Using all of Vim, Xvim(for Xcode) and Ideavim(for IntelliJ), I'd like to be able to use the default keybindings while in insert mode rather than Vims. I've been using Xcode for quite some time now and have gotten quite good at typing with the standard Xcode bindings but Vim bindings are so much better while not in insert mode.
I know you can do .vimrc settings such as
:im <C-D> <esc>xa
to emulate these functions, but this still leaves problems with slightly different behaviors as well as losing functionality where these commands have multiple uses. IE ctrl+n is both down while typing and next while scrolling through autocompletions. Custom bindings in .vimrc removes the ability to scroll through autocompletions.
Using
:im <C-N> <NOP>
enables scrolling through autocompletions but still doesn't let it function as down.
Anybody know how to solve this?
If you really want to, you can put
nnoremap i :action VimPluginToggle<CR>
into your ~/.ideavimrc, then in Preferences => Keymap, find the Vim Emulator item and assign the shortcut ESC to it. This when instead of entering insert mode, you'll be disabling IdeaVim, and hitting ESC will re-enable it.
I tested this briefly and it does seem to work at least at a superficial level, although you lose the changing caret style as an indicator of which mode you're in. I'm not sure that's a good idea, however. Probably better to work within the system as designed and set up the bindings you want.
Related
While vim's way of doing things is generally good, I feel like there are aspects that really get in the way as somebody who is not completely committed to vim for text-editing.
This means that I am hitting Esc+/ and typing slashes into files in Sublime Text, and hitting Ctrl+F in vim, scrolling down a page.
Similar things happen with Ctrl+S and :w and custom mapping ; to : still doesn't make it as convenient and fail-safe as Ctrl+S. Not to mention in PuTTY, Ctrl+S does something rather upsetting (it suspends output from the terminal till Ctrl+Q is pressed). Basically, IMHO some things (like switching to a "find mode" and saving the file) are good to attach to a global left-hand home-row shortcut chord rather than requiring the user to mess about in a modal command line. It simply is too often used to subject the user to these mode changes. I suppose this isnt a legitimate complaint because the entirety of vim is constructed around the modal concept, and these functionalities are a result of that.
In any case I'd like to make it a bit easier on my brain because I've tried for a while now to keep it all intact and it's simply too much (I have more or less internalized the switching between Ctrl on a windows machine on a desktop keyboard and the use of the thumb for the Cmd on my Macbook, but this modal text editor business seems to be too much). It did not take too much deliberation for me to decide that global homerow key chords are simply more intuitive.
Mapping Ctrl+S to :w is trivial, so the question here is about the find mode. I want to bind Ctrl+F to put me in find mode, but repeating it should not type slashes into the find command. Can this be done? Is there perhaps a colon-command that when executed simply drops me into the current find-command-buffer-thing?
In your .vimrc add:
inoremap <C-f> <Esc>/
noremap <C-f> <Esc>/
In whatever mode you are in, this will put you in "find" mode (it actually just types a slash in the command line which you can use to search). With these bindings it will work for all modes, even if you are in insert mode.
do you want this?
nnoremap <c-f> /
if you like you can also try
nnoremap <c-f> q/
the 2nd mapping brings you to a search history window. you could choose previous search keywords/patterns. also available to type new pattern (by pressing i)
btw, there is no find mode
Mappings can be defined separately for the different modes in Vim, see :help map-modes. This automatically takes care of your proposed <C-f> mapping: Initially, you're in normal mode, then the search pattern is entered in command-line mode.
If you so far only occasionally use Vim, and find it too "different", several things may make the switch easier:
easy Vim (evim or vim -y) defaults to insert mode
on Windows, :behave mswin and the $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim script create some common Windows shortcuts
graphical GVIM has menu items like Edit > Find... and toolbars.
Some things like the flow-control freeze on <C-s> in terminals are unfortunate, mostly historical accidents; you can't blame Vim for those.
You don't need to map anything. / is expressive enough and is definitely not slower than <C-f>. Same for <C-s> which, despite a certain familiarity, is not much better than :w<CR>. You are learning a new tool, remember?
What you should focus your efforts on is getting confortable with Vim's modality. The simple fact that, for you, doing a search involves hitting <Esc> is a sign that you didn't get that part. Your other comments on using Vim shortcuts in ST and ST shortcut in Vim are not good signs either and the part where you complain about having to adjust to your Mac's Cmd is the icing on the cake, IMO.
It may sound brutal but, from your question, it seems like you are doing too much at the same time, without organization and for, probably, no good reasons.
Switching from Windows to Mac OS X and switching from ST2 to Vim at the same time is sure to be confusing and I suggest you slow down a little and make a choice before you loose your mind and waste more of your time.
Which leads me to this: Why do you use a Mac and why are you using Vim?
Windows is a fine OS. Sublime is a fine editor. Even if you switch to the Mac, Sublime works very well there. So Why Vim?
If you are tired by some Sublime limitations and want the awesome power of Vim, fine. But you must wrap your head around its modality and awkwardness and accept to change your habit.
If you don't approach Vim with more flexibility, you'll never get full benefits.
If you decided to use Vim because it is trendy, I'll respectfully suggest you to stop there and go back to Sublime. Vim is weird, Vim is different, Vim is huge, Vim is a rabbit hole… if you are not ready to work with it and insist on not accepting its core design, you won't get far so why bother? You can pretty much live all your professional carreer without ever touching Vim. There's no shame in that.
Remapping / to <C-f>, on the other hand…
I am using a bépo keymap (http://bepo.fr) and seeking the perfect vim mapping.
So far I used a long list of noremap, but for many binding (for exemple, the motion aw or Ctrl+r), the first keystroke is well remaped but not the others, I reckon it's the expected behaviour, but then this is not what I need.
Ideally I would have my keyboard totally remaped in a higher level (before the map commands) except when typing text (in insertion mode and when typing a substitution for exemple). What I'm looking for seems to be langmap, but I have problems using it.
I added this langmap to my .vimrc, It seems perfect but it broke some of my plugins. SuperTab now insert <Plug>SuperTabForward when pressing Tab in insertion mode, I have t<SNR>24_SelectCompletion(1) when pressing enter.
Does someone know how to fix this langmap issue or a better way to remap my keyboard?
This is a known bug, that has been discussed before. I have made a patch (see the thread starting here) and hopefully Bram will include this change soon.
Update 11/05/2014
This has been fixed by patch 7.4.502. Use the langnoremap option to fix this.
Does anyone know how to change vim's default mode? Its default mode is command mode, but could I change it to insert mode?
Just add the following line to your vimrc:
start
Vim's default mode will be changed to Insert mode. Just press Esc to enter Command mode.
You can try the 'insertmode' option (add set insertmode to your .vimrc file), although I recommend that you learn the standard vi operation, because not all vi-like editors support this mode of work.
cheers,
mitch
If you really want an editor that starts out in insert mode, perhaps vim is not the editor for you.
Most editors that aren't based on vi behave the way you want. Emacs is very powerful, but it may be too complicated for your needs. Nano (man nano for info nano for more information) might be a good choice. There are other possibilities.
vim really isn't designed to be used that way. As others have said, there are ways to force it to start up in insert mode. (I've been using vi-style editors for decades, and I didn't even know about :set insertmode until now.) But it's awkward to use.
My advice: either (1) use an editor that behaves the way you want, or (2) spend some time learning to use vim in its default configuration, and see if you can get used to it.
One big advantage of vim's separation of insert and command modes is that the command mode can use letters as commands; modeless editors generally have to use control keys or function keys to execute commands.
Update (a decade later): vim has an option -y that starts it with insertmode enabled. evim is equivalent to vim -y, and eview to view -y. From the man page (emphasis added):
eVim starts Vim and sets options to make it behave like a modeless editor. This is still Vim but used as a point-and-click editor. This feels a lot like using Notepad on MS-Windows. eVim will always run in the GUI, to enable the use of menus and toolbar.
Only to be used for people who really can't work with Vim in the normal way. Editing will be much less efficient.
The 'insertmode' option is set to be able to type text directly.
Mappings are setup to make Copy and Paste work with the MS-Windows keys. CTRL-X cuts text, CTRL-C copies text and CTRL-V pastes text. Use CTRL-Q to obtain the original meaning of CTRL-V.
You can use
vi -cstartinsert
or
vi -cstart
That launch vi and put it insert mode. You can do an alias to that if it's really usefull (I still understand why you want that anyway). You can also look at this tip.
"Cream" is a project that aims to make Vim easier to use. By default everything you do in Cream is in insert mode, I believe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream_%28software%29
I am trying to use the command button in MacVim instead of Ctrl and other buttons.
I tried something like :imap <D-space> <Esc> to override the normal Command-space functionality while in MacVim but it still performs the spotlight.
Any ideas?
In these cases its usually the window manager intercepting the key-stroke before the application ever sees it. There may be an option to turn off certain global key-bindings when a specified app is active but I've been unable to find it on 10.5 - linux window managers have this functionality, as does windows, so I'd expect its hiding somewhere in the OS WM..
The Spotlight shortcut takes precedence over your own shortcut.
To be able to use it in MacVim you must change Spotlight's shortcut in its preferences.
However, the Command key won't work in Terminal.app and won't be sent to remote servers connected by SSH. If you use Vim on a server you won't be able to use it and you will be forced to either create and learn lots of machine-specific mappings or simply use the defaults.
Another possible issue, one I encountered at the beginning, is that shortcuts with multiple modifier keys (like <D-M-something> or <C-S-something>) don't work in MacVim.
Because of that and the number of native shortcuts using these keys you won't have many possibilities.
When I decided to learn Vim (with MacVim), I tried a lot of things to make it (and Vim) more "Mac-like" or "TextMate-like" to no avail.
Instead i suggest you to do things the Vim way. It may seem weird but it's worth it.
In your case, the "Vim way" would be to use mapleader, it's a regular key on your keyboard that is used for custom mappings. The default key is \, if you want to change it (to , for the example, that's my settings but YMMV), add this line to your ~/.vimrc:
let mapleader=","
After that you can create mappings like this:
inoremap <leader><Space> <ESC>
I would like to have a mapping to quickly quit all buffers, for use when I'm vimdiffing a lot of files. Control and a function key together proved a good safety, so that I don't accidentally hit this combination, unintentionally leaving Vim. I tried the following mapping:
map <C-F10> :qa<CR>
To no avail. If I ditch the control, I can quit with F10 alone—why doesn't control work with F10 in my mapping?
I suspect you are using vim and not gvim. vim keybindings are limited by the terminal we are running vim within.
I've given up on vim, and I systematically use gvim for that reason.
Luc is right - I just tried that in gvim (well, MacVim) and it worked fine. Then I tried it in the terminal with no joy.