NAME
vim - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor
SYNOPSIS
vim [options] [file ..]
vim [options] -
vim [options] -t tag
vim [options] -q [errorfile]
ex
view
gvim gview evim eview
rvim rview rgvim rgview
DESCRIPTION
Vim is a text editor that is upwards compatible to Vi. It can
be used to edit all kinds of plain text. It is especially
useful for editing programs.
There are a lot of enhancements above Vi: multi level undo,
multi windows and buffers, syntax highlighting, command line
editing, filename completion, on-line help, visual selection,
etc.. See ":help vi_diff.txt" for a summary of the differ‐
ences between Vim and Vi.
While running Vim a lot of help can be obtained from the on-
line help system, with the ":help" command. See the ON-LINE
HELP section below.
Most often Vim is started to edit a single file with the com‐
mand
vim file
More generally Vim is started with:
vim [options] [filelist]
If the filelist is missing, the editor will start with an
empty buffer. Otherwise exactly one out of the following four
may be used to choose one or more files to be edited.
file .. A list of filenames. The first one will be the
current file and read into the buffer. The cursor
will be positioned on the first line of the
buffer. You can get to the other files with the
":next" command. To edit a file that starts with
a dash, precede the filelist with "--".
- The file to edit is read from stdin. Commands are
read from stderr, which should be a tty.
-t {tag} The file to edit and the initial cursor position
depends on a "tag", a sort of goto label. {tag}
is looked up in the tags file, the associated file
becomes the current file and the associated com‐
mand is executed. Mostly this is used for C pro‐
grams, in which case {tag} could be a function
name. The effect is that the file containing that
function becomes the current file and the cursor
is positioned on the start of the function. See
":help tag-commands".
-q [errorfile]
Start in quickFix mode. The file [errorfile] is
read and the first error is displayed. If [error‐
file] is omitted, the filename is obtained from
the ’errorfile’ option (defaults to "AztecC.Err"
for the Amiga, "errors.err" on other systems).
Further errors can be jumped to with the ":cn"
command. See ":help quickfix".
Vim behaves differently, depending on the name of the command
(the executable may still be the same file).
vim The "normal" way, everything is default.
ex Start in Ex mode. Go to Normal mode with the ":vi"
command. Can also be done with the "-e" argument.
view Start in read-only mode. You will be protected from
writing the files. Can also be done with the "-R"
argument.
gvim gview
The GUI version. Starts a new window. Can also be
done with the "-g" argument.
evim eview
The GUI version in easy mode. Starts a new window.
Can also be done with the "-y" argument.
rvim rview rgvim rgview
Like the above, but with restrictions. It will not
be possible to start shell commands, or suspend Vim.
Can also be done with the "-Z" argument.
OPTIONS
The options may be given in any order, before or after file‐
names. Options without an argument can be combined after a
single dash.
+[num] For the first file the cursor will be positioned
on line "num". If "num" is missing, the cursor
will be positioned on the last line.
+/{pat} For the first file the cursor will be positioned
on the first occurrence of {pat}. See ":help
search-pattern" for the available search patterns.
+{command}
-c {command}
{command} will be executed after the first file
has been read. {command} is interpreted as an Ex
command. If the {command} contains spaces it must
be enclosed in double quotes (this depends on the
shell that is used). Example: Vim "+set si"
main.c
Note: You can use up to 10 "+" or "-c" commands.
-S {file} {file} will be sourced after the first file has
been read. This is equivalent to -c "source
{file}". {file} cannot start with ’-’. If {file}
is omitted "Session.vim" is used (only works when
-S is the last argument).
--cmd {command}
Like using "-c", but the command is executed just
before processing any vimrc file. You can use up
to 10 of these commands, independently from "-c"
commands.
-A If Vim has been compiled with ARABIC support for
editing right-to-left oriented files and Arabic
keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Arabic
mode, i.e. ’arabic’ is set. Otherwise an error
message is given and Vim aborts.
-b Binary mode. A few options will be set that makes
it possible to edit a binary or executable file.
-C Compatible. Set the ’compatible’ option. This
will make Vim behave mostly like Vi, even though a
.vimrc file exists.
-d Start in diff mode. There should be two, three or
four file name arguments. Vim will open all the
files and show differences between them. Works
like vimdiff(1).
-d {device} Open {device} for use as a terminal. Only on the
Amiga. Example: "-d con:20/30/600/150".
-D Debugging. Go to debugging mode when executing
the first command from a script.
-e Start Vim in Ex mode, just like the executable was
called "ex".
-E Start Vim in improved Ex mode, just like the exe‐
cutable was called "exim".
-f Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not
fork and detach from the shell it was started in.
On the Amiga, Vim is not restarted to open a new
window. This option should be used when Vim is
executed by a program that will wait for the edit
session to finish (e.g. mail). On the Amiga the
":sh" and ":!" commands will not work.
--nofork Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not
fork and detach from the shell it was started in.
-F If Vim has been compiled with FKMAP support for
editing right-to-left oriented files and Farsi
keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Farsi
mode, i.e. ’fkmap’ and ’rightleft’ are set. Oth‐
erwise an error message is given and Vim aborts.
-g If Vim has been compiled with GUI support, this
option enables the GUI. If no GUI support was
compiled in, an error message is given and Vim
aborts.
-h Give a bit of help about the command line argu‐
ments and options. After this Vim exits.
