Vim Documentation

This job of this lesson is to equip you to write your own help files.

Goals

1. Describe Vim Documentation (nvim).
   
2. Skillfully create your own documentation.

What

Vim documentation refers to plain text files formatted in a specific way so they can be integrated into Vim’s :help system. This lets you:

• View your custom docs using :help your-topic
• Jump between sections using tags like |this| and *this*
• Keep personal notes and command references inside Vim

Examples

• :help – Open the built-in Vim help
• :help :w – Help on the :w command
• :help mydocs – Access your own help topic
• Ctrl-] – Jump to a tag
  
• Ctrl-T – Go back

Why

• Quickly find useful info without leaving Vim
  
• Keep track of:
  • Key mappings
    
  • Plugin usage
    
  • Custom commands
    
  • Workflows and tricks
    
• Make your notes searchable and structured

How: Creating Your Own Vim Help File

Step 1: Create the file

mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim/doc
nvim ~/.config/nvim/doc/mydocs.txt

Step 2: Add help-formatted content

*mydocs.txt*   Your personal Vim documentation       Last Updated: 2025-06-13

==============================================================================
INTRODUCTION                                                *mydocs*

This is my personal Vim help file. Use `:help mydocs` to view this.

==============================================================================

KEYBINDINGS                                                *mykeys*

Here are my most important key mappings:

- <leader>ff → Telescope file finder
- <leader>gg → LazyGit

==============================================================================

COMMANDS                                                   *mycommands*

|:W| - My remapped save command  
|:Bd| - Close buffer  
|:Q| - Quit Vim

==============================================================================

TAGS                                                       *mytags*

|mykeys|     - Keybinding reference  
|mycommands| - My custom commands

Note:

• Use mytag at the top of a section to define a help tag.
• Use |mytag| to reference it inline.

Step 3: Generate helptags

From the terminal:

helptags ~/.config/nvim/doc

Or from within Vim:

:helptags ~/.config/nvim/doc

Step 4: Use your help file

:help mydocs
:help mykeys

Tips

• Keep lines under 78 characters.
• Every tag must be unique across all help files.
• You can make multiple personal help files — just use distinct filenames and tag prefixes.