mode
NOTE: the 'arabic' command takes into consideration 'termbidi' for
possible external bi-directional (bidi) support from the
terminal ("mlterm" for instance offers such support).
'termbidi', if available, is superior to rightleft support
and its support is preferred due to its level of offerings.
'arabic' when 'termbidi' is enabled only sets the keymap.
For vertical window isolation while setting 'termbidi' an LTR
vertical separator like "l" or "𝖨" may be used. It may also be
hidden by changing its color to the foreground color: >
:set fillchars=vert:l
:hi WinSeparator ctermbg=White
< Note that this is a workaround, not a proper solution.
If, on the other hand, you'd like to be verbose and explicit and
are opting not to use the 'arabic' short-cut command, here's what
is needed (i.e. if you use ':set arabic' you can skip this section) -
+ Arabic Keymapping Activation
To activate the Arabic keymap (i.e. to remap your English/Latin
keyboard to look-n-feel like a standard Arabic one), set the
'keymap' command to "arabic". This is done by entering
>
:set keymap=arabic
<
in your VIM window. You can also append the 'keymap' set command to
your vimrc file. In other words, you can include ':set keymap=arabic'
to your vimrc file.
To turn toggle (or switch) your keymapping between Arabic and the
default mapping (English), it is advised that users use the 'CTRL-^'
key press while in insert (or add/replace) mode. The command-line
will display your current mapping by displaying an "Arabic" string
next to your insertion mode (e.g. -- INSERT Arabic --) indicating
your current keymap.
+ Arabic deletion of a combined pair character
By default Vim has the 'delcombine' option disabled. This option
allows the deletion of ALEF in a LAM_ALEF (LAA) combined character
and still retain the LAM (i.e. it reverts to treating the combined
character as its natural two characters form -- this also pertains
to harakat and their combined forms). You can enable this option
by entering
>
:set delcombine
<
in our VIM window. You can also append the 'delcombine' set command
to your vimrc file. In other words, you can include ':set delcombine'
to your vimrc file.
+ Arabic right-to-left Mode
By default VIM starts in Left-to-right mode. 'rightleft' is the
command that allows one to alter a window's orientation - that can
be accomplished via,
- Toggling between left-to-right and right-to-left modes is
accomplished through ':set rightleft' and ':set norightleft'.
- While in Left-to-right mode, enter ':set rl' in the command line
('rl' is the abbreviation for rightleft).
- Put the ':set rl' line in your vimrc file to start Vim in
right-to-left mode permanently.
+ Arabic right-to-left command-line Mode
For certain commands the editing can be done in right-to-left mode.
Currently this is only applicable to search commands.
This is controlled with the 'rightleftcmd' option. The default is
"search", which means that windows in which 'rightleft' is set will