I'm currently setting up a .vimrc and remapping my home-row (ie navigation keys) to wormkan. So for example I have
nnoremap n j
nnoremap j n
which works all well and good, but I'm having issues with figuring out how to use display line navigation with this setup.
Basically, if I want to move down one display line on a qwerty layout this would be achieved with gj - so now I want this to happen with gn.
However, gn currently still maps to visual search and gj is still associated with the display line navigation. I thought that operator-pending mode would help here (ie adding onoremap n j and vice versa) but this doesn't have the desired result. Any ideas on what I have to do to get this functioning?
By reading: :help gn
*gn* *v_gn*
gn Search forward for the last used search pattern, like
with `n`, and
start Visual mode to select the match.
If the cursor is on the match, visually selects it.
If an operator is pending, operates on the match.
E.g., "dgn" deletes the text of the next match.
If Visual mode is active, extends the selection
until the end of the next match.
You realize that gn is the motion command. That's why mapping :onoremap n j did not work as expected. What you need instead is :noremap gj gn.
I am Vim newbie, and I'm using MacVim on OSX Snow Leopard. One of the most common actions I have to take is to move the cursor to a new line but also move the text after the cursor to the new line. I know that pressing 'o' in normal or visual mode moves the cursor to a new line and switches the mode to insert.
What I'd like to do is move the cursor to a new line, and move the text after the cursor to that new line as well, preferably staying in the normal mode? Is this possible? How can I accomplish this task?
If the cursor is on a <space> as in ([] marks the cursor):
lorem ipsum[ ]dolor sit amet
the simplest is to do r<CR>, that is "replace the current character with a linebreak".
Otherwise, use #knittl's solution.
So you want to move everything in the current line, which comes after the cursor to the next line? Read: insert a line break??
(move cursor)
i (or a)
<return>
<esc> (or ^C)
To map this sequence of keystrokes to a single key, follow #thb's suggestion and use the :map command:
:map <F2> i<CR><ESC>
:map <F2> i<CR>
This keeps vi in insert mode.
As I answered in this post, How do I insert a linebreak where the cursor is without entering into insert mode in Vim?.
Please try Control + j.
The code below achieves the same behavior as "normal" editors (for the lack of better terms on the top of my mind) except that you'd have to press "enter" twice instead of once.
I also wanted to get rid of the space if it's right before my current character.
There might be an easier way and I totally welcome edits :-)
" in ~/.vimrc or ~/.vimrc.after if you're using janus
nnoremap <cr><cr> :call ReturnToNewLine()<cr>
function ReturnToNewLine()
let previous_char = getline(".")[col(".")-2]
" if there's a space before our current position, get rid of it first
if previous_char == ' '
execute "normal! \<bs>\<esc>"
endif
execute "normal! i\<cr>\<esc>"
endfunction
This remaps pressing enter twice to going to insert mode, placing a carriage return and escaping.
The reason I'm using this mapping (enter twice) is because I was used to this functionality with other text editors by pressing a enter; also, typing enter twice is fast.
Another thing that I found useful in this context was allowing vim to move right after the last character (in case I wanted to move the last character to a new line). So I have the following in my ~/.vimrc as well.
set virtualedit=onemore
Note that I'm using nnoremap (normal mode non-recursive) instead of map (which is VERY dangerous) (check this out for more information on the differences http://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/05.html)
You need to map some keys to do a line break at the cursor,
I found the following mapping easy to use, just go to your vimrc and add this line:
:map <silent> bl i<CR><ESC>
to assign a line break at cursor to "bl" combo
When I'm writing a long line of text in vim (such as a paragraph in latex), it wraps my text into multiple lines which is good. However, if I then try to navigate these lines with 'j' and 'k' (or the up/down arrows) it will skip the entire paragraph. I fixed this problem by highlighting the paragraph and pressing gq. This inserts line breaks at the end of each line.
My question is, is there a way to automate this, so I don't have to keep highlighting text and pressing gq?
You can limit the width of a line with the textwidth option
(see :help tw).
For example, if you want to limit the width to 80 columns, you can use:
:set tw=80
With this option, when you will type something longer than 80 columns, Vim
will automatically insert a newline character.
You need to step back a little and use gj and gk which go down and up inside wrapped lines.
Since gjand gk work exactly the same as j and k in non-wrapped lines you can safely map j or <down> to gj and k or <up> to gk making it all seamless.
-- EDIT --
Yes it doesn't adress Eddy's immediate problem but it solves his original problem (vertical movement in wrapped lines) which led him to a poor workaround that, in turn, put him in this situation.
I recently found VIM and started using it. I found the arrows and backspace to be flawed.
so I did this to the backspace
set backspace+=indent,eol,start
how can this be done to the arrow key to allow normal navigation?
You don't say exactly what aspect of the arrow keys you think is "flawed", so I'll just have to guess.
You can use the whichwrap setting to get part of what you probably want. From :help whichwrap:
'whichwrap' 'ww' string (Vim default: "b,s", Vi default: "")
global
{not in Vi}
Allow specified keys that move the cursor left/right to move to the
previous/next line when the cursor is on the first/last character in
the line. Concatenate characters to allow this for these keys:
char key mode ~
b <BS> Normal and Visual
s <Space> Normal and Visual
h "h" Normal and Visual (not recommended)
l "l" Normal and Visual (not recommended)
< <Left> Normal and Visual
> <Right> Normal and Visual
~ "~" Normal
[ <Left> Insert and Replace
] <Right> Insert and Replace
For example: >
:set ww=<,>,[,]
allows wrap only when cursor keys are used.
When the movement keys are used in combination with a delete or change
operator, the <EOL> also counts for a character. This makes "3h"
different from "3dh" when the cursor crosses the end of a line. This
is also true for "x" and "X", because they do the same as "dl" and
"dh". If you use this, you may also want to use the mapping
":map <BS> X" to make backspace delete the character in front of the
cursor.
When 'l' is included and it is used after an operator at the end of a
line then it will not move to the next line. This makes "dl", "cl",
"yl" etc. work normally.
NOTE: This option is set to the Vi default value when 'compatible' is
set and to the Vim default value when 'compatible' is reset.
In your case, you probably want:
:set whichwrap+=<,>
This will make left and right wrap around line endings.
You can also try mapping <Up> and <Down> to gk and gj in normal and visual modes if the distinction between logical and display lines is confusing you. Alternatively, you could :set nowrap to remove the distinction altogether.
I often have to paste some stuff on a new line in vim. What I usually do is:
o<Esc>p
Which inserts a new line and puts me in insertion mode, than quits insertion mode, and finally pastes.
Three keystrokes. Not very efficient. Any better ideas?
Shortly after :help p it says:
:[line]pu[t] [x] Put the text [from register x] after [line] (default
current line). This always works |linewise|, thus
this command can be used to put a yanked block as
new lines.
:[line]pu[t]! [x] Put the text [from register x] before [line]
(default current line).
Unfortunately it’s not shorter than your current solution unless you combined it with some keyboard map as suggested in a different answer. For instance, you can map it to any key (even p):
:nmap p :pu<CR>
Options:
1) Use yy to yank the whole line (including the end of line character). p will then paste the line on a new line after the current one and P (Shift-P) will paste above the current line.
2) Make a mapping: then it's only one or two keys:
:nmap ,p o<ESC>p
:nmap <F4> o<ESC>p
3) The function version of the mapping (unnecessary really, but just for completeness):
:nmap <F4> :call append(line('.'), #")<CR>
" This one may be a little better (strip the ending new-line before pasting)
:nmap <F4> :call append(line('.'), substitute(#", '\n$', '', ''))<CR>
:help let-register
:help :call
:help append()
:help line()
:help nmap
You can paste a buffer in insert mode using <C-R> followed by the name of the buffer to paste. The default buffer is ", so you would do
o<C-R>"
I found that I use <C-R>" very often and bound that to <C-F> in my vimrc:
inoremap <C-F> <C-R>"
This still uses three keystrokes, but I find it easier than Esc:
o<Alt-p>
Since you're in insert mode after hitting o, the Alt modifier will allow you to use a command as if you weren't.
Using this plugin: https://github.com/tpope/vim-unimpaired
]p pastes on the line below
[p pastes on the line above
advantages:
works on all yanked text (word, line, character, etc)
indents the pasted text to match the indentation of the text
around it
2 keystrokes instead of 3 and much "easier" strokes
fast
Personally I've nmapped Enter (CR) like this:
nmap <CR> o<Esc>k
...based on this Vim Wikia article.
This way I can make newlines directly from normal mode, and combining this with wanting to paste to a newline below I'd do:
<CR>jp
You could also skip k in the nmap above, depending on what functionality you prefer from Enter, so it would just be <CR>p.
I've also imapped jj to Esc, which would also assist in this case. Esc is way too far away from the home row for how significant it is in vim.
Not shorter than the other solutions, but I do think it feels less clunky than some of them, and it has other uses too.
If you wanted to stay in the insert mode, you can do o ctrl+o p
o – insert mode and go to the new line
ctrl+o – run a single command
like in normal mode
p – paste
It's three keystrokes but you stay in insert mode and also o ctrl+o is quite fast so I personally treat it as 2.5 keystrokes.
If you're copying a whole line then pasting a whole line, use Y to yank the line or lines, including line break, in the first place, and p to paste. You can also use V, which is visual line mode, in contrast with plain v for visual mode.
I have mapping inoremap jj <ESC>. So it is easy to insert new line with ojj and Ojj and then p.
so ojjp paste new a newline. it have one more stroke then o<esc>p but ojjp is easy for me.
I found an elegant solution to this. If you are putting the yank register in your OS's clipboard (which is great anyway), with
set clipboard+=unnamed
than you can do o<Ctl-v>.
Besides being fewer strokes, this improves on both o<Esc>p and :pu because it preserves indenting: both of the other options start you at character zero on the new line.
Caveat is that this may or may not be OS dependent. All I know is that it works on recent version of OS X, but clipboard is just one of many ways to get yank in the OS clipboard.
If you want to paste in a new line and still keep indentation, create this mapping:
nnoremap <leader>p oq<BS><Esc>p
Prerequisite: you have leader mapped and you have set autoindent in your .vimrc.
Explanation: a new line is created with 'o', 'q' is typed and then back-spaced on (to keep indentation), and 'esc' brings you back to normal mode where you finally paste.
If you also want to end in insert mode, it is possible to paste while in insert mode using CTRL-R ". https://stackoverflow.com/a/2861909/461834
Still three keystrokes, but no escape, and you save a keystroke if you want to end in insert anyway.
I use the following mapping in my Neovim config:
nnoremap <leader>p m`o<ESC>p``
nnoremap <leader>P m`O<ESC>p``
A little explanation:
m`: set a mark in the current cursor position.
o<Esc>p: create a new line below and paste the text in this line
O<Esc>P: create a new line above and paste the text in this line
``: put the cursor in the original position
See :h mark for more information about marks in Vim.
This solution only seems to apply when the block of copied text starts on a new line (as opposed to grabbing a snippet of text somewhere within a line), but you can always start your copy on the last character you want to grab, then navigate to the last character at the end of line prior to the start of your desired copy block. Then when you want to paste it, place the cursor at the end of the line under which you want your text to be pasted and hit p. If I haven't screwed up the explanation, this should provide the effect you're looking for.