| *intro.txt* Nvim |
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| NVIM REFERENCE MANUAL |
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| Nvim *ref* *reference* |
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| Type |gO| to see the table of contents. |
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| ============================================================================== |
| Introduction *intro* |
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| Vim is a text editor which includes most commands from the Unix program "Vi" |
| and many new ones. |
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| An overview of this manual can be found in the file "help.txt", |help.txt|. |
| It can be accessed from within Vim with the <Help> or <F1> key and with the |
| |:help| command (just type ":help", without the bars or quotes). |
| The 'helpfile' option can be set to the name of the help file, in case it |
| is not located in the default place. You can jump to subjects like with tags: |
| Use CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor, use CTRL-T to jump back. |
|
|
| *pronounce* |
| Vim is pronounced as one word, like Jim. So Nvim is "En-Vim", two syllables. |
|
|
| This manual is a reference for all Nvim editor and API features. It is not an |
| introduction; instead for beginners, there is a hands-on |tutor|, |lua-guide|, |
| and |user-manual|. |
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| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Resources *resources* |
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| *internet* *www* *distribution* |
| Nvim home page: |
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| https://neovim.io/ |
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|
| *book* |
| There are many resources to learn Vi, Vim, and Nvim. We recommend: |
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|
| - "Practical Vim" by Drew Neil. Acclaimed for its focus on quickly learning |
| common editing tasks with Vim. |
| - "Modern Vim" by Drew Neil. Explores new features in Nvim and Vim 8. |
| - https://vimcasts.org/publications/ |
| - "Vim - Vi Improved" by Steve Oualline. This was the first book dedicated to |
| Vim. Parts of it were included in the Vim user manual. |frombook| ISBN: |
| 0735710015 |
| - For more information try one of these: |
| - https://iccf-holland.org/click5.html |
| - https://www.vim.org/iccf/click5.html |
| - Vim FAQ: https://vimhelp.org/vim_faq.txt.html |
|
|
| *bugs* *bug-report* *feature-request* |
| Report bugs and request features here: https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues |
| Be brief, yet complete. Always give a reproducible example and try to find |
| out which settings or other things trigger the bug. If Nvim crashed, try to |
| get a backtrace (see |dev-tools-backtrace|). |
|
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| ============================================================================== |
| Installing Nvim *install* |
|
|
| *download* *upgrade* *ubuntu* |
| To install or upgrade Nvim, you can... |
| - Download a pre-built archive: |
| https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases |
| - Use your system package manager: |
| https://github.com/neovim/neovim/blob/master/INSTALL.md#install-from-package |
| - Build from source: |
| https://github.com/neovim/neovim/blob/master/INSTALL.md#install-from-source |
|
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| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Un-installing Nvim *uninstall* |
|
|
| To uninstall Nvim: |
| - If you downloaded a pre-built archive or built Nvim from source (e.g. |
| `make install`), just delete its files, typically located in: > |
| /usr/local/bin/nvim |
| /usr/local/share/nvim |
| < |
| - To find where Nvim is installed, run these commands: > |
| :echo v:progpath |
| :echo $VIMRUNTIME |
| < |
| - If you installed via package manager, read your package manager's |
| documentation. Common examples: |
| - APT (Debian, Ubuntu, …): `apt-get remove neovim` |
| - Homebrew (macOS): `brew uninstall neovim` |
| - Scoop (Windows): `scoop uninstall neovim` |
|
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| ============================================================================== |
| Sponsor Vim/Nvim development *sponsor* *register* |
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|
| Fixing bugs and adding new features takes a lot of time and effort. To show |
| your appreciation for the work and motivate developers to continue working on |
| Vim please send a donation. |
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|
| The money you donated will be mainly used to help children in Uganda. See |
| |uganda|. But at the same time donations increase the development team |
| motivation to keep working on Vim! |
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| For the most recent information about sponsoring look on the Vim web site: |
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| https://www.vim.org/sponsor/ |
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| Nvim development is funded separately from Vim: |
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| https://neovim.io/#sponsor |
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| ============================================================================== |
| Bram Moolenaar *Bram* *Moolenaar* *Bram-Moolenaar* *brammool* |
|
|
| Nvim is a fork of the Vim ("Vi IMproved") text editor, which was originally |
| developed by Bram Moolenaar. Searching his name within the source code of |
| Nvim will reveal just how much of his work still remains in Nvim. |
| On August 3, 2023, he passed away at the age of 62. If Vim or Nvim have been |
| of use to you in your life, please read |Uganda| and consider honoring his |
| memory however you may see fit. |
|
|
| - Obituary Articles: https://github.com/vim/vim/discussions/12742 |
| - Say Farewell: https://github.com/vim/vim/discussions/12737 |
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| ============================================================================== |
| Notation *notation* |
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|
| When syntax highlighting is used to read this, text that is not typed |
| literally is often highlighted with the Special group. These are items in [], |
| {} and <>, and CTRL-X. |
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|
| Note that Vim uses all possible characters in commands. Sometimes the [], {} |
| and <> are part of what you type, the context should make this clear. |
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|
| - [] Characters in square brackets are optional. |
|
|
| *count* *[count]* |
| - [count] An optional number that may precede the command to multiply |
| or iterate the command. If no number is given, a count of one |
| is used, unless otherwise noted. Note that in this manual the |
| [count] is not mentioned in the description of the command, |
| but only in the explanation. This was done to make the |
| commands easier to look up. If the 'showcmd' option is on, |
| the (partially) entered count is shown at the bottom of the |
| window. You can use <Del> to erase the last digit (|N<Del>|). |
|
|
| *[quotex]* |
| - ["x] An optional register designation where text can be stored. |
| See |registers|. The x is a single character between 'a' and |
| 'z' or 'A' and 'Z' or '"', and in some cases (with the put |
| command) between '0' and '9', '%', '#', or others. The |
| uppercase and lowercase letter designate the same register, |
| but the lowercase letter is used to overwrite the previous |
| register contents, while the uppercase letter is used to |
| append to the previous register contents. Without the ""x" or |
| with """" the stored text is put into the unnamed register. |
|
|
| *{}* |
| - {} Curly braces denote parts of the command which must appear, |
| but which can take a number of different values. The |
| differences between Vim and Vi are also given in curly braces |
| (this will be clear from the context). |
|
|
| *{char1-char2}* |
| - {char1-char2} A single character from the range char1 to char2. For |
| example: {a-z} is a lowercase letter. Multiple ranges may be |
| concatenated. For example, {a-zA-Z0-9} is any alphanumeric |
| character. |
|
|
| *{motion}* *movement* |
| - {motion} A command that moves the cursor. These are explained in |
| |motion.txt|. |
| - Examples: |
| - `w` to start of next word |
| - `b` to begin of current word |
| - `4j` four lines down |
| - `/The<CR>` to next occurrence of "The" |
| - This is used after an |operator| command to move over the |
| text that is to be operated upon. |
| - If the motion includes a count and the operator also has |
| a count, the two counts are multiplied. For example: |
| "2d3w" deletes six words. |
| - The motion can be backwards, e.g. "db" to delete to the |
| start of the word. |
| - The motion can also be a mouse click. The mouse is not |
| supported in every terminal though. |
| - The ":omap" command can be used to map characters while an |
| operator is pending. |
| - Ex commands can be used to move the cursor. This can be |
| used to call a function that does some complicated motion. |
| The motion is always charwise exclusive, no matter what |
| ":" command is used. This means it's impossible to |
