I came across the following behavior in vim which seemed a bit unexpected to me:
:let word="nnoremap"
:h word
I thought that it would open the help for nnoremap but instead it opens help for word. Could someone please explain this behavior to me (or perhaps point to where it's documented in vim help)? What would be the way to reference the variable value? For example, now I'm doing:
:execute(printf(':h %s', word))
Is there a more straightforward way to do this, such as something like (in pseudo-syntax):
:h &word
:help doesn't take an expression, but a tag (part). I guess :h :h converts the subject.
Thus if you want the help on a variable... as usual, :execute is the solution.
exe 'h '.word
Related
In vim, I have to change someText.someTextAfterDot string to someText.somethingDifferent. The cursor is at the t in After. What should be the most efficient way to do this?
If I use 'cw' command then that removes the complete someText.someTextAfterDot including someText which I don't think is efficient because now I have to type the someText again.
Normally, I use 'F.ce' (find the last . and edit till end of current word) command and then type somethingDifferent. This seems like a lot of work as in other editors (like WebStorm or Sublime) a simple double click on someTextAfterDot can do the trick.
Is there any other more efficient way to do this in vim?
First of all cw should only go forward so only remove terDot. If cw is doing anything more then I assume you have some bad mappings.
The "inner" word text object, iw, is what you need. e.g. ciw. However if you have added . to 'iskeyword' then word's will include . and the behavior of ciw will be incorrect.
To find out where 'iskeyword' is last set use the following command:
:verbose set iskeyword?
For more help see:
:h 'iskeyword'
:h iw
:h w
:h cw
:h :verbose
My intuition would be to type bdeisomethingDifferent. I dunno that it's a great improvement, but it at least doesn't make you type the . again the way F.ce does.
I normally use change inner word for that. You simply have to type
ciwsomethingDifferent
Check the documentation for text object selection too.
I know that I can use :nmap, :vmap, :imap commands to display all the mapping for those 3 modes. However, I would like to display comments that I have for a single mapping.
So suppose I have the following entry in my vimrc:
" Execute current line in bash
nmap <F9> :exec '!'.getline('.')<CR>
This could also look like this:
nmap <F9> :exec '!'.getline('.')<CR> " Execute current line in bash
I would like to have a command that for this mapping that would look something like this:
<F9> Execute current line in bash
As this probably can only be done using custom function, where do I start? How do I parse .vimrc to strip only key mappings and their corresponding comments (I have only done some very basic Vim scripts)?
Do I understand correctly from :help map-comments that I should avoid inline comments in .vimrc?
It's very hard to "embed" comments into a mapping without affecting its functionality. And this would only help with our own mappings, not the ones from plugins.
Rather, I'd suggest to learn from (well-written) plugins, which provide :help targets for their (default) key mappings. So, to document your mapping(s), create a help file ~/.vim/doc/mymappings.txt with:
*<F9>*
<F9> Execute current line in bash
After :helptags ~/.vim/doc, you will be able to look up the comments via :h <F9>. By using the help file, you can use syntax highlighting, longer multi-line comments, and even examples, so I think that'a better and more straightforward solution.
Personally, I wouldn't have much use for such a feature for two reasons: the first one, is that I always have a vim session with a note taking buffer that contains all the tips/commands not yet in my muscle memory. Secondly, you can list all the maps using :map, and it's always a great exercise for your brain in learning vim to literally read vim commands.
That being said…
As this probably can only be done using custom function, where do I start?
…well I guess you could imagine using a function with a prototype such as:
AddMap(op, key, cmd, comment)
used like:
call AddMap("nmap", "<F9>", ":exec '!'.getline('.')<CR>", "Execute current line in shell")
which implementation would add key and comment to an array, so that you could list the array to get your own mappings declared. Using a function like ListMap().
let map_list = []
function! AddMap(op, key, cmd, comment)
" add to map list
insert(map_list, [op, key, comment])
" execute map assign
exec op.' '.key.' '.cmd
endfunction
function! ListMap()
for it in map_list
echo it[0] . '\t' . it[1] . '\t' . it[2]
endfor
endfunction
Of course, one could elaborate on the ListMap() function implementation to generate a more "proper" help file that you could open in a buffer. But that's an idea of how you could do an implementation for a feature close to what you're looking for.
N.B.: this snippet is mostly an idea of how I'd tackle this problem, and it's a one shot write that I did not actually try.
How do I parse .vimrc to strip only key mappings and their corresponding comments (I have only done some very basic Vim scripts)?
I don't think that would be a good solution, I think the better way to achieve your goal is my suggestion. Simpler and more explicit, though it won't show off all mappings. But you don't have all your mappings in your .vimrc.
Do I understand correctly from :help map-comments that I should avoid inline comments in .vimrc?
To be more precise you shall not use inline comments after maps, because they will be interpreted part of the mapping.
how to get mapping created by plugins?
Besides, using :map, you just don't. You look at the sources/documenation of your plugins and find out about them. There's no such thing as a reverse lookup from runtime to declaration point.
I am trying to define a vim key map for putting the selected line inside an HTML p tag:
vnoremap <leader>bp c<p><cr></p><esc>P
It doesn't work, I think vim is interpreting <p> in a special way. How can I solve this?
It looks like you are using Vim in "compatible mode" which is something only hopelessly masochistic people do. In "nocompatible mode", your mapping works as expected so you should probably make sure nocompatible is set (creating a blank ~/.vimrc should be enough).
Anyway, your <p>s are not where the problem is because they are inserted normally, it's your <cr> and your <esc> that are causing a mess: since you are running Vim in "compatible mode", the cpoptions option includes < which causes Vim to not recognize <CR> and friends as special keys.
Running Vim in "nocompatible mode" is the best way to go but you can also use the following notation if you really insist on going "compatible":
vnoremap <leader>bp c<p>^M</p>^]P
where ^M is inserted with <C-v><CR> and ^] is inserted with <C-v><Esc>.
You may want to look into Tim Pope's Surround plugin. Then you can do S<p> and surround the visually selected text with <p> tags.
However the answer please see #romainl answer. I would also suggest you read up on key-notation via :h key-notation
As I tried to globally replace FOO with BAR in a vim buffer, I accidentally typed
:%S/FOO/BAR/
Note the uppercase S instead of the more suitable s.
Of course, it wouldn't replace my FOOs. That's understandable. Yet, vim split the window into two windows, both holding the same buffer.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any :help on this behaviour. So, can someone explain what the uppercase :%S is supposed to do and where I can find help on it?
:h :S
:[N]Sexplore[!] [dir]... Split&Explore current file's directory *:Sexplore*
So I'm basically a beginner when it comes to Vim, nonetheless I do know the basic things (open files, edit, move around, basic grep, .vimrc, etc)
I would submit this link first
http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2008/11/17/vim-follow-up
If you scroll down to where it says "NERD___tree", it explains what it is and gives a link to the home page. I have already gotten NERD_tree installed, so far so good.
Only thing is, this guy (JamisBuck) adds a line to the .vimrc file to streamline it's usage (I'm guessing to toggle between NERD_tree and the actual file, because as far as I can tell, there is no quick way to do it other than typing in:
:NERDTree
Every time which is less than desirable. The follwing is the code he adds to the .vimrc file:
map <leader>d :execute 'NERDTreeToggle ' . getcwd()<CR>
He doesn't explain exactly what is is and/or how to use it, so If someone could give me a short explanation and/or point me towards a resource to learn more about this, that would be appreciated.
I'd say :help leader will give you what you need, is an anti-slash by default.
Thus, map <leader>d will be launched when you do \d.
According to the vim documentation, the
<Leader>
Is a special variable that is replaced with the value of "mapleader" at the time the mapping is defined. So:
map <leader>d :execute 'NERDTreeToggle ' . getcwd()<CR>
Is mapping the mapleader and "d" to the toggle. If you look at the page you linked, earlier in the page he says:
I’ve got my <Leader> character (:h mapleader) mapped to the comma
(since it’s easier to reach than the backspace character).
let mapleader = ","
So the toggle should be ",d" as far as I can tell.
In addition to what others have said (d mapped to the command), the command, itself:
:execute 'NERDTreeToggle ' . getcwd()<CR>
Is simply executing the NERDTreeToggle command with the first argument as the current working directory. The at the end is a carriage return, and is just simulating a press of the enter key.
This means that when NERD tree opens, it will be in the current working directory.