*sign.txt* For Vim version 8.1. Last change: 2019 Jan 17 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Gordon Prieur and Bram Moolenaar Sign Support Features *sign-support* 1. Introduction |sign-intro| 2. Commands |sign-commands| {Vi does not have any of these features} {only available when compiled with the |+signs| feature} ============================================================================== 1. Introduction *sign-intro* *signs* When a debugger or other IDE tool is driving an editor it needs to be able to give specific highlights which quickly tell the user useful information about the file. One example of this would be a debugger which had an icon in the left-hand column denoting a breakpoint. Another example might be an arrow representing the Program Counter (PC). The sign features allow both placement of a sign, or icon, in the left-hand side of the window and definition of a highlight which will be applied to that line. Displaying the sign as an image is most likely only feasible in gvim (although Sun Microsystem's dtterm does support this it's the only terminal emulator I know of which does). A text sign and the highlight should be feasible in any color terminal emulator. Signs and highlights are not useful just for debuggers. Sun's Visual WorkShop uses signs and highlights to mark build errors and SourceBrowser hits. Additionally, the debugger supports 8 to 10 different signs and highlight colors, see |NetBeans|. There are two steps in using signs: 1. Define the sign. This specifies the image, text and highlighting. For example, you can define a "break" sign with an image of a stop roadsign and text "!!". 2. Place the sign. This specifies the file and line number where the sign is displayed. A defined sign can be placed several times in different lines and files. *sign-column* When signs are defined for a file, Vim will automatically add a column of two characters to display them in. When the last sign is unplaced the column disappears again. This behavior can be changed with the 'signcolumn' option. The color of the column is set with the SignColumn group |hl-SignColumn|. Example to set the color: > :highlight SignColumn guibg=darkgrey < *sign-identifier* Each placed sign is identified by a number called the sign identifier. This identifier is used to jump to the sign or to remove the sign. The identifier is assigned when placing the sign using the |:sign-place| command or the |sign_place()| function. Each sign identifier should be a unique number. If multiple placed signs use the same identifier, then jumping to or removing a sign becomes unpredictable. To avoid overlapping identifiers, sign groups can be used. The |sign_place()| function can be called with a zero sign identifier to allocate the next available identifier. *sign-group* Each placed sign can be assigned to either the global group or a named group. When placing a sign, if a group name is not supplied, or an empty string is used, then the sign is placed in the global group. Otherwise the sign is placed in the named group. The sign identifier is unique within a group. The sign group allows Vim plugins to use unique signs without interfering with other plugins using signs. *sign-priority* Each placed sign is assigned a priority value. When multiple signs are placed on the same line, the attributes of the sign with the highest priority is used independent of the sign group. The default priority for a sign is 10. The priority is assigned at the time of placing a sign. When the line on which the sign is placed is deleted, the sign is moved to the next line (or the last line of the buffer, if there is no next line). When the delete is undone the sign does not move back. ============================================================================== 2. Commands *sign-commands* *:sig* *:sign* Here is an example that places a sign "piet", displayed with the text ">>", in line 23 of the current file: > :sign define piet text=>> texthl=Search :exe ":sign place 2 line=23 name=piet file=" . expand("%:p") And here is the command to delete it again: > :sign unplace 2 Note that the ":sign" command cannot be followed by another command or a comment. If you do need that, use the |:execute| command. DEFINING A SIGN. *:sign-define* *E255* *E160* *E612* See |sign_define()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign define {name} {argument}... Define a new sign or set attributes for an existing sign. The {name} can either be a number (all digits) or a name starting with a non-digit. Leading zeros are ignored, thus "0012", "012" and "12" are considered the same name. About 120 different signs can be defined. Accepted arguments: icon={bitmap} Define the file name where the bitmap can be found. Should be a full path. The bitmap should fit in the place of two characters. This is not checked. If the bitmap is too big it will cause redraw problems. Only GTK 2 can scale the bitmap to fit the space available. toolkit supports ~ GTK 1 pixmap (.xpm) GTK 2 many Motif pixmap (.xpm) Win32 .bmp, .ico, .cur pixmap (.xpm) |+xpm_w32| linehl={group} Highlighting group used for the whole line the sign is placed in. Most useful is defining a background color. text={text} *E239* Define the text that is displayed when there is no icon or the GUI is not being used. Only printable characters are allowed and they must occupy one or two display cells. texthl={group} Highlighting group used for the text item. DELETING A SIGN *:sign-undefine* *E155* See |sign_undefine()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign undefine {name} Deletes a previously defined sign. If signs with this {name} are still placed this will cause trouble. LISTING SIGNS *:sign-list* *E156* See |sign_getdefined()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign list Lists all defined signs and their attributes. :sign list {name} Lists one defined sign and its attributes. PLACING SIGNS *:sign-place* *E158* See |sign_place()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign place {id} line={lnum} name={name} file={fname} Place sign defined as {name} at line {lnum} in file {fname}. *:sign-fname* The file {fname} must already be loaded in a buffer. The exact file name must be used, wildcards, $ENV and ~ are not expanded, white space must not be escaped. Trailing white space is ignored. The sign is remembered under {id}, this can be used for further manipulation. {id} must be a number. It's up to the user to make sure the {id} is used only once in each file (if it's used several times unplacing will also have to be done several times and making changes may not work as expected). The following optional sign attributes can be specified before "file=": group={group} Place sign in sign group {group} priority={prio} Assign priority {prio} to sign By default, the sign is placed in the global sign group. By default, the sign is assigned a default priority of 10. To assign a different priority value, use "priority={prio}" to specify a value. The priority is used to determine the highlight group used when multiple signs are placed on the same line. Examples: > :sign place 5 line=3 name=sign1 file=a.py :sign place 6 group=g2 line=2 name=sign2 file=x.py :sign place 9 group=g2 priority=50 line=5 \ name=sign1 file=a.py < :sign place {id} line={lnum} name={name} [buffer={nr}] Same, but use buffer {nr}. If the buffer argument is not given, place the sign in the current buffer. *E885* :sign place {id} name={name} file={fname} Change the placed sign {id} in file {fname} to use the defined sign {name}. See remark above about {fname} |:sign-fname|. This can be used to change the displayed sign without moving it (e.g., when the debugger has stopped at a breakpoint). The optional "group={group}" attribute can be used before "file=" to select a sign in a particular group. :sign place {id} name={name} [buffer={nr}] Same, but use buffer {nr}. If the buffer argument is not given, use the current buffer. REMOVING SIGNS *:sign-unplace* *E159* See |sign_unplace()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign unplace {id} file={fname} Remove the previously placed sign {id} from file {fname}. See remark above about {fname} |:sign-fname|. :sign unplace {id} group={group} file={fname} Same but remove the sign {id} in sign group {group}. :sign unplace {id} group=* file={fname} Same but remove the sign {id} from all the sign groups. :sign unplace * file={fname} Remove all placed signs in file {fname}. :sign unplace * group={group} file={fname} Remove all placed signs in group {group} from file {fname}. :sign unplace * group=* file={fname} Remove all placed signs in all the groups from file {fname}. :sign unplace {id} buffer={nr} Remove the previously placed sign {id} from buffer {nr}. :sign unplace {id} group={group} buffer={nr} Remove the previously placed sign {id} in group {group} from buffer {nr}. :sign unplace {id} group=* buffer={nr} Remove the previously placed sign {id} in all the groups from buffer {nr}. :sign unplace * buffer={nr} Remove all placed signs in buffer {nr}. :sign unplace * group={group} buffer={nr} Remove all placed signs in group {group} from buffer {nr}. :sign unplace * group=* buffer={nr} Remove all placed signs in all the groups from buffer {nr}. :sign unplace {id} Remove the previously placed sign {id} from all files it appears in. :sign unplace {id} group={group} Remove the previously placed sign {id} in group {group} from all files it appears in. :sign unplace {id} group=* Remove the previously placed sign {id} in all the groups from all the files it appears in. :sign unplace * Remove all placed signs in the global group from all the files. :sign unplace * group={group} Remove all placed signs in group {group} from all the files. :sign unplace * group=* Remove all placed signs in all the groups from all the files. :sign unplace Remove a placed sign at the cursor position. If multiple signs are placed in the line, then only one is removed. :sign unplace group={group} Remove a placed sign in group {group} at the cursor position. :sign unplace group=* Remove a placed sign in any group at the cursor position. LISTING PLACED SIGNS *:sign-place-list* See |sign_getplaced()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign place file={fname} List signs placed in file {fname}. See remark above about {fname} |:sign-fname|. :sign place group={group} file={fname} List signs in group {group} placed in file {fname}. :sign place group=* file={fname} List signs in all the groups placed in file {fname}. :sign place buffer={nr} List signs placed in buffer {nr}. :sign place group={group} buffer={nr} List signs in group {group} placed in buffer {nr}. :sign place group=* buffer={nr} List signs in all the groups placed in buffer {nr}. :sign place List placed signs in the global group in all files. :sign place group={group} List placed signs with sign group {group} in all files. :sign place group=* List placed signs in all sign groups in all files. JUMPING TO A SIGN *:sign-jump* *E157* See |sign_jump()| for the equivalent Vim script function. :sign jump {id} file={fname} Open the file {fname} or jump to the window that contains {fname} and position the cursor at sign {id}. See remark above about {fname} |:sign-fname|. If the file isn't displayed in window and the current file can not be |abandon|ed this fails. :sign jump {id} group={group} file={fname} Same but jump to the sign in group {group} :sign jump {id} [buffer={nr}] *E934* Same, but use buffer {nr}. This fails if buffer {nr} does not have a name. If the buffer argument is not given, use the current buffer. :sign jump {id} group={group} [buffer={nr}] Same but jump to the sign in group {group} vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: