I've added the following configuration to my init.vim file (I'm using neovim):
imap <leader>aa <Esc> :w!<CR>
My <leader> has been mapped to space.
The goal is to hit SPC aa when in insert mode and I will exit insert mode and then force write the file.
This documentation makes it seem like having a sequence of commands should work just fine with imap. I have other multicommand shortcuts in my init.vim that work just fine too, for example nnoremap <leader>so :source $MYVIMRC<CR>.
When I execute the imap <leader>aa <Esc> :w!<CR> shortcut all that happens is that I exit insert mode. The changes are not forced written. This implies that only <ESC> is being executed.
Is there something wrong with my configuration?
ANSWER FOUND
This mapping:
imap <leader>aa <Esc> :w!<CR>
will not work because of the space between <Esc> and :w!<CR>. If you remove the space, it will work. So the mapping:
imap <leader>aa <Esc>:w!<CR>
will work.
Related
I'm working on a plugin to allow bracket completion (I know it's available, it's more of a learning exercise). To properly implement it, I need to add to the backspace mapping. However, as it's an important key, I'd rather keep the existing functionality and just add to it rather than reimplementing the functionality. The steps would basically be when in insert mode and press backspace, execute the original backspace key, then check for some conditions and maybe remove more characters.
I've tried something like imap <backspace> <backspace><call_func_here>, but that doesn't seem to work. Again, I know I could remap backspace to just the function and try to recreate the backspace functionality, but I'd prefer to not do that.
Is this possible in vim?
I think what you are trying to do is the following:
inoremap <silent> <BS> <BS><C-o>:call MyFunction()<CR>
inoremap allows to create a non recurrent mapping in insert mode (it is often a good idea to use nore in your mappings). :h :inoremap
<silent> precise that the mapping will not be echoed on the command line (You will not see :call MyFunction() in the command line) :h :map-silent
<BS> is the reference to the backspace key that you want to remap.
The second <BS> is here to issue a backspace in insert mode
<C-o> switches to normal mode for only a command. :h i_CTRL-O
:call MyFunction() is the call to your function the way you would do it in normal mode.
<CR> correspond to the Enter key which validate the call to your function.
In order to save time in Vim, I came up with an idea. To map :w key binding to Esc in both normal mode and insert mode. However it only works in insert mode whereas in normal mode things are getting messy when I open a new file. This is what I added in .vimrc:
:inoremap <Esc> <Esc>:w<CR>
:nnoremap <Esc> :w<CR>
As I said the first command alone, works fine. But adding the second command, keys are messed up ESPECIALLY when I open a new file. For instance, although I have explicitly added in .vimrc:
map <up> <nop>
map <down> <nop>
map <left> <nop>
map <right> <nop>
by adding the second command for the normal mode, pressing up down left or right keys cause to enter in insert mode and add A B C D.
Could you help me to achieve my idea?
Information on Vim FAQ 10.9 may be useful:
10.9. When I use my arrow keys, Vim changes modes, inserts weird characters
in my document but doesn't move the cursor properly. What's going on?
There are a couple of things that could be going on: either you are using
Vim over a slow connection or Vim doesn't understand the key sequence that
your keyboard is generating.
If you are working over a slow connection (such as a 2400 bps modem), you
can try to set the 'timeout' or 'ttimeout' option. These options, combined
with the 'timeoutlen' and 'ttimeoutlen' options, may fix the problem.
The preceding procedure will not work correctly if your terminal sends key
codes that Vim does not understand. In this situation, your best option is
to map your key sequence to a matching cursor movement command and save
these mappings in a file. You can then ":source" the file whenever you work
from that terminal.
For more information, read
|'timeout'|
|'ttimeout'|
|'timeoutlen'|
|'ttimeoutlen'|
|:map|
|vt100-cursor-keys|
From :h vt100-cursor-keys:
Other terminals (e.g., vt100 and xterm) have cursor keys that send <Esc>OA,
<Esc>OB, etc. ...
So probably your nnoremap is causing the Esc on the arrow's key sequence to save the file, and the remaining characters are being interpreted alone, so the A is entering insert mode.
You could consider using option 'autowriteall', or using a different mapping to save your file; these are defined in $VIMRUNTIME\mswin.vim:
" Use CTRL-S for saving, also in Insert mode
noremap <C-S> :update<CR>
vnoremap <C-S> <C-C>:update<CR>
inoremap <C-S> <C-O>:update<CR>
The :update command is similar to :w, but only writes only if the file has been modified.
Also, you can use
autocmd InsertLeave * write
I use mappings to normal mode commands that I'd also like to work in insert mode. This can be done by adding <C-o> to insert mode mapping:
nmap <C-Up> 10<Up>
imap <C-Up> <C-o>10<Up>
But this means repeating each mapping twice.
To avoid repetition, I've tried to "overload" some other key, then use it for mode-specific part:
" F12 selects prefix suitable for current mode
nmap <F12> <Nop>
imap <F12> <C-o>
" single mapping relying on "overloaded" F12
map <C-Up> <F12>10<Up>
For some reason, it doesn't work. F2 in insert mode just inserts <F2> as text.
Any idea what's wrong and how to fix it?
Bonus points if you can extend the solution to visual mode.
As ZyX has already pointed out, there is no single :map command for all modes, because it mostly doesn't make sense. If you really want to define a mapping for all modes, use both :map and :map!; see :help map-modes.
As you typically define mappings only once in your .vimrc, I would not worry too much about the little duplication, but if you do, you can use a wrapper function to avoid this:
function! MapBoth(keys, rhs)
execute 'nmap' a:keys a:rhs
execute 'imap' a:keys '<C-o>' . a:rhs
endfunction
call MapBoth('<C-Up>', '10<Up>')
Original
nnoremap <F2> :w<CR>
inoremap <F2> <Esc>:w<CR>a
map sometimes does not set it for all modes. I don't know the exact reason, so to be sure I like to explicitly set all mapping in my configuration file. I suggest that you do the same as there are cases where you can get something unexpected due to different modes. That's why it is important to consider every remapping that you do for each particular mode with care.
In addition, favor *noremap command instead of just *map everywhere you can as recursive mapping is a known source of errors, especially for beginners.
Lastly, I don't know what are you trying to achieve by binding writing of a file in visual mode. Are you aiming for partial buffer writing (it's when you selected something in visual mode, then hit this file-writing shortcut and only selected text is written)? Or do you want the whole file to be written when you are in visual mode, regardless of whether you selected anything or not when you hit the file-writing shortcut? Provide more information on that. Personally, in either case it is weird mapping for visual mode, as it is really not indented for that. It's rather better to keep such stuff in normal mode.
Update
As others have already given exhaustive answers on your question, I just thought that it would be helpful if add my 2 cents, but in slightly different direction. By looking on what you are trying to do, namely mapping navigation features involving arrow keys in insert mode, I can infer that you are very new to Vim. As you probably already know, the philosophy behind Vim is that you should never ever touch mouse during your work inside Vim - call it a kind of golden rule.
What I want to point out now, is what I call a silver rule, and it basically looks like this:
noremap <Up> <Nop>
noremap <Down> <Nop>
noremap <Left> <Nop>
noremap <Right> <Nop>
inoremap <Up> <Nop>
inoremap <Down> <Nop>
inoremap <Left> <Nop>
inoremap <Right> <Nop>
In other words, prevent yourself from using arrow keys (everywhere except command-line mode). Your fingers should always be only in the region of character keys. Vim is all about modes. Insert mode is not for navigation - it is intended for bursts of typing. When you work with code or just text (doesn't matter) you spend most of your time in normal mode - navigating - looking through the file, seeking where to land next in order to edit something, add something, i.e. to do your next input burst for which you switch to insert mode, and when you are finished you switch back to normal mode to look for some more meat - like a predator. :)
So what is it all about? I just want to head you to the right direction right from the beginning. This way you can become intermediate Vim user very quickly - just a few days. In order to get better feeling of all the aforementioned I suggest that you should definitely watch Vim Novice Video Tutorials by Derek Wyatt where he talks about all that stuff in more detail and shows it in action in the screencasts. There are also Intermediate and Advanced tutorials by him which you might also look when you are comfortable with the basics.
I wish you happy vimming! :)
There are no commands to define mappings for all modes: :map maps for normal, operator-pending and visual modes (really visual and select at once) which is clearly stated in documentation. It does not make any sense to have same mapping for all modes, though unlike movement ones saving may be done in all modes with exactly the same rhs:
function s:Save()
update
return ''
endfunction
noremap <expr> <F2> <SID>Save()
noremap! <expr> <F2> <SID>Save()
. noremap! is another multi-mode mapping command, it covers insert and command mode now. You can’t move the cursor from <SID>Save() function (textlock) thus this method is not applicable for cursor movement commands, but you can use variables in order not to repeat the same thing twice:
let s:tendownlhs='10j'
execute ' noremap <C-Down> '.s:tendownlhs
execute 'inoremap <C-Down> <C-o>'.s:tendownlhs
. Now without command mode as this is tricky and likely useless.
If it is okay for the mapping to end up in normal mode, you could combine a for loop with <C-\><C-n> mappings. <C-\><C-n> switches from any mode to normal mode.
For example, this allows switching panes with Alt-{h,j,k,l} from any mode:
for map_command in ['noremap', 'noremap!', 'tnoremap']
execute map_command . ' <silent> <M-h> <C-\><C-n><C-w>h'
execute map_command . ' <silent> <M-j> <C-\><C-n><C-w>j'
execute map_command . ' <silent> <M-k> <C-\><C-n><C-w>k'
execute map_command . ' <silent> <M-l> <C-\><C-n><C-w>l'
endfor
noremap maps in Normal, Visual, and Operator-pending mode
noremap! maps in Insert and Command mode
tnoremap maps in Neovim's Terminal mode
I'm trying to set up the NERDComment plugin in vim, but I'm having some trouble with the keys. I'd like to set the basic toggle functionality (comment a line if it's uncommented, uncomment if it's commented) to be c. The problem is that I've remapped the Leader to be ,, which is the same key that NERD wants for all of it's hotkeys. Anyone have any idea as to how to set this up?
Just call NERDComment function in your mapping. For example, my mapping to comment the current line:
inoremap ,c <C-o>:call NERDComment(0,"toggle")<C-m>
Here's a breakdown of how this vim remap works.
The i in inoremap means that the remap only applies in insert mode.
The noremap means that the remap can't be overridden later in your .vimrc file by accident, or by a plugin.
The ,c is the key combination that triggers the key map.
The <C-o> temporarily takes you out of insert mode for one command, so the next section of the remap can call the NERDComment function.
The :call NERDComment(0,"toggle") is the NERDComment function being called.
Then <C-m> is another way of saying carriage return, which executes the command.
If you want the comment shortcut to work in normal mode and visual mode, but not in insert mode where it might do something weird when you try to type a comma, you can use the following remaps:
nnoremap ,c :call NERDComment(0,"toggle")<CR>
vnoremap ,c :call NERDComment(0,"toggle")<CR>
documented method of remapping key is located here:
remapping documentation
reference
map <leader>d <Plug>NERDCommenterToggle
"silently rejects remap will not work
nnoremap <leader>d <Plug>NERDCommenterToggle
I fell into the pitfall of attempting to use "nnoremap" to remap on my first attempt resulting in unresponsive mapping. You must use "map", "nmap", etc to properly remap the function
:map <C-z> <plug>NERDCommenterToggle
Maps 'toggle comments' to ctrl+z
I'd like to use two "controls" as a toggle key to switch between normal mode and insert mode in Vim. So I add the following two lines into my .vimrc
nmap <C-><C-> i
imap <C-><C-> <ESC>
But it doesn't work. What's wrong with the above two lines?
It seems you are trying to map Ctrl+Space to toggle insert mode.
nnoremap <C-space> i
imap <C-space> <Esc>
(Came from this Vim tip (marked obsolete, but there's a link to a more rich document on avoiding which includes the tip).)
Remember that this is not guaranteed to work across all terminals and platforms. Some terminals and platforms may eat a given Ctrl+something shortcut, while others don't, so find one that works in your environment.
nnoremap <silent><C-space> :startinsert
inoremap <silent><C-space> <C-O>:stopinsert
That's definitely not going to work. You could use an F key instead.
nnoremap <C-SPACE> i
inoremap <C-SPACE> <ESC>l
works perfectly with GVIM 7.4