vi and Vim Editors Pocket Reference

Arnold Robbins

Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Tokyo

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Chapter 1. vi and Vim Editors Pocket Reference

Introduction

This pocket reference is a companion to Learning the vi and Vim Editors, by Arnold Robbins et al. It describes the vi command-line options, command-mode commands, ex commands and options, regular expressions and the use of the substitute (s) command, and other pertinent information for using vi.

While retaining coverage of the vi clones, nvi, elvis, and vile, this edition offers expanded coverage of the Vim editor, which has become the de facto standard version of vi in the GNU/Linux world.

The Solaris version of vi served as the “reference” version of the original vi for this pocket reference.

Conventions

The following font conventions are used in this book:

Courier

Used for filenames, command names, options, and everything to be typed literally.

Courier Italic

Used for replaceable text within commands.

Italic

Used for replaceable text within regular text, Internet URLs, for emphasis, and for new terms when first defined.

[ ... ]

Identifies optional text; the brackets are not typed.

CTRL-G

Indicates a keystroke.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Robert P.J. Day and Elbert Hannah, who reviewed this edition. The production team at O’Reilly Media did a great job helping me make the book look the way I wanted. A special thanks to my editor, Andy Oram, for keeping the project moving with continual gentle encouragement.

Command-Line Options

Command

Action

vi file

Invoke vi on file

vi file1 file2

Invoke vi on files sequentially

view file

Invoke vi on file in read-only mode

vi -R file

Invoke vi on file in read-only mode

vi -r file

Recover file and recent edits after a crash

vi -t tag

Look up tag and start editing at its definition

vi -w n

Set the window size to n; useful over a slow connection

vi + file

Open file at last line

vi +n file

Open file directly at line number n

vi -c command file

Open file, execute command, which is usually a search command or line number (POSIX)

vi +/pattern file

Open file directly at pattern

ex file

Invoke ex on file

ex - file < script

Invoke ex on file, taking commands from script; suppress informative messages and prompts

ex -s file < script

Invoke ex on file, taking commands from script; suppress informative messages and prompts (POSIX)

vi Commands

vi commands are used in “screen” mode (the default), where you use the commands to move around the screen and to perform operations on the text.

Most vi commands follow a general pattern:

[command][number]textobject

or the equivalent form:

[number][command]textobject

Movement Commands

vi movement commands distinguish between two kinds of “words.” The lowercase commands define a word as a contiguous sequence of underscores, letters, and digits. The uppercase commands define a word as a contiguous sequence of nonwhitespace characters.

Command

Meaning

Character

h, j, k, l

Left, down, up, right (←, ↓, ↑, →)

Text

w, W, b, B

Forward, backward by word

e, E

End of word

), (

Beginning of next, previous sentence

}, {

Beginning of next, previous paragraph

]], [[

Beginning of next, previous section

Lines

ENTER

First nonblank character of next line

0, $

First, last position of current line

^

First nonblank character of current line

+, -

First nonblank character of next, previous line

n |

Column n of current line

H, M, L

Top, middle, last line of screen

n H

n (number) of lines after top line

n L

n (number) of lines before last line

Scrolling

CTRL-F, CTRL-B

Scroll forward, backward one screen

CTRL-D, CTRL-U

Scroll down, up one half-screen

CTRL-E, CTRL-Y

Show one more line at bottom, top of window

z ENTER

Reposition line with cursor: to top of screen

z.

Reposition line with cursor: to middle of screen

z–

Reposition line with cursor: to bottom of screen

CTRL-L

Redraw screen (without scrolling)

Command

Meaning

Searches

/pattern

Search forward for pattern

?pattern

Search backward for pattern

n, N

Repeat last search in same, opposite direction

/, ?

Repeat previous search forward, backward

f x

Search forward for character x in current line

F x

Search backward for character x in current line

t x

Search forward to character before x in current line

T x

Search backward to character after x in current line

;

Repeat previous current-line search

,

Repeat previous current-line search in opposite direction

Line number

CTRL-G

Display current line number

n G

Move to line number n

G

Move to last line in file

: n

Move to line n in file

Marking position

m x

Mark current position as x

‘ x

Move cursor to mark x (grave accent)

‘ ‘

Return to previous mark or context (two grave accents)

’ x

Move to beginning of line containing mark x (single quote)

’ ’

Return to beginning of line containing previous mark (two single quotes)

Editing Commands

Command

Action

Insert

i, a

Insert text before, after cursor

I, A

Insert text before beginning, after end of line

o, O

Open new line for text below, above cursor

Change

cw

Change word

cc

Change current line

c motion

Change text between the cursor and the target of motion

C

Change to end of line

r

Replace single character

R

Type over (overwrite) characters

s

Substitute: delete character and insert new text

S

Substitute: delete current line and insert new text

Delete, move

x

Delete character under cursor

X

Delete character before cursor

dw

Delete word

dd

Delete current line

d motion

Delete text between the cursor and the target of motion

D

Delete to end of line

p, P

Put deleted text after, before cursor

" n p

Put text from delete buffer number n after cursor (for last nine deletions)

Yank

yw

Yank (copy) word

yy

Yank current line

" a yy

Yank current line into named buffer a (a–z); uppercase names append text

y motion

Yank text between the cursor and the target of motion

p, P

Put yanked text after, before cursor

" a P

Put text from buffer a before cursor (a–z)

Other commands

.

Repeat last edit command

u, U

Undo last edit; restore current line

J

Join two lines

ex edit commands

:d

Delete lines

:m

Move lines

:co or :t

Copy lines

:.,$d

Delete from current line to end of file

:30,60m0

Move lines 30 through 60 to top of file

:.,/pattern/co$

Copy from current line through line containing pattern to end of file

Exit Commands

Command

Meaning

:w

Write (save) file

:w!

Write (save) file, overriding protection

:wq

Write (save) and quit file

:x

Write (save) and quit file

ZZ

Write (save) and quit file

:30,60w newfile

Write from line 30 through line 60 as newfile

:30,60w>> file

Write from line 30 through line 60 and append to file

:w %.new

Write current buffer named file as file.new

:q

Quit file

:q!

Quit file, overriding protection

Q

Quit vi and invoke ex

:e file2

Edit file2 without leaving vi

:n

Edit next file

:e!

Return to version of current file as of time of last write (save)

:e #

Edit alternate file

:vi

Invoke vi editor from ex

:

Invoke one ex command from vi editor

%

Current filename (substitutes into ex command line)

#

Alternate filename (substitutes into ex command line)

Solaris vi Command-Mode Tag Commands

Command

Action

^]

Look up the location of the identifier under the cursor in the tags file and move to that location; if tag stacking is enabled, the current location is automatically pushed onto the tag stack

^T

Return to the previous location in the tag stack, i.e., pop off one element

Buffer Names

Buffer names

Buffer use

1–9

The last nine deletions, from most to least recent

a–z

Named buffers to use as needed; uppercase letters append to the respective buffers

Buffer and Marking Commands

Command

Meaning

" b command

Do command with buffer b

m x

Mark current position with x

‘ x

Move cursor to character marked by x (grave accent)

‘ ‘

Return to exact position of previous mark or context (two grave accents)

’ x

Move cursor to first character of line marked by x (single quote)

’ ’

Return to beginning of the line of previous mark or context (two single quotes)

Input Mode Shortcuts

vi provides two ways to decrease the amount of typing you have to do: abbreviations and maps.

Word Abbreviation

:ab abbr phrase

Define abbr as an abbreviation for phrase.

:ab

List all defined abbreviations.

:unab abbr

Remove definition of abbr.

Command and Input Mode Maps

:map x sequence

Define character(s) x as a sequence of editing commands.

:unmap x

Disable the sequence defined for x.

:map

List the characters that are currently mapped.

:map! x sequence

Define character(s) x as a sequence of editing commands or text that will be recognized in insert mode.

:unmap! x

Disable the sequence defined for the insert mode map x.

:map!

List the characters that are currently mapped for interpretation in insert mode.

For both command and insert mode maps, the map name x can take several forms:

One character

When you type the character, vi executes the associated sequence of commands.

Multiple characters

All the characters must be typed within one second. The value of notimeout changes the behavior.

# n

Function key notation: a # followed by a digit n represents the sequence of characters sent by the keyboard’s function key number n.

To enter characters such as Escape (^[) or carriage return (^M), first type CTRL-V (^V).

Executable Buffers

Named buffers provide yet another way to create “macros” — complex command sequences you can repeat with a few keystrokes. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Type a vi command sequence or an ex command preceded by a colon; return to command mode.

2. Delete the text into a named buffer.

3. Execute the buffer with the @ command followed by the buffer letter.

The ex command :@buf-name works similarly.

Some versions of vi treat * identically to @ when used from the ex command line. In addition, if the buffer character supplied after the @ or * commands is *, the command is taken from the default (unnamed) buffer.

Automatic Indentation

Enable automatic indentation with the following command:

:set autoindent

Four special input sequences affect automatic indentation:

^T

Add one level of indentation; typed in insert mode

^D

Remove one level of indentation; typed in insert mode

^ ^D

Shift the cursor back to the beginning of the line, but only for the current line[1]

0 ^D

Shift the cursor back to the beginning of the line and reset the current auto-indent level to zero[2]

Two commands can be used for shifting source code:

<<

Shift a line left eight spaces

>>

Shift a line right eight spaces

The default shift is the value of shiftwidth, usually eight spaces.

Substitution and Regular Expressions

Regular expressions, and their use with the substitute command, are what give vi most of its significant editing power.

The Substitute Command

The general form of the substitute command is:

:[addr1[,addr2]]s/old/new/[flags]

Omitting the search pattern (:s//replacement/) uses the last search or substitution regular expression.

An empty replacement part (:s/pattern//) “replaces” the matched text with nothing, effectively deleting it from the line.

Substitution flags

Flag

Meaning

c

Confirm each substitution

g

Change all occurrences of old to new on each line (globally)

p

Print the line after the change is made

It’s often useful to combine the substitute command with the ex global command, :g:

:g/Object Oriented/s//Buzzword compliant/g

vi Regular Expressions

.

(period) Matches any single character except a newline. Remember that spaces are treated as characters.

*

Matches zero or more (as many as there are) of the single character that immediately precedes it.

The * can follow a metacharacter, such as ., or a range in brackets.

^

When used at the start of a regular expression, ^ requires that the following regular expression be found at the beginning of the line. When not at the beginning of a regular expression, ^ stands for itself.

$

When used at the end of a regular expression, $ requires that the preceding regular expression be found at the end of the line. When not at the end of a regular expression, $ stands for itself.

\

Treats the following special character as an ordinary character. Use \\ to get a literal backslash.

~

Matches whatever regular expression was used in the last search.

[ ]

Matches any one of the characters enclosed between the brackets. A range of consecutive characters can be specified by separating the first and last characters in the range with a hyphen.

You can include more than one range inside brackets and specify a mix of ranges and separate characters.

Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside brackets, so you don’t need to escape them if you want to use them as ordinary characters. Within brackets, the three metacharacters you still need to escape are \ - ]. The hyphen (-) acquires meaning as a range specifier; to use an actual hyphen, you can also place it as the first character inside the brackets.

A caret (^) has special meaning only when it’s the first character inside the brackets, but in this case, the meaning differs from that of the normal ^ metacharacter. As the first character within brackets, a ^ reverses their sense: the brackets match any one character not in the list. For example, [^a-z] matches any character that’s not a lowercase letter.

Caution

On modern systems, the locale can affect the interpretation of ranges within brackets, causing vi to match letters in a surprising fashion. It is better to use POSIX bracket expressions (see POSIX Bracket Expressions) to match specific kinds of characters, such as all lowercase or all uppercase characters.

\(...\)

Saves the pattern enclosed between \( and \) into a special holding space or “hold buffer.” You can save up to nine patterns in this way on a single line.

You can also use the \n notation within a search or substitute string:

:s/\(abcd\)\1/alphabet-soup/

changes abcdabcd into alphabet-soup.[3]

\<  \>

Matches characters at the beginning (\<) or end (\>) of a word. The end or beginning of a word is determined either by a punctuation mark or by a space. Unlike \(...\), these don’t have to be used in matched pairs.

POSIX Bracket Expressions

POSIX bracket expressions may contain the following:

Character classes

A POSIX character class consists of keywords bracketed by [: and :]. The keywords describe different classes of characters, such as alphabetic characters, control characters, and so on (see the following table).

Collating symbols

A collating symbol is a multicharacter sequence that should be treated as a unit. It consists of the characters bracketed by [. and .].

Equivalence classes

An equivalence class lists a set of characters that should be considered equivalent, such as e and è. It consists of a named element from the locale, bracketed by [= and =].

All three constructs must appear inside the square brackets of a bracket expression.

POSIX character classes

Class

Matching characters

[:alnum:]

Alphanumeric characters

[:alpha:]

Alphabetic characters

[:blank:]

Space and tab characters

[:cntrl:]

Control characters

[:digit:]

Numeric characters

[:graph:]

Printable and visible (nonspace) characters

[:lower:]

Lowercase characters

[:print:]

Printable characters (includes whitespace)

[:punct:]

Punctuation characters

[:space:]

Whitespace characters

[:upper:]

Uppercase characters

[:xdigit:]

Hexadecimal digits

Metacharacters Used in Replacement Strings

\n

Is replaced with the text matched by the nth pattern previously saved by \( and \), where n is a number from one to nine, and previously saved patterns (kept in hold buffers) are counted from the left on the line.

\

Treats the following special character as an ordinary character. To specify a real backslash, type two in a row (\\).

&

Is replaced with the entire text matched by the search pattern when used in a replacement string. This is useful when you want to avoid retyping text.

~

The string found is replaced with the replacement text specified in the last substitute command. This is useful for repeating an edit.

\u or \l

Changes the next character in the replacement string to uppercase or lowercase, respectively.

\U or \L and \e or \E

\U and \L are similar to \u or \l, but all following characters are converted to uppercase or lowercase until the end of the replacement string or until \e or \E is reached. If there is no \e or \E, all characters of the replacement text are affected by the \U or \L.

More Substitution Tricks

- You can instruct vi to ignore case by typing :set ic.

- A simple :s is the same as :s//~/.

- :& is the same as :s. You can follow the & with g to make the substitution globally on the line, and even use it with a line range.

- You can use the & key as a vi command to perform the :& command, i.e., to repeat the last substitution.

- The :~ command is similar to the :& command, but with a subtle difference. The search pattern used is the last regular expression used in any command, not necessarily the one used in the last substitute command.

- Besides the / character, you may use any nonalphanumeric, nonwhitespace character as your delimiter, except backslash, double quote, and the vertical bar (\, ", and |).

- When the edcompatible option is enabled, vi remembers the flags (g for global and c for confirmation) used on the last substitution and applies them to the next one.

ex Commands

This section summarizes the ex commands used from the colon prompt in vi.

Command Syntax

:[address]command[options]

Address Symbols

Address

Includes

1,$

All lines in the file

x,y

Lines x through y

x;y

Lines x through y, with current line reset to x

0

Top of file

.

Current line

n

Absolute line number n

$

Last line

%

All lines; same as 1,$

x-n

n lines before x

x+n

n lines after x

-[n]

One or n lines previous

+[n]

One or n lines ahead

’ x

Line marked with x (single quote)

’ ’

Previous mark (two single quotes)

/pat/ or ?pat?

Ahead or back to the line where pat matches

Command Option Symbols

Symbol

Meaning

!

A variant form of the command

count

Repeat the command count times

file

Filename: % is current file, # is previous file

Alphabetical List of Commands

The following table of ex commands covers both standard ex commands and selected commands specific to Vim. Commands covered in Vim — vi Improved are omitted here.

Full name

Command

Vim only

Abbrev

ab [string text]

Append

[address] a[!]
text
.

Args

ar

Args

args files …

✓

Bdelete

[num] bd[!] [num]

✓

Buffer

[num] b[!] [num]

✓

Buffers

[num] buffers[!]

✓

Center

[address] ce [width]

✓

Change

[address]c[!]
text
.

Chdir

cd directory

Copy

[address] co destination

Delete

[address] d [buffer]

Edit

e [!][+n] [filename]

File

f [filename]

Global

[address]g[!]/pattern/[commands]

Insert

[address]i[!]
text
.

Join

[address]j[!][count]

K (mark)

[address] k char

Left

[address] le [count]

✓

List

[address] l [count]

Map

map char commands

Mark

[address] ma char

Mkexrc

mk[!] file

✓

Move

[address] m destination

Next

n[!] [[+command] filelist]

Number

[address] nu [count]

Open

[address] o [/pattern/]

Preserve

pre

Previous

prev[!]

✓

Print

[address] p [count]
[address] P [count]

Put

[address] pu [char]

Quit

q[!]

Read

[address] r filename

Read

[address] r ! command

Recover

rec [filename]

Rewind

rew[!]

Right

[address] ri [count]

✓

Set

set
set option
set nooption
set option=value
set option?

Shell

sh

Source

so filename

Stop

st

Substitute

[addr] s [/pat/repl/][opts]

Suspend

su

T (to)

[address]t destination

Tag

[address] ta tag

Unabbreviate

una word

Undo

u

Unmap

unm char

V (global exclude)

[address] v/pattern/[commands]

Version

ve

Visual

[address] vi [type] [count]

Visual

vi [+n] [filename]

Write

[address] w[!] [[>>]filename]

Write

[address] w !command

Wall (write all)

wa[!]

✓

Wq (write + quit)

wq[!]

Wqall (write all + quit)

wqa[!]

✓

Xit

x

Yank

[address] y [char] [count]

Z (position line)

[address] z[type] [count]

type can be one of:

+

Place line at the top of the window (default)

-

Place line at bottom of the window

.

Place line in the center of the window

^

Print the previous window

=

Place line in the center of the window and leave the current line at this line

! (execute command)

[address] !command

@ (execute register)

[address] @ [char]

= (line number)

[address] =

< > (shift)

[address] < [count]
[address] > [count]

& (repeat substitute)

[address] & [options] [count]

~

[address]~[count]

Like &, but with last used regular expression; for details, see Chapter 6 of Learning the vi and Vim Editors

Return (next line)

ENTER

Address

address

Initialization

vi performs the following initialization steps:

1. If the EXINIT environment variable exists, execute the commands it contains. Separate multiple commands by a pipe symbol (|).

2. If EXINIT doesn’t exist, look for the file $HOME/.exrc. If it exists, read and execute it.

3. If either EXINIT or $HOME/.exrc turns on the exrc option, read and execute the file ./.exrc, if it exists.

4. Execute search or goto commands given with +/pattern or +n command-line options (POSIX: -c option).

The .exrc files are simple scripts of ex commands; the commands in them don’t need a leading colon. You can put comments in your scripts by starting a line with a double quote ("). This is recommended.

Recovery

The commands ex -r or vi -r list any files you can recover. You then use the command:

$ vi -r file

to recover a particular file.

Even without a crash, you can force the system to preserve your buffer by using the command :pre (preserve).

vi set Options

Option

Default

autoindent (ai)

noai

autoprint (ap)

ap

autowrite (aw)

noaw

beautify (bf)

nobf

directory (dir)

/tmp

edcompatible

noedcompatible

errorbells (eb)

errorbells

exrc (ex)

noexrc

hardtabs (ht)

8

ignorecase (ic)

noic

lisp

nolisp

list

nolist

magic

magic

mesg

mesg

novice

nonovice

number (nu)

nonu

open

open

optimize (opt)

noopt

paragraphs (para)

IPLPPPQP LIpplpipbp

prompt

prompt

readonly (ro)

noro

redraw (re)

remap

remap

report

5

scroll

half window

sections (sect)

SHNHH HU

shell (sh)

/bin/sh

shiftwidth (sw)

8

showmatch (sm)

nosm

showmode

noshowmode

slowopen (slow)

tabstop (ts)

8

taglength (tl)

0

tags

tags /usr/lib/tags

tagstack

tagstack

term

(from $TERM)

terse

noterse

timeout (to)

timeout

ttytype

(from $TERM)

warn

warn

window (w)

wrapscan (ws)

ws

wrapmargin (wm)

0

writeany (wa)

nowa

Nothing like the Original

For many, many years, the source code to the original vi was unavailable without a Unix source code license. This fact prompted the creation of all of the vi clones described in this reference.

In January 2002, the source code for the original ex and vi became available under an open source license.

This code does not compile “out of the box” on modern systems, and porting it is difficult. Fortunately, the work has already been done. If you would like to use the original, “real” vi, you can download the source code and build it yourself. See http://ex-vi.sourceforge.net/ for more information.

Enhanced Tags and Tag Stacks

Vim and most of the other vi clones provide enhanced tagging facilities. You can stack locations on a tag stack, and with Exuberant ctags, tag more items than just functions.

Exuberant ctags

The “Exuberant ctags” program was written by Darren Hiebert (home page: http://ctags.sourceforge.net/). As of this writing, the current version is 5.8.

This enhanced tags file format has three tab-separated fields: the tag name (typically an identifier), the source file containing the tag, and the location of the identifier. Extended attributes are placed after a separating ;". Each attribute is separated from the next by a tab character and consists of two colon-separated subfields. The first subfield is a keyword describing the attribute; the second is the actual value.

Extended ctags keywords

Keyword

Meaning

arity

For functions

class

For C++ member functions and variables

enum

For values in an enum data type

file

For static tags, i.e., local to the file

function

For local tags

kind

The value is a single letter that indicates the lexical type of the tag

scope

Intended mostly for C++ class member functions

struct

For fields in a struct

If the field doesn’t contain a colon, it’s assumed to be of type kind.

