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https://github.com/vim-utils/vim-man

View and grep man pages in vim
https://github.com/vim-utils/vim-man

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View and grep man pages in vim

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README 

        
# man.vim



View man pages in vim. Grep for the man pages.



### Features and Usage



##### Viewing man pages



- `:Man printf` - open `printf(1)` man page in a split

- `:Vman 3 putc` - open `putc(3)` man page in a vertical split (read more

  [here](http://unix.stackexchange.com/a/3587/80379) on what the

  manual page numbers mean, they are really useful)

- `:Man pri` - command completion for man page names

- `:Man 3 pri` - completion "respects" the man page section argument

- `:Man 6 ` - list all man pages from section 6



##### When editing `nroff` files



- `:Man` - (without arguments) open a current `nroff` file as a man page



##### When inside a man page buffer



- `[[` and `]]` - jump to prev/next section heading

- `Ctrl-]` - jump to man page for a word under cursor (works nicely with

  specially highlighted references to other man pages i.e. `printf(3)`), also

  defined for other tag mappings like `g_Ctrl-]`, `Ctrl-W_Ctrl-]` etc.

- `K` - same as `Ctrl-]`

- `Ctrl-T` - jump \*back* to the previous man page

- `g/` - start option search (useful for quickly jumping to man page option

  description, example `--quiet` or `-q`)

- `gx` - open a link under cursor in a browser

  ([vim feature](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/pi_netrw.html#netrw-gx))

- `gf` - jump to a file under cursor

  ([vim feature](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/editing.html#gf),

  works nicely with C header files often found in section 2 and 3 man pages i.e.

  ``)

- `q` - quit `vim-man` buffer



##### Using from the shell



You can use vim-man from the shell (instead of standard `man` program) using

the following script:



    #! /bin/sh

    vim -c "Man $1 $2" -c 'silent only'



Save it in `/usr/bin/` as a file named `viman`, give it execution

permission with:



    $ chmod +x /usr/bin/viman



Then from your shell you can read a DOC with:



    $ viman doc



Or you can use the alias `alias man=viman` so you can do (as usual):



    $ man doc



##### Searching/grepping man pages



Also see [About Mangrep](#about-mangrep)



- `:Mangrep 1 foobar` - search for "foobar" in all section 1 man pages

- `:Mangrep foobar` - same as `:Mangrep 1 foobar` (grepping all man sections

  by default would take too long)

- `:Mangrep * foobar` - force search \*all* man sections

- `:Mangrep -i 6 foobar` - case insensitive search

- `:Mangrep 6 '(foo|bar|baz)'` - regex search (`Mangrep` uses `grep -E`), just

  remember to quote the search pattern



##### Defining mappings in `.vimrc`



No mappings are defined by default.



- `map k (Man)` - open man page for word under cursor in a horizontal

  split

- `map v (Vman)` - open man page for word under cursor in a vertical

  split



### About Mangrep



This feature is still in beta.

Please help fix the [issues](https://github.com/vim-utils/vim-man/issues/).



`Mangrep` populates quickfix list with the results. While they should be

accurate, you might experience hiccups when opening those results.



Running `Mangrep`:



- the command runs in the background if you use neovim

- The command runs in the background if you have

  [vim-dispatch](https://github.com/tpope/vim-dispatch) installed. Access the

  results with

  [`:Copen` command](https://github.com/tpope/vim-dispatch#background-builds)

  (may be called before the process is finished).

- If you have vanilla vim the command will \*block* and make vim unusable

  until done (and it can take a while).


  Installing [vim-dispatch](https://github.com/tpope/vim-dispatch)

  is recommended. Or at least run `Mangrep` in another vim so your working vim

  instance stays usable.



### Installation



Just use your favorite plugin manager.



If you were previously using `man.vim` that comes with vim by default, please

remove this line `runtime! ftplugin/man.vim` from your `.vimrc`. It's known to

be causing [issues](https://github.com/vim-utils/vim-man/issues/23) with this

plugin.



### Contributing



Contributing and bug fixes are welcome. If you have an idea for a new feature

please get in touch by opening an issue so we can discuss it first.



### Credits



Vim by default comes with man page viewer, as decribed in

[find-manpage](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/usr_12.html#find-manpage).

This work is the improvement of vim's original man page plugin. The list of

improvements is [here](improvements.md).



These people created and maintain (or maintained) `man.vim` that comes with vim

itself:

* SungHyun Nam

* Gautam H. Mudunuri

* Johannes Tanzler



### License



Vim license, see `:help license`.