Sometimes vim will leave something, i.e. press any key to continue, on the terminal and is there any way to return to a clear terminal after exiting vim?
I am new to vim and please tell me exactly what I should do.
Sorry I did not express my idea clear enough the first time. What I actually want to ask is that is there a way to return to a clear terminal after typing :q in vim without further input of commands.
I am using VIM 7.4 in Ubuntu, terminal type is xterm.
Add to your ~/.vimrc:
au VimLeave * :!clear
I use an alias to clear on any exit method including :q, :wqa. (this is for my osx brewed binary, find your own vim binary with which vim)
# .zshrc
alias vim="/usr/local/Cellar/vim/8.0.0094/bin/vim && clear"
There is a way to do more stuffs by editing your .vimrc file
Add this to your .vimrc
command Qc :call ClearAndExit()
function ClearAndExit()
:!clear
:q!
endfunction
use :Qc to quit.... it will clear the screen as well
If Vim is compiled with support for switching xterm-screens, it can do this by default, if you set the t_ti and t_te (Vim usually figures out, to what values this needs to be set by itsself). The gory details are explained at :h xterm-screens (pasted below)
(From comp.editors, by Juergen Weigert, in reply to a question)
:> Another question is that after exiting vim, the screen is left as
it :> was, i.e. the contents of the file I was viewing (editing) was
left on :> the screen. The output from my previous like "ls" were
lost, :> ie. no longer in the scrolling buffer. I know that there is a
way to :> restore the screen after exiting vim or other vi like
editors, :> I just don't know how. Helps are appreciated. Thanks. : :I
imagine someone else can answer this. I assume though that vim and vi
do :the same thing as each other for a given xterm setup.
They not necessarily do the same thing, as this may be a termcap vs.
terminfo problem. You should be aware that there are two databases
for describing attributes of a particular type of terminal: termcap
and terminfo. This can cause differences when the entries differ AND
when of the programs in question one uses terminfo and the other uses
termcap (also see +terminfo).
In your particular problem, you are looking for the control sequences
^[[?47h and ^[[?47l. These switch between xterms alternate and main
screen buffer. As a quick workaround a command sequence like
echo -n "^[[?47h"; vim ... ; echo -n "^[[?47l" may do what you want. (My notation ^[ means the ESC character, further down you'll
see that the databases use \E instead).
On startup, vim echoes the value of the termcap variable ti (terminfo:
smcup) to the terminal. When exiting, it echoes te (terminfo: rmcup).
Thus these two variables are the correct place where the above
mentioned control sequences should go.
Compare your xterm termcap entry (found in /etc/termcap) with your
xterm terminfo entry (retrieved with "infocmp -C xterm"). Both should
contain entries similar to:
:te=\E[2J\E[?47l\E8:ti=\E7\E[?47h:
PS: If you find any difference, someone (your sysadmin?) should better
check
the complete termcap and terminfo database for consistency.
NOTE 1: If you recompile Vim with FEAT_XTERM_SAVE defined in
feature.h, the builtin xterm will include the mentioned "te" and "ti"
entries.
NOTE 2: If you want to disable the screen switching, and you don't
want to change your termcap, you can add these lines to your .vimrc:
:set t_ti= t_te=
Yes. You most certainly can.
Use the UNIX command to clear the screen.
clear
I didn't want to have to use a different command to exit Vim (e.g. :Qc as suggested) by manoj, and the EntangledLoops' .vimrc method didn't work for me.
Inspired by Plato's answer, I found a similar solution by putting the following function in .bashrc:
# Vim exits to clear terminal screen
function vim {
/usr/bin/env vim "$#" && clear
}
Using only vim inside the function was problematic due to the function calling itself recursively and creating an infinite loop, but adding /usr/bin/env eliminates this issue, ignoring the function and executing the first vim in the PATH.
Related
I am using Cygwin 1.7.22 (32-bit) on Windows 8 (64-bit). Within Cygwin, I am using Vim 7.3.1152, which is the default version.
Behavior that seem like bugs:
When I press I to enter insert mode, it does not say -- INSERT -- in the bottom left. In fact, it doesn't say anything. It does behave correctly, though.
When I delete letters using Backspace in insert mode, the letters do not disappear but the cursor does move to the left.
When I use the arrow keys in insert mode, it enters the letters A, B, C, and D, rather than moving the cursor. The arrow keys work normally outside of insert mode.
How do I make Vim behave as I expect?
Create a ~/.vimrc file with the following contents to put vim in nocompatible mode (actually the mere presence of the file is sufficient.)
set nocompatible
The behavior you are seeing is how vi used to behave. These are not bugs.
Take a look at :h nocompatible
In vim compatible mode tries to emulate vi as closely as possible.