Within the value part of each attribute, the backslash, tab, carriage return, and newline characters should be encoded as \\, \t, \r, and \n, respectively.

Solaris vi Tag Stacking

vi provides ex and vi commands for managing the tag stack.

Tag commands — ex

Command

Function

ta[g][!] tagstring

Edit the file containing tagstring as defined in the tags file

po[p][!]

Pop the tag stack by one element

Tag commands — vi

Command

Function

^]

Look up the location of the identifier under the cursor in the tags file and move to that location; if tag stacking is enabled, the current location is automatically pushed onto the tag stack

^T

Return to the previous location in the tag stack, i.e., pop off one element

Tag management options

Option

Function

taglength, tl

Controls the number of significant characters in a tag to be looked up; the default value of zero indicates that all characters are significant

tags, tagpath

The value is a list of filenames in which to look for tags; the default value is "tags /usr/lib/tags"

tagstack

When set to true, vi stacks each location on the tag stack

Vim — vi Improved

Vim is the most powerful and most popular of the vi clones currently in use. It is the default version of vi on most GNU/Linux systems.

Important Command-Line Options

-b

Start in binary mode.

-c command

Execute command at startup (POSIX version of the historical +command).

-C

Run in vi compatibility mode.

-f

For the GUI version, stay in the foreground.

-g

Start the GUI version of Vim, if Vim was compiled with support for the GUI.

-i viminfo

Read the given viminfo file for initialization instead of the default viminfo file.

-o [N]

Open N windows, if given; otherwise, open one window per file.

-O [N]

Like -o, but split the windows vertically.

-n

Don’t create a swap file: recovery won’t be possible.

-p

Open a new tab for each file named on the command line.

-q filename

Treat filename as the “quick fix” file.

-R

Start in read-only mode, setting the readonly option.

-s

Enter batch (script) mode. This is only for ex and intended for running editing scripts (POSIX version of the historical “–” argument).

-u vimrc

Read the given .vimrc file for initialization and skip all other normal initialization steps.

-U gvimrc

Read the given .gvimrc file for GUI initialization and skip all other normal GUI initialization steps.

-y

Enter “easy” mode, which provides more intuitive behavior for beginners.

-Z

Enter restricted mode (same as having a leading r in the name).

Vim Window Management

Vim lets you split the screen into multiple windows and control their size and placement.

Window management commands — ex

Command

Function

clo[se][!]

Close the current window; behavior affected by the hidden option

hid[e]

Close the current window, if it’s not the last one on the screen

[N]new [position] [file]

Create a new window, editing an empty buffer

on[ly]

Make this window the only one on the screen

qa[ll][!]

Exit Vim

q[uit][!]

Quit the current window (exit if given in the last window)

res[ize] [±n]

Increase or decrease the current window height by n

res[ize] [n]

Set the current window height to n if supplied; otherwise, set it to the largest size possible without hiding the other windows

[N]sn[ext]

Split the window and move to the next file in the argument list, or to the Nth file if a count is supplied

[N]sp[lit] [position] [file]

Split the current window in half

sta[g] [tagname]

Split the window and run the :tag command as appropriate in the new window

[N]sv[iew] [position] file

Same as :split, but set the readonly option for the buffer

wa[ll][!]

Write all modified buffers that have filenames

wqa[ll][!]

Write all changed buffers and exit

xa[ll][!]

Same as wqall

Window management commands — vi

Command

Function

^W s
^W S
^W ^S

Same as :split without a file argument; ^W ^S may not work on all terminals.

^W n
^W ^N

Same as :new without a file argument.

^W ^
^W ^^

Perform :split #, split the window, and edit the alternate file.

^W q
^W ^Q

Same as the :quit command; ^W ^Q may not work on all terminals.

^W c

Same as the :close command.

^W o
^W ^O

Same as the :only command.

^W ↓
^W j
^W ^J

Move cursor to nth window below the current one.

^W ↑
^W k
^W ^K

Move cursor to nth window above the current one.

^W w
^W ^W

With count, go to nth window; otherwise, move to the window below the current one. If in the bottom window, move to the top one.

^W W

With count, go to nth window; otherwise, move to window above the current one. If in the top window, move to the bottom one.

^W t
^W ^T

Move the cursor to the top window.

^W b
^W ^B

Move the cursor to the bottom window.

^W p
^W ^P

Go to the most recently accessed (previous) window.

^W r
^W ^R

Rotate all the windows downward; the cursor stays in the same window.

^W R

Rotate all the windows upward; the cursor stays in the same window.

^W x
^W ^X

Without count, exchange the current window with the next one; if there is no next window, exchange with the previous window. With count, exchange the current window with the nth window (first window is one; the cursor is put in the other window).

^W =

Make all windows the same height.

^W -

Decrease current window height.

^W +

Increase current window height.

^W _
^W ^_

Set the current window size to the value given in a preceding count.

z N ENTER

Set the current window height to N.

^W ]
^W ^]

Split the current window; in the new upper window, use the identifier under the cursor as a tag and go to it.

^W f
^W ^F

Split the current window and edit the filename under the cursor in the new window.

^W i
^W ^I

Open a new window; move the cursor to the first line that matches the keyword under the cursor.

^W d
^W ^D

Open a new window; move the cursor to the macro definition that contains the keyword under the cursor.

Tabbed Editing

Similar to modern web browsers, Vim lets you create and manage multiple tabs. Within each tab, there can be multiple windows. You can then switch back and forth between tabs. This is an easy way to work on multiple unrelated editing tasks without cluttering up your screen. Tabs are supported in both the character and the GUI versions of Vim.

Managing tabs — ex

Tabs are numbered from one.

Command

Function

[count] tab command

Run command, but open a new tab when otherwise a new window would be opened, e.g., use :tab split to split the current buffer into a new tab.

tabc[lose][!] [count]

Close the current tab page. With count, close the page whose number is indicated in count. Use ! to force closing, even if file contents have not been saved (the buffer’s contents are not lost).

tabdo command

Execute command for each tab.

tabe[dit] [option] [command] [file]

Open a new page with a window editing file. With no arguments, open an empty page.

tabf[ind] [option] [command] file

Open a new page and search for file in the value of the path option, like :find.

tabf[irst]

Move to the first tab.

tabl[ast]

Move to the last tab.

tabm[ove] [N]

Move the current tab page to after tab page N (change the ordering of the tab pages themselves, not which tab you’re working in). With no argument, make the current tab become the last one.

tabnew [option] [command] [file]

Same as :tabedit.

tabn[ext] [count]

Move to next tab, or to tab count.

tabN[ext] [count]

Same as :tabprevious.

tabo[nly][!]

Close all other tab pages.

tabp[revious] [count]

Move to previous tab, or go back count tabs. This wraps around.

tabr[ewind]

Move to the first tab (same as :tabfirst).

Managing tabs — vi

The control sequences work in both command mode and insert mode.

Command

Function

gt
CTRL Page Down

Same as :tabnext

gT
CTRL Page Up

Same as :tabprevious

^W gf

Edit the filename under the cursor in a new tab page

^W gF

Edit the filename under the cursor in a new tab page, starting at the line number following the filename

Tabbed editing options

Option

Default

t:cmdheight (t:ch) (per tab page)

1

guitablabel (gtl)

guitabtooltip (gtt)

showtabline (stal)

1

tabline (tal)

tabpagemax (tpm)

10

Vim Extended Regular Expressions

\|

Indicates alternation.

\+

Matches one or more of the preceding regular expressions.

\=

Matches zero or one of the preceding regular expressions.

\{...}

Defines an interval expression. Interval expressions describe counted numbers of repetitions. In the following description, n and m represent integer constants:

\{n}

Matches exactly n repetitions of the previous regular expression.

\{n,}

Matches n or more repetitions of the previous regular expression, as many as possible.

\{n,m}

Matches n to m repetitions.

For Vim, n and m can range from 0 to 32,000. Vim requires the backslash only on the { and not on the }. Vim extends traditional interval expressions with additional matching notations, as follows:

\{,m}

Matches 0 to m of the preceding regular expression, as much as possible.

\{}

Matches 0 or more of the preceding regular expressions, as much as possible (same as *).

\{-n,m}

Matches n to m of the preceding regular expression, as few as possible.

\{-n}

Matches n of the preceding regular expression.

\{-n,}

Matches at least n of the preceding regular expression, as few as possible.

\{-,m}

Matches 0 to m of the preceding regular expression, as few as possible.

\i

Matches any identifier character, as defined by the isident option.

\I

Like \i, excluding digits.

\k

Matches any keyword character, as defined by the iskeyword option.

\K

Like \k, excluding digits.

\f

Matches any filename character, as defined by the isfname option.

\F

Like \f, excluding digits.

\p

Matches any printable character, as defined by the isprint option.

\P

Like \p, excluding digits.

\s

Matches a whitespace character (exactly a space or tab).

\S

Matches anything that isn’t a space or a tab.

\b

Backspace.

\e

Escape.

\r

Carriage return.

\t

Tab.

\n

Matches the end of line.

~

Matches the last given substitute (i.e., replacement) string.

\(...\)

Provides grouping for *, \+, and \=, as well as making matched subtexts available in the replacement part of a substitute command (\1, \2, etc.).

\1

Matches the same string that was matched by the first subexpression in \( and \). \2, \3, and so on, may be used to represent the second, third, and so forth subexpressions.

The isident, iskeyword, isfname, and isprint options define the characters that appear in identifiers, keywords, and filenames, and that are printable, respectively.

Command-Line History and Completion

Vim keeps a history of ex commands that you have issued. You can recall and edit commands from that history and use the completion facilities to save typing when entering commands.

History commands — vi

Key

Meaning

↑, ↓

Move up (previous), down (more recent) in the history

←, →

Move left, right on the recalled line

INS

Toggle insert/overstrike mode; default is insert mode

BACKSPACE

Delete characters

SHIFT or CONTROL combined with ← or →

Move left or right one word at a time

^B or HOME

Move to the beginning of the command line

^E or END

Move to the end of the command line

If Vim is in vi compatibility mode, ESC acts likes ENTER and executes the command. When vi compatibility is turned off, ESC exits the command line without executing anything.

The wildchar option contains the character you type when you want Vim to do a completion. The default value is the tab character. You can use completion for the following:

Command names

Available at the start of the command line.

Tag values

After you’ve typed :tag.

Filenames

When typing a command that takes a filename argument (see :help suffixes for details).

Option values

When entering a :set command, for both option names and their values.

Completion commands — vi

Command

Function

^A

Insert all names that match the pattern

^D

List the names that match the pattern; for filenames, directories are highlighted

^L

If there is exactly one match, insert it; otherwise, expand to the longest common prefix of the multiple matches

^N

Go to next of multiple wildchar matches, if any; otherwise, recall more recent history line

^P

Go to previous of multiple wildchar matches, if any; otherwise, recall older history line

Value of wildchar

(Default: tab) Perform a match, inserting the generated text; pressing TAB successively cycles among all the matches

Tag Stacks

Vim provides ex and vi commands for managing the tag stack.

Tag commands — ex

Command

Function

[count]po[p][!]

Pop a cursor position off the stack, restoring the cursor to its previous position

sts[elect][!] [tagstring]

Like tselect, but split the window for the selected tag

ta[g][!] [tagstring]

Edit the file containing tagstring as defined in the tags file

[N]ta[g][!]

Jump to the Nth newer entry in the tag stack

tags

Display the contents of the tag stack

tl[ast][!]

Jump to the last matching tag

[N]tn[ext][!]

Jump to the Nth next matching tag (default one)

[N]tN[ext][!]

Same as tprevious

[N]tp[revious][!]

Jump to the Nth previous matching tag (default one)

[N]tr[ewind][!]

Jump to the first matching tag; with N, jump to the Nth matching tag

ts[elect][!] [tagstring]

List the tags that match tagstring, using the information in the tags file(s)

Tag commands — vi

Command

Function

^]
g <LeftMouse>
CTRL-<LeftMouse>

Look up the location of the identifier under the cursor in the tags file and move to that location; the current location is automatically pushed to the tag stack

^T

Return to the previous location in the tag stack, i.e., pop off one element

Edit-Compile Speedup

Vim provides several commands to increase programmer productivity.

Program development commands — ex

Command

Function

cc[!] [n]

Display error n if supplied; otherwise, redisplay the current error

cf[ile][!] [errorfile]

Read the error file and jump to the first error

clast[!] [n]

Display error n if supplied; otherwise, display the last error

cl[ist][!]

List the errors that include a filename

[N]cn[ext][!]

Display the Nth next error that includes a filename

[N]cp[previous][!]

Display the Nth previous error that includes a filename

crewind[!] [n]

Display error n if supplied

cq[uit]

Quit with an error code so that the compiler won’t compile the same file again; intended primarily for the Amiga compiler

mak[e] [arguments]

Run make, based on the settings of several options as described in the next table, then go to the location of the first error

Program development options

Option

Value

Function

errorformat

%f:%l:\ %m

A description of what error messages from the compiler look like; this example value is for gcc, the C compiler from the GNU Compiler Collection

makeef

/tmp/vim##.err

The name of a file that will contain the compiler output; the ## causes Vim to create unique filenames

makeprg

make

The program that handles the recompilation

shell

/bin/sh

The shell to execute the command for rebuilding your program

shellpipe

2>&1| tee

Whatever is needed to cause the shell to save both standard output and standard error from the compilation in the error file

Programming Assistance

Vim provides multiple mechanisms for finding identifiers that are of interest.

Identifier search commands — ex

Command

Function

che[ckpath][!]

List all the included files that couldn’t be found; with the !, list all the included files.

[range]dj[ump][!] [count] [/]pattern[/]

Like [ ^D and ] ^D, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

[range]dl[ist][!]
[/]pattern[/]

Like [D and ]D, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

[range]ds[earch][!] [count] [/]pattern[/]

Like [d and ]d, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

[range]dsp[lit][!] [count] [/]pattern[/]

Like ^W d and ^W ^D, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

[range]ij[ump][!] [count] [/]pattern[/]

Like [ ^I and ] ^I, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

[range]il[ist][!]
[/]pattern[/]

Like [I and ]I, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

[range]is[earch][!] [count] [/]pattern[/]

Like [i and ]i, but search in range lines (the default is the whole file). Without the slashes, a word search is done; with slashes, a regular expression search is done.

[range]isp[lit][!] [count] [/]pattern[/]

Like ^W i and ^W ^I, but search in range lines; the default is the whole file.

Identifier search commands — vi

Command

Function

[d

Display the first macro definition for the identifier under the cursor

]d

Display the first macro definition for the identifier under the cursor, but start the search from the current position

[D

Display all macro definitions for the identifier under the cursor; filenames and line numbers are displayed

]D

Display all macro definitions for the identifier under the cursor, but start the search from the current position

[ ^D

Jump to the first macro definition for the identifier under the cursor

] ^D

Jump to the first macro definition for the identifier under the cursor, but start the search from the current position

^W d
^W ^D

Open a new window showing the location of the first macro definition of the identifier under the cursor; with a preceding count, find the specified occurrence of the macro

[i

Display the first line that contains the keyword under the cursor

]i

Display the first line that contains the keyword under the cursor, but start the search at the current position in the file; this command is most effective when given a count

[I

Display all lines that contain the keyword under the cursor; filenames and line numbers are displayed

]I

Display all lines that contain the keyword under the cursor, but start from the current position in the file

[ ^I

Jump to the first occurrence of the keyword under the cursor

] ^I

Jump to the first occurrence of the keyword under the cursor, but start the search from the current position

^W i
^W ^I

Open a new window showing the location of the first occurrence of the identifier under the cursor; with a preceding count, go to the specified occurrence

Extended matching commands — vi

Provide a preceding count to these commands to move forward or backward by more than one instance of the desired search text.

Command

Function

%

Extended to match the /* and */ of C comments and the C preprocessor conditionals (#if, #endif, etc.)

[(

Move to the Nth previous unmatched (

[)

Move to the Nth next unmatched )

[{

Move to the Nth previous unmatched {

[}

Move to the Nth next unmatched }

[#

Move to the Nth previous unmatched #if or #else

]#

Move to the Nth next unmatched #else or #endif

[*, [/

Move to the Nth previous unmatched start of a C comment, /*

]*, ]/

Move to the Nth next unmatched end of a C comment, */

Indentation and formatting options

Option

Function

autoindent

Simple-minded indentation; uses that of the previous line

smartindent

Similar to autoindent, but is smarter about C syntax; deprecated in favor of cindent

cindent

Enables automatic indenting for C programs and is quite smart; C formatting is affected by the rest of the options listed in this table

cinkeys

Input keys that trigger indentation options

cinoptions

Options that tailor your preferred indentation style

cinwords

Keywords that start an extra indentation on the following line

formatoptions

A number of single-letter flags that control several behaviors, notably how comments are formatted as you type them

comments

Describes different formatting options for different kinds of comments, both those with starting and ending delimiters, as in C, and those that start with a single symbol and go to the end of the line, such as in a Makefile or shell program

Folding and Unfolding Text

Folding is enabled with the foldenable option. There are six folding methods, controlled by the foldmethod option, as follows:

diff

Folds are used for unchanged text.

expr

Folds are defined by a regular expression.

indent

Folds are defined by the indentation of the text being folded and the value of shiftwidth.

manual

Folds are defined using regular Vim commands (such as the search and motion commands).

marker

Folds are defined by predefined markers (which you can change) in the text.

syntax

Folds are defined by the syntax of the language being edited.

Folding commands — ex

Command

Function

range fo[ld]

Create a fold for the lines in range.

range foldc[lose][!]

Close folds in range. With !, close all folds; otherwise, open just one fold.

[range] folddoc[losed] command

(Fold do closed.) Similar to the g (global) command, this command marks all lines that are in a closed fold and executes command on them.

[range] foldd[oopen] command

(Fold do open.) Similar to the g (global) command, this command marks all lines not in a closed fold and executes command on them.

range foldo[pen][!]

Open folds in range. With !, open all folds; otherwise, open just one fold.

Folding commands — vi

Folding commands start with z, since it looks something like a folded piece of paper, viewed from the side.

Command

Function

za

Toggle folding. On an open fold, close one or count folds. On a closed fold, open folds and set foldenable.

zA

Like za, but open or close folds recursively.

zc

Close one or count folds under the cursor.

zC

Close all folds under the cursor.

zd

Delete the fold under the cursor. Nested folds are moved up a level. Careful! This can delete more than you expect, and there is no undo.

zD

Delete folds recursively starting under the cursor.

zE

Eliminate all folds in the window.

zf motion

Create a fold.

zF

Create a fold for count lines (like zf).

zi

Toggle the value of foldenable.

zj

Move down to start of next fold or down count folds.

zk

Move up to start of previous fold or up count folds.

zm

Fold more by subtracting one from foldlevel if it’s greater than zero; set foldenable.

zM

Close all folds, set foldlevel to zero, and set foldenable.

zn

Fold “none”: reset foldenable and open all folds.

zN

Fold “normal”: set foldenable and restore all folds to their previous states.

zo

Open one or count folds.

zO

Open all folds under the cursor.

zr

Reduce folding. Adds one to foldlevel.

zR

Open all folds and set foldlevel to the highest fold level.

zv

Open enough folds to make the line with the cursor visible (view the cursor).

zx

Update folds by undoing manually opened and closed folds, reapplying foldlevel, and doing zv.

zX

Undo manually opened and closed folds, then reapply foldlevel.

[z

Move to start of current open fold. If already there, move to start of containing fold if there is one; otherwise, fail. With count, repeat the given number of times.

]z

Like [z, but move to the end of the fold or the end of the containing fold.

Folding options

Option

Default

foldclose (fcl)

0

foldcolumn (fdc)

0

foldenable (fen)

foldenable

foldexpr (fde)

0

foldignore (fdi)

#

foldlevel (fdl)

0

foldlevelstart (fdls)

–1

foldmarker (fmr)

{{{,}}}

foldmethod (fdm)

manual

foldminlines (fml)

1

foldnestmax (fdn)

20

foldopen (fdo)

block,hor,mark,percent,quickfix,search,tag,undo

foldtext (fd)

foldtext()

Insertion Completion Facilities

Vim provides completion facilities: the ability to enter only a part of the final text and have Vim provide you with a list of suggested completions based on the commands you use and the content of the current files.

The completion commands (except for completion with the complete option) are two-keystroke combinations that start with CTRL-X. Most second keystrokes are not bound to actions in input mode, so it is often useful to map the second keystroke to the original combination, such as :inoremap ^F ^X^F.

The completion commands present a list of choices that you can cycle through using CTRL-N and CTRL-P (for “next” and “previous,” respectively). Use CTRL-E to end the completion without making a choice, and use CTRL-Y or ENTER to select the current choice and insert it.

The completion facilities are not simple, but they bring considerable power and time savings to long editing sessions. It is worthwhile to invest time to learn to use them. See Chapter 14 of Learning the vi and Vim Editors for the details.

Completion commands — vi

The order here is alphabetic by keystroke. Commands marked with a ✓ allow use of the second character to move to the next candidate, along with the regular CTRL-N.

Completion with the complete option is the most customizable and flexible method.

Command

Completion

Description

^N
^P

Using complete

Do completion searching forward (^N) or backward (^P), based on the comma-separated list of completion sources given in the complete option. The next table lists the possible sources. Use ^X ^N or ^X ^P to copy additional words from the original source.

^X ^D ✓

Macro names

Search the current and included files for macros (defined with #define) that match the text under the cursor. Repeating the command after an insertion copies additional words from the original source.

^X ^F ✓

Filename

Look for filenames (not file contents) that match the word under the cursor. The path option is not used here.

