of zero). |
| For x and X conversions, a non-zero result has |
| the string "0x" (or "0X" for X conversions) |
| prepended to it. |
| |
| 0 (zero) Zero padding. For all conversions the converted |
| value is padded on the left with zeros rather |
| than blanks. If a precision is given with a |
| numeric conversion (d, o, x, and X), the 0 flag |
| is ignored. |
| |
| - A negative field width flag; the converted value |
| is to be left adjusted on the field boundary. |
| The converted value is padded on the right with |
| blanks, rather than on the left with blanks or |
| zeros. A - overrides a 0 if both are given. |
| |
| ' ' (space) A blank should be left before a positive |
| number produced by a signed conversion (d). |
| |
| + A sign must always be placed before a number |
| produced by a signed conversion. A + overrides |
| a space if both are used. |
| |
| field-width |
| An optional decimal digit string specifying a minimum |
| field width. If the converted value has fewer bytes |
| than the field width, it will be padded with spaces on |
| the left (or right, if the left-adjustment flag has |
| been given) to fill out the field width. |
| |
| .precision |
| An optional precision, in the form of a period '.' |
| followed by an optional digit string. If the digit |
| string is omitted, the precision is taken as zero. |
| This gives the minimum number of digits to appear for |
| d, o, x, and X conversions, or the maximum number of |
| bytes to be printed from a string for s conversions. |
| For floating point it is the number of digits after |
| the decimal point. |
| |
| type |
| A character that specifies the type of conversion to |
| be applied, see below. |
| |
| A field width or precision, or both, may be indicated by an |
| asterisk '*' instead of a digit string. In this case, a |
| Number argument supplies the field width or precision. A |
| negative field width is treated as a left adjustment flag |
| followed by a positive field width; a negative precision is |
| treated as though it were missing. Example: > |
| :echo printf("%d: %.*s", nr, width, line) |
| < This limits the length of the text used from "line" to |
| "width" bytes. |
| |
| The conversion specifiers and their meanings are: |
| |
| *printf-d* *printf-o* *printf-x* *printf-X* |
| doxX The Number argument is converted to signed decimal |
| (d), unsigned octal (o), or unsigned hexadecimal (x |
| and X) notation. The letters "abcdef" are used for |
| x conversions; the letters "ABCDEF" are used for X |
| conversions. |
| The precision, if any, gives the minimum number of |
| digits that must appear; if the converted value |
| requires fewer digits, it is padded on the left with |
| zeros. |
| In no case does a non-existent or small field width |
| cause truncation of a numeric field; if the result of |
| a conversion is wider than the field width, the field |
| is expanded to contain the conversion result. |
| |
| *printf-c* |
| c The Number argument is converted to a byte, and the |
| resulting character is written. |
| |
| *printf-s* |
| s The text of the String argument is used. If a |
| precision is specified, no more bytes than the number |
| specified are used. |
| |
| *printf-f* *E807* |
| f The Float argument is converted into a string of the |
| form 123.456. The precision specifies the number of |
| digits after the decimal point. When the precision is |
| zero the decimal point is omitted. When the precision |
| is not specified 6 is used. A really big number |
| (out of range or dividing by zero) results in "inf". |
| "0.0 / 0.0" results in "nan". |
| Example: > |
| echo printf("%.2f", 12.115) |
| < 12.12 |
| Note that roundoff depends on the system libraries. |
| Use |round()| when in doubt. |
| |
| *printf-e* *printf-E* |
| e E The Float argument is converted into a string of the |
| form 1.234e+03 or 1.234E+03 when using 'E'. The |
| precision specifies the number of digits after the |
| decimal point, like with 'f'. |
| |
| *printf-g* *printf-G* |
| g G The Float argument is converted like with 'f' if the |
| value is between 0.001 (inclusive) and 10000000.0 |
| (exclusive). Otherwise 'e' is used for 'g' and 'E' |
| for 'G'. When no precision is specified superfluous |
| zeroes and '+' signs are removed, except for the zero |
| immediately after the decimal point. Thus 10000000.0 |
| results in 1.0e7. |
| |
| *printf-%* |
| % A '%' is written. No argument is converted. The |
| complete conversion specification is "%%". |
| |
| When a Number argument is expected a String argument is also |
| accepted and automatically converted. |
| When a Float or String argument is expected a Number argument |
| is also accepted and automatically converted. |
| Any other argument type results in an error message. |
| |
| *E766* *E767* |
| The number of {exprN} arguments must exactly match the number |
| of "%" items. If there are not sufficient or too many |
| arguments an error is given. Up to 18 arguments can be used. |
| |
| |
| pumvisible() *pumvisible()* |
| Returns non-zero when the popup menu is visible, zero |
| otherwise. See |ins-completion-menu|. |
| This can be used to avoid some things that would remove the |
| popup menu. |
| |
| *E726* *E727* |
| range({expr} [, {max} [, {stride}]]) *range()* |
| Returns a |List| with Numbers: |
| - If only {expr} is specified: [0, 1, ..., {expr} - 1] |
| - If {max} is specified: [{expr}, {expr} + 1, ..., {max}] |
| - If {stride} is specified: [{expr}, {expr} + {stride}, ..., |
| {max}] (increasing {expr} with {stride} each time, not |
| producing a value past {max}). |
| When the maximum is one before the start the result is an |
| empty list. When the maximum is more than one before the |
| start this is an error. |
| Examples: > |
| range(4) " [0, 1, 2, 3] |
| range(2, 4) " [2, 3, 4] |
| range(2, 9, 3) " [2, 5, 8] |
| range(2, -2, -1) " [2, 1, 0, -1, -2] |
| range(0) " [] |
| range(2, 0) " error! |
| < |
| *readfile()* |
| readfile({fname} [, {binary} [, {max}]]) |
| Read file {fname} and return a |List|, each line of the file |
| as an item. Lines broken at NL characters. Macintosh files |
| separated with CR will result in a single long line (unless a |
| NL appears somewhere). |
| When {binary} is equal to "b" binary mode is used: |
| - When the last line ends in a NL an extra empty list item is |
| added. |
| - No CR characters are removed. |
| Otherwise: |
| - CR characters that appear before a NL are removed. |
| - Whether the last line ends in a NL or not does not matter. |
| All NUL characters are replaced with a NL character. |
| When {max} is given this specifies the maximum number of lines |
| to be read. Useful if you only want to check the first ten |
| lines of a file: > |
| :for line in readfile(fname, '', 10) |
| : if line =~ 'Date' | echo line | endif |
| :endfor |
| < When {max} is negative -{max} lines from the end of the file |
| are returned, or as many as there are. |
| When {max} is zero the result is an empty list. |
| Note that without {max} the whole file is read into memory. |
| Also note that there is no recognition of encoding. Read a |
| file into a buffer if you need to. |
| When the file can't be opened an error message is given and |
| the result is an empty list. |
| Also see |writefile()|. |
| |
| reltime([{start} [, {end}]]) *reltime()* |
| Return an item that represents a time value. The format of |
| the item depends on the system. It can be passed to |
| |reltimestr()| to convert it to a string. |
| Without an argument it returns the current time. |
| With one argument is returns the time passed since the time |
| specified in the argument. |
| With two arguments it returns the time passed between {start} |
| and {end}. |
| The {start} and {end} arguments must be values returned by |
| reltime(). |
| {only available when compiled with the +reltime feature} |
| |
| reltimestr({time}) *reltimestr()* |
| Return a String that represents the time value of {time}. |
| This is the number of seconds, a dot and the number of |
| microseconds. Example: > |
| let start = reltime() |
| call MyFunction() |
| echo reltimestr(reltime(start)) |
| < Note that overhead for the commands will be added to the time. |
| The accuracy depends on the system. |
| Leading spaces are used to make the string align nicely. You |
| can use split() to remove it. > |
| echo split(reltimestr(reltime(start)))[0] |
| < Also see |profiling|. |
| {only available when compiled with the +reltime feature} |
| |
| *remote_expr()* *E449* |
| remote_expr({server}, {string} [, {idvar}]) |
| Send the {string} to {server}. The string is sent as an |
| expression and the result is returned after evaluation. |
| The result must be a String or a |List|. A |List| is turned |
| into a String by joining the items with a line break in |
| between (not at the end), like with join(expr, "\n"). |
| If {idvar} is present, it is taken as the name of a |
| variable and a {serverid} for later use with |
| remote_read() is stored there. |
| See also |clientserver| |RemoteReply|. |
| This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| {only available when compiled with the |+clientserver| feature} |
| Note: Any errors will cause a local error message to be issued |
| and the result will be the empty string. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo remote_expr("gvim", "2+2") |
| :echo remote_expr("gvim1", "b:current_syntax") |
| < |
| |
| remote_foreground({server}) *remote_foreground()* |
| Move the Vim server with the name {server} to the foreground. |
| This works like: > |
| remote_expr({server}, "foreground()") |
| < Except that on Win32 systems the client does the work, to work |
| around the problem that the OS doesn't always allow the server |
| to bring itself to the foreground. |
| Note: This does not restore the window if it was minimized, |
| like foreground() does. |
| This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| {only in the Win32, Athena, Motif and GTK GUI versions and the |
| Win32 console version} |
| |
| |
| remote_peek({serverid} [, {retvar}]) *remote_peek()* |
| Returns a positive number if there are available strings |
| from {serverid}. Copies any reply string into the variable |
| {retvar} if specified. {retvar} must be a string with the |
| name of a variable. |
| Returns zero if none are available. |
| Returns -1 if something is wrong. |
| See also |clientserver|. |
| This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| {only available when compiled with the |+clientserver| feature} |
| Examples: > |
| :let repl = "" |
| :echo "PEEK: ".remote_peek(id, "repl").": ".repl |
| |
| remote_read({serverid}) *remote_read()* |
| Return the oldest available reply from {serverid} and consume |
| it. It blocks until a reply is available. |
| See also |clientserver|. |
| This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| {only available when compiled with the |+clientserver| feature} |
| Example: > |
| :echo remote_read(id) |
| < |
| *remote_send()* *E241* |
| remote_send({server}, {string} [, {idvar}]) |
| Send the {string} to {server}. The string is sent as input |
| keys and the function returns immediately. At the Vim server |
| the keys are not mapped |:map|. |
| If {idvar} is present, it is taken as the name of a variable |
| and a {serverid} for later use with remote_read() is stored |
| there. |
| See also |clientserver| |RemoteReply|. |
| This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| {only available when compiled with the |+clientserver| feature} |
| Note: Any errors will be reported in the server and may mess |
| up the display. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo remote_send("gvim", ":DropAndReply ".file, "serverid"). |
| \ remote_read(serverid) |
| |
| :autocmd NONE RemoteReply * |
| \ echo remote_read(expand("<amatch>")) |
| :echo remote_send("gvim", ":sleep 10 | echo ". |
| \ 'server2client(expand("<client>"), "HELLO")<CR>') |
| < |
| remove({list}, {idx} [, {end}]) *remove()* |
| Without {end}: Remove the item at {idx} from |List| {list} and |
| return it. |
| With {end}: Remove items from {idx} to {end} (inclusive) and |
| return a list with these items. When {idx} points to the same |
| item as {end} a list with one item is returned. When {end} |
| points to an item before {idx} this is an error. |
| See |list-index| for possible values of {idx} and {end}. |
| Example: > |
| :echo "last item: " . remove(mylist, -1) |
| :call remove(mylist, 0, 9) |
| remove({dict}, {key}) |
| Remove the entry from {dict} with key {key}. Example: > |
| :echo "removed " . remove(dict, "one") |
| < If there is no {key} in {dict} this is an error. |
| |
| Use |delete()| to remove a file. |
| |
| rename({from}, {to}) *rename()* |
| Rename the file by the name {from} to the name {to}. This |
| should also work to move files across file systems. The |
| result is a Number, which is 0 if the file was renamed |
| successfully, and non-zero when the renaming failed. |
| NOTE: If {to} exists it is overwritten without warning. |
| This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| |
| repeat({expr}, {count}) *repeat()* |
| Repeat {expr} {count} times and return the concatenated |
| result. Example: > |
| :let separator = repeat('-', 80) |
| < When {count} is zero or negative the result is empty. |
| When {expr} is a |List| the result is {expr} concatenated |
| {count} times. Example: > |
| :let longlist = repeat(['a', 'b'], 3) |
| < Results in ['a', 'b', 'a', 'b', 'a', 'b']. |
| |
| |
| resolve({filename}) *resolve()* *E655* |
| On MS-Windows, when {filename} is a shortcut (a .lnk file), |
| returns the path the shortcut points to in a simplified form. |
| On Unix, repeat resolving symbolic links in all path |
| components of {filename} and return the simplified result. |
| To cope with link cycles, resolving of symbolic links is |
| stopped after 100 iterations. |
| On other systems, return the simplified {filename}. |
| The simplification step is done as by |simplify()|. |
| resolve() keeps a leading path component specifying the |
| current directory (provided the result is still a relative |
| path name) and also keeps a trailing path separator. |
| |
| *reverse()* |
| reverse({list}) Reverse the order of items in {list} in-place. Returns |
| {list}. |
| If you want a list to remain unmodified make a copy first: > |
| :let revlist = reverse(copy(mylist)) |
| |
| round({expr}) *round()* |
| Round off {expr} to the nearest integral value and return it |
| as a |Float|. If {expr} lies halfway between two integral |
| values, then use the larger one (away from zero). |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| echo round(0.456) |
| < 0.0 > |
| echo round(4.5) |
| < 5.0 > |
| echo round(-4.5) |
| < -5.0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| |
| search({pattern} [, {flags} [, {stopline} [, {timeout}]]]) *search()* |
| Search for regexp pattern {pattern}. The search starts at the |
| cursor position (you can use |cursor()| to set it). |
| |
| {flags} is a String, which can contain these character flags: |
| 'b' search backward instead of forward |
| 'c' accept a match at the cursor position |
| 'e' move to the End of the match |
| 'n' do Not move the cursor |
| 'p' return number of matching sub-pattern (see below) |
| 's' set the ' mark at the previous location of the cursor |
| 'w' wrap around the end of the file |
| 'W' don't wrap around the end of the file |
| If neither 'w' or 'W' is given, the 'wrapscan' option applies. |
| |
| If the 's' flag is supplied, the ' mark is set, only if the |
| cursor is moved. The 's' flag cannot be combined with the 'n' |
| flag. |
| |
| 'ignorecase', 'smartcase' and 'magic' are used. |
| |
| When the {stopline} argument is given then the search stops |
| after searching this line. This is useful to restrict the |
| search to a range of lines. Examples: > |
| let match = search('(', 'b', line("w0")) |
| let end = search('END', '', line("w$")) |
| < When {stopline} is used and it is not zero this also implies |
| that the search does not wrap around the end of the file. |
| A zero value is equal to not giving the argument. |
| |
| When the {timeout} argument is given the search stops when |
| more than this many milli seconds have passed. Thus when |
| {timeout} is 500 the search stops after half a second. |
| The value must not be negative. A zero value is like not |
| giving the argument. |
| {only available when compiled with the +reltime feature} |
| |
| If there is no match a 0 is returned and the cursor doesn't |
| move. No error message is given. |
| When a match has been found its line number is returned. |
| *search()-sub-match* |
| With the 'p' flag the returned value is one more than the |
| first sub-match in \(\). One if none of them matched but the |
| whole pattern did match. |
| To get the column number too use |searchpos()|. |
| |
| The cursor will be positioned at the match, unless the 'n' |
| flag is used. |
| |
| Example (goes over all files in the argument list): > |
| :let n = 1 |
| :while n <= argc() " loop over all files in arglist |
| : exe "argument " . n |
| : " start at the last char in the file and wrap for the |
| : " first search to find match at start of file |
| : normal G$ |
| : let flags = "w" |
| : while search("foo", flags) > 0 |
| : s/foo/bar/g |
| : let flags = "W" |
| : endwhile |
| : update " write the file if modified |
| : let n = n + 1 |
| :endwhile |
| < |
| Example for using some flags: > |
| :echo search('\<if\|\(else\)\|\(endif\)', 'ncpe') |
| < This will search for the keywords "if", "else", and "endif" |
| under or after the cursor. Because of the 'p' flag, it |
| returns 1, 2, or 3 depending on which keyword is found, or 0 |
| if the search fails. With the cursor on the first word of the |
| line: |
| if (foo == 0) | let foo = foo + 1 | endif ~ |
| the function returns 1. Without the 'c' flag, the function |
| finds the "endif" and returns 3. The same thing happens |
| without the 'e' flag if the cursor is on the "f" of "if". |
| The 'n' flag tells the function not to move the cursor. |
| |
| |
| searchdecl({name} [, {global} [, {thisblock}]]) *searchdecl()* |
| Search for the declaration of {name}. |
| |
| With a non-zero {global} argument it works like |gD|, find |
| first match in the file. Otherwise it works like |gd|, find |
| first match in the function. |
| |
| With a non-zero {thisblock} argument matches in a {} block |
| that ends before the cursor position are ignored. Avoids |
| finding variable declarations only valid in another scope. |
| |
| Moves the cursor to the found match. |
| Returns zero for success, non-zero for failure. |
| Example: > |
| if searchdecl('myvar') == 0 |
| echo getline('.') |
| endif |
| < |
| *searchpair()* |
| searchpair({start}, {middle}, {end} [, {flags} [, {skip} |
| [, {stopline} [, {timeout}]]]]) |
| Search for the match of a nested start-end pair. This can be |
| used to find the "endif" that matches an "if", while other |
| if/endif pairs in between are ignored. |
| The search starts at the cursor. The default is to search |
| forward, include 'b' in {flags} to search backward. |
| If a match is found, the cursor is positioned at it and the |
| line number is returned. If no match is found 0 or -1 is |
| returned and the cursor doesn't move. No error message is |
| given. |
| |
| {start}, {middle} and {end} are patterns, see |pattern|. They |
| must not contain \( \) pairs. Use of \%( \) is allowed. When |
| {middle} is not empty, it is found when searching from either |
| direction, but only when not in a nested start-end pair. A |
| typical use is: > |
| searchpair('\<if\>', '\<else\>', '\<endif\>') |
| < By leaving {middle} empty the "else" is skipped. |
| |
| {flags} 'b', 'c', 'n', 's', 'w' and 'W' are used like with |
| |search()|. Additionally: |
| 'r' Repeat until no more matches found; will find the |
| outer pair. Implies the 'W' flag. |
| 'm' Return number of matches instead of line number with |
| the match; will be > 1 when 'r' is used. |
| Note: it's nearly always a good idea to use the 'W' flag, to |
| avoid wrapping around the end of the file. |
| |
| When a match for {start}, {middle} or {end} is found, the |
| {skip} expression is evaluated with the cursor positioned on |
| the start of the match. It should return non-zero if this |
| match is to be skipped. E.g., because it is inside a comment |
| or a string. |
| When {skip} is omitted or empty, every match is accepted. |
| When evaluating {skip} causes an error the search is aborted |
| and -1 returned. |
| |
| For {stopline} and {timeout} see |search()|. |
| |
| The value of 'ignorecase' is used. 'magic' is ignored, the |
| patterns are used like it's on. |
| |
| The search starts exactly at the cursor. A match with |
| {start}, {middle} or {end} at the next character, in the |
| direction of searching, is the first one found. Example: > |
| if 1 |
| if 2 |
| endif 2 |
| endif 1 |
| < When starting at the "if 2", with the cursor on the "i", and |
| searching forwards, the "endif 2" is found. When starting on |
| the character just before the "if 2", the "endif 1" will be |
| found. That's because the "if 2" will be found first, and |
| then this is considered to be a nested if/endif from "if 2" to |
| "endif 2". |
| When searching backwards and {end} is more than one character, |
| it may be useful to put "\zs" at the end of the pattern, so |
| that when the cursor is inside a match with the end it finds |
| the matching start. |
| |
| Example, to find the "endif" command in a Vim script: > |
| |
| :echo searchpair('\<if\>', '\<el\%[seif]\>', '\<en\%[dif]\>', 'W', |
| \ 'getline(".") =~ "^\\s*\""') |
| |
| < The cursor must be at or after the "if" for which a match is |
| to be found. Note that single-quote strings are used to avoid |
| having to double the backslashes. The skip expression only |
| catches comments at the start of a line, not after a command. |
| Also, a word "en" or "if" halfway a line is considered a |
| match. |
| Another example, to search for the matching "{" of a "}": > |
| |
| :echo searchpair('{', '', '}', 'bW') |
| |
| < This works when the cursor is at or before the "}" for which a |
| match is to be found. To reject matches that syntax |
| highlighting recognized as strings: > |
| |
| :echo searchpair('{', '', '}', 'bW', |
| \ 'synIDattr(synID(line("."), col("."), 0), "name") =~? "string"') |
| < |
| *searchpairpos()* |
| searchpairpos({start}, {middle}, {end} [, {flags} [, {skip} |
| [, {stopline} [, {timeout}]]]]) |
| Same as searchpair(), but returns a |List| with the line and |
| column position of the match. The first element of the |List| |
| is the line number and the second element is the byte index of |
| the column position of the match. If no match is found, |
| returns [0, 0]. |
| > |
| :let [lnum,col] = searchpairpos('{', '', '}', 'n') |
| < |
| See |match-parens| for a bigger and more useful example. |
| |
| searchpos({pattern} [, {flags} [, {stopline} [, {timeout}]]]) *searchpos()* |
| Same as |search()|, but returns a |List| with the line and |
| column position of the match. The first element of the |List| |
| is the line number and the second element is the byte index of |
| the column position of the match. If no match is found, |
| returns [0, 0]. |
| Example: > |
| :let [lnum, col] = searchpos('mypattern', 'n') |
| |
| < When the 'p' flag is given then there is an extra item with |
| the sub-pattern match number |search()-sub-match|. Example: > |
| :let [lnum, col, submatch] = searchpos('\(\l\)\|\(\u\)', 'np') |
| < In this example "submatch" is 2 when a lowercase letter is |
| found |/\l|, 3 when an uppercase letter is found |/\u|. |
| |
| server2client( {clientid}, {string}) *server2client()* |
| Send a reply string to {clientid}. The most recent {clientid} |
| that sent a string can be retrieved with expand("<client>"). |
| {only available when compiled with the |+clientserver| feature} |
| Note: |
| This id has to be stored before the next command can be |
| received. I.e. before returning from the received command and |
| before calling any commands that waits for input. |
| See also |clientserver|. |
| Example: > |
| :echo server2client(expand("<client>"), "HELLO") |
| < |
| serverlist() *serverlist()* |
| Return a list of available server names, one per line. |
| When there are no servers or the information is not available |
| an empty string is returned. See also |clientserver|. |
| {only available when compiled with the |+clientserver| feature} |
| Example: > |
| :echo serverlist() |
| < |
| setbufvar({expr}, {varname}, {val}) *setbufvar()* |
| Set option or local variable {varname} in buffer {expr} to |
| {val}. |
| This also works for a global or local window option, but it |
| doesn't work for a global or local window variable. |
| For a local window option the global value is unchanged. |
| For the use of {expr}, see |bufname()| above. |
| Note that the variable name without "b:" must be used. |
| Examples: > |
| :call setbufvar(1, "&mod", 1) |
| :call setbufvar("todo", "myvar", "foobar") |
| < This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| |
| setcmdpos({pos}) *setcmdpos()* |
| Set the cursor position in the command line to byte position |
| {pos}. The first position is 1. |
| Use |getcmdpos()| to obtain the current position. |
| Only works while editing the command line, thus you must use |
| |c_CTRL-\_e|, |c_CTRL-R_=| or |c_CTRL-R_CTRL-R| with '='. For |
| |c_CTRL-\_e| and |c_CTRL-R_CTRL-R| with '=' the position is |
| set after the command line is set to the expression. For |
| |c_CTRL-R_=| it is set after evaluating the expression but |
| before inserting the resulting text. |
| When the number is too big the cursor is put at the end of the |
| line. A number smaller than one has undefined results. |
| Returns 0 when successful, 1 when not editing the command |
| line. |
| |
| setline({lnum}, {text}) *setline()* |
| Set line {lnum} of the current buffer to {text}. |
| {lnum} is used like with |getline()|. |
| When {lnum} is just below the last line the {text} will be |
| added as a new line. |
| If this succeeds, 0 is returned. If this fails (most likely |
| because {lnum} is invalid) 1 is returned. Example: > |
| :call setline(5, strftime("%c")) |
| < When {text} is a |List| then line {lnum} and following lines |
| will be set to the items in the list. Example: > |
| :call setline(5, ['aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc']) |
| < This is equivalent to: > |
| :for [n, l] in [[5, 6, 7], ['aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc']] |
| : call setline(n, l) |
| :endfor |
| < Note: The '[ and '] marks are not set. |
| |
| setloclist({nr}, {list} [, {action}]) *setloclist()* |
| Create or replace or add to the location list for window {nr}. |
| When {nr} is zero the current window is used. For a location |
| list window, the displayed location list is modified. For an |
| invalid window number {nr}, -1 is returned. |
| Otherwise, same as |setqflist()|. |
| Also see |location-list|. |
| |
| setmatches({list}) *setmatches()* |
| Restores a list of matches saved by |getmatches()|. Returns 0 |
| if successful, otherwise -1. All current matches are cleared |
| before the list is restored. See example for |getmatches()|. |
| |
| *setpos()* |
| setpos({expr}, {list}) |
| Set the position for {expr}. Possible values: |
| . the cursor |
| 'x mark x |
| |
| {list} must be a |List| with four numbers: |
| [bufnum, lnum, col, off] |
| |
| "bufnum" is the buffer number. Zero can be used for the |
| current buffer. Setting the cursor is only possible for |
| the current buffer. To set a mark in another buffer you can |
| use the |bufnr()| function to turn a file name into a buffer |
| number. |
| Does not change the jumplist. |
| |
| "lnum" and "col" are the position in the buffer. The first |
| column is 1. Use a zero "lnum" to delete a mark. |
| |
| The "off" number is only used when 'virtualedit' is set. Then |
| it is the offset in screen columns from the start of the |
| character. E.g., a position within a <Tab> or after the last |
| character. |
| |
| Returns 0 when the position could be set, -1 otherwise. |
| An error message is given if {expr} is invalid. |
| |
| Also see |getpos()| |
| |
| This does not restore the preferred column for moving |
| vertically. See |winrestview()| for that. |
| |
| |
| setqflist({list} [, {action}]) *setqflist()* |
| Create or replace or add to the quickfix list using the items |
| in {list}. Each item in {list} is a dictionary. |
| Non-dictionary items in {list} are ignored. Each dictionary |
| item can contain the following entries: |
| |
| bufnr buffer number; must be the number of a valid |
| buffer |
| filename name of a file; only used when "bufnr" is not |
| present or it is invalid. |
| lnum line number in the file |
| pattern search pattern used to locate the error |
| col column number |
| vcol when non-zero: "col" is visual column |
| when zero: "col" is byte index |
| nr error number |
| text description of the error |
| type single-character error type, 'E', 'W', etc. |
| |
| The "col", "vcol", "nr", "type" and "text" entries are |
| optional. Either "lnum" or "pattern" entry can be used to |
| locate a matching error line. |
| If the "filename" and "bufnr" entries are not present or |
| neither the "lnum" or "pattern" entries are present, then the |
| item will not be handled as an error line. |
| If both "pattern" and "lnum" are present then "pattern" will |
| be used. |
| Note that the list is not exactly the same as what |
| |getqflist()| returns. |
| |
| If {action} is set to 'a', then the items from {list} are |
| added to the existing quickfix list. If there is no existing |
| list, then a new list is created. If {action} is set to 'r', |
| then the items from the current quickfix list are replaced |
| with the items from {list}. If {action} is not present or is |
| set to ' ', then a new list is created. |
| |
| Returns zero for success, -1 for failure. |
| |
| This function can be used to create a quickfix list |
| independent of the 'errorformat' setting. Use a command like |
| ":cc 1" to jump to the first position. |
| |
| |
| *setreg()* |
| setreg({regname}, {value} [,{options}]) |
| Set the register {regname} to {value}. |
| If {options} contains "a" or {regname} is upper case, |
| then the value is appended. |
| {options} can also contains a register type specification: |
| "c" or "v" |characterwise| mode |
| "l" or "V" |linewise| mode |
| "b" or "<CTRL-V>" |blockwise-visual| mode |
| If a number immediately follows "b" or "<CTRL-V>" then this is |
| used as the width of the selection - if it is not specified |
| then the width of the block is set to the number of characters |
| in the longest line (counting a <Tab> as 1 character). |
| |
| If {options} contains no register settings, then the default |
| is to use character mode unless {value} ends in a <NL>. |
| Setting the '=' register is not possible. |
| Returns zero for success, non-zero for failure. |
| |
| Examples: > |
| :call setreg(v:register, @*) |
| :call setreg('*', @%, 'ac') |
| :call setreg('a', "1\n2\n3", 'b5') |
| |
| < This example shows using the functions to save and restore a |
| register. > |
| :let var_a = getreg('a', 1) |
| :let var_amode = getregtype('a') |
| .... |
| :call setreg('a', var_a, var_amode) |
| |
| < You can also change the type of a register by appending |
| nothing: > |
| :call setreg('a', '', 'al') |
| |
| settabwinvar({tabnr}, {winnr}, {varname}, {val}) *settabwinvar()* |
| Set option or local variable {varname} in window {winnr} to |
| {val}. |
| Tabs are numbered starting with one. For the current tabpage |
| use |setwinvar()|. |
| When {winnr} is zero the current window is used. |
| This also works for a global or local buffer option, but it |
| doesn't work for a global or local buffer variable. |
| For a local buffer option the global value is unchanged. |
| Note that the variable name without "w:" must be used. |
| Vim briefly goes to the tab page {tabnr}, this may trigger |
| TabLeave and TabEnter autocommands. |
| Examples: > |
| :call settabwinvar(1, 1, "&list", 0) |
| :call settabwinvar(3, 2, "myvar", "foobar") |
| < This function is not available in the |sandbox|. |
| |
| setwinvar({nr}, {varname}, {val}) *setwinvar()* |
| Like |settabwinvar()| for the current tab page. |
| Examples: > |
| :call setwinvar(1, "&list", 0) |
| :call setwinvar(2, "myvar", "foobar") |
| |
| shellescape({string} [, {special}]) *shellescape()* |
| Escape {string} for use as shell command argument. |
| On MS-Windows and MS-DOS, when 'shellslash' is not set, it |
| will enclose {string} in double quotes and double all double |
| quotes within {string}. |
| For other systems, it will enclose {string} in single quotes |
| and replace all "'" with "'\''". |
| When the {special} argument is present and it's a non-zero |
| Number or a non-empty String (|non-zero-arg|), then special |
| items such as "!", "%", "#" and "<cword>" will be preceded by |
| a backslash. This backslash will be removed again by the |:!| |
| command. |
| The "!" character will be escaped (again with a |non-zero-arg| |
| {special}) when 'shell' contains "csh" in the tail. That is |
| because for csh and tcsh "!" is used for history replacement |
| even when inside single quotes. |
| The <NL> character is also escaped. With a |non-zero-arg| |
| {special} and 'shell' containing "csh" in the tail it's |
| escaped a second time. |
| Example of use with a |:!| command: > |
| :exe '!dir ' . shellescape(expand('<cfile>'), 1) |
| < This results in a directory listing for the file under the |
| cursor. Example of use with |system()|: > |
| :call system("chmod +w -- " . shellescape(expand("%"))) |
| |
| |
| simplify({filename}) *simplify()* |
| Simplify the file name as much as possible without changing |
| the meaning. Shortcuts (on MS-Windows) or symbolic links (on |
| Unix) are not resolved. If the first path component in |
| {filename} designates the current directory, this will be |
| valid for the result as well. A trailing path separator is |
| not removed either. |
| Example: > |
| simplify("./dir/.././/file/") == "./file/" |
| < Note: The combination "dir/.." is only removed if "dir" is |
| a searchable directory or does not exist. On Unix, it is also |
| removed when "dir" is a symbolic link within the same |
| directory. In order to resolve all the involved symbolic |
| links before simplifying the path name, use |resolve()|. |
| |
| |
| sin({expr}) *sin()* |
| Return the sine of {expr}, measured in radians, as a |Float|. |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo sin(100) |
| < -0.506366 > |
| :echo sin(-4.01) |
| < 0.763301 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| |
| sort({list} [, {func}]) *sort()* *E702* |
| Sort the items in {list} in-place. Returns {list}. If you |
| want a list to remain unmodified make a copy first: > |
| :let sortedlist = sort(copy(mylist)) |
| < Uses the string representation of each item to sort on. |
| Numbers sort after Strings, |Lists| after Numbers. |
| For sorting text in the current buffer use |:sort|. |
| When {func} is given and it is one then case is ignored. |
| When {func} is a |Funcref| or a function name, this function |
| is called to compare items. The function is invoked with two |
| items as argument and must return zero if they are equal, 1 if |
| the first one sorts after the second one, -1 if the first one |
| sorts before the second one. Example: > |
| func MyCompare(i1, i2) |
| return a:i1 == a:i2 ? 0 : a:i1 > a:i2 ? 1 : -1 |
| endfunc |
| let sortedlist = sort(mylist, "MyCompare") |
| < |
| |
| *soundfold()* |
| soundfold({word}) |
| Return the sound-folded equivalent of {word}. Uses the first |
| language in 'spelllang' for the current window that supports |
| soundfolding. 'spell' must be set. When no sound folding is |
| possible the {word} is returned unmodified. |
| This can be used for making spelling suggestions. Note that |
| the method can be quite slow. |
| |
| *spellbadword()* |
| spellbadword([{sentence}]) |
| Without argument: The result is the badly spelled word under |
| or after the cursor. The cursor is moved to the start of the |
| bad word. When no bad word is found in the cursor line the |
| result is an empty string and the cursor doesn't move. |
| |
| With argument: The result is the first word in {sentence} that |
| is badly spelled. If there are no spelling mistakes the |
| result is an empty string. |
| |
| The return value is a list with two items: |
| - The badly spelled word or an empty string. |
| - The type of the spelling error: |
| "bad" spelling mistake |
| "rare" rare word |
| "local" word only valid in another region |
| "caps" word should start with Capital |
| Example: > |
| echo spellbadword("the quik brown fox") |
| < ['quik', 'bad'] ~ |
| |
| The spelling information for the current window is used. The |
| 'spell' option must be set and the value of 'spelllang' is |
| used. |
| |
| *spellsuggest()* |
| spellsuggest({word} [, {max} [, {capital}]]) |
| Return a |List| with spelling suggestions to replace {word}. |
| When {max} is given up to this number of suggestions are |
| returned. Otherwise up to 25 suggestions are returned. |
| |
| When the {capital} argument is given and it's non-zero only |
| suggestions with a leading capital will be given. Use this |
| after a match with 'spellcapcheck'. |
| |
| {word} can be a badly spelled word followed by other text. |
| This allows for joining two words that were split. The |
| suggestions also include the following text, thus you can |
| replace a line. |
| |
| {word} may also be a good word. Similar words will then be |
| returned. {word} itself is not included in the suggestions, |
| although it may appear capitalized. |
| |
| The spelling information for the current window is used. The |
| 'spell' option must be set and the values of 'spelllang' and |
| 'spellsuggest' are used. |
| |
| |
| split({expr} [, {pattern} [, {keepempty}]]) *split()* |
| Make a |List| out of {expr}. When {pattern} is omitted or |
| empty each white-separated sequence of characters becomes an |
| item. |
| Otherwise the string is split where {pattern} matches, |
| removing the matched characters. |
| When the first or last item is empty it is omitted, unless the |
| {keepempty} argument is given and it's non-zero. |
| Other empty items are kept when {pattern} matches at least one |
| character or when {keepempty} is non-zero. |
| Example: > |
| :let words = split(getline('.'), '\W\+') |
| < To split a string in individual characters: > |
| :for c in split(mystring, '\zs') |
| < If you want to keep the separator you can also use '\zs': > |
| :echo split('abc:def:ghi', ':\zs') |
| < ['abc:', 'def:', 'ghi'] ~ |
| Splitting a table where the first element can be empty: > |
| :let items = split(line, ':', 1) |
| < The opposite function is |join()|. |
| |
| |
| sqrt({expr}) *sqrt()* |
| Return the non-negative square root of Float {expr} as a |
| |Float|. |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. When {expr} |
| is negative the result is NaN (Not a Number). |
| Examples: > |
| :echo sqrt(100) |
| < 10.0 > |
| :echo sqrt(-4.01) |
| < nan |
| "nan" may be different, it depends on system libraries. |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| |
| str2float( {expr}) *str2float()* |
| Convert String {expr} to a Float. This mostly works the same |
| as when using a floating point number in an expression, see |
| |floating-point-format|. But it's a bit more permissive. |
| E.g., "1e40" is accepted, while in an expression you need to |
| write "1.0e40". |
| Text after the number is silently ignored. |
| The decimal point is always '.', no matter what the locale is |
| set to. A comma ends the number: "12,345.67" is converted to |
| 12.0. You can strip out thousands separators with |
| |substitute()|: > |
| let f = str2float(substitute(text, ',', '', 'g')) |
| < {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| |
| str2nr( {expr} [, {base}]) *str2nr()* |
| Convert string {expr} to a number. |
| {base} is the conversion base, it can be 8, 10 or 16. |
| When {base} is omitted base 10 is used. This also means that |
| a leading zero doesn't cause octal conversion to be used, as |
| with the default String to Number conversion. |
| When {base} is 16 a leading "0x" or "0X" is ignored. With a |
| different base the result will be zero. |
| Text after the number is silently ignored. |
| |
| |
| strftime({format} [, {time}]) *strftime()* |
| The result is a String, which is a formatted date and time, as |
| specified by the {format} string. The given {time} is used, |
| or the current time if no time is given. The accepted |
| {format} depends on your system, thus this is not portable! |
| See the manual page of the C function strftime() for the |
| format. The maximum length of the result is 80 characters. |
| See also |localtime()| and |getftime()|. |
| The language can be changed with the |:language| command. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo strftime("%c") Sun Apr 27 11:49:23 1997 |
| :echo strftime("%Y %b %d %X") 1997 Apr 27 11:53:25 |
| :echo strftime("%y%m%d %T") 970427 11:53:55 |
| :echo strftime("%H:%M") 11:55 |
| :echo strftime("%c", getftime("file.c")) |
| Show mod time of file.c. |
| < Not available on all systems. To check use: > |
| :if exists("*strftime") |
| |
| stridx({haystack}, {needle} [, {start}]) *stridx()* |
| The result is a Number, which gives the byte index in |
| {haystack} of the first occurrence of the String {needle}. |
| If {start} is specified, the search starts at index {start}. |
| This can be used to find a second match: > |
| :let comma1 = stridx(line, ",") |
| :let comma2 = stridx(line, ",", comma1 + 1) |
| < The search is done case-sensitive. |
| For pattern searches use |match()|. |
| -1 is returned if the {needle} does not occur in {haystack}. |
| See also |strridx()|. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo stridx("An Example", "Example") 3 |
| :echo stridx("Starting point", "Start") 0 |
| :echo stridx("Starting point", "start") -1 |
| < *strstr()* *strchr()* |
| stridx() works similar to the C function strstr(). When used |
| with a single character it works similar to strchr(). |
| |
| *string()* |
| string({expr}) Return {expr} converted to a String. If {expr} is a Number, |
| Float, String or a composition of them, then the result can be |
| parsed back with |eval()|. |
| {expr} type result ~ |
| String 'string' |
| Number 123 |
| Float 123.123456 or 1.123456e8 |
| Funcref function('name') |
| List [item, item] |
| Dictionary {key: value, key: value} |
| Note that in String values the ' character is doubled. |
| Also see |strtrans()|. |
| |
| *strlen()* |
| strlen({expr}) The result is a Number, which is the length of the String |
| {expr} in bytes. |
| If you want to count the number of multi-byte characters (not |
| counting composing characters) use something like this: > |
| |
| :let len = strlen(substitute(str, ".", "x", "g")) |
| < |
| If the argument is a Number it is first converted to a String. |
| For other types an error is given. |
| Also see |len()|. |
| |
| strpart({src}, {start}[, {len}]) *strpart()* |
| The result is a String, which is part of {src}, starting from |
| byte {start}, with the byte length {len}. |
| When non-existing bytes are included, this doesn't result in |
| an error, the bytes are simply omitted. |
| If {len} is missing, the copy continues from {start} till the |
| end of the {src}. > |
| strpart("abcdefg", 3, 2) == "de" |
| strpart("abcdefg", -2, 4) == "ab" |
| strpart("abcdefg", 5, 4) == "fg" |
| strpart("abcdefg", 3) == "defg" |
| < Note: To get the first character, {start} must be 0. For |
| example, to get three bytes under and after the cursor: > |
| strpart(getline("."), col(".") - 1, 3) |
| < |
| strridx({haystack}, {needle} [, {start}]) *strridx()* |
| The result is a Number, which gives the byte index in |
| {haystack} of the last occurrence of the String {needle}. |
| When {start} is specified, matches beyond this index are |
| ignored. This can be used to find a match before a previous |
| match: > |
| :let lastcomma = strridx(line, ",") |
| :let comma2 = strridx(line, ",", lastcomma - 1) |
| < The search is done case-sensitive. |
| For pattern searches use |match()|. |
| -1 is returned if the {needle} does not occur in {haystack}. |
| If the {needle} is empty the length of {haystack} is returned. |
| See also |stridx()|. Examples: > |
| :echo strridx("an angry armadillo", "an") 3 |
| < *strrchr()* |
| When used with a single character it works similar to the C |
| function strrchr(). |
| |
| strtrans({expr}) *strtrans()* |
| The result is a String, which is {expr} with all unprintable |
| characters translated into printable characters |'isprint'|. |
| Like they are shown in a window. Example: > |
| echo strtrans(@a) |
| < This displays a newline in register a as "^@" instead of |
| starting a new line. |
| |
| submatch({nr}) *submatch()* |
| Only for an expression in a |:substitute| command. Returns |
| the {nr}'th submatch of the matched text. When {nr} is 0 |
| the whole matched text is returned. |
| Example: > |
| :s/\d\+/\=submatch(0) + 1/ |
| < This finds the first number in the line and adds one to it. |
| A line break is included as a newline character. |
| |
| substitute({expr}, {pat}, {sub}, {flags}) *substitute()* |
| The result is a String, which is a copy of {expr}, in which |
| the first match of {pat} is replaced with {sub}. This works |
| like the ":substitute" command (without any flags). But the |
| matching with {pat} is always done like the 'magic' option is |
| set and 'cpoptions' is empty (to make scripts portable). |
| 'ignorecase' is still relevant. 'smartcase' is not used. |
| See |string-match| for how {pat} is used. |
| And a "~" in {sub} is not replaced with the previous {sub}. |
| Note that some codes in {sub} have a special meaning |
| |sub-replace-special|. For example, to replace something with |
| "\n" (two characters), use "\\\\n" or '\\n'. |
| When {pat} does not match in {expr}, {expr} is returned |
| unmodified. |
| When {flags} is "g", all matches of {pat} in {expr} are |
| replaced. Otherwise {flags} should be "". |
| Example: > |
| :let &path = substitute(&path, ",\\=[^,]*$", "", "") |
| < This removes the last component of the 'path' option. > |
| :echo substitute("testing", ".*", "\\U\\0", "") |
| < results in "TESTING". |
| |
| synID({lnum}, {col}, {trans}) *synID()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the syntax ID at the position |
| {lnum} and {col} in the current window. |
| The syntax ID can be used with |synIDattr()| and |
| |synIDtrans()| to obtain syntax information about text. |
| |
| {col} is 1 for the leftmost column, {lnum} is 1 for the first |
| line. 'synmaxcol' applies, in a longer line zero is returned. |
| |
| When {trans} is non-zero, transparent items are reduced to the |
| item that they reveal. This is useful when wanting to know |
| the effective color. When {trans} is zero, the transparent |
| item is returned. This is useful when wanting to know which |
| syntax item is effective (e.g. inside parens). |
| Warning: This function can be very slow. Best speed is |
| obtained by going through the file in forward direction. |
| |
| Example (echoes the name of the syntax item under the cursor): > |
| :echo synIDattr(synID(line("."), col("."), 1), "name") |
| < |
| synIDattr({synID}, {what} [, {mode}]) *synIDattr()* |
| The result is a String, which is the {what} attribute of |
| syntax ID {synID}. This can be used to obtain information |
| about a syntax item. |
| {mode} can be "gui", "cterm" or "term", to get the attributes |
| for that mode. When {mode} is omitted, or an invalid value is |
| used, the attributes for the currently active highlighting are |
| used (GUI, cterm or term). |
| Use synIDtrans() to follow linked highlight groups. |
| {what} result |
| "name" the name of the syntax item |
| "fg" foreground color (GUI: color name used to set |
| the color, cterm: color number as a string, |
| term: empty string) |
| "bg" background color (as with "fg") |
| "sp" special color (as with "fg") |highlight-guisp| |
| "fg#" like "fg", but for the GUI and the GUI is |
| running the name in "#RRGGBB" form |
| "bg#" like "fg#" for "bg" |
| "sp#" like "fg#" for "sp" |
| "bold" "1" if bold |
| "italic" "1" if italic |
| "reverse" "1" if reverse |
| "inverse" "1" if inverse (= reverse) |
| "underline" "1" if underlined |
| "undercurl" "1" if undercurled |
| |
| Example (echoes the color of the syntax item under the |
| cursor): > |
| :echo synIDattr(synIDtrans(synID(line("."), col("."), 1)), "fg") |
| < |
| synIDtrans({synID}) *synIDtrans()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the translated syntax ID of |
| {synID}. This is the syntax group ID of what is being used to |
| highlight the character. Highlight links given with |
| ":highlight link" are followed. |
| |
| synstack({lnum}, {col}) *synstack()* |
| Return a |List|, which is the stack of syntax items at the |
| position {lnum} and {col} in the current window. Each item in |
| the List is an ID like what |synID()| returns. |
| The first item in the List is the outer region, following are |
| items contained in that one. The last one is what |synID()| |
| returns, unless not the whole item is highlighted or it is a |
| transparent item. |
| This function is useful for debugging a syntax file. |
| Example that shows the syntax stack under the cursor: > |
| for id in synstack(line("."), col(".")) |
| echo synIDattr(id, "name") |
| endfor |
| |
| system({expr} [, {input}]) *system()* *E677* |
| Get the output of the shell command {expr}. |
| When {input} is given, this string is written to a file and |
| passed as stdin to the command. The string is written as-is, |
| you need to take care of using the correct line separators |
| yourself. Pipes are not used. |
| Note: Use |shellescape()| to escape special characters in a |
| command argument. Newlines in {expr} may cause the command to |
| fail. The characters in 'shellquote' and 'shellxquote' may |
| also cause trouble. |
| This is not to be used for interactive commands. |
| |
| The result is a String. Example: > |
| :let files = system("ls " . shellescape(expand('%:h'))) |
| |
| < To make the result more system-independent, the shell output |
| is filtered to replace <CR> with <NL> for Macintosh, and |
| <CR><NL> with <NL> for DOS-like systems. |
| The command executed is constructed using several options: |
| 'shell' 'shellcmdflag' 'shellxquote' {expr} 'shellredir' {tmp} 'shellxquote' |
| ({tmp} is an automatically generated file name). |
| For Unix and OS/2 braces are put around {expr} to allow for |
| concatenated commands. |
| |
| The command will be executed in "cooked" mode, so that a |
| CTRL-C will interrupt the command (on Unix at least). |
| |
| The resulting error code can be found in |v:shell_error|. |
| This function will fail in |restricted-mode|. |
| |
| Note that any wrong value in the options mentioned above may |
| make the function fail. It has also been reported to fail |
| when using a security agent application. |
| Unlike ":!cmd" there is no automatic check for changed files. |
| Use |:checktime| to force a check. |
| |
| |
| tabpagebuflist([{arg}]) *tabpagebuflist()* |
| The result is a |List|, where each item is the number of the |
| buffer associated with each window in the current tab page. |
| {arg} specifies the number of tab page to be used. When |
| omitted the current tab page is used. |
| When {arg} is invalid the number zero is returned. |
| To get a list of all buffers in all tabs use this: > |
| tablist = [] |
| for i in range(tabpagenr('$')) |
| call extend(tablist, tabpagebuflist(i + 1)) |
| endfor |
| < Note that a buffer may appear in more than one window. |
| |
| |
| tabpagenr([{arg}]) *tabpagenr()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the number of the current |
| tab page. The first tab page has number 1. |
| When the optional argument is "$", the number of the last tab |
| page is returned (the tab page count). |
| The number can be used with the |:tab| command. |
| |
| |
| tabpagewinnr({tabarg}, [{arg}]) *tabpagewinnr()* |
| Like |winnr()| but for tab page {arg}. |
| {tabarg} specifies the number of tab page to be used. |
| {arg} is used like with |winnr()|: |
| - When omitted the current window number is returned. This is |
| the window which will be used when going to this tab page. |
| - When "$" the number of windows is returned. |
| - When "#" the previous window nr is returned. |
| Useful examples: > |
| tabpagewinnr(1) " current window of tab page 1 |
| tabpagewinnr(4, '$') " number of windows in tab page 4 |
| < When {tabarg} is invalid zero is returned. |
| |
| *tagfiles()* |
| tagfiles() Returns a |List| with the file names used to search for tags |
| for the current buffer. This is the 'tags' option expanded. |
| |
| |
| taglist({expr}) *taglist()* |
| Returns a list of tags matching the regular expression {expr}. |
| Each list item is a dictionary with at least the following |
| entries: |
| name Name of the tag. |
| filename Name of the file where the tag is |
| defined. It is either relative to the |
| current directory or a full path. |
| cmd Ex command used to locate the tag in |
| the file. |
| kind Type of the tag. The value for this |
| entry depends on the language specific |
| kind values. Only available when |
| using a tags file generated by |
| Exuberant ctags or hdrtag. |
| static A file specific tag. Refer to |
| |static-tag| for more information. |
| More entries may be present, depending on the content of the |
| tags file: access, implementation, inherits and signature. |
| Refer to the ctags documentation for information about these |
| fields. For C code the fields "struct", "class" and "enum" |
| may appear, they give the name of the entity the tag is |
| contained in. |
| |
| The ex-command 'cmd' can be either an ex search pattern, a |
| line number or a line number followed by a byte number. |
| |
| If there are no matching tags, then an empty list is returned. |
| |
| To get an exact tag match, the anchors '^' and '$' should be |
| used in {expr}. Refer to |tag-regexp| for more information |
| about the tag search regular expression pattern. |
| |
| Refer to |'tags'| for information about how the tags file is |
| located by Vim. Refer to |tags-file-format| for the format of |
| the tags file generated by the different ctags tools. |
| |
| tempname() *tempname()* *temp-file-name* |
| The result is a String, which is the name of a file that |
| doesn't exist. It can be used for a temporary file. The name |
| is different for at least 26 consecutive calls. Example: > |
| :let tmpfile = tempname() |
| :exe "redir > " . tmpfile |
| < For Unix, the file will be in a private directory (only |
| accessible by the current user) to avoid security problems |
| (e.g., a symlink attack or other people reading your file). |
| When Vim exits the directory and all files in it are deleted. |
| For MS-Windows forward slashes are used when the 'shellslash' |
| option is set or when 'shellcmdflag' starts with '-'. |
| |
| tolower({expr}) *tolower()* |
| The result is a copy of the String given, with all uppercase |
| characters turned into lowercase (just like applying |gu| to |
| the string). |
| |
| toupper({expr}) *toupper()* |
| The result is a copy of the String given, with all lowercase |
| characters turned into uppercase (just like applying |gU| to |
| the string). |
| |
| tr({src}, {fromstr}, {tostr}) *tr()* |
| The result is a copy of the {src} string with all characters |
| which appear in {fromstr} replaced by the character in that |
| position in the {tostr} string. Thus the first character in |
| {fromstr} is translated into the first character in {tostr} |
| and so on. Exactly like the unix "tr" command. |
| This code also deals with multibyte characters properly. |
| |
| Examples: > |
| echo tr("hello there", "ht", "HT") |
| < returns "Hello THere" > |
| echo tr("<blob>", "<>", "{}") |
| < returns "{blob}" |
| |
| trunc({expr}) *trunc()* |
| Return the largest integral value with magnitude less than or |
| equal to {expr} as a |Float| (truncate towards zero). |
| {expr} must evaluate to a |Float| or a |Number|. |
| Examples: > |
| echo trunc(1.456) |
| < 1.0 > |
| echo trunc(-5.456) |
| < -5.0 > |
| echo trunc(4.0) |
| < 4.0 |
| {only available when compiled with the |+float| feature} |
| |
| *type()* |
| type({expr}) The result is a Number, depending on the type of {expr}: |
| Number: 0 |
| String: 1 |
| Funcref: 2 |
| List: 3 |
| Dictionary: 4 |
| Float: 5 |
| To avoid the magic numbers it should be used this way: > |
| :if type(myvar) == type(0) |
| :if type(myvar) == type("") |
| :if type(myvar) == type(function("tr")) |
| :if type(myvar) == type([]) |
| :if type(myvar) == type({}) |
| :if type(myvar) == type(0.0) |
| |
| values({dict}) *values()* |
| Return a |List| with all the values of {dict}. The |List| is |
| in arbitrary order. |
| |
| |
| virtcol({expr}) *virtcol()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the screen column of the file |
| position given with {expr}. That is, the last screen position |
| occupied by the character at that position, when the screen |
| would be of unlimited width. When there is a <Tab> at the |
| position, the returned Number will be the column at the end of |
| the <Tab>. For example, for a <Tab> in column 1, with 'ts' |
| set to 8, it returns 8. |
| For the byte position use |col()|. |
| For the use of {expr} see |col()|. |
| When 'virtualedit' is used {expr} can be [lnum, col, off], where |
| "off" is the offset in screen columns from the start of the |
| character. E.g., a position within a <Tab> or after the last |
| character. |
| When Virtual editing is active in the current mode, a position |
| beyond the end of the line can be returned. |'virtualedit'| |
| The accepted positions are: |
| . the cursor position |
| $ the end of the cursor line (the result is the |
| number of displayed characters in the cursor line |
| plus one) |
| 'x position of mark x (if the mark is not set, 0 is |
| returned) |
| Note that only marks in the current file can be used. |
| Examples: > |
| virtcol(".") with text "foo^Lbar", with cursor on the "^L", returns 5 |
| virtcol("$") with text "foo^Lbar", returns 9 |
| virtcol("'t") with text " there", with 't at 'h', returns 6 |
| < The first column is 1. 0 is returned for an error. |
| A more advanced example that echoes the maximum length of |
| all lines: > |
| echo max(map(range(1, line('$')), "virtcol([v:val, '$'])")) |
| |
| |
| visualmode([expr]) *visualmode()* |
| The result is a String, which describes the last Visual mode |
| used in the current buffer. Initially it returns an empty |
| string, but once Visual mode has been used, it returns "v", |
| "V", or "<CTRL-V>" (a single CTRL-V character) for |
| character-wise, line-wise, or block-wise Visual mode |
| respectively. |
| Example: > |
| :exe "normal " . visualmode() |
| < This enters the same Visual mode as before. It is also useful |
| in scripts if you wish to act differently depending on the |
| Visual mode that was used. |
| If Visual mode is active, use |mode()| to get the Visual mode |
| (e.g., in a |:vmap|). |
| *non-zero-arg* |
| If [expr] is supplied and it evaluates to a non-zero Number or |
| a non-empty String, then the Visual mode will be cleared and |
| the old value is returned. Note that " " and "0" are also |
| non-empty strings, thus cause the mode to be cleared. A List, |
| Dictionary or Float is not a Number or String, thus does not |
| cause the mode to be cleared. |
| |
| *winbufnr()* |
| winbufnr({nr}) The result is a Number, which is the number of the buffer |
| associated with window {nr}. When {nr} is zero, the number of |
| the buffer in the current window is returned. When window |
| {nr} doesn't exist, -1 is returned. |
| Example: > |
| :echo "The file in the current window is " . bufname(winbufnr(0)) |
| < |
| *wincol()* |
| wincol() The result is a Number, which is the virtual column of the |
| cursor in the window. This is counting screen cells from the |
| left side of the window. The leftmost column is one. |
| |
| winheight({nr}) *winheight()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the height of window {nr}. |
| When {nr} is zero, the height of the current window is |
| returned. When window {nr} doesn't exist, -1 is returned. |
| An existing window always has a height of zero or more. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo "The current window has " . winheight(0) . " lines." |
| < |
| *winline()* |
| winline() The result is a Number, which is the screen line of the cursor |
| in the window. This is counting screen lines from the top of |
| the window. The first line is one. |
| If the cursor was moved the view on the file will be updated |
| first, this may cause a scroll. |
| |
| *winnr()* |
| winnr([{arg}]) The result is a Number, which is the number of the current |
| window. The top window has number 1. |
| When the optional argument is "$", the number of the |
| last window is returned (the window count). |
| When the optional argument is "#", the number of the last |
| accessed window is returned (where |CTRL-W_p| goes to). |
| If there is no previous window or it is in another tab page 0 |
| is returned. |
| The number can be used with |CTRL-W_w| and ":wincmd w" |
| |:wincmd|. |
| Also see |tabpagewinnr()|. |
| |
| *winrestcmd()* |
| winrestcmd() Returns a sequence of |:resize| commands that should restore |
| the current window sizes. Only works properly when no windows |
| are opened or closed and the current window and tab page is |
| unchanged. |
| Example: > |
| :let cmd = winrestcmd() |
| :call MessWithWindowSizes() |
| :exe cmd |
| < |
| *winrestview()* |
| winrestview({dict}) |
| Uses the |Dictionary| returned by |winsaveview()| to restore |
| the view of the current window. |
| If you have changed the values the result is unpredictable. |
| If the window size changed the result won't be the same. |
| |
| *winsaveview()* |
| winsaveview() Returns a |Dictionary| that contains information to restore |
| the view of the current window. Use |winrestview()| to |
| restore the view. |
| This is useful if you have a mapping that jumps around in the |
| buffer and you want to go back to the original view. |
| This does not save fold information. Use the 'foldenable' |
| option to temporarily switch off folding, so that folds are |
| not opened when moving around. |
| The return value includes: |
| lnum cursor line number |
| col cursor column |
| coladd cursor column offset for 'virtualedit' |
| curswant column for vertical movement |
| topline first line in the window |
| topfill filler lines, only in diff mode |
| leftcol first column displayed |
| skipcol columns skipped |
| Note that no option values are saved. |
| |
| |
| winwidth({nr}) *winwidth()* |
| The result is a Number, which is the width of window {nr}. |
| When {nr} is zero, the width of the current window is |
| returned. When window {nr} doesn't exist, -1 is returned. |
| An existing window always has a width of zero or more. |
| Examples: > |
| :echo "The current window has " . winwidth(0) . " columns." |
| :if winwidth(0) <= 50 |
| : exe "normal 50\<C-W>|" |
| :endif |
| < |
| *writefile()* |
| writefile({list}, {fname} [, {binary}]) |
| Write |List| {list} to file {fname}. Each list item is |
| separated with a NL. Each list item must be a String or |
| Number. |
| When {binary} is equal to "b" binary mode is used: There will |
| not be a NL after the last list item. An empty item at the |
| end does cause the last line in the file to end in a NL. |
| All NL characters are replaced with a NUL character. |
| Inserting CR characters needs to be done before passing {list} |
| to writefile(). |
| An existing file is overwritten, if possible. |
| When the write fails -1 is returned, otherwise 0. There is an |
| error message if the file can't be created or when writing |
| fails. |
| Also see |readfile()|. |
| To copy a file byte for byte: > |
| :let fl = readfile("foo", "b") |
| :call writefile(fl, "foocopy", "b") |
| < |
| |
| *feature-list* |
| There are three types of features: |
| 1. Features that are only supported when they have been enabled when Vim |
| was compiled |+feature-list|. Example: > |
| :if has("cindent") |
| 2. Features that are only supported when certain conditions have been met. |
| Example: > |
| :if has("gui_running") |
| < *has-patch* |
| 3. Included patches. First check |v:version| for the version of Vim. |
| Then the "patch123" feature means that patch 123 has been included for |
| this version. Example (checking version 6.2.148 or later): > |
| :if v:version > 602 || v:version == 602 && has("patch148") |
| < Note that it's possible for patch 147 to be omitted even though 148 is |
| included. |
| |
| all_builtin_terms Compiled with all builtin terminals enabled. |
| amiga Amiga version of Vim. |
| arabic Compiled with Arabic support |Arabic|. |
| arp Compiled with ARP support (Amiga). |
| autocmd Compiled with autocommand support. |autocommand| |
| balloon_eval Compiled with |balloon-eval| support. |
| balloon_multiline GUI supports multiline balloons. |
| beos BeOS version of Vim. |
| browse Compiled with |:browse| support, and browse() will |
| work. |
| builtin_terms Compiled with some builtin terminals. |
| byte_offset Compiled with support for 'o' in 'statusline' |
| cindent Compiled with 'cindent' support. |
| clientserver Compiled with remote invocation support |clientserver|. |
| clipboard Compiled with 'clipboard' support. |
| cmdline_compl Compiled with |cmdline-completion| support. |
| cmdline_hist Compiled with |cmdline-history| support. |
| cmdline_info Compiled with 'showcmd' and 'ruler' support. |
| comments Compiled with |'comments'| support. |
| cryptv Compiled with encryption support |encryption|. |
| cscope Compiled with |cscope| support. |
| compatible Compiled to be very Vi compatible. |
| debug Compiled with "DEBUG" defined. |
| dialog_con Compiled with console dialog support. |
| dialog_gui Compiled with GUI dialog support. |
| diff Compiled with |vimdiff| and 'diff' support. |
| digraphs Compiled with support for digraphs. |
| dnd Compiled with support for the "~ register |quote_~|. |
| dos32 32 bits DOS (DJGPP) version of Vim. |
| dos16 16 bits DOS version of Vim. |
| ebcdic Compiled on a machine with ebcdic character set. |
| emacs_tags Compiled with support for Emacs tags. |
| eval Compiled with expression evaluation support. Always |
| true, of course! |
| ex_extra Compiled with extra Ex commands |+ex_extra|. |
| extra_search Compiled with support for |'incsearch'| and |
| |'hlsearch'| |
| farsi Compiled with Farsi support |farsi|. |
| file_in_path Compiled with support for |gf| and |<cfile>| |
| filterpipe When 'shelltemp' is off pipes are used for shell |
| read/write/filter commands |
| find_in_path Compiled with support for include file searches |
| |+find_in_path|. |
| float Compiled with support for |Float|. |
| fname_case Case in file names matters (for Amiga, MS-DOS, and |
| Windows this is not present). |
| folding Compiled with |folding| support. |
| footer Compiled with GUI footer support. |gui-footer| |
| fork Compiled to use fork()/exec() instead of system(). |
| gettext Compiled with message translation |multi-lang| |
| gui Compiled with GUI enabled. |
| gui_athena Compiled with Athena GUI. |
| gui_gtk Compiled with GTK+ GUI (any version). |
| gui_gtk2 Compiled with GTK+ 2 GUI (gui_gtk is also defined). |
| gui_gnome Compiled with Gnome support (gui_gtk is also defined). |
| gui_mac Compiled with Macintosh GUI. |
| gui_motif Compiled with Motif GUI. |
| gui_photon Compiled with Photon GUI. |
| gui_win32 Compiled with MS Windows Win32 GUI. |
| gui_win32s idem, and Win32s system being used (Windows 3.1) |
| gui_running Vim is running in the GUI, or it will start soon. |
| hangul_input Compiled with Hangul input support. |hangul| |
| iconv Can use iconv() for conversion. |
| insert_expand Compiled with support for CTRL-X expansion commands in |
| Insert mode. |
| jumplist Compiled with |jumplist| support. |
| keymap Compiled with 'keymap' support. |
| langmap Compiled with 'langmap' support. |
| libcall Compiled with |libcall()| support. |
| linebreak Compiled with 'linebreak', 'breakat' and 'showbreak' |
| support. |
| lispindent Compiled with support for lisp indenting. |
| listcmds Compiled with commands for the buffer list |:files| |
| and the argument list |arglist|. |
| localmap Compiled with local mappings and abbr. |:map-local| |
| mac Macintosh version of Vim. |
| macunix Macintosh version of Vim, using Unix files (OS-X). |
| menu Compiled with support for |:menu|. |
| mksession Compiled with support for |:mksession|. |
| modify_fname Compiled with file name modifiers. |filename-modifiers| |
| mouse Compiled with support mouse. |
| mouseshape Compiled with support for 'mouseshape'. |
| mouse_dec Compiled with support for Dec terminal mouse. |
| mouse_gpm Compiled with support for gpm (Linux console mouse) |
| mouse_netterm Compiled with support for netterm mouse. |
| mouse_pterm Compiled with support for qnx pterm mouse. |
| mouse_sysmouse Compiled with support for sysmouse (*BSD console mouse) |
| mouse_xterm Compiled with support for xterm mouse. |
| multi_byte Compiled with support for 'encoding' |
| multi_byte_encoding 'encoding' is set to a multi-byte encoding. |
| multi_byte_ime Compiled with support for IME input method. |
| multi_lang Compiled with support for multiple languages. |
| mzscheme Compiled with MzScheme interface |mzscheme|. |
| netbeans_intg Compiled with support for |netbeans|. |
| netbeans_enabled Compiled with support for |netbeans| and it's used. |
| ole Compiled with OLE automation support for Win32. |
| os2 OS/2 version of Vim. |
| osfiletype Compiled with support for osfiletypes |+osfiletype| |
| path_extra Compiled with up/downwards search in 'path' and 'tags' |
| perl Compiled with Perl interface. |
| postscript Compiled with PostScript file printing. |
| printer Compiled with |:hardcopy| support. |
| profile Compiled with |:profile| support. |
| python Compiled with Python interface. |
| qnx QNX version of Vim. |
| quickfix Compiled with |quickfix| support. |
| reltime Compiled with |reltime()| support. |
| rightleft Compiled with 'rightleft' support. |
| ruby Compiled with Ruby interface |ruby|. |
| scrollbind Compiled with 'scrollbind' support. |
| showcmd Compiled with 'showcmd' support. |
| signs Compiled with |:sign| support. |
| smartindent Compiled with 'smartindent' support. |
| sniff Compiled with SNiFF interface support. |
| statusline Compiled with support for 'statusline', 'rulerformat' |
| and special formats of 'titlestring' and 'iconstring'. |
| sun_workshop Compiled with support for Sun |workshop|. |
| spell Compiled with spell checking support |spell|. |
| syntax Compiled with syntax highlighting support |syntax|. |
| syntax_items There are active syntax highlighting items for the |
| current buffer. |
| system Compiled to use system() instead of fork()/exec(). |
| tag_binary Compiled with binary searching in tags files |
| |tag-binary-search|. |
| tag_old_static Compiled with support for old static tags |
| |tag-old-static|. |
| tag_any_white Compiled with support for any white characters in tags |
| files |tag-any-white|. |
| tcl Compiled with Tcl interface. |
| terminfo Compiled with terminfo instead of termcap. |
| termresponse Compiled with support for |t_RV| and |v:termresponse|. |
| textobjects Compiled with support for |text-objects|. |
| tgetent Compiled with tgetent support, able to use a termcap |
| or terminfo file. |
| title Compiled with window title support |'title'|. |
| toolbar Compiled with support for |gui-toolbar|. |
| unix Unix version of Vim. |
| user_commands User-defined commands. |
| viminfo Compiled with viminfo support. |
| vim_starting True while initial source'ing takes place. |
| vertsplit Compiled with vertically split windows |:vsplit|. |
| virtualedit Compiled with 'virtualedit' option. |
| visual Compiled with Visual mode. |
| visualextra Compiled with extra Visual mode commands. |
| |blockwise-operators|. |
| vms VMS version of Vim. |
| vreplace Compiled with |gR| and |gr| commands. |
| wildignore Compiled with 'wildignore' option. |
| wildmenu Compiled with 'wildmenu' option. |
| windows Compiled with support for more than one window. |
| winaltkeys Compiled with 'winaltkeys' option. |
| win16 Win16 version of Vim (MS-Windows 3.1). |
| win32 Win32 version of Vim (MS-Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP). |
| win64 Win64 version of Vim (MS-Windows 64 bit). |
| win32unix Win32 version of Vim, using Unix files (Cygwin) |
| win95 Win32 version for MS-Windows 95/98/ME. |
| writebackup Compiled with 'writebackup' default on. |
| xfontset Compiled with X fontset support |xfontset|. |
| xim Compiled with X input method support |xim|. |
| xsmp Compiled with X session management support. |
| xsmp_interact Compiled with interactive X session management support. |
| xterm_clipboard Compiled with support for xterm clipboard. |
| xterm_save Compiled with support for saving and restoring the |
| xterm screen. |
| x11 Compiled with X11 support. |
| |
| *string-match* |
| Matching a pattern in a String |
| |
| A regexp pattern as explained at |pattern| is normally used to find a match in |
| the buffer lines. When a pattern is used to find a match in a String, almost |
| everything works in the same way. The difference is that a String is handled |
| like it is one line. When it contains a "\n" character, this is not seen as a |
| line break for the pattern. It can be matched with a "\n" in the pattern, or |
| with ".". Example: > |
| :let a = "aaaa\nxxxx" |
| :echo matchstr(a, "..\n..") |
| aa |
| xx |
| :echo matchstr(a, "a.x") |
| a |
| x |
| |
| Don't forget that "^" will only match at the first character of the String and |
| "$" at the last character of the string. They don't match after or before a |
| "\n". |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 5. Defining functions *user-functions* |
| |
| New functions can be defined. These can be called just like builtin |
| functions. The function executes a sequence of Ex commands. Normal mode |
| commands can be executed with the |:normal| command. |
| |
| The function name must start with an uppercase letter, to avoid confusion with |
| builtin functions. To prevent from using the same name in different scripts |
| avoid obvious, short names. A good habit is to start the function name with |
| the name of the script, e.g., "HTMLcolor()". |
| |
| It's also possible to use curly braces, see |curly-braces-names|. And the |
| |autoload| facility is useful to define a function only when it's called. |
| |
| *local-function* |
| A function local to a script must start with "s:". A local script function |
| can only be called from within the script and from functions, user commands |
| and autocommands defined in the script. It is also possible to call the |
| function from a mapping defined in the script, but then |<SID>| must be used |
| instead of "s:" when the mapping is expanded outside of the script. |
| |
| *:fu* *:function* *E128* *E129* *E123* |
| :fu[nction] List all functions and their arguments. |
| |
| :fu[nction] {name} List function {name}. |
| {name} can also be a |Dictionary| entry that is a |
| |Funcref|: > |
| :function dict.init |
| |
| :fu[nction] /{pattern} List functions with a name matching {pattern}. |
| Example that lists all functions ending with "File": > |
| :function /File$ |
| < |
| *:function-verbose* |
| When 'verbose' is non-zero, listing a function will also display where it was |
| last defined. Example: > |
| |
| :verbose function SetFileTypeSH |
| function SetFileTypeSH(name) |
| Last set from /usr/share/vim/vim-7.0/filetype.vim |
| < |
| See |:verbose-cmd| for more information. |
| |
| *E124* *E125* |
| :fu[nction][!] {name}([arguments]) [range] [abort] [dict] |
| Define a new function by the name {name}. The name |
| must be made of alphanumeric characters and '_', and |
| must start with a capital or "s:" (see above). |
| |
| {name} can also be a |Dictionary| entry that is a |
| |Funcref|: > |
| :function dict.init(arg) |
| < "dict" must be an existing dictionary. The entry |
| "init" is added if it didn't exist yet. Otherwise [!] |
| is required to overwrite an existing function. The |
| result is a |Funcref| to a numbered function. The |
| function can only be used with a |Funcref| and will be |
| deleted if there are no more references to it. |
| *E127* *E122* |
| When a function by this name already exists and [!] is |
| not used an error message is given. When [!] is used, |
| an existing function is silently replaced. Unless it |
| is currently being executed, that is an error. |
| |
| For the {arguments} see |function-argument|. |
| |
| *a:firstline* *a:lastline* |
| When the [range] argument is added, the function is |
| expected to take care of a range itself. The range is |
| passed as "a:firstline" and "a:lastline". If [range] |
| is excluded, ":{range}call" will call the function for |
| each line in the range, with the cursor on the start |
| of each line. See |function-range-example|. |
| |
| When the [abort] argument is added, the function will |
| abort as soon as an error is detected. |
| |
| When the [dict] argument is added, the function must |
| be invoked through an entry in a |Dictionary|. The |
| local variable "self" will then be set to the |
| dictionary. See |Dictionary-function|. |
| |
| *function-search-undo* |
| The last used search pattern and the redo command "." |
| will not be changed by the function. This also |
| implies that the effect of |:nohlsearch| is undone |
| when the function returns. |
| |
| *:endf* *:endfunction* *E126* *E193* |
| :endf[unction] The end of a function definition. Must be on a line |
| by its own, without other commands. |
| |
| *:delf* *:delfunction* *E130* *E131* |
| :delf[unction] {name} Delete function {name}. |
| {name} can also be a |Dictionary| entry that is a |
| |Funcref|: > |
| :delfunc dict.init |
| < This will remove the "init" entry from "dict". The |
| function is deleted if there are no more references to |
| it. |
| *:retu* *:return* *E133* |
| :retu[rn] [expr] Return from a function. When "[expr]" is given, it is |
| evaluated and returned as the result of the function. |
| If "[expr]" is not given, the number 0 is returned. |
| When a function ends without an explicit ":return", |
| the number 0 is returned. |
| Note that there is no check for unreachable lines, |
| thus there is no warning if commands follow ":return". |
| |
| If the ":return" is used after a |:try| but before the |
| matching |:finally| (if present), the commands |
| following the ":finally" up to the matching |:endtry| |
| are executed first. This process applies to all |
| nested ":try"s inside the function. The function |
| returns at the outermost ":endtry". |
| |
| *function-argument* *a:var* |
| An argument can be defined by giving its name. In the function this can then |
| be used as "a:name" ("a:" for argument). |
| *a:0* *a:1* *a:000* *E740* *...* |
| Up to 20 arguments can be given, separated by commas. After the named |
| arguments an argument "..." can be specified, which means that more arguments |
| may optionally be following. In the function the extra arguments can be used |
| as "a:1", "a:2", etc. "a:0" is set to the number of extra arguments (which |
| can be 0). "a:000" is set to a |List| that contains these arguments. Note |
| that "a:1" is the same as "a:000[0]". |
| *E742* |
| The a: scope and the variables in it cannot be changed, they are fixed. |
| However, if a |List| or |Dictionary| is used, you can change their contents. |
| Thus you can pass a |List| to a function and have the function add an item to |
| it. If you want to make sure the function cannot change a |List| or |
| |Dictionary| use |:lockvar|. |
| |
| When not using "...", the number of arguments in a function call must be equal |
| to the number of named arguments. When using "...", the number of arguments |
| may be larger. |
| |
| It is also possible to define a function without any arguments. You must |
| still supply the () then. The body of the function follows in the next lines, |
| until the matching |:endfunction|. It is allowed to define another function |
| inside a function body. |
| |
| *local-variables* |
| Inside a function variables can be used. These are local variables, which |
| will disappear when the function returns. Global variables need to be |
| accessed with "g:". |
| |
| Example: > |
| :function Table(title, ...) |
| : echohl Title |
| : echo a:title |
| : echohl None |
| : echo a:0 . " items:" |
| : for s in a:000 |
| : echon ' ' . s |
| : endfor |
| :endfunction |
| |
| This function can then be called with: > |
| call Table("Table", "line1", "line2") |
| call Table("Empty Table") |
| |
| To return more than one value, return a |List|: > |
| :function Compute(n1, n2) |
| : if a:n2 == 0 |
| : return ["fail", 0] |
| : endif |
| : return ["ok", a:n1 / a:n2] |
| :endfunction |
| |
| This function can then be called with: > |
| :let [success, div] = Compute(102, 6) |
| :if success == "ok" |
| : echo div |
| :endif |
| < |
| *:cal* *:call* *E107* *E117* |
| :[range]cal[l] {name}([arguments]) |
| Call a function. The name of the function and its arguments |
| are as specified with |:function|. Up to 20 arguments can be |
| used. The returned value is discarded. |
| Without a range and for functions that accept a range, the |
| function is called once. When a range is given the cursor is |
| positioned at the start of the first line before executing the |
| function. |
| When a range is given and the function doesn't handle it |
| itself, the function is executed for each line in the range, |
| with the cursor in the first column of that line. The cursor |
| is left at the last line (possibly moved by the last function |
| call). The arguments are re-evaluated for each line. Thus |
| this works: |
| *function-range-example* > |
| :function Mynumber(arg) |
| : echo line(".") . " " . a:arg |
| :endfunction |
| :1,5call Mynumber(getline(".")) |
| < |
| The "a:firstline" and "a:lastline" are defined anyway, they |
| can be used to do something different at the start or end of |
| the range. |
| |
| Example of a function that handles the range itself: > |
| |
| :function Cont() range |
| : execute (a:firstline + 1) . "," . a:lastline . 's/^/\t\\ ' |
| :endfunction |
| :4,8call Cont() |
| < |
| This function inserts the continuation character "\" in front |
| of all the lines in the range, except the first one. |
| |
| When the function returns a composite value it can be further |
| dereferenced, but the range will not be used then. Example: > |
| :4,8call GetDict().method() |
| < Here GetDict() gets the range but method() does not. |
| |
| *E132* |
| The recursiveness of user functions is restricted with the |'maxfuncdepth'| |
| option. |
| |
| |
| AUTOMATICALLY LOADING FUNCTIONS ~ |
| *autoload-functions* |
| When using many or large functions, it's possible to automatically define them |
| only when they are used. There are two methods: with an autocommand and with |
| the "autoload" directory in 'runtimepath'. |
| |
| |
| Using an autocommand ~ |
| |
| This is introduced in the user manual, section |41.14|. |
| |
| The autocommand is useful if you have a plugin that is a long Vim script file. |
| You can define the autocommand and quickly quit the script with |:finish|. |
| That makes Vim startup faster. The autocommand should then load the same file |
| again, setting a variable to skip the |:finish| command. |
| |
| Use the FuncUndefined autocommand event with a pattern that matches the |
| function(s) to be defined. Example: > |
| |
| :au FuncUndefined BufNet* source ~/vim/bufnetfuncs.vim |
| |
| The file "~/vim/bufnetfuncs.vim" should then define functions that start with |
| "BufNet". Also see |FuncUndefined|. |
| |
| |
| Using an autoload script ~ |
| *autoload* *E746* |
| This is introduced in the user manual, section |41.15|. |
| |
| Using a script in the "autoload" directory is simpler, but requires using |
| exactly the right file name. A function that can be autoloaded has a name |
| like this: > |
| |
| :call filename#funcname() |
| |
| When such a function is called, and it is not defined yet, Vim will search the |
| "autoload" directories in 'runtimepath' for a script file called |
| "filename.vim". For example "~/.vim/autoload/filename.vim". That file should |
| then define the function like this: > |
| |
| function filename#funcname() |
| echo "Done!" |
| endfunction |
| |
| The file name and the name used before the # in the function must match |
| exactly, and the defined function must have the name exactly as it will be |
| called. |
| |
| It is possible to use subdirectories. Every # in the function name works like |
| a path separator. Thus when calling a function: > |
| |
| :call foo#bar#func() |
| |
| Vim will look for the file "autoload/foo/bar.vim" in 'runtimepath'. |
| |
| This also works when reading a variable that has not been set yet: > |
| |
| :let l = foo#bar#lvar |
| |
| However, when the autoload script was already loaded it won't be loaded again |
| for an unknown variable. |
| |
| When assigning a value to such a variable nothing special happens. This can |
| be used to pass settings to the autoload script before it's loaded: > |
| |
| :let foo#bar#toggle = 1 |
| :call foo#bar#func() |
| |
| Note that when you make a mistake and call a function that is supposed to be |
| defined in an autoload script, but the script doesn't actually define the |
| function, the script will be sourced every time you try to call the function. |
| And you will get an error message every time. |
| |
| Also note that if you have two script files, and one calls a function in the |
| other and vice versa, before the used function is defined, it won't work. |
| Avoid using the autoload functionality at the toplevel. |
| |
| Hint: If you distribute a bunch of scripts you can pack them together with the |
| |vimball| utility. Also read the user manual |distribute-script|. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 6. Curly braces names *curly-braces-names* |
| |
| Wherever you can use a variable, you can use a "curly braces name" variable. |
| This is a regular variable name with one or more expressions wrapped in braces |
| {} like this: > |
| my_{adjective}_variable |
| |
| When Vim encounters this, it evaluates the expression inside the braces, puts |
| that in place of the expression, and re-interprets the whole as a variable |
| name. So in the above example, if the variable "adjective" was set to |
| "noisy", then the reference would be to "my_noisy_variable", whereas if |
| "adjective" was set to "quiet", then it would be to "my_quiet_variable". |
| |
| One application for this is to create a set of variables governed by an option |
| value. For example, the statement > |
| echo my_{&background}_message |
| |
| would output the contents of "my_dark_message" or "my_light_message" depending |
| on the current value of 'background'. |
| |
| You can use multiple brace pairs: > |
| echo my_{adverb}_{adjective}_message |
| ..or even nest them: > |
| echo my_{ad{end_of_word}}_message |
| where "end_of_word" is either "verb" or "jective". |
| |
| However, the expression inside the braces must evaluate to a valid single |
| variable name, e.g. this is invalid: > |
| :let foo='a + b' |
| :echo c{foo}d |
| .. since the result of expansion is "ca + bd", which is not a variable name. |
| |
| *curly-braces-function-names* |
| You can call and define functions by an evaluated name in a similar way. |
| Example: > |
| :let func_end='whizz' |
| :call my_func_{func_end}(parameter) |
| |
| This would call the function "my_func_whizz(parameter)". |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 7. Commands *expression-commands* |
| |
| :let {var-name} = {expr1} *:let* *E18* |
| Set internal variable {var-name} to the result of the |
| expression {expr1}. The variable will get the type |
| from the {expr}. If {var-name} didn't exist yet, it |
| is created. |
| |
| :let {var-name}[{idx}] = {expr1} *E689* |
| Set a list item to the result of the expression |
| {expr1}. {var-name} must refer to a list and {idx} |
| must be a valid index in that list. For nested list |
| the index can be repeated. |
| This cannot be used to add an item to a |List|. |
| This cannot be used to set a byte in a String. You |
| can do that like this: > |
| :let var = var[0:2] . 'X' . var[4:] |
| < |
| *E711* *E719* |
| :let {var-name}[{idx1}:{idx2}] = {expr1} *E708* *E709* *E710* |
| Set a sequence of items in a |List| to the result of |
| the expression {expr1}, which must be a list with the |
| correct number of items. |
| {idx1} can be omitted, zero is used instead. |
| {idx2} can be omitted, meaning the end of the list. |
| When the selected range of items is partly past the |
| end of the list, items will be added. |
| |
| *:let+=* *:let-=* *:let.=* *E734* |
| :let {var} += {expr1} Like ":let {var} = {var} + {expr1}". |
| :let {var} -= {expr1} Like ":let {var} = {var} - {expr1}". |
| :let {var} .= {expr1} Like ":let {var} = {var} . {expr1}". |
| These fail if {var} was not set yet and when the type |
| of {var} and {expr1} don't fit the operator. |
| |
| |
| :let ${env-name} = {expr1} *:let-environment* *:let-$* |
| Set environment variable {env-name} to the result of |
| the expression {expr1}. The type is always String. |
| :let ${env-name} .= {expr1} |
| Append {expr1} to the environment variable {env-name}. |
| If the environment variable didn't exist yet this |
| works like "=". |
| |
| :let @{reg-name} = {expr1} *:let-register* *:let-@* |
| Write the result of the expression {expr1} in register |
| {reg-name}. {reg-name} must be a single letter, and |
| must be the name of a writable register (see |
| |registers|). "@@" can be used for the unnamed |
| register, "@/" for the search pattern. |
| If the result of {expr1} ends in a <CR> or <NL>, the |
| register will be linewise, otherwise it will be set to |
| characterwise. |
| This can be used to clear the last search pattern: > |
| :let @/ = "" |
| < This is different from searching for an empty string, |
| that would match everywhere. |
| |
| :let @{reg-name} .= {expr1} |
| Append {expr1} to register {reg-name}. If the |
| register was empty it's like setting it to {expr1}. |
| |
| :let &{option-name} = {expr1} *:let-option* *:let-&* |
| Set option {option-name} to the result of the |
| expression {expr1}. A String or Number value is |
| always converted to the type of the option. |
| For an option local to a window or buffer the effect |
| is just like using the |:set| command: both the local |
| value and the global value are changed. |
| Example: > |
| :let &path = &path . ',/usr/local/include' |
| |
| :let &{option-name} .= {expr1} |
| For a string option: Append {expr1} to the value. |
| Does not insert a comma like |:set+=|. |
| |
| :let &{option-name} += {expr1} |
| :let &{option-name} -= {expr1} |
| For a number or boolean option: Add or subtract |
| {expr1}. |
| |
| :let &l:{option-name} = {expr1} |
| :let &l:{option-name} .= {expr1} |
| :let &l:{option-name} += {expr1} |
| :let &l:{option-name} -= {expr1} |
| Like above, but only set the local value of an option |
| (if there is one). Works like |:setlocal|. |
| |
| :let &g:{option-name} = {expr1} |
| :let &g:{option-name} .= {expr1} |
| :let &g:{option-name} += {expr1} |
| :let &g:{option-name} -= {expr1} |
| Like above, but only set the global value of an option |
| (if there is one). Works like |:setglobal|. |
| |
| :let [{name1}, {name2}, ...] = {expr1} *:let-unpack* *E687* *E688* |
| {expr1} must evaluate to a |List|. The first item in |
| the list is assigned to {name1}, the second item to |
| {name2}, etc. |
| The number of names must match the number of items in |
| the |List|. |
| Each name can be one of the items of the ":let" |
| command as mentioned above. |
| Example: > |
| :let [s, item] = GetItem(s) |
| < Detail: {expr1} is evaluated first, then the |
| assignments are done in sequence. This matters if |
| {name2} depends on {name1}. Example: > |
| :let x = [0, 1] |
| :let i = 0 |
| :let [i, x[i]] = [1, 2] |
| :echo x |
| < The result is [0, 2]. |
| |
| :let [{name1}, {name2}, ...] .= {expr1} |
| :let [{name1}, {name2}, ...] += {expr1} |
| :let [{name1}, {name2}, ...] -= {expr1} |
| Like above, but append/add/subtract the value for each |
| |List| item. |
| |
| :let [{name}, ..., ; {lastname}] = {expr1} |
| Like |:let-unpack| above, but the |List| may have more |
| items than there are names. A list of the remaining |
| items is assigned to {lastname}. If there are no |
| remaining items {lastname} is set to an empty list. |
| Example: > |
| :let [a, b; rest] = ["aval", "bval", 3, 4] |
| < |
| :let [{name}, ..., ; {lastname}] .= {expr1} |
| :let [{name}, ..., ; {lastname}] += {expr1} |
| :let [{name}, ..., ; {lastname}] -= {expr1} |
| Like above, but append/add/subtract the value for each |
| |List| item. |
| *E106* |
| :let {var-name} .. List the value of variable {var-name}. Multiple |
| variable names may be given. Special names recognized |
| here: *E738* |
| g: global variables |
| b: local buffer variables |
| w: local window variables |
| t: local tab page variables |
| s: script-local variables |
| l: local function variables |
| v: Vim variables. |
| |
| :let List the values of all variables. The type of the |
| variable is indicated before the value: |
| <nothing> String |
| # Number |
| * Funcref |
| |
| |
| :unl[et][!] {name} ... *:unlet* *:unl* *E108* *E795* |
| Remove the internal variable {name}. Several variable |
| names can be given, they are all removed. The name |
| may also be a |List| or |Dictionary| item. |
| With [!] no error message is given for non-existing |
| variables. |
| One or more items from a |List| can be removed: > |
| :unlet list[3] " remove fourth item |
| :unlet list[3:] " remove fourth item to last |
| < One item from a |Dictionary| can be removed at a time: > |
| :unlet dict['two'] |
| :unlet dict.two |
| < This is especially useful to clean up used global |
| variables and script-local variables (these are not |
| deleted when the script ends). Function-local |
| variables are automatically deleted when the function |
| ends. |
| |
| :lockv[ar][!] [depth] {name} ... *:lockvar* *:lockv* |
| Lock the internal variable {name}. Locking means that |
| it can no longer be changed (until it is unlocked). |
| A locked variable can be deleted: > |
| :lockvar v |
| :let v = 'asdf' " fails! |
| :unlet v |
| < *E741* |
| If you try to change a locked variable you get an |
| error message: "E741: Value of {name} is locked" |
| |
| [depth] is relevant when locking a |List| or |
| |Dictionary|. It specifies how deep the locking goes: |
| 1 Lock the |List| or |Dictionary| itself, |
| cannot add or remove items, but can |
| still change their values. |
| 2 Also lock the values, cannot change |
| the items. If an item is a |List| or |
| |Dictionary|, cannot add or remove |
| items, but can still change the |
| values. |
| 3 Like 2 but for the |List| / |
| |Dictionary| in the |List| / |
| |Dictionary|, one level deeper. |
| The default [depth] is 2, thus when {name} is a |List| |
| or |Dictionary| the values cannot be changed. |
| *E743* |
| For unlimited depth use [!] and omit [depth]. |
| However, there is a maximum depth of 100 to catch |
| loops. |
| |
| Note that when two variables refer to the same |List| |
| and you lock one of them, the |List| will also be |
| locked when used through the other variable. |
| Example: > |
| :let l = [0, 1, 2, 3] |
| :let cl = l |
| :lockvar l |
| :let cl[1] = 99 " won't work! |
| < You may want to make a copy of a list to avoid this. |
| See |deepcopy()|. |
| |
| |
| :unlo[ckvar][!] [depth] {name} ... *:unlockvar* *:unlo* |
| Unlock the internal variable {name}. Does the |
| opposite of |:lockvar|. |
| |
| |
| :if {expr1} *:if* *:endif* *:en* *E171* *E579* *E580* |
| :en[dif] Execute the commands until the next matching ":else" |
| or ":endif" if {expr1} evaluates to non-zero. |
| |
| From Vim version 4.5 until 5.0, every Ex command in |
| between the ":if" and ":endif" is ignored. These two |
| commands were just to allow for future expansions in a |
| backwards compatible way. Nesting was allowed. Note |
| that any ":else" or ":elseif" was ignored, the "else" |
| part was not executed either. |
| |
| You can use this to remain compatible with older |
| versions: > |
| :if version >= 500 |
| : version-5-specific-commands |
| :endif |
| < The commands still need to be parsed to find the |
| "endif". Sometimes an older Vim has a problem with a |
| new command. For example, ":silent" is recognized as |
| a ":substitute" command. In that case ":execute" can |
| avoid problems: > |
| :if version >= 600 |
| : execute "silent 1,$delete" |
| :endif |
| < |
| NOTE: The ":append" and ":insert" commands don't work |
| properly in between ":if" and ":endif". |
| |
| *:else* *:el* *E581* *E583* |
| :el[se] Execute the commands until the next matching ":else" |
| or ":endif" if they previously were not being |
| executed. |
| |
| *:elseif* *:elsei* *E582* *E584* |
| :elsei[f] {expr1} Short for ":else" ":if", with the addition that there |
| is no extra ":endif". |
| |
| :wh[ile] {expr1} *:while* *:endwhile* *:wh* *:endw* |
| *E170* *E585* *E588* *E733* |
| :endw[hile] Repeat the commands between ":while" and ":endwhile", |
| as long as {expr1} evaluates to non-zero. |
| When an error is detected from a command inside the |
| loop, execution continues after the "endwhile". |
| Example: > |
| :let lnum = 1 |
| :while lnum <= line("$") |
| :call FixLine(lnum) |
| :let lnum = lnum + 1 |
| :endwhile |
| < |
| NOTE: The ":append" and ":insert" commands don't work |
| properly inside a ":while" and ":for" loop. |
| |
| :for {var} in {list} *:for* *E690* *E732* |
| :endfo[r] *:endfo* *:endfor* |
| Repeat the commands between ":for" and ":endfor" for |
| each item in {list}. Variable {var} is set to the |
| value of each item. |
| When an error is detected for a command inside the |
| loop, execution continues after the "endfor". |
| Changing {list} inside the loop affects what items are |
| used. Make a copy if this is unwanted: > |
| :for item in copy(mylist) |
| < When not making a copy, Vim stores a reference to the |
| next item in the list, before executing the commands |
| with the current item. Thus the current item can be |
| removed without effect. Removing any later item means |
| it will not be found. Thus the following example |
| works (an inefficient way to make a list empty): > |
| :for item in mylist |
| :call remove(mylist, 0) |
| :endfor |
| < Note that reordering the list (e.g., with sort() or |
| reverse()) may have unexpected effects. |
| Note that the type of each list item should be |
| identical to avoid errors for the type of {var} |
| changing. Unlet the variable at the end of the loop |
| to allow multiple item types. |
| |
| :for [{var1}, {var2}, ...] in {listlist} |
| :endfo[r] |
| Like ":for" above, but each item in {listlist} must be |
| a list, of which each item is assigned to {var1}, |
| {var2}, etc. Example: > |
| :for [lnum, col] in [[1, 3], [2, 5], [3, 8]] |
| :echo getline(lnum)[col] |
| :endfor |
| < |
| *:continue* *:con* *E586* |
| :con[tinue] When used inside a ":while" or ":for" loop, jumps back |
| to the start of the loop. |
| If it is used after a |:try| inside the loop but |
| before the matching |:finally| (if present), the |
| commands following the ":finally" up to the matching |
| |:endtry| are executed first. This process applies to |
| all nested ":try"s inside the loop. The outermost |
| ":endtry" then jumps back to the start of the loop. |
| |
| *:break* *:brea* *E587* |
| :brea[k] When used inside a ":while" or ":for" loop, skips to |
| the command after the matching ":endwhile" or |
| ":endfor". |
| If it is used after a |:try| inside the loop but |
| before the matching |:finally| (if present), the |
| commands following the ":finally" up to the matching |
| |:endtry| are executed first. This process applies to |
| all nested ":try"s inside the loop. The outermost |
| ":endtry" then jumps to the command after the loop. |
| |
| :try *:try* *:endt* *:endtry* *E600* *E601* *E602* |
| :endt[ry] Change the error handling for the commands between |
| ":try" and ":endtry" including everything being |
| executed across ":source" commands, function calls, |
| or autocommand invocations. |
| |
| When an error or interrupt is detected and there is |
| a |:finally| command following, execution continues |
| after the ":finally". Otherwise, or when the |
| ":endtry" is reached thereafter, the next |
| (dynamically) surrounding ":try" is checked for |
| a corresponding ":finally" etc. Then the script |
| processing is terminated. (Whether a function |
| definition has an "abort" argument does not matter.) |
| Example: > |
| :try | edit too much | finally | echo "cleanup" | endtry |
| :echo "impossible" " not reached, script terminated above |
| < |
| Moreover, an error or interrupt (dynamically) inside |
| ":try" and ":endtry" is converted to an exception. It |
| can be caught as if it were thrown by a |:throw| |
| command (see |:catch|). In this case, the script |
| processing is not terminated. |
| |
| The value "Vim:Interrupt" is used for an interrupt |
| exception. An error in a Vim command is converted |
| to a value of the form "Vim({command}):{errmsg}", |
| other errors are converted to a value of the form |
| "Vim:{errmsg}". {command} is the full command name, |
| and {errmsg} is the message that is displayed if the |
| error exception is not caught, always beginning with |
| the error number. |
| Examples: > |
| :try | sleep 100 | catch /^Vim:Interrupt$/ | endtry |
| :try | edit | catch /^Vim(edit):E\d\+/ | echo "error" | endtry |
| < |
| *:cat* *:catch* *E603* *E604* *E605* |
| :cat[ch] /{pattern}/ The following commands until the next ":catch", |
| |:finally|, or |:endtry| that belongs to the same |
| |:try| as the ":catch" are executed when an exception |
| matching {pattern} is being thrown and has not yet |
| been caught by a previous ":catch". Otherwise, these |
| commands are skipped. |
| When {pattern} is omitted all errors are caught. |
| Examples: > |
| :catch /^Vim:Interrupt$/ " catch interrupts (CTRL-C) |
| :catch /^Vim\%((\a\+)\)\=:E/ " catch all Vim errors |
| :catch /^Vim\%((\a\+)\)\=:/ " catch errors and interrupts |
| :catch /^Vim(write):/ " catch all errors in :write |
| :catch /^Vim\%((\a\+)\)\=:E123/ " catch error E123 |
| :catch /my-exception/ " catch user exception |
| :catch /.*/ " catch everything |
| :catch " same as /.*/ |
| < |
| Another character can be used instead of / around the |
| {pattern}, so long as it does not have a special |
| meaning (e.g., '|' or '"') and doesn't occur inside |
| {pattern}. |
| NOTE: It is not reliable to ":catch" the TEXT of |
| an error message because it may vary in different |
| locales. |
| |
| *:fina* *:finally* *E606* *E607* |
| :fina[lly] The following commands until the matching |:endtry| |
| are executed whenever the part between the matching |
| |:try| and the ":finally" is left: either by falling |
| through to the ":finally" or by a |:continue|, |
| |:break|, |:finish|, or |:return|, or by an error or |
| interrupt or exception (see |:throw|). |
| |
| *:th* *:throw* *E608* |
| :th[row] {expr1} The {expr1} is evaluated and thrown as an exception. |
| If the ":throw" is used after a |:try| but before the |
| first corresponding |:catch|, commands are skipped |
| until the first ":catch" matching {expr1} is reached. |
| If there is no such ":catch" or if the ":throw" is |
| used after a ":catch" but before the |:finally|, the |
| commands following the ":finally" (if present) up to |
| the matching |:endtry| are executed. If the ":throw" |
| is after the ":finally", commands up to the ":endtry" |
| are skipped. At the ":endtry", this process applies |
| again for the next dynamically surrounding ":try" |
| (which may be found in a calling function or sourcing |
| script), until a matching ":catch" has been found. |
| If the exception is not caught, the command processing |
| is terminated. |
| Example: > |
| :try | throw "oops" | catch /^oo/ | echo "caught" | endtry |
| < |
| |
| *:ec* *:echo* |
| :ec[ho] {expr1} .. Echoes each {expr1}, with a space in between. The |
| first {expr1} starts on a new line. |
| Also see |:comment|. |
| Use "\n" to start a new line. Use "\r" to move the |
| cursor to the first column. |
| Uses the highlighting set by the |:echohl| command. |
| Cannot be followed by a comment. |
| Example: > |
| :echo "the value of 'shell' is" &shell |
| < *:echo-redraw* |
| A later redraw may make the message disappear again. |
| And since Vim mostly postpones redrawing until it's |
| finished with a sequence of commands this happens |
| quite often. To avoid that a command from before the |
| ":echo" causes a redraw afterwards (redraws are often |
| postponed until you type something), force a redraw |
| with the |:redraw| command. Example: > |
| :new | redraw | echo "there is a new window" |
| < |
| *:echon* |
| :echon {expr1} .. Echoes each {expr1}, without anything added. Also see |
| |:comment|. |
| Uses the highlighting set by the |:echohl| command. |
| Cannot be followed by a comment. |
| Example: > |
| :echon "the value of 'shell' is " &shell |
| < |
| Note the difference between using ":echo", which is a |
| Vim command, and ":!echo", which is an external shell |
| command: > |
| :!echo % --> filename |
| < The arguments of ":!" are expanded, see |:_%|. > |
| :!echo "%" --> filename or "filename" |
| < Like the previous example. Whether you see the double |
| quotes or not depends on your 'shell'. > |
| :echo % --> nothing |
| < The '%' is an illegal character in an expression. > |
| :echo "%" --> % |
| < This just echoes the '%' character. > |
| :echo expand("%") --> filename |
| < This calls the expand() function to expand the '%'. |
| |
| *:echoh* *:echohl* |
| :echoh[l] {name} Use the highlight group {name} for the following |
| |:echo|, |:echon| and |:echomsg| commands. Also used |
| for the |input()| prompt. Example: > |
| :echohl WarningMsg | echo "Don't panic!" | echohl None |
| < Don't forget to set the group back to "None", |
| otherwise all following echo's will be highlighted. |
| |
| *:echom* *:echomsg* |
| :echom[sg] {expr1} .. Echo the expression(s) as a true message, saving the |
| message in the |message-history|. |
| Spaces are placed between the arguments as with the |
| |:echo| command. But unprintable characters are |
| displayed, not interpreted. |
| The parsing works slightly different from |:echo|, |
| more like |:execute|. All the expressions are first |
| evaluated and concatenated before echoing anything. |
| The expressions must evaluate to a Number or String, a |
| Dictionary or List causes an error. |
| Uses the highlighting set by the |:echohl| command. |
| Example: > |
| :echomsg "It's a Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz, as you can plainly see." |
| < See |:echo-redraw| to avoid the message disappearing |
| when the screen is redrawn. |
| *:echoe* *:echoerr* |
| :echoe[rr] {expr1} .. Echo the expression(s) as an error message, saving the |
| message in the |message-history|. When used in a |
| script or function the line number will be added. |
| Spaces are placed between the arguments as with the |
| :echo command. When used inside a try conditional, |
| the message is raised as an error exception instead |
| (see |try-echoerr|). |
| Example: > |
| :echoerr "This script just failed!" |
| < If you just want a highlighted message use |:echohl|. |
| And to get a beep: > |
| :exe "normal \<Esc>" |
| < |
| *:exe* *:execute* |
| :exe[cute] {expr1} .. Executes the string that results from the evaluation |
| of {expr1} as an Ex command. Multiple arguments are |
| concatenated, with a space in between. {expr1} is |
| used as the processed command, command line editing |
| keys are not recognized. |
| Cannot be followed by a comment. |
| Examples: > |
| :execute "buffer " nextbuf |
| :execute "normal " count . "w" |
| < |
| ":execute" can be used to append a command to commands |
| that don't accept a '|'. Example: > |
| :execute '!ls' | echo "theend" |
| |
| < ":execute" is also a nice way to avoid having to type |
| control characters in a Vim script for a ":normal" |
| command: > |
| :execute "normal ixxx\<Esc>" |
| < This has an <Esc> character, see |expr-string|. |
| |
| Be careful to correctly escape special characters in |
| file names. The |fnameescape()| function can be used |
| for Vim commands, |shellescape()| for |:!| commands. |
| Examples: > |
| :execute "e " . fnameescape(filename) |
| :execute "!ls " . shellescape(expand('%:h'), 1) |
| < |
| Note: The executed string may be any command-line, but |
| you cannot start or end a "while", "for" or "if" |
| command. Thus this is illegal: > |
| :execute 'while i > 5' |
| :execute 'echo "test" | break' |
| < |
| It is allowed to have a "while" or "if" command |
| completely in the executed string: > |
| :execute 'while i < 5 | echo i | let i = i + 1 | endwhile' |
| < |
| |
| *:comment* |
| ":execute", ":echo" and ":echon" cannot be followed by |
| a comment directly, because they see the '"' as the |
| start of a string. But, you can use '|' followed by a |
| comment. Example: > |
| :echo "foo" | "this is a comment |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 8. Exception handling *exception-handling* |
| |
| The Vim script language comprises an exception handling feature. This section |
| explains how it can be used in a Vim script. |
| |
| Exceptions may be raised by Vim on an error or on interrupt, see |
| |catch-errors| and |catch-interrupt|. You can also explicitly throw an |
| exception by using the ":throw" command, see |throw-catch|. |
| |
| |
| TRY CONDITIONALS *try-conditionals* |
| |
| Exceptions can be caught or can cause cleanup code to be executed. You can |
| use a try conditional to specify catch clauses (that catch exceptions) and/or |
| a finally clause (to be executed for cleanup). |
| A try conditional begins with a |:try| command and ends at the matching |
| |:endtry| command. In between, you can use a |:catch| command to start |
| a catch clause, or a |:finally| command to start a finally clause. There may |
| be none or multiple catch clauses, but there is at most one finally clause, |
| which must not be followed by any catch clauses. The lines before the catch |
| clauses and the finally clause is called a try block. > |
| |
| :try |
| : ... |
| : ... TRY BLOCK |
| : ... |
| :catch /{pattern}/ |
| : ... |
| : ... CATCH CLAUSE |
| : ... |
| :catch /{pattern}/ |
| : ... |
| : ... CATCH CLAUSE |
| : ... |
| :finally |
| : ... |
| : ... FINALLY CLAUSE |
| : ... |
| :endtry |
| |
| The try conditional allows to watch code for exceptions and to take the |
| appropriate actions. Exceptions from the try block may be caught. Exceptions |
| from the try block and also the catch clauses may cause cleanup actions. |
| When no exception is thrown during execution of the try block, the control |
| is transferred to the finally clause, if present. After its execution, the |
| script continues with the line following the ":endtry". |
| When an exception occurs during execution of the try block, the remaining |
| lines in the try block are skipped. The exception is matched against the |
| patterns specified as arguments to the ":catch" commands. The catch clause |
| after the first matching ":catch" is taken, other catch clauses are not |
| executed. The catch clause ends when the next ":catch", ":finally", or |
| ":endtry" command is reached - whatever is first. Then, the finally clause |
| (if present) is executed. When the ":endtry" is reached, the script execution |
| continues in the following line as usual. |
| When an exception that does not match any of the patterns specified by the |
| ":catch" commands is thrown in the try block, the exception is not caught by |
| that try conditional and none of the catch clauses is executed. Only the |
| finally clause, if present, is taken. The exception pends during execution of |
| the finally clause. It is resumed at the ":endtry", so that commands after |
| the ":endtry" are not executed and the exception might be caught elsewhere, |
| see |try-nesting|. |
| When during execution of a catch clause another exception is thrown, the |
| remaining lines in that catch clause are not executed. The new exception is |
| not matched against the patterns in any of the ":catch" commands of the same |
| try conditional and none of its catch clauses is taken. If there is, however, |
| a finally clause, it is executed, and the exception pends during its |
| execution. The commands following the ":endtry" are not executed. The new |
| exception might, however, be caught elsewhere, see |try-nesting|. |
| When during execution of the finally clause (if present) an exception is |
| thrown, the remaining lines in the finally clause are skipped. If the finally |
| clause has been taken because of an exception from the try block or one of the |
| catch clauses, the original (pending) exception is discarded. The commands |
| following the ":endtry" are not executed, and the exception from the finally |
| clause is propagated and can be caught elsewhere, see |try-nesting|. |
| |
| The finally clause is also executed, when a ":break" or ":continue" for |
| a ":while" loop enclosing the complete try conditional is executed from the |
| try block or a catch clause. Or when a ":return" or ":finish" is executed |
| from the try block or a catch clause of a try conditional in a function or |
| sourced script, respectively. The ":break", ":continue", ":return", or |
| ":finish" pends during execution of the finally clause and is resumed when the |
| ":endtry" is reached. It is, however, discarded when an exception is thrown |
| from the finally clause. |
| When a ":break" or ":continue" for a ":while" loop enclosing the complete |
| try conditional or when a ":return" or ":finish" is encountered in the finally |
| clause, the rest of the finally clause is skipped, and the ":break", |
| ":continue", ":return" or ":finish" is executed as usual. If the finally |
| clause has been taken because of an exception or an earlier ":break", |
| ":continue", ":return", or ":finish" from the try block or a catch clause, |
| this pending exception or command is discarded. |
| |
| For examples see |throw-catch| and |try-finally|. |
| |
| |
| NESTING OF TRY CONDITIONALS *try-nesting* |
| |
| Try conditionals can be nested arbitrarily. That is, a complete try |
| conditional can be put into the try block, a catch clause, or the finally |
| clause of another try conditional. If the inner try conditional does not |
| catch an exception thrown in its try block or throws a new exception from one |
| of its catch clauses or its finally clause, the outer try conditional is |
| checked according to the rules above. If the inner try conditional is in the |
| try block of the outer try conditional, its catch clauses are checked, but |
| otherwise only the finally clause is executed. It does not matter for |
| nesting, whether the inner try conditional is directly contained in the outer |
| one, or whether the outer one sources a script or calls a function containing |
| the inner try conditional. |
| |
| When none of the active try conditionals catches an exception, just their |
| finally clauses are executed. Thereafter, the script processing terminates. |
| An error message is displayed in case of an uncaught exception explicitly |
| thrown by a ":throw" command. For uncaught error and interrupt exceptions |
| implicitly raised by Vim, the error message(s) or interrupt message are shown |
| as usual. |
| |
| For examples see |throw-catch|. |
| |
| |
| EXAMINING EXCEPTION HANDLING CODE *except-examine* |
| |
| Exception handling code can get tricky. If you are in doubt what happens, set |
| 'verbose' to 13 or use the ":13verbose" command modifier when sourcing your |
| script file. Then you see when an exception is thrown, discarded, caught, or |
| finished. When using a verbosity level of at least 14, things pending in |
| a finally clause are also shown. This information is also given in debug mode |
| (see |debug-scripts|). |
| |
| |
| THROWING AND CATCHING EXCEPTIONS *throw-catch* |
| |
| You can throw any number or string as an exception. Use the |:throw| command |
| and pass the value to be thrown as argument: > |
| :throw 4711 |
| :throw "string" |
| < *throw-expression* |
| You can also specify an expression argument. The expression is then evaluated |
| first, and the result is thrown: > |
| :throw 4705 + strlen("string") |
| :throw strpart("strings", 0, 6) |
| |
| An exception might be thrown during evaluation of the argument of the ":throw" |
| command. Unless it is caught there, the expression evaluation is abandoned. |
| The ":throw" command then does not throw a new exception. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :function! Foo(arg) |
| : try |
| : throw a:arg |
| : catch /foo/ |
| : endtry |
| : return 1 |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :function! Bar() |
| : echo "in Bar" |
| : return 4710 |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :throw Foo("arrgh") + Bar() |
| |
| This throws "arrgh", and "in Bar" is not displayed since Bar() is not |
| executed. > |
| :throw Foo("foo") + Bar() |
| however displays "in Bar" and throws 4711. |
| |
| Any other command that takes an expression as argument might also be |
| abandoned by an (uncaught) exception during the expression evaluation. The |
| exception is then propagated to the caller of the command. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :if Foo("arrgh") |
| : echo "then" |
| :else |
| : echo "else" |
| :endif |
| |
| Here neither of "then" or "else" is displayed. |
| |
| *catch-order* |
| Exceptions can be caught by a try conditional with one or more |:catch| |
| commands, see |try-conditionals|. The values to be caught by each ":catch" |
| command can be specified as a pattern argument. The subsequent catch clause |
| gets executed when a matching exception is caught. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :function! Foo(value) |
| : try |
| : throw a:value |
| : catch /^\d\+$/ |
| : echo "Number thrown" |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : echo "String thrown" |
| : endtry |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :call Foo(0x1267) |
| :call Foo('string') |
| |
| The first call to Foo() displays "Number thrown", the second "String thrown". |
| An exception is matched against the ":catch" commands in the order they are |
| specified. Only the first match counts. So you should place the more |
| specific ":catch" first. The following order does not make sense: > |
| |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : echo "String thrown" |
| : catch /^\d\+$/ |
| : echo "Number thrown" |
| |
| The first ":catch" here matches always, so that the second catch clause is |
| never taken. |
| |
| *throw-variables* |
| If you catch an exception by a general pattern, you may access the exact value |
| in the variable |v:exception|: > |
| |
| : catch /^\d\+$/ |
| : echo "Number thrown. Value is" v:exception |
| |
| You may also be interested where an exception was thrown. This is stored in |
| |v:throwpoint|. Note that "v:exception" and "v:throwpoint" are valid for the |
| exception most recently caught as long it is not finished. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :function! Caught() |
| : if v:exception != "" |
| : echo 'Caught "' . v:exception . '" in ' . v:throwpoint |
| : else |
| : echo 'Nothing caught' |
| : endif |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :function! Foo() |
| : try |
| : try |
| : try |
| : throw 4711 |
| : finally |
| : call Caught() |
| : endtry |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : call Caught() |
| : throw "oops" |
| : endtry |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : call Caught() |
| : finally |
| : call Caught() |
| : endtry |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :call Foo() |
| |
| This displays > |
| |
| Nothing caught |
| Caught "4711" in function Foo, line 4 |
| Caught "oops" in function Foo, line 10 |
| Nothing caught |
| |
| A practical example: The following command ":LineNumber" displays the line |
| number in the script or function where it has been used: > |
| |
| :function! LineNumber() |
| : return substitute(v:throwpoint, '.*\D\(\d\+\).*', '\1', "") |
| :endfunction |
| :command! LineNumber try | throw "" | catch | echo LineNumber() | endtry |
| < |
| *try-nested* |
| An exception that is not caught by a try conditional can be caught by |
| a surrounding try conditional: > |
| |
| :try |
| : try |
| : throw "foo" |
| : catch /foobar/ |
| : echo "foobar" |
| : finally |
| : echo "inner finally" |
| : endtry |
| :catch /foo/ |
| : echo "foo" |
| :endtry |
| |
| The inner try conditional does not catch the exception, just its finally |
| clause is executed. The exception is then caught by the outer try |
| conditional. The example displays "inner finally" and then "foo". |
| |
| *throw-from-catch* |
| You can catch an exception and throw a new one to be caught elsewhere from the |
| catch clause: > |
| |
| :function! Foo() |
| : throw "foo" |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :function! Bar() |
| : try |
| : call Foo() |
| : catch /foo/ |
| : echo "Caught foo, throw bar" |
| : throw "bar" |
| : endtry |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :try |
| : call Bar() |
| :catch /.*/ |
| : echo "Caught" v:exception |
| :endtry |
| |
| This displays "Caught foo, throw bar" and then "Caught bar". |
| |
| *rethrow* |
| There is no real rethrow in the Vim script language, but you may throw |
| "v:exception" instead: > |
| |
| :function! Bar() |
| : try |
| : call Foo() |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : echo "Rethrow" v:exception |
| : throw v:exception |
| : endtry |
| :endfunction |
| < *try-echoerr* |
| Note that this method cannot be used to "rethrow" Vim error or interrupt |
| exceptions, because it is not possible to fake Vim internal exceptions. |
| Trying so causes an error exception. You should throw your own exception |
| denoting the situation. If you want to cause a Vim error exception containing |
| the original error exception value, you can use the |:echoerr| command: > |
| |
| :try |
| : try |
| : asdf |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : echoerr v:exception |
| : endtry |
| :catch /.*/ |
| : echo v:exception |
| :endtry |
| |
| This code displays |
| |
| Vim(echoerr):Vim:E492: Not an editor command: asdf ~ |
| |
| |
| CLEANUP CODE *try-finally* |
| |
| Scripts often change global settings and restore them at their end. If the |
| user however interrupts the script by pressing CTRL-C, the settings remain in |
| an inconsistent state. The same may happen to you in the development phase of |
| a script when an error occurs or you explicitly throw an exception without |
| catching it. You can solve these problems by using a try conditional with |
| a finally clause for restoring the settings. Its execution is guaranteed on |
| normal control flow, on error, on an explicit ":throw", and on interrupt. |
| (Note that errors and interrupts from inside the try conditional are converted |
| to exceptions. When not caught, they terminate the script after the finally |
| clause has been executed.) |
| Example: > |
| |
| :try |
| : let s:saved_ts = &ts |
| : set ts=17 |
| : |
| : " Do the hard work here. |
| : |
| :finally |
| : let &ts = s:saved_ts |
| : unlet s:saved_ts |
| :endtry |
| |
| This method should be used locally whenever a function or part of a script |
| changes global settings which need to be restored on failure or normal exit of |
| that function or script part. |
| |
| *break-finally* |
| Cleanup code works also when the try block or a catch clause is left by |
| a ":continue", ":break", ":return", or ":finish". |
| Example: > |
| |
| :let first = 1 |
| :while 1 |
| : try |
| : if first |
| : echo "first" |
| : let first = 0 |
| : continue |
| : else |
| : throw "second" |
| : endif |
| : catch /.*/ |
| : echo v:exception |
| : break |
| : finally |
| : echo "cleanup" |
| : endtry |
| : echo "still in while" |
| :endwhile |
| :echo "end" |
| |
| This displays "first", "cleanup", "second", "cleanup", and "end". > |
| |
| :function! Foo() |
| : try |
| : return 4711 |
| : finally |
| : echo "cleanup\n" |
| : endtry |
| : echo "Foo still active" |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :echo Foo() "returned by Foo" |
| |
| This displays "cleanup" and "4711 returned by Foo". You don't need to add an |
| extra ":return" in the finally clause. (Above all, this would override the |
| return value.) |
| |
| *except-from-finally* |
| Using either of ":continue", ":break", ":return", ":finish", or ":throw" in |
| a finally clause is possible, but not recommended since it abandons the |
| cleanup actions for the try conditional. But, of course, interrupt and error |
| exceptions might get raised from a finally clause. |
| Example where an error in the finally clause stops an interrupt from |
| working correctly: > |
| |
| :try |
| : try |
| : echo "Press CTRL-C for interrupt" |
| : while 1 |
| : endwhile |
| : finally |
| : unlet novar |
| : endtry |
| :catch /novar/ |
| :endtry |
| :echo "Script still running" |
| :sleep 1 |
| |
| If you need to put commands that could fail into a finally clause, you should |
| think about catching or ignoring the errors in these commands, see |
| |catch-errors| and |ignore-errors|. |
| |
| |
| CATCHING ERRORS *catch-errors* |
| |
| If you want to catch specific errors, you just have to put the code to be |
| watched in a try block and add a catch clause for the error message. The |
| presence of the try conditional causes all errors to be converted to an |
| exception. No message is displayed and |v:errmsg| is not set then. To find |
| the right pattern for the ":catch" command, you have to know how the format of |
| the error exception is. |
| Error exceptions have the following format: > |
| |
| Vim({cmdname}):{errmsg} |
| or > |
| Vim:{errmsg} |
| |
| {cmdname} is the name of the command that failed; the second form is used when |
| the command name is not known. {errmsg} is the error message usually produced |
| when the error occurs outside try conditionals. It always begins with |
| a capital "E", followed by a two or three-digit error number, a colon, and |
| a space. |
| |
| Examples: |
| |
| The command > |
| :unlet novar |
| normally produces the error message > |
| E108: No such variable: "novar" |
| which is converted inside try conditionals to an exception > |
| Vim(unlet):E108: No such variable: "novar" |
| |
| The command > |
| :dwim |
| normally produces the error message > |
| E492: Not an editor command: dwim |
| which is converted inside try conditionals to an exception > |
| Vim:E492: Not an editor command: dwim |
| |
| You can catch all ":unlet" errors by a > |
| :catch /^Vim(unlet):/ |
| or all errors for misspelled command names by a > |
| :catch /^Vim:E492:/ |
| |
| Some error messages may be produced by different commands: > |
| :function nofunc |
| and > |
| :delfunction nofunc |
| both produce the error message > |
| E128: Function name must start with a capital: nofunc |
| which is converted inside try conditionals to an exception > |
| Vim(function):E128: Function name must start with a capital: nofunc |
| or > |
| Vim(delfunction):E128: Function name must start with a capital: nofunc |
| respectively. You can catch the error by its number independently on the |
| command that caused it if you use the following pattern: > |
| :catch /^Vim(\a\+):E128:/ |
| |
| Some commands like > |
| :let x = novar |
| produce multiple error messages, here: > |
| E121: Undefined variable: novar |
| E15: Invalid expression: novar |
| Only the first is used for the exception value, since it is the most specific |
| one (see |except-several-errors|). So you can catch it by > |
| :catch /^Vim(\a\+):E121:/ |
| |
| You can catch all errors related to the name "nofunc" by > |
| :catch /\<nofunc\>/ |
| |
| You can catch all Vim errors in the ":write" and ":read" commands by > |
| :catch /^Vim(\(write\|read\)):E\d\+:/ |
| |
| You can catch all Vim errors by the pattern > |
| :catch /^Vim\((\a\+)\)\=:E\d\+:/ |
| < |
| *catch-text* |
| NOTE: You should never catch the error message text itself: > |
| :catch /No such variable/ |
| only works in the english locale, but not when the user has selected |
| a different language by the |:language| command. It is however helpful to |
| cite the message text in a comment: > |
| :catch /^Vim(\a\+):E108:/ " No such variable |
| |
| |
| IGNORING ERRORS *ignore-errors* |
| |
| You can ignore errors in a specific Vim command by catching them locally: > |
| |
| :try |
| : write |
| :catch |
| :endtry |
| |
| But you are strongly recommended NOT to use this simple form, since it could |
| catch more than you want. With the ":write" command, some autocommands could |
| be executed and cause errors not related to writing, for instance: > |
| |
| :au BufWritePre * unlet novar |
| |
| There could even be such errors you are not responsible for as a script |
| writer: a user of your script might have defined such autocommands. You would |
| then hide the error from the user. |
| It is much better to use > |
| |
| :try |
| : write |
| :catch /^Vim(write):/ |
| :endtry |
| |
| which only catches real write errors. So catch only what you'd like to ignore |
| intentionally. |
| |
| For a single command that does not cause execution of autocommands, you could |
| even suppress the conversion of errors to exceptions by the ":silent!" |
| command: > |
| :silent! nunmap k |
| This works also when a try conditional is active. |
| |
| |
| CATCHING INTERRUPTS *catch-interrupt* |
| |
| When there are active try conditionals, an interrupt (CTRL-C) is converted to |
| the exception "Vim:Interrupt". You can catch it like every exception. The |
| script is not terminated, then. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :function! TASK1() |
| : sleep 10 |
| :endfunction |
| |
| :function! TASK2() |
| : sleep 20 |
| :endfunction |
| |
| :while 1 |
| : let command = input("Type a command: ") |
| : try |
| : if command == "" |
| : continue |
| : elseif command == "END" |
| : break |
| : elseif command == "TASK1" |
| : call TASK1() |
| : elseif command == "TASK2" |
| : call TASK2() |
| : else |
| : echo "\nIllegal command:" command |
| : continue |
| : endif |
| : catch /^Vim:Interrupt$/ |
| : echo "\nCommand interrupted" |
| : " Caught the interrupt. Continue with next prompt. |
| : endtry |
| :endwhile |
| |
| You can interrupt a task here by pressing CTRL-C; the script then asks for |
| a new command. If you press CTRL-C at the prompt, the script is terminated. |
| |
| For testing what happens when CTRL-C would be pressed on a specific line in |
| your script, use the debug mode and execute the |>quit| or |>interrupt| |
| command on that line. See |debug-scripts|. |
| |
| |
| CATCHING ALL *catch-all* |
| |
| The commands > |
| |
| :catch /.*/ |
| :catch // |
| :catch |
| |
| catch everything, error exceptions, interrupt exceptions and exceptions |
| explicitly thrown by the |:throw| command. This is useful at the top level of |
| a script in order to catch unexpected things. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :try |
| : |
| : " do the hard work here |
| : |
| :catch /MyException/ |
| : |
| : " handle known problem |
| : |
| :catch /^Vim:Interrupt$/ |
| : echo "Script interrupted" |
| :catch /.*/ |
| : echo "Internal error (" . v:exception . ")" |
| : echo " - occurred at " . v:throwpoint |
| :endtry |
| :" end of script |
| |
| Note: Catching all might catch more things than you want. Thus, you are |
| strongly encouraged to catch only for problems that you can really handle by |
| specifying a pattern argument to the ":catch". |
| Example: Catching all could make it nearly impossible to interrupt a script |
| by pressing CTRL-C: > |
| |
| :while 1 |
| : try |
| : sleep 1 |
| : catch |
| : endtry |
| :endwhile |
| |
| |
| EXCEPTIONS AND AUTOCOMMANDS *except-autocmd* |
| |
| Exceptions may be used during execution of autocommands. Example: > |
| |
| :autocmd User x try |
| :autocmd User x throw "Oops!" |
| :autocmd User x catch |
