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NAME
    vim - Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor

SYNOPSIS
    vim [options] [file ..]
    vim [options] -
    vim [options] -t tag
    vim [options] -q [errorfile]

    ex
    view
    gvim gview
    rvim rview rgvim rgview

DESCRIPTION
    Vim is a text editor that is upwards compatible to Vi. It can be used
    to edit all kinds of plain text.  It is especially useful for editing
    programs.

    There are a lot of enhancements above Vi: multi level undo, multi win-
    dows and buffers, syntax highlighting, command line editing, filename
    completion,  on-line  help,  visual selection, etc..  See ":help
    vi_diff.txt" for a summary of the differences between Vim and Vi.

    While running Vim a lot of help can be obtained from the  on-line help
    system, with the ":help" command. See the ON-LINE HELP section below.

    Most often Vim is started to edit a single file with the command

   vim file

    More generally Vim is started with:

   vim [options] [filelist]

    If the filelist is missing, the editor will start with an empty buffer.
    Otherwise exactly one out of the following four may be used to choose
    one or more files to be edited.

    file ..   A list of filenames.  The first one will be the current
    file  and read into the buffer. The cursor will be posi-
    tioned on the first line of the buffer. You can get to the
    other files with the ":next" command. To edit a file that
    starts with a dash, precede the filelist with "--".

    -   The file to edit is read from stdin.  Commands are read
    from stderr, which should be a tty.

    -t {tag}   The file to edit and the initial cursor position depends on
    a "tag", a sort of goto label. {tag} is looked up in the
    tags file, the associated file becomes the current file and
    the associated command is executed. Mostly this is used
    for C programs, in which case {tag} could be a function
    name. The effect is that the file containing that function
    becomes the  current file and the cursor is positioned on
    the start of the function. See ":help tag-commands".

    -q [errorfile]
    Start in quickFix mode. The file [errorfile] is read and
    the first error is displayed. If [errorfile] is omitted,
    the filename is obtained from the 'errorfile' option
    (defaults to "AztecC.Err" for the Amiga, "errors.vim" on
    other systems). Further errors can be jumped to with the
    ":cn" command. See ":help quickfix".

    Vim behaves differently, depending on the name of the command (the exe-
    cutable may still be the same file).

    vim  The "normal" way, everything is default.

    ex  Start in Ex mode. Go to Normal mode with the ":vi" command.
   Can also be done with the "-e" argument.

    view  Start in read-only mode. You will be protected from writing
   the files. Can also be done with the "-R" argument.

    gvim gview
   The GUI version. Starts a new window.  Can also be done with
   the "-g" argument.

    rvim rview rgvim rgview
   Like the above, but with restrictions.  It will not be possi-
   ble to start shell commands, or suspend Vim.  Can also be
   done with the "-Z" argument.

OPTIONS
    The options may be given in  any order, before or after filenames.
    Options without an argument can be combined after a single dash.

    +[num]   For the first file the cursor will be positioned on line
    "num".  If "num" is missing, the cursor will be positioned
    on the last line.

    +/{pat}   For the first file the cursor will be positioned on the
    first occurrence of {pat}. See ":help search-pattern" for
    the available search patterns.

    +{command}

    -c {command}
    {command} will be executed after the first file has been
    read.  {command} is interpreted as an Ex command. If the
    {command} contains spaces it must be enclosed in double
    quotes (this depends on the shell that is used). Example:
    Vim "+set si" main.c
    Note: You can use up to 10 "+" or "-c" commands.

    --cmd {command}
    Like using "-c", but the command is executed just before
    processing any vimrc file.  You can use up to 10 of these
    commands, independently from "-c" commands.

    -b   Binary mode.  A few options will be set that makes it pos-
    sible to edit a binary or executable file.

    -C   Compatible.  Set the 'compatible' option. This will make
    Vim behave mostly like Vi,  even though a .vimrc file
    exists.

    -d   Start in diff mode. There should be two or three file name
    arguments. Vim will open all the files and  show differ-
    ences between them. Works like vimdiff(1).

    -d {device} Open  {device} for use as a terminal. Only on the Amiga.
    Example: "-d con:20/30/600/150".

    -e   Start Vim in Ex mode, just like the executable was called
    "ex".

    -f   Foreground.  For the GUI version, Vim will not fork and
    detach from the shell it was started in. On the Amiga, Vim
    is not restarted to open a new window. This option should
    be used when Vim is executed by a program that will wait
    for the edit session to finish (e.g. mail). On the Amiga
    the ":sh" and ":!" commands will not work.

    -F   If Vim has been compiled with FKMAP  support for editing
    right-to-left oriented files and Farsi keyboard mapping,
    this option starts Vim in Farsi mode, i.e. 'fkmap' and
    'rightleft' are set. Otherwise an error message is given
    and Vim aborts.

    -g   If Vim has been compiled with GUI support, this option
    enables the  GUI. If no GUI support was compiled in, an
    error message is given and Vim aborts.

    -h   Give a bit of help about the  command line arguments and
    options. After this Vim exits.

    -H   If Vim has been compiled with RIGHTLEFT support for editing
    right-to-left oriented files and Hebrew keyboard mapping,
    this  option  starts  Vim in Hebrew mode, i.e. 'hkmap' and
    'rightleft' are set.  Otherwise an error message is  given
    and Vim aborts.

    -i {viminfo}
    When  using the viminfo file is enabled, this option sets
    the filename to use, instead of the default  "~/.viminfo".
    This can also be used to skip the use of the .viminfo file,
    by giving the name "NONE".

    -L   Same as -r.

    -l   Lisp mode. Sets the 'lisp' and 'showmatch' options on.

    -m   Modifying files is disabled.  Resets the 'write' option, so
    that writing files is not possible.

    -N   No-compatible mode.  Reset the 'compatible' option. This
    will make Vim behave a bit better, but less Vi compatible,
    even though a .vimrc file does not exist.

    -n   No swap file will be used. Recovery after a crash will be
    impossible. Handy if you want to edit a file on a very
    slow  medium  (e.g. floppy).  Can also be done with ":set
    uc=0". Can be undone with ":set uc=200".

    -o[N]   Open N windows. When N is omitted, open one window for
    each file.

    -R   Read-only mode.  The 'readonly' option will be set. You
    can still edit the buffer, but will be prevented from acci-
    dently overwriting a file.  If you do want to overwrite a
    file, add an exclamation mark to the Ex command, as in
    ":w!".  The  -R option also implies the -n option (see
    below). The 'readonly' option can be reset with  ":set
    noro". See ":help 'readonly'".

    -r   List  swap files, with information about using them for
    recovery.

    -r {file}  Recovery mode. The swap file is used to recover a crashed
    editing session.  The swap file is a file with the same
    filename as the text file with ".swp" appended. See ":help
    recovery".

    -s   Silent mode.  Only  when started as "Ex" or when the "-e"
    option was given before the "-s" option.

    -s {scriptin}
    The script file {scriptin} is read. The characters in the
    file  are interpreted as if you had typed them. The same
    can be done with the command ":source! {scriptin}". If the
    end of the file is reached before the editor exits, further
    characters are read from the keyboard.

    -T {terminal}
    Tells Vim the name of the terminal you are  using.  Only
    required when the automatic way doesn't work. Should be a
    terminal known to Vim (builtin) or defined in the termcap
    or terminfo file.

    -u {vimrc} Use the commands in the file {vimrc} for initializations.
    All the other initializations are skipped.  Use this to
    edit  a special kind of files. It can also be used to skip
    all initializations by giving the name "NONE". See ":help
    initialization" within vim for more details.