^X ^I

Keyword in file and included files

Similar to keyword completion (^X ^N), but search in included files as well, as specified by the include option; the default is a pattern matching C and C++ #include directives. The path option acts as a search path to find included files in addition to looking in the “standard” places. Repeating the command after an insertion copies additional words from the original source.

^X ^K ✓

Dictionary

Search the files in the comma-separated list that is the value of the dictionary option for a word that matches.

^X ^L ✓

Whole line

Search backward in the file for a line matching what you’ve typed so far. Typing ^X ^L after inserting a matched line lets you select one of the lines next to the original line that was inserted.

^X ^N ✓
^X ^P ✓

Keyword in file

Search forward (^X ^N) or backward (^X ^P) for a “keyword” matching what you’ve typed so far. Keywords are contiguous sequences of the characters appearing in the iskeyword option. Repeating the command after an insertion copies additional words from the original source.

^X ^O ✓

Omni

Call the Vim function named by the omnifunc option to do completion. This function is expected to be filetype-specific (Javascript, HTML, C++, etc.) and loaded when the file is loaded.

^X ^S ✓
^X s

Spelling

Offer possible spelling corrections for the word under the cursor. Spellchecking must be enabled with the spell option.

^X ^T ✓

Thesaurus

Similar to dictionary completion; search files in the thesaurus option and provide completion from all matching lines. Here, all words on a line with a match are shown as completion options, not just the first word on the line. Similarly, all lines with a possible match are shown.

^X ^U ✓

User function

Call the Vim function named by the completefunc option to do completion.

^X ^V ✓

ex command line

Provide completion for Vim commands. This is intended to simplify Vim script development. Repeating the command does additional completion.

^X ^] ✓

Tag

Search forward in the current and included files for the first tag matching the word under the cursor. If showfulltag is set, Vim displays the tag and the search pattern used for it.

The next table describes possible completion sources for use with the complete option. Sources are listed alphabetically. The default value for complete is ".,w,b,u,t,i".

Name

Description

. (period)

The current buffer.

b

Other buffers, even those that are not loaded in a window (visible).

d

The current and included files; search for macro definitions.

i

The current and included files.

k

The dictionary files listed in the dictionary option.

kfile

Scan file for dictionary lines that match. May be given multiple times, e.g., k~/french. A pattern may be used.

kspell

Use the current spellchecking scheme.

s

The thesaurus files listed in the thesaurus option.

sfile

Scan file for thesaurus lines. May be given multiple times, e.g., s~/french. A pattern may be used.

t, ]

Tag completion.

u

The unloaded buffers in the buffer list.

U

The buffers that are not in the buffer list.

w

Buffers in other windows.

Completion options

Option

Default

complete (cpt)

.,w,b,u,t,i

completefunc (cfu)

completeopt (cot)

menu,preview

define (def)

^\s*#\s*define

dictionary (dict)

include (inc)

^\s*#\s*include

infercase (inf)

noinfercase

isfname (isf)

@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,=

iskeyword (isk)

@,48-57,_,192-255

omnifunc (ofu)

pumheight (ph)

0

showfulltag (sft)

noshowfulltag

spell

nospell

thesaurus (tsr)

Diff Mode

When invoked as either vimdiff or gvimdiff, Vim provides diff mode, which lets you view a comparison of the differences between two files. vimdiff is for use on a standard terminal (or inside a terminal emulator), while gvimdiff uses the GUI facilities of your operating system.

When Vim is built from source, vimdiff and gvimdiff are usually installed as links to Vim. On a system using a package manager, you may have to install them separately.

Figure 1-1 shows an example screenshot of gvimdiff in action. The figure shows the salient points:

- Lines that are identical are folded so that they are hidden (see Folding and Unfolding Text for information on folding text).

- Lines that appear in one file but not in the other are highlighted (in light blue) in the file in which they are present and are shown as lines of dashes in the file from which they are absent.

- Lines that are different between the files are highlighted (in pink), with the actual differences between the lines highlighted in red.

This mode makes it straightforward to move bits of text from one version of a file to another. For example, if you maintain a project using copies of library files from another source, when the source files are revised, it is easy to copy and paste the changes into your version of the file.

Figure 1-1. gvimdiff in action

Vim Scripting

Scripting in Vim is a large topic, one deserving of a full book to itself. This section presents some of the barest essentials. For more information, see Chapter 12 of Learning the vi and Vim Editors and the online help.

Vim provides essentially a full-featured programming language with variables, operators, control flow constructs, and the ability to define your own functions. This section looks (briefly) at each of these in turn.

Following vi, comments start with a double-quote character and continue to the end of the line. Typically you put comments on lines by themselves to avoid problems with double-quoted strings, which are also part of Vim’s language.

Variables, options, and numbers

Vim lets you define your own variables and includes a mechanism to indicate the scope, or lifetime, of a variable. You may also access the value of Vim options. Variable names consist of any number of letters, digits, or underscores, and may not start with a digit. Vim uses special markers in front of the variable or option name to indicate the type and scope. By default, variables are global:

Prefix

Meaning

&

Vim option

$

Environment variable

@

Register (single-character names)

a:

Function argument

b:

Local to the buffer

g:

Global

l:

Local to the function

s:

Local to script read with source

t:

Local to the tab page

v:

Vim-defined global variable

w:

Local to the window

Two commands assign a value to a variable or remove a variable:

Command

Function

let

Assign a value

unlet[!]

Remove a variable; adding ! prevents a diagnostic if the variable doesn’t exist

Numeric values in Vim are always integer values. Prefix a number with 0 (zero) to indicate it is octal (base 8), or with either 0x or 0X to indicate that it is hexadecimal (base 16). Otherwise, the number is taken as decimal (base 10).

Vim provides regular arrays (termed lists) and associative arrays (termed dictionaries). As dictionaries may hold functions, you can even do object-oriented programming! See the online help for more information.

Control flow commands

The control flow commands are conventional, as described in the following table.

Command

Function

if condition
commands
elsif condition
commands
else condition
commands
endif

If-then-else statement. The elsif and else parts are optional, and there may be as many elsif parts as needed.

for var in list
commands
endfor

Loop over a list of values, setting variable var to a new value each time before running commands. This is similar to the shell for loop.

while condition
commands
endwhile

While condition is true, execute commands.

try
commands
catch pattern
commands
finally
commands
endtry

Catch exceptions (see the online help for details).

break

Break out of the enclosing while loop, skipping the rest of the loop body and terminating the loop.

continue

Go to the top of the enclosing while loop, skipping the rest of the loop body.

finish

Exit from a script read with the source command.

throw expr

Evaluate expr and throw the result as an exception; the exception is caught with a catch clause inside try…endtry.

Operators

Expressions are built up by applying operators to values. Values are obtained from numeric or string constants and from variables, options, and list or dictionary elements. Most of the operators will be familiar to programmers, and their precedence is generally that of the C language (“The usual precedence is used,” says the online help).

Operators

Meaning

+  −

Addition and subtraction

*  /  %

Multiplication, division, and modulus

. (period)

String concatenation

e1 ? e2 : e3

The C ternary operator: if e1 is true, use e2, otherwise, use e3

==  !=

Equals and not equals

<  <=

Less than and less than or equals

>  >=

Greater than and greater than or equals

=~  !~

Matches and does not match (regular expression matching)

=

Absolute assignment; use with let

+=  -=  .=

Incremental assignment: add to, subtract from, and concatenate onto the end; use with let

By default, the comparison operators (==, !=, <, <=, >, >=, =~, !~) ignore case or respect it based on the setting of the ignorecase option. Suffixing the operators with # forces the test to match case, whereas using ? forces the test to ignore case.

User-defined functions

Vim lets you define your own functions. The following table outlines the commands related to defining and calling functions, with explanation following the table.

Command

Function

function Name([args])
commands
return value
endfunction

Define a function

function Name([args]) range
commands
return value
endfunction

Define a function that operates upon a range of lines

function! Name([args])
commands
return value
endfunction

Define a function, even if the function already exists

function Name(args, ...)
commands
return value
endfunction

Define a function that takes a variable number of arguments

function

List all user-defined function names and their arguments

function Name

Display the body of function Name

delfunction Name

Remove (undefine) function Name

[N,M] call Func([args])

Call a function upon a range of lines N through M

User-defined function names must begin with an uppercase letter so that Vim can distinguish them from built-in functions.

Arguments (parameters) are optional. If they’re supplied, you reference them within the function body using the a: prefix on their names. When the “...” syntax is used, you access the additional, unnamed arguments as a:1, a:2, and so on. a:0 is a count of the additional parameters, and a:000 is a list of all the additional arguments. Functions using “...” may have up to 20 additional arguments.

Functions defined with the range syntax are called once for the range of lines; the starting and ending line numbers are available as a:firstline and a:lastline, respectively. Functions defined without range are called once for each line in the range.

Use the return statement to return a value from the function. Return values must be numeric; return without a value or “falling off the end” of the function causes the function to return zero.

Variables used within a function body are automatically local to the function; you must use the g: prefix to access global variables.

The function body is checked for validity when the function is called, not when it’s defined. You should therefore test your functions carefully before publishing them.

The call command calls a function on a range of lines. Otherwise, function calls may be used as elements in an expression in any context that accepts an expression (such as with if).

Vim also provides function references, which are variables that “point” at functions and may be used to call them indirectly. Such variables must also have names that start with an uppercase letter. When combined with dictionaries, they provide a rudimentary object-oriented programming capability; see the online help for the details.

Of course, as is often the case in the Free Software and open source worlds, chances are good that someone else has already written a function that does what you need (or 90% of it). There are many Vim functions available at the Vim website. Check there first before diving in to write a function of your own!

Running scripts

There are multiple ways to run scripts. You can read a file directly with the source command. For example, your ~/.vimrc file might execute source ~/.exrc. Doing this lets you keep commands that will only work in vi in the .exrc file, while still letting you execute them in Vim as well.

More commonly used, the auto-commands mechanism lets you read and execute scripts based on a file’s type, as determined by the file’s suffix. For example, the author has the following in his .vimrc file:

autocmd BufReadPre,FileReadPre *.xml source ~/.ex-sgml-rc

The aliases and input mappings specific to XML are kept in a separate file. This keeps them from getting in the way when you are working on other kinds of files, but makes them available when you are editing XML.