| :autocmd User x echo v:exception |
| :autocmd User x endtry |
| :autocmd User x throw "Arrgh!" |
| :autocmd User x echo "Should not be displayed" |
| : |
| :try |
| : doautocmd User x |
| :catch |
| : echo v:exception |
| :endtry |
| |
| This displays "Oops!" and "Arrgh!". |
| |
| *except-autocmd-Pre* |
| For some commands, autocommands get executed before the main action of the |
| command takes place. If an exception is thrown and not caught in the sequence |
| of autocommands, the sequence and the command that caused its execution are |
| abandoned and the exception is propagated to the caller of the command. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :autocmd BufWritePre * throw "FAIL" |
| :autocmd BufWritePre * echo "Should not be displayed" |
| : |
| :try |
| : write |
| :catch |
| : echo "Caught:" v:exception "from" v:throwpoint |
| :endtry |
| |
| Here, the ":write" command does not write the file currently being edited (as |
| you can see by checking 'modified'), since the exception from the BufWritePre |
| autocommand abandons the ":write". The exception is then caught and the |
| script displays: > |
| |
| Caught: FAIL from BufWrite Auto commands for "*" |
| < |
| *except-autocmd-Post* |
| For some commands, autocommands get executed after the main action of the |
| command has taken place. If this main action fails and the command is inside |
| an active try conditional, the autocommands are skipped and an error exception |
| is thrown that can be caught by the caller of the command. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * echo "File successfully written!" |
| : |
| :try |
| : write /i/m/p/o/s/s/i/b/l/e |
| :catch |
| : echo v:exception |
| :endtry |
| |
| This just displays: > |
| |
| Vim(write):E212: Can't open file for writing (/i/m/p/o/s/s/i/b/l/e) |
| |
| If you really need to execute the autocommands even when the main action |
| fails, trigger the event from the catch clause. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :autocmd BufWritePre * set noreadonly |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * set readonly |
| : |
| :try |
| : write /i/m/p/o/s/s/i/b/l/e |
| :catch |
| : doautocmd BufWritePost /i/m/p/o/s/s/i/b/l/e |
| :endtry |
| < |
| You can also use ":silent!": > |
| |
| :let x = "ok" |
| :let v:errmsg = "" |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * if v:errmsg != "" |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * let x = "after fail" |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * endif |
| :try |
| : silent! write /i/m/p/o/s/s/i/b/l/e |
| :catch |
| :endtry |
| :echo x |
| |
| This displays "after fail". |
| |
| If the main action of the command does not fail, exceptions from the |
| autocommands will be catchable by the caller of the command: > |
| |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * throw ":-(" |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * echo "Should not be displayed" |
| : |
| :try |
| : write |
| :catch |
| : echo v:exception |
| :endtry |
| < |
| *except-autocmd-Cmd* |
| For some commands, the normal action can be replaced by a sequence of |
| autocommands. Exceptions from that sequence will be catchable by the caller |
| of the command. |
| Example: For the ":write" command, the caller cannot know whether the file |
| had actually been written when the exception occurred. You need to tell it in |
| some way. > |
| |
| :if !exists("cnt") |
| : let cnt = 0 |
| : |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * if &modified |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * let cnt = cnt + 1 |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * if cnt % 3 == 2 |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * throw "BufWriteCmdError" |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * endif |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * write | set nomodified |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * if cnt % 3 == 0 |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * throw "BufWriteCmdError" |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * endif |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * echo "File successfully written!" |
| : autocmd BufWriteCmd * endif |
| :endif |
| : |
| :try |
| : write |
| :catch /^BufWriteCmdError$/ |
| : if &modified |
| : echo "Error on writing (file contents not changed)" |
| : else |
| : echo "Error after writing" |
| : endif |
| :catch /^Vim(write):/ |
| : echo "Error on writing" |
| :endtry |
| |
| When this script is sourced several times after making changes, it displays |
| first > |
| File successfully written! |
| then > |
| Error on writing (file contents not changed) |
| then > |
| Error after writing |
| etc. |
| |
| *except-autocmd-ill* |
| You cannot spread a try conditional over autocommands for different events. |
| The following code is ill-formed: > |
| |
| :autocmd BufWritePre * try |
| : |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * catch |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * echo v:exception |
| :autocmd BufWritePost * endtry |
| : |
| :write |
| |
| |
| EXCEPTION HIERARCHIES AND PARAMETERIZED EXCEPTIONS *except-hier-param* |
| |
| Some programming languages allow to use hierarchies of exception classes or to |
| pass additional information with the object of an exception class. You can do |
| similar things in Vim. |
| In order to throw an exception from a hierarchy, just throw the complete |
| class name with the components separated by a colon, for instance throw the |
| string "EXCEPT:MATHERR:OVERFLOW" for an overflow in a mathematical library. |
| When you want to pass additional information with your exception class, add |
| it in parentheses, for instance throw the string "EXCEPT:IO:WRITEERR(myfile)" |
| for an error when writing "myfile". |
| With the appropriate patterns in the ":catch" command, you can catch for |
| base classes or derived classes of your hierarchy. Additional information in |
| parentheses can be cut out from |v:exception| with the ":substitute" command. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :function! CheckRange(a, func) |
| : if a:a < 0 |
| : throw "EXCEPT:MATHERR:RANGE(" . a:func . ")" |
| : endif |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :function! Add(a, b) |
| : call CheckRange(a:a, "Add") |
| : call CheckRange(a:b, "Add") |
| : let c = a:a + a:b |
| : if c < 0 |
| : throw "EXCEPT:MATHERR:OVERFLOW" |
| : endif |
| : return c |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :function! Div(a, b) |
| : call CheckRange(a:a, "Div") |
| : call CheckRange(a:b, "Div") |
| : if (a:b == 0) |
| : throw "EXCEPT:MATHERR:ZERODIV" |
| : endif |
| : return a:a / a:b |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :function! Write(file) |
| : try |
| : execute "write" fnameescape(a:file) |
| : catch /^Vim(write):/ |
| : throw "EXCEPT:IO(" . getcwd() . ", " . a:file . "):WRITEERR" |
| : endtry |
| :endfunction |
| : |
| :try |
| : |
| : " something with arithmetics and I/O |
| : |
| :catch /^EXCEPT:MATHERR:RANGE/ |
| : let function = substitute(v:exception, '.*(\(\a\+\)).*', '\1', "") |
| : echo "Range error in" function |
| : |
| :catch /^EXCEPT:MATHERR/ " catches OVERFLOW and ZERODIV |
| : echo "Math error" |
| : |
| :catch /^EXCEPT:IO/ |
| : let dir = substitute(v:exception, '.*(\(.\+\),\s*.\+).*', '\1', "") |
| : let file = substitute(v:exception, '.*(.\+,\s*\(.\+\)).*', '\1', "") |
| : if file !~ '^/' |
| : let file = dir . "/" . file |
| : endif |
| : echo 'I/O error for "' . file . '"' |
| : |
| :catch /^EXCEPT/ |
| : echo "Unspecified error" |
| : |
| :endtry |
| |
| The exceptions raised by Vim itself (on error or when pressing CTRL-C) use |
| a flat hierarchy: they are all in the "Vim" class. You cannot throw yourself |
| exceptions with the "Vim" prefix; they are reserved for Vim. |
| Vim error exceptions are parameterized with the name of the command that |
| failed, if known. See |catch-errors|. |
| |
| |
| PECULIARITIES |
| *except-compat* |
| The exception handling concept requires that the command sequence causing the |
| exception is aborted immediately and control is transferred to finally clauses |
| and/or a catch clause. |
| |
| In the Vim script language there are cases where scripts and functions |
| continue after an error: in functions without the "abort" flag or in a command |
| after ":silent!", control flow goes to the following line, and outside |
| functions, control flow goes to the line following the outermost ":endwhile" |
| or ":endif". On the other hand, errors should be catchable as exceptions |
| (thus, requiring the immediate abortion). |
| |
| This problem has been solved by converting errors to exceptions and using |
| immediate abortion (if not suppressed by ":silent!") only when a try |
| conditional is active. This is no restriction since an (error) exception can |
| be caught only from an active try conditional. If you want an immediate |
| termination without catching the error, just use a try conditional without |
| catch clause. (You can cause cleanup code being executed before termination |
| by specifying a finally clause.) |
| |
| When no try conditional is active, the usual abortion and continuation |
| behavior is used instead of immediate abortion. This ensures compatibility of |
| scripts written for Vim 6.1 and earlier. |
| |
| However, when sourcing an existing script that does not use exception handling |
| commands (or when calling one of its functions) from inside an active try |
| conditional of a new script, you might change the control flow of the existing |
| script on error. You get the immediate abortion on error and can catch the |
| error in the new script. If however the sourced script suppresses error |
| messages by using the ":silent!" command (checking for errors by testing |
| |v:errmsg| if appropriate), its execution path is not changed. The error is |
| not converted to an exception. (See |:silent|.) So the only remaining cause |
| where this happens is for scripts that don't care about errors and produce |
| error messages. You probably won't want to use such code from your new |
| scripts. |
| |
| *except-syntax-err* |
| Syntax errors in the exception handling commands are never caught by any of |
| the ":catch" commands of the try conditional they belong to. Its finally |
| clauses, however, is executed. |
| Example: > |
| |
| :try |
| : try |
| : throw 4711 |
| : catch /\(/ |
| : echo "in catch with syntax error" |
| : catch |
| : echo "inner catch-all" |
| : finally |
| : echo "inner finally" |
| : endtry |
| :catch |
| : echo 'outer catch-all caught "' . v:exception . '"' |
| : finally |
| : echo "outer finally" |
| :endtry |
| |
| This displays: > |
| inner finally |
| outer catch-all caught "Vim(catch):E54: Unmatched \(" |
| outer finally |
| The original exception is discarded and an error exception is raised, instead. |
| |
| *except-single-line* |
| The ":try", ":catch", ":finally", and ":endtry" commands can be put on |
| a single line, but then syntax errors may make it difficult to recognize the |
| "catch" line, thus you better avoid this. |
| Example: > |
| :try | unlet! foo # | catch | endtry |
| raises an error exception for the trailing characters after the ":unlet!" |
| argument, but does not see the ":catch" and ":endtry" commands, so that the |
| error exception is discarded and the "E488: Trailing characters" message gets |
| displayed. |
| |
| *except-several-errors* |
| When several errors appear in a single command, the first error message is |
| usually the most specific one and therefor converted to the error exception. |
| Example: > |
| echo novar |
| causes > |
| E121: Undefined variable: novar |
| E15: Invalid expression: novar |
| The value of the error exception inside try conditionals is: > |
| Vim(echo):E121: Undefined variable: novar |
| < *except-syntax-error* |
| But when a syntax error is detected after a normal error in the same command, |
| the syntax error is used for the exception being thrown. |
| Example: > |
| unlet novar # |
| causes > |
| E108: No such variable: "novar" |
| E488: Trailing characters |
| The value of the error exception inside try conditionals is: > |
| Vim(unlet):E488: Trailing characters |
| This is done because the syntax error might change the execution path in a way |
| not intended by the user. Example: > |
| try |
| try | unlet novar # | catch | echo v:exception | endtry |
| catch /.*/ |
| echo "outer catch:" v:exception |
| endtry |
| This displays "outer catch: Vim(unlet):E488: Trailing characters", and then |
| a "E600: Missing :endtry" error message is given, see |except-single-line|. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 9. Examples *eval-examples* |
| |
| Printing in Binary ~ |
| > |
| :" The function Nr2Bin() returns the Hex string of a number. |
| :func Nr2Bin(nr) |
| : let n = a:nr |
| : let r = "" |
| : while n |
| : let r = '01'[n % 2] . r |
| : let n = n / 2 |
| : endwhile |
| : return r |
| :endfunc |
| |
| :" The function String2Bin() converts each character in a string to a |
| :" binary string, separated with dashes. |
| :func String2Bin(str) |
| : let out = '' |
| : for ix in range(strlen(a:str)) |
| : let out = out . '-' . Nr2Bin(char2nr(a:str[ix])) |
| : endfor |
| : return out[1:] |
| :endfunc |
| |
| Example of its use: > |
| :echo Nr2Bin(32) |
| result: "100000" > |
| :echo String2Bin("32") |
| result: "110011-110010" |
| |
| |
| Sorting lines ~ |
| |
| This example sorts lines with a specific compare function. > |
| |
| :func SortBuffer() |
| : let lines = getline(1, '$') |
| : call sort(lines, function("Strcmp")) |
| : call setline(1, lines) |
| :endfunction |
| |
| As a one-liner: > |
| :call setline(1, sort(getline(1, '$'), function("Strcmp"))) |
| |
| |
| scanf() replacement ~ |
| *sscanf* |
| There is no sscanf() function in Vim. If you need to extract parts from a |
| line, you can use matchstr() and substitute() to do it. This example shows |
| how to get the file name, line number and column number out of a line like |
| "foobar.txt, 123, 45". > |
| :" Set up the match bit |
| :let mx='\(\f\+\),\s*\(\d\+\),\s*\(\d\+\)' |
| :"get the part matching the whole expression |
| :let l = matchstr(line, mx) |
| :"get each item out of the match |
| :let file = substitute(l, mx, '\1', '') |
| :let lnum = substitute(l, mx, '\2', '') |
| :let col = substitute(l, mx, '\3', '') |
| |
| The input is in the variable "line", the results in the variables "file", |
| "lnum" and "col". (idea from Michael Geddes) |
| |
| |
| getting the scriptnames in a Dictionary ~ |
| *scriptnames-dictionary* |
| The |:scriptnames| command can be used to get a list of all script files that |
| have been sourced. There is no equivalent function or variable for this |
| (because it's rarely needed). In case you need to manipulate the list this |
| code can be used: > |
| " Get the output of ":scriptnames" in the scriptnames_output variable. |
| let scriptnames_output = '' |
| redir => scriptnames_output |
| silent scriptnames |
| redir END |
| |
| " Split the output into lines and parse each line. Add an entry to the |
| " "scripts" dictionary. |
| let scripts = {} |
| for line in split(scriptnames_output, "\n") |
| " Only do non-blank lines. |
| if line =~ '\S' |
| " Get the first number in the line. |
| let nr = matchstr(line, '\d\+') |
| " Get the file name, remove the script number " 123: ". |
| let name = substitute(line, '.\+:\s*', '', '') |
| " Add an item to the Dictionary |
| let scripts[nr] = name |
| endif |
| endfor |
| unlet scriptnames_output |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 10. No +eval feature *no-eval-feature* |
| |
| When the |+eval| feature was disabled at compile time, none of the expression |
| evaluation commands are available. To prevent this from causing Vim scripts |
| to generate all kinds of errors, the ":if" and ":endif" commands are still |
| recognized, though the argument of the ":if" and everything between the ":if" |
| and the matching ":endif" is ignored. Nesting of ":if" blocks is allowed, but |
| only if the commands are at the start of the line. The ":else" command is not |
| recognized. |
| |
| Example of how to avoid executing commands when the |+eval| feature is |
| missing: > |
| |
| :if 1 |
| : echo "Expression evaluation is compiled in" |
| :else |
| : echo "You will _never_ see this message" |
| :endif |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 11. The sandbox *eval-sandbox* *sandbox* *E48* |
| |
| The 'foldexpr', 'includeexpr', 'indentexpr', 'statusline' and 'foldtext' |
| options are evaluated in a sandbox. This means that you are protected from |
| these expressions having nasty side effects. This gives some safety for when |
| these options are set from a modeline. It is also used when the command from |
| a tags file is executed and for CTRL-R = in the command line. |
| The sandbox is also used for the |:sandbox| command. |
| |
| These items are not allowed in the sandbox: |
| - changing the buffer text |
| - defining or changing mapping, autocommands, functions, user commands |
| - setting certain options (see |option-summary|) |
| - setting certain v: variables (see |v:var|) *E794* |
| - executing a shell command |
| - reading or writing a file |
| - jumping to another buffer or editing a file |
| - executing Python, Perl, etc. commands |
| This is not guaranteed 100% secure, but it should block most attacks. |
| |
| *:san* *:sandbox* |
| :san[dbox] {cmd} Execute {cmd} in the sandbox. Useful to evaluate an |
| option that may have been set from a modeline, e.g. |
| 'foldexpr'. |
| |
| *sandbox-option* |
| A few options contain an expression. When this expression is evaluated it may |
| have to be done in the sandbox to avoid a security risk. But the sandbox is |
| restrictive, thus this only happens when the option was set from an insecure |
| location. Insecure in this context are: |
| - sourcing a .vimrc or .exrc in the current directory |
| - while executing in the sandbox |
| - value coming from a modeline |
| |
| Note that when in the sandbox and saving an option value and restoring it, the |
| option will still be marked as it was set in the sandbox. |
| |
| ============================================================================== |
| 12. Textlock *textlock* |
| |
| In a few situations it is not allowed to change the text in the buffer, jump |
| to another window and some other things that might confuse or break what Vim |
| is currently doing. This mostly applies to things that happen when Vim is |
| actually doing something else. For example, evaluating the 'balloonexpr' may |
| happen any moment the mouse cursor is resting at some position. |
| |
| This is not allowed when the textlock is active: |
| - changing the buffer text |
| - jumping to another buffer or window |
| - editing another file |
| - closing a window or quitting Vim |
| - etc. |
| |
| |
| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: |