    -U {gvimrc} Use the commands in the file {gvimrc} for GUI initializa-
    tions. All the other GUI initializations are skipped.  It
    can also be used to skip all GUI initializations by giving
    the name "NONE". See ":help gui-init" within vim for more
    details.

    -V   Verbose.  Give messages about which files are sourced and
    for reading and writing a viminfo file.

    -v   Start Vim in Vi mode, just like the executable was called
    "vi".  This  only has effect when the executable is called
    "ex".

    -w {scriptout}
    All the characters that you type are recorded in the file
    {scriptout},  until you exit Vim.  This is useful if you
    want to create a script file to be used with  "vim -s" or
    ":source!". If the {scriptout} file exists, characters are
    appended.

    -W {scriptout}
    Like -w, but an existing file is overwritten.

    -x   Use encryption when writing files.  Will prompt for a
    crypt key.

    -Z   Restricted mode.  Works like the executable starts with
    "r".

    --   Denotes the end of the options. Arguments after this will
    be handled as a file name. This can be used to edit a
    filename that starts with a '-'.

    --help   Give a help message and exit, just like "-h".

    --version  Print version information and exit.

    --remote   Connect to a Vim server and make it edit the files given in
    the rest of the arguments.

    --serverlist
    List the names of all Vim servers that can be found.

    --servername {name}
    Use {name} as the server name. Used for the current Vim,
    unless used with a --serversend or --remote, then it's the
    name of the server to connect to.

    --serversend {keys}
    Connect to a Vim server and send {keys} to it.

    --socketid {id}
    GTK GUI only: Use  the GtkPlug mechanism to run gvim in
    another window.

    --echo-wid GTK GUI only: Echo the Window ID on stdout

ON-LINE HELP
    Type ":help" in Vim to get started. Type ":help subject" to get help
    on a specific subject.  For example: ":help ZZ" to get help for the
    "ZZ" command. Use <Tab> and CTRL-D to complete subjects  (":help cmd-
    line-completion").  Tags are present to jump from one place to another
    (sort of hypertext links, see ":help"). All documentation files can be
    viewed in this way, for example ":help syntax.txt".

FILES
    /usr/share/vim/vim61/doc/*.txt
     The Vim documentation files. Use ":help doc-file-list"
     to get the complete list.

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/doc/tags
     The tags file used for finding information in the  docu-
     mentation files.

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/syntax/syntax.vim
     System wide syntax initializations.

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/syntax/*.vim
     Syntax files for various languages.

    /usr/share/vim/vimrc
     System wide Vim initializations.

    /usr/share/vim/gvimrc
     System wide gvim initializations.

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/optwin.vim
     Script used for  the ":options" command, a nice way to
     view and set options.

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/menu.vim
     System wide menu initializations for gvim.

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/bugreport.vim
     Script to generate a bug report. See ":help bugs".

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/filetype.vim
     Script to detect the type of a file by its name.  See
     ":help 'filetype'".

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/scripts.vim
     Script to detect the type of a file by its contents.
     See ":help 'filetype'".

    /usr/share/vim/vim61/*.ps
     Files used for PostScript printing.

    For recent info read the VIM home page:
    <URL:http://www.vim.org/>

SEE ALSO
   vimtutor(1)

AUTHOR
    Most of Vim was made by Bram Moolenaar, with a lot of help from others.
    See ":help credits" in Vim.
    Vim is based on Stevie, worked on by: Tim Thompson, Tony Andrews and
    G.R. (Fred) Walter. Although hardly any of the original code remains.

BUGS
    Probably. See ":help todo" for a list of known problems.

    Note that a number of things that may be regarded as bugs by some, are
    in fact caused by a too-faithful reproduction of Vi's behaviour.  And
    if you think other things are bugs "because Vi does it differently",
    you should take a closer look at the vi_diff.txt file (or type  :help
    vi_diff.txt when in Vim).  Also have a look at the 'compatible' and
    'cpoptions' options.