Various

Nvim :help pages, generated from source using the tree-sitter-vimdoc parser.

Various commands

1. Various commands various-cmds

CTRL-L CTRL-L Clears and redraws the screen. The redraw may happen later, after processing typeahead. CTRL-L-default By default, also clears search highlighting :nohlsearch and updates diffs :diffupdate. default-mappings

:mod :mode :mod[e] Clears and redraws the screen.

:redr :redraw :redr[aw][!] Redraws pending screen updates now, or the entire screen if "!" is included. To CLEAR the screen use :mode or CTRL-L. Useful to update the screen during a script or function (or a mapping if 'lazyredraw' set).

:redraws :redrawstatus :redraws[tatus][!] Redraws the status line and window bar of the current window, or all status lines and window bars if "!" is included. Redraws the commandline instead if it contains the 'ruler'. Useful if 'statusline' or 'winbar' includes an item that doesn't cause automatic updating.

:redrawt :redrawtabline :redrawt[abline] Redraw the tabline. Useful to update the tabline when 'tabline' includes an item that doesn't trigger automatic updating.

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>

:as[cii] or ga :as :ascii ga Print the ascii value of the character under the cursor in decimal, hexadecimal and octal. Mnemonic: Get Ascii value.

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

If the character has composing characters these are also shown. The value of 'maxcombine' doesn't matter.

If the character can be inserted as a digraph, also output the two characters that can be used to create the character:

<ö> 246, Hex 00f6, Oct 366, Digr o:

This shows you can type CTRL-K o : to insert ö.

g8 g8 Print the hex values of the bytes used in the character under the cursor, assuming it is in UTF-8 encoding. This also shows composing characters. The value of 'maxcombine' doesn't matter. Example of a character with two composing characters:

e0 b8 81 + e0 b8 b9 + e0 b9 89

8g8 8g8 Find an illegal UTF-8 byte sequence at or after the cursor. Can be used when editing a file that was supposed to be UTF-8 but was read as if it is an 8-bit encoding because it contains illegal bytes. Does not wrap around the end of the file. Note that when the cursor is on an illegal byte or the cursor is halfway through a multibyte character the command won't move the cursor.

gx gx Opens the current filepath or URL (decided by <cfile>, 'isfname') at cursor using the system default handler, by calling vim.ui.open().

v_gx {Visual}gx Opens the selected text using the system default handler, by calling vim.ui.open().

:p :pr :print E749 :[range]p[rint] [flags] Print [range] lines (default current line). In the GUI you can use the File.Print menu entry. See ex-flags for [flags]. The :filter command can be used to only show lines matching a pattern.

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

:l :list :[range]l[ist] [count] [flags] Same as :print, but show tabs as ">", trailing spaces as "-", and non-breakable space characters as "+" by default. Further changed by the 'listchars' option. See ex-flags for [flags].

:nu :number :[range]nu[mber] [count] [flags] Same as :print, but precede each line with its line number. (See also hl-LineNr and 'numberwidth'). See ex-flags for [flags].

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

:#! :#!{anything} Ignored, so that you can start a Vim script with:

#!vim -S
echo "this is a Vim script"
quit

:z E144 :[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; if there is no [count] and only one window then twice the value of the 'scroll' option is used, otherwise the current window height minus 3 is used. This is the value of "scr" in the table below.

If there is a [count] the 'window' option is set to its value.

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

mark first line last line new cursor line

---- ---------- --------- ------------ + 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 scr fwd = 1/2 scr 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.

:z! :[range]z![+-^.=][count] Like ":z", but when [count] is not specified, it defaults to the Vim window height minus one.

:[range]z[!]#[+-^.=][count] :z# Like ":z" or ":z!", but number the lines.

:= := [args] Without [args]: prints the last line number. With [args]: equivalent to :lua ={expr}. see :lua

:{range}= Prints the last line number in {range}. For example, this prints the current 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} are executed like they are typed. For undo all commands are undone together. Execution stops when an error is encountered.

If the [!] is given, mappings will not be used. Without it, when this command is called from a non-remappable mapping (:noremap), the argument can be mapped anyway.

{commands} should be a complete command. If {commands} does not finish a command, the last one will be aborted as if <Esc> or <C-C> was typed. This implies that an insert command must be completed (to start Insert mode, see :startinsert). A ":" command must be completed as well. And you can't use "Q" or "gQ" to start Ex mode.

The display is not updated while ":normal" is busy.

{commands} cannot start with a space. Put a count of 1 (one) before it, "1 " is one space.

This command cannot be followed by another command, since any '|' is considered part of the command.

This command can be used recursively, but the depth is limited by 'maxmapdepth'.

An alternative is to use :execute, which uses an expression as argument. This allows the use of printable characters to represent special characters.

Example:

:exe "normal \<c-w>\<c-w>"

:{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.