| include the last character of a line without the line |
| break (unless 'virtualedit' is set). If the Ex command |
| changes the text before where the operator starts or jumps |
| to another buffer the result is unpredictable. It is |
| possible to change the text further down. Jumping to |
| another buffer is possible if the current buffer is not |
| unloaded. |
|
|
| *{Visual}* |
| - {Visual} A selected text area. It is started with the "v", "V", or |
| CTRL-V command, then any cursor movement command can be used |
| to change the end of the selected text. |
| This is used before an |operator| command to highlight the |
| text that is to be operated upon. |
| See |Visual-mode|. |
|
|
| *<character>* |
| - <character> A special character from the table below, optionally with |
| modifiers, or a single ASCII character with modifiers. |
|
|
| *'character'* |
| - 'c' A single ASCII character. |
|
|
| *CTRL-{char}* |
| - CTRL-{char} {char} typed as a control character; that is, typing {char} |
| while holding the CTRL key down. The case of {char} is |
| ignored; thus CTRL-A and CTRL-a are equivalent. But in |
| some terminals and environments, using the SHIFT key will |
| produce a distinct code (e.g. CTRL-SHIFT-a); in these |
| environments using the SHIFT key will not trigger commands |
| such as CTRL-A. |
|
|
| *'option'* |
| - 'option' An option, or parameter, that can be set to a value, is |
| enclosed in single quotes. See |options|. |
|
|
| *quotecommandquote* |
| - "command" A reference to a command that you can type is enclosed in |
| double quotes. |
| - `command` New style command, this distinguishes it from other quoted |
| text and strings. |
|
|
| *key-notation* *key-codes* *keycodes* |
| These names for keys are used in the documentation. They can also be used |
| with the ":map" command. |
|
|
| notation meaning equivalent decimal value(s) ~ |
| <Nul> zero CTRL-@ 0 (stored as 10) *<Nul>* |
| <BS> backspace CTRL-H 8 *backspace* |
| <Tab> tab CTRL-I 9 *tab* *Tab* |
| *linefeed* |
| <NL> linefeed CTRL-J 10 (used for <Nul>) |
| <CR> carriage return CTRL-M 13 *carriage-return* |
| <Return> same as <CR> *<Return>* |
| <Enter> same as <CR> *<Enter>* |
| <Esc> escape CTRL-[ 27 *escape* *<Esc>* |
| <Space> space 32 *space* |
| <lt> less-than < 60 *<lt>* |
| <Bslash> backslash \ 92 *backslash* *<Bslash>* |
| <Bar> vertical bar | 124 *<Bar>* |
| <Del> delete 127 |
| <CSI> command sequence intro ALT-Esc 155 *<CSI>* |
|
|
| <EOL> end-of-line (can be <CR>, <NL> or <CR><NL>, |
| depends on system and 'fileformat') *<EOL>* |
| <Ignore> cancel wait-for-character *<Ignore>* |
| <NOP> no-op: do nothing (useful in mappings) *<Nop>* |
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|
| <Up> cursor-up *cursor-up* *cursor_up* |
| <Down> cursor-down *cursor-down* *cursor_down* |
| <Left> cursor-left *cursor-left* *cursor_left* |
| <Right> cursor-right *cursor-right* *cursor_right* |
| <S-Up> shift-cursor-up |
| <S-Down> shift-cursor-down |
| <S-Left> shift-cursor-left |
| <S-Right> shift-cursor-right |
| <C-Left> control-cursor-left |
| <C-Right> control-cursor-right |
| <F1> - <F12> function keys 1 to 12 *function_key* *function-key* |
| <S-F1> - <S-F12> shift-function keys 1 to 12 *<S-F1>* |
| <Help> help key |
| <Undo> undo key |
| <Find> find key |
| <Select> select key |
| <Insert> insert key |
| <Home> home *home* |
| <End> end *end* |
| <PageUp> page-up *page_up* *page-up* |
| <PageDown> page-down *page_down* *page-down* |
| <kUp> keypad cursor-up *keypad-cursor-up* |
| <kDown> keypad cursor-down *keypad-cursor-down* |
| <kLeft> keypad cursor-left *keypad-cursor-left* |
| <kRight> keypad cursor-right *keypad-cursor-right* |
| <kHome> keypad home (upper left) *keypad-home* |
| <kEnd> keypad end (lower left) *keypad-end* |
| <kOrigin> keypad origin (middle) *keypad-origin* |
| <kPageUp> keypad page-up (upper right) *keypad-page-up* |
| <kPageDown> keypad page-down (lower right) *keypad-page-down* |
| <kDel> keypad delete *keypad-delete* |
| <kPlus> keypad + *keypad-plus* |
| <kMinus> keypad - *keypad-minus* |
| <kMultiply> keypad * *keypad-multiply* |
| <kDivide> keypad / *keypad-divide* |
| <kPoint> keypad . *keypad-point* |
| <kComma> keypad , *keypad-comma* |
| <kEqual> keypad = *keypad-equal* |
| <kEnter> keypad Enter *keypad-enter* |
| <k0> - <k9> keypad 0 to 9 *keypad-0* *keypad-9* |
| <S-…> shift-key *shift* *<S-* |
| <C-…> control-key *control* *ctrl* *<C-* |
| <M-…> alt-key or meta-key *META* *ALT* *<M-* |
| <A-…> same as <M-…> *<A-* |
| <T-…> meta-key when it's not alt *<T-* |
| <D-…> command-key or "super" key *<D-* |
|
|
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|
| Note: |
