Arabic Language Support in Vim: Introduction, Highlights, and Font Requirements

*arabic.txt* Nvim VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Nadim Shaikli Arabic Language support (options & mappings) for Vim *Arabic* These functions have been created by Nadim Shaikli <nadim-at-arabeyes.org> It is best to view this file with these settings within VIM's GUI: > :set encoding=utf-8 :set arabicshape ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction Arabic is a rather demanding language in which a number of special features are required. Characters are right-to-left oriented and ought to appear as such on the screen (i.e. from right to left). Arabic also requires shaping of its characters, meaning the same character has a different visual form based on its relative location within a word (initial, medial, final or stand-alone). Arabic also requires two different forms of combining and the ability, in certain instances, to either superimpose up to two characters on top of another (composing) or the actual substitution of two characters into one (combining). Lastly, to display Arabic properly one will require not only ISO-8859-6 (U+0600-U+06FF) fonts, but will also require Presentation Form-B (U+FE70-U+FEFF) fonts both of which are subsets within a so-called ISO-10646-1 font. The commands, prompts and help files are not in Arabic, therefore the user interface remains the standard Vi interface. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Highlights o Editing left-to-right files as in the original Vim hasn't changed. o Viewing and editing files in right-to-left windows. File orientation is per window, so it is possible to view the same file in right-to-left and left-to-right modes, simultaneously. o No special terminal with right-to-left capabilities is required. The right-to-left changes are completely hardware independent. Only Arabic fonts are necessary. o Compatible with the original Vim. Almost all features work in right-to-left mode (there are liable to be bugs). o Changing keyboard mapping and reverse insert modes using a single command. o Toggling complete Arabic support via a single command. o While in Arabic mode, numbers are entered from left to right. Upon entering a none number character, that character will be inserted just into the left of the last number. o Arabic keymapping on the command line in reverse insert mode. o Proper Bidirectional functionality is possible given Vim is started within a Bidi capable terminal emulator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arabic Fonts *arabicfonts* Vim requires monospaced fonts of which there are many out there. Arabic requires ISO-8859-6 as well as Presentation Form-B fonts (without Form-B, Arabic will _NOT_ be usable). It is highly recommended that users search for so-called 'ISO-10646-1' fonts. Do an Internet search or check www.arabeyes.org for further info on where to obtain the necessary Arabic fonts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Font Installation o Installation of fonts for X Window systems (Unix/Linux) Depending on your system, copy your_ARABIC_FONT file into a directory of your choice. Change to the directory containing the Arabic fonts and execute the following commands: % mkfontdir % xset +fp path_name_of_arabic_fonts_directory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Usage Prior to the actual usage of Arabic within Vim, a number of settings need to be accounted for and invoked. o Setting the Arabic fonts + For Vim GUI set the 'guifont' to your_ARABIC_FONT. This is done by entering the following command in the Vim window. > :set guifont=your_ARABIC_FONT < NOTE: the string 'your_ARABIC_FONT' is used to denote a complete font name akin to that used in Linux/Unix systems. (e.g. -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--20-200-75-75-c-100-iso10646-1)

This section of the Vim reference manual, written by Nadim Shaikli, discusses Arabic language support in Vim. It covers the special features required for Arabic, such as right-to-left orientation, character shaping, and combining forms. It highlights features like editing RTL files, hardware independence, compatibility, keyboard mapping, and bidirectional functionality. It also specifies the need for ISO-8859-6 and Presentation Form-B fonts (ideally ISO-10646-1) for proper Arabic display and gives instructions for installing Arabic fonts, specifically within X Window systems.