vim supertab, toward a best way to insert a tab - vim

I really like the supertab plugin. Reaching <C-x><C-p> is a bit too long and mapping it to tab gives me a better workflow. However, sometime I just want to insert a regular tab and for this I need to insert a space first, i.e. foo<Space><Tab>bar.
This pollute my sources with useless spaces before each tab char (this assuming I don't use expandtab).
I am wondering is there is a smarter way to use auto-completion ?
Going back to <C-x><C-p> which is much slower
Using another key mapping like
Using supertab with a wiser feature:
i. Automatically insert a <Tab> if I press a char that doesn't match any of the possible completions.
ii. Inserting a real tab with
???
Any ideas?

You can suppress the Supertab trigger and insert a literal tab by pressing <C-v><Tab>. (On Windows, that frequently is <C-q><Tab>.)
Supertab also provides a mapping for direct input, by default <C-Tab>; see :help supertab-mappingtabliteral. That default key combination probably only works in GVIM, though.

Just another try.
You can have a global substitute after editing work like:
:%s/ \t /\t/g

Related

Insert a specific string instead of tabs or spaces in gVim

Since I'm working with LaTeX documents in vim, I want to be able to insert \quad instead of a tab space whenever I press tab (instead of having to replace/insert them manually). Is there any setting that could do this? If not, are there any plugins that work like this?
While you can use inoremap to change Tab to \quad in insert mode, that means
that you lose the original Tab functionality...
This might be worth it if you're sure that you'll never want to use Tab, but
what will you do when you face a similar problem of wanting some
latex-specific text? You could try and find a second key to map... but each
addition will take up a new key that already had some function.
The way I would handle this would be to use iabbrev to map some unlikely
sequence of keys like ;q to \quad:
iabbrev ;q \quad
This has the advantage that you can build up a whole set of insert mode
abbreviations, all consistently starting with ; followed by a letter or two
that you can choose to be easily remembered. And you get to keep all the
original functionality.

Pasting text in vim. A tedious operation?

I've been using vim for somewhat longer than a year now and during this time I have never feel really comfortable with the way vim works with yanking and pasting text (or maybe it is just me not using it in the most efficient way)
For example, I have the word "World" yanked onto a register, and I want to paste it after "Hello". (Note that there are no spaces on either of the words). So, what I would do is
Hello
|
Place cursor here, and press "p". Then, what I will end up with is
HelloWorld
So, in order to avoid this, I have always to swith into insert mode, insert a espace, and go back into normal mode (or either make sure that the yanked word has a space before it). Be as it may, this is quite annoying behaviour I can't think of a solution for... Am I missing something here?
Suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks
option zero
just live with what you have now.
option one
create a mapping for your workflow. for example
nnoremap <leader>p i<space><esc>p
option two
:set ve=all
then you could move your cursor to anywhere and paste
option three
you could in insert mode use <c-o> do normal mode stuff or <c-r> to get register values
I recommend option zero
You can use the Smartput : Adjust spaces and commas when putting text plugin for that. It modifies the p / P commands (this can be toggled on / off).

How can I map these five keyboard actions to a single key in Vim?

I want to map a key so that it will do the following actions in Vim. Suppose I am editing a file; I want it set up so that if I press F2, I will accomplish the same thing I would if I did the following:
press ESC
type colon (:)
type w
press Enter
press ESC again
type i to go back to insert mode
Is this possible?
Yes it's possible, but it doesn't do what you want if the cursor is at the end of line.
To get file saved on F2 in insert mode, use the following mapping:
:imap <F2> <C-O>:w<CR>
Literal answer: Yes. You can use this:
:inoremap <F2> <Esc>:w<CR>I
but it won’t do exactly what you want (the cursor will be at the wrong place).
Anton beat me to the less literal (but correct) answer.
The best answer, though, is this: Don't use Vim incorrectly. You should never spend so much time in insert mode that you need a shortcut to get out of it, save the file, and then get back in. With all other editors, you’re in “insert mode” all the time, and only temporarily pop into a menu or dialog or whatever; in Vim, you should learn to reverse this. Only pop into insert mode to edit or add something; never use arrow keys to move the cursor while in insert mode; spend the majority of your time in command (normal) mode, and after a bit of adjustment to the new paradigm, you will find that your editing speed has increased.
Writing the mapping is almost easier than your description.
First, you need to determine from which mode the mapping will be used, because that determines what :map variant you will use. You’ll probably want to use this in insert mode, so you’ll use :inoremap.
The format of the mapping is:
:..noremap {keys} {rhs}
You want <F2> (see :help key-notation) for keys. For {rhs}, just concatenate the keys listed in your description.
To persist the mapping, add it to ~/.vimrc. (See :help vimrc.)
P.S. The alternative given by Anton Kovalenko is probably better for what you’re trying to do, but here I’ve given you the general recipe for future key mappings.

how to add vim keymap

While programming I am regulary using the following two lines:
sprintf(buff,"%s", __func__);
putrsUART(buff);
Is it possible to set any keyboard shortcut to insert these two lines?
E.g. when I type \sp in command mode, these functions get added at the cursor position in my file. Is this possible? And if so, how do I map my keys?
Thanks in Advance.
You can use abbreviations, which are designed for this.
:abbr spb sprintf(buff,"%s", __func__);
:abbr uart putrsUART(buff);
Use :help abbr for the gory details. Note that you need to type another character after the abbreviated form for vim to recognize them. This comes naturally for these as you will type ENTER as the next character. It is also possible to enter more than one line with abbreviations. Simply use <CR> where you want a new line.
Here's an easy mapping for normal mode that lets you hit \sp (unless you've remapped leader, in which case use that instead of \) in order to insert the sprintf statement.
map <Leader>sp isprintf(buff,"%s", __func__);<Esc>
That being said I think abbreviations are the way to go here
As already mentioned, abbreviations (which I would limit to insert mode (:iabbr), because you probably won't need them in the command-line) are best for simple expansions; you can also define them only for certain filetypes only (via :iabbr <buffer> ...).
Your __func__ looks like a template parameter that you need to adapt each time. You cannot do this via abbreviations, but there are various plugins (many inspired from functionality in the TextMate editor) that offer template insertion with parameter expansion and several advanced features. Check out one of snipMate, xptemplate, or UltiSnips.
Try snip-Mate for inserting regularly used codesnippets. http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2540
Wrong answer, Sorry:
Try this in your vimrc:
map <c-w> :sprintf(buff,"%s",func)<cr>
This means mapping to Ctrl-W.

Is there a way to change the behavior of the vim omnicomplete menu?

Omnicompletion is working, but it automatically inserts the first result.
What I'd like to do is open the omnicomplete menu, then be able to type to narrow down the results, then hit enter or tab or space or something to insert the selected menu item.
Is this possible?
The command you are looking for is:
:set completeopt+=longest
It will insert the longest common prefix of all the suggestions, then you can type and delete to narrow down or expand results.
set wildmenu
set wildmode=list:longest,full
Found here.
There is also a great plugin for all of your completion needs called SuperTab continued.
This plugin might do what you are after: autocomplpop
Or you can try and make Vim completion popup menu work just like in an IDE.
This is the general Vim completion behaviour. For a complete overview, you can do
:he compl-current
But for your specific case (which you require the completion to be in state 2 or 3 (described in the document above). You can simply use Backspace, or Control-H to jump from state one to state two. In state 2 you can narrow the search by typing regular characters. So to complete completion with narrowing:
compl<C-X><C-P><BS>letion
It is totally backwards, I know, but that's how it works.
Edit: You can use the Down arrow key too isntead of Control-H or Backspace, and it has the benefit of not deleting a character.

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