:sh :shell E371 E360 :sh[ell] Removed. vim-differences

:terminal :te :te[rminal][!] [{cmd}] Run {cmd} in a non-interactive 'shell' in a new terminal-emulator buffer. Without {cmd}, start an interactive 'shell'.

Type i to enter Terminal-mode, then keys are sent to the job running in the terminal. Type <C-\><C-N> to leave Terminal-mode. CTRL-\_CTRL-N. Type <C-\><C-O> to execute a single normal mode command t_CTRL-\_CTRL-O

Fails if changes have been made to the current buffer, unless 'hidden' is set.

If {cmd} is omitted, and the 'shell' job exits with no error, the buffer is closed automatically default-autocmds.

To enter Terminal-mode automatically:

autocmd TermOpen * startinsert

:!cmd :! :!{cmd} Execute {cmd} with 'shell'. See also :terminal.

The command runs in a non-interactive shell connected to a pipe (not a terminal). Use :terminal to run an interactive shell connected to a terminal.

Backgrounded ("&") commands must not write to stdout or stderr, the streams are closed immediately. E5677 Use jobstart() instead.

:call jobstart('foo', {'detach':1})

For powershell, chaining a stringed executable path requires using the call operator (&).

:!Write-Output "1`n2" | & "C:\Windows\System32\sort.exe" /r

E34 Any "!" in {cmd} is replaced with the previous external command (see also 'cpoptions'), unless escaped by a backslash. Example: ":!ls" followed by ":!echo ! \! \\!" executes "echo ls ! \!".

Any "|" in {cmd} is passed to the shell, you cannot use it to append a Vim command. See :bar.

Any "%" in {cmd} is expanded to the current file name. Any "#" in {cmd} is expanded to the alternate file name. Special characters are not escaped, use quotes or shellescape():

:!ls "%"
:exe "!ls " .. shellescape(expand("%"))

Newline character ends {cmd} unless a backslash precedes the newline. What follows is interpreted as another : command.

After the command has been executed, the timestamp and size of the current file is checked timestamp.

If the command produces too much output some lines may be skipped so the command can execute quickly. No data is lost, this only affects the display. The last few lines are always displayed (never skipped).

To avoid the hit-enter prompt use:

:silent !{cmd}

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

:ve :ver :version :ve[rsion] Print editor version and build information. See also feature-compile.

: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.

Only one ":redir" can be active at a time. Calls to ":redir" will close any active redirection before starting redirection to the new target. For recursive use check out execute().

To stop the messages and commands from being echoed to the screen, put the commands in a function and call it with ":silent call Function()". Alternatives are the 'verbosefile' option or execute() function, these can be used in combination with ":redir".

:redi[r] >> {file} Redirect messages to file {file}. Append if {file} already exists.

:redi[r] @{a-zA-Z} :redi[r] @{a-zA-Z}> Redirect messages to register {a-z}. Append to the contents of the register if its name is given uppercase {A-Z}. The ">" after the register name is optional. :redi[r] @{a-z}>> Append messages to register {a-z}.

:redi[r] @*> :redi[r] @+> Redirect messages to the selection or clipboard. For backward compatibility, the ">" after the register name can be omitted. See quotestar and quoteplus. :redi[r] @*>> :redi[r] @+>> Append messages to the selection or clipboard.

:redi[r] @"> Redirect messages to the unnamed register. For backward compatibility, the ">" after the register name can be omitted. :redi[r] @">> Append messages to the unnamed register.

:redi[r] => {var} Redirect messages to a variable. If the variable doesn't exist, then it is created. If the variable exists, then it is initialized to an empty string. The variable will remain empty until redirection ends. Only string variables can be used. After the redirection starts, if the variable is removed or locked or the variable type is changed, then further command output messages will cause errors. When using a local variable (l:var in a function or s:var in a script) and another :redir causes the current one to end, the scope might be different and the assignment fails. To get the output of one command the execute() function can be used instead of redirection.

:redi[r] =>> {var} Append messages to an existing variable. Only string variables can be used.

:redi[r] END End redirecting messages.

:filt :filter :filt[er][!] {pattern} {command} :filt[er][!] /{pattern}/ {command} Restrict the output of {command} to lines matching with {pattern}. For example, to list only xml files:

:filter /\.xml$/ oldfiles

If the [!] is given, restrict the output of {command} to lines that do NOT match {pattern}.

{pattern} is a Vim search pattern. Instead of enclosing it in / any non-ID character (see 'isident') can be used, so long as it does not appear in {pattern}. Without the enclosing character the pattern cannot include the bar character. 'ignorecase' is not used.

