*help.txt* For Vim version 9.1. Last change: 2024 Dec 06

VIM - main help file

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Move around: Use the cursor keys, or "h" to go left, h l

"j" to go down, "k" to go up, "l" to go right. j

Close this window: Use ":q<Enter>".

Get out of Vim: Use ":qa!<Enter>" (careful, all changes are lost!).

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-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.

Prepend something to specify the context: *help-context*

Normal mode command :help x

Visual mode command v_ :help v_u

Insert mode command i_ :help i_<Esc>

Command-line command : :help :quit

Command-line editing c_ :help c_<Del>

Vim command argument - :help -r

Option ' :help 'textwidth'

Regular expression / :help /[

See |help-summary| for more contexts and an explanation.

See |notation| for an explanation of the help syntax.

Search for help: Type ":help word", then hit CTRL-D to see matching

help entries for "word".

Or use ":helpgrep word". |:helpgrep|

Getting started: Do the Vim tutor, a 30-minute interactive course for the

basic commands, see |vimtutor|.

Read the user manual from start to end: |usr_01.txt|

Vim stands for Vi IMproved. Most of Vim was made by Bram Moolenaar, but only

through the help of many others. See |credits|.

*doc-file-list* *Q_ct*

BASIC:

|quickref| Overview of the most common commands you will use

|tutor| 30-minute interactive 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

USER MANUAL: These files explain how to accomplish an editing task.

|usr_toc.txt| Table Of Contents

|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

|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

|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

|usr_50.txt| Advanced Vim script writing

|usr_51.txt| Create a plugin

|usr_52.txt| Write plugins using Vim9 script

|usr_90.txt| Installing Vim

REFERENCE MANUAL: These files explain every detail of Vim. *reference_toc*

|intro.txt| general introduction to Vim; notation used in help files

|help.txt| overview and quick reference (this file)

|helphelp.txt| about using the help files

|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

|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

|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

|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

|windows.txt| commands for using multiple windows and buffers

|tabpage.txt| commands for using multiple tab pages

|spell.txt| spell checking

|diff.txt| working with two to eight versions of the same file

|autocmd.txt| automatically executing commands on an event

|eval.txt| expression evaluation, conditional commands

|builtin.txt| builtin functions

|userfunc.txt| defining user functions

|channel.txt| Jobs, Channels, inter-process communication

|fold.txt| hide (fold) ranges of lines

|testing.txt| testing Vim and Vim scripts

|print.txt| printing

|remote.txt| using Vim as a server or client

|term.txt| using different terminals and mice

|terminal.txt| Terminal window support

|popup.txt| popup window support

|vim9.txt| using Vim9 script

|vim9class.txt| using Vim9 script classes

|indent.txt| automatic indenting for C and other languages

|syntax.txt| syntax highlighting

|textprop.txt| Attaching properties to text for highlighting or other

|filetype.txt| settings done specifically for a type of file

|quickfix.txt| commands for a quick edit-compile-fix cycle

|ft_ada.txt| Ada (the programming language) support

|ft_context.txt| Filetype plugin for ConTeXt

|ft_hare.txt| Filetype plugin for Hare

|ft_mp.txt| Filetype plugin for METAFONT and MetaPost

|ft_ps1.txt| Filetype plugin for Windows PowerShell

|ft_raku.txt| Filetype plugin for Raku

|ft_rust.txt| Filetype plugin for Rust

|ft_sql.txt| about the SQL filetype plugin

|digraph.txt| list of available digraphs

|mbyte.txt| multibyte text support

|mlang.txt| non-English language support

|rileft.txt| right-to-left editing mode

|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

|hangulin.txt| Hangul (Korean) input mode

|vietnamese.txt| Vietnamese language support and editing

|gui.txt| Graphical User Interface (GUI)

|gui_w32.txt| Win32 GUI

|gui_x11.txt| X11 GUI

|if_cscop.txt| using Cscope with Vim

|if_lua.txt| Lua interface

|if_mzsch.txt| MzScheme interface

|if_perl.txt| Perl interface

|if_pyth.txt| Python 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

|netbeans.txt| NetBeans External Editor interface

|sign.txt| debugging signs

|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

|version8.txt| Differences between Vim version 7.4 and 8.x

|version9.txt| Differences between Vim version 8.2 and 9.0

*sys-file-list*

|os_390.txt| OS/390 Unix

|os_amiga.txt| Amiga

|os_beos.txt| BeOS and BeBox

|os_dos.txt| MS-DOS and MS-Windows common items

|os_haiku.txt| Haiku

|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

*standard-plugin-list*

|pi_getscript.txt| Downloading latest version of Vim scripts

|pi_gzip.txt| Reading and writing compressed files

|pi_logipat.txt| Logical operators on patterns

|pi_netrw.txt| Reading and writing files over a network

|pi_paren.txt| Highlight matching parens

|pi_spec.txt| Filetype plugin to work with rpm spec files

|pi_tar.txt| Tar file explorer

|pi_tutor.txt| Interactive tutorial for Vim

|pi_vimball.txt| Create a self-installing Vim script

|pi_zip.txt| Zip archive explorer

LOCAL ADDITIONS: *local-additions*

*bars* Bars example

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

characters 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. Especially for options in single quotes, e.g.

'compatible'.

vim:tw=78:isk=!-~,^*,^\|,^\":ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: