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	!  teh		 the

The "i" in the first column indicates Insert mode.  These abbreviations are
only active in Insert mode.  Other possible characters are:

	c	Command-line mode			:cabbrev
	!	both Insert and Command-line mode	:abbreviate

Since abbreviations are not often useful in Command-line mode, you will mostly
use the ":iabbrev" command.  That avoids, for example, that "ad" gets expanded
when typing a command like: >

	:edit ad


DELETING ABBREVIATIONS

To get rid of an abbreviation, use the ":unabbreviate" command.  Suppose you
have the following abbreviation: >

	:abbreviate @f fresh

You can remove it with this command: >

	:unabbreviate @f

While you type this, you will notice that @f is expanded to "fresh".  Don't
worry about this, Vim understands it anyway (except when you have an
abbreviation for "fresh", but that's very unlikely).
   To remove all the abbreviations: >

	:abclear

":unabbreviate" and ":abclear" also come in the variants for Insert mode
(":iunabbreviate and ":iabclear") and Command-line mode (":cunabbreviate" and
":cabclear").


REMAPPING ABBREVIATIONS

There is one thing to watch out for when defining an abbreviation: The
resulting string should not be mapped.  For example: >

	:abbreviate @a adder
	:imap dd disk-door

When you now type @a, you will get "adisk-doorer".  That's not what you want.
To avoid this, use the ":noreabbrev" command.  It does the same as
":abbreviate", but avoids that the resulting string is used for mappings: >

	:noreabbrev @a adder

Fortunately, it's unlikely that the result of an abbreviation is mapped.

==============================================================================
*24.8*	Entering special characters

The CTRL-V command is used to insert the next character literally.  In other
words, any special meaning the character has, it will be ignored.  For
example: >

	CTRL-V <Esc>

Inserts an escape character.  Thus you don't leave Insert mode.  (Don't type
the space after CTRL-V, it's only to make this easier to read).

	Note:
	On MS-Windows CTRL-V is used to paste text.  Use CTRL-Q instead of
	CTRL-V.  On Unix, on the other hand, CTRL-Q does not work on some
	terminals, because it has a special meaning.

You can also use the command CTRL-V {digits} to insert a character with the
decimal number {digits}.  For example, the character number 127 is the <Del>
character (but not necessarily the <Del> key!).  To insert <Del> type: >

	CTRL-V 127

You can enter characters up to 255 this way.  When you type fewer than two
digits, a non-digit will terminate the command.  To avoid the need of typing a
non-digit, prepend one or two zeros to make three digits.
   All the next commands insert a <Tab> and then a dot:

	CTRL-V 9.
	CTRL-V 09.
	CTRL-V 009.

To enter a character in hexadecimal, use an "x" after the CTRL-V: >

	CTRL-V x7f

This also goes up to character 255 (CTRL-V xff).