I am experiencing a weird problem: vim doesn't expand my foldings sometimes when I use a horizontal gesture like l. It always expands if I use zo though. I can see hor option in my foldopen settings variable. I am experiencing this when foldmethod is set either to indent or expr. What may I be missing? I don't seem to be mapping l anywhere.
Thanks
If you cursor is on an empty line inside the fold then the left move (l) will not work, thus it won't open the fold.
The same happens if your cursor is at the last column in the line. But in this case an h will make the fold open.
You can check if the a movement command fails by paying attention to the error beep, the same it issues when you hit Esc when you are in normal mode. If you are unable to hear it, you could try using the 'visualbell' option.
Related
I am trying to use the vim autowrap functionality to automatically wrap my paragraph into lines no longer than 80 letters in real time as I type. This can be done by set textwidth=80 and set fo+=a. The a option of the vim formatoptions or fo basically tells vim to wrap the entire paragraph while typing.
However, there is a very annoying side-effect, that I can no longer break a line by simply pressing enter.
This is a sample sentence.
Say for the above sentence, if I want to make it into:
This is
a sample sentence.
Usually I can just move the cursor to "a" and enter insert mode and then press enter. But after set fo+=a, nothing will happen when I press enter in the insert mode at "a". One thing I do notice is that if there is no space between "is" and "a", pressing enter will insert a space. But nothing else will happen after that.
So what do I miss here? How do I stop this annoying behavior?
You can run :help fo-table to see explanations of the options:
a Automatic formatting of paragraphs. Every time text is inserted or
deleted the paragraph will be reformatted. See |auto-format|.
When the 'c' flag is present this only happens for recognized
comments.
This means that every time you insert a character, vim will try and autoformat the paragraph. This will cause it to move everything back onto the same line.
I don't think you need to add a at all. I use neovim, but the behavior here should be the same. The default values are, according to the help pages:
(default: "tcqj", Vi default: "vt")
Try removing set fo+=a entirely from your .vimrc. Keep set textwidth=80. That should fix your issue.
EDIT: Once you have set textwidth=80, if you want to format an existing paragraph, you can highlight it in visual selection and press gq.
The following allows me to use the enter key to start a new line while setting the text width to be 79 characters:
set tw=79 "width of document
set fo=cqt
set wm=0 "# margin from right window border
After some exploration, I find a workaround that can solve the problem to some extent, though not perfect.
The basic idea is that when entering a line break, disable the auto-wrapping temporarily when sending <CR> and resume auto-wrapping after that. There are multiple ways of doing that. And the best one as far as I know is using the paste mode, since you don't have to exit insert mode when entering paste mode. So just make the following commands into any key binding you like in insert mode. The one I am using right now is inoremap <C-N> <F2><CR><F2>
The reason why I think this one is not optimal is that for some reason I cannot bind <Enter> in this way, but have to use another key.
If <Enter> or <CR> can be configured in this way then the problem is 100% solved.
If I write an if statement in my C program, press enter three times, then write a comment, the below is my output. Notice the two lines between the condition and the comment are completely empty.
if(my_condition) {
<Tab>// My comment here
My issue is that Vim does not insert any tab character(s) between the beginning of the line and the cursor position until a character is typed. This is very annoying for me, because I like to move my cursor up and down the block of code often. Since there isn't a real tab on the two lines, if I moved up one line my cursor would go to the beginning of the line, instead of staying on the same column. I come from Sublime Text and other editors where this has never been a problem.
Is there a plugin or setting such that I can accomplish the following?
if(my_condition) {
<Tab>
<Tab>
<Tab>// My comment here
All help is appreciated. I've looked into using Visual mode, but have had undesirable side effects of enabling it all the time. Certainly there is a simple way to automatically add the tabs when I make a new line?
This is very annoying for me, because I like to move my cursor up and down the block of code often.
Well, as you might have noticed, switching to vim means that you need to change your own editing behavior. And that might be the toughest, more than learning the new commands, because habits die hard!
I'm not saying that you should stop scrolling around your function in an useless manner, though, but that you should stop moving around with the "cursor" keys in insert mode.
When you're doing movements when in insert mode it has the side effect you're exposing as "inconvenient", but it also has the side effect of breaking the "repeat" command (.). After a cursor movement in insert mode, a . will only repeat characters typed after that movement.
So, what you should consider in your editing behavior, is to avoid empty lines, avoid trailing spaces/tabs and never move around in insert mode. Insert mode is for insertion, and the normal mode is for moving around and doing actions on the text.
There are a lot of move commands you can abuse in normal mode (j/k, <C-e>/<C-y>, {/}, …).
That being said, if you get yourself in a situation where you've fscked the indentation, you might want to keep on editing, not caring about the indent, and once you're back in normal mode issue a =i{ that will indent everything within the block following the syntax file (and your indent settings).
I typed z= underneath a misspelled word, and vim split the screen horizontally, thereby keeping the misspelled word in context, but also providing a list words to change the misspelled word from. Usually, this latter screen replaces the former screen when I hit z=.
I like this behavior, but can not replicate it. I must have hit something before z= but I do not know what.
The behavior you saw accidentally happens when there are only a few suggestions and they don't fill the entire window.
You can force a maximum size for the suggestion list (example: 20 suggestions) with
set spellsuggest=best,20
Now, as long as your window exceeds 20 lines, you will see the misspelled word in context, and the bottom 20 lines of your window filled with the suggestion list
I can't say what caused the behavior you saw, maybe it is some plugin.
But here are two options to stay in the context with spellchecker:
1) Use CTRL-X s in insert mode:
In Insert mode, when the cursor is after a badly spelled word, you can use
CTRL-X s to find suggestions. This works like Insert mode completion. Use
CTRL-N to use the next suggestion, CTRL-P to go back. |i_CTRL-X_s|
2) Use vimple plugin which turns few full-screen windows (including spell suggestions) into "overlays" (actually split windows where you can select the word you need).
One frustrating behavior in vim is that when i move my cursor right or left (respectively "l" or "h)" and i am at the end or the beginning of the line, my cursor doesn't move to first column of next line or last column of previous line.
Is there a way to change this behavior ?
You can use the whichwrap setting to make h and l wrap around the start and end of individual lines:
set whichwrap+=h,l
However, Vim's documentation recommends against this, probably because it could have unexpected side effects (like breaking plugins, or changing how common key mappings work).
As an alternative, you can do what what Matti Virkkunen recommended:
set whichwrap+=<,>,[,]
This leaves h and l with their default behavior, but allows the left and right arrow keys to wrap around lines. (This is what I do, and it works well.)
You might also want to take a look at the backspace setting, to control how Backspace, Delete, Control+W, and Control+U work in Insert mode. I set mine like this:
set backspace=indent,eol,start
That allows me to backspace over pretty much everything.
For more info, see these topics in the Vim help:
:help 'whichwrap
:help 'backspace
Put the following into your .vimrc:
set whichwrap+=<,>,[,]
I use MacVim (and gvim) a lot. I'm familiar with and use a lot of the basic movement commands (b, w, $, 0, G). However, for a lot of things—such as selecting particular lines on the screen or jumping to a particular column in a different line—I use the mouse (sometimes in concert with my left hand on the keyboard). It also helps that my mouse has a scroll wheel and buttons for changing tabs.
I also need to admit... I use the arrow keys on my keyboard rather than hjkl.
I think that my speed (and posture at the computer) will be improved by not having to escape from insert mode, and from keeping both hands on the main part of the keyboard.
What convinced you to abandon the mouse? What are the most helpful shortcuts for moving quickly between lines and columns, scrolling, etc.?
This question is inspired by this recent post
I think that my speed (and posture at
the computer) will be improved by not
having to escape from insert mode
No, you must escape from insert mode right after you typed what you want. It quickly becomes a reflex, so you don't really lose time (I sometimes even press escape after completing a web form...). Normal mode isn't just for moving around, it's used to perform most operations (save from typing): for instance deleting or moving sections of text. You also benefit from entering insert mode with the appropriate key: o to start a line, S to replace a line (while keeping indentation), A to move to the end of the line, c+motion to replace a few words or until a given character... All of these save keystrokes.
The mouse seems fast, but in reality it isn't precise, so you lose time (in addition to the constant back and forth with the keyboard). ViM has a long list of moving commands (see :help usr_03) which, when mastered, are faster than the mouse in most situations.
