{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} The ASCII code for the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The routine that maps the keyboard in Hebrew mode, both in Insert mode (when hkmap is set) and on the command-line (when hitting CTRL-_) outputs the Hebrew characters in the range [aleph..aleph+26]. aleph=128 applies to PC code, and aleph=224 applies to ISO 8859-8. See |rileft.txt|.

{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} Allow CTRL-_ in Insert and Command-line mode. This is default off, to avoid that users that accidentally type CTRL-_ instead of SHIFT-_ get into reverse Insert mode, and don't know how to get out. See 'revins'. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

Only effective when 'encoding' is "utf-8" or another Unicode encoding. Tells Vim what to do with characters with East Asian Width Class Ambiguous (such as Euro, Registered Sign, Copyright Sign, Greek letters, Cyrillic letters).

{only available when compiled with the |+arabic| feature} This option can be set to start editing Arabic text. Setting this option will:

• Set the 'rightleft' option, unless 'termbidi' is set.
• Set the 'arabicshape' option, unless 'termbidi' is set.
• Set the 'keymap' option to "arabic"; in Insert mode CTRL-^ toggles between typing English and Arabic key mapping.
• Set the 'delcombine' option Note that 'encoding' must be "utf-8" for working with Arabic text.

{only available when compiled with the |+arabic| feature} When on and 'termbidi' is off, the required visual character corrections that need to take place for displaying the Arabic language take effect. Shaping, in essence, gets enabled; the term is a broad one which encompasses: a) the changing/morphing of characters based on their location within a word (initial, medial, final and stand-alone). b) the enabling of the ability to compose characters c) the enabling of the required combining of some characters When disabled the display shows each character's true stand-alone form. Arabic is a complex language which requires other settings, for further details see |arabic.txt|. NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.

{only available when compiled with it, use exists("+autochdir") to check} When on, Vim will change the current working directory whenever you open a file, switch buffers, delete a buffer or open/close a window. It will change to the directory containing the file which was opened or selected. Note: When this option is on some plugins may not work.

Copy indent from current line when starting a new line (typing in Insert mode or when using the "o" or "O" command). If you do not type anything on the new line except or CTRL-D and then type , CTRL-O or , the indent is deleted again. Moving the cursor to another line has the same effect, unless the 'I' flag is included in 'cpoptions'. When autoindent is on, formatting (with the "gq" command or when you reach 'textwidth' in Insert mode) uses the indentation of the first line. When 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is on the indent is changed in a different way. The 'autoindent' option is reset when the 'paste' option is set and restored when 'paste' is reset.

When a file has been detected to have been changed outside of Vim and it has not been changed inside of Vim, automatically read it again. When the file has been deleted this is not done, so you have the text from before it was deleted. When it appears again then it is read. |timestamp| If this option has a local value, use this command to switch back to using the global value: > :set autoread< <

Write the contents of the file, if it has been modified, on each :next, :rewind, :last, :first, :previous, :stop, :suspend, :tag, :!, :make, CTRL-] and CTRL-^ command; and when a :buffer, CTRL-O, CTRL-I, '{A-Z0-9}, or `{A-Z0-9} command takes one to another file. Note that for some commands the 'autowrite' option is not used, see 'autowriteall' for that. Some buffers will not be written, specifically when 'buftype' is "nowrite", "nofile", "terminal" or "prompt".

Like 'autowrite', but also used for commands ":edit", ":enew", ":quit", ":qall", ":exit", ":xit", ":recover" and closing the Vim window. Setting this option also implies that Vim behaves like 'autowrite' has been set.

When set to "dark", Vim will try to use colors that look good on a dark background. When set to "light", Vim will try to use colors that look good on a light background. Any other value is illegal. Vim tries to set the default value according to the terminal used. This will not always be correct. Setting this option does not change the background color, it tells Vim what the background color looks like. For changing the background color, see |:hi-normal|.

Influences the working of , , CTRL-W and CTRL-U in Insert mode. This is a list of items, separated by commas. Each item allows a way to backspace over something: value effect ~ indent allow backspacing over autoindent eol allow backspacing over line breaks (join lines) start allow backspacing over the start of insert; CTRL-W and CTRL-U stop once at the start of insert. nostop like start, except CTRL-W and CTRL-U do not stop at the start of insert.

Make a backup before overwriting a file. Leave it around after the file has been successfully written. If you do not want to keep the backup file, but you do want a backup while the file is being written, reset this option and set the 'writebackup' option (this is the default). If you do not want a backup file at all reset both options (use this if your file system is almost full). See the |backup-table| for more explanations. When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a backup is not made anyway. When 'patchmode' is set, the backup may be renamed to become the oldest version of a file. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

When writing a file and a backup is made, this option tells how it's done. This is a comma separated list of words.

List of directories for the backup file, separated with commas.

• The backup file will be created in the first directory in the list where this is possible. The directory must exist, Vim will not create it for you.
• Empty means that no backup file will be created ('patchmode' is impossible!). Writing may fail because of this.
• A directory "." means to put the backup file in the same directory as the edited file.
• A directory starting with "./" (or "." for MS-Windows) means to put the backup file relative to where the edited file is. The leading "." is replaced with the path name of the edited file. ("." inside a directory name has no special meaning).
• Spaces after the comma are ignored, other spaces are considered part of the directory name. To have a space at the start of a directory name, precede it with a backslash.
• To include a comma in a directory name precede it with a backslash.
• A directory name may end in an '/'.
• For Unix and Win32, if a directory ends in two path separators "//", the backup file name will be built from the complete path to the file with all path separators changed to percent '%' signs. This will ensure file name uniqueness in the backup directory. On Win32, it is also possible to end with "\". However, When a separating comma is following, you must use "//", since "\" will include the comma in the file name. Therefore it is recommended to use '//', instead of '\'.
• Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
• Careful with '' characters, type one before a space, type two to get one in the option (see |option-backslash|), for example: > :set bdir=c:\tmp,\ dir\,with\,commas,\\ dir\ with\ spaces < - For backwards compatibility with Vim version 3.0 a '>' at the start of the option is removed. See also 'backup' and 'writebackup' options. If you want to hide your backup files on Unix, consider this value: > :set backupdir=./.backup,~/.backup,.,/tmp < You must create a ".backup" directory in each directory and in your home directory for this to work properly. The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version uses another default. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

String which is appended to a file name to make the name of the backup file. The default is quite unusual, because this avoids accidentally overwriting existing files with a backup file. You might prefer using ".bak", but make sure that you don't have files with ".bak" that you want to keep. Only normal file name characters can be used, "/*?[|<>" are illegal.

{not available when compiled without the |+wildignore| feature} A list of file patterns. When one of the patterns matches with the name of the file which is written, no backup file is created. Both the specified file name and the full path name of the file are used. The pattern is used like with |:autocmd|, see |autocmd-patterns|. Watch out for special characters, see |option-backslash|. When $TMPDIR, $TMP or $TEMP is not defined, it is not used for the default value. "/tmp/*" is only used for Unix.

{only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval| feature} Delay in milliseconds before a balloon may pop up. See |balloon-eval|.

{only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval| feature} Switch on the |balloon-eval| functionality for the GUI.

{only available when compiled with the |+balloon_eval| feature} Expression for text to show in evaluation balloon. It is only used when 'ballooneval' or 'balloonevalterm' is on. These variables can be used:

Specifies for which events the bell will not be rung. It is a comma separated list of items. For each item that is present, the bell will be silenced. This is most useful to specify specific events in insert mode to be silenced.

This option should be set before editing a binary file. You can also use the |-b| Vim argument. When this option is switched on a few options will be changed (also when it already was on): 'textwidth' will be set to 0 'wrapmargin' will be set to 0 'modeline' will be off 'expandtab' will be off Also, 'fileformat' and 'fileformats' options will not be used, the file is read and written like 'fileformat' was "unix" (a single separates lines). The 'fileencoding' and 'fileencodings' options will not be used, the file is read without conversion. NOTE: When you start editing a(nother) file while the 'bin' option is on, settings from autocommands may change the settings again (e.g., 'textwidth'), causing trouble when editing. You might want to set 'bin' again when the file has been loaded. The previous values of these options are remembered and restored when 'bin' is switched from on to off. Each buffer has its own set of saved option values. To edit a file with 'binary' set you can use the |++bin| argument. This avoids you have to do ":set bin", which would have effect for all files you edit. When writing a file the for the last line is only written if there was one in the original file (normally Vim appends an to the last line if there is none; this would make the file longer). See the 'endofline' option.

{not available when compiled without the |+linebreak| feature} This option lets you choose which characters might cause a line break if 'linebreak' is on. Only works for ASCII and also for 8-bit characters when 'encoding' is an 8-bit encoding.

{not available when compiled without the |+linebreak| feature} Every wrapped line will continue visually indented (same amount of space as the beginning of that line), thus preserving horizontal blocks of text. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+linebreak| feature} Settings for 'breakindent'. It can consist of the following optional items and must be separated by a comma: min:{n} Minimum text width that will be kept after applying 'breakindent', even if the resulting text should normally be narrower. This prevents text indented almost to the right window border occupying lot of vertical space when broken. shift:{n} After applying 'breakindent', the wrapped line's beginning will be shifted by the given number of characters. It permits dynamic French paragraph indentation (negative) or emphasizing the line continuation (positive). sbr Display the 'showbreak' value before applying the additional indent. list:{n} Adds an additional indent for lines that match a numbered or bulleted list (using the 'formatlistpat' setting). list:-1 Uses the length of a match with 'formatlistpat' for indentation. The default value for min is 20, shift and list is 0.

{only for Motif, Athena, GTK, Mac and Win32 GUI} Which directory to use for the file browser: last Use same directory as with last file browser, where a file was opened or saved. buffer Use the directory of the related buffer. current Use the current directory. {path} Use the specified directory

This option specifies what happens when a buffer is no longer displayed in a window: follow the global 'hidden' option hide hide the buffer (don't unload it), also when 'hidden' is not set unload unload the buffer, also when 'hidden' is set or using |:hide| delete delete the buffer from the buffer list, also when 'hidden' is set or using |:hide|, like using |:bdelete| wipe wipe out the buffer from the buffer list, also when 'hidden' is set or using |:hide|, like using |:bwipeout|

When this option is set, the buffer shows up in the buffer list. If it is reset it is not used for ":bnext", "ls", the Buffers menu, etc. This option is reset by Vim for buffers that are only used to remember a file name or marks. Vim sets it when starting to edit a buffer. But not when moving to a buffer with ":buffer".

The value of this option specifies the type of a buffer: normal buffer nofile buffer which is not related to a file and will not be written nowrite buffer which will not be written acwrite buffer which will always be written with BufWriteCmd autocommands. quickfix quickfix buffer, contains list of errors |:cwindow| or list of locations |:lwindow| help help buffer (you are not supposed to set this manually) terminal buffer for a |terminal| (you are not supposed to set this manually) prompt buffer where only the last line can be edited, meant to be used by a plugin, see |prompt-buffer| {only when compiled with the |+channel| feature} popup buffer used in a popup window, see |popup|. {only when compiled with the |+textprop| feature}

Specifies details about changing the case of letters. It may contain these words, separated by a comma: internal Use internal case mapping functions, the current locale does not change the case mapping. This only matters when 'encoding' is a Unicode encoding, "latin1" or "iso-8859-15". When "internal" is omitted, the towupper() and towlower() system library functions are used when available. keepascii For the ASCII characters (0x00 to 0x7f) use the US case mapping, the current locale is not effective. This probably only matters for Turkish.

{not available when compiled without the |+file_in_path| feature} This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the |:cd|, |:tcd| and |:lcd| commands, provided that the directory being searched for has a relative path, not an absolute part starting with "/", "./" or "../", the 'cdpath' option is not used then. The 'cdpath' option's value has the same form and semantics as |'path'|. Also see |file-searching|. The default value is taken from $CDPATH, with a "," prepended to look in the current directory first. If the default value taken from $CDPATH is not what you want, include a modified version of the following command in your vimrc file to override it: > :let &cdpath = ',' . substitute(substitute($CDPATH, '[, ]', '\\0', 'g'), ':', ',', 'g') < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons. (parts of 'cdpath' can be passed to the shell to expand file names).

{only available when compiled with the |+eval| feature} An expression that is used for character encoding conversion. It is evaluated when a file that is to be read or has been written has a different encoding from what is desired. 'charconvert' is not used when the internal iconv() function is supported and is able to do the conversion. Using iconv() is preferred, because it is much faster. 'charconvert' is not used when reading stdin |--|, because there is no file to convert from. You will have to save the text in a file first. The expression must return zero or an empty string for success, non-zero for failure. The possible encoding names encountered are in 'encoding'. Additionally, names given in 'fileencodings' and 'fileencoding' are used. Conversion between "latin1", "unicode", "ucs-2", "ucs-4" and "utf-8" is done internally by Vim, 'charconvert' is not used for this. 'charconvert' is also used to convert the viminfo file, if the 'c' flag is present in 'viminfo'. Also used for Unicode conversion. Example: > set charconvert=CharConvert() fun CharConvert() system("recode " \ . v:charconvert_from . ".." . v:charconvert_to \ . " <" . v:fname_in . " >" v:fname_out) return v:shell_error endfun < The related Vim variables are: v:charconvert_from name of the current encoding v:charconvert_to name of the desired encoding v:fname_in name of the input file v:fname_out name of the output file Note that v:fname_in and v:fname_out will never be the same. Note that v:charconvert_from and v:charconvert_to may be different from 'encoding'. Vim internally uses UTF-8 instead of UCS-2 or UCS-4. Encryption is not done by Vim when using 'charconvert'. If you want to encrypt the file after conversion, 'charconvert' should take care of this. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+cindent| feature} Enables automatic C program indenting. See 'cinkeys' to set the keys that trigger reindenting in insert mode and 'cinoptions' to set your preferred indent style. If 'indentexpr' is not empty, it overrules 'cindent'. If 'lisp' is not on and both 'indentexpr' and 'equalprg' are empty, the "=" operator indents using this algorithm rather than calling an external program. See |C-indenting|. When you don't like the way 'cindent' works, try the 'smartindent' option or 'indentexpr'. This option is not used when 'paste' is set. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+cindent| feature} A list of keys that, when typed in Insert mode, cause reindenting of the current line. Only used if 'cindent' is on and 'indentexpr' is empty. For the format of this option see |cinkeys-format|. See |C-indenting|.

