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The name of the language sometimes known as Vimscript is a topic of debate. Some places use Viml (or is it VimL?), others Vimscript. Does it have an official name, and if it does, what is it and since when is it official?

A run of :helpgrep \cviml\> leads us to syntax.txt:

                                                        g:vimsyn_noerror
Not all error highlighting that syntax/vim.vim does may be correct; VimL is a
difficult language to highlight correctly.

And version7.txt:

Added special python-vars objects also available for python-buffer and 
python-window. They ease access to VimL variables from Python.

So it would seem VimL is the official term, yet usr_41.txt, the file that best documents the language, doesn't have any mention of VimL.

Community
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muru
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2 Answers2

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The name VimL appeared in the documentation in July 2013. Vim's scripting language didn't have a name before that.

VimL is the only name mentioned in the documentation. It doesn't really make it the official name but, well… that's the closest we have.

FWIW I don't like it and will probably keep calling it vimscript for some time.

romainl
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2

I paste here my answer on SO ...

:h usr_41.txt says Vim script language for the language, and Vim script(s) for ..., well, scripts.

VimL can be used as an abbreviation for Vim script language.

Luc Hermitte
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  • Considering that two other files in the documentation use VimL without explanation, does either paragraph have any substance worth being in an answer? – muru Jul 06 '15 at 09:28
  • Thus they says both are valid names for vim scripting language. Either way, VimScript has never been an official name for what we are speaking about. – Luc Hermitte Jul 06 '15 at 10:25