Use search the most you can (/, ?, *, #, f, t...). I personally use Ctrl+(d,u,f,b) a lot. Also, Ctrl+(o, i) and `` are really useful to go back where you were before a search or something else.
h, j, k, l are there to place your right hand near to useful commands (i, u, o...): I always have my fingers on them. The arrows force you to move your hand a lot.
Try to look at a few commands in :help, then use them a lot, and you'll get habits about what you should use to move according to the situation. Nobody uses ViM the same way.
The more I used the keyboard movement in vim, the less I wanted to use the mouse. It doesn't help that extended periods of time where I'm constantly moving from keyboard to mouse can take a toll on my wrist.
If you want to force doing things the vim way, unplug your mouse for a while! The more you use the keyboard, the more you will love it. This worked for me.
For moving between lines, I usually just use jk but I often skip to lines using :line_num. Getting to a specific column in a line, I typically use wbe^0$ and put modifiers in front of w, b, or e if I'm skipping through several words. And there is also the shifted versions, WBE which also come in handy often.
I have to admit that I often use the arrow keys for specific movement in vim.
I rarely use hjkl. However, I find that most of my navigation is done with other commands such as w (skip a word forward), b (skip a word backwards). Combine this with modifiers such as 3w (3 words forward). : skip to a specific line.
I've never really had to abandon the mouse since I never really started with it. All I can say is that attempting to use editors without all the keyboard shortcuts that vim has can feel quite painful.
I'd run vimtutor from the command line (Terminal.app in OS X). It runs vim with a tutorial document. That document was what really made me realize the power of some of the commands. You'll pick up some that are most useful to you and gain more over time. Eventually you'll find yourself using the mouse less and less.
One command that will really improve your movement speeds is f. f plus a character will jump to the first occurrence of that character on the current line. Pressing ; will jump to the next occurrence. Of course this can be used in combination with other commands. So, for example, removing all characters up to and including the first closing parenthesis is achieved by pressing d+f+).
You can seriously revolve your life around jk in hjkl.
nnoremap <c-k> ddkP "move current line up one
nnoremap <c-j> ddp "move current line down one
vnoremap <c-j> dp'[V'] "move visual block down one
vnoremap <c-k> dkP'[V'] "move visual block up one
"These may be a bit more esoteric to me"
inoremap jj <esc>o "Insert mode can move to next line (works mid line)
inoremap kk <esc>O "Insert mode new line on previous line
also for the desktop gui (ion3 and gnome)
winj - next window
wink - prev window
(This beats alttab if your editing in vim all day)
also read :he motion.txt in its entirety using j and k to scroll up and down as you do.
I learned vi so for me the mouse has never been something to use with a text editor.
I don't use hjkl except when the machine/network/keyboard/whatever-in-between is not comfortably configured.
Use the mouse where it makes sense. It often does (copy/paste to and from other gui applications).
To answer your question, though: Once you start using vim as a tool for transforming text bits with macros, the movements will all start to fall into place ;)
I think you're wondering if there's a quick way to move around while in insert mode (without using the mouse or arrow keys) but unfortunately there isn't; you have to escape out of insert mode. However I know that jumping all the way to your Esc key can be really annoying, which is why I've gotten into the habit of escaping with Ctrl+c, it's much faster.
I almost never use hjkl because it's too tedious. I usually try to jump right to where I want to go. There's a great cheat sheet out there (a Dvorak version is a available also (although it's in PDF)) that you can stare at and imagine the possibilities.
Mostly I use f, F, t, and T, and sometimes they're enhanced by typing a number up front like d2t) will delete up to the second close paren. Sometimes I use search. A lot of the time I use w, W, b, B, e, and E. They're all fantastic.
When I see vim users arrowing all over the place in visual mode just to delete text it makes me shudder, because there are so much easier ways (and hjkl only make you move your arm less, they don't change the number of button presses).
Something I did that I don't know if it's common or not is remapped my arrow keys to be <Esc><Up> and so on. For whatever reason I started out always arrowing around and assuming I'd be back in normal mode, so I just made it do that...
The biggest bummer about Vim is that now when I edit anything anywhere else I hit escape all of the time and type :w after every change...