{not available when compiled without the |+cindent| feature} The 'cinoptions' affect the way 'cindent' reindents lines in a C program. See |cinoptions-values| for the values of this option, and |C-indenting| for info on C indenting in general.

{not available when compiled without both the |+cindent| and the |+smartindent| features} These keywords start an extra indent in the next line when 'smartindent' or 'cindent' is set. For 'cindent' this is only done at an appropriate place (inside {}). Note that 'ignorecase' isn't used for 'cinwords'. If case doesn't matter, include the keyword both the uppercase and lowercase: "if,If,IF".

{only in GUI versions or when the |+xterm_clipboard| feature is included} This option is a list of comma separated names. Note: if one of the items is "exclude:", then you can't add an item after that. Therefore do append an item with += but use ^{= to prepend, e.g.: > set clipboard}=unnamed < These names are recognized:

Number of screen lines to use for the command-line. Helps avoiding |hit-enter| prompts. The value of this option is stored with the tab page, so that each tab page can have a different value.

Number of screen lines to use for the command-line window. |cmdwin|

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} 'colorcolumn' is a comma separated list of screen columns that are highlighted with ColorColumn |hl-ColorColumn|. Useful to align text. Will make screen redrawing slower. The screen column can be an absolute number, or a number preceded with '+' or '-', which is added to or subtracted from 'textwidth'. >

Number of columns of the screen. Normally this is set by the terminal initialization and does not have to be set by hand. Also see |posix-screen-size|. When Vim is running in the GUI or in a resizable window, setting this option will cause the window size to be changed. When you only want to use the size for the GUI, put the command in your |gvimrc| file. When you set this option and Vim is unable to change the physical number of columns of the display, the display may be messed up. For the GUI it is always possible and Vim limits the number of columns to what fits on the screen. You can use this command to get the widest window possible: > :set columns=9999 < Minimum value is 12, maximum value is 10000.

A comma separated list of strings that can start a comment line. See |format-comments|. See |option-backslash| about using backslashes to insert a space.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} A template for a comment. The "%s" in the value is replaced with the comment text. Currently only used to add markers for folding, see |fold-marker|.

This option specifies how keyword completion |ins-completion| works when CTRL-P or CTRL-N are used. It is also used for whole-line completion |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-L|. It indicates the type of completion and the places to scan. It is a comma separated list of flags: . scan the current buffer ('wrapscan' is ignored) w scan buffers from other windows b scan other loaded buffers that are in the buffer list u scan the unloaded buffers that are in the buffer list U scan the buffers that are not in the buffer list k scan the files given with the 'dictionary' option kspell use the currently active spell checking |spell| k{dict} scan the file {dict}. Several "k" flags can be given, patterns are valid too. For example: > :set cpt=k/usr/dict/*,k~/spanish < s scan the files given with the 'thesaurus' option s{tsr} scan the file {tsr}. Several "s" flags can be given, patterns are valid too. i scan current and included files d scan current and included files for defined name or macro |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-D| ] tag completion t same as "]"

{not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} This option specifies a function to be used for Insert mode completion with CTRL-X CTRL-U. |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-U| See |complete-functions| for an explanation of how the function is invoked and what it should return. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

A comma separated list of options for Insert mode completion |ins-completion|. The supported values are:

{only for MS-Windows} When this option is set it overrules 'shellslash' for completion:

• When this option is set to "slash", a forward slash is used for path completion in insert mode. This is useful when editing HTML tag, or Makefile with 'noshellslash' on MS-Windows.
• When this option is set to "backslash", backslash is used. This is useful when editing a batch file with 'shellslash' set on MS-Windows.
• When this option is empty, same character is used as for 'shellslash'. For Insert mode completion the buffer-local value is used. For command line completion the global value is used.

{not available when compiled without the |+conceal| feature} Sets the modes in which text in the cursor line can also be concealed. When the current mode is listed then concealing happens just like in other lines. n Normal mode v Visual mode i Insert mode c Command line editing, for 'incsearch'

{not available when compiled without the |+conceal| feature} Determine how text with the "conceal" syntax attribute |:syn-conceal| is shown:

When 'confirm' is on, certain operations that would normally fail because of unsaved changes to a buffer, e.g. ":q" and ":e", instead raise a |dialog| asking if you wish to save the current file(s). You can still use a ! to unconditionally |abandon| a buffer. If 'confirm' is off you can still activate confirmation for one command only (this is most useful in mappings) with the |:confirm| command. Also see the |confirm()| function and the 'v' flag in 'guioptions'.

Copy the structure of the existing lines indent when autoindenting a new line. Normally the new indent is reconstructed by a series of tabs followed by spaces as required (unless |'expandtab'| is enabled, in which case only spaces are used). Enabling this option makes the new line copy whatever characters were used for indenting on the existing line. 'expandtab' has no effect on these characters, a Tab remains a Tab. If the new indent is greater than on the existing line, the remaining space is filled in the normal manner. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set. Also see 'preserveindent'.

A sequence of single character flags. When a character is present this indicates Vi-compatible behavior. This is used for things where not being Vi-compatible is mostly or sometimes preferred. 'cpoptions' stands for "compatible-options". Commas can be added for readability. To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset. NOTE: This option is set to the POSIX default value at startup when the Vi default value would be used and the $VIM_POSIX environment variable exists |posix|. This means Vim tries to behave like the POSIX specification.

{not available when compiled without the |+cscope| feature} Determines how many components of the path to show in a list of tags. See |cscopepathcomp|. NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+cscope| feature} Specifies the command to execute cscope. See |cscopeprg|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+cscope| or |+quickfix| features} Specifies whether to use quickfix window to show cscope results. See |cscopequickfix|.

{not available when compiled without the |+cscope| feature} In the absence of a prefix (-P) for cscope. setting this option enables to use the basename of cscope.out path as the prefix. See |cscoperelative|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+cscope| feature} Use cscope for tag commands. See |cscope-options|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+cscope| feature} Determines the order in which ":cstag" performs a search. See |cscopetagorder|. NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.

When this option is set, as the cursor in the current window moves other cursorbound windows (windows that also have this option set) move their cursors to the corresponding line and column. This option is useful for viewing the differences between two versions of a file (see 'diff'); in diff mode, inserted and deleted lines (though not characters within a line) are taken into account.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Highlight the screen column of the cursor with CursorColumn |hl-CursorColumn|. Useful to align text. Will make screen redrawing slower. If you only want the highlighting in the current window you can use these autocommands: > au WinLeave * set nocursorline nocursorcolumn au WinEnter * set cursorline cursorcolumn <

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Highlight the text line of the cursor with CursorLine |hl-CursorLine|. Useful to easily spot the cursor. Will make screen redrawing slower. When Visual mode is active the highlighting isn't used to make it easier to see the selected text.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Comma separated list of settings for how 'cursorline' is displayed. Valid values: "line" Highlight the text line of the cursor with CursorLine |hl-CursorLine|. "screenline" Highlight only the screen line of the cursor with CursorLine |hl-CursorLine|. "number" Highlight the line number of the cursor with CursorLineNr |hl-CursorLineNr|.

Pattern to be used to find a macro definition. It is a search pattern, just like for the "/" command. This option is used for the commands like "[i" and "[d" |include-search|. The 'isident' option is used to recognize the defined name after the match: {match with 'define'}{non-ID chars}{defined name}{non-ID char} See |option-backslash| about inserting backslashes to include a space or backslash. The default value is for C programs. For C++ this value would be useful, to include const type declarations: > ^(#\s\s[a-z]) < You can also use "\ze" just before the name and continue the pattern to check what is following. E.g. for Javascript, if a function is defined with "func_name = function(args)": > ^\s=\sfunction( < If the function is defined with "func_name : function() {...": > ^{\s[:]\sfunction\s*( < When using the ":set" command, you need to double the backslashes! To avoid that use :let with a single quote string: > let &l:define = '}\s=\s*function(' <

If editing Unicode and this option is set, backspace and Normal mode "x" delete each combining character on its own. When it is off (the default) the character along with its combining characters are deleted. Note: When 'delcombine' is set "xx" may work differently from "2x"!

List of file names, separated by commas, that are used to lookup words for keyword completion commands |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-K|. Each file should contain a list of words. This can be one word per line, or several words per line, separated by non-keyword characters (white space is preferred). Maximum line length is 510 bytes.

{not available when compiled without the |+diff| feature} Expression which is evaluated to obtain a diff file (either ed-style or unified-style) from two versions of a file. See |diff-diffexpr|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+diff| feature} Option settings for diff mode. It can consist of the following items. All are optional. Items must be separated by a comma.

{not available when compiled without the |+digraphs| feature} Enable the entering of digraphs in Insert mode with {char1} {char2}. See |digraphs|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

List of directory names for the swap file, separated with commas. Recommended value: ".,/vimswap//" - this will put the swap file next to the edited file if possible, and in your personal swap directory otherwise. Make sure "/vimswap//" is only readable for you.

Change the way text is displayed. This is comma separated list of flags: lastline When included, as much as possible of the last line in a window will be displayed. "@@@" is put in the last columns of the last screen line to indicate the rest of the line is not displayed. truncate Like "lastline", but "@@@" is displayed in the first column of the last screen line. Overrules "lastline". uhex Show unprintable characters hexadecimal as instead of using ^C and ~C.

Tells when the 'equalalways' option applies: ver vertically, width of windows is not affected hor horizontally, height of windows is not affected both width and height of windows is affected

When on all Unicode emoji characters are considered to be full width. This excludes "text emoji" characters, which are normally displayed as single width. Unfortunately there is no good specification for this and it has been determined on trial-and-error basis. Use the |setcellwidths()| function to change the behavior.

Sets the character encoding used inside Vim. It applies to text in the buffers, registers, Strings in expressions, text stored in the viminfo file, etc. It sets the kind of characters which Vim can work with. See |encoding-names| for the possible values.

When writing a file and this option is off and the 'binary' option is on, or 'fixeol' option is off, no will be written for the last line in the file. This option is automatically set or reset when starting to edit a new file, depending on whether file has an for the last line in the file. Normally you don't have to set or reset this option. When 'binary' is off and 'fixeol' is on the value is not used when writing the file. When 'binary' is on or 'fixeol' is off it is used to remember the presence of a for the last line in the file, so that when you write the file the situation from the original file can be kept. But you can change it if you want to.

When on, all the windows are automatically made the same size after splitting or closing a window. This also happens the moment the option is switched on. When off, splitting a window will reduce the size of the current window and leave the other windows the same. When closing a window the extra lines are given to the window next to it (depending on 'splitbelow' and 'splitright'). When mixing vertically and horizontally split windows, a minimal size is computed and some windows may be larger if there is room. The 'eadirection' option tells in which direction the size is affected. Changing the height and width of a window can be avoided by setting 'winfixheight' and 'winfixwidth', respectively. If a window size is specified when creating a new window sizes are currently not equalized (it's complicated, but may be implemented in the future).

External program to use for "=" command. When this option is empty the internal formatting functions are used; either 'lisp', 'cindent' or 'indentexpr'. When Vim was compiled without internal formatting, the "indent" program is used. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

Ring the bell (beep or screen flash) for error messages. This only makes a difference for error messages, the bell will be used always for a lot of errors without a message (e.g., hitting in Normal mode). See 'visualbell' on how to make the bell behave like a beep, screen flash or do nothing. See 'belloff' to finetune when to ring the bell.

{not available when compiled without the |+quickfix| feature} Name of the errorfile for the QuickFix mode (see |:cf|). When the "-q" command-line argument is used, 'errorfile' is set to the following argument. See |-q|. NOT used for the ":make" command. See 'makeef' for that. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+quickfix| feature} Scanf-like description of the format for the lines in the error file (see |errorformat|).

A list of autocommand event names, which are to be ignored. When set to "all" or when "all" is one of the items, all autocommand events are ignored, autocommands will not be executed. Otherwise this is a comma separated list of event names. Example: > :set ei=WinEnter,WinLeave <

In Insert mode: Use the appropriate number of spaces to insert a . Spaces are used in indents with the '>' and '<' commands and when 'autoindent' is on. To insert a real tab when 'expandtab' is on, use CTRL-V. See also |:retab| and |ins-expandtab|. This option is reset when the 'paste' option is set and restored when the 'paste' option is reset. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

Sets the character encoding for the file of this buffer.

This is a list of character encodings considered when starting to edit an existing file. When a file is read, Vim tries to use the first mentioned character encoding. If an error is detected, the next one in the list is tried. When an encoding is found that works, 'fileencoding' is set to it. If all fail, 'fileencoding' is set to an empty string, which means the value of 'encoding' is used. WARNING: Conversion can cause loss of information! When 'encoding' is "utf-8" (or one of the other Unicode variants) conversion is most likely done in a way that the reverse conversion results in the same text. When 'encoding' is not "utf-8" some non-ASCII characters may be lost! You can use the |++bad| argument to specify what is done with characters that can't be converted. For an empty file or a file with only ASCII characters most encodings will work and the first entry of 'fileencodings' will be used (except "ucs-bom", which requires the BOM to be present). If you prefer another encoding use an BufReadPost autocommand event to test if your preferred encoding is to be used. Example: > au BufReadPost * if search('\S', 'w') == 0 | \ set fenc=iso-2022-jp | endif < This sets 'fileencoding' to "iso-2022-jp" if the file does not contain non-blank characters. When the |++enc| argument is used then the value of 'fileencodings' is not used. Note that 'fileencodings' is not used for a new file, the global value of 'fileencoding' is used instead. You can set it with: > :setglobal fenc=iso-8859-2 < This means that a non-existing file may get a different encoding than an empty file. The special value "ucs-bom" can be used to check for a Unicode BOM (Byte Order Mark) at the start of the file. It must not be preceded by "utf-8" or another Unicode encoding for this to work properly. An entry for an 8-bit encoding (e.g., "latin1") should be the last, because Vim cannot detect an error, thus the encoding is always accepted. The special value "default" can be used for the encoding from the environment. On MS-Windows this is the system encoding. Otherwise this is the default value for 'encoding'. It is useful when 'encoding' is set to "utf-8" and your environment uses a non-latin1 encoding, such as Russian. When 'encoding' is "utf-8" and a file contains an illegal byte sequence it won't be recognized as UTF-8. You can use the |8g8| command to find the illegal byte sequence. WRONG VALUES: WHAT'S WRONG: latin1,utf-8 "latin1" will always be used utf-8,ucs-bom,latin1 BOM won't be recognized in an utf-8 file cp1250,latin1 "cp1250" will always be used If 'fileencodings' is empty, 'fileencoding' is not modified. See 'fileencoding' for the possible values. Setting this option does not have an effect until the next time a file is read.

This gives the of the current buffer, which is used for reading/writing the buffer from/to a file: dos unix mac When "dos" is used, CTRL-Z at the end of a file is ignored. See |file-formats| and |file-read|. For the character encoding of the file see 'fileencoding'. When 'binary' is set, the value of 'fileformat' is ignored, file I/O works like it was set to "unix". This option is set automatically when starting to edit a file and 'fileformats' is not empty and 'binary' is off. When this option is set, after starting to edit a file, the 'modified' option is set, because the file would be different when written. This option can not be changed when 'modifiable' is off. For backwards compatibility: When this option is set to "dos", 'textmode' is set, otherwise 'textmode' is reset.

This gives the end-of-line () formats that will be tried when starting to edit a new buffer and when reading a file into an existing buffer:

• When empty, the format defined with 'fileformat' will be used always. It is not set automatically.
• When set to one name, that format will be used whenever a new buffer is opened. 'fileformat' is set accordingly for that buffer. The 'fileformats' name will be used when a file is read into an existing buffer, no matter what 'fileformat' for that buffer is set to.
• When more than one name is present, separated by commas, automatic detection will be done when reading a file. When starting to edit a file, a check is done for the :
  1. If all lines end in , and 'fileformats' includes "dos", 'fileformat' is set to "dos".
  2. If a is found and 'fileformats' includes "unix", 'fileformat' is set to "unix". Note that when a is found without a preceding , "unix" is preferred over "dos".
  3. If 'fileformat' has not yet been set, and if a is found, and if 'fileformats' includes "mac", 'fileformat' is set to "mac". This means that "mac" is only chosen when: "unix" is not present or no is found in the file, and "dos" is not present or no is found in the file. Except: if "unix" was chosen, but there is a before the first , and there appear to be more s than s in the first few lines, "mac" is used.
  4. If 'fileformat' is still not set, the first name from 'fileformats' is used. When reading a file into an existing buffer, the same is done, but this happens like 'fileformat' has been set appropriately for that file only, the option is not changed. When 'binary' is set, the value of 'fileformats' is not used.

When set case is ignored when using file names and directories. See 'wildignorecase' for only ignoring case when doing completion.

When this option is set, the FileType autocommand event is triggered. All autocommands that match with the value of this option will be executed. Thus the value of 'filetype' is used in place of the file name. Otherwise this option does not always reflect the current file type. This option is normally set when the file type is detected. To enable this use the ":filetype on" command. |:filetype| Setting this option to a different value is most useful in a modeline, for a file for which the file type is not automatically recognized. Example, for in an IDL file: // ~ |FileType| |filetypes| When a dot appears in the value then this separates two filetype names. Example: // ~ This will use the "c" filetype first, then the "doxygen" filetype. This works both for filetype plugins and for syntax files. More than one dot may appear. This option is not copied to another buffer, independent of the 's' or 'S' flag in 'cpoptions'. Only normal file name characters can be used, "/*?[|<>" are illegal.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Characters to fill the statuslines and vertical separators. It is a comma separated list of items:

When writing a file and this option is on, at the end of file will be restored if missing. Turn this option off if you want to preserve the situation from the original file. When the 'binary' option is set the value of this option doesn't matter. See the 'endofline' option.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} When set to "all", a fold is closed when the cursor isn't in it and its level is higher than 'foldlevel'. Useful if you want folds to automatically close when moving out of them.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} When non-zero, a column with the specified width is shown at the side of the window which indicates open and closed folds. The maximum value is 12. See |folding|.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} When off, all folds are open. This option can be used to quickly switch between showing all text unfolded and viewing the text with folds (including manually opened or closed folds). It can be toggled with the |zi| command. The 'foldcolumn' will remain blank when 'foldenable' is off. This option is set by commands that create a new fold or close a fold. See |folding|.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| or |+eval| features} The expression used for when 'foldmethod' is "expr". It is evaluated for each line to obtain its fold level. See |fold-expr|.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Used only when 'foldmethod' is "indent". Lines starting with characters in 'foldignore' will get their fold level from surrounding lines. White space is skipped before checking for this character. The default "#" works well for C programs. See |fold-indent|.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Sets the fold level: Folds with a higher level will be closed. Setting this option to zero will close all folds. Higher numbers will close fewer folds. This option is set by commands like |zm|, |zM| and |zR|. See |fold-foldlevel|.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Sets 'foldlevel' when starting to edit another buffer in a window. Useful to always start editing with all folds closed (value zero), some folds closed (one) or no folds closed (99). This is done before reading any modeline, thus a setting in a modeline overrules this option. Starting to edit a file for |diff-mode| also ignores this option and closes all folds. It is also done before BufReadPre autocommands, to allow an autocmd to overrule the 'foldlevel' value for specific files. When the value is negative, it is not used.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} The start and end marker used when 'foldmethod' is "marker". There must be one comma, which separates the start and end marker. The marker is a literal string (a regular expression would be too slow). See |fold-marker|.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} The kind of folding used for the current window. Possible values: |fold-manual| manual Folds are created manually. |fold-indent| indent Lines with equal indent form a fold. |fold-expr| expr 'foldexpr' gives the fold level of a line. |fold-marker| marker Markers are used to specify folds. |fold-syntax| syntax Syntax highlighting items specify folds. |fold-diff| diff Fold text that is not changed.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Sets the number of screen lines above which a fold can be displayed closed. Also for manually closed folds. With the default value of one a fold can only be closed if it takes up two or more screen lines. Set to zero to be able to close folds of just one screen line. Note that this only has an effect on what is displayed. After using "zc" to close a fold, which is displayed open because it's smaller than 'foldminlines', a following "zc" may close a containing fold.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Sets the maximum nesting of folds for the "indent" and "syntax" methods. This avoids that too many folds will be created. Using more than 20 doesn't work, because the internal limit is 20.

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} Specifies for which type of commands folds will be opened, if the command moves the cursor into a closed fold. It is a comma separated list of items. NOTE: When the command is part of a mapping this option is not used. Add the |zv| command to the mapping to get the same effect. (rationale: the mapping may want to control opening folds itself)

{not available when compiled without the |+folding| feature} An expression which is used to specify the text displayed for a closed fold. See |fold-foldtext|.

{not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} Expression which is evaluated to format a range of lines for the |gq| operator or automatic formatting (see 'formatoptions'). When this option is empty 'formatprg' is used.

A pattern that is used to recognize a list header. This is used for the "n" flag in 'formatoptions'. The pattern must match exactly the text that will be the indent for the line below it. You can use |/\ze| to mark the end of the match while still checking more characters. There must be a character following the pattern, when it matches the whole line it is handled like there is no match. The default recognizes a number, followed by an optional punctuation character and white space.

This is a sequence of letters which describes how automatic formatting is to be done. See |fo-table|. When the 'paste' option is on, no formatting is done (like 'formatoptions' is empty). Commas can be inserted for readability. To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

The name of an external program that will be used to format the lines selected with the |gq| operator. The program must take the input on stdin and produce the output on stdout. The Unix program "fmt" is such a program. If the 'formatexpr' option is not empty it will be used instead. Otherwise, if 'formatprg' option is an empty string, the internal format function will be used |C-indenting|. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

When on, the library function fsync() will be called after writing a file. This will flush a file to disk, ensuring that it is safely written even on filesystems which do metadata-only journaling. This will force the harddrive to spin up on Linux systems running in laptop mode, so it may be undesirable in some situations. Be warned that turning this off increases the chances of data loss after a crash. On systems without an fsync() implementation, this variable is always off. Also see 'swapsync' for controlling fsync() on swap files. 'fsync' also applies to |writefile()|, unless a flag is used to overrule it. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

When on, the ":substitute" flag 'g' is default on. This means that all matches in a line are substituted instead of one. When a 'g' flag is given to a ":substitute" command, this will toggle the substitution of all or one match. See |complex-change|.

Format to recognize for the ":grep" command output. This is a scanf-like string that uses the same format as the 'errorformat' option: see |errorformat|.

Program to use for the |:grep| command. This option may contain '%' and '#' characters, which are expanded like when used in a command- line. The placeholder "$*" is allowed to specify where the arguments will be included. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. When your "grep" accepts the "-H" argument, use this to make ":grep" also work well with a single file: > :set grepprg=grep\ -nH < Special value: When 'grepprg' is set to "internal" the |:grep| command works like |:vimgrep|, |:lgrep| like |:lvimgrep|, |:grepadd| like |:vimgrepadd| and |:lgrepadd| like |:lvimgrepadd|. See also the section |:make_makeprg|, since most of the comments there apply equally to 'grepprg'. For Win32, the default is "findstr /n" if "findstr.exe" can be found, otherwise it's "grep -n". This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only available when compiled with GUI enabled, and for Win32 console} This option tells Vim what the cursor should look like in different modes. It fully works in the GUI. In a Win32 console, only the height of the cursor can be changed. This can be done by specifying a block cursor, or a percentage for a vertical or horizontal cursor. For a console the 't_SI', 't_SR', and 't_EI' escape sequences are used.

{only available when compiled with GUI enabled} This is a list of fonts which will be used for the GUI version of Vim. In its simplest form the value is just one font name. See |gui-font| for the details.

{only available when compiled with GUI enabled} When not empty, specifies a comma-separated list of fonts to be used for double-width characters. The first font that can be loaded is used. See |gui-fontwide|.

{only available when compiled with GUI enabled} This option only has an effect in the GUI version of Vim. It is a sequence of letters which describes what components and options of the GUI should be used. To avoid problems with flags that are added in the future, use the "+=" and "-=" feature of ":set" |add-option-flags|.

{only available when compiled with GUI enabled} When nonempty describes the text to use in a label of the GUI tab pages line. When empty and when the result is empty Vim will use a default label. See |setting-guitablabel| for more info.

{only available when compiled with GUI enabled} When nonempty describes the text to use in a tooltip for the GUI tab pages line. When empty Vim will use a default tooltip. This option is otherwise just like 'guitablabel' above. You can include a line break. Simplest method is to use |:let|: > :let &guitabtooltip = "line one\nline two" <

Name of the main help file. All distributed help files should be placed together in one directory. Additionally, all "doc" directories in 'runtimepath' will be used. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. For example: "$VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt". If $VIMRUNTIME is not set, $VIM is also tried. Also see |$VIMRUNTIME| and |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

Minimal initial height of the help window when it is opened with the ":help" command. The initial height of the help window is half of the current window, or (when the 'ea' option is on) the same as other windows. When the height is less than 'helpheight', the height is set to 'helpheight'. Set to zero to disable.

{only available when compiled with the |+multi_lang| feature} Comma separated list of languages. Vim will use the first language for which the desired help can be found. The English help will always be used as a last resort. You can add "en" to prefer English over another language, but that will only find tags that exist in that language and not in the English help. Example: > :set helplang=de,it < This will first search German, then Italian and finally English help files. When using |CTRL-]| and ":help!" in a non-English help file Vim will try to find the tag in the current language before using this option. See |help-translated|.

When off a buffer is unloaded when it is |abandon|ed. When on a buffer becomes hidden when it is |abandon|ed. If the buffer is still displayed in another window, it does not become hidden, of course. The commands that move through the buffer list sometimes make a buffer hidden although the 'hidden' option is off: When the buffer is modified, 'autowrite' is off or writing is not possible, and the '!' flag was used. See also |windows.txt|. To only make one buffer hidden use the 'bufhidden' option. This option is set for one command with ":hide {command}" |:hide|. WARNING: It's easy to forget that you have changes in hidden buffers. Think twice when using ":q!" or ":qa!".

A history of ":" commands, and a history of previous search patterns is remembered. This option decides how many entries may be stored in each of these histories (see |cmdline-editing|). The maximum value is 10000. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} When on, the keyboard is mapped for the Hebrew character set. Normally you would set 'allowrevins' and use CTRL-_ in insert mode to toggle this option. See |rileft.txt|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} When on, phonetic keyboard mapping is used. 'hkmap' must also be on. This is useful if you have a non-Hebrew keyboard. See |rileft.txt|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+extra_search| feature} When there is a previous search pattern, highlight all its matches. The type of highlighting used can be set with the 'l' occasion in the 'highlight' option. This uses the "Search" highlight group by default. Note that only the matching text is highlighted, any offsets are not applied. See also: 'incsearch' and |:match|. When you get bored looking at the highlighted matches, you can turn it off with |:nohlsearch|. This does not change the option value, as soon as you use a search command, the highlighting comes back. 'redrawtime' specifies the maximum time spent on finding matches. When the search pattern can match an end-of-line, Vim will try to highlight all of the matched text. However, this depends on where the search starts. This will be the first line in the window or the first line below a closed fold. A match in a previous line which is not drawn may not continue in a newly drawn line. You can specify whether the highlight status is restored on startup with the 'h' flag in 'viminfo' |viminfo-h|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

Ignore case in search patterns. Also used when searching in the tags file. Also see 'smartcase' and 'tagcase'. Can be overruled by using "\c" or "\C" in the pattern, see |/ignorecase|.

When set the Input Method is always on when starting to edit a command line, unless entering a search pattern (see 'imsearch' for that). Setting this option is useful when your input method allows entering English characters directly, e.g., when it's used to type accented characters with dead keys.

When set the Input Method is never used. This is useful to disable the IM when it doesn't work properly. Currently this option is on by default for SGI/IRIX machines. This may change in later releases.

Specifies whether :lmap or an Input Method (IM) is to be used in Insert mode. Valid values: 0 :lmap is off and IM is off 1 :lmap is ON and IM is off 2 :lmap is off and IM is ON To always reset the option to zero when leaving Insert mode with this can be used: > :inoremap :set iminsert=0 < This makes :lmap and IM turn off automatically when leaving Insert mode. Note that this option changes when using CTRL-^ in Insert mode |i_CTRL-^|. The value is set to 1 when setting 'keymap' to a valid keymap name. It is also used for the argument of commands like "r" and "f". The value 0 may not work correctly with Athena and Motif with some XIM methods. Use 'imdisable' to disable XIM then.

Specifies whether :lmap or an Input Method (IM) is to be used when entering a search pattern. Valid values: -1 the value of 'iminsert' is used, makes it look like 'iminsert' is also used when typing a search pattern 0 :lmap is off and IM is off 1 :lmap is ON and IM is off 2 :lmap is off and IM is ON Note that this option changes when using CTRL-^ in Command-line mode |c_CTRL-^|. The value is set to 1 when it is not -1 and setting the 'keymap' option to a valid keymap name. The value 0 may not work correctly with Athena and Motif with some XIM methods. Use 'imdisable' to disable XIM then.

{not available when compiled without the |+find_in_path| feature} Pattern to be used to find an include command. It is a search pattern, just like for the "/" command (See |pattern|). The default value is for C programs. This option is used for the commands "[i", "]I", "[d", etc. Normally the 'isfname' option is used to recognize the file name that comes after the matched pattern. But if "\zs" appears in the pattern then the text matched from "\zs" to the end, or until "\ze" if it appears, is used as the file name. Use this to include characters that are not in 'isfname', such as a space. You can then use 'includeexpr' to process the matched text. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes.

{not available when compiled without the |+find_in_path| or |+eval| features} Expression to be used to transform the string found with the 'include' option to a file name. Mostly useful to change "." to "/" for Java: > :set includeexpr=substitute(v:fname,'\.','/','g') < The "v:fname" variable will be set to the file name that was detected.

{not available when compiled without the |+extra_search| features} While typing a search command, show where the pattern, as it was typed so far, matches. The matched string is highlighted. If the pattern is invalid or not found, nothing is shown. The screen will be updated often, this is only useful on fast terminals. Also applies to the pattern in commands: > :global :lvimgrep :lvimgrepadd :smagic :snomagic :sort :substitute :vglobal :vimgrep :vimgrepadd < Note that the match will be shown, but the cursor will return to its original position when no match is found and when pressing . You still need to finish the search command with to move the cursor to the match. You can use the CTRL-G and CTRL-T keys to move to the next and previous match. |c_CTRL-G| |c_CTRL-T| When compiled with the |+reltime| feature Vim only searches for about half a second. With a complicated pattern and/or a lot of text the match may not be found. This is to avoid that Vim hangs while you are typing the pattern. The highlighting can be set with the 'i' flag in 'highlight'. When 'hlsearch' is on, all matched strings are highlighted too while typing a search command. See also: 'hlsearch'. If you don't want to turn 'hlsearch' on, but want to highlight all matches while searching, you can turn on and off 'hlsearch' with autocmd. Example: > augroup vimrc-incsearch-highlight autocmd! autocmd CmdlineEnter /,? :set hlsearch autocmd CmdlineLeave /,? :set nohlsearch augroup END < CTRL-L can be used to add one character from after the current match to the command line. If 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' are set and the command line has no uppercase characters, the added character is converted to lowercase. CTRL-R CTRL-W can be used to add the word at the end of the current match, excluding the characters that were already typed. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+cindent| or |+eval| features} Expression which is evaluated to obtain the proper indent for a line. It is used when a new line is created, for the |=| operator and in Insert mode as specified with the 'indentkeys' option. When this option is not empty, it overrules the 'cindent' and 'smartindent' indenting. When 'lisp' is set, this option is overridden by the Lisp indentation algorithm. When 'paste' is set this option is not used for indenting. The expression is evaluated with |v:lnum| set to the line number for which the indent is to be computed. The cursor is also in this line when the expression is evaluated (but it may be moved around). The expression must return the number of spaces worth of indent. It can return "-1" to keep the current indent (this means 'autoindent' is used for the indent). Functions useful for computing the indent are |indent()|, |cindent()| and |lispindent()|. The evaluation of the expression must not have side effects! It must not change the text, jump to another window, etc. Afterwards the cursor position is always restored, thus the cursor may be moved. Normally this option would be set to call a function: > :set indentexpr=GetMyIndent() < Error messages will be suppressed, unless the 'debug' option contains "msg". See |indent-expression|. NOTE: This option is set to "" when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+cindent| feature} A list of keys that, when typed in Insert mode, cause reindenting of the current line. Only happens if 'indentexpr' isn't empty. The format is identical to 'cinkeys', see |indentkeys-format|. See |C-indenting| and |indent-expression|.

When doing keyword completion in insert mode |ins-completion|, and 'ignorecase' is also on, the case of the match is adjusted depending on the typed text. If the typed text contains a lowercase letter where the match has an upper case letter, the completed part is made lowercase. If the typed text has no lowercase letters and the match has a lowercase letter where the typed text has an uppercase letter, and there is a letter before it, the completed part is made uppercase. With 'noinfercase' the match is used as-is.

Makes Vim work in a way that Insert mode is the default mode. Useful if you want to use Vim as a modeless editor. Used for |evim|. These Insert mode commands will be useful:

• Use the cursor keys to move around.
• Use CTRL-O to execute one Normal mode command |i_CTRL-O|. When this is a mapping, it is executed as if 'insertmode' was off. Normal mode remains active until the mapping is finished.
• Use CTRL-L to execute a number of Normal mode commands, then use to get back to Insert mode. Note that CTRL-L moves the cursor left, like does when 'insertmode' isn't set. |i_CTRL-L|

The characters specified by this option are included in file names and path names. Filenames are used for commands like "gf", "[i" and in the tags file. It is also used for "\f" in a |pattern|. Multi-byte characters 256 and above are always included, only the characters up to 255 are specified with this option. For UTF-8 the characters 0xa0 to 0xff are included as well. Think twice before adding white space to this option. Although a space may appear inside a file name, the effect will be that Vim doesn't know where a file name starts or ends when doing completion. It most likely works better without a space in 'isfname'.

The characters given by this option are included in identifiers. Identifiers are used in recognizing environment variables and after a match of the 'define' option. It is also used for "\i" in a |pattern|. See 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option. For '@' only characters up to 255 are used. Careful: If you change this option, it might break expanding environment variables. E.g., when '/' is included and Vim tries to expand "$HOME/.viminfo". Maybe you should change 'iskeyword' instead.

Keywords are used in searching and recognizing with many commands: "w", "", "[i", etc. It is also used for "\k" in a |pattern|. See 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option. For '@' characters above 255 check the "word" character class (any character that is not white space or punctuation). For C programs you could use "a-z,A-Z,48-57,_,.,-,>". For a help file it is set to all non-blank printable characters except '', '"' and '|' (so that CTRL-] on a command finds the help for that command). When the 'lisp' option is on the '-' character is always included. This option also influences syntax highlighting, unless the syntax uses |:syn-iskeyword|. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

The characters given by this option are displayed directly on the screen. It is also used for "\p" in a |pattern|. The characters from space (ASCII 32) to '~' (ASCII 126) are always displayed directly, even when they are not included in 'isprint' or excluded. See 'isfname' for a description of the format of this option.

Insert two spaces after a '.', '?' and '!' with a join command. When 'cpoptions' includes the 'j' flag, only do this after a '.'. Otherwise only one space is inserted. NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.

{only available when compiled with the |+keymap| feature} Name of a keyboard mapping. See |mbyte-keymap|. Setting this option to a valid keymap name has the side effect of setting 'iminsert' to one, so that the keymap becomes effective. 'imsearch' is also set to one, unless it was -1 Only normal file name characters can be used, "/*?[|<>" are illegal.

List of comma separated words, which enable special things that keys can do. These values can be used: startsel Using a shifted special key starts selection (either Select mode or Visual mode, depending on "key" being present in 'selectmode'). stopsel Using a not-shifted special key stops selection. Special keys in this context are the cursor keys, , , and . The 'keymodel' option is set by the |:behave| command.

Program to use for the |K| command. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. ":help" may be used to access the Vim internal help. (Note that previously setting the global option to the empty value did this, which is now deprecated.) When the first character is ":", the command is invoked as a Vim Ex command prefixed with [count]. When "man", "man -s" or an Ex command is used, Vim will automatically translate a count for the "K" command and pass it as the first argument. For "man -s" the "-s" is removed when there is no count. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. Example: > :set keywordprg=man\ -s < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only available when compiled with the |+langmap| feature} This option allows switching your keyboard into a special language mode. When you are typing text in Insert mode the characters are inserted directly. When in Normal mode the 'langmap' option takes care of translating these special characters to the original meaning of the key. This means you don't have to change the keyboard mode to be able to execute Normal mode commands. This is the opposite of the 'keymap' option, where characters are mapped in Insert mode. Also consider setting 'langremap' to off, to prevent 'langmap' from applying to characters resulting from a mapping. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only available when compiled with the |+menu| and |+multi_lang| features} Language to use for menu translation. Tells which file is loaded from the "lang" directory in 'runtimepath': > "lang/menu_" . &langmenu . ".vim" < (without the spaces). For example, to always use the Dutch menus, no matter what $LANG is set to: > :set langmenu=nl_NL.ISO_8859-1 < When 'langmenu' is empty, |v:lang| is used. Only normal file name characters can be used, "/*?[|<>" are illegal. If your $LANG is set to a non-English language but you do want to use the English menus: > :set langmenu=none < This option must be set before loading menus, switching on filetype detection or syntax highlighting. Once the menus are defined setting this option has no effect. But you could do this: > :source $VIMRUNTIME/delmenu.vim :set langmenu=de_DE.ISO_8859-1 :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim < Warning: This deletes all menus that you defined yourself!

{only available when compiled with the |+langmap| feature} When off, setting 'langmap' does not apply to characters resulting from a mapping. This basically means, if you noticed that setting 'langmap' disables some of your mappings, try resetting this option. This option defaults to on for backwards compatibility. Set it off if that works for you to avoid mappings to break.

The value of this option influences when the last window will have a status line: 0: never 1: only if there are at least two windows 2: always The screen looks nicer with a status line if you have several windows, but it takes another screen line. |status-line|

When this option is set, the screen will not be redrawn while executing macros, registers and other commands that have not been typed. Also, updating the window title is postponed. To force an update use |:redraw|.

{not available when compiled without the |+linebreak| feature} If on, Vim will wrap long lines at a character in 'breakat' rather than at the last character that fits on the screen. Unlike 'wrapmargin' and 'textwidth', this does not insert s in the file, it only affects the way the file is displayed, not its contents. If 'breakindent' is set, line is visually indented. Then, the value of 'showbreak' is used to put in front of wrapped lines. This option is not used when the 'wrap' option is off. Note that characters after an are mostly not displayed with the right amount of white space.

{only in the GUI} Number of pixel lines inserted between characters. Useful if the font uses the full character cell height, making lines touch each other. When non-zero there is room for underlining. With some fonts there can be too much room between lines (to have space for ascents and descents). Then it makes sense to set 'linespace' to a negative value. This may cause display problems though!

{not available when compiled without the |+lispindent| feature} Comma separated list of words that influence the Lisp indenting. |'lisp'|

Strings to use in 'list' mode and for the |:list| command. It is a comma separated list of string settings. eol:c Character to show at the end of each line. When omitted, there is no extra character at the end of the line. tab:xy[z] Two or three characters to be used to show a tab. The third character is optional.

When on the plugin scripts are loaded when starting up |load-plugins|. This option can be reset in your |vimrc| file to disable the loading of plugins. Note that using the "-u NONE", "-u DEFAULTS" and "--noplugin" command line arguments reset this option. See |-u| and |--noplugin|.

{not available when compiled without the |+quickfix| feature} Name of the errorfile for the |:make| command (see |:make_makeprg|) and the |:grep| command. When it is empty, an internally generated temp file will be used. When "##" is included, it is replaced by a number to make the name unique. This makes sure that the ":make" command doesn't overwrite an existing file. NOT used for the ":cf" command. See 'errorfile' for that. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

Encoding used for reading the output of external commands. When empty, encoding is not converted. This is used for :make, :lmake, :grep, :lgrep, :grepadd, :lgrepadd, :cfile, :cgetfile, :caddfile, :lfile, :lgetfile, and :laddfile.

Program to use for the ":make" command. See |:make_makeprg|. This option may contain '%' and '#' characters (see |:%| and |:#|), which are expanded to the current and alternate file name. Use |::S| to escape file names in case they contain special characters. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. Note that a '|' must be escaped twice: once for ":set" and once for the interpretation of a command. When you use a filter called "myfilter" do it like this: > :set makeprg=gmake\ \|\ myfilter < The placeholder "$*" can be given (even multiple times) to specify where the arguments will be included, for example: > :set makeprg=latex\ \\nonstopmode\ \\input\{$*} < This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

Characters that form pairs. The |%| command jumps from one to the other. Only character pairs are allowed that are different, thus you cannot jump between two double quotes. The characters must be separated by a colon. The pairs must be separated by a comma. Example for including '<' and '>' (for HTML): > :set mps+=<:>

Tenths of a second to show the matching paren, when 'showmatch' is set. Note that this is not in milliseconds, like other options that set a time. This is to be compatible with Nvi.

The maximum number of combining characters supported for displaying. Only used when 'encoding' is "utf-8". The default is OK for most languages. Hebrew may require 4. Maximum value is 6. Even when this option is set to 2 you can still edit text with more combining characters, you just can't see them. Use |g8| or |ga|. See |mbyte-combining|.

{not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} Maximum depth of function calls for user functions. This normally catches endless recursion. When using a recursive function with more depth, set 'maxfuncdepth' to a bigger number. But this will use more memory, there is the danger of failing when memory is exhausted. Increasing this limit above 200 also changes the maximum for Ex command recursion, see |E169|. See also |:function|.

Maximum number of times a mapping is done without resulting in a character to be used. This normally catches endless mappings, like ":map x y" with ":map y x". It still does not catch ":map g wg", because the 'w' is used before the next mapping is done. See also |key-mapping|.

Maximum amount of memory (in Kbyte) to use for pattern matching. The maximum value is about 2000000. Use this to work without a limit. When Vim runs into the limit it gives an error message and mostly behaves like CTRL-C was typed. Running into the limit often means that the pattern is very inefficient or too complex. This may already happen with the pattern "(.)" works much better. Might also happen on redraw, when syntax rules try to match a complex text structure. Vim may run out of memory before hitting the 'maxmempattern' limit, in which case you get an "Out of memory" error instead.

{not available when compiled without the |+menu| feature} Maximum number of items to use in a menu. Used for menus that are generated from a list of items, e.g., the Buffers menu. Changing this option has no direct effect, the menu must be refreshed first.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Parameters for |:mkspell|. This tunes when to start compressing the word tree. Compression can be slow when there are many words, but it's needed to avoid running out of memory. The amount of memory used per word depends very much on how similar the words are, that's why this tuning is complicated.

If 'modeline' is on 'modelines' gives the number of lines that is checked for set commands. If 'modeline' is off or 'modelines' is zero no lines are checked. See |modeline|.

When on allow some options that are an expression to be set in the modeline. Check the option for whether it is affected by 'modelineexpr'. Also see |modeline|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

If 'modeline' is on 'modelines' gives the number of lines that is checked for set commands. If 'modeline' is off or 'modelines' is zero no lines are checked. See |modeline|. NOTE: 'modeline' is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

When off the buffer contents cannot be changed. The 'fileformat' and 'fileencoding' options also can't be changed. Can be reset on startup with the |-M| command line argument.

When on, the buffer is considered to be modified. This option is set when:

1. A change was made to the text since it was last written. Using the |undo| command to go back to the original text will reset the option. But undoing changes that were made before writing the buffer will set the option again, since the text is different from when it was written.
2. 'fileformat' or 'fileencoding' is different from its original value. The original value is set when the buffer is read or written. A ":set nomodified" command also resets the original values to the current values and the 'modified' option will be reset. Similarly for 'eol' and 'bomb'. This option is not set when a change is made to the buffer as the result of a BufNewFile, BufRead/BufReadPost, BufWritePost, FileAppendPost or VimLeave autocommand event. See |gzip-example| for an explanation. When 'buftype' is "nowrite" or "nofile" this option may be set, but will be ignored. Note that the text may actually be the same, e.g. 'modified' is set when using "rA" on an "A".

{only works in the GUI} The window that the mouse pointer is on is automatically activated. When changing the window layout or window focus in another way, the mouse pointer is moved to the window with keyboard focus. Off is the default because it makes using the pull down menus a little goofy, as a pointer transit may activate a window unintentionally. MS-Windows: Also see 'scrollfocus' for what window is scrolled when using the mouse scroll wheel.

{only works in the GUI} When on, the mouse pointer is hidden when characters are typed. The mouse pointer is restored when the mouse is moved.

Sets the model to use for the mouse. The name mostly specifies what the right mouse button is used for: extend Right mouse button extends a selection. This works like in an xterm. popup Right mouse button pops up a menu. The shifted left mouse button extends a selection. This works like with Microsoft Windows. popup_setpos Like "popup", but the cursor will be moved to the position where the mouse was clicked, and thus the selected operation will act upon the clicked object. If clicking inside a selection, that selection will be acted upon, i.e. no cursor move. This implies of course, that right clicking outside a selection will end Visual mode. Overview of what button does what for each model: mouse extend popup(_setpos) ~ left click place cursor place cursor left drag start selection start selection shift-left search word extend selection right click extend selection popup menu (place cursor) right drag extend selection - middle click paste paste

{only available when compiled with the |+mouseshape| feature} This option tells Vim what the mouse pointer should look like in different modes. The option is a comma separated list of parts, much like used for 'guicursor'. Each part consist of a mode/location-list and an argument-list: mode-list:shape,mode-list:shape,.. The mode-list is a dash separated list of these modes/locations: In a normal window: ~ n Normal mode v Visual mode ve Visual mode with 'selection' "exclusive" (same as 'v', if not specified) o Operator-pending mode i Insert mode r Replace mode

Only for GUI, Win32 and Unix with xterm. Defines the maximum time in msec between two mouse clicks for the second click to be recognized as a multi click.

This defines what bases Vim will consider for numbers when using the CTRL-A and CTRL-X commands for adding to and subtracting from a number respectively; see |CTRL-A| for more info on these commands. alpha If included, single alphabetical characters will be incremented or decremented. This is useful for a list with a letter index a), b), etc. octal If included, numbers that start with a zero will be considered to be octal. Example: Using CTRL-A on "007" results in "010". hex If included, numbers starting with "0x" or "0X" will be considered to be hexadecimal. Example: Using CTRL-X on "0x100" results in "0x0ff". bin If included, numbers starting with "0b" or "0B" will be considered to be binary. Example: Using CTRL-X on "0b1000" subtracts one, resulting in "0b0111". unsigned If included, numbers are recognized as unsigned. Thus a leading dash or negative sign won't be considered as part of the number. Examples: Using CTRL-X on "2020" in "9-2020" results in "9-2019" (without "unsigned" it would become "9-2021"). Using CTRL-A on "2020" in "9-2020" results in "9-2021" (without "unsigned" it would become "9-2019"). Using CTRL-X on "0" or CTRL-A on "18446744073709551615" (2^64 - 1) has no effect, overflow is prevented. Numbers which simply begin with a digit in the range 1-9 are always considered decimal. This also happens for numbers that are not recognized as octal or hex.

Print the line number in front of each line. When the 'n' option is excluded from 'cpoptions' a wrapped line will not use the column of line numbers (this is the default when 'compatible' isn't set). The 'numberwidth' option can be used to set the room used for the line number. When a long, wrapped line doesn't start with the first character, '-' characters are put before the number. See |hl-LineNr| and |hl-CursorLineNr| for the highlighting used for the number. The 'relativenumber' option changes the displayed number to be relative to the cursor. Together with 'number' there are these four combinations (cursor in line 3):

{only available when compiled with the |+linebreak| feature} Minimal number of columns to use for the line number. Only relevant when the 'number' or 'relativenumber' option is set or printing lines with a line number. Since one space is always between the number and the text, there is one less character for the number itself. The value is the minimum width. A bigger width is used when needed to fit the highest line number in the buffer respectively the number of rows in the window, depending on whether 'number' or 'relativenumber' is set. Thus with the Vim default of 4 there is room for a line number up to 999. When the buffer has 1000 lines five columns will be used. The minimum value is 1, the maximum value is 20. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

{not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} This option specifies a function to be used for Insert mode omni completion with CTRL-X CTRL-O. |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-O| See |complete-functions| for an explanation of how the function is invoked and what it should return. This option is usually set by a filetype plugin: |:filetype-plugin-on| This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only for MS-Windows} Enable reading and writing from devices. This may get Vim stuck on a device that can be opened but doesn't actually do the I/O. Therefore it is off by default. Note that on MS-Windows editing "aux.h", "lpt1.txt" and the like also result in editing a device.

This option specifies a function to be called by the |g@| operator. See |:map-operator| for more info and an example.

Directories used to find packages. See |packages|.

Specifies the nroff macros that separate paragraphs. These are pairs of two letters (see |object-motions|).

When non-empty, specifies the key sequence that toggles the 'paste' option. This is like specifying a mapping: > :map {keys} :set invpaste < Where {keys} is the value of 'pastetoggle'. The difference is that it will work even when 'paste' is set. 'pastetoggle' works in Insert mode and Normal mode, but not in Command-line mode. Mappings are checked first, thus overrule 'pastetoggle'. However, when 'paste' is on mappings are ignored in Insert mode, thus you can do this: > :map :set paste :map :set nopaste :imap :set paste :imap :set pastetoggle= < This will make start paste mode and stop paste mode. Note that typing in paste mode inserts "", since in paste mode everything is inserted literally, except the 'pastetoggle' key sequence. When the value has several bytes 'ttimeoutlen' applies.

{not available when compiled without the |+diff| feature} Expression which is evaluated to apply a patch to a file and generate the resulting new version of the file. See |diff-patchexpr|.

When non-empty the oldest version of a file is kept. This can be used to keep the original version of a file if you are changing files in a source distribution. Only the first time that a file is written a copy of the original file will be kept. The name of the copy is the name of the original file with the string in the 'patchmode' option appended. This option should start with a dot. Use a string like ".orig" or ".org". 'backupdir' must not be empty for this to work (Detail: The backup file is renamed to the patchmode file after the new file has been successfully written, that's why it must be possible to write a backup file). If there was no file to be backed up, an empty file is created. When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a patchmode file is not made. Using 'patchmode' for compressed files appends the extension at the end (e.g., "file.gz.orig"), thus the resulting name isn't always recognized as a compressed file. Only normal file name characters can be used, "/*?[|<>" are illegal.

This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the |gf|, [f, ]f, ^Wf, |:find|, |:sfind|, |:tabfind| and other commands, provided that the file being searched for has a relative path (not starting with "/", "./" or "../"). The directories in the 'path' option may be relative or absolute.

• Use commas to separate directory names: > :set path=.,/usr/local/include,/usr/include < - Spaces can also be used to separate directory names (for backwards compatibility with version 3.0). To have a space in a directory name, precede it with an extra backslash, and escape the space: > :set path=.,/dir/with\\ space < - To include a comma in a directory name precede it with an extra backslash: > :set path=.,/dir/with\,comma < - To search relative to the directory of the current file, use: > :set path=. < - To search in the current directory use an empty string between two commas: > :set path=,, < - A directory name may end in a ':' or '/'.
• Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.
• When using |netrw.vim| URLs can be used. For example, adding "http://www.vim.org" will make ":find index.html" work.
• Search upwards and downwards in a directory tree using "*" and ";". See |file-searching| for info and syntax. {not available when compiled without the |+path_extra| feature}
• Careful with '' characters, type two to get one in the option: > :set path=.,c:\include < Or just use '/' instead: > :set path=.,c:/include < Don't forget "." or files won't even be found in the same directory as the file! The maximum length is limited. How much depends on the system, mostly it is something like 256 or 1024 characters. You can check if all the include files are found, using the value of 'path', see |:checkpath|. The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing directories from the list. This avoids problems when a future version uses another default. To remove the current directory use: > :set path-= < To add the current directory use: > :set path+= < To use an environment variable, you probably need to replace the separator. Here is an example to append $INCL, in which directory names are separated with a semi-colon: > :let &path = &path . "," . substitute($INCL, ';', ',', 'g') < Replace the ';' with a ':' or whatever separator is used. Note that this doesn't work when $INCL contains a comma or white space.

When changing the indent of the current line, preserve as much of the indent structure as possible. Normally the indent is replaced by a series of tabs followed by spaces as required (unless |'expandtab'| is enabled, in which case only spaces are used). Enabling this option means the indent will preserve as many existing characters as possible for indenting, and only add additional tabs or spaces as required. 'expandtab' does not apply to the preserved white space, a Tab remains a Tab. NOTE: When using ">>" multiple times the resulting indent is a mix of tabs and spaces. You might not like this. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set. Also see 'copyindent'. Use |:retab| to clean up white space.

{not available when compiled without the |+quickfix| feature} Default height for a preview window. Used for |:ptag| and associated commands. Used for |CTRL-W_}| when no count is given. Not used when 'previewpopup' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+quickfix| feature} Identifies the preview window. Only one window can have this option set. It's normally not set directly, but by using one of the commands |:ptag|, |:pedit|, etc.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| feature} The name of the printer to be used for |:hardcopy|. See |pdev-option|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| and |+postscript| features} Sets the character encoding used when printing. See |penc-option|.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| and |+postscript| features} Expression used to print the PostScript produced with |:hardcopy|. See |pexpr-option|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| feature} The name of the font that will be used for |:hardcopy|. See |pfn-option|.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| feature} The format of the header produced in |:hardcopy| output. See |pheader-option|.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| and |+postscript| features} The CJK character set to be used for CJK output from |:hardcopy|. See |pmbcs-option|.

{only available when compiled with the |+printer| and |+postscript| features} List of font names to be used for CJK output from |:hardcopy|. See |pmbfn-option|.

{only available when compiled with |+printer| feature} List of items that control the format of the output of |:hardcopy|. See |popt-option|.

Determines the maximum number of items to show in the popup menu for Insert mode completion. When zero as much space as available is used. |ins-completion-menu|.

Determines the minimum width to use for the popup menu for Insert mode completion. |ins-completion-menu|.

{only available when compiled with the |+python| or the |+python3| feature} Specifies the python version used for pyx* functions and commands |python_x|. The default value is as follows:

{only available when compiled with the |+quickfix| feature} This option specifies a function to be used to get the text to display in the quickfix and location list windows. This can be used to customize the information displayed in the quickfix or location window for each entry in the corresponding quickfix or location list. See |quickfix-window-function| for an explanation of how to write the function and an example. The value can be the name of a function or a lambda.

The characters that are used to escape quotes in a string. Used for objects like a', a" and a` |a'|. When one of the characters in this option is found inside a string, the following character will be skipped. The default value makes the text "foo"bar\" considered to be one string.

If on, writes fail unless you use a '!'. Protects you from accidentally overwriting a file. Default on when Vim is started in read-only mode ("vim -R") or when the executable is called "view". When using ":w!" the 'readonly' option is reset for the current buffer, unless the 'Z' flag is in 'cpoptions'. When using the ":view" command the 'readonly' option is set for the newly edited buffer. See 'modifiable' for disallowing changes to the buffer.

{only available when compiled with the |+reltime| feature} The time in milliseconds for redrawing the display. This applies to searching for patterns for 'hlsearch', |:match| highlighting and syntax highlighting. When redrawing takes more than this many milliseconds no further matches will be highlighted. For syntax highlighting the time applies per window. When over the limit syntax highlighting is disabled until |CTRL-L| is used. This is used to avoid that Vim hangs when using a very complicated pattern.

This selects the default regexp engine. |two-engines| The possible values are: 0 automatic selection 1 old engine 2 NFA engine Note that when using the NFA engine and the pattern contains something that is not supported the pattern will not match. This is only useful for debugging the regexp engine. Using automatic selection enables Vim to switch the engine, if the default engine becomes too costly. E.g., when the NFA engine uses too many states. This should prevent Vim from hanging on a combination of a complex pattern with long text.

Show the line number relative to the line with the cursor in front of each line. Relative line numbers help you use the |count| you can precede some vertical motion commands (e.g. j k + -) with, without having to calculate it yourself. Especially useful in combination with other commands (e.g. y d c < > gq gw =). When the 'n' option is excluded from 'cpoptions' a wrapped line will not use the column of line numbers (this is the default when 'compatible' isn't set). The 'numberwidth' option can be used to set the room used for the line number. When a long, wrapped line doesn't start with the first character, '-' characters are put before the number. See |hl-LineNr| and |hl-CursorLineNr| for the highlighting used for the number.

{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} Inserting characters in Insert mode will work backwards. See "typing backwards" |ins-reverse|. This option can be toggled with the CTRL-_ command in Insert mode, when 'allowrevins' is set. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set. This option is reset when 'paste' is set and restored when 'paste' is reset.

{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} When on, display orientation becomes right-to-left, i.e., characters that are stored in the file appear from the right to the left. Using this option, it is possible to edit files for languages that are written from the right to the left such as Hebrew and Arabic. This option is per window, so it is possible to edit mixed files simultaneously, or to view the same file in both ways (this is useful whenever you have a mixed text file with both right-to-left and left-to-right strings so that both sets are displayed properly in different windows). Also see |rileft.txt|.

