*message.txt* For Vim version 6.1. Last change: 2002 Feb 21 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar This file contains an alphabetical list of messages and error messages that Vim produces. You can use this if you don't understand what the message means. It is not complete though. 1. Old messages |:messages| 2. Error messages |error-messages| 3. Messages |messages|
1. Old messages *:messages* *:mes* *message-history* The ":messages" command can be used to view previously given messages. This is especially useful when messages have been overwritten or truncated. This depends on the 'shortmess' option. The number of remembered messages is fixed at 20. If you are using translated messages, the first printed line tells who maintains the messages or the translations. You can use this to contact the maintainer when you spot a mistake. If you want to find help on a specific (error) message, use the ID at the start of the message. For example, to get help on the message: > E72: Close error on swap file or (translated): > E72: Errore durante chiusura swap file Use: > :help E72 If you are lazy, it also works without the shift key: > :help e72
2. Error messages *error-messages* When an error message is displayed, but it is removed before you could read it, you can see it again with: > :echo errmsg or view a list of recent messages with: > :messages LIST OF MESSAGES *E222* *E228* *E232* *E256* *E293* *E298* *E304* *E317* *E318* *E356* *E438* *E439* *E440* *E316* *E320* *E322* *E323* *E341* > Add to read buffer makemap: Illegal mode Cannot create BalloonEval with both message and callback Hangul automata ERROR block was not locked Didn't get block nr{N}? ml_timestamp: Didn't get block 0?? pointer block id wrong{N}Updated too many blocks? get_varp ERROR u_undo: line numbers wrong undo list corrupt undo line missing ml_get: cannot find line{N}cannot find line{N}line number out of range:{N}past the end line count wrong in block{N}This is an internal error. If you can reproduce it, please send in a bug report. |bugs| > ATTENTION Found a swap file by the name ... See |ATTENTION|. *E92* > Buffer{N}not found The buffer you requested does not exist. This can also happen when you have wiped out a buffer which contains a mark or is referenced in another way. |:bwipeout| *E95* > Buffer with this name already exists You cannot have two buffers with the same name. *E72* > Close error on swap file The |swap-file|, that is used to keep a copy of the edited text, could not be closed properly. Mostly harmless. *E169* > Command too recursive This happens when an Ex command executes an Ex command that executes an Ex command, etc. This is only allowed 200 times. When it's more there probably is an endless loop. Probably a |:execute| or |:source| command is involved. *E254* > Cannot allocate color{name}The color name{name}is unknown. See |gui-colors| for a list of colors that are available on most systems. *E458* > Cannot allocate colormap entry for "xxxx" Cannot allocate colormap entry, some colors may be incorrect This means that there are not enough colors available for Vim. It will still run, but some of the colors will not appear in the specified color. Try stopping other applications that use many colors, or start them after starting gvim. Netscape is known to consume a lot of colors. You can avoid this by telling it to use its own colormap: > netscape -install Or tell it to limit to a certain number of colors (64 should work well): > netscape -ncols 64 This can also be done with a line in your Xdefaults file: > Netscape*installColormap: Yes or > Netscape*maxImageColors: 64 < *E79* > Cannot expand wildcards A filename contains a strange combination of characters, which causes Vim to attempt expanding wildcards but this fails. This does NOT mean that no matching file names could be found, but that the pattern was illegal. *E190* *E212* > Cannot open "{filename}" for writing Can't open file for writing For some reason the file you are writing to cannot be created or overwritten. The reason could be that you do not have permission to write in the directory or the file name is not valid. *E166* > Can't open linked file for writing You are trying to write to a file which can't be overwritten, and the file is a link (either a hard link or a symbolic link). Writing might still be possible if the directory that contains the link or the file is writable, but Vim now doesn't know if you want to delete the link and write the file in its place, or if you want to delete the file itself and write the new file in its place. If you really want to write the file under this name, you have to manually delete the link or the file, or change the permissions so that Vim can overwrite. *E46* > Cannot set read-only variable "{name}" You are trying to assign a value to an argument of a function |a:var| or a Vim internal variagble |v:var| which is read-only. *E90* > Cannot unload last buffer Vim always requires one buffer to be loaded, otherwise there would be nothing to display in the window. *E40* > Can't open errorfile<filename>When using the ":make" or ":grep" commands: The file used to save the error messages or grep output cannot be opened. This can have several causes: - 'shellredir' has a wrong value. - The shell changes directory, causing the error file to be written in another directory. This could be fixed by changing 'makeef', but then the make command is still executed in the wrong directory. - 'makeef' has a wrong value. - The 'grepprg' or 'makeprg' could not be executed. This cannot always be detected (especially on MS-Windows). Check your $PATH. > Can't open file C:\TEMP\VIoD243.TMP On MS-Windows, this message appears when the output of an external command was to be read, but the command didn't run successfully. This can be caused by many things. Check the 'shell', 'shellquote', 'shellxquote', 'shellslash' and related options. It might also be that the external command was not found, there is no different error message for that. *E12* > Command not allowed from exrc/vimrc in current dir or tag search Some commands are not allowed for security reasons. These commands mostly come from a .exrc or .vimrc file in the current directory, or from a tags file. Also see 'secure'. *E74* > Command too complex A mapping resulted in a very long command string. Could be caused by a mapping that indirectly calls itself. > CONVERSION ERROR When writing a file and the text "CONVERSION ERROR" appears, this means that some bits were lost when converting text from the internally used UTF-8 to the format of the file. The file will not be marked unmodified. If you care about the loss of information, set the 'fileencoding' option to another value that can handle the characters in the buffer and write again. If you don't care, you can abandon the buffer or reset the 'modified' option. *E302* > Could not rename swap file When the file name changes, Vim tries to rename the |swap-file| as well. This failed and the old swap file is now still used. Mostly harmless. *E43* *E44* > Damaged match string Corrupted regexp program Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a corrupted regexp. If you know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs| *E208* *E209* *E210* > Error writing to "{filename}" Error closing "{filename}" Error reading "{filename}" This occurs when Vim is trying to rename a file, but a simple change of file name doesn't work. Then the file will be copied, but somehow this failed. The result may be that both the original file and the destination file exist and the destination file may be incomplete. > Vim: Error reading input, exiting... This occurs when Vim cannot read typed characters while input is required. Vim got stuck, the only thing it can do is exit. This can happen when both stdin and stderr are redirected and executing a script that doesn't exit Vim. *E47* > Error while reading errorfile Reading the error file was not possible. This is NOT caused by an error message that was not recognized. *E80* > Error while writing Writing a file was not completed successfully. The file is probably incomplete. *E13* *E189* > File exists (use ! to override) "{filename}" exists (use ! to override) You are protected from accidentally overwriting a file. When you want to write anyway, use the same command, but add a "!" just after the command. Example: > :w /tmp/test changes to: > :w! /tmp/test < *E139* > File is loaded in another buffer You are trying to write a file under a name which is also used in another buffer. This would result in two versions of the same file. *E142* > File not written: Writing is disabled by 'write' option The 'write' option is off. This makes all commands that try to write a file generate this message. This could be caused by a |-m| commandline argument. You can switch the 'write' option on with ":set write". *E25* > GUI cannot be used: Not enabled at compile time You are running a version of Vim that doesn't include the GUI code. Therefore "gvim" and ":gui" don't work. *E49* > Invalid scroll size This is caused by setting an invalid value for the 'scroll', 'scrolljump' or 'scrolloff' options. *E17* > "{filename}" is a directory You tried to write a file with the name of a directory. This is not possible. You probably need to append a file name. *E19* > Mark has invalid line number You are using a mark that has a line number that doesn't exist. This can happen when you have a mark in another file, and some other program has deleted lines from it. *E219* *E220* > Missing {. Missing }. Using a{}construct in a file name, but there is a{ without a matching }or the other way around. It should be used like this:{foo,bar}. This matches "foo" and "bar". *E315* > ml_get: invalid lnum: This is an internal Vim error. Please try to find out how it can be reproduced, and submit a bug report |bugreport.vim|. *E173* >{number}more files to edit You are trying to exit, while the last item in the argument list has not been edited. This protects you from accidentally exiting when you still have more files to work on. See |argument-list|. If you do want to exit, just do it again and it will work. *E23* *E194* > No alternate file No alternate file name to substitute for '#' The alternate file is not defined yet. See |alternate-file|. *E32* > No file name The current buffer has no name. To write it, use ":w fname". Or give the buffer a name with ":file fname". *E141* > No file name for buffer{number}One of the buffers that was changed does not have a file name. Therefore it cannot be written. You need to give the buffer a file name: > :buffer{number}:file{filename}< *E33* > No previous substitute regular expression When using the '~' character in a pattern, it is replaced with the previously used pattern in a ":substitute" command. This fails when no such command has been used yet. See |/~|. *E35* > No previous regular expression When using an empty search pattern, the previous search pattern is used. But that is not possible if there was no previous search. *E24* > No such abbreviation You have used an ":unabbreviate" command with an argument which is not an existing abbreviation. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunabbrev", ":iunabbrev", etc. Check for trailing white space. > /dev/dsp: No such file or directory Only given for GTK GUI with Gnome support. Gnome tries to use the audio device and it isn't present. You can ignore this error. *E31* > No such mapping You have used an ":unmap" command with an argument which is not an existing mapping. All variations of this command give the same message: ":cunmap", ":unmap!", etc. Check for trailing white space. *E37* *E89* > No write since last change (use ! to override) No write since last change for buffer{N}(use ! to override) You are trying to |abandon| a file that has changes. Vim protects you from losing your work. You can either write the changed file with ":w", or, if you are sure, |abandon| it anyway, and lose all the changes. This can be done by adding a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: > :e other_file changes to: > :e! other_file < *E162* > No write since last change for buffer "{name}" This appears when you try to exit Vim while some buffers are changed. You will either have to write the changed buffer (with |:w|), or use a command to abandon the buffer forcefully, e.g., with ":qa!". Careful, make sure you don't throw away changes you really want to keep. You might have forgotten about a buffer, especially when 'hidden' is set. *E38* > Null argument Something inside Vim went wrong and resulted in a NULL pointer. If you know how to reproduce this problem, please report it. |bugs| *E172* > Only one file name allowed The ":edit" command only accepts one file name. When you want to specify several files for editing use ":next" |:next|. *E41* *E82* *E83* *E342* > Out of memory! Out of memory! (allocating{number}bytes) Cannot allocate any buffer, exiting... Cannot allocate buffer, using other one... Oh, oh. You must have been doing something complicated, or some other program is consuming your memory. Be careful! Vim is not completely prepared for an out-of-memory situation. First make sure that any changes are saved. Then try to solve the memory shortage. To stay on the safe side, exit Vim and start again. Also see |msdos-limitations|. *E339* > Pattern too long This only happens on systems with 16 bit ints: The compiled regexp pattern is longer than about 65000 characters. Try using a shorter pattern. *E45* > 'readonly' option is set (use ! to override) You are trying to write a file that was marked as read-only. To write the file anyway, either reset the 'readonly' option, or add a '!' character just after the command you used. Example: > :w changes to: > :w! < *E294* *E295* *E301* > Read error in swap file Seek error in swap file read Oops, lost the swap file!!! Vim tried to read text from the |swap-file|, but something went wrong. The text in the related buffer may now be corrupted! Check carefully before you write a buffer. You may want to write it in another file and check for differences. *E192* > Recursive use of :normal too deep You are using a ":normal" command, whose argument again uses a ":normal" command in a recursive way. This is restricted to 'maxmapdepth' levels. This example illustrates how to get this message: > :map gq :normal gq<CR>If you type "gq", it will execute this mapping, which will call "gq" again. *E22* > Scripts nested too deep Scripts can be read with the "-s" command-line argument and with the ":source" command. The script can then again read another script. This can continue for about 14 levels. When more nesting is done, Vim assumes that there is a recursive loop somewhere and stops with this error message. *E319* > Sorry, the command is not available in this version You have used a command that is not present in the version of Vim you are using. When compiling Vim, many different features can be enabled or disabled. This depends on how big Vim has chosen to be and the operating system. See |+feature-list| for when which feature is available. The |:version| command shows which feature Vim was compiled with. *E300* > Swap file already exists (symlink attack?) This message appears when Vim is trying to open a swap file and finds it already exists or finds a symbolic link in its place. This shouldn't happen, because Vim already checked that the file doesn't exist. Either someone else opened the same file at exactly the same moment (very unlikely) or someone is attempting a symlink attack (could happen when editing a file in /tmp or when 'directory' starts with "/tmp", which is a bad choice). *E432* > Tags file not sorted:{file name}Vim (and Vi) expect tags files to be sorted in ASCII order. Binary searching can then be used, which is a lot faster than a linear search. If your tags files are not properly sorted, reset the |'tagbsearch'| option. This message is only given when Vim detects a problem when searching for a tag. Sometimes this message is not given, even thought the tags file is not properly sorted. *E424* > Too many different highlighting attributes in use Vim can only handle about 223 different kinds of highlighting. If you run into this limit, you have used too many |:highlight| commands with different arguments. A ":highlight link" is not counted. *E77* > Too many file names When expanding file names, more than one match was found. Only one match is allowed for the command that was used. *E303* > Unable to open swap file for "{filename}", recovery impossible Vim was not able to create a swap file. You can still edit the file, but if Vim unexpected exits the changes will be lost. And Vim may consume a lot of memory when editing a big file. You may want to change the 'directory' option to avoid this error. See |swap-file|. *E140* > Use ! to write partial buffer When using a range to write part of a buffer, it is unusual to overwrite the original file. It is probably a mistake (e.g., when Visual mode was active when using ":w"), therefore Vim requires using a ! after the command, e.g.: ":3,10w!". > Warning: Cannot convert string "<Key>Escape,_Key_Cancel" to type VirtualBinding Messages like this appear when starting up. This is not a Vim problem, your X11 configuration is wrong. You can find a hint on how to solve this here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisonintel/message/12179. *W10* > Warning: Changing a readonly file The file is read-only and you are making a change to it anyway. You can use the |FileChangedRO| autocommand event to avoid this message (the autocommand must reset the 'readonly' option). See 'modifiable' to completely disallow making changes to a file. *W13* > Warning: File "{filename}" has been created after editing started You are editing a file in Vim when it didn't exist, but it does exist now. You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in Vim or the newly created file. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. *W11* > Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started The file which you have started editing has got another timestamp and the contents changed (more precisely: When reading the file again with the current option settings and autocommands you would end up with different text). This probably means that some other program changed the file. You will have to find out what happened, and decide which version of the file you want to keep. Set the 'autoread' option if you want to do this automatically. There is one situation where you get this message even though there is nothing wrong: If you save a file in Windows on the day the daylight saving time starts. It can be fixed by adding this line in your autoexec.bat: > SET TZ=-1 Adjust the "-1" for your time zone. Or just write the file again the next day. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. *W12* > Warning: File "{filename}" has changed and the buffer was changed in Vim as well Like the above, and the buffer for the file was changed in this Vim as well. You will have to decide if you want to keep the version in this Vim or the one on disk. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. *W16* > Warning: Mode of file "{filename}" has changed since editing started When the timestamp for a buffer was changed and the contents are still the same but the mode (permissions) have changed. This usually occurs when checking out a file from a version control system, which causes the read-only bit to be reset. It should be safe to reload the file. Set 'autoread' to automatically reload the file. *E211* > Warning: File "{filename}" no longer available The file which you have started editing has disappeared, or is no longer accessible. Make sure you write the buffer somewhere to avoid loosing changes. This message is not given when 'buftype' is not empty. *W14* > Warning: List of file names overflow You must be using an awful lot of buffers. It's now possible that two buffers have the same number, which causes various problems. You might want to exit Vim and restart it. *E296* *E297* > Seek error in swap file write Write error in swap file This mostly happens when the disk is full. Vim could not write text into the |swap-file|. It's not directly harmful, but when Vim unexpectedly exits some text may be lost without recovery being possible. Vim might run out of memory when this problem persists. *connection-refused* > Xlib: connection to "<machine-name:0.0" refused by server This happens when Vim tries to connect to the X server, but the X server does not allow a connection. The connection to the X server is needed to be able to restore the title and for the xterm clipboard support. Unfortunately this error message cannot be avoided, except by disabling the |+xterm_clipboard| and |+X11| features. *E10* > \\ should be followed by /, ? or & A command line started with a backslash or the range of a command contained a backslash in a wrong place. This is often caused by command-line continuation being disabled. Remove the 'C' flag from the 'cpoptions' option to enable it.
3. Messages *messages* This is an (incomplete) overview of various messages that Vim gives: *hit-enter* *press-enter* *hit-return* *press-return* > Hit ENTER or type command to continue This message is given when there is something on the screen for you to read, and the screen is about to be redrawn: - After executing an external command (e.g., ":!ls" and "="). - Something is displayed on the status line that is longer than the width of the window, or runs into the 'showcmd' or 'ruler' output. -> Hit<Enter>or<Space>to redraw the screen and continue, without that key being used otherwise. -> Hit ":" or any other Normal mode command character to start that command. -> Hit<C-Y>to copy (yank) a modeless selection to the clipboard register. -> Use a menu. The characters defined for Cmdline-mode are used.{Vi: only ":" commands are interpreted}To reduce the number of hit-enter prompts: - Set 'cmdheight' to 2 or higher. - Add flags to 'shortmess'. - Reset 'showcmd' and/or 'ruler'. Also see 'mouse'. It is highlighted with the |hl-Question| group. *more-prompt* > -- More -- -- More -- (RET: line, SPACE: page, d: half page, q: quit) -- More -- (RET/BS: line, SPACE/b: page, d/u: half page, q: quit) This message is given when the screen is filled with messages. It is only given when the 'more' option is on. It is highlighted with the |hl-MoreMsg| group.Type effect<CR>or<NL>or j or<Down>one more line<BS>or k or<Up>one line back (*)<Space>or<PageDown>next page b or<PageUp>previous page (*) d down half a page u up half a page (*) q,<Esc>orCTRL-Cstop the listing : stop the listing and enter a command-line<C-Y>yank (copy) a modeless selection to the clipboard ("* and "+ registers){menu-entry}what the menu is defined to in Cmdline-mode. Any other key causes the meaning of the keys to be displayed. (*) backwards scrolling is only supported for these commands: > :clistNote:The typed key is directly obtained from the terminal, it is not mapped and typeahead is ignored. vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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