Man Page vim.1
NAME
vim - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor
SYNOPSIS
vim [options] [file ..]
vim [options] -
vim [options] -t tag
vim [options] -q [errorfile]
ex
view
gvim gview
rvim rview rgvim rgview
DESCRIPTION
Vim is a text editor that is upwards compatible to Vi. It
can be used to edit any ASCII text. It is especially useful
for editing programs.
There are a lot of enhancements above Vi: multi level undo,
multi windows and buffers, syntax highlighting, command line
editing, filename completion, on-line help, visual selec-
tion, etc.. See ":help vi_diff" for a summary of the
differences between Vim and Vi.
While running Vim a lot of help can be obtained from the
on-line help system, with the ":help" command. See the ON-
LINE HELP section below.
Most often Vim is started to edit a single file with the
command
vim file
More generally Vim is started with:
vim [options] [filelist]
If the filelist is missing, the editor will start with an
empty buffer. Otherwise exactly one out of the following
four may be used to choose one or more files to be edited.
file .. A list of filenames. The first one will be the
current file and read into the buffer. The cur-
sor will be positioned on the first line of the
buffer. You can get to the other files with the
":next" command. To edit a file that starts
with a dash, precede the filelist with "--".
- The file to edit is read from stdin. Commands
are read from stderr, which should be a tty.
-t {tag} The file to edit and the initial cursor position
depends on a "tag", a sort of goto label. {tag}
is looked up in the tags file, the associated
file becomes the current file and the associated
command is executed. Mostly this is used for C
programs, in which case {tag} could be a func-
tion name. The effect is that the file contain-
ing that function becomes the current file and
the cursor is positioned on the start of the
function. See ":help tag_commands".
-q [errorfile]
Start in quickFix mode. The file [errorfile] is
read and the first error is displayed. If
[errorfile] is omitted, the filename is obtained
from the 'errorfile' option (defaults to
"AztecC.Err" for the Amiga, "errors.vim" on
other systems). Further errors can be jumped to
with the ":cn" command. See ":help quickfix".
Vim behaves differently, depending on the name of the com-
mand (the executable may still be the same file).
vim The "normal" way, everything is default.
ex Start in Ex mode. Go to Normal mode with the
":vi" command. Can also be done with the "-e"
argument.
view Start in read-only mode. You will be protected
from writing the files. Can also be done with the
"-R" argument.
gvim gview
The GUI version. Starts a new window. Can also
be done with the "-g" argument.
rvim rview rgvim rgview
Like the above, but with restrictions. It will
not be possible to start shell commands, or
suspend Vim. Can also be done with the "-Z" argu-
ment.
OPTIONS
The options may be given in any order, before or after
filenames. Options without an argument can be combined
after a single dash.
+[num] For the first file the cursor will be positioned
on line "num". If "num" is missing, the cursor
will be positioned on the last line.
+/{pat} For the first file the cursor will be positioned
on the first occurrence of {pat}. See ":help
search_pattern" for the available search pat-
terns.
+{command}
-c {command}
{command} will be executed after the first file
has been read. {command} is interpreted as an
Ex command. If the {command} contains spaces it
must be enclosed in double quotes (this depends
on the shell that is used). Example: Vim "+set
si" main.c
Note: You can use up to 10 "+" or "-c" commands.
-b Binary mode. A few options will be set that
makes it possible to edit a binary or executable
file.
-C Compatible. Set the 'compatible' option. This
will make Vim behave mostly like Vi, even though
a .vimrc file exists.
-d {device} Open {device} for use as a terminal. Only on
the Amiga. Example: "-d con:20/30/600/150".
-e Start Vim in Ex mode, just like the executable
was called "ex".
-f Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not
fork and detach from the shell it was started
in. On the Amiga, Vim is not restarted to open
a new window. This option should be used when
Vim is executed by a program that will wait for
the edit session to finish (e.g. mail). On the
Amiga the ":sh" and ":!" commands will not work.
-F If Vim has been compiled with FKMAP support for
editing right-to-left oriented files and Farsi
keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in
Farsi mode, i.e. 'fkmap' and 'rightleft' are
set. Otherwise an error message is given and
Vim aborts.
-g If Vim has been compiled with GUI support, this
option enables the GUI. If no GUI support was
compiled in, an error message is given and Vim
aborts.
-h Give a bit of help about the command line argu-
ments and options. After this Vim exits.
-H If Vim has been compiled with RIGHTLEFT support
for editing right-to-left oriented files and
Hebrew keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim
in Hebrew mode, i.e. 'hkmap' and 'rightleft' are
set. Otherwise an error message is given and
Vim aborts.
-i {viminfo}
When using the viminfo file is enabled, this
option sets the filename to use, instead of the
default "~/.viminfo". This can also be used to
skip the use of the .viminfo file, by giving the
name "NONE".
-L Same as -r.
-l Lisp mode. Sets the 'lisp' and 'showmatch'
options on.
-N No-compatible mode. Reset the 'compatible'
option. This will make Vim behave a bit better,
but less Vi compatible, even though a .vimrc
file does not exist.
-n No swap file will be used. Recovery after a
crash will be impossible. Handy if you want to
edit a file on a very slow medium (e.g. floppy).
Can also be done with ":set uc=0". Can be
undone with ":set uc=200".
-o[N] Open N windows. When N is omitted, open one
window for each file.
-R Read-only mode. The 'readonly' option will be
set. You can still edit the buffer, but will be
prevented from accidently overwriting a file.
If you do want to overwrite a file, add an exc-
lamation mark to the Ex command, as in ":w!".
The -R option also implies the -n option (see
below). The 'readonly' option can be reset with
":set noro". See ":help 'readonly'".
-r List swap files, with information about using
them for recovery.
-r {file} Recovery mode. The swap file is used to recover
a crashed editing session. The swap file is a
file with the same filename as the text file
with ".swp" appended. See ":help recovery".
-s Silent mode. Only when started as "Ex" or when
the "-e" option was given before the "-s"
option.
-s {scriptin}
The script file {scriptin} is read. The charac-
ters in the file are interpreted as if you had
typed them. The same can be done with the com-
mand ":source! {scriptin}". If the end of the
file is reached before the editor exits, further
characters are read from the keyboard.
-T {terminal}
Tells Vim the name of the terminal you are
using. Only required when the automatic way
doesn't work. Should be a terminal known to Vim
(builtin) or defined in the termcap or terminfo
file.
-u {vimrc} Use the commands in the file {vimrc} for ini-
tializations. All the other initializations are
skipped. Use this to edit a special kind of
files. It can also be used to skip all initial-
izations by giving the name "NONE". See ":help
initialization" within vim for more details.
-U {gvimrc} Use the commands in the file {gvimrc} for GUI
initializations. All the other GUI initializa-
tions are skipped. It can also be used to skip
all GUI initializations by giving the name
"NONE". See ":help gui_init" within vim for
more details.
-V Verbose. Give messages about which files are
sourced and for reading and writing a viminfo
file.
-v Start Vim in Vi mode, just like the executable
was called "vi". This only has effect when the
executable is called "ex".
-w {scriptout}
All the characters that you type are recorded in
the file {scriptout}, until you exit Vim. This
is useful if you want to create a script file to
be used with "vim -s" or ":source!". If the
{scriptout} file exists, characters are
appended.
-W {scriptout}
Like -w, but an existing file is overwritten.
-x Filter read and written files through crypt.
Not implemented yet.
-Z Restricted mode. Works like the executable
starts with "r".
-- Denotes the end of the options. Arguments after
this will be handled as a file name. This can
be used to edit a filename that starts with a
'-'.
ON-LINE HELP
Type ":help" in Vim to get started. Type ":help subject" to
get help on a specific subject. For example: ":help ZZ" to
get help for the "ZZ" command. Use <Tab> and CTRL-D to com-
plete subjects (":help cmdline_completion"). Tags are
present to jump from one place to another (sort of hypertext
links, see ":help"). All documentation files can be viewed
in this way, for example ":help syntax.txt".
FILES
/usr/local/lib/vim/doc/*.txt
The Vim documentation files. Use ":help
doc-file-list" to get the complete list.
/usr/local/lib/vim/doc/tags
The tags file used for finding information in
the documentation files.
/usr/local/lib/vim/syntax/syntax.vim
System wide syntax initializations.
/usr/local/lib/vim/syntax/*.vim
Syntax files for various languages.
/usr/local/lib/vim/vimrc
System wide Vim initializations.
/usr/local/lib/vim/gvimrc
System wide gvim initializations.
/usr/local/lib/vim/menu.vim
System wide menu initializations for gvim.
/usr/local/lib/vim/bugreport.vim
Script to generate a bug report. See ":help
bugs".
For recent info read the VIM home page:
<URL:http://www.vim.org/>
AUTHOR
Most of Vim was made by Bram Moolenaar, with a lot of help
from others. See ":help credits".
Vim is based on Stevie, worked on by: Tim Thompson, Tony
Andrews and G.R. (Fred) Walter. Although hardly any of the
original code remains.
BUGS
Probably. See ":help todo" for a list of known problems.
Note that a number of things that may be regarded as bugs by
some, are in fact caused by a too-faithful reproduction of
Vi's behaviour. And if you think other things are bugs
"because Vi does it differently", you should take a closer
look at the vi_diff.txt file (or type :help vi_diff.txt when
in Vim). Also have a look at the 'compatible' and 'cpop-
tions' options.