help.txt For Vim version 7.2. Last change: 2008 Jul 21
| Move around: | Use the cursor keys, or "h" to go left, "j" to go down, "k" to go up, "l" to go right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Close this window: | Use ":q | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Get out of Vim: | Use ":qa! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jump to a subject: | Position the cursor on a tag (e.g. |bars|) and hit CTRL-]. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With the mouse: | ":set mouse=a" to enable the mouse (in xterm or GUI). Double-click the left mouse button on a tag, e.g. |bars|. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jump back: | Type CTRL-T or CTRL-O (repeat to go further back). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Get specific help: | It is possible to go directly to whatever you want help on, by giving an argument to the |:help| command. It is possible to further specify the context: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| help-context | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Search for help: | Type ":help word", then hit CTRL-D to see matching help entries for "word". |
VIM stands for Vi IMproved. Most of VIM was made by Bram Moolenaar, but only through the help of many others. See |credits|.
Basic:
| |quickref| | Overview of the most common commands you will use |
| |tutor| | 30 minutes training course for beginners |
| |copying| | About copyrights |
| |iccf| | Helping poor children in Uganda |
| |sponsor| | Sponsor Vim development, become a registered Vim user |
| |www| | Vim on the World Wide Web |
| |bugs| | Where to send bug reports |
These files explain how to accomplish an editing task.
|usr_toc.txt| Table Of Contents
Getting Started
| |usr_01.txt| | About the manuals |
| |usr_02.txt| | The first steps in Vim |
| |usr_03.txt| | Moving around |
| |usr_04.txt| | Making small changes |
| |usr_05.txt| | Set your settings |
| |usr_06.txt| | Using syntax highlighting |
| |usr_07.txt| | Editing more than one file |
| |usr_08.txt| | Splitting windows |
| |usr_09.txt| | Using the GUI |
| |usr_10.txt| | Making big changes |
| |usr_11.txt| | Recovering from a crash |
| |usr_12.txt| | Clever tricks |
Editing Effectively
| |usr_20.txt| | Typing command-line commands quickly |
| |usr_21.txt| | Go away and come back |
| |usr_22.txt| | Finding the file to edit |
| |usr_23.txt| | Editing other files |
| |usr_24.txt| | Inserting quickly |
| |usr_25.txt| | Editing formatted text |
| |usr_26.txt| | Repeating |
| |usr_27.txt| | Search commands and patterns |
| |usr_28.txt| | Folding |
| |usr_29.txt| | Moving through programs |
| |usr_30.txt| | Editing programs |
| |usr_31.txt| | Exploiting the GUI |
| |usr_32.txt| | The undo tree |
Tuning Vim
| |usr_40.txt| | Make new commands |
| |usr_41.txt| | Write a Vim script |
| |usr_42.txt| | Add new menus |
| |usr_43.txt| | Using filetypes |
| |usr_44.txt| | Your own syntax highlighted |
| |usr_45.txt| | Select your language |
Making Vim Run
|usr_90.txt| Installing Vim
These files explain every detail of Vim. reference_toc
General subjects
| |intro.txt| | general introduction to Vim; notation used in help files |
| |help.txt| | overview and quick reference (this file) |
| |index.txt| | alphabetical index of all commands |
| |help-tags| | all the tags you can jump to (index of tags) |
| |howto.txt| | how to do the most common editing tasks |
| |tips.txt| | various tips on using Vim |
| |message.txt| | (error) messages and explanations |
| |quotes.txt| | remarks from users of Vim |
| |todo.txt| | known problems and desired extensions |
| |develop.txt| | development of Vim |
| |debug.txt| | debugging Vim itself |
| |uganda.txt| | Vim distribution conditions and what to do with your money |
Basic editing
| |starting.txt| | starting Vim, Vim command arguments, initialisation |
| |editing.txt| | editing and writing files |
| |motion.txt| | commands for moving around |
| |scroll.txt| | scrolling the text in the window |
| |insert.txt| | Insert and Replace mode |
| |change.txt| | deleting and replacing text |
| |indent.txt| | automatic indenting for C and other languages |
| |undo.txt| | Undo and Redo |
| |repeat.txt| | repeating commands, Vim scripts and debugging |
| |visual.txt| | using the Visual mode (selecting a text area) |
| |various.txt| | various remaining commands |
| |recover.txt| | recovering from a crash |
Advanced editing
| |cmdline.txt| | Command-line editing |
| |options.txt| | description of all options |
| |pattern.txt| | regexp patterns and search commands |
| |map.txt| | key mapping and abbreviations |
| |tagsrch.txt| | tags and special searches |
| |quickfix.txt| | commands for a quick edit-compile-fix cycle |
| |windows.txt| | commands for using multiple windows and buffers |
| |tabpage.txt| | commands for using multiple tab pages |
| |syntax.txt| | syntax highlighting |
| |spell.txt| | spell checking |
| |diff.txt| | working with two to four versions of the same file |
| |autocmd.txt| | automatically executing commands on an event |
| |filetype.txt| | settings done specifically for a type of file |
| |eval.txt| | expression evaluation, conditional commands |
| |fold.txt| | hide (fold) ranges of lines |
Special issues
| |print.txt| | printing |
| |remote.txt| | using Vim as a server or client |
| |term.txt| | using different terminals and mice |
| |digraph.txt| | list of available digraphs |
| |mbyte.txt| | multi-byte text support |
| |mlang.txt| | non-English language support |
| |arabic.txt| | Arabic language support and editing |
| |farsi.txt| | Farsi (Persian) editing |
| |hebrew.txt| | Hebrew language support and editing |
| |russian.txt| | Russian language support and editing |
| |ft_ada.txt| | Ada (the programming language) support |
| |ft_sql.txt| | about the SQL filetype plugin |
| |hangulin.txt| | Hangul (Korean) input mode |
| |rileft.txt| | right-to-left editing mode |
GUI
| |gui.txt| | Graphical User Interface (GUI) |
| |gui_w16.txt| | Windows 3.1 GUI |
| |gui_w32.txt| | Win32 GUI |
| |gui_x11.txt| | X11 GUI |
Interfaces
| |if_cscop.txt| | using Cscope with Vim |
| |if_mzsch.txt| | MzScheme interface |
| |if_perl.txt| | Perl interface |
| |if_pyth.txt| | Python interface |
| |if_sniff.txt| | SNiFF+ interface |
| |if_tcl.txt| | Tcl interface |
| |if_ole.txt| | OLE automation interface for Win32 |
| |if_ruby.txt| | Ruby interface |
| |debugger.txt| | Interface with a debugger |
| |workshop.txt| | Sun Visual Workshop interface |
| |netbeans.txt| | NetBeans External Editor interface |
| |sign.txt| | debugging signs |
Versions
| |vi_diff.txt| | Main differences between Vim and Vi |
| |version4.txt| | Differences between Vim version 3.0 and 4.x |
| |version5.txt| | Differences between Vim version 4.6 and 5.x |
| |version6.txt| | Differences between Vim version 5.7 and 6.x |
| |version7.txt| | Differences between Vim version 6.4 and 7.x |
Remarks about specific systems
| |os_390.txt| | OS/390 Unix |
| |os_amiga.txt| | Amiga |
| |os_beos.txt| | BeOS and BeBox |
| |os_dos.txt| | MS-DOS and MS-Windows NT/95 common items |
| |os_mac.txt| | Macintosh |
| |os_mint.txt| | Atari MiNT |
| |os_msdos.txt| | MS-DOS (plain DOS and DOS box under Windows) |
| |os_os2.txt| | OS/2 |
| |os_qnx.txt| | QNX |
| |os_risc.txt| | RISC-OS |
| |os_unix.txt| | Unix |
| |os_vms.txt| | VMS |
| |os_win32.txt| | MS-Windows 95/98/NT |
Standard plugins
| |pi_getscript.txt| | Downloading latest version of Vim scripts |
| |pi_gzip.txt| | Reading and writing compressed files |
| |pi_netrw.txt| | Reading and writing files over a network |
| |pi_paren.txt| | Highlight matching parens |
| |pi_tar.txt| | Tar file explorer |
| |pi_vimball.txt| | Create a self-installing Vim script |
| |pi_zip.txt| | Zip archive explorer |
|matchit.txt| Extended "%" matching
Bars example bars
Now that you've jumped here with CTRL-] or a double mouse click, you can use CTRL-T, CTRL-O, g<RightMouse>, or <C-RightMouse> to go back to where you were.
Note that tags are within | characters, but when highlighting is enabled these are hidden. That makes it easier to read a command.
Anyway, you can use CTRL-] on any word, also when it is not within |, and Vim will try to find help for it.