README for Vim

Vim is an almost compatible version of the UNIX editor vi.  Many new features
have been added: multi level undo, command line history, filename completion,
block operations, etc.  Those who don't know vi can probably skip this
message, unless you are prepared to learn something new and useful.  Vim is
especially useful for editing C programs.

Vim should run on any Unix flavor, MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows
NT, OS/2, Atari MiNT, VMS and Amiga.  A Port for Mac is still being worked
on.

The most interesting changes (there are a whole lot more):
New on-line help system.
       Help is now displayed in a window.  Tags can be used to jump around
       in the documentation (like hypertext links).
Mouse support.
       The mouse is supported in an xterm and for MS-DOS.  It can be used to
       position the cursor, select the visual area, paste a register, etc.
Graphical User Interface (GUI).
       Included support for GUI: menu's, mouse, scrollbars, etc.  Currently
       only with Motif and Athena interface.
Command line editing improved.
       Separate history for search commands.  Improved command line
       completion (for tags, help, buffer names, etc).
Improved indenting for C programs.
       Added 'cindent' option for configurable C indent mode.  Automatic
       indenting while inserting text.  The "=" operator can be used to
       indent specific lines.  Formatting of comments (also for other
       languages and e-mail).
Searching for words in include files.
       Added commands to search for a word in the current file and in
       included files.  List the first match, list all matches or jump to a
       match.  Quickly find out where a define, function of variable is
       declared.
Word completion in Insert mode.
       Added commands to complete the word before the cursor in Insert mode.
       Matches can be found in the current file, included files and/or a
       dictionary.  Works a lot better than the word completion macros.
Automatic commands.
       Commands can be automatically executed when reading a file, writing a
       file, jumping to another buffer, etc., depending on the file name.
       This is useful to set options and mappings for C programs,
       documentation, plain text, e-mail, etc.  This also makes it possible
       to edit compressed files.
Text objects.
       After an operator and in visual mode, text object commands can be used
       to quickly select a word, line or paragraph.  Delete the current
       sentence with "ds".  Format the current paragraph with "Qp".
Options.
       A whole bunch of new options.  Command line completion can be used to
       get the old value.  Added '&' after option: reset to default value.
       Added '!' after boolean option: invert value.
Support for editing one-line paragraphs.
       When a line is longer than the window width, it can be broken at a
       space or other convenient position.  Commands have been added to move
       the cursor a screen line up/down.
Usage of key names.
       Special keys now all have a name like <Up>, <End>, etc.  This name is
       used for mappings, in listings, and many other things.  Added a number
       of new special keys.
Viminfo.
       The command line history, marks and registers can be stored in a file
       that is automatically read on startup and written on exit.
Tag support improved.
       Static tags and Emacs tag files are now supported.  Tag completion
       works better.
Improved (error) messages.
       A lot of error messages include the reason for the error.  The
       'showcommand' includes partially typed mappings.
Swap file.
       Included checking of the actual file name in a swap file, avoids
       giving bogus "swap file exists" messages.  Give more information about
       the swap file with the "swap file exists" message and when recovering.
       Included catching of deadly signals for Unix.  Swap files for
       unmodified buffers are deleted, other swap files are preserved before
       exiting.  Improved recovery when there are multiple swap files.
Compilation improvements.
       Autoconf is used to adjust to different Unix flavors, editing the
       Makefile is rarely required.
32 bits PC version.
       There is now a new version of Vim for Windows NT and Windows 95.  It
       supports long file names, uses all available memory and many more
       enhancements.  There is also a protected mode version, compiled with
       DJGPP, that runs under Windows 3.1 and MSDOS.  It supports long file
       names where available.
Miscellaneous new features.
       Implemented incremental search.
       A whole bunch of commands that start with "g": Goto declaration, show
       ascii value of character under the cursor, go back to end of word,
       reselect last Visual area, etc..
       Added the ":retab" command.  Can be used to change the size of a
       <Tab>, replace spaces with a <Tab> or a <Tab> with spaces.
       Implemented "Vim -r" to list any swap files that can be found.
       The "Q" operator no longer affects empty lines.
       Added '-' register for deletes of less than one line.
       Quickfix: Support for several error formats at the same time.
       Added separate mapping for normal mode and visual mode.
       Allow for digraphs to be entered in reverse.
       Added commands to search for #if/#endif and start/end of comment.
       Added ":abclear" and ":mapclear": remove all abbreviations/mappings.
       Added check for last modification time of original file before
       overwriting it.
Vi compatibility improvements.
       A few more things have been made vi-compatible.  The 'cpoptions'
       option has a few flags to switch specific vi-compatibility items
       on/off.

-- VIM Distribution Sites --

Vim can be found at:
       ftp://ftp.oce.nl/pub/vim/                       (Holland)

Mirrors:
       See ftp://ftp.oce.nl/pub/vim/MIRRORS


system    file type      Unpack with

Unix      file.tar.gz    gunzip file.tar.gz; tar xf file.tar
Amiga     file.lha       lha -x file.lha
PC        file.zip       pkunzip -d file.zip


Reporting bugs:
Send them to <[email protected]>.  Please be brief, all the time that is spend on
answering mail is subtracted from the time that is spend on improving Vim!
Always give a reproducable 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!

There are three mailing lists for Vim.  The lists are NOT for sending bug
reports or discussions about emacs-is-better.
<[email protected]>
       For discussions about using existing versions of Vim: Useful mappings,
       questions, answers, where to get a specific version, etc.
<[email protected]>
       For discussions about changing Vim: New features, porting, beta-test
       versions, etc.
<[email protected]>
       Announcements about new versions of Vim; also beta-test versions and
       ports to different systems.

See <URL:http://www.vim.org/>.

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 mails).
- Maximum message size is 40000 characters.

If you want to join, send a message to
       <[email protected]>
Make sure that your "From:" address is correct.  Then the list serve will give
you a little help.

If you have trouble with a mailing list, send a message to Felix Leitner, who
made these mailing lists work: <[email protected]>.  Don't ask him to
subscribe or remove you from the list, use the automated system for that.

Happy Vimming!

--
TALL KNIGHT: We are now no longer the Knights Who Say Ni!
ONE KNIGHT:  Ni!
OTHERS:      Sh!
ONE KNIGHT:  (wispers) Sorry.
                "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" PYTHON (MONTY) PICTURES LTD

--/-/-------------- Bram Moolenaar ---- [email protected] -------------------\-\--
 \ \  VIM home page: <URL:http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/vim/>  / /

You are viewing proxied material from ftp.icm.edu.pl. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.