hebrew.txt ForVim version 9.2. Last change: 2026 Feb 14VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Ron Aaron and Avner LottemHebrew Language support (options& mapping) for VimhebrewThe supporting'rightleft' functionality was originally created by AvnerLottem. <alottemat gmail dot com> Ron Aaron <ronat ronware dot org>iscurrently helping support these features.{only available when the |+rightleft| feature was enabled at compile time}Introduction------------Hebrew-specificoptions are'hkmap','hkmapp''keymap'=hebrew and'aleph'.Hebrew-usefuloptions are'delcombine','allowrevins','revins','rightleft'and'rightleftcmd'.The'rightleft' mode reverses the display order, so characters are displayedfrom right to left instead of the usual left to right. Thisis usefulprimarily when editing Hebrew or other Middle-Eastern languages.Seerileft.txt for further details.Details--------------+ Options:+'rightleft' ('rl') setswindow orientation to right-to-left. This means that the logical text 'ABC' will be displayedas 'CBA', and will start drawingat the right edge of the window, not the left edge.+'hkmap' ('hk') sets keyboardmapping to Hebrew, in insert/replace modes.+'aleph' ('al'), numeric, holds the decimal code of Aleph, for keyboard mapping.+'hkmapp' ('hkp') sets keyboardmapping to 'phonetic hebrew'NOTE: these three ('hkmap','hkmapp' and'aleph') are obsolete. You should use ":set keymap=hebrewp" instead.+'delcombine' ('deco'), boolean, if editingUTF-8 encoded Hebrew, allows one to remove the niqud or te`amim by pressing 'x' ona character (with associated niqud).+'rightleftcmd' ('rlc') makes the command-prompt for searches show up on the right side. It only takes effect if thewindowis'rightleft'.+ Encoding:+ Under Unix, ISO 8859-8 encoding (Hebrew letters codes: 224-250).+ Under MS DOS, PC encoding (Hebrew letters codes: 128-154). These are defaults, that can be overridden using the'aleph' option.+ You should prefer using UTF8,asit supports the combining-characters ('deco' does nothing if UTF8 encodingis not active).+ Vim arguments:+ 'vim-H file' starts editinga Hebrew file, i.e.'rightleft' and'hkmap' are set.+ Keyboard:+ The'allowrevins' option enables theCTRL-_ command inInsert mode and inCommand-line mode.+CTRL-_ in insert/replace modes toggles'revins' and'hkmap'as follows: When in rightleft window,'revins' and'nohkmap' are toggled, since English will likely be inserted in this case. When in norightleft window,'revins''hkmap' are toggled, since Hebrew will likely be inserted in this case.CTRL-_ moves the cursor to theend of the typed text.+CTRL-_ in command mode only toggles keyboardmapping (see Bugs below). This settingis independent of'hkmap' option, which only applies to insert/replace mode.Note: On some keyboards,CTRL-_is mapped toCTRL-?.+ Keyboardmapping while'hkmap'is set (standard Israeli keyboard):qwertyuiop/' ק ר א ט ו ן ם פasdfghjkl;' ש ד ג כ ע י ח ל ך ף,zxcvbnm,./ ז ס ב ה נ מ צ ת ץ. Thisis also the keymap when 'keymap=hebrew'is set. The advantage of'keymap'is thatit works properly when using UTF8, e.g.it inserts the correct characters;'hkmap' does not. The'keymap' keyboard can alsoinsert niqud and te`amim. To see what those mappings are, lookat the keymap file 'hebrew.vim' etc.Typing backwardsIf the'revins' (reverse insert) optionis set,inserting happens backwards.This can be used to type Hebrew. Wheninserting characters the cursoris notmoved and the text moves rightwards.A<BS> deletes the character under thecursor.CTRL-W andCTRL-U also work in the opposite direction.<BS>,CTRL-WandCTRL-Udo not stopat the start ofinsert orend of line, no matter howthe'backspace' optionis set.Thereis no reverse replace mode (yet).If the'showmode' optionis set, "-- REVERSE INSERT--" will be shown in thestatus line when reverseInsert modeis active.When the'allowrevins' optionis set, reverseInsert mode can be also enteredviaCTRL-_, which has some extra functionality: First, keyboardmappingischanged according to thewindow orientation-- if ina left-to-right window,'revins'is used to enter Hebrew text, so the keyboard changes to Hebrew('hkmap'is set); if ina right-to-left window,'revins'is used to enterEnglish text, so the keyboard changes to English ('hkmap'is reset). Second,whenexiting'revins' viaCTRL-_, the cursor moves to theend of the typedtext (if possible).Pasting when ina rightleftwindow----------------------------------When cutting text with the mouse and pastingit ina rightleftwindowthe text will be reversed, because the characters come from the cut bufferfrom the left to the right, while inserted in the file from the right tothe left. In order to avoid it,toggle'revins' (by typingCTRL-? orCTRL-_)before pasting.Hebrew characters and the'isprint' variable--------------------------------------------Sometimes Hebrew character codes are in the non-printable range defined bythe'isprint' variable. For example in the Linux console, the Hebrew fontencoding starts from 128, while the default'isprint' variableis @,161-255.The resultis that all Hebrew characters are displayedas ~x. To solve thisproblem, set isprint=@,128-255. vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: