Re: How can I better use Vim help

On 02.02.15 23:44, Sayth Renshaw wrote:
> How is the best way in vim to use the help system when I am unsure
> exactly what term or phrase to look for?

Ah, that is a common weakness of documentation in general - compare for
example, manpages. When a manual documents "How", not "What", then
knowing a suitable search term requires already knowing how the tool
handles what you want to do - an impossibility for a neophyte.

> What I currently do know is Google and usually end up on the vim wikia
> where I put together the peices from there. And there they usually
> shoe where the help menu is.

After a couple of decades of using vi/vim, I have not discovered a
better method than that, for mapping "What" to "How". (Except for a
personal collection of "What"-oriented survival notes, so I don't have
to re-learn stuff that's used once, then not again for a year.)

> For example I located that :vsp opens a vertical split. How would I
> now know how to find how to open files in an already open split and
> chouse which split?

It is possible to open a file by naming it after the :vsp, but beyond
that, I haven't tried.

> interested in best way to find these answers.

I think you've found it. ;-)

Erik


--
Telephone books are like dictionaries -- if you know the answer before
you look it up, you can eventually reaffirm what you thought you knew
but weren't sure. But if you're searching for something you don't
already know, your fingers could walk themselves to death.
- Erma Bombeck

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