# Vim documentation: arabic

main help file

    *arabic.txt*	For Vim version 7.2b.  Last change: 2005 Mar 29

    		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL	  by Nadim Shaikli

    Arabic Language support (options & mappings) for Vim		*Arabic*

    {Vi does not have any of these commands}

    								*E800*
    In order to use right-to-left and Arabic mapping support, it is
    necessary to compile VIM with the |+arabic| feature.

    These functions have been created by Nadim Shaikli <nadim-at-arabeyes.org>

    It is best to view this file with these settings within VIM's GUI:

    	:set encoding=utf-8
    	:set arabicshape

    Introduction
    Arabic is a rather demanding language in which a number of special
    features are required.	Characters are right-to-left oriented and
    ought to appear as such on the screen (i.e. from right to left).
    Arabic also requires shaping of its characters, meaning the same
    character has a different visual form based on its relative location
    within a word (initial, medial, final or stand-alone).	Arabic also
    requires two different forms of combining and the ability, in
    certain instances, to either superimpose up to two characters on top
    of another (composing) or the actual substitution of two characters
    into one (combining).  Lastly, to display Arabic properly one will
    require not only ISO-8859-6 (U+0600-U+06FF) fonts, but will also
    require Presentation Form-B (U+FE70-U+FEFF) fonts both of which are
    subsets within a so-called ISO-10646-1 font.

    The commands, prompts and help files are not in Arabic, therefore
    the user interface remains the standard Vi interface.

    Highlights
    o  Editing left-to-right files as in the original VIM hasn't changed.

    o  Viewing and editing files in right-to-left windows.	 File
       orientation is per window, so it is possible to view the same
       file in right-to-left and left-to-right modes, simultaneously.

    o  No special terminal with right-to-left capabilities is required.
       The right-to-left changes are completely hardware independent.
       Only Arabic fonts are necessary.

    o  Compatible with the original VIM.   Almost all features work in
       right-to-left mode (there are liable to be bugs).

    o  Changing keyboard mapping and reverse insert modes using a single
       command.

    o  Toggling complete Arabic support via a single command.

    o  While in Arabic mode, numbers are entered from left to right.  Upon
       entering a none number character, that character will be inserted
       just into the left of the last number.

    o  Arabic keymapping on the command line in reverse insert mode.

    o  Proper Bidirectional functionality is possible given VIM is
       started within a Bidi capable terminal emulator.

    Arabic Fonts						*arabicfonts*

    VIM requires monospaced fonts of which there are many out there.
    Arabic requires ISO-8859-6 as well as Presentation Form-B fonts
    (without Form-B, Arabic will _NOT_ be usable).	It is highly
    recommended that users search for so-called 'ISO-10646-1' fonts.
    Do an Internet search or check www.arabeyes.org for further
    info on where to attain the necessary Arabic fonts.

    Font Installation

    o  Installation of fonts for X Window systems (Unix/Linux)

       Depending on your system, copy your_ARABIC_FONT file into a
       directory of your choice.  Change to the directory containing
       the Arabic fonts and execute the following commands:

         %	mkfontdir
         %	xset +fp path_name_of_arabic_fonts_directory

    Usage
    Prior to the actual usage of Arabic within VIM, a number of settings
    need to be accounted for and invoked.

    o  Setting the Arabic fonts

       +  For VIM GUI set the 'guifont' to your_ARABIC_FONT.  This is done
          by entering the following command in the VIM window.

    		:set guifont=your_ARABIC_FONT

          NOTE: the string 'your_ARABIC_FONT' is used to denote a complete
    	    font name akin to that used in Linux/Unix systems.
    	    (e.g. -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--20-200-75-75-c-100-iso10646-1)

          You can append the 'guifont' set command to your .vimrc file
          in order to get the same above noted results.  In other words,
          you can include ':set guifont=your_ARABIC_FONT' to your .vimrc
          file.

       +  Under the X Window environment, you can also start VIM with
          '-fn your_ARABIC_FONT' option.

    o  Setting the appropriate character Encoding
       To enable the correct Arabic encoding the following command needs
       to be appended,

    		:set encoding=utf-8

       to your .vimrc file (entering the command manually into you VIM
       window is highly discouraged).  In short, include ':set
       encoding=utf-8' to your .vimrc file.

       Attempts to use Arabic without UTF-8 will result the following
       warning message,

    								*W17*
         Arabic requires UTF-8, do ':set encoding=utf-8'

    o  Enable Arabic settings [short-cut]

       In order to simplify and streamline things, you can either invoke
       VIM with the command-line option,

         % vim -A my_utf8_arabic_file ...

       or enable 'arabic' via the following command within VIM

    		:set arabic

       The two above noted possible invocations are the preferred manner
       in which users are instructed to proceed.  Baring an enabled 'termbidi'
       setting, both command options:

         1. set the appropriate keymap
         2. enable the deletion of a single combined pair character
         3. enable rightleft    mode
         4. enable rightleftcmd mode (affecting the command-line)
         5. enable arabicshape  mode (do visual character alterations)

       You may also append the command to your .vimrc file and simply
       include ':set arabic' to it.

       You are also capable of disabling Arabic support via

    		:set noarabic

       which resets everything that the command had enabled without touching
       the global settings as they could affect other possible open buffers.
       In short the 'noarabic' command,

         1. resets to the alternate keymap
         2. disables the deletion of a single combined pair character
         3. disables rightleft mode

       NOTE: the 'arabic' command takes into consideration 'termbidi' for
    	 possible external bi-directional (bidi) support from the
    	 terminal ("mlterm" for instance offers such support).
    	 'termbidi', if available, is superior to rightleft support
    	 and its support is preferred due to its level of offerings.
    	 'arabic' when 'termbidi' is enabled only sets the keymap.

       If, on the other hand, you'd like to be verbose and explicit and
       are opting not to use the 'arabic' short-cut command, here's what
       is needed (i.e. if you use ':set arabic' you can skip this section) -

       +  Arabic Keymapping Activation

          To activate the Arabic keymap (i.e. to remap your English/Latin
          keyboard to look-n-feel like a standard Arabic one), set the
          'keymap' command to "arabic".  This is done by entering

    		:set keymap=arabic

          in your VIM window.  You can also append the 'keymap' set command to
          your .vimrc file.  In other words, you can include ':set keymap=arabic'
          to your .vimrc file.

          To turn toggle (or switch) your keymapping between Arabic and the
          default mapping (English), it is advised that users use the 'CTRL-^'
          key press while in insert (or add/replace) mode.	The command-line
          will display your current mapping by displaying an "Arabic" string
          next to your insertion mode (e.g. -- INSERT Arabic --) indicating
          your current keymap.

       +  Arabic deletion of a combined pair character

          By default VIM has the 'delcombine' option disabled.  This option
          allows the deletion of ALEF in a LAM_ALEF (LAA) combined character
          and still retain the LAM (i.e. it reverts to treating the combined
          character as its natural two characters form -- this also pertains
          to harakat and their combined forms).  You can enable this option
          by entering

    		:set delcombine

          in our VIM window.  You can also append the 'delcombine' set command
          to your .vimrc file.  In other words, you can include ':set delcombine'
          to your .vimrc file.

       +  Arabic right-to-left Mode

          By default VIM starts in Left-to-right mode.  'rightleft' is the
          command that allows one to alter a window's orientation - that can
          be accomplished via,

          - Toggling between left-to-right and right-to-left modes is
    	accomplished through ':set rightleft' and ':set norightleft'.

          - While in Left-to-right mode, enter ':set rl' in the command line
    	('rl' is the abbreviation for rightleft).

          - Put the ':set rl' line in your '.vimrc' file to start Vim in
    	right-to-left mode permanently.

       +  Arabic right-to-left command-line Mode

          For certain commands the editing can be done in right-to-left mode.
          Currently this is only applicable to search commands.

          This is controlled with the 'rightleftcmd' option.  The default is
          "search", which means that windows in which 'rightleft' is set will
          edit search commands in right-left mode.	To disable this behavior,

    		:set rightleftcmd=

          To enable right-left editing of search commands again,

    		:set rightleftcmd&

       +  Arabic Shaping Mode

          To activate the required visual characters alterations (shaping,
          composing, combining) which the Arabic language requires, enable
          the 'arabicshape' command.  This is done by entering

    		:set arabicshape

          in our VIM window.  You can also append the 'arabicshape' set
          command to your .vimrc file.  In other words, you can include
          ':set arabicshape' to your .vimrc file.

    Keymap/Keyboard						*arabickeymap*

    The character/letter encoding used in VIM is the standard UTF-8.
    It is widely discouraged that any other encoding be used or even
    attempted.

    Note: UTF-8 is an all encompassing encoding and as such is
          the only supported (and encouraged) encoding with
          regard to Arabic (all other proprietary encodings
          should be discouraged and frowned upon).

    o  Keyboard

       +  CTRL-^ in insert/replace mode toggles between Arabic/Latin mode

       +  Keyboard mapping is based on the Microsoft's Arabic keymap (the
          defacto standard in the Arab world):

      +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
      |!   |@   |#   |$   |%   |^   |&   |*   |(   |)   |_   |+   ||   |~  ّ |
      |1 ١ |2 ٢ |3 ٣ |4 ٤ |5 ٥ |6 ٦ |7 ٧ |8 ٨ |9 ٩ |0 ٠ |-   |=   |\   |` ذ ||||||||||||||||
      +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
           |Q  َ |W  ً |E  ُ |R  ٌ |T لإ |Y إ |U ` |I ÷ |O x |P ؛ |{ < |} > ||||||||||||||
           |q ض |w ص |e ث |r ق |t ف |y غ |u ع |i ه |o خ |p ح |[ ج |] د ||||||||||||||
           +-----------------------------------------------------------+
    	 |A  ِ |S  ٍ |D [ |F ] |G لأ |H أ |J ـ |K ، |L / |:   |"   |
    	 |a ش |s س |d ي |f ب |g ل |h ا |j ت |k ن |l م |; ك |' ط |
    	 +------------------------------------------------------+
    	   |Z ~ |X  ْ |C { |V } |B لآ |N آ |M ' |< , |> . |? ؟ ||||||||||||
    	   |z ئ |x ء |c ؤ |v ر |b لا |n ى |m ة |, و |. ز |/ ظ ||||||||||||
    	   +-------------------------------------------------+

    Restrictions

    o  VIM in its GUI form does not currently support Bi-directionality
       (i.e. the ability to see both Arabic and Latin intermixed within
       the same line).

    Known Bugs

    There is one known minor bug,

     1. If you insert a haraka (e.g. Fatha (U+064E)) after a LAM (U+0644)
        and then insert an ALEF (U+0627), the appropriate combining will
        not happen due to the sandwiched haraka resulting in something
        that will NOT be displayed correctly.

        WORK-AROUND: Don't include harakats between LAM and ALEF combos.
    		 In general, don't anticipate to see correct visual
    		 representation with regard to harakats and LAM+ALEF
    		 combined characters (even those entered after both
    		 characters).  The problem noted is strictly a visual
    		 one, meaning saving such a file will contain all the
    		 appropriate info/encodings - nothing is lost.

    No other bugs are known to exist.

    top - main help file