I feel like this is a very stupid question, but I can't seem to find the answer to this anywhere. I'm relatively new to vim. After a fresh install I installed the vim-LaTeX plugin, or the LaTeX-suite for vim. It works correctly apart for the fact that there are some commands I don't understand. It gives the following instruction:
To do this, visually select a portion of the text and press \ll while in visual mode. The visually selected portion will be saved to a temporary file with the preamble from the current document prepended. Latex-Suite will then switch focus to this temporary file and compile it
But if I press '\' it does nothing and double l moves the cursor to the right. I don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing, and I feel incredibly stupid. Sorry if off-topic.
The \ is the default value for the :help <Leader> key. Plugins are encouraged to start all default mappings with <Leader>. If you've redefined it, you need to use that key instead.
Otherwise, you need to press V \ L L (without Shift) in quick succession (by default within one second).
If you want to find out whether the plugin has been successfully installed and there's actually an action behind those keys, you can use either:
:verbose vmap <Leader>ll
:verbose vmap \ll
If Vim says No mapping found, or just lists other mappings starting with some of the keys, the plugin isn't installed properly, or you're not using it right.
Press v to go into visual mode. Then you can use your arrow keys to select text. After you've selected the text you want, type \ll.
That should be it.
Related
Apparently <c-space> doing something by default in vim but I can't figure out a way to check what it's doing.
:imap <c-space>
> No mapping found
:h <c-space>
> Sorry, no help for <c-space>
It's a little hard to give a fully generic answer here and sometimes your specific platform or terminal emulator might have an effect on how specific keys are seen by Vim.
One way to try to figure out which key code is seen by Vim is to go into Insert mode and then press Ctrl+V followed by your specific key. (See :help i_CTRL-V, which will tell you Vim will insert the next symbol literally.)
In my case, typing Ctrl+V followed by Ctrl+Space in Insert mode shows me ^#, which symbolizes the Ctrl+# sequence, which shows me that's how Vim is seeing this key sequence.
(I believe this is mostly universal, and Ctrl+Space will always generate Ctrl+# everywhere, but as I mentioned there are platform differences, so I can't guarantee it works that way everywhere, but you should be able to use the same Ctrl+V trick to find out if it's the same or not in your case.)
Following that finding, you can then look at :help i_CTRL-# to see that the Ctrl+# sequence (which should be equivalent to Ctrl+Space) will "insert previously inserted text and stop insert."
The following items are useful to me in editing text, and I was wondering if vim had something for this built out of the box (though I didn't see it on the https://vimhelp.org/index.txt.html#index.txt page), or I had to create mappings for it:
Forward-delete a character. This is X in normal mode.
Forward-delete all text to the right of the cursor on the line. This is the inverse of ctrl-u.
Are either of these mappings available? And if not, are there 'standard' mappings for this that are common (for example, how it might be done in another unix program).
Note that this is the keyboard I have -- there is only one delete key (which acts like a normal backspace key) and there is no backspace key:
Note: for forward-delete, I am currently mapping ctrl-d as:
"Ctrl-d to forward-delete when in insert or command mode
noremap! <C-d> <Delete>
However, this interferes with the tab in insert mode (which I don't use) and the help-options in command mode (which I do use!) so I may have to modify this later, or hopefully someone suggests a better solution.
though I didn't see it on the https://vimhelp.org/index.txt.html#index.txt page
If you can't find it in the documentation, then it doesn't exist.
You can use fn+delete for "Forward-delete a character".
"Forward-delete all text to the right of the cursor on the line" is ctrl+k in MacOS, but Vim has its own use for that combo, :help i_ctrl-k so it is up to you to create a mapping for it.
Something like:
inoremap <key> <C-o>ld$
Relatively new to VIM and having a great time using it.
One very minor annoyance I've been having is command mode character navigation when I want to revise a command. I'm used to using readline shortcuts on the regular (non-vim) command line but these shortcuts don't seem to work in : command mode.
For example, using ctrl + b to go back a character ends up sending me to the start of the line, or using alt + f to go forward a word ends up clearing the line and exiting command mode.
The only way I've found to navigate in command mode is to use the arrow keys, but I'm under the impression you should avoid the arrow keys in vim for max efficiency.
What is the standard way to navigate around in : command mode? Do vim users usually use the arrow keys here? Is there a different way to modify commands?
As a more concrete example, I've been using vimgrep a lot to search through files. I'll do a command like:
:vimgrep /font-family/j my-project/**/*.less | cope
Later, I'll want to use the same search but look for a different property, so I hit : then ctrl + p to access my previous vimgrep. Now here I have to use the arrow keys to navigate backwards to the search string and modify it. It would be much faster if I could use readline to navigate backwards by word then delete by word.