-H If Vim has been compiled with RIGHTLEFT support
for editing right-to-left oriented files and
Hebrew keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in
Hebrew mode, i.e. ’hkmap’ and ’rightleft’ are set.
Otherwise an error message is given and Vim
aborts.
-i {viminfo}
When using the viminfo file is enabled, this
option sets the filename to use, instead of the
default "~/.viminfo". This can also be used to
skip the use of the .viminfo file, by giving the
name "NONE".
-L Same as -r.
-l Lisp mode. Sets the ’lisp’ and ’showmatch’
options on.
-m Modifying files is disabled. Resets the ’write’
option. You can still modify the buffer, but
writing a file is not possible.
-M Modifications not allowed. The ’modifiable’ and
’write’ options will be unset, so that changes are
not allowed and files can not be written. Note
that these options can be set to enable making
modifications.
-N No-compatible mode. Reset the ’compatible’
option. This will make Vim behave a bit better,
but less Vi compatible, even though a .vimrc file
does not exist.
-n No swap file will be used. Recovery after a crash
will be impossible. Handy if you want to edit a
file on a very slow medium (e.g. floppy). Can
also be done with ":set uc=0". Can be undone with
":set uc=200".
-nb Become an editor server for NetBeans. See the
docs for details.
-o[N] Open N windows stacked. When N is omitted, open
one window for each file.
-O[N] Open N windows side by side. When N is omitted,
open one window for each file.
-p[N] Open N tab pages. When N is omitted, open one tab
page for each file.
-R Read-only mode. The ’readonly’ option will be
set. You can still edit the buffer, but will be
prevented from accidently overwriting a file. If
you do want to overwrite a file, add an exclama‐
tion mark to the Ex command, as in ":w!". The -R
option also implies the -n option (see below).
The ’readonly’ option can be reset with ":set
noro". See ":help ’readonly’".
-r List swap files, with information about using them
for recovery.
-r {file} Recovery mode. The swap file is used to recover a
crashed editing session. The swap file is a file
with the same filename as the text file with
".swp" appended. See ":help recovery".
-s Silent mode. Only when started as "Ex" or when
the "-e" option was given before the "-s" option.
-s {scriptin}
The script file {scriptin} is read. The charac‐
ters in the file are interpreted as if you had
typed them. The same can be done with the command
":source! {scriptin}". If the end of the file is
reached before the editor exits, further
characters are read from the keyboard.
-T {terminal}
Tells Vim the name of the terminal you are using.
Only required when the automatic way doesn’t work.
Should be a terminal known to Vim (builtin) or
defined in the termcap or terminfo file.
-u {vimrc} Use the commands in the file {vimrc} for initial‐
izations. All the other initializations are
skipped. Use this to edit a special kind of
files. It can also be used to skip all initial‐
izations by giving the name "NONE". See ":help
initialization" within vim for more details.
-U {gvimrc} Use the commands in the file {gvimrc} for GUI ini‐
tializations. All the other GUI initializations
are skipped. It can also be used to skip all GUI
initializations by giving the name "NONE". See
":help gui-init" within vim for more details.
-V[N] Verbose. Give messages about which files are
sourced and for reading and writing a viminfo
file. The optional number N is the value for
’verbose’. Default is 10.
-v Start Vim in Vi mode, just like the executable was
called "vi". This only has effect when the exe‐
cutable is called "ex".
-w {scriptout}
All the characters that you type are recorded in
the file {scriptout}, until you exit Vim. This is
useful if you want to create a script file to be
used with "vim -s" or ":source!". If the
{scriptout} file exists, characters are appended.
-W {scriptout}
Like -w, but an existing file is overwritten.
-x Use encryption when writing files. Will prompt
for a crypt key.
-X Don’t connect to the X server. Shortens startup
time in a terminal, but the window title and clip‐
board will not be used.
-y Start Vim in easy mode, just like the executable
was called "evim" or "eview". Makes Vim behave
like a click-and-type editor.
-Z Restricted mode. Works like the executable starts
with "r".
-- Denotes the end of the options. Arguments after
this will be handled as a file name. This can be
used to edit a filename that starts with a ’-’.
--echo-wid GTK GUI only: Echo the Window ID on stdout.
--help Give a help message and exit, just like "-h".
--literal Take file name arguments literally, do not expand
wildcards. This has no effect on Unix where the
shell expands wildcards.
--noplugin Skip loading plugins. Implied by -u NONE.
--remote Connect to a Vim server and make it edit the files
given in the rest of the arguments. If no server
is found a warning is given and the files are
edited in the current Vim.
--remote-expr {expr}
Connect to a Vim server, evaluate {expr} in it and
print the result on stdout.
--remote-send {keys}
Connect to a Vim server and send {keys} to it.
--remote-silent
As --remote, but without the warning when no
server is found.
--remote-wait
As --remote, but Vim does not exit until the files
have been edited.
--remote-wait-silent
As --remote-wait, but without the warning when no
server is found.
--serverlist
List the names of all Vim servers that can be
found.
--servername {name}
Use {name} as the server name. Used for the cur‐
rent Vim, unless used with a --remote argument,
then it’s the name of the server to connect to.
--socketid {id}
GTK GUI only: Use the GtkPlug mechanism to run
gvim in another window.
--version Print version information and exit.
