Vim function to find pattern, replace, and visual mode - vim

So I use Vim to write reports at work, reports are basically a bunch of "common issues" that we write over and over, so they are templated. These templates have placeholder blocks {==BLOCK==} to ensure people modify things as/when needed, so this is an example:
The test revealed that it was possible to access {==sensitive data==},
as shown in the examples below...
That block may need to be modified, or not. So the idea is, I am editing the common issue, and I see there are 3 or 4 blocks like the one in the example, I'd like to press let's say [leader]b and then end up having the template text for the first block selected in visual mode without the {== and ==} that are around it.
I have tried a few things but I didn't get too far, any suggestions?
Thanks!

You could define the following function:
function! VisualSelect()
call search("==}")
norm hvT=
endfunction
nnoremap <leader>b :call VisualSelect()<cr>
vnoremap <leader>b Ol<esc>:call VisualSelect()<cr>
This will visually select the contents between {== and ==}. Typing <leader>b repeatedly will select the next occurrence.

Most template/snippet expand plugins support this.
With my lh-brackets plugin, you can execute
:SetMarkers {== ==}
and then jump from one placeholder to the next with CTRL+J with vim, or META-DEL with gvim. lh-brackets doesn't take care of loading/expanding templates. mu-template will add this layer.
If instead you choose to use one of the more popular snippet plugin, there will certainly be an option to change the syntax of the placeholders, but I don't know it.
The poor man's solution would look like:
nnoremap <c-j> <c-\><c-n>/{==.*==}<cr>v/==}/e<cr><c-g>
snoremap <c-j> <c-\><c-n>/{==.*==}<cr>v/==}/e<cr><c-g>
but it won't take care of restoring the search pattern, of the cases where the cursor is already within a placeholder, and so on...
EDIT: the version that automatically deletes the placeholder marks is
nnoremap <c-j> <c-\><c-n>/{==.*==}<cr>v/==}/e<cr>s<c-r>=matchstr(#", '{==\zs.*\ze==}')<cr><esc>gv6h<c-g>
the same in snoremap

In short:
nnoremap <leader>b /{==.*==}<cr>xxxvt=<esc>/==}<cr>xxxgv
What it does:
1.) find the pattern
/{==.*==}<cr>
2.) Remove the first "{=="
xxx
3.) Visual select your text until the first = (maybe this could be also optimized for using a regex instead of simple searching for the next =)
vt=
4.) Go to the end sequence
/==}<cr>
5.) Remove it
xxx
6.) Select again your last selection
gv

I have figured out a way based on what #snap said, I ended up adding the code to a Python plugin to run it through it, as that fits better with what I am trying to do, snippet below:
#neovim.command('VimisEditTemplateBlock')
def urlify(self):
"""Search next codify block and prepare for editing"""
[...]
self.nvim.command('call search("{==")') # Find beginning of codify block
self.nvim.command('norm xxx') # Delete {==
self.nvim.command('norm vf=') # Select the inner text
self.nvim.command('norm v')
self.nvim.command('norm xxxgvh') #Delete ==} and leave the inner text selected in Visual Mode

Related

Move to the last character of previous line vim

I have started using vim recently and was wondering if there's any keyboard shortcut to move the the last character of previous line( line number l-1 if I am currently on line number l) ?
One of the ways is to use the up arrow to move to the same column of previous line and then use $ to move to the end of the line.
I am looking for some shortcut to do that in one command.
UPDATE:
Here's also another solution to move to the beginning of the next line / the end of the previous line without the need to set any mappings. Add these three to your .vimrc:
set whichwrap+=<,h
set whichwrap+=>,l
set whichwrap+=[,]
(Credit to: Kevin H. Lin and garyjohn)
Original Answer:
I've not memorized all Vim shortcut combinations, so there might be one shortcut for what you're asking for, but I usually define a mapping whenever I need something I don't know how to do.
For what you need, you can simply define it with this:
nnoremap <S-L> <Up><S-4>
Just add it to your ~/.vimrc(if this file doesn't exist yet, create it yourself), then restart vim. Then the next time you open up your Vim, the "Shift-L" shortcut will do the job.
You can go straight into the insert mode as well and append characters after the last character of the previous line with this rule instead:
nnoremap <S-L> <Up><S-A>
Also in case you don't understand the structure of the above rules, you can read more about it here:
Understand Vim Mappings and Create Your Own Shortcuts.
There is a corner case: If your cursor is on the first line, pressing this mapping should not move the cursor.
Therefore, we can use the <expr> mapping:
nnoremap <expr> <F6> line('.')==1?'\<F6>':'k$'
In the example above, I used <F6>, you can choose the short-cut key you like.

Delete specific lines above current line in vim normal mode? [duplicate]

I have a mapping in my vimrc that downwardly comments out regions of c code:
nmap comc :normal! I//<ESC>
Since the 'normal' ex command implicitly converts input such as "Ncomc" to ".,.+N-1 comc", I can range comments downwardly without many keystrokes and without leaving normal mode. This is, however, a very limited subset of what vim ranges can do. If I'm willing to be verbose, I can achieve upward ranging comments like so:
.,.-5 normal comc
While editing text, I would much prefer to type something like "-6comc" or make a mapping of "Comc" that uses upward ranges. I'm haven't been able to do so successfully.
Similarly, range operations support commenting until a search pattern is reached, e.g :
.,/int main/ comc
I would, however, like to do so without all that typing.
The behavior you requested is normally done with :h map-operator mapping. With this commenting 3 lines down will turn into comc2j though, but 3 lines up is now just as easy: comc2k.
You can also use visual mode without changing your mapping at all: V2kcomc. You will have to add xnoremap with the identical lhs and rhs because nnoremap works only for normal mode. (And do not use nmap.)
Third option is mapping - to something that moves {count} lines up and puts count back:
nnoremap <expr> - (v:count ? ":\<C-u>\n" . (v:count-1) . 'k' . v:count : '')
. This assumes you are writing 6-comc, not -6comc.
// By the way, I would suggest The NERD Commenter if it comes to the plugin.
While it's commendable to go as far as possible without any plugins, sometimes they're just the best option. What will you do when you start working in a language that has comments with # or (*...*)? Add new mappings for these comment characters?
I recommend commentary.vim which does filetype-aware commenting.
The default commenting operator in commentary.vim is gc. You can combine it with motions, and use it in Visual mode too.
Your use cases:
Comment downwards N lines (say, 3): :.,.+3normal gcc, or gc3j or 4gcc.
Comment upwards 5 lines: :.,.-5normal gcc, or simply gc5k.
Comment until int main: :.,/int main/-1normal gcc, or simply gc/int main followed by Enter.

VIM keybinding to jump back to initial position after indenting the whole file

I have created a keybinding that should indent a whole file.
My first solution looked like this:
map <F4> gg=G
The problem is that after pressing F4, the cursor jumped to the first line of the file. So I have tried to improve my solution with the feature of markers, look like this:
map <F4> mzgg=G'z<CR>
I expected this would have resolved my problem, but the command do the same as the first. When I try to jump to the z marker manually vim told me "marker not set".
After changing the keybinding, I have or course restarted vim! I am using the GVIM 7.3 on a WIN 7 machine.
Thank you in advance for your Help!
Edit:
After trying to get my keybinding working by tipping it directly to vim commandline. I find out that the keybinding was working quite nice. I think problem is that I create a session some times ago (with mksession) and if you load a session I think vim ignores the vimrc-file. Is this assumption right?
Solution:
In these thread I find a soultion to make mksession save less options.
Another lightweight approach: set the ` mark, format the buffer and jump back to the mark afterwards.
:nnoremap <key> m`gg=G``
I would recommend the use of CTRLo and CTRLi which allow to go respectively backward and forward in the jump list. See :help jumps.
The following mapping
map <F4> gg=G2<C-o>
works. (It jumps back two times in the jump list)
But generally, the jump list is a great way to navigate in a file, this is likely the shortcuts that use the most in my daily use. It is also works if you jump to a tag to go back to your original location.
You might also want to use nnoremap rather than map, this way it will only work in normal mode, and you could potentially reuse F4 in combination in another key binding without having recursive mappings.
so
nnoremap <F4> gg=G2<C-o>

How to refer to key combinations in vim keybinding that works on the query line

I use pandoc markdown in text files and want to automate links that refer to internal textnodes. For example I have a link like [\%110lund] going to the word "und" in line 110. To automate the jumping process I defined a keybinding:
nnoremap <Leader>l vi[y/<ctrl+r>0<CR>
Unfortunately <ctrl+r> is written as the query string instead of performed to copy the visual selection.
So my question is how do I have to notate <ctrl+r>0 at this location so that it is actually performed instead of written out
Use c+r instead of ctrl+r.
In order to avoid confusion, I am striking out the incorrect edit that someone else made, rather than reverting it. In the context of a vim mapping (such as the :nnoremap of this question) the following should be typed literally. For example, <c-r> really means 5 characters.
Use <c-r> instead of <ctrl+r>.
See :help keycodes for more options.

Advanced Usage of Ranges with Vim Keymappings

I have a mapping in my vimrc that downwardly comments out regions of c code:
nmap comc :normal! I//<ESC>
Since the 'normal' ex command implicitly converts input such as "Ncomc" to ".,.+N-1 comc", I can range comments downwardly without many keystrokes and without leaving normal mode. This is, however, a very limited subset of what vim ranges can do. If I'm willing to be verbose, I can achieve upward ranging comments like so:
.,.-5 normal comc
While editing text, I would much prefer to type something like "-6comc" or make a mapping of "Comc" that uses upward ranges. I'm haven't been able to do so successfully.
Similarly, range operations support commenting until a search pattern is reached, e.g :
.,/int main/ comc
I would, however, like to do so without all that typing.
The behavior you requested is normally done with :h map-operator mapping. With this commenting 3 lines down will turn into comc2j though, but 3 lines up is now just as easy: comc2k.
You can also use visual mode without changing your mapping at all: V2kcomc. You will have to add xnoremap with the identical lhs and rhs because nnoremap works only for normal mode. (And do not use nmap.)
Third option is mapping - to something that moves {count} lines up and puts count back:
nnoremap <expr> - (v:count ? ":\<C-u>\n" . (v:count-1) . 'k' . v:count : '')
. This assumes you are writing 6-comc, not -6comc.
// By the way, I would suggest The NERD Commenter if it comes to the plugin.
While it's commendable to go as far as possible without any plugins, sometimes they're just the best option. What will you do when you start working in a language that has comments with # or (*...*)? Add new mappings for these comment characters?
I recommend commentary.vim which does filetype-aware commenting.
The default commenting operator in commentary.vim is gc. You can combine it with motions, and use it in Visual mode too.
Your use cases:
Comment downwards N lines (say, 3): :.,.+3normal gcc, or gc3j or 4gcc.
Comment upwards 5 lines: :.,.-5normal gcc, or simply gc5k.
Comment until int main: :.,/int main/-1normal gcc, or simply gc/int main followed by Enter.

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