|
|
| - Availability of some keys (<Help>, <S-Right>, …) depends on the UI or host |
| terminal. |
| - If numlock is on the |TUI| receives plain ASCII values, so mapping <k0>, |
| <k1>, ..., <k9> and <kPoint> will not work. |
| - Nvim supports mapping multibyte chars with modifiers such as `<M-ä>`. Which |
| combinations actually work depends on the UI or host terminal. |
| - When a key is pressed using a meta or alt modifier and no mapping exists for |
| that keypress, Nvim may behave as though <Esc> was pressed before the key. |
| - It is possible to notate combined modifiers (e.g. <M-C-T> for CTRL-ALT-T), |
| but your terminal must encode the input for that to work. |tui-input| |
|
|
| *<>* |
| Examples are often given in the <> notation. Sometimes this is just to make |
| clear what you need to type, but often it can be typed literally, e.g., with |
| the ":map" command. The rules are: |
| 1. Printable characters are typed directly, except backslash and "<" |
| 2. Backslash is represented with "\\", double backslash, or "<Bslash>". |
| 3. Literal "<" is represented with "\<" or "<lt>". When there is no |
| confusion possible, "<" can be used directly. |
| 4. "<key>" means the special key typed (see the table above). Examples: |
| - <Esc> Escape key |
| - <C-G> CTRL-G |
| - <Up> cursor up key |
| - <C-LeftMouse> Control- left mouse click |
| - <S-F11> Shifted function key 11 |
| - <M-a> Meta- a ('a' with bit 8 set) |
| - <M-A> Meta- A ('A' with bit 8 set) |
|
|
| The <> notation uses <lt> to escape the special meaning of key names. Using a |
| backslash also works, but only when 'cpoptions' does not include the 'B' flag. |
|
|
| Examples for mapping CTRL-H to the six characters "<Home>": >vim |
| :imap <C-H> \<Home> |
| :imap <C-H> <lt>Home> |
| The first one only works when the 'B' flag is not in 'cpoptions'. The second |
| one always works. |
| To get a literal "<lt>" in a mapping: >vim |
| :map <C-L> <lt>lt> |
|
|
| The notation can be used in a double quoted strings, using "\<" at the start, |
| e.g. "\<C-Space>". This results in a special key code. To convert this back |
| to readable text use `keytrans()`. |
|
|
| ============================================================================== |
| Modes, introduction *vim-modes-intro* *vim-modes* |
|
|
| Vim has seven BASIC modes: |
|
|
| *Normal* *Normal-mode* *command-mode* |
| - Normal mode: In Normal mode you can enter all the normal editor |
| commands. If you start the editor you are in this |
| mode. This is also known as command mode. |
|
|
| - Visual mode: This is like Normal mode, but the movement commands |
| extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement |
| command is used, it is executed for the highlighted |
| area. See |Visual-mode|. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VISUAL --" is shown |
| at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Select mode: This looks most like the MS-Windows selection mode. |
| Typing a printable character deletes the selection |
| and starts Insert mode. See |Select-mode|. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- SELECT --" is shown |
| at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Insert mode: In Insert mode the text you type is inserted into the |
| buffer. See |Insert-mode|. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- INSERT --" is shown |
| at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Cmdline mode: In Command-line mode (also called Cmdline mode) you |
| can enter one line of text at the bottom of the |
| window. This is for the Ex commands, ":", the pattern |
| search commands, "?" and "/", and the filter command, |
| "!". |Cmdline-mode| |
|
|
| - Ex mode: Like Command-line mode, but after entering a command |
| you remain in Ex mode. Very limited editing of the |
| command line. |Ex-mode| |
|
|
| *Terminal-mode* |
| - Terminal mode: In Terminal mode all input (except CTRL-\) is sent to |
| the process running in the current |terminal| buffer. |
| If CTRL-\ is pressed, the next key is sent unless it |
| is CTRL-N (|CTRL-\_CTRL-N|) or CTRL-O (|t_CTRL-\_CTRL-O|). |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- TERMINAL --" is shown |
| at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| There are six ADDITIONAL modes. These are variants of the BASIC modes: |
|
|
| *Operator-pending* *Operator-pending-mode* |
| - Operator-pending mode: This is like Normal mode, but after an operator |
| command has started, and Vim is waiting for a {motion} |
| to specify the text that the operator will work on. |
|
|
| - Replace mode: Replace mode is a special case of Insert mode. You |
| can do the same things as in Insert mode, but for |
