Help

Overview

The Vim documentation consists of two parts:

  1. The User manual Task oriented explanations, from simple to complex. Reads from start to end like a book.
  2. The Reference manual Precise description of how everything in Vim works.

If you only have a generic keyword to search for, use :helpgrep and open the quickfix window:

:helpgrep quickfix
:copen

How to...

Jump to a subject

  • put cursor on a subject tag (blue text), and hit <C-]>
    • In fact, this works on any word
  • return with <C-o>, or <C-t>

Get specific help

we can prepend a binding with the mode to see what it does, and get help on it

  • ex. :help v_u to get help on what u command does in visual mode.
  • ex. :help CTRL-W_CTRL-I
  • ex. :help i_CTRL-G_<Down>
  • ex. :help i^W

prefixes: visual mode - v_ insert mode - i_, Ex mode - :

  • normal mode has no prefix

UE Resources

Guide to using vim help