Info.vim: Read and navigate Info files in Vim

Info.vim provides two features: syntax highlighting for Info files generated from Texinfo, and it implements a reader for browsing and navigating through Info files installed on the user's system.

Info is the file format of the info command-line program and Emacs's Info-mode. This format is most often generated from Texinfo source files and used for software documentation. Texinfo is the official documentation format of GNU. Check out this asciicast for a live demonstation:

Installation

Install it like any other Vim plugin. You must have at least version 6.4 of the GNU Info command-line tool installed on your system (older versions might work, but I haven't tested them). You can set the binary by setting the g:infoprg variable to its path.

Quickstart

This plugin is still very much under construction, so any of this may change in the future. There is a interactive tutorial available via :Info info.vim. To open an Info document run

" Open the directory listing
:Info
" Open a particular document
:Info <file>
" Same as above, but jump to specific node
:Info <file> <node>

The placeholder <file> is the topic you want to read about, e.g. :Info bash to read the manual for the Bourne Again Shell. Alternatively you can also open a buffer with a URI pattern like this:

:edit info://
:edit info:<file>
:edit info:<file>#<node>

You could call :e info:bash in a buffer to open the same document as above.

Use the :Menu command to follow a node's menu entries.

" Display menu in location list
:Menu
" Jump to entry 'Introduction'
:Menu Introduction
" Short form works as well
:Menu intro

You can also use tab completion with the :Menu command.

You can follow cross-references using the :Follow command:

" Display all cross references in location list
:Follow
" Follow a named cross-reference
:Follow Name of the reference

Use the K key in normal mode to follow the reference under the cursor, works for both menu entries and cross references.

Navigation

Use the commands :InfoUp, :InfoNext and :InfoPrev to navigate to respective node. Alternatively, add mappings like these to your settings.

" Only apply the mapping to generated buffers
if &buftype =~? 'nofile'
    nmap <buffer> gu <Plug>(InfoUp)
    nmap <buffer> gn <Plug>(InfoNext)
    nmap <buffer> gp <Plug>(InfoPrev)
endif

You can access the menu via the :InfoMenu command. It supports tab-completion, and if no argument is given all menu items are listed in the location list. If you want a prompt similar to standalone Info use a mapping like this:

" Only apply the mapping to generated buffers
if &buftype =~? 'nofile'
    nmap <buffer> gm <Plug>(InfoMenu)
endif

You can follow a cross-reference using the :InfoFollow command. You can remap the prompt to something more convenient:

" Only apply the mapping to generated buffers
if &buftype =~? 'nofile'
    nmap <buffer> gf <Plug>(InfoFollow)
endif

Other cool stuff

You can set Vim as your default standalone Info reader with this little trick:

# Create a shell function as a wrapper
viminfo () {
    vim -R -M -c "Info $1 $2" +only
}
# Alias info to our new function
alias info=viminfo

This snippet creates a shell function which invokes Vim with the :Info command and splices in the command-line arguments. We can alias it to info if we want to replace the standalone Info reader. Add the above lines to your shell configuration file to make it permanent.

Stuff left to do

The goal for the first stable release is feature-parity with standalone Info. These features depend on support from standalone Info, so my hands are tied for the time being.

• Index lookup (:Index command)
• Search within a file (:Search command)
• Going to a specific node in the file (:Goto command) (implemented, but without tab-completion)

Self-promotion

If you like this plugin please consider financially supporting its development, every small amount helps; you can become a regular supporter through LiberaPay or tip me with a one-time donation over Ko-Fi. Feel free to explore my other software projects as well.

• http://hiphish.github.io/
• https://ko-fi.com/hiphish/
• https://liberapay.com/HiPhish/