{only available when compiled with the |+rightleft| feature} Each word in this option enables the command line editing to work in right-to-left mode for a group of commands:

{not available when compiled without the |+cmdline_info| feature} Show the line and column number of the cursor position, separated by a comma. When there is room, the relative position of the displayed text in the file is shown on the far right: Top first line is visible Bot last line is visible All first and last line are visible 45% relative position in the file If 'rulerformat' is set, it will determine the contents of the ruler. Each window has its own ruler. If a window has a status line, the ruler is shown there. Otherwise it is shown in the last line of the screen. If the statusline is given by 'statusline' (i.e. not empty), this option takes precedence over 'ruler' and 'rulerformat' If the number of characters displayed is different from the number of bytes in the text (e.g., for a TAB or a multibyte character), both the text column (byte number) and the screen column are shown, separated with a dash. For an empty line "0-1" is shown. For an empty buffer the line number will also be zero: "0,0-1". This option is reset when 'paste' is set and restored when 'paste' is reset. If you don't want to see the ruler all the time but want to know where you are, use "g CTRL-G" |g_CTRL-G|. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+statusline| feature} When this option is not empty, it determines the content of the ruler string, as displayed for the 'ruler' option. The format of this option is like that of 'statusline'. This option cannot be set in a modeline when 'modelineexpr' is off.

This is a list of directories which will be searched for runtime files: filetype.vim filetypes by file name |new-filetype| scripts.vim filetypes by file contents |new-filetype-scripts| autoload/ automatically loaded scripts |autoload-functions| colors/ color scheme files |:colorscheme| compiler/ compiler files |:compiler| doc/ documentation |write-local-help| ftplugin/ filetype plugins |write-filetype-plugin| import/ files that are found by :import indent/ indent scripts |indent-expression| keymap/ key mapping files |mbyte-keymap| lang/ menu translations |:menutrans| menu.vim GUI menus |menu.vim| pack/ packages |:packadd| plugin/ plugin scripts |write-plugin| print/ files for printing |postscript-print-encoding| spell/ spell checking files |spell| syntax/ syntax files |mysyntaxfile| tutor/ files for vimtutor |tutor|

Number of lines to scroll with CTRL-U and CTRL-D commands. Will be set to half the number of lines in the window when the window size changes. This may happen when enabling the |status-line| or 'tabline' option after setting the 'scroll' option. If you give a count to the CTRL-U or CTRL-D command it will be used as the new value for 'scroll'. Reset to half the window height with ":set scroll=0".

See also |scroll-binding|. When this option is set, the current window scrolls as other scrollbind windows (windows that also have this option set) scroll. This option is useful for viewing the differences between two versions of a file, see 'diff'. See |'scrollopt'| for options that determine how this option should be interpreted. This option is mostly reset when splitting a window to edit another file. This means that ":split | edit file" results in two windows with scroll-binding, but ":split file" does not.

Minimal number of lines to scroll when the cursor gets off the screen (e.g., with "j"). Not used for scroll commands (e.g., CTRL-E, CTRL-D). Useful if your terminal scrolls very slowly. When set to a negative number from -1 to -100 this is used as the percentage of the window height. Thus -50 scrolls half the window height. NOTE: This option is set to 1 when 'compatible' is set.

Minimal number of screen lines to keep above and below the cursor. This will make some context visible around where you are working. If you set it to a very large value (999) the cursor line will always be in the middle of the window (except at the start or end of the file or when long lines wrap). After using the local value, go back the global value with one of these two: > setlocal scrolloff< setlocal scrolloff=-1 < For scrolling horizontally see 'sidescrolloff'. NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.

This is a comma-separated list of words that specifies how 'scrollbind' windows should behave. 'sbo' stands for ScrollBind Options. The following words are available: ver Bind vertical scrolling for 'scrollbind' windows hor Bind horizontal scrolling for 'scrollbind' windows jump Applies to the offset between two windows for vertical scrolling. This offset is the difference in the first displayed line of the bound windows. When moving around in a window, another 'scrollbind' window may reach a position before the start or after the end of the buffer. The offset is not changed though, when moving back the 'scrollbind' window will try to scroll to the desired position when possible. When now making that window the current one, two things can be done with the relative offset: 1. When "jump" is not included, the relative offset is adjusted for the scroll position in the new current window. When going back to the other window, the new relative offset will be used. 2. When "jump" is included, the other windows are scrolled to keep the same relative offset. When going back to the other window, it still uses the same relative offset. Also see |scroll-binding|. When 'diff' mode is active there always is vertical scroll binding, even when "ver" isn't there.

Specifies the nroff macros that separate sections. These are pairs of two letters (See |object-motions|). The default makes a section start at the nroff macros ".SH", ".NH", ".H", ".HU", ".nh" and ".sh".

This option defines the behavior of the selection. It is only used in Visual and Select mode. Possible values: value past line inclusive ~ old no yes inclusive yes yes exclusive yes no "past line" means that the cursor is allowed to be positioned one character past the line. "inclusive" means that the last character of the selection is included in an operation. For example, when "x" is used to delete the selection. When "old" is used and 'virtualedit' allows the cursor to move past the end of line the line break still isn't included. Note that when "exclusive" is used and selecting from the end backwards, you cannot include the last character of a line, when starting in Normal mode and 'virtualedit' empty.

This is a comma separated list of words, which specifies when to start Select mode instead of Visual mode, when a selection is started. Possible values: mouse when using the mouse key when using shifted special keys cmd when using "v", "V" or CTRL-V See |Select-mode|. The 'selectmode' option is set by the |:behave| command.

{not available when compiled without the |+mksession| feature} Changes the effect of the |:mksession| command. It is a comma separated list of words. Each word enables saving and restoring something: word save and restore ~ blank empty windows buffers hidden and unloaded buffers, not just those in windows curdir the current directory folds manually created folds, opened/closed folds and local fold options globals global variables that start with an uppercase letter and contain at least one lowercase letter. Only String and Number types are stored. help the help window localoptions options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not global values for local options) options all options and mappings (also global values for local options) skiprtp exclude 'runtimepath' and 'packpath' from the options resize size of the Vim window: 'lines' and 'columns' sesdir the directory in which the session file is located will become the current directory (useful with projects accessed over a network from different systems) slash backslashes in file names replaced with forward slashes tabpages all tab pages; without this only the current tab page is restored, so that you can make a session for each tab page separately terminal include terminal windows where the command can be restored unix with Unix end-of-line format (single ), even when on Windows or DOS winpos position of the whole Vim window winsize window sizes

Name of the shell to use for ! and :! commands. When changing the value also check these options: 'shelltype', 'shellpipe', 'shellslash' 'shellredir', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote' and 'shellcmdflag'. It is allowed to give an argument to the command, e.g. "csh -f". See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|.

Flag passed to the shell to execute "!" and ":!" commands; e.g., "bash.exe -c ls", "powershell.exe -Command dir", or "cmd.exe /c dir". For MS-Windows, the default is set according to the value of 'shell', to reduce the need to set this option by the user. On Unix it can have more than one flag. Each white space separated part is passed as an argument to the shell command. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. Also see |dos-shell| and |dos-powershell| for MS-Windows. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+quickfix| feature} String to be used to put the output of the ":make" command in the error file. See also |:make_makeprg|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. The name of the temporary file can be represented by "%s" if necessary (the file name is appended automatically if no %s appears in the value of this option). For the Amiga the default is ">". For MS-Windows using powershell the default is "2>&1 | Out-File -Encoding default", otherwise the default is ">%s 2>&1". The output is directly saved in a file and not echoed to the screen. For Unix the default is "| tee". The stdout of the compiler is saved in a file and echoed to the screen. If the 'shell' option is "csh" or "tcsh" after initializations, the default becomes "|& tee". If the 'shell' option is "sh", "ksh", "mksh", "pdksh", "zsh", "zsh-beta", "bash", "fish", "ash" or "dash" the default becomes "2>&1| tee". This means that stderr is also included. Before using the 'shell' option a path is removed, thus "/bin/sh" uses "sh". For Unix and MS-Windows, when the 'shell' option is "pwsh" the default becomes ">%s 2>&1" and the output is not echoed to the screen. The initialization of this option is done after reading the ".vimrc" and the other initializations, so that when the 'shell' option is set there, the 'shellpipe' option changes automatically, unless it was explicitly set before. When 'shellpipe' is set to an empty string, no redirection of the ":make" output will be done. This is useful if you use a 'makeprg' that writes to 'makeef' by itself. If you want no piping, but do want to include the 'makeef', set 'shellpipe' to a single space. Don't forget to precede the space with a backslash: ":set sp=\ ". In the future pipes may be used for filtering and this option will become obsolete (at least for Unix). This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

Quoting character(s), put around the command passed to the shell, for the "!" and ":!" commands. The redirection is kept outside of the quoting. See 'shellxquote' to include the redirection. It's probably not useful to set both options. This is an empty string by default. Only known to be useful for third-party shells on MS-Windows-like systems, such as the MKS Korn Shell or bash, where it should be """. See |dos-shell|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

String to be used to put the output of a filter command in a temporary file. See also |:!|. See |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. The name of the temporary file can be represented by "%s" if necessary (the file name is appended automatically if no %s appears in the value of this option). The default is ">". For Unix, if the 'shell' option is "csh" or "tcsh" during initializations, the default becomes ">&". If the 'shell' option is "sh", "ksh", "mksh", "pdksh", "zsh", "zsh-beta", "bash", "fish", or "pwsh", the default becomes ">%s 2>&1". This means that stderr is also included. For Win32, the Unix checks are done and additionally "cmd" is checked for, which makes the default ">%s 2>&1", and "powershell" is checked for which makes the default "2>&1 | Out-File -Encoding default" (see |dos-powershell|). Also, the same names with ".exe" appended are checked for. The initialization of this option is done after reading the ".vimrc" and the other initializations, so that when the 'shell' option is set there, the 'shellredir' option changes automatically unless it was explicitly set before. In the future pipes may be used for filtering and this option will become obsolete (at least for Unix). This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only for MS-Windows} When set, a forward slash is used when expanding file names. This is useful when a Unix-like shell is used instead of cmd.exe, pwsh.exe, or powershell.exe. Backward slashes can still be typed, but they are changed to forward slashes by Vim. Note that setting or resetting this option has no effect for some existing file names, thus this option needs to be set before opening any file for best results. This might change in the future. 'shellslash' only works when a backslash can be used as a path separator. To test if this is so use: > if exists('+shellslash') < Also see 'completeslash'.

When on, use temp files for shell commands. When off use a pipe. When using a pipe is not possible temp files are used anyway. Currently a pipe is only supported on Unix and MS-Windows 2K and later. You can check it with: > :if has("filterpipe") < The advantage of using a pipe is that nobody can read the temp file and the 'shell' command does not need to support redirection. The advantage of using a temp file is that the file type and encoding can be detected. The |FilterReadPre|, |FilterReadPost| and |FilterWritePre|, |FilterWritePost| autocommands event are not triggered when 'shelltemp' is off. The system() function does not respect this option and always uses temp files. NOTE: This option is set to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

When 'shellxquote' is set to "(" then the characters listed in this option will be escaped with a '^' character. This makes it possible to execute most external commands with cmd.exe.

Quoting character(s), put around the command passed to the shell, for the "!" and ":!" commands. Includes the redirection. See 'shellquote' to exclude the redirection. It's probably not useful to set both options. When the value is '(' then ')' is appended. When the value is '"(' then ')"' is appended. When the value is '(' then also see 'shellxescape'. This is an empty string by default on most systems, but is known to be useful for on Win32 version, either for cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or pwsh.exe which automatically strips off the first and last quote on a command, or 3rd-party shells such as the MKS Korn Shell or bash, where it should be """. The default is adjusted according the value of 'shell', to reduce the need to set this option by the user. See |dos-shell|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

Round indent to multiple of 'shiftwidth'. Applies to > and < commands. CTRL-T and CTRL-D in Insert mode always round the indent to a multiple of 'shiftwidth' (this is Vi compatible). NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

Number of spaces to use for each step of (auto)indent. Used for |'cindent'|, |>>|, |<<|, etc. When zero the 'ts' value will be used. Use the |shiftwidth()| function to get the effective shiftwidth value.

This option helps to avoid all the |hit-enter| prompts caused by file messages, for example with CTRL-G, and to avoid some other messages. It is a list of flags: flag meaning when present ~ f use "(3 of 5)" instead of "(file 3 of 5)" i use "[noeol]" instead of "[Incomplete last line]" l use "999L, 888B" instead of "999 lines, 888 bytes" m use "[+]" instead of "[Modified]" n use "[New]" instead of "[New File]" r use "[RO]" instead of "[readonly]" w use "[w]" instead of "written" for file write message and "[a]" instead of "appended" for ':w >> file' command x use "[dos]" instead of "[dos format]", "[unix]" instead of "[unix format]" and "[mac]" instead of "[mac format]". a all of the above abbreviations

{not available when compiled without the |+linebreak| feature} String to put at the start of lines that have been wrapped. Useful values are "> " or "+++ ": > :set showbreak=>
< Note the backslash to escape the trailing space. It's easier like this: > :let &showbreak = '+++ ' < Only printable single-cell characters are allowed, excluding and comma (in a future version the comma might be used to separate the part that is shown at the end and at the start of a line). The characters are highlighted according to the '@' flag in 'highlight'. Note that tabs after the showbreak will be displayed differently. If you want the 'showbreak' to appear in between line numbers, add the "n" flag to 'cpoptions'. A window-local value overrules a global value. If the global value is set and you want no value in the current window use NONE: > :setlocal showbreak=NONE <

{not available when compiled without the |+cmdline_info| feature} Show (partial) command in the last line of the screen. Set this option off if your terminal is slow. In Visual mode the size of the selected area is shown:

• When selecting characters within a line, the number of characters. If the number of bytes is different it is also displayed: "2-6" means two characters and six bytes.
• When selecting more than one line, the number of lines.
• When selecting a block, the size in screen characters: {lines}x{columns}. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

When completing a word in insert mode (see |ins-completion|) from the tags file, show both the tag name and a tidied-up form of the search pattern (if there is one) as possible matches. Thus, if you have matched a C function, you can see a template for what arguments are required (coding style permitting). Note that this doesn't work well together with having "longest" in 'completeopt', because the completion from the search pattern may not match the typed text.

When a bracket is inserted, briefly jump to the matching one. The jump is only done if the match can be seen on the screen. The time to show the match can be set with 'matchtime'. A Beep is given if there is no match (no matter if the match can be seen or not). This option is reset when 'paste' is set and restored when 'paste' is reset. When the 'm' flag is not included in 'cpoptions', typing a character will immediately move the cursor back to where it belongs. See the "sm" field in 'guicursor' for setting the cursor shape and blinking when showing the match. The 'matchpairs' option can be used to specify the characters to show matches for. 'rightleft' and 'revins' are used to look for opposite matches. Also see the matchparen plugin for highlighting the match when moving around |pi_paren.txt|. Note: Use of the short form is rated PG.

If in Insert, Replace or Visual mode put a message on the last line. Use the 'M' flag in 'highlight' to set the type of highlighting for this message. When |XIM| may be used the message will include "XIM". But this doesn't mean XIM is really active, especially when 'imactivatekey' is not set. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

The value of this option specifies when the line with tab page labels will be displayed: 0: never 1: only if there are at least two tab pages 2: always This is both for the GUI and non-GUI implementation of the tab pages line. See |tab-page| for more information about tab pages.

The minimal number of columns to scroll horizontally. Used only when the 'wrap' option is off and the cursor is moved off of the screen. When it is zero the cursor will be put in the middle of the screen. When using a slow terminal set it to a large number or 0. When using a fast terminal use a small number or 1. Not used for "zh" and "zl" commands.

The minimal number of screen columns to keep to the left and to the right of the cursor if 'nowrap' is set. Setting this option to a value greater than 0 while having |'sidescroll'| also at a non-zero value makes some context visible in the line you are scrolling in horizontally (except at beginning of the line). Setting this option to a large value (like 999) has the effect of keeping the cursor horizontally centered in the window, as long as one does not come too close to the beginning of the line. After using the local value, go back the global value with one of these two: > setlocal sidescrolloff< setlocal sidescrolloff=-1 < NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+signs| feature} Whether or not to draw the signcolumn. Valid values are: "auto" only when there is a sign to display "no" never "yes" always "number" display signs in the 'number' column. If the number column is not present, then behaves like "auto".

Override the 'ignorecase' option if the search pattern contains upper case characters. Only used when the search pattern is typed and 'ignorecase' option is on. Used for the commands "/", "?", "n", "N", ":g" and ":s". Not used for "", "#", "gd", tag search, etc. After "" and "#" you can make 'smartcase' used by doing a "/" command, recalling the search pattern from history and hitting . NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+smartindent| feature} Do smart autoindenting when starting a new line. Works for C-like programs, but can also be used for other languages. 'cindent' does something like this, works better in most cases, but is more strict, see |C-indenting|. When 'cindent' is on or 'indentexpr' is set, setting 'si' has no effect. 'indentexpr' is a more advanced alternative. Normally 'autoindent' should also be on when using 'smartindent'. An indent is automatically inserted:

• After a line ending in '{'.
• After a line starting with a keyword from 'cinwords'.
• Before a line starting with '}' (only with the "O" command). When typing '}' as the first character in a new line, that line is given the same indent as the matching '{'. When typing '#' as the first character in a new line, the indent for that line is removed, the '#' is put in the first column. The indent is restored for the next line. If you don't want this, use this mapping: ":inoremap # X^H#", where ^H is entered with CTRL-V CTRL-H. When using the ">>" command, lines starting with '#' are not shifted right. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set. This option is reset when 'paste' is set and restored when 'paste' is reset.

When on, a in front of a line inserts blanks according to 'shiftwidth'. 'tabstop' or 'softtabstop' is used in other places. A will delete a 'shiftwidth' worth of space at the start of the line. When off, a always inserts blanks according to 'tabstop' or 'softtabstop'. 'shiftwidth' is only used for shifting text left or right |shift-left-right|. What gets inserted (a or spaces) depends on the 'expandtab' option. Also see |ins-expandtab|. When 'expandtab' is not set, the number of spaces is minimized by using s. This option is reset when 'paste' is set and restored when 'paste' is reset. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

Number of spaces that a counts for while performing editing operations, like inserting a or using . It "feels" like s are being inserted, while in fact a mix of spaces and s is used. This is useful to keep the 'ts' setting at its standard value of 8, while being able to edit like it is set to 'sts'. However, commands like "x" still work on the actual characters. When 'sts' is zero, this feature is off. When 'sts' is negative, the value of 'shiftwidth' is used. 'softtabstop' is set to 0 when the 'paste' option is set and restored when 'paste' is reset. See also |ins-expandtab|. When 'expandtab' is not set, the number of spaces is minimized by using s. The 'L' flag in 'cpoptions' changes how tabs are used when 'list' is set. NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Pattern to locate the end of a sentence. The following word will be checked to start with a capital letter. If not then it is highlighted with SpellCap |hl-SpellCap| (unless the word is also badly spelled). When this check is not wanted make this option empty. Only used when 'spell' is set. Be careful with special characters, see |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes. To set this option automatically depending on the language, see |set-spc-auto|.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Name of the word list file where words are added for the |zg| and |zw| commands. It must end in ".{encoding}.add". You need to include the path, otherwise the file is placed in the current directory. It may also be a comma separated list of names. A count before the |zg| and |zw| commands can be used to access each. This allows using a personal word list file and a project word list file. When a word is added while this option is empty Vim will set it for you: Using the first directory in 'runtimepath' that is writable. If there is no "spell" directory yet it will be created. For the file name the first language name that appears in 'spelllang' is used, ignoring the region. The resulting ".spl" file will be used for spell checking, it does not have to appear in 'spelllang'. Normally one file is used for all regions, but you can add the region name if you want to. However, it will then only be used when 'spellfile' is set to it, for entries in 'spelllang' only files without region name will be found. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} A comma separated list of word list names. When the 'spell' option is on spellchecking will be done for these languages. Example: > set spelllang=en_us,nl,medical < This means US English, Dutch and medical words are recognized. Words that are not recognized will be highlighted. The word list name must consist of alphanumeric characters, a dash or an underscore. It should not include a comma or dot. Using a dash is recommended to separate the two letter language name from a specification. Thus "en-rare" is used for rare English words. A region name must come last and have the form "_xx", where "xx" is the two-letter, lower case region name. You can use more than one region by listing them: "en_us,en_ca" supports both US and Canadian English, but not words specific for Australia, New Zealand or Great Britain. (Note: currently en_au and en_nz dictionaries are older than en_ca, en_gb and en_us). If the name "cjk" is included East Asian characters are excluded from spell checking. This is useful when editing text that also has Asian words. Note that the "medical" dictionary does not exist, it is just an example of a longer name. As a special case the name of a .spl file can be given as-is. The first "_xx" in the name is removed and used as the region name (_xx is an underscore, two letters and followed by a non-letter). This is mainly for testing purposes. You must make sure the correct encoding is used, Vim doesn't check it. When 'encoding' is set the word lists are reloaded. Thus it's a good idea to set 'spelllang' after setting 'encoding' to avoid loading the files twice. How the related spell files are found is explained here: |spell-load|.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} A comma separated list of options for spell checking: camel When a word is CamelCased, assume "Cased" is a separate word: every upper-case character in a word that comes after a lower case character indicates the start of a new word.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Methods used for spelling suggestions. Both for the |z=| command and the |spellsuggest()| function. This is a comma-separated list of items:

When on, splitting a window will put the new window below the current one. |:split|

When on, splitting a window will put the new window right of the current one. |:vsplit|

When "on" the commands listed below move the cursor to the first non-blank of the line. When off the cursor is kept in the same column (if possible). This applies to the commands: CTRL-D, CTRL-U, CTRL-B, CTRL-F, "G", "H", "M", "L", gg, and to the commands "d", "<<" and ">>" with a linewise operator, with "%" with a count and to buffer changing commands (CTRL-^, :bnext, :bNext, etc.). Also for an Ex command that only has a line number, e.g., ":25" or ":+". In case of buffer changing commands the cursor is placed at the column where it was the last time the buffer was edited. NOTE: This option is set when 'compatible' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+statusline| feature} When nonempty, this option determines the content of the status line. Also see |status-line|.

Files with these suffixes get a lower priority when multiple files match a wildcard. See |suffixes|. Commas can be used to separate the suffixes. Spaces after the comma are ignored. A dot is also seen as the start of a suffix. To avoid a dot or comma being recognized as a separator, precede it with a backslash (see |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes). See 'wildignore' for completely ignoring files. The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing suffixes from the list. This avoids problems when a future version uses another default.

{not available when compiled without the |+file_in_path| feature} Comma separated list of suffixes, which are used when searching for a file for the "gf", "[I", etc. commands. Example: > :set suffixesadd=.java <

Use a swapfile for the buffer. This option can be reset when a swapfile is not wanted for a specific buffer. For example, with confidential information that even root must not be able to access. Careful: All text will be in memory: - Don't use this for big files. - Recovery will be impossible! A swapfile will only be present when |'updatecount'| is non-zero and 'swapfile' is set. When 'swapfile' is reset, the swap file for the current buffer is immediately deleted. When 'swapfile' is set, and 'updatecount' is non-zero, a swap file is immediately created. Also see |swap-file| and |'swapsync'|. If you want to open a new buffer without creating a swap file for it, use the |:noswapfile| modifier. See 'directory' for where the swap file is created.

This option controls the behavior when switching between buffers. Mostly for |quickfix| commands some values are also used for other commands, as mentioned below. Possible values (comma separated list): useopen If included, jump to the first open window that contains the specified buffer (if there is one). Otherwise: Do not examine other windows. This setting is checked with |quickfix| commands, when jumping to errors (":cc", ":cn", "cp", etc.). It is also used in all buffer related split commands, for example ":sbuffer", ":sbnext", or ":sbrewind". usetab Like "useopen", but also consider windows in other tab pages. split If included, split the current window before loading a buffer for a |quickfix| command that display errors. Otherwise: do not split, use current window (when used in the quickfix window: the previously used window or split if there is no other window). vsplit Just like "split" but split vertically. newtab Like "split", but open a new tab page. Overrules "split" when both are present. uselast If included, jump to the previously used window when jumping to errors with |quickfix| commands.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} Maximum column in which to search for syntax items. In long lines the text after this column is not highlighted and following lines may not be highlighted correctly, because the syntax state is cleared. This helps to avoid very slow redrawing for an XML file that is one long line. Set to zero to remove the limit.

{not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} When this option is set, the syntax with this name is loaded, unless syntax highlighting has been switched off with ":syntax off". Otherwise this option does not always reflect the current syntax (the b:current_syntax variable does). This option is most useful in a modeline, for a file which syntax is not automatically recognized. Example, in an IDL file: // ~ When a dot appears in the value then this separates two filetype names. Example: // ~ This will use the "c" syntax first, then the "doxygen" syntax. Note that the second one must be prepared to be loaded as an addition, otherwise it will be skipped. More than one dot may appear. To switch off syntax highlighting for the current file, use: > :set syntax=OFF < To switch syntax highlighting on according to the current value of the 'filetype' option: > :set syntax=ON < What actually happens when setting the 'syntax' option is that the Syntax autocommand event is triggered with the value as argument. This option is not copied to another buffer, independent of the 's' or 'S' flag in 'cpoptions'. Only normal file name characters can be used, "/*?[|<>" are illegal.

When nonempty, this option determines the content of the tab pages line at the top of the Vim window. When empty Vim will use a default tab pages line. See |setting-tabline| for more info.

Maximum number of tab pages to be opened by the |-p| command line argument or the ":tab all" command. |tabpage|

Number of spaces that a in the file counts for. Also see |:retab| command, and 'softtabstop' option.

When searching for a tag (e.g., for the |:ta| command), Vim can either use a binary search or a linear search in a tags file. Binary searching makes searching for a tag a LOT faster, but a linear search will find more tags if the tags file wasn't properly sorted. Vim normally assumes that your tags files are sorted, or indicate that they are not sorted. Only when this is not the case does the 'tagbsearch' option need to be switched off.

This option specifies how case is handled when searching the tags file: followic Follow the 'ignorecase' option followscs Follow the 'smartcase' and 'ignorecase' options ignore Ignore case match Match case smart Ignore case unless an upper case letter is used NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

{not available when compiled without the |+eval| feature} This option specifies a function to be used to perform tag searches. The function gets the tag pattern and should return a List of matching tags. See |tag-function| for an explanation of how to write the function and an example.

If non-zero, tags are significant up to this number of characters.

If on and using a tags file in another directory, file names in that tags file are relative to the directory where the tags file is. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

Filenames for the tag command, separated by spaces or commas. To include a space or comma in a file name, precede it with a backslash (see |option-backslash| about including spaces and backslashes). When a file name starts with "./", the '.' is replaced with the path of the current file. But only when the 'd' flag is not included in 'cpoptions'. Environment variables are expanded |:set_env|. Also see |tags-option|. "*" and other wildcards can be used to search for tags files in a directory tree. See |file-searching|. E.g., "/lib/** /tags" will find all files named "tags" below "/lib". The filename itself cannot contain wildcards, it is used as-is. E.g., "/lib/** /tags?" will find files called "tags?". {not available when compiled without the |+path_extra| feature} The |tagfiles()| function can be used to get a list of the file names actually used. If Vim was compiled with the |+emacs_tags| feature, Emacs-style tag files are also supported. They are automatically recognized. The default value becomes "./tags,./TAGS,tags,TAGS", unless case differences are ignored (MS-Windows). |emacs-tags| The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing file names from the list. This avoids problems when a future version uses another default.

When on, the |tagstack| is used normally. When off, a ":tag" or ":tselect" command with an argument will not push the tag onto the tagstack. A following ":tag" without an argument, a ":pop" command or any other command that uses the tagstack will use the unmodified tagstack, but does change the pointer to the active entry. Resetting this option is useful when using a ":tag" command in a mapping which should not change the tagstack.

{only available when compiled with the |+arabic| feature} The terminal is in charge of Bi-directionality of text (as specified by Unicode). The terminal is also expected to do the required shaping that some languages (such as Arabic) require. Setting this option implies that 'rightleft' will not be set when 'arabic' is set and the value of 'arabicshape' will be ignored. Note that setting 'termbidi' has the immediate effect that 'arabicshape' is ignored, but 'rightleft' isn't changed automatically. This option is reset when the GUI is started. For further details see |arabic.txt|.

{not available when compiled without the |+termguicolors| feature} When on, uses |highlight-guifg| and |highlight-guibg| attributes in the terminal (thus using 24-bit color).

