*os_win32.txt*  For Vim version 7.0aa.  Last change: 2005 Mar 29


		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by George Reilly


						*win32* *Win32* *MS-Windows*
This file documents the idiosyncrasies of the Win32 version of Vim.

The Win32 version of Vim works on both Windows NT and Windows 95.  There are
both console and GUI versions.  There is GUI version for use in the Win32s
subsystem in Windows 3.1[1].  You can also use the 32-bit DOS version of Vim
instead.  See |os_msdos.txt|.

1. Known problems		|win32-problems|
2. Startup			|win32-startup|
3. Restore screen contents	|win32-restore|
4. Using the mouse		|win32-mouse|
5. Running under Windows 3.1	|win32-win3.1|
6. Win32 mini FAQ		|win32-faq|

Additionally, there are a number of common Win32 and DOS items:
File locations			|dos-locations|
Using backslashes		|dos-backslash|
Standard mappings		|dos-standard-mappings|
Screen output and colors	|dos-colors|
File formats			|dos-file-formats|
:cd command			|dos-:cd|
Interrupting			|dos-CTRL-Break|
Temp files			|dos-temp-files|
Shell option default		|dos-shell|

Win32 GUI			|gui-w32|

Credits:
The Win32 version was written by George V. Reilly <george@reilly.org>.
The original Windows NT port was done by Roger Knobbe <RogerK@wonderware.com>.
The GUI version was made by George V. Reilly and Robert Webb.

For compiling see "src/INSTALL.pc".			*win32-compiling*

==============================================================================
1. Known problems				*windows95* *win32-problems*

There are a few known problems with running in a console on Windows 95.  As
far as we know, this is the same in Windows 98 and Windows ME.

Comments from somebody working at Microsoft: "Win95 console support has always
been and will always be flaky".
1.  Dead key support doesn't work.
2.  Resizing the window with ":set columns=nn lines=nn" works, but executing
    external commands MAY CAUSE THE SYSTEM TO HANG OR CRASH.
3.  Screen updating is slow, unless you change 'columns' or 'lines' to a
    non-DOS value.  But then the second problem applies!

If this bothers you, use the 32 bit MS-DOS version or the Win32 GUI version.

When doing file name completion, Vim also finds matches for the short file
name.  But Vim will still find and use the corresponding long file name.  For
example, if you have the long file name "this_is_a_test" with the short file
name "this_i~1", the command ":e *1" will start editing "this_is_a_test".

==============================================================================
2. Startup						*win32-startup*

Current directory					*win32-curdir*

If Vim is started with a single file name argument, and it has a full path
(starts with "x:\"), Vim assumes it was started from the file explorer and
will set the current directory to where that file is.  To avoid this when
typing a command to start Vim, use a forward slash instead of a backslash.
Example: >

	vim c:\text\files\foo.txt

Will change to the "C:\text\files" directory. >

	vim c:/text\files\foo.txt

Will use the current directory.


Term option						*win32-term*

The only kind of terminal type that the Win32 version of Vim understands is
"win32", which is built-in.  If you set 'term' to anything else, you will
probably get very strange behavior from Vim.  Therefore Vim does not obtain
the default value of 'term' from the environment variable "TERM".

==============================================================================
3. Restore screen contents				*win32-restore*

When 'restorescreen' is set (which is the default), Vim will restore the
original contents of the console when exiting or when executing external
commands.  If you don't want this, use ":set nors".	|'restorescreen'|

==============================================================================
4. Using the mouse					*win32-mouse*

The Win32 version of Vim supports using the mouse.  If you have a two-button
mouse, the middle button can be emulated by pressing both left and right
buttons simultaneously - but note that in the Win32 GUI, if you have the right
mouse button pop-up menu enabled (see 'mouse'), you should err on the side of
pressing the left button first.				|mouse-using|

When the mouse doesn't work, try disabling the "Quick Edit Mode" feature of
the console.

==============================================================================
5. Running under Windows 3.1				*win32-win3.1*

						*win32s* *windows-3.1*
There is a special version of Gvim that runs under Windows 3.1 and 3.11.  You
need the gvim.exe that was compiled with Visual C++ 4.1.

To run the Win32 version under Windows 3.1, you need to install Win32s.  You
might have it already from another Win32 application which you have installed.
If Vim doesn't seem to be running properly, get the latest version:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         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