| each character you enter, one character of the existing |
| text is deleted. See |Replace-mode|. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- REPLACE --" is |
| shown at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Virtual Replace mode: Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but |
| instead of file characters you are replacing screen |
| real estate. See |Virtual-Replace-mode|. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VREPLACE --" is |
| shown at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Insert Normal mode: Entered when CTRL-O is typed in Insert mode (see |
| |i_CTRL-O|). This is like Normal mode, but after |
| executing one command Vim returns to Insert mode. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) --" is |
| shown at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Insert Visual mode: Entered when starting a Visual selection from Insert |
| mode, e.g., by using CTRL-O and then "v", "V" or |
| CTRL-V. When the Visual selection ends, Vim returns |
| to Insert mode. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) VISUAL --" |
| is shown at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| - Insert Select mode: Entered when starting Select mode from Insert mode. |
| E.g., by dragging the mouse or <S-Right>. |
| When the Select mode ends, Vim returns to Insert mode. |
| If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) SELECT --" |
| is shown at the bottom of the window. |
|
|
| ============================================================================== |
| Switching from mode to mode *mode-switching* |
|
|
| If for any reason you do not know which mode you are in, you can always get |
| back to Normal mode by typing <Esc> twice. This doesn't work for Ex mode |
| though, use ":visual". |
| You will know you are back in Normal mode when you see the screen flash or |
| hear the bell after you type <Esc>. However, when pressing <Esc> after using |
| CTRL-O in Insert mode you get a beep but you are still in Insert mode, type |
| <Esc> again. |
|
|
| *i_esc* |
| > |
| FROM mode TO mode |
| Normal Visual Select Insert Replace Cmd-line Ex > |
| Normal v V ^V *4 *1 R gR : / ? ! gQ |
| Visual *2 ^G c C -- : -- |
| Select *5 ^O ^G *6 -- -- -- |
| Insert <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- |
| Replace <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- -- |
| Command-line *3 -- -- :start -- -- |
| Ex :vi -- -- -- -- -- |
|
|
| -- not possible |
| < |
|
|
| - 1 Go from Normal mode to Insert mode by giving the command "i", "I", "a", |
| "A", "o", "O", "c", "C", "s" or S". |
| - 2 Go from Visual mode to Normal mode by giving a non-movement command, which |
| causes the command to be executed, or by hitting <Esc> "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" |
| (see |v_v|), which just stops Visual mode without side effects. |
| - 3 Go from Command-line mode to Normal mode by: |
| - Hitting <CR> or <NL>, which causes the entered command to be executed. |
| - Deleting the complete line (e.g., with CTRL-U) and giving a final <BS>. |
| - Hitting CTRL-C or <Esc>, which quits the command-line without executing |
| the command. |
| In the last case <Esc> may be the character defined with the 'wildchar' |
| option, in which case it will start command-line completion. You can |
| ignore that and type <Esc> again. |
| - 4 Go from Normal to Select mode by: |
| - use the mouse to select text while 'selectmode' contains "mouse" |
| - use a non-printable command to move the cursor while keeping the Shift |
| key pressed, and the 'selectmode' option contains "key" |
| - use "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" while 'selectmode' contains "cmd" |
| - use "gh", "gH" or "g CTRL-H" |g_CTRL-H| |
| - 5 Go from Select mode to Normal mode by using a non-printable command to move |
| the cursor, without keeping the Shift key pressed. |
| - 6 Go from Select mode to Insert mode by typing a printable character. The |
| selection is deleted and the character is inserted. |
|
|
| *CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* |
| *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *t_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* |
| Additionally the command CTRL-\ CTRL-N or <C-\><C-N> can be used to go to |
| Normal mode from any other mode. This can be used to make sure Vim is in |
| Normal mode, without causing a beep like <Esc> would. However, this does not |
| work in Ex mode. When used after a command that takes an argument, such as |
| |f| or |m|, the timeout set with 'ttimeoutlen' applies. |
|
|
| *CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* *v_CTRL-\_CTRL-G* |
