*gui.txt* Nvim VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar Nvim Graphical User Interface *gui* *GUI* Any client that supports the Nvim |ui-protocol| can be used as a UI for Nvim. And multiple UIs can connect to the same Nvim instance! The terms "UI" and "GUI" are often used interchangeably because all Nvim UI clients have the same potential capabilities; the "TUI" refers to a UI client that outputs to your terminal, whereas a "GUI" outputs directly to the OS graphics system. Except where noted, this document describes UI capabilities available to both TUI and GUI (assuming the UI supports the given feature). See |TUI| for notes specific to the terminal UI. Help tags with the "gui-" prefix refer to UI features, whereas help tags with the "ui-" prefix refer to the |ui-protocol|. Nvim provides a default, builtin UI (the |TUI|), but there are many other (third-party) GUIs that you can use instead: *vscode* - vscode-neovim (Nvim in VSCode!) https://github.com/vscode-neovim/vscode-neovim - Firenvim (Nvim in your web browser!) https://github.com/glacambre/firenvim - Neovide https://neovide.dev/ - Goneovim https://github.com/akiyosi/goneovim - Nvy https://github.com/RMichelsen/Nvy - Neovim-Qt (Qt5) https://github.com/equalsraf/neovim-qt - VimR (macOS) https://github.com/qvacua/vimr - Others https://github.com/neovim/neovim/wiki/Related-projects#gui Type |gO| to see the table of contents. ============================================================================== Starting the GUI *gui-config* *gui-start* *ginit.vim* *gui-init* *gvimrc* *$MYGVIMRC* For GUI-specific configuration Nvim provides the |UIEnter| event. This happens after other |initialization|s, or whenever a UI attaches (multiple UIs can connect to any Nvim instance). Example: this sets "g:gui" to the value of the UI's "rgb" field: > :autocmd UIEnter * let g:gui = filter(nvim_list_uis(),{k,v-> v.chan==v:event.chan})[0].rgb < *:winp* *:winpos* *E188* :winp[os] Display current position of the top left corner of the GUI vim window in pixels. Does not work in all versions. Also see |getwinpos()|, |getwinposx()| and |getwinposy()|. :winp[os] {X} {Y} *E466* Put the GUI vim window at the given {X} and {Y} coordinates. The coordinates should specify the position in pixels of the top left corner of the window. When the GUI window has not been opened yet, the values are remembered until the window is opened. The position is adjusted to make the window fit on the screen (if possible). *:wi* *:win* *:winsize* *E465* :win[size] {width} {height} Set the window height to {width} by {height} characters. Obsolete, use ":set lines=11 columns=22". ============================================================================== Scrollbars *gui-scrollbars* There are vertical scrollbars and a horizontal scrollbar. You may configure which ones appear with the 'guioptions' option. The interface looks like this (with `:set guioptions=mlrb`): > +------------------------------+ ` | File Edit Help | <- Menu bar (m) ` +-+--------------------------+-+ ` |^| |^| ` |#| Text area. |#| ` | | | | ` |v|__________________________|v| ` Normal status line -> |-+ File.c 5,2 +-| ` between Vim windows |^|""""""""""""""""""""""""""|^| ` | | | | ` | | Another file buffer. | | ` | | | | ` |#| |#| ` Left scrollbar (l) -> |#| |#| <- Right ` |#| |#| scrollbar (r) ` | | | | ` |v| |v| ` +-+--------------------------+-+ ` | |< #### >| | <- Bottom ` +-+--------------------------+-+ scrollbar (b) ` < Any of the scrollbar or menu components may be turned off by not putting the appropriate letter in the 'guioptions' string. The bottom scrollbar is only useful when 'nowrap' is set. VERTICAL SCROLLBARS *gui-vert-scroll* Each Vim window has a scrollbar next to it which may be scrolled up and down to move through the text in that buffer. The size of the scrollbar-thumb indicates the fraction of the buffer which can be seen in the window. When the scrollbar is dragged all the way down, the last line of the file will appear in the top of the window. If a window is shrunk to zero height (by the growth of another window) its scrollbar disappears. It reappears when the window is restored. If a window is vertically split, it will get a scrollbar when it is the current window and when, taking the middle of the current window and drawing a vertical line, this line goes through the window. When there are scrollbars on both sides, and the middle of the current window is on the left half, the right scrollbar column will contain scrollbars for the rightmost windows. The same happens on the other side. HORIZONTAL SCROLLBARS *gui-horiz-scroll* The horizontal scrollbar (at the bottom of the Vim GUI) may be used to scroll text sideways when the 'wrap' option is turned off. The scrollbar-thumb size is such that the text of the longest visible line may be scrolled as far as possible left and right. The cursor is moved when necessary, it must remain on a visible character (unless 'virtualedit' is set). Computing the length of the longest visible line takes quite a bit of computation, and it has to be done every time something changes. If this takes too much time or you don't like the cursor jumping to another line, include the 'h' flag in 'guioptions'. Then the scrolling is limited by the text of the current cursor line. ============================================================================== Drag and drop *drag-n-drop* You can drag and drop one or more files into the Vim window, where they will be opened as if a |:drop| command was used. If you hold down Shift while doing this, Vim changes to the first dropped file's directory. If you hold Ctrl Vim will always split a new window for the file. Otherwise it's only done if the current buffer has been changed. You can also drop a directory on Vim. This starts the explorer plugin for that directory (assuming it was enabled, otherwise you'll get an error message). Keep Shift pressed to change to the directory instead. If Vim happens to be editing a command line, the names of the dropped files and directories will be inserted at the cursor. This allows you to use these names with any Ex command. Special characters (space, tab, double quote and "|"; backslash on non-MS-Windows systems) will be escaped. ============================================================================== Menus *menus* For an introduction see |usr_42.txt| in the user manual. Using Menus *using-menus* Basically, menus can be used just like mappings. You can define your own menus, as many as you like. Long-time Vim users won't use menus much. But the power is in adding your own menus and menu items. They are most useful for things that you can't remember what the key sequence was. For creating menus in a different language, see |:menutrans|. *menu.vim* The default menus are read from the file "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim". See |$VIMRUNTIME| for where the path comes from. You can set up your own menus. Starting off with the default set is a good idea. You can add more items, or, if you don't like the defaults at all, start with removing all menus |:unmenu-all|. You can also avoid the default menus being loaded by adding this line to your vimrc file (NOT your gvimrc file!): > :let did_install_default_menus = 1 If you also want to avoid the Syntax menu: > :let did_install_syntax_menu = 1 The first item in the Syntax menu can be used to show all available filetypes in the menu (which can take a bit of time to load). If you want to have all filetypes already present at startup, add: > :let do_syntax_sel_menu = 1 Note that the menu.vim is sourced when `:syntax on` or `:filetype on` is executed or after your .vimrc file is sourced. This means that the 'encoding' option and the language of messages (`:language messages`) must be set before that (if you want to change them). *console-menus* Although this documentation is in the GUI section, you can actually use menus in console mode too. You will have to load |menu.vim| explicitly then, it is not done by default. You can use the |:emenu| command and command-line completion with 'wildmenu' to access the menu entries almost like a real menu system. To do this, put these commands in your vimrc file: > :source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim :set wildmenu :set cpo-=< :set wcm= :map :emenu Pressing will start the menu. You can now use the cursor keys to select a menu entry. Hit to execute it. Hit if you want to cancel. Creating New Menus *creating-menus* *:me* *:menu* *:noreme* *:noremenu* *E330* *E327* *E331* *E336* *E333* *E328* *E329* *E337* *E792* To create a new menu item, use the ":menu" commands. They are mostly like the ":map" set of commands (see |map-modes|), but the first argument is a menu item name, given as a path of menus and submenus with a '.' between them, e.g.: > :menu File.Save :w :inoremenu File.Save :w :menu Edit.Big\ Changes.Delete\ All\ Spaces :%s/[ ^I]//g This last one will create a new item in the menu bar called "Edit", holding the mouse button down on this will pop up a menu containing the item "Big Changes", which is a sub-menu containing the item "Delete All Spaces", which when selected, performs the operation. To create a menu for terminal mode, use |:tlmenu| instead of |:tmenu| unlike key mapping (|:tmap|). This is because |:tmenu| is already used for defining tooltips for menus. See |terminal-input|. Special characters in a menu name: *menu-shortcut* - & The next character is the shortcut key. Make sure each shortcut key is only used once in a (sub)menu. If you want to insert a literal "&" in the menu name use "&&". *menu-text* - Separates the menu name from right-aligned text. This can be used to show the equivalent typed command. The text "" can be used here for convenience. If you are using a real tab, don't forget to put a backslash before it! Example: > :amenu &File.&Open:e :browse e [typed literally] With the shortcut "F" (while keeping the key pressed), and then "O", this menu can be used. The second part is shown as "Open :e". The ":e" is right aligned, and the "O" is underlined, to indicate it is the shortcut. *:am* *:amenu* *:an* *:anoremenu* The ":amenu" command can be used to define menu entries for all modes at once, except for Terminal mode. To make the command work correctly, a character is automatically inserted for some modes: > mode inserted appended Normal nothing nothing Visual Insert Cmdline Op-pending < Example: > :amenu File.Next :next^M is equal to: > :nmenu File.Next :next^M :vmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G :imenu File.Next ^\^O:next^M :cmenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G :omenu File.Next ^C:next^M^\^G Careful: In Insert mode this only works for a SINGLE Normal mode command, because of the CTRL-O. If you have two or more commands, you will need to use the ":imenu" command. For inserting text in any mode, you can use the expression register: > :amenu Insert.foobar "='foobar'P The special text begins a "command menu", it executes the command directly without changing modes. Where you might use ":..." you can instead use "...". See || for more info. Example: > anoremenu File.Next next Note that in Cmdline mode executes the command, like in a mapping. This is Vi compatible. Use CTRL-C to quit Cmdline mode. *:nme* *:nmenu* *:nnoreme* *:nnoremenu* *:nunme* *:nunmenu* Menu commands starting with "n" work in Normal mode. |mapmode-n| *:ome* *:omenu* *:onoreme* *:onoremenu* *:ounme* *:ounmenu* Menu commands starting with "o" work in Operator-pending mode. |mapmode-o| *:vme* *:vmenu* *:vnoreme* *:vnoremenu* *:vunme* *:vunmenu* Menu commands starting with "v" work in Visual mode. |mapmode-v| *:xme* *:xmenu* *:xnoreme* *:xnoremenu* *:xunme* *:xunmenu* Menu commands starting with "x" work in Visual and Select mode. |mapmode-x| *:sme* *:smenu* *:snoreme* *:snoremenu* *:sunme* *:sunmenu* Menu commands starting with "s" work in Select mode. |mapmode-s| *:ime* *:imenu* *:inoreme* *:inoremenu* *:iunme* *:iunmenu* Menu commands starting with "i" work in Insert mode. |mapmode-i| *:cme* *:cmenu* *:cnoreme* *:cnoremenu* *:cunme* *:cunmenu* Menu commands starting with "c" work in Cmdline mode. |mapmode-c| *:tlm* *:tlmenu* *:tln* *:tlnoremenu* *:tlu* *:tlunmenu* Menu commands starting with "tl" work in Terminal mode. |mapmode-t| *:menu-* *:menu-silent* To define a menu which will not be echoed on the command line, add "" as the first argument. Example: > :menu Settings.Ignore\ case :set ic The ":set ic" will not be echoed when using this menu. Messages from the executed command are still given though. To shut them up too, add a ":silent" in the executed command: > :menu Search.Header :exe ":silent normal /Header\r" "" may also appear just after "