How to delete a paragraph as quickly as possible - linux

Question

I want to delete the following codes in my config file:
server {
listen 80;
server_name xxx;
location / {
try_files xx;
}
}
I know I can use 7dd, but this is not handy enough- if the section is too long, counting the rows would be inconvenient.
Is there a better way to do this?
Sometimes, I have to delete a whole function, any ideas for that?

Answer 1

As in common in Vim, there are a bunch of ways!
Note that the first two solutions depend on an absence of blank lines within the block.
If your cursor is on the server line, try d}. It will delete everything to the next block.
Within the entry itself, dap will delete the 'paragraph'.
You can delete a curly brack block with da}. (If you like this syntax, I recommend Tim Pope's fantastic surround.vim, which adds more features with a similar feel).
You could also try using regular expressions to delete until the next far left-indented closing curly brace: d/^}Enter
]] and [[ move to the next/previous first-column curly brace (equivalent to using / and ? with that regex I mentioned above. Combine with the d motion, and you acheive the same effect.
If you're below a block, you can also make use of the handy 'offset' feature of a Vim search. d?^{?-1 will delete backwards to one line before the first occurrence of a first-column opening curly brace. This command's a bit tricky to type. Maybe you could make a <leader> shortcut out of it.
Note that much of this answer is taken from previous answer I gave on a similar topic.

Answer 2

If there is a blank line immediately after these lines, Vim will identify it as a paragraph, so you can simply use d} to delete it (assuming the cursor is on the first line).

Answer 3

Try using visual mode with %.
For example, say your cursor is at the beginning of the "server" line.
Press v to go into visual mode. Press % to highlight to the end of the block. Press d to delete it.

Answer 4

As David said their are many ways. Here are a few that I like:
Vf{%d This assumes you are on the line w/ server and you do a visual line selection, find the { and then find the matching } via the % command.
set relativenumber or set rnu for short. This turns on line numbering relative to your cursor. So you do not have to count the lines just look and 7dd away to deleting your block.
Use VaB to visually select a block i.e. { to }, line-wise. While still in visual mode continue doing aB until the proper block is selected then execute d. This means you can select a block from inside the block instead of at the start or end.
d} will delete a paragraph. This works in your current scenario because there is no blank line inside the block. If there is one then all bets are off. Although you can continue pressing . until the block is properly deleted.
If inside a block you can jump to the current block via [{ then continue executing [{ until you are at the correct block then V%d or d%dd to delete the block
Using the techniques above you can delete a function as well, but you can also use the [M and friends ([m, ]m, ]M) to jump to the start and endings of methods but they commonly work for functions as well.
For more information
:h %
:h 'rnu'
:h aB
:h }
:h .
:h [{
:h [m

Answer 5

Given matching parens, or braces, you can use % with d to delete, spanning lines.
So, assuming that you're on the server { line, you can do d%. This is generally useful for all code blocks, e.g. function blocks, loop blocks, try blocks.
Similarly, dip works, but d} is shorter. However, both will only delete to the next empty line.