For small edits, Backspace and light use of the cursor keys should be fine. For anything larger, I would advise to use the command-line window:
In the command-line window the command line can be edited just like editing
text in any window.
So, there's no need to mentally switch to readline key mappings; just use the full editing power (including any custom mappings) of Vim!
You can switch via <C-F> from the command-line, or directly enter it (from normal mode) by pressing q: instead of :. All the details can be found at :help cmdline-window.
I like this question. Long time vim user, but new-ish here, so I can't vote it up. But indeed, perhaps unofficially, many vim fans feel that most of the time the goal is to not have your hands leave home row position (fingers move, hands relatively still).
I will admit, when it comes to command mode, I use the arrows. With P being on my pinky finger, I would miss-hit ctrl-P a lot, and it's faster to slide my right hand down (on my Natural keyboard) and find the up-arrow by quick feel, instantly, to do the same thing. Once I'm there, left-right arrows are also easy to find without looking or delay. Also Ctrl-arrows let you skip by word.
One of the great things about vim is the :help. I have easily spent tens of hours over the years reading through it, and it solves 95% of my problems if I have enough time and working-memory to push deep enough into it.
Here is what I found for :help readline:
READLINE readline.vim ft-readline-syntax
The readline library is primarily used by the BASH shell, which adds
quite a few commands and options to the ones already available. To
highlight these items as well you can add the following to your
|vimrc| or just type it in the command line before loading a file with
the readline syntax:
let readline_has_bash = 1
This will add highlighting for the commands that BASH (version 2.05a
and later, and part earlier) adds.
Give it a try! (I am using vim 7.4)
You can see a list of the default key binds with :help cmdline-history (scroll down a bit) and :help ex-edit-index.
You can remap this with cnoremap:
cnoremap <C-b> <Left>
cnoremap <C-a> <C-b>
" .. Probably more
Note that using cmap will probably get you into problems here since the right-hand side is the currently mapped action, whereas with cnoremap the right-hand side it will always use the native Vim action.
I'm using vim and the python-mode extension, but I'm having a hard time using commands that contain r. It's causing vim to replace characters instead of executing my desired command.
Here is what the vim docs for python-mode say -
let g:pymode_rope_organize_imports_bind = '<C-c>ro'
So I'm doing CTRL-cro, but like I said, it's replacing which ever character I'm under with the letter o.
What am I missing?
It seems that your mapping is not being interpreted by Vim, so it only sees the Ctrl-c, which by default aborts the current action, then the replace command r (see :help r) followed by its "argument".
You could check if the mapping is defined with :map <c-c>.
If it is correctly defined it may be that your terminal is handling the Ctrl-c directly and not passing it to Vim, as stated in Vim FAQ 20.5 - Why does mapping the key not work?. In this case you could follow the instructions on Vim FAQ 20.4 - I am not able to create a mapping for the key. What is wrong?, in special:
1) First make sure, the key is passed correctly to Vim. To determine if
this is the case, put Vim in Insert mode and then hit Ctrl-V (or
Ctrl-Q if your Ctrl-V is remapped to the paste operation (e.g. on
Windows if you are using the mswin.vim script file) followed by your
key.
If nothing appears in the buffer (and assuming that you have
'showcmd' on, ^V remains displayed near the bottom right of the Vim
screen), then Vim doesn't get your key correctly and there is nothing
to be done, other than selecting a different key for your mapping or
using GVim, which should recognise the key correctly.
I was thinking of mapping ,u to uncomment a block of code in visual mode, but first I wanted to make sure that ,u wasn't already doing something else important.
I selected three lines visually and typed ,u and I got the message at the bottom of the screen (where : commands are entered): "3 lines changed".
The lines didn't change, but maybe they would have under some circumstances. Obviously, vim is claiming to have executed some command, but what?
I typed :map and ,u was not listed as having been remapped. So I typed, :help ,u and it told me "No help for ,u" (read: No help for you!).
There's no ,u or <leader>u in my .vimrc. I haven't redefined comma as my leader.
If it were the unix command line, I'd type which ,u, but I don't know any equivalent in vim.
How do I figure out what, if anything, a given command is doing in any particular running instance of vim?
In visual mode, the comma does nothing but u lowercases the selected text.
This means that you can safely use ,u for a visual mode mapping: you will still be able to use u but , followed immediately by u will do what you want.
The :map command only lists mappings. Since built-in operators are not mappings you won't be able to see them there.
When a "shortcut" doesn't appear in :map, try vim's awesome documentation:
:help v_u " shows help for u in visual mode (note the v_)
If you get nothing, either from :map or from :help, using the those keys for your mapping may not be completely trouble-free. A bit of trial and error may be necessary.
Suggested reading:
Learn Vimscript the Hard Way: Chapter 3, 4 and 5.