| CTRL-\ CTRL-G works the same as |CTRL-\_CTRL-N| for backward compatibility. |
|
|
| *gQ* *mode-Ex* *Ex-mode* *Ex* *EX* *E501* |
| gQ Switch to Ex mode. This is like typing ":" commands |
| one after another, except: |
| - You don't have to keep pressing ":". |
| - The screen doesn't get updated after each command. |
| Use the `:vi` command (|:visual|) to exit this mode. |
|
|
| ============================================================================== |
| Window contents *window-contents* |
|
|
| In Normal mode and Insert/Replace mode the screen window will show the current |
| contents of the buffer: What You See Is What You Get. There are two |
| exceptions: |
| - When the 'cpoptions' option contains '$', and the change is within one line, |
| the text is not directly deleted, but a '$' is put at the last deleted |
| character. |
| - When inserting text in one window, other windows on the same text are not |
| updated until the insert is finished. |
|
|
| Lines longer than the window width will wrap, unless the 'wrap' option is off |
| (see below). The 'linebreak' option can be set to wrap at a blank character. |
|
|
| If the window has room after the last line of the buffer, Vim will show '~' in |
| the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: |
| > |
| +-----------------------+ |
| |some line | |
| |last line | |
| |~ | |
| |~ | |
| +-----------------------+ |
| < |
| Thus the '~' lines indicate that the end of the buffer was reached. |
|
|
| If the last line in a window doesn't fit, Vim will indicate this with a '@' in |
| the first column of the last lines in the window, like this: |
| > |
| +-----------------------+ |
| |first line | |
| |second line | |
| |@ | |
| |@ | |
| +-----------------------+ |
| < |
| Thus the '@' lines indicate that there is a line that doesn't fit in the |
| window. |
|
|
| When the "lastline" flag is present in the 'display' option, you will not see |
| '@' characters at the left side of window. If the last line doesn't fit |
| completely, only the part that fits is shown, and the last three characters of |
| the last line are replaced with "@@@", like this: |
| > |
| +-----------------------+ |
| |first line | |
| |second line | |
| |a very long line that d| |
| |oesn't fit in the wi@@@| |
| +-----------------------+ |
| < |
| If there is a single line that is too long to fit in the window, this is a |
| special situation. Vim will show only part of the line, around where the |
| cursor is. There are no special characters shown, so that you can edit all |
| parts of this line. |
|
|
| The |hl-NonText| highlight group can be used to set special highlighting |
| for the '@' and '~' characters. This makes it possible to distinguish them |
| from real characters in the buffer. |
|
|
| The 'showbreak' option contains the string to put in front of wrapped lines. |
|
|
| *wrap-off* |
| If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap. Only the part that |
| fits on the screen is shown. If the cursor is moved to a part of the line |
| that is not shown, the screen is scrolled horizontally. The advantage of |
| this method is that columns are shown as they are and lines that cannot fit |
| on the screen can be edited. The disadvantage is that you cannot see all the |
| characters of a line at once. The 'sidescroll' option can be set to the |
| minimal number of columns to scroll. |
|
|
| All normal ASCII characters are displayed directly on the screen. The <Tab> |
| is replaced with the number of spaces that it represents. Other non-printing |
| characters are replaced with "^{char}", where {char} is the non-printing |
| character with 64 added. Thus character 7 (bell) will be shown as "^G". |
| Characters between 127 and 160 are replaced with "~{char}", where {char} is |
| the character with 64 subtracted. These characters occupy more than one |
| position on the screen. The cursor can only be positioned on the first one. |
|
|
| If you set the 'number' option, all lines will be preceded with their |
| number. Tip: If you don't like wrapping lines to mix with the line numbers, |
| set the 'showbreak' option to eight spaces: > |
| ":set showbreak=\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ " |
|
|
| If you set the 'list' option, <Tab> characters will not be shown as several |
| spaces, but as "^I". A '$' will be placed at the end of the line, so you can |
| find trailing blanks. |
|
|
| In Command-line mode only the command-line itself is shown correctly. The |
| display of the buffer contents is updated as soon as you go back to Command |
| mode. |
|
|
| The last line of the window is used for status and other messages. The |
| status messages will only be used if an option is on: > |
|
|
| status message option default Unix default |
| current mode 'showmode' on on |
| command characters 'showcmd' on off |
| cursor position 'ruler' off off |
|
|
| The current mode is "-- INSERT --" or "-- REPLACE --", see |'showmode'|. The |
| command characters are those that you typed but were not used yet. |
|
|
| If you have a slow terminal you can switch off the status messages to speed |
| up editing: > |
| :set nosc noru nosm |
|
|
| If there is an error, an error message will be shown for at least one second |
| (in reverse video). |
|
|
| Some commands show how many lines were affected. Above which threshold this |
| happens can be controlled with the 'report' option (default 2). |
|
|
| The name Vim and the full name of the current file name will be shown in the |
| title bar. When the window is resized, Vim will automatically redraw the |
| window. You may make the window as small as you like, but if it gets too |
| small not a single line will fit in it. Make it at least 40 characters wide |
| to be able to read most messages on the last line. |
|
|
| ============================================================================== |
| Definitions *definitions* *jargon* |
|
|
| - buffer: Contains lines of text, usually from a file. |
| - screen: The whole area that Nvim uses to display things. |
| - window: A view on a buffer. There can be multiple windows for one buffer. |
| - frame: Windows are kept in a tree of frames. Each frame contains a column, |
| row, or window ("leaf" frame). |
|
|
| A screen contains one or more windows, separated by status lines and with the |
| command line at the bottom. |
| > |
| +-------------------------------+ |
| screen | window 1 | window 2 | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| |= status line =|= status line =| |
| | window 3 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |==== status line ==============| |
| |command line | |
| +-------------------------------+ |
| < |
| The command line is also used for messages. It scrolls up the screen when |
| there is not enough room in the command line. |
|
|
| A difference is made between four types of lines: |
|
|
| - buffer lines: The lines in the buffer. This is the same as the |
| lines as they are read from/written to a file. They |
| can be thousands of characters long. |
| - logical lines: The buffer lines with folding applied. Buffer lines |
| in a closed fold are changed to a single logical line: |
| "+-- 99 lines folded". They can be thousands of |
| characters long. |
| - window lines: The lines displayed in a window: A range of logical |
| lines with wrapping, line breaks, etc. applied. They |
| can only be as long as the width of the window allows, |
| longer lines are wrapped or truncated. |
| - screen lines: The lines of the screen that Nvim uses. Consists of |
| the window lines of all windows, with status lines |
| and the command line added. They can only be as long |
| as the width of the screen allows. When the command |
| line gets longer it wraps and lines are scrolled to |
| make room. |
|
|
| > |
| buffer lines logical lines window lines screen lines |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 1. one 1. one 1. +-- folded 1. +-- folded |
| 2. two 2. +-- folded 2. five 2. five |
| 3. three 3. five 3. six 3. six |
| 4. four 4. six 4. seven 4. seven |
| 5. five 5. seven 5. === status line === |
| 6. six 6. aaa |
| 7. seven 7. bbb |
| 8. ccc ccc c |
| 1. aaa 1. aaa 1. aaa 9. cc |
| 2. bbb 2. bbb 2. bbb 10. ddd |
| 3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc c 11. ~ |
| 4. ddd 4. ddd 4. cc 12. === status line === |
| 5. ddd 13. (command line) |
| 6. ~ |
| < |
|
|
| API client ~ |
| All external UIs and remote plugins (as opposed to regular Vim plugins) are |
| "clients" in general; but we call something an "API client" if its purpose is |
| to abstract or wrap the RPC API for the convenience of other applications |
| (just like a REST client or SDK such as boto3 for AWS: you can speak AWS REST |
| using an HTTP client like curl, but boto3 wraps that in a convenient python |
| interface). For example, the Nvim node-client is an API client: |
| https://github.com/neovim/node-client |
|
|
|
|
| Host ~ |
| A plugin "host" is both a client (of the Nvim API) and a server (of an |
| external platform, e.g. python). It is a remote plugin that hosts other |
| plugins. |
|
|
|
|
| Remote plugin ~ |
| Arbitrary code registered via |:UpdateRemotePlugins|, that runs in a separate |
| process and communicates with Nvim via the |api|. |
|
|
|
|
| ============================================================================== |
| vim:tw=78:ts=8:et:sw=4:ft=help:norl: |
|
|
