mirror of
https://github.com/neovim/neovim.git
synced 2025-11-03 17:24:29 +00:00
259 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
259 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
*usr_09.txt* Nvim
|
|
|
|
VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
|
|
|
|
Using the GUI
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vim works in an ordinary terminal, while gVim has a Graphical User Interface
|
|
(GUI). It can do the same things and a few more. The GUI offers menus, a
|
|
toolbar, scrollbars and other items. This chapter is about these extra things
|
|
that the GUI offers.
|
|
|
|
|09.1| Parts of the GUI
|
|
|09.2| Using the mouse
|
|
|09.3| The clipboard
|
|
|09.4| Select mode
|
|
|
|
Next chapter: |usr_10.txt| Making big changes
|
|
Previous chapter: |usr_08.txt| Splitting windows
|
|
Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
|
|
|
|
==============================================================================
|
|
*09.1* Parts of the GUI
|
|
|
|
You might have an icon on your desktop that starts gvim. Otherwise, one of
|
|
these commands should do it: >
|
|
|
|
gvim file.txt
|
|
vim -g file.txt
|
|
|
|
If this doesn't work you don't have a version of Vim with GUI support. You
|
|
will have to install one first.
|
|
Vim will open a window and display "file.txt" in it. What the window looks
|
|
like depends on the version of Vim. It should resemble the following picture
|
|
(for as far as this can be shown in ASCII!).
|
|
|
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| file.txt + (~/dir) - VIM X | <- window title
|
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| File Edit Tools Syntax Buffers Window Help | <- menubar
|
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| aaa bbb ccc ddd eee fff ggg hhh iii jjj | <- toolbar
|
|
| aaa bbb ccc ddd eee fff ggg hhh iii jjj |
|
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| file text | ^ |
|
|
| ~ | # |
|
|
| ~ | # | <- scrollbar
|
|
| ~ | # |
|
|
| ~ | # |
|
|
| ~ | # |
|
|
| | V |
|
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
|
|
|
The largest space is occupied by the file text. This shows the file in the
|
|
same way as in a terminal. With some different colors and another font
|
|
perhaps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE WINDOW TITLE
|
|
|
|
At the very top is the window title. This is drawn by your window system.
|
|
Vim will set the title to show the name of the current file. First comes the
|
|
name of the file. Then some special characters and the directory of the file
|
|
in parens. These special characters can be present:
|
|
|
|
• - The file cannot be modified (e.g., a help file)
|
|
• + The file contains changes
|
|
• = The file is read-only
|
|
• =+ The file is read-only, contains changes anyway
|
|
|
|
If nothing is shown you have an ordinary, unchanged file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE MENUBAR
|
|
|
|
You know how menus work, right? Vim has the usual items, plus a few more.
|
|
Browse them to get an idea of what you can use them for. A relevant submenu
|
|
is Edit/Global Settings. You will find these entries:
|
|
|
|
Toggle Toolbar make the toolbar appear/disappear
|
|
Toggle Bottom Scrollbar make a scrollbar appear/disappear at the bottom
|
|
Toggle Left Scrollbar make a scrollbar appear/disappear at the left
|
|
Toggle Right Scrollbar make a scrollbar appear/disappear at the right
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE TOOLBAR
|
|
|
|
This contains icons for the most often used actions. Hopefully the icons are
|
|
self-explanatory. There are tooltips to get an extra hint (move the mouse
|
|
pointer to the icon without clicking and don't move it for a second).
|
|
|
|
The "Edit/Global Settings/Toggle Toolbar" menu item can be used to make the
|
|
toolbar disappear. If you never want a toolbar, use this command in your
|
|
vimrc file: >
|
|
|
|
:set guioptions-=T
|
|
|
|
This removes the 'T' flag from the 'guioptions' option. Other parts of the
|
|
GUI can also be enabled or disabled with this option. See the help for it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE SCROLLBARS
|
|
|
|
By default there is one scrollbar on the right. It does the obvious thing.
|
|
When you split the window, each window will get its own scrollbar.
|
|
You can make a horizontal scrollbar appear with the menu item
|
|
Edit/Global Settings/Toggle Bottom Scrollbar. This is useful in diff mode, or
|
|
when the 'wrap' option has been reset (more about that later).
|
|
|
|
When there are vertically split windows, only the windows on the right side
|
|
will have a scrollbar. However, when you move the cursor to a window on the
|
|
left, it will be this one that the scrollbar controls. This takes a bit of
|
|
time to get used to.
|
|
When you work with vertically split windows, consider adding a scrollbar on
|
|
the left. This can be done with a menu item, or with the 'guioptions' option:
|
|
>
|
|
:set guioptions+=l
|
|
|
|
This adds the 'l' flag to 'guioptions'.
|
|
|
|
==============================================================================
|
|
*09.2* Using the mouse
|
|
|
|
Standards are wonderful. In Microsoft Windows, you can use the mouse to
|
|
select text in a standard manner. The X Window system also has a standard
|
|
system for using the mouse. Unfortunately, these two standards are not the
|
|
same. Fortunately, you can customize Vim.
