Inserting Unicode Charactersand UTF-8 Characters Into Vim

 
I was wondering how to insert a
unicode character into Vim the
other day. Here's what I found.

First off, you have to know how
to enter a regular ASCII character
into Vim using its number on the
ASCII table. Here's how you do
that:

1. Enter insert mode
2. Type ctrl-v
3. Type the decimal equivalent
   for the ASCII character
4. To actually see the ASCII
   character, type the
   ESC key

Say, for example, you wish to
enter a capital-A. Here's how
you would do it following the
above steps:

1. Type i for insert
2. Type ctrl-v to enter
   the ASCII code for a capital-A
3. Type 65 to represent the
   letter A
4. Hit the ESC key to end
   the insertion of text

Of course it is easier to type a
capital-A simply by hitting the
A-key while in insert mode. I'm
taking the long way around the barn
here in order to explain things.

What does this have to do with Unicode?
For Unicode characters, you take an extra
step. After typing ctrl-v, you follow
the ctrl-v with a Lowercase-u.

Here are the steps again, slightly adjusted
for Unicode:

1. Enter insert mode
2. Type ctrl-v u
3. Type the hexidecimal equivalent
   for the Unicode character
4. To see what effect the
   insertion of a Unicode character
   has had on your document, type
   the ESC key. Hitting
   ESC ends text insertion.

Here's how to enter a Capital-A
character in Unicode.

1. Enter insert mode
2. Type ctrl-v u
   to insert a Unicode character
3. Type 0041 which
   is the 2-byte hexadecimal equivalent
   for a capital-A
4. To actually see the Capital-A,
   type the ESC key. Hitting
   ESC ends text insertion.

What does this have to do with
UTF-8? So far, I've only mentioned
Unicode. UTF-8 is a specific
implemenation of Unicode. Wikipdedia
describes the relationship:

Unicode

Remember these distinctions when entering
ASCII versus entering Unicode in Vim:

1. ASCII is one byte
2. Unicode is 2 bytes
3. ASCII is expressed in
   decimal notation
4. Unicode is expressed in
   hexadecimal notation

If you are entering an ASCII
character in Vim, you will use
one byte of decimal notation.
If you are entering a Unicode
character in Vim, you will use
2 bytes of hexadecimal notation.
To the best of my knowledge, the
notation (decimal or hexadecimal
) is hard-wired. Please post if
I'm wrong and I'll correct myself.

One more thing I find it helpful
to know is what kind of encoding
Vim is using. Here's how I find
out:

:set encoding

This also seems to work:

:set enc

The answer that comes back in
my current session of Vim is:

encoding=utf-8

Seeing UTF-8 on my screen
makes me feel secure in the knowledge
that I'll be able to enter Unicode
into Vim.

There are many uses for a flexible
tool. That's the lesson I learn
over and over again when using Vim.

Ed Abbott

Conversion BetweenDOS, Unix, and Mac Text Files

 
Vim is a real champ when it comes to
converting from one text file format
to another. Historically, the big
3 text ile formats have been:

• DOS
• Mac
• Unix

Here's the corresponding commands
you can use to do conversions to
the above formats:

• :set ff=dos
• :set ff=mac
• :set ff=unix

Alternatively, you can spell
everything out with the following
commands:

• :set fileformat=dos
• :set fileformat=mac
• :set fileformat=unix

When Vim reads the file into
its buffer, it determines the
format. To query what Vim has
determined, use the following
command:

:set ff

Alternatively, you can spell your
query out with:

:set fileformat

That's all it takes to do a text
file conversion in Vim.

Well, not quite all. Of course
you have to save the file to make
the conversion complete. Here's
one way to save the file:

ZZ

Here's another way to save the file:

:wq

Ed Abbott

Vim and Mac to Unix and CR to LF

 
How do you translate a CR
to a LF? How to your translate
a Classic Mac text file to Unix?

Here's a simple command that will
do this:

:%s/\r/\r/g

Here's where I learned how to do
this:

Change end-of-line format for dos-mac-unix

Ed Abbott

Insert an ASCII Character With Vim

 
Vim is a handy tool for inserting
an ASCII character into a file. Of
course, most characters are easily
entered by just simply typing them.

For example, Capital-A is
entered into a file by typing a
Capital-A while in Insert Mode.
It's easy to enter a number, a character
of the alphabet, or punctuation.

In life, it is often helpful to have
more than one way to get there. If
a landslide has blocked one road, you
can use another.

In Vim, the alternative way to insert
an ASCII character is to type CNTRL-V
while in insert mode. This will cause you
to be prompted for the ASCII code for
that character.

You terminate the prompt but either typing
something other than a number or by hitting
the ESC key. After you've terminated the
prompt, the character, whose ASCII code you
just typed, appears.

Ed Abbott