*os_mac.txt*	For Vim version 9.2.  Last change: 2026 Feb 14


		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL	  by Bram Moolenaar et al.


					*mac* *Mac* *macintosh* *Macintosh*

This file documents the particularities of the Macintosh version of Vim.

NOTE: This file is a bit outdated.  You might find more useful info here:
	http://macvim.org/

1. Filename Convention		|mac-filename|
2. .vimrc and .vim files	|mac-vimfile|
3. Standard mappings		|mac-standard-mappings|
4. FAQ				|mac-faq|
5. Known Lack			|mac-lack|
6. Mac Bug Report		|mac-bug|
7. Compiling Vim		|mac-compile|
8. The darwin feature		|mac-darwin-feature|

There was a Mac port for version 3.0 of Vim.  Here are the first few lines
from the old file:

VIM Release Notes
Initial Macintosh release, VIM version 3.0
19 October 1994

Eric Fischer
<enf1@midway.uchicago.edu>, <eric@jcp.uchicago.edu>, <etaoin@uchicago.edu>
5759 N. Guilford Ave
Indianapolis IN 46220 USA

==============================================================================
1. Filename Convention					*mac-filename*

Starting with Vim version 7 you can just use the unix path separators with
Vim.  In order to determine if the specified filename is relative to the
current folder or absolute (i.e. relative to the "Desktop"), the following
algorithm is used:

	If the path start by a "/", the path is absolute
	If the path start by a ":", the path is relative
	If the path doesn't start by neither a "/" nor ":",
	  and a ":" is found before a "/" then the path is absolute
>
		:e /HD/text
		:e HD:text
<	Edit the file "text" of the disk "HD" >
		:e :src:main.c
		:e src/main.c
<	Edit the file "main.c" in the folder "src" in the current folder >
		:e os_mac.c
<	Edit the file "os_mac.c" in the current folder.

You can use the |$VIM| and |$VIMRUNTIME|  variable. >

		:so $VIMRUNTIME:syntax:syntax.vim

==============================================================================
2. .vimrc and .vim files				*mac-vimfile*

It is recommended to use Unix style line separators for Vim scripts, thus a
single newline character.

When starting up Vim will load the $VIMRUNTIME/macmap.vim script to define
default command-key mappings.

On older systems files starting with a dot "." are discouraged, thus the rc
files are named "vimrc" or "_vimrc" and "gvimrc" or "_gvimrc".  These files
can be in any format (mac, dos or unix).  Vim can handle any file format when
the 'nocompatible' option is set, otherwise it will only handle mac format
files.

==============================================================================
3. Standard mappings				*mac-standard-mappings*

The following mappings are available for cut/copy/paste from/to clipboard.

key		Normal	Visual	  Insert	Description ~
Command-v	"*P	"-d"*P    <C-R>*	paste text       *<D-v>*
Command-c		"*y			copy Visual text *<D-c>*
Command-x		"*d			cut Visual text  *<D-x>*
Backspace		"*d			cut Visual text

==============================================================================
4. Mac FAQ						*mac-faq*

On the internet:  https://github.com/macvim-dev/macvim/wiki/FAQ

Q: I can't enter non-ASCII character in Apple Terminal.
A: Under Window Settings, Emulation, make sure that "Escape non-ASCII
   characters" is not checked.

Q: How do I start the GUI from the command line?
A: Assuming that Vim.app is located in /Applications:
	open /Applications/Vim.app
   Or:
	/Applications/Vim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -g  {arguments}

Q: How can I set $PATH to something reasonable when I start Vim.app from the
   GUI or with open?
A: The following trick works with most shells.  Put it in your vimrc file.
   This is included in the system vimrc file included with the binaries
   distributed at macvim.org . >
	let s:path = system("echo echo VIMPATH'${PATH}' | $SHELL -l")
	let $PATH = matchstr(s:path, 'VIMPATH\zs.\{-}\ze\n')

==============================================================================
5. Mac Lack						*mac-lack*

In a terminal CTRL-^ needs to be entered as Shift-Control-6.  CTRL-@ as
Shift-Control-2.

==============================================================================
6. Mac Bug Report					*mac-bug*

When reporting any Mac specific bug or feature change, please use the vim-mac
maillist |vim-mac|.  However, you need to be subscribed.  An alternative is to
report issues either directly at the Vim github repository:

https://github.com/vim/vim/issues

or for MacVim specific issues, you may report those over here:

https://github.com/macvim-dev/macvim/issues

==============================================================================
7. Compiling Vim					*mac-compile*

See the file "src/INSTALLmac.txt" that comes with the source files.

==============================================================================
8. The Darwin Feature					*mac-darwin-feature*

If you have a Mac that isn't very old, you will be running OS X, also called
Darwin.  The last pre-Darwin OS was Mac OS 9.  The darwin feature makes Vim
use Darwin-specific properties.

What is accomplished with this feature is two-fold:

- Make Vim interoperable with the system clipboard.
- Incorporate into Vim a converter module that bridges the gap between some
  character encodings specific to the platform and those known to Vim.

Needless to say, both are not to be missed for any decent text editor to work
nicely with other applications running on the same desktop environment.

As Vim is not an application dedicated only to macOS, we need an extra feature
to add in order for it to offer the same user experience that our users on
other platforms enjoy to people on macOS.

For brevity, the feature is referred to as "darwin" to signify it one of the
Vim features that are specific to that particular platform.

The feature is a configuration option.  Accordingly, whether it is enabled or
not is determined at build time; once it is selected to be enabled, it is
compiled in and hence cannot be disabled at runtime.

The feature is enabled by default.  For most macOS users, that should be
sufficient unless they have specific needs mentioned briefly below.

If you want to disable it, pass `--disable-darwin` to the configure script: >

    ./configure --disable-darwin <other options>

and then run `make` to build Vim.  The order of the options doesn't matter.

To make sure at runtime whether or not the darwin feature is compiled in, you
can use `has('osxdarwin')` which returns 1 if the feature is compiled in; 0
otherwise.  For backward compatibility, you can still use `macunix` instead of
`osxdarwin`.

Notable use cases where `--disable-darwin` is turned out to be useful are:

- When you want to use |x11-selection| instead of the system clipboard.
- When you want to use |x11-clientserver|.

Since both have to make use of X11 inter-client communication for them to work
properly, and since the communication mechanism can come into conflict with
the system clipboard, the darwin feature should be disabled to prevent Vim
from hanging at runtime.


 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl:
