*gui.txt* For Vim version 5.1. Last modification: 1998 Feb 28 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar Vim's Graphical User Interface *gui* *GUI* 1. Starting the GUI |gui-start| 2. Scrollbars |gui-scrollbars| 3. Mouse Control |gui-mouse| 4. Making GUI Selections |gui-selections| 5. Menus |gui-menus| 6. Extras |gui-extras| 7. Shell Commands |gui-shell| Other GUI documentation: |gui_x11.txt| For specific items of the X11 GUI. |gui_w32.txt| For specific items of the Win32 GUI. {Vi does not have any of these commands} ============================================================================== 1. Starting the GUI *gui-start* First you must make sure you actually have a version of Vim with the GUI code included. You can check this with the ":version" command, it should include "+GUI_Motif", "+GUI_Athena" or "+GUI_win32". How to start the GUI depends on the system used. Mostly you can can run the GUI version of Vim with: gvim [options] [files...] The X11 version of Vim can run both in GUI and in non-GUI mode. See |gui-x11-start|. *gui-init* *gvimrc* *.gvimrc* *_gvimrc* When the GUI starts up initializations are carried out, in this order: - If the system menu file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is normally "$VIM/menu.vim". You can check this with ":version". Also see |$VIM|. - If the "-U {gvimrc}" command line option has been used when starting Vim, the {gvimrc} file will be read for initializations. The following initializations are skipped. - For Unix, if the system gvimrc exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is normally "$VIM/gvimrc". You can check this with ":version". Also see |$VIM|. - The following are tried, and only the first one that exists is used: - If the GVIMINIT environment variable exists and is not empty, it is executed as an Ex command. - If the user gvimrc file exists, it is sourced. The name of this file is normally "$HOME/.gvimrc". You can check this with ":version". - For Win32, when $HOME is not set, "$VIM\_gvimrc" is used. - When a "_gvimrc" file is not found, ".gvimrc" is tried too. And vice versa. - If the 'exrc' option is set (which is NOT the default) the file ./.gvimrc is sourced, if it exists and isn't the same file as the system or user gvimrc file. If this file is not owned by you, some security restrictions apply. NOTE: All but the first one are not carried out if Vim was started with "-u NONE" and no "-U" argument was given, or when started with "-U NONE". All this happens AFTER the normal Vim initializations, like reading your .vimrc file. See |initialization|. You can use the gvimrc files to set up your own customised menus (see |:menu|) and initialise other things that you may want to set up differently from the terminal version. There are a number of options which only have meaning in the GUI version of Vim. These are 'guicursor', 'guifont', 'guipty' and 'guioptions'. They are documented in |options.txt| with all the other options. If using the Motif or Athena version of the GUI (not for the Win32 version), a number of X resources are available. See |gui-resources|. Another way to set the colors for different occasions is with highlight groups. The "Normal" group is used to set the background and foreground colors. Example (which looks nice): > :highlight Normal guibg=grey90 The "guibg" and "guifg" settings ovverride the normal background and foreground settings. The other settings for the Normal highlight group are not used. Use the 'guifont' option to set the font. Also check out the 'guicursor' option, to set the colors for the cursor in various modes. ============================================================================== 2. Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars* There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbars. You may configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option. The interface looks like this (with ":set guioptions=mlrb"): +------------------------------+ | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m) +-+--------------------------+-+ |^| |^| |#| Text area. |#| | | | | |v|__________________________|v| Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-| between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^| | | | | | | Another file buffer. | | | | | | |#| |#| Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right |#| |#| scrollbar (r) | | | | |v| |v| +-+--------------------------+-+ | |< #### >| | <- Bottom +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b) Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is only useful when 'nowrap' is set. Vertical Scrollbars *gui-vert-scroll* Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window. When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file will appear in the top of the window. Horizontal Scrollbars *gui-horiz-scroll* The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the current cursor line may be scrolled as far as possible left and right. ============================================================================== 3. Mouse Control *gui-mouse* The mouse only works if the appropriate flag in the 'mouse' option is set. When the GUI is switched on, the 'mouse' option is automatically set to "a", enabling it for all modes except for the |hit-return| prompt. If you don't want this, a good place to change the 'mouse' option is the "gvimrc" file. 3.1 Moving Cursor with Mouse *gui-mouse-move* Click the left mouse button somewhere in a text buffer where you want the cursor to go, and it does! This works in when 'mouse contains ~ Normal mode 'n', 'N', 'a' or 'A' Visual mode 'v', 'a' or 'A' Insert mode 'i', 'I', 'a' or 'A' You may use this with an operator such as 'd' to delete text from the current cursor position to the position you point to with the mouse. That is, you hit 'd' and then click the mouse somewhere. If you are on the ':' line (or '/' or '?'), then clicking the left or right mouse button will position the cursor on the ':' line (if 'mouse' contains 'c', 'a' or 'A'). In any situation the middle mouse button may be clicked to paste the current selection. 3.2 Visual Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-select* The right mouse button may be clicked somewhere to extend the visual selection to the position pointed to with the mouse. If already in Visual mode then the closest end will be extended, otherwise Visual mode is started and extends from the old cursor position to the new one. Double clicking may be done to make the selection word-wise, triple clicking makes it line-wise, and quadruple clicking makes it rectangular block-wise. In the X11 GUI, Visual selection, however it is invoked, makes Vim the owner of the windowing system's primary selection, so that the highlighted text may be pasted into other windows. Similarly, selected text from other windows may be pasted into Vim in Normal mode, Insert mode, or on the ':' line by clicking the middle mouse button. In the Win32 GUI, Visually selected text is only copied to the clipboard when using a "y" command, or another operator when the '*' register is used. 3.3 Other Text Selection with Mouse *gui-mouse-xterm-like* When in Command-line mode, at the |hit-return| prompt or whenever the current mode is not in the 'mouse' option, a different kind of selection is used. It is more like what happens in an xterm. Let's call this xterm-like selection. Any text in the Vim window can be selected. Select the text by pressing the left mouse button at the start, drag to the end and release. Right mouse button extends the selection. Middle mouse button pasts the text. 3.4 Using Mouse on Status Lines *gui-mouse-status* Clicking the left or right mouse button on the status line below a Vim window makes that window the current window. The mouse may then be dragged up and down to move the status line, thus resizing the windows above and below it. 3.5 Various Mouse Clicks *gui-mouse-various* Search forward for the word under the mouse click. Search backward for the word under the mouse click. Jump to the tag name under the mouse click. Jump back to position before the previous tag jump (same as "CTRL-T") 3.6 Mouse Mappings *gui-mouse-mapping* The mouse events, complete with modifiers, may be mapped. Eg: > :map > :map > :map > :map <2-S-LeftMouse> <2-RightMouse> > :map <2-S-LeftDrag> <2-RightDrag> > :map <2-S-LeftRelease> <2-RightRelease> > :map <3-S-LeftMouse> <3-RightMouse> > :map <3-S-LeftDrag> <3-RightDrag> > :map <3-S-LeftRelease> <3-RightRelease> > :map <4-S-LeftMouse> <4-RightMouse> > :map <4-S-LeftDrag> <4-RightDrag> > :map <4-S-LeftRelease> <4-RightRelease> These mappings make selection work the way it probably should in a Motif application, with shift-left mouse allowing for extending the visual area rather than the right mouse button. Mouse mapping with modifiers does not work for xterm-like selection. ============================================================================== 4. Making GUI Selections *gui-selections* *quotestar* You may make selections with the mouse (see |gui-mouse-select|), or by using Vim's Visual mode (see |v|). If 'a' is present in 'guioptions', then whenever Visual mode is invoked, or when the cursor moves while in Visual mode, Vim becomes the owner of the windowing system's primary selection (on MS-Windows the |gui-clipboard| is used). There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the <"*> register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is selected is about to change (eg with a left mouse click somewhere), or when another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put in the <"*> register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current selection/put it on the clipboard: > "*dd Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g., by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the <"*> register first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the selection (contents of the clipboard): > "*p Note that when pasting text from one Vim into another separate Vim, the type of selection (character, line, or block) will also be copied. ============================================================================== 5. Menus *gui-menus* 5.1 Using Menus *gui-using-menus* The default menus are quite simple at the moment. Power Vim users won't use them much. But the power is in adding your own menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember what the key sequence was. Eventually I would like to expand the set of default menus to use pop up and other windows for confirmation, file selection etc. Maybe have a dialogue box for browsing and choosing buffers, etc. Motif supports Tear-off menus. These are sort of sticky menus or pop-up menus that are present all the time. If the resizing does not work correctly, this may be caused by using something like "Vim*geometry" in de defaults. Use "Vim.geometry" instead. *menu.vim* The default menus are read from the file "$VIM/menu.vim". See |$VIM| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus. Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or, if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus |:unmenu-all|. 5.2 Creating New Menus *gui-creating-menus* *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu* *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu* *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu* *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu* *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu* *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu* *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu* To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are exactly like the ":map" set of commands but the first argument is a menu item name, given as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them. eg: > :menu File.Save :w^M > :inoremenu File.Save ^O:w^M > :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g^M This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item "Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces", which when selected, performs the operation. The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once. To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for some modes: mode inserted ~ Normal nothing Visual Insert Cmdline Op-pending Example: > :amenu File.Exit :qa!^M is equal to: > :nmenu File.Exit :qa!^M > :vmenu File.Exit ^[:qa!^M > :imenu File.Exit ^O:qa!^M > :cmenu File.Exit ^C:qa!^M > :omenu File.Exit ^[:qa!^M Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command, because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the expression register: > :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'P Note that the '<' and 'k' flags in 'cpoptions' also apply here (when included they make the <> form and raw key codes not being recognized). Note that in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode. *menu-priority* You can give a priority to a menu. Menus with a higher priority go more to the right. The priority is given as a number before the ":menu" command. Example: > :70menu Buffer.next :bn The default menus have these priorities: File 10 Edit 20 Syntax 50 Help 9999 When no priority is given, 500 is used. You can use a priority higher than 9999, to make it go after the Help menu, but that is non-standard and is discouraged. The highest possible priority is about 32000. Currently, you can only give a priority for the location of the menu in the menu bar, not for the location of a menu item in a menu. 5.3 Showing What Menus Are Mapped To *gui-showing-menus* To see what an existing menu is mapped to, use just one argument after the menu commands (just like you would with the ":map" commands). If the menu specified is a submenu, then all menus under that hierarchy will be shown. If no argument is given after :menu at all, then ALL menu items are shown for the appropriate mode (eg, Command-line mode for :cmenu). Note that hitting while entering a menu name after a menu command may be used to complete the name of the menu item. 5.4 Deleting Menus *gui-delete-menus* *:unme* *:unmenu* *:aun* *:aunmenu* *:nunme* *:nunmenu* *:ounme* *:ounmenu* *:vunme* *:vunmenu* *:iunme* *:iunmenu* *:cunme* *:cunmenu* To delete a menu item or a whole submenu, use the unmenu commands, which are analogous to the unmap commands. Eg: :unmenu! Edit.Paste This will remove the Paste item from the Edit menu for Insert and Command-line modes. Note that hitting while entering a menu name after an umenu command may be used to complete the name of the menu item for the appropriate mode. To remove all menus use: *:unmenu-all* > :unmenu * " remove all menus in Normal and visual mode > :unmenu! * " remove all menus in Insert and Command-line mode 5.5 Examples for Menus Here is an example on how to add menu items with menu's! You can add a menu item for the keyword under the cursor. The register "z" is used. > :nmenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.z z > :nmenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.z > :vmenu Words.Add\ Var "zy:menu! Words.z z > :vmenu Words.Remove\ Var "zy:unmenu! Words.z > :imenu Words.Add\ Var wb"zye:menu! Words.z za > :imenu Words.Remove\ Var wb"zye:unmenu! Words.za (the rhs is in <> notation, you can copy/paste this text to try out the mappings, or put these lines in your gvimrc; "" is CTRL-R, "" is the key. |<>|) ============================================================================== 6. Extras *gui-extras* This section describes other features which are related to the GUI. - With the GUI, there is no wait for one second after hitting escape, because the key codes don't start with . - Typing ^V followed by a special key in the GUI will insert "", since the internal string used is meaningless. Modifiers may also be held down to get "". - In the GUI, the modifiers SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT (or META) may be used within mappings of special keys and mouse events. eg: :map - In the GUI, several normal keys may have modifiers in mappings etc, these are , , , , . ============================================================================== 7. Shell Commands *gui-shell* WARNING: Executing an external command from the GUI will not always work. "normal" commands like "ls", "grep" and "make" mostly work fine. Commands that require an intelligent terminal like "less" and "ispell" won't work. Some may even hang and need to be killed from another terminal. So be careful! For the X11 GUI the external commands are executed inside the gvim window. See |gui-pty|. For the Win32 GUI the external commands are executed in a separate window. See |gui-shell-win32|. vim:tw=78:ts=8:sw=4