# Vim documentation: intro

main help file

    *intro.txt*     For Vim version 6.0at.  Last change: 2001 Aug 19

    		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by Bram Moolenaar

    Introduction to Vim					*ref* *reference*

    1. Introduction			|intro|
    2. Vim on the internet		|internet|
    3. Credits			|credits|
    4. Notation			|notation|
    5. Modes, introduction		|vim-modes-intro|
    6. Switching from mode to mode	|mode-switching|
    7. The window contents		|window-contents|
    8. Definitions			|definitions|

    ==============================================================================

    1. Introduction						*intro*

    Vim stands for Vi IMproved.  It used to be Vi IMitation, but there are so many
    improvements that a name change was appropriate.  Vim is a text editor which
    includes almost all the commands from the Unix program "Vi" and a lot of new
    ones.  It is very useful for editing programs and other plain text.
       All commands are given with the keyboard.  This has the advantage that you
    can keep your fingers on the keyboard and your eyes on the screen.  For those
    who want it, there is mouse support and a GUI version with scrollbars and
    menus (see |gui.txt|).

    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.

    Throughout this manual the differences between Vi and Vim are mentioned in
    curly braces, like this: {Vi does not have on-line help}.  See |vi_diff.txt|
    for a summary of the differences between Vim and Vi.

    This manual refers to Vim on various machines.  There may be small differences
    between different computers and terminals.  Besides the remarks given in this
    document, there is a separate document for each supported system, see
    |sys-file-list|.

    This manual is a reference for all the Vim commands and options.  This is not
    an introduction to the use of Vi or Vim, it gets a bit complicated here and
    there.  For beginners, there is a hands-on |tutor|.  To learn using Vim, read
    the user manual |usr_toc.txt|.

    							*book*
    There are many books on Vi that contain a section for beginners.  There are
    two books I can recommend:

    	"Vim - Vi Improved" by Steve Oualline

    This is the very first book completely dedicated to Vim.  It is very good for
    beginners.  The most often used commands are explained with pictures and
    examples.  The less often used commands are also explained, the more advanced
    features are summarized.  There is a comprehensive index and a quick
    reference.  Parts of this book have been included in the user manual
    |frombook|.
    Published by New Riders Publishing.  ISBN: 0735710015
    For more information try one of these:
    	http://vim.iccf-holland.org
    	http://www.vim.org/iccf/click5.html

    	"Learning the Vi editor" by Linda Lamb and Arnold Robbins

    This is a book about Vi that includes a chapter on Vim (in the sixth edition).
    The first steps in Vi are explained very well.  The commands that Vim adds are
    only briefly mentioned.  There is also a German translation.
    Published by O'Reilly.  ISBN: 1-56592-426-6.

    ==============================================================================

    2. Vim on the internet					*internet*

    			*www* *faq* *FAQ* *ftp* *distribution* *download*
    The Vim pages contain the most recent information about Vim.  They also
    contain links to the most recent version of Vim.  The FAQ is a list of
    Frequently Asked Questions.  Read this if you have problems.

     VIM home page:	http://vim.sf.net/
     Sven's VIM pages:	http://www.vim.org/
     Latest news:	http://www.vim.org/news.html
     VIM FAQ:	http://www.vim.org/faq/
     Downloading:	ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/MIRRORS

    Usenet News group where Vim is discussed:		*news* *usenet*
    	comp.editors
     See	http://www.vim.org/usenet.html. This group is also for other editors. If
    you write about Vim, don't forget to mention that.

    						*mail-list* *maillist*
    There are several mailing lists for Vim:
    <vim@vim.org>
    	For discussions about using existing versions of Vim: Useful mappings,
    	questions, answers, where to get a specific version, etc.

    <vim-dev@vim.org>				*vim-dev* *vimdev*
    	For discussions about changing Vim: New features, porting, patches,
    	beta-test versions, etc.

    <vim-announce@vim.org>				*vim-announce*
    	Announcements about new versions of Vim; also for beta-test versions
    	and ports to different systems.

    <vim-multibyte@vim.org>				*vim-multibyte*
    	For discussions about using and improving the multi-byte aspects of
    	Vim.

    <vim-mac@vim.org>				*vim-mac*
    	For discussions about using and improving the Macintosh version of
    	Vim.

     See	http://www.vim.org/mail.html.

    NOTE:
    - You can only send messages to these lists if you have subscribed!
    - You need to send the messages from the same location as where you subscribed
      from (to avoid spam mail).
    - Maximum message size is 40000 characters.

    						*subscribe-maillist*
    If you want to join, send a message to
    	<vim-help@vim.org>
    Make sure that your "From:" address is correct.  Then the list server will
    give you help on how to subscribe.

    You can retrieve old messages from the maillist software, and an index of
    messages.  Ask vim-help for instructions.

    Archives are kept at:				*maillist-archive*
    	http://www.egroups.com/group/vim
    	http://www.egroups.com/group/vimdev
    	http://www.egroups.com/group/vimannounce
    	http://www.egroups.com/group/vim-multibyte
    	http://www.egroups.com/group/vim-mac

     Another archive is at	http://www.somelist.com in the "Editeurs" section the
    site is in French, the messages are in English).

    Additional maillists:

    <vim-fr@club.voila.fr>				*french-maillist*
    	Vim list in the French language.  Subscribe by sending a message to
    	<vim-fr-subscribe@club.voila.fr>
     Or go to	http://www.egroups.com/group/vim-fr.

    Bug reports:				*bugs* *bug-reports* *bugreport.vim*

    Send bug reports to: Vim bugs <bugs@vim.org>
    This is not a maillist but the message is redirected to the Vim maintainer.
    Please be brief; all the time that is spend on answering mail is subtracted
    from the time that is spent on improving Vim!  Always give a reproducible
    example and try to find out which settings or other things influence the
    appearance of the bug.  Try different machines, if possible.  Send me patches
    if you can!

    In case of doubt, use:
       :so $VIMRUNTIME/bugreport.vim
    This will create a file "bugreport.txt" in the current directory, with a lot
    of information of your environment.  Before sending this out, check if it
    doesn't contain any confidential information!

    							*debug-vim*
    When Vim crashes in one of the test files, and you are using gcc for
    compilation, here is what you can do to find out exactly where Vim crashes:

    1. Compile Vim with the "-g" option (there is a line in the Makefile for this,
       which you can uncomment).

    2. Execute these commands (replace "11" with the test that fails):
    	cd testdir
    	gdb ../vim
    	run -u unix.vim -U NONE -s dotest.in test11.in

    3. Check where Vim crashes, gdb should give a message for this.

    4. Get a stack trace from gdb with this command:
    	where
       You can check out different places in the stack trace with:
    	frame 3
       Replace "3" with one of the numbers in the stack trace.

    							*year-2000* *Y2K*
    Since Vim internally doesn't use dates for editing, there is no year 2000
    problem to worry about.  Vim does use the time in the form of seconds since
    January 1st 1970.  It is used for a time-stamp check of the edited file and
    the swap file, which is not critical and should only cause warning messages.

    There might be a year 2038 problem, when the seconds don't fit in a 32 bit int
    anymore.  This depends on the compiler, libraries and operating system.
    Specifically, time_t and the ctime() function are used.  And the time_t is
    stored in four bytes in the swap file.  But that's only used for printing a
    file date/time for recovery, it will never affect normal editing.

    The Vim strftime() function directly uses the strftime() system function.
    localtime() uses the time() system function.  getftime() uses the time
    returned by the stat() system function.  If your system libraries are year
    2000 compliant, Vim is too.

    The user may create scripts for Vim that use external commands.  These might
    introduce Y2K problems, but those are not really part of Vim itself.

    ==============================================================================

    3. Credits						*credits* *author*

    Most of Vim was written by Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org>.

    Parts of the documentation come from several Vi manuals, written by:
    	W.N. Joy
    	Alan P.W. Hewett
    	Mark Horton

    The Vim editor is based on Stevie and includes (ideas from) other software,
    worked on by the people mentioned here.  Other people helped by sending me
    patches, suggestions and giving feedback about what is good and bad in Vim.

    Vim would never have become what it is now, without the help of these people!

    	Ron Aaron		Win32 GUI changes
    	Zoltan Arpadffy		work on VMS port
    	Dany St-Amant		Macintosh port
    	Tony Andrews		Stevie
    	Gert van Antwerpen	changes for DJGPP on MS-DOS
    	Berkeley DB(3)		ideas for swap file implementation
    	Keith Bostic		Nvi
    	Walter Briscoe		Makefile updates, various patches
    	Ralf Brown		SPAWNO library for MS-DOS
    	Robert Colon		many useful remarks
    	Marcin Dalecki		GTK+ GUI port, toolbar icons, gettext()
    	Kayhan Demirel		sent me news in Uganda
    	Chris & John Downey	xvi (ideas for multi-windows version)
    	Henk Elbers		first VMS port
    	Eric Fischer		Mac port, 'cindent', and other improvements
    	Benji Fisher		Answering lots of user questions
    	Bill Foster		Athena GUI port
    	Loic Grenie		xvim (ideas for multi windows version)
    	Sven Guckes		Vim WWW page maintainer
    	Darren Hiebert		Exuberant ctags
    	Bruce Hunsaker		improvements for VMS port
    	Andy Kahn		Cscope support, GTK+ GUI port
    	Oezguer Kesim		Maintainer of Vim Mailing Lists
    	Steve Kirkendall	Elvis
    	Roger Knobbe		original port to Windows NT
    	Sergey Laskavy		Vim's help from Moscow
    	Felix von Leitner	Maintainer of Vim Mailing Lists
    	David Leonard		Port of Python extensions to Unix
    	Avner Lottem		Edit in right-to-left windows
    	Flemming Madsen		X11 client-server, various features and patches
    	MicroSoft		Gave me a copy of DevStudio to compile Vim with
    	Paul Moore		Python interface extensions, many patches
    	Katsuhito Nagano	Work on multi-byte versions
    	Sung-Hyun Nam		Work on multi-byte versions
    	Vince Negri		Win32 GUI and generic console enhancements
    	Steve Oualline		Author of the first Vim book |frombook|
    	George V. Reilly	Win32 port, Win32 GUI start-off
    	Stephen Riehm		bug collector
    	Stefan Roemer		various patches and help to users
    	Ralf Schandl		IBM OS/390 port
    	Olaf Seibert		DICE and BeBox version, regexp improvements
    	Mortaza Shiran		Farsi patches
    	Peter da Silva		termlib
    	Paul Slootman		OS/2 port
    	Henry Spencer		regular expressions
    	Tim Thompson		Stevie
    	G. R. (Fred) Walter	Stevie
    	Sven Verdoolaege	Perl interface
    	Robert Webb		Command-line completion, GUI versions, and
    				lots of patches
    	Ingo Wilken		Tcl interface
    	Juergen Weigert		Lattice version, AUX improvements, UNIX and
    				MS-DOS ports, autoconf
    	Stefan 'Sec' Zehl	Maintainer of vim.org

    I wish to thank all the people that sent me bug reports and suggestions.  The
    list is too long to mention them all here.  Vim would not be the same without
    the ideas from all these people: They keep Vim alive!

    In this documentation there are several references to other versions of Vi:

    							*Vi*
    Vi	"the original".  Without further remarks this is the version
    	of Vi that appeared in Sun OS 4.x.  ":version" returns
    	"Version 3.7, 6/7/85".  Sometimes other versions are referred
    	to.  Only runs under Unix.  Source code only available with a
    	license.  More information on Vi can be found through:
    	http://www.vim.org

    							*Posix*
    Posix	From the IEEE standard 1003.2, Part 2: Shell and utilities.
    	Generally known as "Posix".  This is a textual description of
    	how Vi is supposed to work.
    	The version used is a draft from beginning 1996, so all remarks are
    	"expected to comply to" this.  Anything can change though...

    							*Nvi*
    Nvi	The "New" Vi.  The version of Vi that comes with BSD 4.4 and FreeBSD.
    	Very good compatibility with the original Vi, with a few extensions.
    	The version used is 1.79.  ":version" returns "Version 1.79
    	(10/23/96)".  There has been no release the last few years, although
    	there is a development version 1.81.
    	Source code is freely available.

    							*Elvis*
    Elvis	Another Vi clone, made by Steve Kirkendall.  Very compact but isn't
    	as flexible as Vim.
    	The version used is 2.1.  It is still being developed.  Source code is
    	freely available.

    ==============================================================================

    4. Notation						*notation*

    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.

    Note that Vim uses all possible characters in commands.  Sometimes the [], {}
    and <> are part of what you type, the context should make this clear.

    []		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 '.'. 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}*
    {motion}	A command that moves the cursor.  These are explained in
    		|motion.txt|.  Examples:
    			w		to start of next 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 had a
    		  count, the two counts are multiplied.  For example: "2d3w"
    		  deletes six words.
    		- 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 characterwise 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
    		  start 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} does not
    		matter; thus CTRL-A and CTRL-a are equivalent.  But on some
    		terminals, using the SHIFT key will produce another code,
    		don't use it then.

    							*'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.

    					*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>)

    <FF>		formfeed		CTRL-L	 12	*formfeed*

    <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>*

    <xCSI>		CSI when typed in the GUI		*<xCSI>*

    <EOL>		end-of-line (can be <CR>, <LF> or <CR><LF>,

    		depends on system and 'fileformat')	*<EOL>*

    <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
    <Insert>	insert key

    <Home>		home				*home*

    <End>		end				*end*

    <PageUp>	page-up				*page_up* *page-up*

    <PageDown>	page-down			*page_down* *page-down*

    <kHome>		keypad home (upper left)	*keypad-home*

    <kEnd>		keypad end (lower left)		*keypad-end*

    <kPageUp>	keypad page-up (upper right)	*keypad-page-up*

    <kPageDown>	keypad page-down (lower right)	*keypad-page-down*

    <kPlus>		keypad +			*keypad-plus*

    <kMinus>	keypad -			*keypad-minus*

    <kMultiply>	keypad *			*keypad-multiply*

    <kDivide>	keypad /			*keypad-divide*

    <kEnter>	keypad Enter			*keypad-enter*

    <kPoint>	keypad Decimal point		*keypad-point*

    <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_xx>		key with "xx" entry in termcap

    Note: The shifted cursor keys, the help key, and the undo key are only
    available on a few terminals.  On the Amiga, shifted function key 10 produces
    a code (CSI) that is also used by key sequences.  It will be recognized only
    after typing another key.

    Note: There are two codes for the delete key.  127 is the decimal ASCII value
    for the delete key, which is always recognized.  Some delete keys send another
    value, in which case this value is obtained from the termcap entry "kD".  Both
    values have the same effect.  Also see |:fixdel|.

    Note: The keypad keys are used in the same way as the corresponding "normal"
    keys.  For example, <kHome> has the same effect as <Home>.  If a keypad key
    sends the same raw key code as it non-keypad equivalent, it will be recognized
    as the non-keypad code.  For example, when <kHome> sends the same code as
    <Home>, when pressing <kHome> Vim will think <Home> was pressed.  Mapping
    <kHome> will not work then.

    								*<>*
    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.  Any printable characters are typed directly, except backslash and '<'
     2.  A backslash is represented with "\\", double backslash, or "<Bslash>".
     3.  A real '<' is represented with "\<" or "<lt>".  When there is no
         confusion possible, a '<' can be used directly.
     4.  "<key>" means the special key typed.  This is the notation explained in
         the table above.  A few 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)
    	   <t_kd>		"kd" termcap entry (cursor down key)

    If you want to use the full <> notation in Vim, you have to make sure the '<'
    flag is excluded from 'cpoptions' (when 'compatible' is not set, it already is
    by default).
    	:set cpo-=<
    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>":
    	: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:
    	:map <C-L> <lt>lt>

    For mapping, abbreviation and menu commands you can then copy-paste the
    examples and use them directly.  Or type them literally, including the '<' and
    '>' characters.  This does NOT work for other commands, like ":set" and
    ":autocmd"!

    ==============================================================================

    5. Modes, introduction				*vim-modes-intro* *vim-modes*

    Vim has six 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 (unless you have set the 'insertmode' option,
    			see below).  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.

    Command-line mode	In Command-line mode (also called Cmdline mode) you
    Cmdline mode		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|

    There are five 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.

    Insert Normal mode	Entered when CTRL-O given in Insert mode.  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.

    ==============================================================================

    6. 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.  You will know you are back in
    Normal mode when you see the screen flash or hear the bell after you type
    <Esc>.  This doesn't work for Ex mode, use ":visual".

    							*i_esc*
    		TO mode
    		Normal	Visual	Select	Insert	  Replace   Cmd-line  Ex
    FROM mode
    Normal			v V ^V	  *4	 *1	    R	    : / ? !   Q
    Visual		 *2		  ^G	 c C	    --	      :       --
    Select		 *5	^O ^G		 *6	    --	      --      --
    Insert		 <Esc>	  --	  --		  <Insert>    --      --
    Replace		 <Esc>	  --	  --	<Insert>	      --      --
    Command-line	 *3	  --	  --	 :start	    --		      --
    Ex		 :vi	  --	  --	 --	    --	      --

    -  NA
    -- 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.  {Vi: when hitting <Esc> the command-line
       is executed.  This is unexpected for most people; therefore it was changed
       in Vim.  But when the <Esc> is part of a mapping, the command-line is
       executed.  If you want the Vi behaviour also when typing <Esc>, use ":cmap
       ^V<Esc> ^V^M"}
    *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.

    If the 'insertmode' option is on, editing a file will start in Insert mode.

    	*CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *i_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *c_CTRL-\_CTRL-N* *v_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.

    					*Q* *mode-Ex* *Ex-mode* *Ex* *EX*
    Q			Switch to "Ex" mode.  This is a bit like typing ":"
    			commands one after another, except:
    			- You don't have to keep pressing ":".
    			- The screen doesn't get updated after each command.
    			- There is no normal command-line editing.
    			- Mappings and abbreviations are not used.
    			In fact, you are editing the lines with the "standard"
    			line-input editing commands (<Del> or <BS> to erase,
    			CTRL-U to kill the whole line).
    			Vim will enter this mode by default if it's invoked as
    			"ex" on the command-line.
    			Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode.
    			Note: In older versions of Vim "Q" formatted text,
    			that is now done with |gq|.

    					*gQ*
    gQ			Switch to "Ex" mode, but really behave like typing ":"
    			commands after another.  All command line editing,
    			completion etc. is available.
    			Use the ":vi" command |:visual| to exit "Ex" mode.
    			{not in Vi}

    ==============================================================================

    7. The 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.
    {Vi: The screen is not always updated on slow terminals}

    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.
    {Vi: gives an "internal error" on lines that do not fit in the window}

    The '@' occasion in the 'highlight' option 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.  {Vi: has no 'wrap' option}

    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.  {Vi: does
    not show the characters you typed or the cursor position}

    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).  {Vi: error messages may be overwritten with other
    messages before you have a chance to read them}

    Some commands show how many lines were affected.  Above which threshold this
    happens can be controlled with the 'report' option (default 2).

    On the Amiga Vim will run in a CLI window.  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.

    On most Unix systems, resizing the window is recognized and handled correctly
    by Vim.  {Vi: not ok}

    ==============================================================================

    8. Definitions						*definitions*

      screen		The whole area that Vim uses to work in.  This can be
    			a terminal emulator window.  Also called "the Vim
    			window".
      window		A view on a buffer.

    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 Vim 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. ~

    ==============================================================================
    top - main help file