The pattern is matched against the relevant part of the output, not necessarily the whole line. Only some commands support filtering, try it out to check if it works. Some of the commands that support filtering: :# - filter whole line :clist - filter by file name or module name :command - filter by command name :files - filter by file name :highlight - filter by highlight group :jumps - filter by file name :let - filter by variable name :list - filter whole line :llist - filter by file name or module name :marks - filter by text in the current file, or file name for other files :oldfiles - filter by file name :registers - filter by register contents (does not work multi-line) :set - filter by option name

Only normal messages are filtered, error messages are not.

:sil :silent :silent! :sil[ent][!] {command} Execute {command} silently. Normal messages will not be given or added to the message history. When [!] is added, error messages will also be skipped, and commands and mappings will not be aborted when an error is detected. v:errmsg is still set. When [!] is not used, an error message will cause further messages to be displayed normally. Redirection, started with :redir, will continue as usual, although there might be small differences. This will allow redirecting the output of a command without seeing it on the screen. Example:

:redir >/tmp/foobar
:silent g/Aap/p
:redir END

To execute a Normal mode command silently, use the :normal command. For example, to search for a string without messages:

:silent exe "normal /path\<CR>"

":silent!" is useful to execute a command that may fail, but the failure is to be ignored. Example:

:let v:errmsg = ""
:silent! /^begin
:if v:errmsg != ""
: ... pattern was not found

":silent" also skips the hit-enter prompt. Dialogs that prompt for user input (confirm(), 'swapfile', …) are never silent.

:uns :unsilent :uns[ilent] {command} Execute {command} not silently. Only makes a difference when :silent was used to get to this command. Use this for giving a message even when :silent was used. In this example :silent is used to avoid the message about reading the file and :unsilent to be able to list the first line of each file.

:silent argdo unsilent echo expand('%') .. ": " .. getline(1)

:verb :verbose :[count]verb[ose] {command} Execute {command} with 'verbose' set to [count]. If [count] is omitted one is used. ":0verbose" can be used to set 'verbose' to zero. The additional use of ":silent" makes messages generated but not displayed. The combination of ":silent" and ":verbose" can be used to generate messages and check them with v:statusmsg and friends. For example:

:let v:statusmsg = ""
:silent verbose runtime foobar.vim
:if v:statusmsg != ""
:  " foobar.vim could not be found
:endif

When concatenating another command, the ":verbose" only applies to the first one:

:4verbose set verbose | set verbose

verbose=4

verbose=0

For logging verbose messages in a file use the 'verbosefile' option.

:verbose-cmd When 'verbose' is non-zero, listing the value of a Vim option or a key map or an abbreviation or a user-defined function or a command or a highlight group or an autocommand will also display where it was last defined. If they were defined in Lua they will only be located if 'verbose' is set. So Start nvim with -V1 arg to see them. If it was defined manually then there will be no "Last set" message. When it was defined while executing a function, user command or autocommand, the script in which it was defined is reported.

K [count]K Runs the program given by 'keywordprg' to lookup the word (defined by 'iskeyword') under or right of the cursor. Default is "man". Works like this:

:tabnew | terminal {program} {keyword}

Special cases:

If 'keywordprg' begins with ":" it is invoked as a Vim command with [count].

If 'keywordprg' is empty, :help is used.

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

When 'keywordprg' is equal to "man -s", a [count] before "K" is inserted after the "-s". If there is no count, the "-s" is removed. K-lsp-default

The Nvim LSP client sets K to show LSP "hover" feature. lsp-defaults

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.

gO gO Show a filetype-specific, navigable "outline" of the current buffer. For example, in a help buffer this shows the table of contents.

Currently works in help and :Man buffers.

[N]gs gs :sl :sleep :[N]sl[eep] [N][m] Do nothing for [N] seconds, or [N] milliseconds if [m] was given. "gs" always uses seconds. Default is one second.

:sleep             "sleep for one second
:5sleep             "sleep for five seconds
:sleep 100m     "sleep for 100 milliseconds
10gs             "sleep for ten seconds

Can be interrupted with CTRL-C. "gs" stands for "goto sleep". While sleeping the cursor is positioned in the text, if at a visible position. Queued messages are processed during the sleep.

:sl! :sleep! :[N]sl[eep]! [N][m] Same as above. Unlike Vim, it does not hide the cursor. vim-differences

2. Using Vim like less or more less

If you use the less or more program to view a file, you don't get syntax highlighting. Thus you would like to use Vim instead. You can do this by using the shell script "$VIMRUNTIME/macros/less.sh".

This shell script uses the Vim script "$VIMRUNTIME/macros/less.vim". It sets up mappings to simulate the commands that less supports. Otherwise, you can still use the Vim commands.

This isn't perfect. For example, when viewing a short file Vim will still use the whole screen. But it works well enough for most uses, and you get syntax highlighting.

The "h" key will give you a short overview of the available commands.

If you want to set options differently when using less, define the LessInitFunc in your vimrc, for example:

func LessInitFunc()
  set nocursorcolumn nocursorline
endfunc