--insert-- is not part of vi so it not shown in compatible mode.
I believe vi did a lazy redraw of the screen and didn't update until you exited back to normal mode. Also backspace is only usable also only works on stuff that was entered in the current insert mode. Overall its not very user friendly.
The arrow keys are sent to vim as escape sequences (escape followed by a coupled of letters). Let ^[ be escape. ^[OA is up on my computer its probably something similar on yours. vim sees this as an escape (goes back to normal mode), and O (add a line above the current) and A which is the A you see entered onto your screen. This just means that vim in compatible mode does not interpret the escape characters properly. Most likely because vi did not interpret them (nor was it designed to use them).
set nocompatible fixes problems 1 and 3.
I think set backspace=indent,eol,start should fix problem 2.
This was asked months ago, but I am answering for future reference for anyone else who encounters this problem.
I was just bitten by this issue. All advice listed in this post, and in other posts on this forum (not to mention posts on other forums) does not work, at least for some of us. I finally figured out the real issue.
vim on cygwin, for whatever reason (at least this was the case for me) does not use the .vimrc you put in your directory. Let's say you copy the example one to your working directory, or copy some .vimrc from online. Or maybe you create a new one from scratch, and put all the settings the good people here and elsewhere recommend (set backspace = blahblah, set nocompatible, set this, set that). It doesn't work. Why? Because for whatever reason (at least in my case) vim isn't looking at the .vimrc you just created.
The solution is to FORCE vim to use a particular .vimrc, by passing in -u on the command line like so:
vim -u [/INSERT/PATH/TO/.vimrc]
For the love of all that is holy, DO NOT type square brackets or the words "/INSERT/PATH/TO/.vimrc" verbatim. Use your brain please.
Anyway, this solved my problems and I was able to use the default example .vimrc and get proper delete and backspace behavior while in insert mode, not to mention other goodies.
You might want to alias the vim command in your .bashrc like this:
alias vim='vim -u [/INSERT/PATH/TO/.vimrc]'
Regarding A,B,C,D for arrow keys in Vim, adding:
:set term=cons25
to ~/.vimrc worked like a charm.
source: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Fix_arrow_keys_that_display_A_B_C_D_on_remote_shell
Following different answers in this topic I found a simple solution.
$ vi --version | head
VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2 (2019 Dec 12, compiled Mar 30 2020 21:54:08)
Included patches: 1-486
Modified by <cygwin#cygwin.com>
Compiled by <cygwin#cygwin.com>
$ vi --version | grep 'user vimrc'
user vimrc file: "$HOME/.virc"
2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
So I just created ~/.virc (not vimrc) and it works! The content of the file:
set nocompatible
Probably, if you already have this file you will add the above string in it. Or, as people say above, if you have an empty ~/.virc, nocompatible mode must be already in use (I didn't check it).
Apart of the question, line numbers (that I find very useful) may be shown in vi by adding:
set number
I am using Vim as my main editors for a few days now.
Using http://www.github.com/astrails/dotvim as the base of my installation.
The problem I am having is that when I run the specs, the result of the specs is not delayed on the screen and I can't see what is going on.
to further explain this, I have a video to demo the situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUB48XwNq0M&feature=plcp
I need to hide vim with CTRL+Z and then fg to show it again, that's obviously not good.
Would love help on this
** Edit **
I posted about the problem in more detail here:
http://avi.io/blog/2012/08/05/problem-with-running-spec-in-vim/
I would first check if this is the same behavior for any shell command you run, or just when you run spec files.
E.g. how does a simple run of 'ls' from within VIM behave?
:!ls
If the above waits for 'Enter', I would guess that you have a trailing space (or similar) in the mapping that runs your spec.
For example, adding this line to your .vimrc will map Leader-l to the 'ls' command and will prompt for 'Enter'.
nmap <leader>l :!ls<cr>
However if you add the same line with a trailing space at the end, it will exit the console immediately:
nmap <leader>l :!ls<cr>
So I would check the mapping you use to run the specs.
This might have something to do with :help more, but I think the best solution for this sort of thing is a combination of tmux and turbux.vim. See the video here.
I'm using gVim and I would like to know if there is a way to see the commands I've been typing.
For example, when I pressed the visual mode (v) I've got message -- Visual --, but I don't know which letters I've been pressing so far.
Is there a way to permanent see which characters/commands I've typing?
You can use this setting:
:set showcmd
Type :help 'showcmd' to read more.
You could set this up:
alias vim="vim -W ~/.last_vim_session_key_pressed"
But this file is written only when you exit vim. You can source it with vim -s but beware, with vim gui versions you can have problems.
