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- *remote.txt* For Vim version 9.1. Last change: 2022 Feb 17
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+ *remote.txt* For Vim version 9.1. Last change: 2025 Aug 21
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VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
@@ -61,7 +61,10 @@ The following command line arguments are available:
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--servername {name} Become the server {name} . When used together
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with one of the --remote commands: connect to
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server {name} instead of the default (see
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- below). The name used will be uppercase.
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+ below). The name used will be uppercase. If
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+ using the socketserver, you can specify a
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+ path, see | socketserver-name | for more
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+ details.
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*--remote-send*
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--remote-send {keys} Send {keys} to server and exit. The {keys}
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are not mapped. Special key names are
@@ -72,6 +75,12 @@ The following command line arguments are available:
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on stdout.
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*--serverlist*
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--serverlist Output a list of server names.
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+ *--clientserver*
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+ --clientserver {method} Use the specified method {method} as the
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+ backend for clientserver functionality. Can
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+ either be "socket" or "x11".
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+ {only available when compiled with both | +X11 |
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+ and | +socketserver | features}
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Examples ~
@@ -105,7 +114,8 @@ specified name is not available, a postfix is applied until a free name is
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encountered, i.e. "gvim1" for the second invocation of gvim on a particular
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X-server. The resulting name is available in the servername builtin variable
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| v:servername | . The case of the server name is ignored, thus "gvim" and
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- "GVIM" are considered equal.
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+ "GVIM" are considered equal. Note if a socket server is being used, there are
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+ some differences, see | socketserver-differences | .
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When Vim is invoked with --remote, --remote-wait or --remote-send it will try
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to locate the server name determined by the invocation name and --servername
@@ -119,7 +129,8 @@ itself. This way it is not necessary to know whether gvim is already started
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when sending command to it.
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The --serverlist argument will cause Vim to print a list of registered command
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- servers on the standard output (stdout) and exit.
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+ servers on the standard output (stdout) and exit. If a socket server is being
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+ used, there are caveats, see | socketserver-differences | .
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*{server}*
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The {server} argument is used by several functions. When this is an empty
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string then on Unix the default server name is used, which is "GVIM". On
@@ -206,4 +217,64 @@ When using gvim, the --remote-wait only works properly this way: >
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start /w gvim --remote-wait file.txt
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<
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+ ==============================================================================
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+ 3. Socket server specific items *socketserver-clientserver*
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+ *E1563* *E1564* *E1565* *E1566* *E1567*
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+
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+ The communication between client and server is done using Unix domain sockets.
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+ These sockets are either placed in these directories in the following order of
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+ availability:
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+ 1. "$XDG_RUTIME_DIR/vim" if $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is set in the environment.
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+ 2. "$TMPDIR/vim-[uid]", where "[uid]" is the uid of the user. This
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+ directory will have the access permissions set to 700 so only the user
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+ can read or write from/to it. If $TMPDIR is not set, "/tmp" is used.
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+
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+ *socketserver-name*
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+ When specifying the server id/name, it can be taken as a generic name or an
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+ absolute or relative path. If the server id starts with either a "/"
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+ (absolute) or "./" | "../" (relative), then it is taken as path to the socket.
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+ Otherwise the server id will be the filename of the socket which will be
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+ placed in the above common directories. Note that a server id/name can only
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+ contain slashes "/" if it is taken as a path, so names such as "abc/dir" will
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+ be invalid.
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+
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+ Socket server functionality is available in both GTK GUI and terminal versions
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+ of Vim. Unless Vim is compiled with | +autoservername | feature, the socket
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+ server will have to started explicitly, just like X11, even in the GUI.
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+
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+ If Vim crashes or does not exit cleanly, the socket server will not remove the
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+ socket file and it will be left around. This is generally not a problem,
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+ because if a socket name is taken, Vim checks if the socket in its place is
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+ dead (not attached to any process), and can replace it instead of finding a
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+ new name.
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+
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+ To send commands to a Vim socket server from another application, read the
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+ source file src/os_unix.c, there is detailed description of the protocol used.
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+
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+ *socketserver-differences*
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+ Most of the functionality is the same as X11, however unlike X11, where the
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+ client does not need to be a server in order to communicate with another
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+ server, the socket server requires the server to be running even as a client.
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+ The exception is | serverlist() | or the | --serverlist | argument, which does not
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+ require the server to be running.
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+
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+ Additionally, the server id or client id will not be a number like X11 or
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+ MS-Windows (shown in hex representation), instead it is the absolute path to
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+ the socket. This can be seen via the | v:servername | variable.
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+
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+ The | --serverlist | argument will act just like X11, however it only checks the
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+ given common directories above. If a custom path is used for a socket, it
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+ will not be detected, such as a path either not in $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR or
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+ <$TMPDIR or /tmp>/vim of the | --serverlist | Vim process.
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+
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+ If you have both | +socketserver | and | +X11 | compiled, you will need to add
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+ | --clientserver | set to "socket" in combination with | --serverlist | to list
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+ the available servers. You cannot list both types of backends in one command.
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+
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+ *socketserver-x11*
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+ If Vim is compiled with both | +X11 | and | +socketserver | , then deciding which
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+ backend to use is done at startup time, via the | --clientserver | argument. By
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+ default if it is not specified, then X11 will be used. A Vim instance using a
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+ socket server cannot communicate with one using X11.
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+
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vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl:
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