a-Shell Documentation

The en_NZ dictionary is a New Zealand English dictionary (v0.9 beta) based on the en_GB Myspell dictionary. It has been modified to include:

• New Zealand places (major cities, towns, and suburbs).
• New Zealand specific words, organisations, and expressions.

The dictionary consists of two main files:

• en_NZ.dic: The dictionary file containing words.
• en_NZ.aff: The affix file containing rules for word formation.

If the available dictionaries do not meet your needs (e.g., you want a specific spelling variant from a larger dictionary), you can generate additional dictionaries using the following methods:

1. Use the online tool at http://app.aspell.net/create.
2. Modify the speller/make-hunspell-dict script in SCOWL to create your own.

The plugin directory is used for standard Vim plugin scripts. Any file within this directory ending in .vim will be automatically sourced by Vim during startup.

If you need to disable a specific plugin, check the contents of the .vim file for instructions on how to disable it without deleting the file.

Color scheme files are used with the :colorscheme command or via the GUI 'Edit/Color Scheme' menu. There are two primary methods for defining them:

Method 1: Define a new Normal color

Set the background option first, then define the Normal highlight group.

set background=dark
highlight clear
highlight Normal ...

Method 2: Adjust based on background

Use the default Normal color and conditionally adjust other groups based on the background setting.

highlight clear Normal
set background&
highlight clear
if &background == "light"
  highlight Error ...
else
  highlight Error ...
endif

Tips:

• Use :highlight clear to reset to defaults before applying changes. Ensure set background is called before this command.
• To remove attributes like bold, use gui=NONE.

For new users, the following resources are recommended:

• Vim Tutor: A 30-minute interactive course for learning basic commands. Access it via :help tutor or :vimtutor.
• User Manual: A comprehensive guide to accomplishing editing tasks. The table of contents is available at :help usr_toc.txt.

You can navigate through Vim's documentation using several methods:

• Jump to a subject: Position the cursor on a tag (text enclosed in | characters, e.g., |bars|) and press CTRL-]. If the word is not in bars, Vim will attempt to find help for it automatically.
• Jump back: Press CTRL-O to return to your previous location. You can repeat this to go further back in your jump history.
• Mouse navigation: If mouse support is enabled, you can double-click a tag to jump to it.
• Search for help: Use :help word to find specific topics. To see all matching entries for a word, press CTRL-D after the command, or use :helpgrep word to search through all help files.

Vim includes several macro sets designed to demonstrate its capabilities and test vi compatibility. You can use these macros to run complex simulations or solve algorithmic problems within Vim.

Available macro directories:

• hanoi: Solves the Tower of Hanoi problem.
• life: Runs Conway's Game of Life (useful for performance comparisons).
• maze: Solves a maze.
• urm: Simulates a Universal Register Machine.

Vim requires specific locales to be installed to correctly identify letters and case differences during spell file generation. If a locale is missing on Ubuntu, follow these steps:

1. Edit the supported locales file: sudo vim /var/lib/locales/supported.d/local
2. Add the required lines from /usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED.
3. Reconfigure locales: sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

Note: If you use the check_locales.vim script, you must restart Vim to pick up the newly installed locales.