Maximum width of text that is being inserted. A longer line will be broken after white space to get this width. A zero value disables this. 'textwidth' is set to 0 when the 'paste' option is set and restored when 'paste' is reset. When 'textwidth' is zero, 'wrapmargin' may be used. See also 'formatoptions' and |ins-textwidth|. When 'formatexpr' is set it will be used to break the line. NOTE: This option is set to 0 when 'compatible' is set.

List of file names, separated by commas, that are used to lookup words for thesaurus completion commands |i_CTRL-X_CTRL-T|.

When on: The tilde command "~" behaves like an operator. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

global

global

The time in milliseconds that is waited for a key code or mapped key sequence to complete. Also used for CTRL-\ CTRL-N and CTRL-\ CTRL-G when part of a command has been typed. Normally only 'timeoutlen' is used and 'ttimeoutlen' is -1. When a different timeout value for key codes is desired set 'ttimeoutlen' to a non-negative number.

Indicates a fast terminal connection. More characters will be sent to the screen for redrawing, instead of using insert/delete line commands. Improves smoothness of redrawing when there are multiple windows and the terminal does not support a scrolling region. Also enables the extra writing of characters at the end of each screen line for lines that wrap. This helps when using copy/paste with the mouse in an xterm and other terminals.

{only when compiled with the |+persistent_undo| feature} List of directory names for undo files, separated with commas. See |'backupdir'| for details of the format. "." means using the directory of the file. The undo file name for "file.txt" is ".file.txt.un~". For other directories the file name is the full path of the edited file, with path separators replaced with "%". When writing: The first directory that exists is used. "." always works, no directories after "." will be used for writing. When reading all entries are tried to find an undo file. The first undo file that exists is used. When it cannot be read an error is given, no further entry is used. See |undo-persistence|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{only when compiled with the |+persistent_undo| feature} When on, Vim automatically saves undo history to an undo file when writing a buffer to a file, and restores undo history from the same file on buffer read. The directory where the undo file is stored is specified by 'undodir'. For more information about this feature see |undo-persistence|. The undo file is not read when 'undoreload' causes the buffer from before a reload to be saved for undo. When 'undofile' is turned off the undo file is NOT deleted. NOTE: This option is reset when 'compatible' is set.

Maximum number of changes that can be undone. Since undo information is kept in memory, higher numbers will cause more memory to be used. Nevertheless, a single change can already use a large amount of memory. Set to 0 for Vi compatibility: One level of undo and "u" undoes itself: > set ul=0 < But you can also get Vi compatibility by including the 'u' flag in 'cpoptions', and still be able to use CTRL-R to repeat undo. Also see |undo-two-ways|. Set to -1 for no undo at all. You might want to do this only for the current buffer: > setlocal ul=-1 < This helps when you run out of memory for a single change.

Save the whole buffer for undo when reloading it. This applies to the ":e!" command and reloading for when the buffer changed outside of Vim. |FileChangedShell| The save only happens when this option is negative or when the number of lines is smaller than the value of this option. Set this option to zero to disable undo for a reload.

After typing this many characters the swap file will be written to disk. When zero, no swap file will be created at all (see chapter on recovery |crash-recovery|). 'updatecount' is set to zero by starting Vim with the "-n" option, see |startup|. When editing in readonly mode this option will be initialized to 10000. The swapfile can be disabled per buffer with |'swapfile'|. When 'updatecount' is set from zero to non-zero, swap files are created for all buffers that have 'swapfile' set. When 'updatecount' is set to zero, existing swap files are not deleted. Also see |'swapsync'|. This option has no meaning in buffers where |'buftype'| is "nofile" or "nowrite".

If this many milliseconds nothing is typed the swap file will be written to disk (see |crash-recovery|). Also used for the |CursorHold| autocommand event.

{only available when compiled with the |+vartabs| feature} A list of the number of spaces that a counts for while editing, such as inserting a or using . It "feels" like variable- width s are being inserted, while in fact a mixture of spaces and s is used. Tab widths are separated with commas, with the final value applying to all subsequent tabs.

{only available when compiled with the |+vartabs| feature} A list of the number of spaces that a in the file counts for, separated by commas. Each value corresponds to one tab, with the final value applying to all subsequent tabs. For example: > :set vartabstop=4,20,10,8 < This will make the first tab 4 spaces wide, the second 20 spaces, the third 10 spaces, and all following tabs 8 spaces.

When bigger than zero, Vim will give messages about what it is doing. Currently, these messages are given:

= 1 When the viminfo file is read or written. = 2 When a file is ":source"'ed. = 4 Shell commands. = 5 Every searched tags file and include file. = 8 Files for which a group of autocommands is executed. = 9 Every executed autocommand. = 11 Finding items in a path = 12 Every executed function. = 13 When an exception is thrown, caught, finished, or discarded. = 14 Anything pending in a ":finally" clause. = 15 Every executed Ex command from a script (truncated at 200 characters). = 16 Every executed Ex command.

When not empty all messages are written in a file with this name. When the file exists messages are appended. Writing to the file ends when Vim exits or when 'verbosefile' is made empty. Writes are buffered, thus may not show up for some time. Setting 'verbosefile' to a new value is like making it empty first. The difference with |:redir| is that verbose messages are not displayed when 'verbosefile' is set.

{not available when compiled without the |+mksession| feature} Name of the directory where to store files for |:mkview|. This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security reasons.

{not available when compiled without the |+mksession| feature} Changes the effect of the |:mkview| command. It is a comma separated list of words. Each word enables saving and restoring something: word save and restore ~ cursor cursor position in file and in window folds manually created folds, opened/closed folds and local fold options options options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not global values for local options) localoptions same as "options" slash backslashes in file names replaced with forward slashes unix with Unix end-of-line format (single ), even when on MS-Windows curdir the window-local directory, if set with :lcd

A comma separated list of these words: block Allow virtual editing in Visual block mode. insert Allow virtual editing in Insert mode. all Allow virtual editing in all modes. onemore Allow the cursor to move just past the end of the line none When used as the local value, do not allow virtual editing even when the global value is set. When used as the global value, "none" is the same as "". NONE Alternative spelling of "none".

Use a visual bell instead of beeping. The terminal code to display the visual bell is given with 't_vb'. When no beep or flash is wanted, use: > :set vb t_vb= < If you want a short flash, you can use this on many terminals: > :set vb t_vb=[?5h$<100>[?5l < Here $<100> specifies the time, you can use a smaller or bigger value to get a shorter or longer flash.

Allow specified keys that move the cursor left/right to move to the previous/next line when the cursor is on the first/last character in the line. Concatenate characters to allow this for these keys: char key mode ~ b Normal and Visual s Normal and Visual h "h" Normal and Visual (not recommended) l "l" Normal and Visual (not recommended) < Normal and Visual > Normal and Visual ~ "~" Normal [ Insert and Replace ] Insert and Replace For example: > :set ww=<,>,[,] < allows wrap only when cursor keys are used. When the movement keys are used in combination with a delete or change operator, the also counts for a character. This makes "3h" different from "3dh" when the cursor crosses the end of a line. This is also true for "x" and "X", because they do the same as "dl" and "dh". If you use this, you may also want to use the mapping ":map X" to make backspace delete the character in front of the cursor. When 'l' is included and it is used after an operator at the end of a line (not an empty line) then it will not move to the next line. This makes "dl", "cl", "yl" etc. work normally. NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

Character you have to type to start wildcard expansion in the command-line, as specified with 'wildmode'. More info here: |cmdline-completion|. The character is not recognized when used inside a macro. See 'wildcharm' for that. Although 'wc' is a number option, you can set it to a special key: > :set wc= < NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.

'wildcharm' works exactly like 'wildchar', except that it is recognized when used inside a macro. You can find "spare" command-line keys suitable for this option by looking at |ex-edit-index|. Normally you'll never actually type 'wildcharm', just use it in mappings that automatically invoke completion mode, e.g.: > :set wcm= :cnoremap ss so $vim/sessions/*.vim < Then after typing :ss you can use CTRL-P & CTRL-N.

{not available when compiled without the |+wildignore| feature} A list of file patterns. A file that matches with one of these patterns is ignored when expanding |wildcards|, completing file or directory names, and influences the result of |expand()|, |glob()| and |globpath()| unless a flag is passed to disable this. The pattern is used like with |:autocmd|, see |autocmd-patterns|. Also see 'suffixes'. Example: > :set wildignore=.obj < The use of |:set+=| and |:set-=| is preferred when adding or removing a pattern from the list. This avoids problems when a future version uses another default.

When set case is ignored when completing file names and directories. Has no effect when 'fileignorecase' is set. Does not apply when the shell is used to expand wildcards, which happens when there are special characters.

{not available if compiled without the |+wildmenu| feature} When 'wildmenu' is on, command-line completion operates in an enhanced mode. On pressing 'wildchar' (usually ) to invoke completion, the possible matches are shown just above the command line, with the first match highlighted (overwriting the status line, if there is one). Keys that show the previous/next match, such as or CTRL-P/CTRL-N, cause the highlight to move to the appropriate match. When 'wildmode' is used, "wildmenu" mode is used where "full" is specified. "longest" and "list" do not start "wildmenu" mode. You can check the current mode with |wildmenumode()|. If there are more matches than can fit in the line, a ">" is shown on the right and/or a "<" is shown on the left. The status line scrolls as needed. The "wildmenu" mode is abandoned when a key is hit that is not used for selecting a completion. While the "wildmenu" is active the following keys have special meanings:

Completion mode that is used for the character specified with 'wildchar'. It is a comma separated list of up to four parts. Each part specifies what to do for each consecutive use of 'wildchar'. The first part specifies the behavior for the first use of 'wildchar', The second part for the second use, etc.

{not available when compiled without the |+wildignore| feature} A list of words that change how command line completion is done. Currently only one word is allowed: tagfile When using CTRL-D to list matching tags, the kind of tag and the file of the tag is listed. Only one match is displayed per line. Often used tag kinds are: d #define f function Also see |cmdline-completion|.

{only used in Win32, Motif, GTK and Photon GUI} Some GUI versions allow the access to menu entries by using the ALT key in combination with a character that appears underlined in the menu. This conflicts with the use of the ALT key for mappings and entering special characters. This option tells what to do: no Don't use ALT keys for menus. ALT key combinations can be mapped, but there is no automatic handling. This can then be done with the |:simalt| command. yes ALT key handling is done by the windowing system. ALT key combinations cannot be mapped. menu Using ALT in combination with a character that is a menu shortcut key, will be handled by the windowing system. Other keys can be mapped. If the menu is disabled by excluding 'm' from 'guioptions', the ALT key is never used for the menu. This option is not used for ; on Win32 and with GTK will select the menu, unless it has been mapped.

Window height used for |CTRL-F| and |CTRL-B| when there is only one window and the value is smaller than 'lines' minus one. The screen will scroll 'window' minus two lines, with a minimum of one. When 'window' is equal to 'lines' minus one CTRL-F and CTRL-B scroll in a much smarter way, taking care of wrapping lines. When resizing the Vim window, the value is smaller than 1 or more than or equal to 'lines' it will be set to 'lines' minus 1. Note: Do not confuse this with the height of the Vim window, use 'lines' for that.

Keep the window height when windows are opened or closed and 'equalalways' is set. Also for |CTRL-W_=|. Set by default for the |preview-window| and |quickfix-window|. The height may be changed anyway when running out of room.

Keep the window width when windows are opened or closed and 'equalalways' is set. Also for |CTRL-W_=|. The width may be changed anyway when running out of room.

Minimal number of lines for the current window. This is not a hard minimum, Vim will use fewer lines if there is not enough room. If the focus goes to a window that is smaller, its size is increased, at the cost of the height of other windows. Set 'winheight' to a small number for normal editing. Set it to 999 to make the current window fill most of the screen. Other windows will be only 'winminheight' high. This has the drawback that ":all" will create only two windows. To avoid "vim -o 1 2 3 4" to create only two windows, set the option after startup is done, using the |VimEnter| event: > au VimEnter * set winheight=999 < Minimum value is 1. The height is not adjusted after one of the commands that change the height of the current window. 'winheight' applies to the current window. Use 'winminheight' to set the minimal height for other windows.

The minimal height of a window, when it's not the current window. This is a hard minimum, windows will never become smaller. When set to zero, windows may be "squashed" to zero lines (i.e. just a status bar) if necessary. They will return to at least one line when they become active (since the cursor has to have somewhere to go.) Use 'winheight' to set the minimal height of the current window. This option is only checked when making a window smaller. Don't use a large number, it will cause errors when opening more than a few windows. A value of 0 to 3 is reasonable.

The minimal width of a window, when it's not the current window. This is a hard minimum, windows will never become smaller. When set to zero, windows may be "squashed" to zero columns (i.e. just a vertical separator) if necessary. They will return to at least one line when they become active (since the cursor has to have somewhere to go.) Use 'winwidth' to set the minimal width of the current window. This option is only checked when making a window smaller. Don't use a large number, it will cause errors when opening more than a few windows. A value of 0 to 12 is reasonable.

Minimal number of columns for the current window. This is not a hard minimum, Vim will use fewer columns if there is not enough room. If the current window is smaller, its size is increased, at the cost of the width of other windows. Set it to 999 to make the current window always fill the screen. Set it to a small number for normal editing. The width is not adjusted after one of the commands to change the width of the current window. 'winwidth' applies to the current window. Use 'winminwidth' to set the minimal width for other windows.

Number of characters from the right window border where wrapping starts. When typing text beyond this limit, an will be inserted and inserting continues on the next line. Options that add a margin, such as 'number' and 'foldcolumn', cause the text width to be further reduced. This is Vi compatible. When 'textwidth' is non-zero, this option is not used. This option is set to 0 when 'paste' is set and restored when 'paste' is reset. See also 'formatoptions' and |ins-textwidth|.

Searches wrap around the end of the file. Also applies to |]s| and |[s|, searching for spelling mistakes.

Allows writing to any file with no need for "!" override.

Make a backup before overwriting a file. The backup is removed after the file was successfully written, unless the 'backup' option is also on. WARNING: Switching this option off means that when Vim fails to write your buffer correctly and then, for whatever reason, Vim exits, you lose both the original file and what you were writing. Only reset this option if your file system is almost full and it makes the write fail (and make sure not to exit Vim until the write was successful). See |backup-table| for another explanation. When the 'backupskip' pattern matches, a backup is not made anyway. Depending on 'backupcopy' the backup is a new file or the original file renamed (and a new file is written). NOTE: This option is set to the default value when 'compatible' is set.

The number of milliseconds to wait for each character sent to the screen. When non-zero, characters are sent to the terminal one by one. For debugging purposes.