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insert.txt For Vim version 5.6. Last change: 2000 Jan 09 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar Insert Insert-mode Inserting and replacing text mode-ins-repl Most of this file is about Insert and Replace mode. At the end are a few commands for inserting text in other ways. 1. Special keys ins-special-keys 2. Special special keys ins-special-special 4. 'expandtab', 'smarttab' and 'softtabstop' options ins-expandtab 5. Replace mode Replace-mode 8. Insert mode commands inserting ============================================================================== 1. Special keys ins-special-keys In Insert and Replace mode, the following characters have a special meaning; other characters are inserted directly. NOTE: in insert mode, any unused control character takes you out of input mode. char action ----------------------------------------------------------------------- i_CTRL-[ i_<Esc> <Esc> or End insert or Replace mode, go back to Normal mode. Finish CTRL-[ abbreviation. i_CTRL-@ CTRL-@ Insert previously inserted text and stop insert. {Vi: only when typed as first char, only up to 128 chars} i_CTRL-A CTRL-A Insert previously inserted text. {not in Vi} i_CTRL-H i_<BS> <BS> or Delete the character before the cursor (see i_backspacing CTRL-H about joining lines). {Vi: does not delete autoindents} i_<Del> <Del> Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at the end of the line, and the 'backspace' option includes "eol", delete the <EOL>; the next line is appended after the current one. See :fixdel if your <Del> key does not do what you want. {not in Vi} i_CTRL-W CTRL-W Delete the word before the cursor (see i_backspacing about joining lines). See the section "word motions", word-motions, for the definition of a word. i_CTRL-U CTRL-U Delete all entered characters in the current line (see i_backspacing about joining lines). i_CTRL-I i_<Tab> <Tab> or Insert a tab. If the 'expandtab' option is on, the CTRL-I equivalent number of spaces is inserted. Also see the 'softtabstop' option. <NL> or i_CTRL-J i_<NL> CTRL-J Begin new line. <CR> or i_CTRL-M i_<CR> CTRL-M Begin new line. i_CTRL-N CTRL-N Find next match for words that start with the keyword in front of the cursor, looking in places specified with the 'complete' option. The found keyword is inserted in front of the cursor. i_CTRL-P CTRL-P Find previous match for words that start with the keyword in front of the cursor, looking in places specified with the 'complete' option. The found keyword is inserted in front of the cursor. CTRL-R {0-9a-z"%#*+:.-=} i_CTRL-R Insert the contents of a register. Between typing CTRL-R and the second character, '"' will be displayed to indicate that you are expected to enter the name of a register. The text is inserted as if you typed it. CTRL-R CTRL-R {0-9a-z"%#*+/:.-=} i_CTRL-R_CTRL-R Insert the contents of a register. Works like using a single CTRL-R, but the text is inserted literally, not as if typed. {not in Vi} CTRL-R CTRL-O {0-9a-z"%#*+/:.-=} i_CTRL-R_CTRL-O Insert the contents of a register literally and don't auto-indent. CTRL-R CTRL-P {0-9a-z"%#*+/:.-=} i_CTRL-R_CTRL-P Insert the contents of a register literally and fix the indent. i_CTRL-T CTRL-T Insert one shiftwidth of indent at the start of the current line. The indent is always rounded to a 'shiftwidth' (this is vi compatible). {Vi: only when in indent} i_CTRL-D CTRL-D Delete one shiftwidth of indent at the start of the current line. The indent is always rounded to a 'shiftwidth' (this is vi compatible). {Vi: CTRL-D works only when used after autoindent} i_CTRL-V CTRL-V Insert next non-digit literally. For special keys, the terminal code is inserted. It's also possible to enter the decimal, octal or hexadecimal value of a character i_CTRL-V_digit. The characters typed right after CTRL-V are not considered for mapping. {Vi: no decimal byte entry} i_CTRL-Q CTRL-Q Same as CTRL-V. i_CTRL-E CTRL-E Insert the character which is below the cursor. {not in Vi} i_CTRL-Y CTRL-Y Insert the character which is above the cursor. {not in Vi} Note that for CTRL-E and CTRL-Y 'textwidth' is not used, to be able to copy characters from a long line. i_<Insert> <Insert> Toggle between insert and replace mode. {not in Vi} i_CTRL-> CTRL-> or Align first non white character of current line with next CTRL-. parenthesis (column-wise) in previous line by inserting indent into current line. Usefull for aligning arguments of a function call. Also anchors to first character of previous line. Think Ctrl-> for shift-like behavior. {jVi only} i_CTRL-< CTRL-< or Align first non white character of current line with previous CTRL-, parenthesis (column-wise) in previous line by removing indent from current line. Usefull for aligning arguments of a function call. Also anchors to first character of previous line. Think Ctrl-< for shift-like behavior. {jVi only} ----------------------------------------------------------------------- i_backspacing The effect of the <BS>, CTRL-W, and CTRL-U depend on the 'backspace' option (unless 'revins' is set). This is a comma separated list of items: item action indent allow backspacing over autoindent eol allow backspacing over end-of-line (join lines) start allow backspacing over the start position of insert; CTRL-W and CTRL-U stop once at the start position (NOTE: jVi only support "0", "1" and "2") When 'backspace' is empty, Vi compatible backspacing is used. You cannot backspace over autoindent, before column 1 or before where insert started. For backwards compatibility the values "0", "1" and "2" are also allowed, see 'backspace'. If the 'backspace' option does contain "eol" and the cursor is in column 1 when one of the three keys is used, the current line is joined with the previous line. This effectively deletes the <EOL> in front of the cursor. {Vi: does not cross lines, does not delete past start position of insert} i_CTRL-V_digit With CTRL-V the decimal, octal or hexadecimal value of a character can be entered directly. This way you can enter any character, except a line break (<NL>, value 10). There are five ways to enter the character value: first char mode max nr of chars max value (none) decimal 3 255 o or O octal 3 377 (255) x or X hexadecimal 2 ff (255) u hexadecimal 4 ffff (65535) U hexadecimal 8 7fffffff (2147483647) Normally you would type the maximum number of characters. Thus to enter a space (value 32) you would type <C-V>032. You can omit the leading zero, in which case the character typed after the number must be a non-digit. This happens for the other modes as well: As soon as you type a character that is invalid for the mode, the value before it will be used and the "invalid" character is dealt with in the normal way. If you enter a value of 10, it will end up in the file as a 0. The 10 is a <NL>, which is used internally to represent the <Nul> character. When writing the buffer to a file, the <NL> character is translated into <Nul>. The <NL> character is written at the end of each line. Thus if you want to insert a <NL> character in a file you will have to make a line break. ============================================================================== 2. Special special keys ins-special-special The following keys are special. They stop the current insert, do something, and then restart insertion. This means you can do something without getting out of Insert mode. This is very handy if you prefer to use the Insert mode all the time, just like editors that don't have a separate Normal mode. You may also want to set the 'backspace' option to "indent,eol,start" and set the 'insertmode' option. (NOTE: jVi does not support 'insertmode' option) The changes (inserted or deleted characters) before and after these keys can be undone separately. Only the last change can be redone and always behaves like an "i" command. char action ----------------------------------------------------------------------- <Up> cursor one line up i_<Up> <Down> cursor one line down i_<Down> <Left> cursor one character left i_<Left> <Right> cursor one character right i_<Right> <S-Left> cursor one word back (like "b" command) i_<S-Left> <C-Left> cursor one word back (like "b" command) i_<C-Left> <S-Right> cursor one word forward (like "w" command) i_<S-Right> <C-Right> cursor one word forward (like "w" command) i_<C-Right> <Home> cursor to first char in the line i_<Home> <End> cursor to after last char in the line i_<End> <C-Home> cursor to first char in the file i_<C-Home> <C-End> cursor to after last char in the file i_<C-End> CTRL-G u break undo sequence, start new change i_CTRL-G_u ----------------------------------------------------------------------- When the 'whichwrap' option is set appropriately, the <Left> and <Right> keys on the first/last character in the line make the cursor wrap to the previous/next line. ============================================================================== 4. 'expandtab' ins-expandtab If the 'expandtab' option is on, spaces will be used to fill the amount of whitespace of the tab. If you want to enter a real <Tab>, type CTRL-V first. The 'expandtab' option is off by default. Note that in Replace mode, a single character is replaced with several spaces. The result of this is that the number of characters in the line increases. Backspacing will delete one space at a time. The original character will be put back for only one space that you backspace over (the last one). {Vi does not have the 'expandtab' option} NOTE: in jVi the platform does a lot of the tab handling. Platform docs should be referenced. ============================================================================== 5. Replace mode Replace Replace-mode mode-replace Enter Replace mode with the "R" command in normal mode. In Replace mode, one character in the line is deleted for every character you type. If there is no character to delete (at the end of the line), the typed character is appended (as in Insert mode). Thus the number of characters in a line stays the same until you get to the end of the line. If a <NL> is typed, a line break is inserted and no character is deleted. Be careful with <Tab> characters. If you type a normal printing character in its place, the number of characters is still the same, but the number of columns will become smaller. If you delete characters in Replace mode (with <BS>, CTRL-W, or CTRL-U), what happens is that you delete the changes. The characters that were replaced are restored. If you had typed past the existing text, the characters you added are deleted. This is effectively a character-at-a-time undo. If the 'expandtab' option is on, a <Tab> will replace one character with several spaces. The result of this is that the number of characters in the line increases. Backspacing will delete one space at a time. The original character will be put back for only one space that you backspace over (the last one). {Vi does not have the 'expandtab' option} ============================================================================== 8. Insert mode commands inserting The following commands can be used to insert new text into the buffer. They can all be undone and repeated with the "." command. a a Append text after the cursor [count] times. A A Append text at the end of the line [count] times. <insert> or i insert <Insert> i Insert text before the cursor [count] times. I I Insert text before the first non-blank in the line [count] times. o o Begin a new line below the cursor and insert text, repeat [count] times. {Vi: blank [count] screen lines} O O Begin a new line above the cursor and insert text, repeat [count] times. {Vi: blank [count] screen lines} These commands are used to start inserting text. You can end insert mode with <Esc>. See mode-ins-repl for the other special characters in Insert mode. the effect of [count] takes place after insert mode is exited. When 'autoindent' is on, the indent for a new line is obtained from the previous line. NOTE: in jVi the platform does a lot of the insert new line handling. Platform docs should be referenced. vim:tw=78:ts=8:sw=8:noet:
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