Vim set Options

Option

Default

autoread (ar)

noautoread

background (bg)

dark or light

backspace (bs)

0

backup (bk)

nobackup

backupdir (bdir)

.,~/tmp/,~/

backupext (bex)

~

binary (bin)

nobinary

cindent (cin)

nocindent

cinkeys (cink)

0{,0},:,0#,!^F,o,O,e

cinoptions (cino)

cinwords (cinw)

if,else,while,do,for,switch

comments (com)

compatible (cp)

cp; nocp when a .vimrc file is found

completeopt (cot)

menu,preview

cpoptions (cpo)

aABceFs

cursorcolumn (cuc)

nocursorcolumn

cursorline (cul)

nocursorline

define (def)

^\s*#\s*define

directory (dir)

.,~/tmp,/tmp

equalprg (ep)

errorfile (ef)

errors.err

errorformat (efm)

(too long to print)

expandtab (et)

noexpandtab

fileformat (ff)

unix

fileformats (ffs)

dos,unix

formatoptions (fo)

Vim default: tcq; vi default: vt

gdefault (gd)

nogdefault

guifont (gfn)

hidden (hid)

nohidden

hlsearch (hls)

nohlsearch

history (hi)

Vim default: 20; vi default: 0

icon

noicon

iconstring

include (inc)

^\s*#\s*include

incsearch (is)

noincsearch

isfname (isf)

@,48-57,/,.,-,_,+,,,#,$,%,~,=

isident (isi)

@,48-57,_,192-255

iskeyword (isk)

@,48-57,_,192-255

isprint (isp)

@,161-255

makeef (mef)

/tmp/vim##.err

makeprg (mp)

make

modifiable (ma)

modifiable

mouse

mousehide (mh)

nomousehide

paste

nopaste

ruler (ru)

noruler

secure

nosecure

shellpipe (sp)

shellredir (srr)

showmode (smd)

Vim default: smd; vi default: nosmd

sidescroll (ss)

0

smartcase (scs)

nosmartcase

spell

nospell

suffixes

*.bak,~,.o,.h,.info,.swp

taglength (tl)

0

tagrelative (tr)

Vim default: tr; vi default: notr

tags (tag)

./tags,tags

tildeop (top)

notildeop

undolevels (ul)

1000

viminfo (vi)

writebackup (wb)

writebackup

nvi — New vi

nvi is a vi clone created for the 4.4BSD Berkeley Unix release. It’s intended to be “bug-for-bug” compatible with the original, although it does have a number of extensions over the original vi.

Important Command-Line Options

-c command

Execute command at startup.

-F

Don’t copy the entire file when starting to edit.

-R

Start in read-only mode, setting the readonly option.

-s

Enter batch (script) mode. This is only for ex and is intended for running editing scripts. Prompts and nonerror messages are disabled.

-S

Run with the secure option set, disallowing access to external programs.

nvi Window Management Commands

Command

Function

bg

Hide the current window

di[splay] b[uffers]

Display all buffers, including named, unnamed, and numeric buffers

di[splay] s[creens]

Display the filenames of all backgrounded windows

Edit filename

Edit filename in a new window

Edit /tmp

Create a new window editing an empty buffer; /tmp is interpreted specially to create a new temporary file

fg filename

Uncover filename into the current window

Fg filename

Uncover filename in a new window; the current window is split

Next

Edit the next file in the argument list in a new window

Previous

Edit the previous file in the argument list in a new window

resize ±nrows

Increase or decrease the size of the current window by nrows rows

Tag tagstring

Edit the file containing tagstring in a new window

The ^W command cycles between windows, top to bottom. The :q and ZZ commands exit the current window.

You may have multiple windows open on the same file. Changes made in one window are reflected in the other.

nvi Extended Regular Expressions

You use :set extended to enable extended regular expression matching:

|

Indicates alternation. The left and right sides don’t need to be single characters.

+

Matches one or more of the preceding regular expressions. This is either a single character or a group of characters enclosed in parentheses.

?

Matches zero or one occurrence of the preceding regular expression.

(...)

Used for grouping, to allow the application of additional regular expression operators.

{...}

Describes an interval expression (interval expressions were defined in Vim Extended Regular Expressions).

When extended isn’t set, use \{ and \}.

When extended is set, you should precede the above metacharacters with a backslash in order to match them literally.

Command-Line History and Completion Options

Option

Description

cedit

The first character of this string, when used on the colon command line, provides access to the command history; pressing ENTER on any given line executes that line.

filec

The first character of this string, when used on the colon command line, does shell-style filename expansion; when this character is the same as for the cedit option, command-line editing is performed only when the character is entered as the first character on the colon command line.

Both of these options are not set by default. Set them in your $HOME/.nexrc file.

Tag Stacks

nvi provides both ex and vi commands for managing the tag stack.

Tag commands — ex

Command

Function

di[splay] t[ags]

Display the tag stack

ta[g][!] tagstring

Edit the file containing tagstring as defined in the tags file

Ta[g][!] tagstring

Just like :tag, except that the file is edited in a new window

tagp[op][!] tagloc

Pop to the given tag or to the most recently used tag if no tagloc is supplied

tagt[op][!]

Pop to the oldest tag in the stack, clearing the stack in the process

Tag commands — vi

Command

Function

^]

Look up the location of the identifier under the cursor in the tags file and move to that location; the current location is automatically pushed to the tag stack

^T

Return to the previous location in the tag stack

nvi 1.79 set Options

Option

Default

backup

cdpath

Environment variable $CDPATH or current directory

cedit

comment

nocomment

directory (dir)

$TMPDIR, or /tmp

extended

noextended

filec

iclower

noiclower

leftright

noleftright

lock

lock

octal

nooctal

path

recdir

/var/tmp/vi.recover

ruler

noruler

searchincr

nosearchincr

secure

nosecure

shellmeta

~{[*?$`'"\

showmode (smd)

noshowmode

sidescroll

16

taglength (tl)

0

tags (tag)

tags /var/db/libc.tags /sys/kern/tags

tildeop

notildeop

wraplen (wl)

0

elvis

elvis is a vi clone written by Steve Kirkendall.

Important Command-Line Options

-a

Load each file named on the command line to a separate window.

-c command

Execute command at startup (POSIX version of the historical +command syntax).

-f filename

Use filename for the session file instead of the default name.

-G gui

Use the given interface. The default is the termcap interface. Other choices include x11, windows, curses, open, and quit. Not all the interfaces may be compiled into your version of elvis.

-i

Start editing in input mode instead of in command mode.

-o logfile

Redirect the startup messages out to a file, instead of stdout/stderr. This is of critical importance to MS Windows users because Windows discards anything written to standard output and standard error.

-R

Start editing each file in read-only mode.

-s

Read an ex script from standard input and execute (per the POSIX standard). This bypasses all initialization scripts.

-S

Set the option security=safer for the whole session, not just execution of .exrc files. This adds a certain amount of security, but should not necessarily be trusted blindly.

-SS

Set the option security=restricted, which is even more paranoid than security=safer.

-V

Output more verbose status information.

-?

Print a summary of the possible options.

elvis Window Management

elvis provides multiwindow editing.

Window management commands — ex

Command

Function

close

Close the current window; the buffer that the window was displaying remains intact

new

Create a new empty buffer and create a new window to show that buffer

qall

Issue a :q command for each window; buffers without windows are not affected

sa[ll]

Create a new window for any files named in the argument list that don’t already have a window

sl[ast]

Create a new window, showing the last file in the argument list

sne[w]

Same as new

sn[ext] [file...]

Create a new window, showing the next file in the argument list

sN[ext]

Create a new window, showing the previous file in the argument list

sp[lit] [file]

Create a new window; load it with file if supplied; otherwise, the new window shows the current file

sre[wind][!]

Create a new window, showing the first file in the argument list; reset the “current” file as the first with respect to the :next command

sta[g][!] tag

Create a new window, showing the file where the requested tag is found

wi[ndow] [target]

With no target, list all windows; the possible values for target are described in the next table

wquit

Write the buffer back to the file and close the window; the file is saved whether or not it has been modified

Arguments to the :window command

Argument

Meaning

+

Switch to the next window, like ^W k

++

Switch to the next window, wrapping like ^W ^W

-

Switch to the previous window, like ^W j

--

Switch to the previous window, wrapping

num

Switch to the window whose windowid = num

buffer-name

Switch to the window editing the named buffer

Window management commands — vi

Command

Function

^W c

Hide the buffer and close the window

^W d

Toggle the display mode between “normal” and the buffer’s usual display mode; this is a per-window option

^W j

Move down to the next window

^W k

Move up to the previous window

^W n

Create a new window and a new buffer to be displayed in the window

^W q

Save the buffer and close the window

^W s

Split the current window

^W S

Toggle the wrap option; this option controls whether long lines wrap or whether the whole screen scrolls to the right, and is a per-window option

[N] ^W ^W

Move to the next window, or to the Nth window

^W ]

Create a new window, then look up the tag underneath the cursor

^W +

Increase the size of the current window (termcap interface only)

^W -

Reduce the size of the current window (termcap interface only)

^W \

Make the current window as large as possible (termcap interface only)

elvis Extended Regular Expressions

\|

Indicates alternation.

\+

Matches one or more of the preceding regular expressions.

\?

Matches zero or one of the preceding regular expressions.

\@

Matches the word under the cursor.

\=

Indicates where to put the cursor when the text is matched.

\(...\)

Used for grouping to allow the application of additional regular expression operators.

\{...\}

Describes an interval expression (interval expressions were defined in Vim Extended Regular Expressions).

POSIX bracket expressions (character classes, etc.; see POSIX character classes) are available.

Command-Line History and Completion Movement Keys

Key

Effect

↑, ↓

Page up and down through the Elvis ex history buffer

←, →

Move around on the command line

Insert characters by typing and erase them by backspacing over them.

You can use the TAB key for filename expansion.

To get a real tab character, precede it with a ^V. Disable filename completion entirely by setting the Elvis ex history buffer’s inputtab option to tab via the following command:

:(Elvis ex history)set inputtab=tab

Tag Stacks

elvis provides both ex and vi commands for managing the tag stack.

Tag commands — ex

Command

Function

ta[g][!] [tagstring]

Edit the file containing tagstring as defined in the tags file

stac[k]

Display the current tag stack

po[p][!]

Pop a cursor position off the stack, restoring the cursor to its previous position

Tag commands — vi

Command

Function

^]

Look up the location of the identifier under the cursor in the tags file and move to that location; the current location is automatically pushed onto the tag stack

^T

Return to the previous location in the tag stack

Edit-Compile Speedup

elvis provides several commands to increase programmer productivity.