Check your home directory for a .viminfo file.
This will have, among other things, a history from newest to oldest of recent commands you've typed.
There is a tricky way to show all vim keystrokes which were pressed by using -w parameter which record all the characters that you type in the file. The problem is, that vim writes keystrokes only when you exit Vim as Benoit already said.
To workaround this, Kana Natsuno came up with this single-line patch, which disables buffering of the -w option, so you have access to realtime stream of keystrokes. Then it's a matter of reading them (e.g. tail -f), parsing or you can try to display them in the statusbar (:set statusline).
Check out a custom build of Vim using Drew's live-stream-keystrokes branch of MacVim, to get the realtime stream of keystrokes.
Source: Vimprint - a Vim keystroke parser at Drew Neil blog
This is useful if you'd like to reveal the Vim pressed keystrokes in live video tutorials (or GIFs).
Is there a command which shows what was the last command in normal mode?
Suppose I accidently hit random key and got some unexpected result.
Sure I can undo it, but could I reveal what key was pressed and how it was interpreted?
Hit the colon (:) and then use the up arrow to start going back through previous commands. You can use the up/down arrows too to move around the list.
q: will show you command history in Vim.
q/ will show you history of searches.
And must importantly, :q will quit the mode.
The text from the last command is stored in the . register. You can see all registers by :display. Unfortunately it doesn't say what the started the normal command.
To see commands from : (command mode) you can use :hist or q: which is limited to the last 20 (by default).
Another ability is to save the undo buffer :wundo undo.bin -- but the undo buffer is binary.
But none of these actually answer your question. I'm curious if it can be done.
Entering colon : then ctrl+p shows your previous command, i.e., moving backward through your vim command history. ctrl+n moves forward.
This is very convenient if you're used to using the command line and prefer not to change your keyboard hand positioning to use arrow keys.
It is difficult to know it. You can play with the variables:
v:operator
v:count (and v:prevcount)
v:register
But you cannot fully get the last normal mode command issued.
However if you want to systematically record everything you type while in Vim, you can launch vim -W ~/.vim-last-scriptout (a Windows version: vim -W "%HOMEPATH%\Vim\.last-scriptout) You can alias it in your shell on a UNIX machine. Every single key, or control-key, will be recorded into that file. Note that if you happen to use gvim or vim -g (the GUI) you might encounter this bug.
If you want to replay this file you can use :source! (with the exclamation mark) or the -s option from the command line.
On Windows I have set gvimportable.exe -W gvim_directory\last_scriptout as my default editor in my Commander program (FreeCommander). This way I can always remember what I have typed to do something and repeat a sequence of commands on another file. Of course I have another shortcut for opening Vim and playing the scriptout.
Note that the file might be written only when Vim exits, so you have to lose your session to know what you've done.
Let's see if I can explain myself.
I use vi-mode in bash, which is really great since I'm used to Vi.
When I'm inside vim and type : (to go to ex mode), since I'm used to the vi-mode from bash, I feel the slowliness of having to use this mode like the "regular" way of using bash.
Question is: is there a way of using vim's ex-mode like bash's (or readline) vi-mode?
Not sure if I understand what you're trying to do, but it might be something like hitting q: in normal mode?
For users that use Vim or vi bindings almost everywhere, including on their shell command line, it really hurts when you leave that environment. If you're used to the vi bindings hyperdrive, going back to chords for skipping words and other manoeuvres is painful and slow. Operating systems also differ on their default bindings so Mac, for instance, supports option-arrow instead of control-arrow, adding to the pain.
But there is one place where this also happens where it's really upsetting: in Vim itself. When working in Vim and entering command mode using : the default readline editing returns. Chords all over again. How to fix this?
Simple: When in "normal" mode, that is, when navigating around, type q:
Vim will drop you at the bottom of a full Vim full screen editing experience, go for your life
Additionally the command history is available on previous lines in the buffer
You can yank and paste lines and edit the commands as much as you wish
To execute a command in "command" or "ex" mode just hit ENTER on the line you want to execute
Hitting enter on an empty line closes the buffer and does nothing
But this is just another buffer so you can quit it as usual with :q as well
Although ESC leaves the "ex" command line, ESC in the buffer will not leave the buffer, because it's an actual buffer
The q prefix is used to introduce macro recording, so the q: variant is perfectly mnemonic for entering recording of an "ex" command line.
Note that q: to enter the buffer editing mode is very similar to :q ! You may have hit that by accident sometimes ;-) Now you know how to get out of it!
Zigdon had this answer a long time ago, of course, but it's pretty darn sparse, but then again, so is the question. If Zigdon adds this extra detail to his answer I'll be happy to delete this answer so that there can be one good answer.