*various.txt*   For Vim version 5.0.  Last modification: 1998 Feb 14


		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by Bram Moolenaar


Various commands					*various*

1. Various commands	|various-cmds|
2. Online help		|online-help|

==============================================================================
1. Various commands					*various-cmds*

							*CTRL-L*
CTRL-L			Clear and redraw the screen.

							*N<Del>*
<Del>			When entering a number: Remove the last digit.
			Note: if you like to use <BS> for this, add this
			mapping to your .vimrc:
				:map CTRL-V <BS>   CTRL-V <Del>
			See |:fixdel| if your <Del> key does not do what you
			want.

:as[cii]	or					*ga* *:as* *:ascii*
ga			Print the ascii value of the character under the
			cursor in decimal, hexadecimal and octal.  For
			example, when the cursor is on a 'R':
				<R>  82,  Hex 52,  Octal 122
			When the character is a non-standard ASCII character,
			but printable according to the 'isprint' option, the
			non-printable version is also given.  When the
			character is larger than 127, the <M-x> form is also
			printed.  For example:
				<~A>  <M-^A>  129,  Hex 81,  Octal 201
				<p>  <|~>  <M-~>  254,  Hex fe,  Octal 376
			(where <p> is a special character)
			The <Nul> character in a file is stored internally as
			<NL>, but it will be shown as:
				<^@>  0,  Hex 00,  Octal 000
			Mnemonic: Get Ascii value.  {not in Vi}

							*:p* *:print*
:[range]p[rint]		Print [range] lines (default current line).

:[range]p[rint] {count}
			Print {count} lines, starting with [range] (default
			current line |cmdline-ranges|).

							*:l* *:list*
:[range]l[ist] [count]
			Same as :print, but display unprintable characters
			with '^'.

							*:nu* *:number*
:[range]nu[mber] [count]
			Same as :print, but precede each line with its line
			number.  (See also 'highlight' option).

							*:#*
:[range]# [count]	synonym for :number.

							*:z*
:{range}z[+-^.=]{count}	Display several lines of text surrounding the line
			specified with {range}, or around the current line
			if there is no {range}.  If there is a {count}, that's
			how many lines you'll see; otherwise, the current
			window size is used.

			:z can be used either alone or followed by any of
			several punctuation marks.  These have the following
			effect:

			mark   first line    last line      new location   ~
			----   ----------    ---------      ------------
			+      current line  1 scr forward  1 scr forward
			-      1 scr back    current line   current line
			^      2 scr back    1 scr back     1 scr back
                        .      1/2 scr back  1/2 scr fwd    1/2 src fwd
			=      1/2 src back  1/2 scr fwd    current line

			Specifying no mark at all is the same as "+".
			If the mark is "=", a line of dashes is printed
			around the current line.

							*:=*
:=			Print the cursor line number.

:norm[al][!] {commands}					*:norm* *:normal*
			Execute Normal mode commands {commands}.  This makes
			it possible to execute Normal mode commands typed on
			the command line.  {commands} is executed like it is
			typed.  For undo all commands are undone together.  If
			the [!] is given, mappings will not be used.
			{commands} should be a complete command.  If
			{commands} does not finish a command, more characters
			need to be typed, but the display isn't updated while
			doing this.
			Mostly useful for autocommands.  This command cannot
			be followed by another command, since any '|' is
			considered part of the command.
			An alternative is to use ":execute", which uses an
			expression as argument.  See |:exe|.
			Hint: If the {commands} ends in an <Esc>, Vim may
			think it's the start of a function key, and 'ttimeout'
			will apply, which makes things very slow, or even wait
			indefenitely for anything to be typed.  Include the
			[!] in this case.
			{not in Vi, of course}
			Not available when |+ex_extra| feature was disabled at
			compile time.

:{range}norm[al][!] {commands}				*:normal-range*
			Execute Normal mode commands {commands} for each line
			in the {range}.  Before executing the {commands}, the
			cursor is positioned in the first column of the range,
			for each line.  Otherwise it's the same as the
			":normal" command without a range.
			{not in Vi}
			Not available when |+ex_extra| feature was disabled at
			compile time.

							*:sh* *:shell*
:sh[ell]		This command starts a shell.  When the shell exits
			(after the "exit" command) you return to Vim.  The
			name for the shell command comes from 'shell' option.
			Note: This doesn't work when Vim on the Amiga was
			started in QuickFix mode from a compiler, because the
			compiler will have set stdin to a non-interactive
			mode.

							*:!cmd* *:!*
:!{cmd}			Execute {cmd} with the shell.  See also the 'shell'
			and 'shelltype' option.
			Any '!' in {cmd} is replaced with the previous
			external command (see also 'cpoptions').  But not when
			there is a backslash before the '!', then that
			backslash is removed.  Example: ":!ls" followed by
			":!echo ! \! \\!" executes "echo ls ! \!".
			After the command has been executed, the timestamp of
			the current file is checked |timestamp|.
			There cannot be a '|' in {cmd}, see |:bar|.
			Also see |shell-window|.

							*:!!*
:!!			Repeat last ":!{cmd}".

							*:ve* *:version*
:ve[rsion]		Print the version number of the editor.  If the
			compiler used understands "__DATE__" the compilation
			date is mentioned.  Otherwise a fixed release-date is
			shown.
			The following lines contain information about which
			features were enabled when Vim was compiled.  When
			there is a preceding '+', the feature is included,
			when there is a '-' it is excluced.  To change this,
			you have to edit feature.h and recompile Vim.
			To check for this in an expression, see |has()|.
			Here is an overview of the features:

							*+feature-list*
*+ARP*			Amiga only: ARP support included
*+autocmd*		|:autocmd|, automatic commands
*+builtin_terms*	some terminals builtin |builtin-terms|
*++builtin_terms*	maximal terminals builtin |builtin-terms|
*+cindent*		|'cindent'|, C indenting
*+digraphs*		|digraphs|
*+emacs_tags*		|emacs-tags| files
*+eval*			expression evaluation |eval.txt|
*+ex_extra*		Vim's extra Ex commands: |:center|, |:left|,
			|:normal|, |:retab| and |:right|
*+extra_search*		|'hlsearch'| and |'incsearch'| options.
*+farsi*		|farsi| language
*+file_in_path*		|gf|, |CTRL-W_f| and |<cfile>|
*+find_in_path*		include file searches: |[I|, |:isearch|,
			|CTRL-W_CTRL-I|, |:checkpath|, etc.
*+fork*			Unix only: |fork| shell commands
*+GUI_Athena*		Unix only: Athena |GUI|
*+GUI_BeOS*		BeOS only: BeOS |GUI|
*+GUI_Motif*		Unix only: Motif |GUI|
*+insert_expand*	|insert_expand| Insert mode completion
*+langmap*		|'langmap'|
*+lispindent*		|'lisp'|
*+mouse_dec*		Unix only: Dec terminal mouse handling
*+mouse_netterm*	Unix only: netterm mouse handling
*+mouse_xterm*		Unix only: xterm mouse handling
*+ole*			Win32 GUI only: |ole-interface|
*+perl*			Perl interface |perl|
*+python*		Python interface |python|
*+quickfix*		|:make| and |quickfix| commands
*+rightleft*		Right to left typing |'rightleft'|
*+showcmd*		|'showcmd'|
*+smartindent*		|'smartindent'|
*+sniff*		SniFF interface (no docs available...)
*+syntax*		Syntax highlighting |syntax|
*+system()*		Unix only: opposite of |+fork|
*+tag_binary*		binary searching in tags file |tag-binary-search|
*+tag_old_static*	old method for static tags |tag-old-static|
*+tag_any_white*	any white space allowed in tags file |tag-any-white|
*+terminfo*		uses |terminfo| instead of termcap
*+textobjects*		|text-objects| selection
*+tgetent*		non-Unix only: able to use external termcap
*+viminfo*		|'viminfo'|
*+writebackup*		|'writebackup'| is default on
*+xterm_save*		Save and restore xterm screen |xterm-screens|
*+X11*			Unix only: can restore window title |X11|

:ve[rsion] {nr}		Is now ignored.  This was previously used to check the
			version number of a .vimrc file.  It was removed,
			because you can now use the ":if" command for
			version-dependend behaviour.  {not in Vi}

