For Vim version 8.0.

Last change: 2016 Sep 12

VIM - main help file

Move around:
l
Close this window:
Get out of Vim:
Jump to a subject:
CTRL-].
With the mouse:
bars.
Jump back:
Get specific help:
help

Use the cursor keys, or "h" to go left,

"j" to go down, "k" to go up, "l" to go right.

Use ":q<Enter>".
Use ":qa!<Enter>" (careful, all changes are lost!).

k
j

Position the cursor on a tag (e.g. bars) and hit

":set mouse=a" to enable the mouse (in xterm or GUI).
Double-click the left mouse button on a tag, e.g.
Type CTRL-T or CTRL-O.

Repeat to go further back.

It is possible to go directly to whatever you want

on, by giving an argument to the :help command.
Prepend something to specify the context: help-

context
WHAT
Normal mode command
Visual mode command
Insert mode command
Command-line command
Command-line editing
Vim command argument
Option
'textwidth'

PREPEND
v_
i_
:
c_
'

EXAMPLE
:help x
:help v_u
:help i_<Esc>
:help :quit
:help c_<Del>
:help -r
:help

Regular expression
/
:help /[
See help-summary for more contexts and an explanation.

Search for help:

Type ":help word", then hit CTRL-D to see matching

help entries for "word".
Or use ":helpgrep word". :helpgrep

VIM stands for Vi IMproved. Most of VIM was made by Bram Moolenaar, but
only
through the help of many others. See credits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------doc-file-list Q_ct
BASIC:
quickref
Overview of the most common commands you will use
tutor
30 minutes training course for beginners
copying
About copyrights
iccf
Helping poor children in Uganda
sponsor
Sponsor Vim development, become a registered Vim user
www
Vim on the World Wide Web
bugs
Where to send bug reports
USER MANUAL: These files explain how to accomplish an editing task.
usr_toc.txt

Table Of Contents

Getting Started
usr_01.txt About the manuals
usr_02.txt The first steps in Vim
usr_03.txt Moving around
usr_04.txt Making small changes

usr_05.txt
usr_06.txt
usr_07.txt
usr_08.txt
usr_09.txt
usr_10.txt
usr_11.txt
usr_12.txt

Set your settings

Using syntax highlighting
Editing more than one file
Splitting windows
Using the GUI
Making big changes
Recovering from a crash
Clever tricks

Editing Effectively
usr_20.txt Typing command-line commands quickly
usr_21.txt Go away and come back
usr_22.txt Finding the file to edit
usr_23.txt Editing other files
usr_24.txt Inserting quickly
usr_25.txt Editing formatted text
usr_26.txt Repeating
usr_27.txt Search commands and patterns
usr_28.txt Folding
usr_29.txt Moving through programs
usr_30.txt Editing programs
usr_31.txt Exploiting the GUI
usr_32.txt The undo tree
Tuning Vim
usr_40.txt
usr_41.txt
usr_42.txt
usr_43.txt
usr_44.txt
usr_45.txt

Make new commands

Write a Vim script
Add new menus
Using filetypes
Your own syntax highlighted
Select your language

Making Vim Run

usr_90.txt Installing Vim
REFERENCE MANUAL: These files explain every detail of Vim.
reference_toc
General subjects
intro.txt
general introduction to Vim; notation used in help files
help.txt
overview and quick reference (this file)
helphelp.txt about using the help files
index.txt
alphabetical index of all commands
help-tags
all the tags you can jump to (index of tags)
howto.txt
how to do the most common editing tasks
tips.txt
various tips on using Vim
message.txt
(error) messages and explanations
quotes.txt
remarks from users of Vim
todo.txt
known problems and desired extensions
develop.txt
development of Vim
debug.txt
debugging Vim itself
uganda.txt
Vim distribution conditions and what to do with your money
Basic editing
starting.txt
editing.txt
motion.txt
scroll.txt
insert.txt
change.txt
indent.txt
undo.txt

starting Vim, Vim command arguments, initialisation

editing and writing files
commands for moving around
scrolling the text in the window
Insert and Replace mode
deleting and replacing text
automatic indenting for C and other languages
Undo and Redo

repeat.txt
visual.txt
various.txt
recover.txt

repeating commands, Vim scripts and debugging

using the Visual mode (selecting a text area)
various remaining commands
recovering from a crash

Advanced editing
cmdline.txt
Command-line editing
options.txt
description of all options
pattern.txt
regexp patterns and search commands
map.txt
key mapping and abbreviations
tagsrch.txt
tags and special searches
quickfix.txt commands for a quick edit-compile-fix cycle
windows.txt
commands for using multiple windows and buffers
tabpage.txt
commands for using multiple tab pages
syntax.txt
syntax highlighting
spell.txt
spell checking
diff.txt
working with two to four versions of the same file
autocmd.txt
automatically executing commands on an event
filetype.txt settings done specifically for a type of file
eval.txt
expression evaluation, conditional commands
channel.txt
Jobs, Channels, inter-process communication
fold.txt
hide (fold) ranges of lines
Special issues
print.txt
printing
remote.txt
using Vim as a server or client
term.txt
using different terminals and mice
digraph.txt
list of available digraphs
mbyte.txt
multi-byte text support
mlang.txt
non-English language support
arabic.txt
Arabic language support and editing
farsi.txt
Farsi (Persian) editing
hebrew.txt
Hebrew language support and editing
russian.txt
Russian language support and editing
ft_ada.txt
Ada (the programming language) support
ft_sql.txt
about the SQL filetype plugin
hangulin.txt Hangul (Korean) input mode
rileft.txt
right-to-left editing mode
GUI
gui.txt
gui_w32.txt
gui_x11.txt

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Win32 GUI
X11 GUI

Interfaces
if_cscop.txt
if_lua.txt
if_mzsch.txt
if_perl.txt
if_pyth.txt
if_tcl.txt
if_ole.txt
if_ruby.txt
debugger.txt
workshop.txt
netbeans.txt
sign.txt

using Cscope with Vim

Lua interface
MzScheme interface
Perl interface
Python interface
Tcl interface
OLE automation interface for Win32
Ruby interface
Interface with a debugger
Sun Visual Workshop interface
NetBeans External Editor interface
debugging signs

Versions
vi_diff.txt
version4.txt
version5.txt
version6.txt

Main differences between Vim and Vi

Differences between Vim version 3.0 and 4.x
Differences between Vim version 4.6 and 5.x
Differences between Vim version 5.7 and 6.x

version7.txt
version8.txt

Differences between Vim version 6.4 and 7.x

Differences between Vim version 7.4 and 8.x
sys-file-list
Remarks about specific systems
os_390.txt
OS/390 Unix
os_amiga.txt Amiga
os_beos.txt
BeOS and BeBox
os_dos.txt
MS-DOS and MS-Windows NT/95 common items
os_mac.txt
Macintosh
os_mint.txt
Atari MiNT
os_msdos.txt MS-DOS (plain DOS and DOS box under Windows)
os_os2.txt
OS/2
os_qnx.txt
QNX
os_risc.txt
RISC-OS
os_unix.txt
Unix
os_vms.txt
VMS
os_win32.txt MS-Windows 95/98/NT
standard-plugin-list
Standard plugins
pi_getscript.txt Downloading latest version of Vim scripts
pi_gzip.txt
Reading and writing compressed files
pi_logipat.txt
Logical operators on patterns
pi_netrw.txt
Reading and writing files over a network
pi_paren.txt
Highlight matching parens
pi_tar.txt
Tar file explorer
pi_vimball.txt
Create a self-installing Vim script
pi_zip.txt
Zip archive explorer
LOCAL ADDITIONS:
vim_faq.txt
Frequently Asked Questions

local-additions

----------------------------------------------------------------------------bars
Bars example
Now that you've jumped here with CTRL-] or a double mouse click, you can
use
CTRL-T, CTRL-O, g<RightMouse>, or <C-RightMouse> to go back to where you
were.
Note that tags are within | characters, but when highlighting is enabled
these
characters are hidden. That makes it easier to read a command.
Anyway, you can use CTRL-] on any word, also when it is not within |, and
Vim
will try to find help for it. Especially for options in single quotes,
e.g.
'compatible'.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------vim:tw=78:fo=tcq2:isk=!-~,^*,^\|,^\":ts=8:ft=help:norl:

Quick links: help overview quick reference user manual toc reference manual toc faq
This site is maintained by Carlo Teubner ((my first name) dot (my last name) at gmail