Error Format Details: Conversions, Directories, and Multi-line Messages

"rest" of a single-line file message %O/P/Q %p pointer line (finds a sequence of '-', '.', ' ' or tabs and uses the length for the column number) %*{conv} any scanf non-assignable conversion %% the single '%' character %s search text (finds a string) The "%f" conversion may depend on the current 'isfname' setting. "~/" is expanded to the home directory and environment variables are expanded. The "%f" and "%m" conversions have to detect the end of the string. This normally happens by matching following characters and items. When nothing is following the rest of the line is matched. If "%f" is followed by a '%' or a backslash, it will look for a sequence of 'isfname' characters. On Windows a leading "C:" will be included in "%f", even when using "%f:". This means that a file name which is a single alphabetical letter will not be detected. The "%b" conversion is used to parse a buffer number. This is useful for referring to lines in a scratch buffer or a buffer with no name. If a buffer with the matching number doesn't exist, then that line is used as a non-error line. The "%p" conversion is normally followed by a "^". It's used for compilers that output a line like: > ^ or > ---------^ to indicate the column of the error. This is to be used in a multi-line error message. See |errorformat-javac| for a useful example. The "%s" conversion specifies the text to search for, to locate the error line. The text is used as a literal string. The anchors "^" and "$" are added to the text to locate the error line exactly matching the search text and the text is prefixed with the "\V" atom to make it "very nomagic". The "%s" conversion can be used to locate lines without a line number in the error output. Like the output of the "grep" shell command. When the pattern is present the line number will not be used. The "%o" conversion specifies the module name in quickfix entry. If present it will be used in quickfix error window instead of the filename. The module name is used only for displaying purposes, the file name is used when jumping to the file. Changing directory The following uppercase conversion characters specify the type of special format strings. At most one of them may be given as a prefix at the beginning of a single comma-separated format pattern. Some compilers produce messages that consist of directory names that have to be prepended to each file name read by %f (example: GNU make). The following codes can be used to scan these directory names; they will be stored in an internal directory stack. *E379* %D "enter directory" format string; expects a following %f that finds the directory name %X "leave directory" format string; expects following %f When defining an "enter directory" or "leave directory" format, the "%D" or "%X" has to be given at the start of that substring. Vim tracks the directory changes and prepends the current directory to each erroneous file found with a relative path. See |quickfix-directory-stack| for details, tips and limitations. Multi-line messages *errorformat-multi-line* It is possible to read the output of programs that produce multi-line messages, i.e. error strings that consume more than one line. Possible prefixes are: %E start of a multi-line error message %W start of a multi-line warning message %I start of a multi-line informational message %N start of a multi-line note message %A start of a multi-line message (unspecified type) %> for next line start with current pattern again |efm-%>| %C continuation of a multi-line message %Z end of a multi-line message These can be used with '+' and '-', see |efm-ignore| below. Using "\n" in the pattern won't work to match multi-line messages. Example: Your compiler happens to write out errors in the following format (leading line numbers not being part of the actual output): 1 Error 275 ~ 2 line 42 ~ 3 column 3 ~ 4 ' ' expected after '--' ~ The appropriate

This section continues the explanation of Vim's 'errorformat' option, detailing the '%p' conversion for pointer lines, '%s' for search text, and '%o' for module names. It covers how Vim handles directory changes with '%D' and '%X' for entering and leaving directories, respectively. The section then explains how to handle multi-line error messages using prefixes like '%E' for error, '%W' for warning, '%I' for informational, '%N' for note, '%A' for unspecified, '%>' for continuing with the same pattern, '%C' for continuation, and '%Z' for the end of a multi-line message. It emphasizes that '\n' should not be used to match multi-line messages.