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created February 16, 2008 · complexity basic · author Metacosm · version 7.0

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If you can't find an answer to your problem on the Vim Wiki – try the #Vim IRC channel on http://freenode.net.

To help centralize the vim.wikia.com site as the place to go for Vim Wiki support, Metacosm has moved the best articles from http://vi-improved.org to this wiki.

General

• New to Vim?
• Example .vimrc
• Best plugins
• Quick tips
• Vim IRC FAQ
• Tutorial (reference version of http://vi-improved.org/tutorial.php)
• Super retab

Answered questions

• Vim is confusing, where do I start? New to Vim, Tutorial, Vi-Improved.org Tutorial
• How do I record a macro? Macros
• How do I edit GPG encrypted files in Vim? Edit gpg encrypted files
• How do I reselect the visual range I just used? Visual selection
• How do I change the GUI Font (and make those changes stick)? Change font
• How do I make backspace work like in other editors? Backspace and delete problems
• How do I fix syntax highlighting problems? Fix syntax highlighting
• How do I paste in code without having all the indenting screwed up? Toggle auto-indenting for code paste
• How do I insert the current date/time into my file? Insert current date or time
• How do I make the options I set STAY set? Debug unexpected option settings
• How can you read/write system environment variables from within Vim? Environment variables
• How can I dump my file to html looking EXACTLY as it currently does (syntax highlighting at all)? Pasting code with syntax coloring in emails
• How to tell Vim to save as a new file when the file is hardlinked? Editing a hard link to a file
• How can I fix the line-endings in this file? File format
• How to exchange the current line with the line above/below? Swapping characters, words and lines
• How can Vim work with Visual Studio .Net? Integrate gvim with Visual Studio
• How can I get diff to work properly in the MS Windows port of Vim? Cannot create diffs under Windows
• How can I get Visual Studio like completion (i.e. Intellisense) in Vim? Omni completion
• How can I delete parens that surround text? See Surround at Best plugins
• Why do letters show up when I try to enter numbers from the keypad? Why doesn't the numpad work as expected? Why does the NumLock key bring up help.txt? PuTTY numeric keypad mappings

Unanswered questions

• How can I remap the escape key to toggle insert mode? By default, INSERT starts insert mode, and ESCAPE takes you back into normal mode. How can I map ESCAPE to do both, toggling insert mode? -- Anonymous 21:37, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

• How can I make keywords autocompletable when creating a new C source file?

Make sure Vim knows it is a C file: e.g., open it with :e main.c, not just :enew. — Tonymec 16:17, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

• How can I redirect stderr output in Windows ? I have a problem setting 'makeprg' with a compiler whose error messages can't be caught with '>'.

I believe this question is now obsolete. The default value of 'shellpipe' on Windows seems to be ">%s 2>&1" which will (with the "2>&1") redirect stderr output from :make. The help does not reflect this default value, however. It looks like the support was added back in 6.1.105 but never made it into :help 'shellpipe'. --Fritzophrenic 16:07, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

:help 'shellpipe' talks of "Amiga and MS-Dos" OT1H, of *sh shells OTOH, but doesn't mention W32 (as distinct from MS-Dos). Maybe it should. — Tonymec 16:17, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

• For encrypted files, :help encryption states: "Text you copy or delete goes to the numbered registers. The registers can be saved in the .viminfo file, where they could be read. Change your 'viminfo' option to be safe." Wouldn't it be a lot better if Vim by default would not write all your sensitive information to the viminfo file?

The registers are a useful place to keep permanent (or semi-volatile) information which will be saved in the viminfo file at closedown and restored at the next startup. I think the 'viminfo' default is sensible; it's only when editing encrypted files that registers can be viewed as containing "sensitive information". If all your files are encrypted (which I don't think should be the Vim default) you can change the 'viminfo' option in the vimrc. Or you can define a user-command, let's say :XX, which will both prompt the user for an encryption key and change the 'viminfo' option — maybe even set it to the empty string. — Tonymec 16:17, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Other sources

• http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/vimfaq.html

Comments

Proposal to remove "questions" We get distracted by people looking for help – the wiki is the wrong place, and we have to take time politely explaining to each new person why we are going to rudely delete their question (we refer questioners to the Community Portal). The two "questions" sections above could easily make readers think that we are inviting questions, but in fact we do not have sufficient contributors to handle them (and a wiki is not the right place). Is there some compelling reason to keep the two sections as they are?

I propose making just one section ("Common issues"?) with the answered questions, then merge in some of the "unanswered" points (with whatever answers we can quickly find, based on the replies above). Then, I would delete anything for which we currently do not have a satisfactory answer (I would rephrase the new question about mapping the escape key and give a link to Esc). In the future, only add material that has at least a partially satisfactory resolution. Any thoughts? JohnBeckett 10:42, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Please do. Please remove the Answered Questions sections to relevant tip or FAQ pages also, if you can find any. We seldom if ever refer anyone to this page for answers, and they are quite haphazard and random. I've been meaning to rebuild this page, as well as the Best Scripts section — they are quite outdated. (Spiiph 11:22, 7 August 2009 (UTC))

While I'm happy to respect Metacosm's original thought to have these issues listed here, perhaps it would be more helpful to move them to Vim IRC FAQ. If no objection, I think I'll do that soon: move the question stuff from here to the IRC FAQ and start a minor refactor of that FAQ. Later, add more info on this page about just what IRC is, and how one might join #vim, and how one might ask a question there (at the moment this page doesn't really convey any information; if you already know what "#vim" means, it's obvious, and if you don't, the info does not help). Probably mention some IRC client software, or perhaps just a link to some Wikipedia article would do? JohnBeckett 11:59, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

I agree with moving these to the FAQ tip, I always wondered why there were two such tips for #vim. I would like this page to be more about the channel itself, how to join, etc. I would NOT list IRC clients on this page, I would just link to wikipedia or something. MAYBE we could have a section at the end containing nothing but links to free clients, but if we put even short descriptions in the tip I can easily see this becoming like our font list tip, which is a chaotic collection of various users scrambling to get their own personal favorite recognized. There are so many IRC clients to choose from we can hardly hope to list even the most common here without leaving some out. --Fritzophrenic 14:15, 7 August 2009 (UTC)