|
|
|
|
The following commands makes the mouse work more like a Microsoft Windows mouse: >
|
|
|
|
set selection=exclusive
|
|
set selectmode=mouse,key
|
|
set keymodel=startsel,stopsel
|
|
|
|
The mouse can be further tuned. Check out these options if you want to change
|
|
the way how the mouse works:
|
|
|
|
'mouse' in which mode the mouse is used by Vim
|
|
'mousemodel' what effect a mouse click has
|
|
'mousetime' time between clicks for a double-click
|
|
'mousehide' hide the mouse while typing
|
|
'selectmode' whether the mouse starts Visual or Select mode
|
|
|
|
==============================================================================
|
|
*09.3* The clipboard
|
|
|
|
In section |04.7| the basic use of the clipboard was explained. There is one
|
|
essential thing to explain about X-windows: There are actually two places to
|
|
exchange text between programs. MS-Windows doesn't have this.
|
|
|
|
In X-Windows there is the "current selection". This is the text that is
|
|
currently highlighted. In Vim this is the Visual area (this assumes you are
|
|
using the default option settings). You can paste this selection in another
|
|
application without any further action.
|
|
For example, in this text select a few words with the mouse. Vim will
|
|
switch to Visual mode and highlight the text. Now start another gvim, without
|
|
a file name argument, so that it displays an empty window. Click the middle
|
|
mouse button. The selected text will be inserted.
|
|
|
|
The "current selection" will only remain valid until some other text is
|
|
selected. After doing the paste in the other gvim, now select some characters
|
|
in that window. You will notice that the words that were previously selected
|
|
in the other gvim window are displayed differently. This means that it no
|
|
longer is the current selection.
|
|
|
|
You don't need to select text with the mouse, using the keyboard commands for
|
|
Visual mode works just as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE REAL CLIPBOARD
|
|
|
|
Now for the other place with which text can be exchanged. We call this the
|
|
"real clipboard", to avoid confusion. Often both the "current selection" and
|
|
the "real clipboard" are called clipboard, you'll have to get used to that.
|
|
To put text on the real clipboard, select a few different words in one of
|
|
the gvims you have running. Then use the Edit/Copy menu entry. Now the text
|
|
has been copied to the real clipboard. You can't see this, unless you have
|
|
some application that shows the clipboard contents (e.g., KDE's Klipper).
|
|
Now select the other gvim, position the cursor somewhere and use the
|
|
Edit/Paste menu. You will see the text from the real clipboard is inserted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
USING BOTH
|
|
|
|
This use of both the "current selection" and the "real clipboard" might sound
|
|
a bit confusing. But it is very useful. Let's show this with an example.
|
|
Use one gvim with a text file and perform these actions:
|
|
|
|
- Select two words in Visual mode.
|
|
- Use the Edit/Copy menu to get these words onto the clipboard.
|
|
- Select one other word in Visual mode.
|
|
- Use the Edit/Paste menu item. What will happen is that the single selected
|
|
word is replaced with the two words from the clipboard.
|
|
- Move the mouse pointer somewhere else and click the middle button. You
|
|
will see that the word you just overwrote with the clipboard is inserted
|
|
here.
|
|
|
|
If you use the "current selection" and the "real clipboard" with care, you can
|
|
do a lot of useful editing with them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
USING THE KEYBOARD
|
|
|
|
If you don't like using the mouse, you can access the current selection and
|
|
the real clipboard with two registers. The "* register is for the current
|
|
selection.
|
|
To make text become the current selection, use Visual mode. For example,
|
|
to select a whole line just press "V".
|
|
To insert the current selection before the cursor: >
|
|
|
|
"*P
|
|
|
|
Notice the uppercase "P". The lowercase "p" puts the text after the cursor.
|
|
|
|
The "+ register is used for the real clipboard. For example, to copy the text
|
|
from the cursor position until the end of the line to the clipboard: >
|
|
|
|
"+y$
|
|
|
|
Remember, "y" is yank, which is Vim's copy command.
|
|
To insert the contents of the real clipboard before the cursor: >
|
|
|
|
"+P
|
|
|
|
It's the same as for the current selection, but uses the plus (+) register
|
|
instead of the star "*" register.
|
|
|
|
==============================================================================
|
|
*09.4* Select mode
|
|
|
|
And now something that is used more often on MS-Windows than on X-Windows.
|
|
But both can do it. You already know about Visual mode. Select mode is like
|
|
Visual mode, because it is also used to select text. But there is an obvious
|
|
difference: When typing text, the selected text is deleted and the typed text
|
|
replaces it.
|
|
|
|
To start working with Select mode, you must first enable it (for MS-Windows
|
|
it is probably already enabled, but you can do this anyway): >
|
|
|
|
:set selectmode+=mouse
|
|
|
|
Now use the mouse to select some text. It is highlighted like in Visual mode.
|
|
Now press a letter. The selected text is deleted, and the single letter
|
|
replaces it. You are in Insert mode now, thus you can continue typing.
|
|
|
|
Since typing normal text causes the selected text to be deleted, you can not
|
|
use the normal movement commands "hjkl", "w", etc. Instead, use the shifted
|
|
function keys. <S-Left> (shifted cursor left key) moves the cursor left. The
|
|
selected text is changed like in Visual mode. The other shifted cursor keys
|
|
do what you expect. <S-End> and <S-Home> also work.
|
|
|
|
You can tune the way Select mode works with the 'selectmode' option.
|
|
|
|
==============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Next chapter: |usr_10.txt| Making big changes
|
|
|
|
Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl:
|