Program development commands — ex

Command

Option

Function

cc[!] [args]

ccprg

Run the C compiler; useful for recompiling an individual file

er[rlist][!] [file]

Move to the next error’s location

mak[e][!] [args]

makeprg

Recompile everything that needs recompiling (usually via make)

Display modes

Mode

Display appearance

hex

An interactive hex dump, reminiscent of mainframe hex dumps; good for editing binary files

html

A simple web page formatter; the tag commands can follow links and return to the starting web page

man

Simple manpage formatter; like the output of nroff -man

normal

No formatting; display text as it exists in the file

syntax

Like normal, but with syntax coloring turned on

tex

A simple subset of the TEX formatter

Display-mode commands — ex

Command

Function

di[splay] [mode [lang]]

Change the display mode to mode; use lang for syntax mode

no[rmal]

Same as :display normal, but much easier to type

Options for print management

Option

Function

lpcolor (lpcl)

Enable color printing for PostScript and MS Windows printers

lpcolumns (lpcols)

The printer’s width

lpcontrast (lpct)

Control shading and contrast; for use with the lpcolor option

lpconvert (lpcvt)

If set, convert Latin-8 extended ASCII to PC-8 extended ASCII

lpcrlf (lpc)

The printer needs <CR><LF> to end each line

lpformfeed (lpff)

Send a formfeed after the last page

lplines (lprows)

The length of the printer’s page

lpoptions (lpopt)

Control of various printer features; this matters only for PostScript printers

lpout (lpo)

The file or command to print to

lptype (lp)

The printer type

lpwrap (lpw)

Simulate line wrapping

Values for the lptype option

Name

Printer type

bs

Overtyping is done via backspace characters; this setting is the closest to traditional Unix nroff

cr

Line printers; overtyping is done with carriage return

dumb

Plain ASCII; no font control

epson

Most dot-matrix printers; no graphic characters supported

hp

Hewlett-Packard printers and most non-PostScript laser printers

ibm

Dot-matrix printers with IBM graphic characters

pana

Panasonic dot-matrix printers

ps

PostScript; one logical page per sheet of paper

ps2

PostScript; two logical pages per sheet of paper

elvis 2.2 set Options

elvis 2.2 has a total of 225 options that affect its behavior. The most important ones are summarized here. Options shared with vi are not repeated here.

Option

Default

autoiconify (aic)

noautoiconify

backup (bk)

nobackup

binary (bin)

boldfont (xfb)

bufdisplay (bd)

normal

ccprg (cp)

cc ($1?$1:$2)

directory (dir)

display (mode)

normal

elvispath (epath)

equalprg (ep)

fmt

focusnew (fn)

focusnew

font (fnt)

gdefault (gd)

nogdefault

home (home)

$HOME

italicfont (xfi)

locked (lock)

nolocked

lpcolor (lpcl)

nolpcl

lpcolumns (lpcols)

80

lpcrlf (lpc)

nolpcrlf

lpformfeed (lpff)

nolpformfeed

lpheader (lph)

nolph

lplines (lprows)

60

lpout (lpo)

lptype (lpt)

dumb

lpwrap (lpw)

lpwrap

makeprg (mp)

make $1

prefersyntax (psyn)

never

ruler (ru)

noruler

security (sec)

normal

showmarkups (smu)

noshowmarkups

sidescroll (ss)

0

smartargs (sa)

nosmartargs

spell (sp)

nospell

taglength (tl)

0

tags (tagpath)

tags

tagstack (tsk)

tagstack

undolevels (ul)

0

warpback (wb)

nowarpback

warpto (wt)

don't

vile — vi like Emacs

vile is a vi clone based originally on MicroEmacs, whose main goal is to provide the “finger feel” of vi.

Important Command-Line Options

-g N

vile begins editing on the first file at the specified line number; this can also be given as +N.

-h

Invokes vile on the help file.

-R

Invokes vile in “read-only” mode; no writes are permitted while in this mode.

-s pattern

In the first file, vile executes an initial search for the given pattern; this can also be given as +/pattern.

-v

Invokes vile in “view” mode; no changes are permitted to any buffer while in this mode.

-?

vile prints a short usage summary and exits.

@ cmdfile

vile runs the specified file as its startup file and bypasses any normal startup file.

vile Window Management Commands

Command

Key
sequences

Function

delete-other-windows

^O, ^X 1

Eliminate all windows except the current one

delete-window

^K, ^X 0

Destroy the current window unless it’s the last one

edit-file, E, e
find-file

^X e

Bring given (or under-cursor, for ^X e) file or existing buffer into window

grow-window

V

Increase the size of the current window by count

move-next-window-down

^A ^E

Move next window down (or buffer up) by count lines

move-next-window-up

^A ^Y

Move next window up (or buffer down) by count lines

move-window-left

^X ^L

Scroll window to left by count columns, half-screen if count unspecified

move-window-right

^X ^R

Scroll window to right by count columns, half-screen if count unspecified

next-window

^X o

Move to the next window

position-window

z where

Reframe with cursor specified by where, as follows: center (., M, m), top (ENTER, H, t), or bottom (-, L, b)

previous-window

^X O

Move to the previous window

resize-window

Change the current window to count lines

restore-window

Return to window saved with save-window

save-window

Mark a window for later return with restore-window

scroll-next-window-down

^A ^D

Move next window down by count half-screens

scroll-next-window-up

^A ^U

Move next window up by count half-screens

shrink-window

v

Decrease the size of the current window by count lines

split-current-window

^X 2

Split the window in half; a count of 1 or 2 determines which becomes current

view-file

Bring given file or existing buffer into window; mark it “view-only”

historical-buffer

_

Display a list of the first nine buffers; a digit moves to the given buffer, _ _ moves to the most recently edited file

toggle-buffer-list

*

Pop up/down a window showing all the vile buffers

vile Extended Regular Expressions

\|

Indicates alternation.

\+

Matches one or more of the preceding regular expressions.

\?

Matches zero or one of the preceding regular expressions.

\s \S

Matches whitespace and nonwhitespace characters, respectively.

\w \W

Matches “word-constituent” characters (alphanumerics and the underscore, “_”) and nonword-constituent characters, respectively.

\d \D

Matches digits and nondigits, respectively.

\p \P

Matches printable and nonprintable characters, respectively. Whitespace is considered to be printable.

\(...\)

Provides grouping for *, \+, and \?, as well as making matched subtexts available in the replacement part of a substitute command.

vile allows the escape sequences \b, \f, \r, \t, and \n to appear in the replacement part of a substitute command. They stand for backspace, formfeed, carriage return, tab, and newline, respectively. Also, from the vile documentation:

Note that vile mimics perl’s handling of \u\L\1\E instead of vi’s. Given :s/\(abc\)/\u\L\1\E/, vi will replace with abc whereas vile and perl will replace with Abc. This is somewhat more useful for capitalizing words.

Command-Line History and Completion

vile stores all your ex commands in a buffer named [History]. Options control your access to it and the use of the minibuffer (the colon command line).

History commands — vi

Key

Meaning

↑, ↓

Move up (previous), down (more recent) in the history

←, →

Move left, right on the recalled line

BACKSPACE

Delete characters

The ex command line provides completion of various sorts. Completion applies to built-in and user-defined vile commands, tags, filenames, modes, and variables, and to the terminal characters (the character setting, such as backspace, suspend, and so on, derived from your stty settings).

History options

Option

Meaning

history

Log commands from the colon command line in the [History] buffer.

mini-edit

The character that toggles the editing mode in the minibuffer to use vi motion commands. You can also use the vi commands i, I, a, and A.

mini-hilite

Define the highlight attribute to use when the user toggles the editing mode in the minibuffer. The value should be one of none, underline, bold, italic, or reverse; the default is reverse.

Tag Stacks

vile provides both ex and vi commands for managing the tag stack.

Tag commands — ex

Command

Function

ta[g][!] [tagstring]

Edit the file containing tagstring as defined in the tags file

pop[!]

Pop a cursor position off the stack, restoring the cursor to its previous position

next-tag

Continue searching through the tags file for more matches

show-tagstack

Create a new window that displays the tag stack; the display changes as tags are pushed to or popped off the stack

Tag commands — vi

Command

Function

^]

Look up the location of the identifier under the cursor in the tags file and move to that location; the current location is automatically pushed to the tag stack

^T
^X ^]

Return to the previous location in the tag stack, i.e., pop off one element

^A ^]

Same as the :next-tag command

Edit-Compile Speedup

Unlike the other clones, vile only provides vi commands for increasing programmer productivity.

Program development commands — vi

Command

Function

^X ! command ENTER

Run command, saving the output in a buffer named [Output]

^X ^X

Find the next error; vile parses the output and moves to the location of each successive error

The error messages are parsed using regular expressions in the buffer [Error Expressions]. vile creates this buffer automatically and uses it when you use ^X ^X. You can add expressions to it as needed.

You can point the error finder at an arbitrary buffer (not just the output of shell commands) using the :error-buffer command. This lets you use the error finder on the output of previous compiler or egrep runs.

vile 9.8 set Options

Option

Default

alt-tabpos (atp)

noatp

animated

animated

autobuffer (ab)

autobuffer

autocolor (ac)

0

autosave (as)

noautosave

autosavecnt (ascnt)

256

backspacelimit (bl)

backspacelimit

backup-style

off

bcolor

default

byteorder-mark (bom)

auto

check-access

current

check-modtime

nocheck-modtime

cindent

nocindent

cindent-chars

:#{}()[]

cmode

off

color-scheme (cs)

default

comment-prefix

^\s*\(\(\s*[#*>]\)\|\(///*\)\)\+

comments

^\s*/\?\(\s*[#*>/]\)\+/\?\s*$

cursor-tokens

regex

dirc

nodirc

dos

nodos

fcolor

default

fence-begin

/\*

fence-end

\*/

fence-if

^\s*#\s*if

fence-elif

^\s*#\s*elif\>

fence-else

^\s*#\s*else\>

fence-fi

^\s*#\s*endif\>

fence-pairs

{}()[]

file-encoding

auto

filtername (fn)

for-buffers (fb)

mixed

glob

!echo %s

highlight (hl)

highlight

history (hi)

history

ignoresuffix (is)

\(\.orig\|~\)$

horizscroll (hs)

horizscroll

linewrap (lw)

nolinewrap

maplonger

nomaplonger

meta-insert-bindings (mib)

mib

mini-hilite (mh)

reverse

modeline

nomodeline

modelines

5

overlap-matches

overlap-matches

percent-crlf

50

percent-utf8

90

popup-choices (pc)

delayed

popup-msgs (pm)

nopopup-msgs

recordseparator (rs)

lf[a]

resolve-links

noresolve-links

reuse-position

noreuse-position

ruler

noruler

showchar (sc)

noshowchar

showformat (sf)

foreign

showmode (smd)

showmode

sideways

0

tabinsert (ti)

tabinsert

tagignorecase (tc)

notagignorecase

taglength (tl)

0

tagrelative (tr)

notagrelative

tags

tags

tagword (tw)

notagword

undolimit (ul)

10

unicode-as-hex (uh)

nounicode-as-hex

unprintable-as-octal (uo)

nounprintable-as-octal

visual-matches

none

xterm-fkeys

noxterm-fkeys

xterm-mouse

noxterm-mouse

xterm-title

noxterm-title

[a] This depends on the platform for which vile is compiled.

Internet Resources for vi

There are many resources and items of interest on the Internet related to vi and its clones. This section provides a brief overview of some of them:

http://www.thomer.com/vi/vi.html

Thomer M. Gil’s vi Lover’s Home page. This is one of two main sites for vi, with links to many resources and other sites.

http://www.vi-editor.org

Sven Guckes’s VI Pages. This is the second of the main vi sites.

http://www.darryl.com/vi.shtml

A “This site is vi powered” logo, as shown in Figure 1-2.

http://www.cafepress.com/geekcheat/366808

Concise vi command references, printed on coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

http://www.networkcomputing.com/unixworld/tutorial/009/009.html

A nine-part tutorial on vi by Walter Zintz, originally published in Unix World magazine.

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000106

This is the start of the “vigor” story line in the User Friendly comic strip, which was the inspiration for the next item in this list.

http://vigor.sourceforge.net

The source code for vigor.

Figure 1-2. vi powered!

Program Source and Contact Information

Editor

Modernized, original vi

Author

Gunnar Ritter

Email

gunnarr@acm.org

Source

http://ex-vi.sourceforge.net

Editor

Vim

Author

Bram Moolenaar

Email

Bram@vim.org

Source

http://www.vim.org/

Editor

nvi

Author

Keith Bostic

Email

bostic@bostic.com

Source

https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi

Editor

elvis

Author

Steve Kirkendall

Email

kirkenda@cs.pdx.edu

Source

ftp://ftp.cs.pdx.edu/pub/elvis/README.html

Editor

vile

Authors

Kevin Buettner, Tom Dickey, and Paul Fox

Email

vile@nongnu.org

Source

http://www.invisible-island.net/vile/vile.html

[1] ^ ^D and 0 ^D are not in elvis.

[2] The nvi 1.79 documentation has these two commands switched, but the program actually behaves as described here.

[3] This works with vi, nvi, and Vim, but not with elvis or vile.

Index

A note on the digital index

A link in an index entry is displayed as the section title in which that entry appears. Because some sections have multiple index markers, it is not unusual for an entry to have several links to the same section. Clicking on any link will take you directly to the place in the text in which the marker appears.

A

abbreviations, Input Mode Shortcuts

auto-commands, Running scripts

automatic indentation, Automatic Indentation

B

bracket expressions, POSIX Bracket Expressions

buffer commands, Buffer and Marking Commands

buffer names, Buffer Names

buffers, executable, Executable Buffers

C

character classes, POSIX Bracket Expressions

collating symbols, POSIX Bracket Expressions

command mode maps, Command and Input Mode Maps

command-line options, Command-Line Options

elvis, Important Command-Line Options

nvi, Important Command-Line Options

vile, Important Command-Line Options

Vim, Important Command-Line Options

commands, vi Commands–More Substitution Tricks

auto-commands (scripting), Running scripts

buffer commands, Buffer and Marking Commands

editing commands, Editing Commands

ex commands, ex Commands–Alphabetical List of Commands

exit commands, Exit Commands

marking commands, Buffer and Marking Commands

movement commands, Movement Commands

substitute command, The Substitute Command

completion, Insertion Completion Facilities

ctags, Exuberant ctags

D

dictionaries, Variables, options, and numbers

diff mode, Diff Mode

E

editing commands, Editing Commands

elvis, elvis–elvis 2.2 set Options

command-line history, Command-Line History and Completion Movement Keys

command-line options, Important Command-Line Options

completion movement keys, Command-Line History and Completion Movement Keys

extended regular expressions, elvis Extended Regular Expressions

program development commands, Edit-Compile Speedup–Values for the lptype option

set options, elvis 2.2 set Options

tag stacks, Tag Stacks

window management, elvis Window Management–Window management commands — vi

enhanced tags, Enhanced Tags and Tag Stacks

equivalence classes, POSIX Bracket Expressions

ex commands, ex Commands–Alphabetical List of Commands

executable buffers, Executable Buffers

exit commands, Exit Commands

.exrc files, Initialization

Exuberant ctags, Exuberant ctags

F

folding and unfolding text, Folding and Unfolding Text–Folding options

function references, User-defined functions

I

initialization, Initialization

input mode maps, Command and Input Mode Maps

input mode shortcuts, Input Mode Shortcuts

Internet resources, Internet Resources for vi

L

lists, Variables, options, and numbers

locale, vi Regular Expressions

lowercase commands, Movement Commands

M

maps, Command and Input Mode Maps

marking commands, Buffer and Marking Commands

metacharacters in replacement strings, Metacharacters Used in Replacement Strings

movement commands, Movement Commands

N

nvi, nvi — New vi–nvi 1.79 set Options

command-line history and completion, Command-Line History and Completion Options

command-line options, Important Command-Line Options

extended regular expressions, nvi Extended Regular Expressions

set options, nvi 1.79 set Options

tag stacks, Tag Stacks

window management commands, nvi Window Management Commands

P

POSIX bracket expressions, POSIX Bracket Expressions

R

recovery commands, Recovery

regular expressions, Substitution and Regular Expressions

elvis, elvis Extended Regular Expressions

metacharacters in replacement strings, Metacharacters Used in Replacement Strings

nvi, nvi Extended Regular Expressions

POSIX bracket expressions and character classes, POSIX Bracket Expressions

substitute command and flags, The Substitute Command

vile, vile Extended Regular Expressions

Vim, Vim Extended Regular Expressions

S

scope, Variables, options, and numbers

screen mode, vi Commands

set options, vi set Options

elvis, elvis 2.2 set Options

nvi, nvi 1.79 set Options

vile, vile 9.8 set Options

Vim, Vim set Options

Solaris vi, Introduction

command-mode tag commands, Solaris vi Command-Mode Tag Commands

tag stacking, Tag commands — ex

source code, Nothing like the Original, Program Source and Contact Information

substitute command, The Substitute Command

substitution tricks, More Substitution Tricks

T

tabbed editing, Tabbed Editing–Tabbed editing options

tag stacks, Enhanced Tags and Tag Stacks

elvis, Tag Stacks

nvi, Tag Stacks

vile, Tag Stacks

Vim, Tag Stacks

tags file format, Exuberant ctags

U

uppercase commands, Movement Commands

V

vi source code, Nothing like the Original

vi versions, Introduction

vile, vile — vi like Emacs–vile 9.8 set Options

command-line history and completion, Command-Line History and Completion

command-line options, Important Command-Line Options

extended regular expressions, vile Extended Regular Expressions

program development commands, Edit-Compile Speedup

set options, vile 9.8 set Options

tag stacks, Tag Stacks

window management commands, Important Command-Line Options

Vim, Vim — vi Improved–Vim set Options

command-line history, Command-Line History and Completion

command-line options, Important Command-Line Options

completion commands, Completion commands — vi, Completion commands — vi

diff mode, Diff Mode

ex commands, Alphabetical List of Commands

extended matching commands, Extended matching commands — vi

extended regular expressions, Vim Extended Regular Expressions–Vim Extended Regular Expressions

folding and unfolding text, Folding and Unfolding Text–Folding options

identifier search commands, Identifier search commands — ex

indentation and formatting options, Indentation and formatting options

insertion completion facilities, Insertion Completion Facilities–Completion options

numeric values, Variables, options, and numbers

program development commands and options, Edit-Compile Speedup

programming assistance, Programming Assistance–Indentation and formatting options

scripting, Vim Scripting–Running scripts

comparison operators and case, Operators

control flow commands, Control flow commands

operators, Operators

running scripts, Running scripts

user-defined functions, User-defined functions

variables, Variables, options, and numbers

set options, Vim set Options

tabbed editing, Tabbed Editing–Tabbed editing options

tag stacks and commands, Tag Stacks

window management, Vim Window Management

W

window management

elvis, elvis Window Management

nvi, nvi Window Management Commands

vile, Important Command-Line Options

Vim, Vim Window Management

word abbreviation, Word Abbreviation

words, Movement Commands

About the Author

Arnold Robbins is a professional programmer and technical author who has worked with Unix systems since 1980 and has been using AWK since 1987. As a member of the POSIX 1003.2 balloting group, he helped shape the POSIX standard for AWK. Arnold is currently the maintainer of gawk and its documentation. He is coauthor of the sixth edition of O'Reilly's Learning the vi Editor.

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vi and Vim Editors Pocket Reference

Arnold Robbins

Editor

Andy Oram

Copyright © 2011 Arnold Robbins

O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com.

Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O’Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. vi and Vim Editors Pocket Reference, the image of a tarsier, and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

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vi and Vim Editors Pocket Reference

Table of Contents

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1. vi and Vim Editors Pocket Reference

Introduction

Conventions

Acknowledgments

Command-Line Options

vi Commands

Movement Commands

Editing Commands

Exit Commands

Solaris vi Command-Mode Tag Commands

Buffer Names

Buffer and Marking Commands

Input Mode Shortcuts

Word Abbreviation

Command and Input Mode Maps

Executable Buffers

Automatic Indentation

Substitution and Regular Expressions

The Substitute Command

Substitution flags

vi Regular Expressions

POSIX Bracket Expressions

POSIX character classes

Metacharacters Used in Replacement Strings

More Substitution Tricks

ex Commands

Command Syntax

Address Symbols

Command Option Symbols

Alphabetical List of Commands

Initialization

Recovery

vi set Options

Nothing like the Original

Enhanced Tags and Tag Stacks

Exuberant ctags

Extended ctags keywords

Solaris vi Tag Stacking

Tag commands — ex

Tag commands — vi

Tag management options

Vim — vi Improved

Important Command-Line Options

Vim Window Management

Window management commands — ex

Window management commands — vi

Tabbed Editing

Managing tabs — ex

Managing tabs — vi

Tabbed editing options

Vim Extended Regular Expressions

Command-Line History and Completion

History commands — vi

Completion commands — vi

Tag Stacks

Tag commands — ex

Tag commands — vi

Edit-Compile Speedup

Program development commands — ex

Program development options

Programming Assistance

Identifier search commands — ex

Identifier search commands — vi

Extended matching commands — vi

Indentation and formatting options

Folding and Unfolding Text

Folding commands — ex

Folding commands — vi

Folding options

Insertion Completion Facilities

Completion commands — vi

Completion options

Diff Mode

Vim Scripting

Variables, options, and numbers

Control flow commands

Operators

User-defined functions

Running scripts

Vim set Options

nvi — New vi

Important Command-Line Options

nvi Window Management Commands

nvi Extended Regular Expressions

Command-Line History and Completion Options

Tag Stacks

Tag commands — ex

Tag commands — vi

nvi 1.79 set Options

elvis

Important Command-Line Options

elvis Window Management

Window management commands — ex

Arguments to the :window command

Window management commands — vi

elvis Extended Regular Expressions

Command-Line History and Completion Movement Keys

Tag Stacks

Tag commands — ex

Tag commands — vi

Edit-Compile Speedup

Program development commands — ex

Display modes

Display-mode commands — ex

Options for print management

Values for the lptype option

elvis 2.2 set Options

vile — vi like Emacs

Important Command-Line Options

vile Window Management Commands

vile Extended Regular Expressions

Command-Line History and Completion

History commands — vi

History options

Tag Stacks

Tag commands — ex

Tag commands — vi

Edit-Compile Speedup

Program development commands — vi

vile 9.8 set Options

Internet Resources for vi

Program Source and Contact Information

Index

About the Author

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Copyright