							*:redi* *:redir*
:redi[r][!] > {file}	Redirect messages to file {file}.  The messages which
			are the output of commands are written to that file,
			until redirection ends.  The messages are also still
			shown on the screen.  When [!] is included, an
			existing file is overwritten.  When [!] is omitted,
			and {file} exists, this command fails.  {not in Vi}

:redi[r] >> {file}	Redirect message to file {file}.  Append if {file}
			already exists.  {not in Vi}

:redi[r] END		End redirecting messages.  {not in Vi}

							*K*
K			Run a program to lookup the keyword under the
			cursor.  The name of the program is given with the
			'keywordprg' (kp) option (default is "man").  The
			keyword is formed of letters, numbers and the
			characters in 'iskeyword'.  The keyword under or
			right of the cursor is used.  The same can be done
			with the command
>				:!{program} {keyword}
			There is an example of a program to use in the tools
			directory of Vim.  It is called 'ref' and does a
			simple spelling check.
			Special cases:
			- If 'keywordprg' is empty, the ":help" command is
			  used.  It's a good idea to include more characters
			  in 'iskeyword' then, to be able to find more help.
			- When 'keywordprg' is equal to "man", a count before
			  "K" is inserted after the "man" command and before
			  the keyword.  For example, using "2K" while the
			  cursor is on "mkdir", results in:
>				!man 2 mkdir
			{not in Vi}

							*v_K*
{Visual}K		Like "K", but use the visually highlighted text for
			the keyword.  Only works when the highlighted text is
			not more than one line.  {not in Vi}

[N]gs							*gs* *:sl* *:sleep*
:[N]sl[eep] [N]		Do nothing for [N] seconds.  Can be interrupted with
			CTRL-C (CTRL-Break on MS-DOS).  "gs" stands for "goto
			sleep".  While sleeping the cursor is positioned in
			the text (if visible).  {not in Vi}

==============================================================================
2. Online help						*online-help*

			*help* *<Help>* *:h* *:help* *<F1>* *i_<F1>* *i_<Help>*
<Help>		or
:h[elp]			Split the window and display the help file in
			read-only mode.  If there is a help window open
			already, use that one.  {not in Vi}

:h[elp] {subject}	Like ":help", additionally jump to the tag {subject}.
			{subject} can include wildcards like "*", "?" and
			"[a-z]":
			   :help z?	jump to help for any "z" command
			   :help z.	jump to the help for "z."
			If there is no full match for the pattern, or there
			are several matches, the "best" match will be used.
			A sophisticated algorithm is used to decide which
			match is better than another one.  These items are
			considered in the computation:
			- A match with same case is much better than a match
			  with different case.
			- A match that starts after a non-alphanumeric
			  character is better than a match in the middle of a
			  word.
			- A match at or near the beginning of the tag is
			  better than a match furter on.
			- The more alphanumeric characters match, the better.
			- The shorter the length of the match, the better.
			Note that the longer the {subject} you give, the less
			matches will be found.  You can get an idea how this
			all works by using commandline completion (type CTRL-D
			after ":help subject").
			To use a regexp |pattern|, first do ":help" and then
			use ":tag <pattern>" in the help window.  The
			":tnext" command can then be used to jump to other
			matches, "tselect" to list matches and choose one.
>				:help index| :tse z.
			This command can be followed by '|' and another
			command, but you don't need to escape the '|' inside a
			help command.  So these both work:
>				:help |
>				:help k| only
			Note that a space before the '|' is seen as part of
			the ":help" argument.
			You can also use <LF> or <CR> to separate the help
			command from a following command.  You need to type
			CTRL-V first to insert the <LF> or <CR>.  Example:
>				:help so<C-V><CR>only
			{not in Vi}

The help file name can be set with the 'helpfile' option.  The initial height
of the help window can be set with the 'helpheight' option (default 20).
Jump to specific subjects by using tags.  This can be done in two ways:
- Use the "CTRL-]" command while standing on the name of a command or option.
  This only works when the tag is a keyword.  "<C-Leftmouse>" and
  "g<LeftMouse>" work just like "CTRL-]".
- use the ":ta {subject}" command.  This works with all characters.

Use "CTRL-T" to jump back.
Use ":q" to close the help window.

							*help-xterm-window*
If you want to have the help in another xterm window, you could use this
command:
	:!xterm -e vim +help &

 vim:tw=78:ts=8:sw=8:
