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>
Related
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.
I realize this may be a small thing, but I enjoy being able to quickly switch between current tabs this way. I'm basically looking for how to put this in my .vimrc file. I've edited key bindings plenty for Sublime Text but not for Vim.
I'm using iTerm as the GUI.
Thanks for any davice!
You can't do that in CLI Vim because:
it doesn't understand multiple modifier keys
it doesn't understand the ⌘ key anyway (only MacVim does and only in its GUI incarnation)
But you can create custom shortcuts in iTerm itself that send raw characters to the terminal.
Anyway, the default gt and gT are far better, buit-in and guaranteed to work everywhere. What is the most important weapon in your arsenal? Vim or Chrome? Get used to Vim's way or you'll never rip any benefit.
I'm developing some front-end project with the help of Yeoman.
I run the developing webserver by grunt serverand, because there is livereload.js in the project, for watching files change and refreshing the webpage, sometimes, I need to modify multiple files for one purpose(.html, .css, .js ...) and it's kind of waste for browser when each file saves.
So is there a way for MacVim, map cmd + s to :wa ?
nnoremap <D-s> :wa in your .vimrc should do the trick.
nnoremap means this mapping is only available in Normal mode, and is not recursive.
:wa means write all, i.e. save all the current open buffers.
If you don't want to use a new mapping, you can simply type :wa to achieve the same things, but this is a matter of preferences only.
I know this is old but I came searching with the same question.
tl;dr: ⌥+⌘+S to save all.
You can, supposedly, map <D-s> to :wa but it's not as simple as adding the mapping to your .gvimrc file. See the third bullet below.
From the MacVim docs:
cmd-key cmd-shortcuts
Creating key mappings that involve the Cmd key ( in Vim notation) can
sometimes be slightly involved. Here are all the things you need to consider:
Make sure the shortcut is not used by a menu item by looking through the
menus. If it is then you need to unbind it before you can map to it. This
is described under the help for the |:macmenu| command.
Bindings to are case sensitive: is not the same as . If
you want to map something to Cmd+Shift+d, then you need to use , not
or .
Some command key shortcuts are reserved by Mac OS X and cannot be mapped to
(e.g. ). However, some of these shortcuts can be freed up in the
System Preferences under Keyboard (e.g. Cmd+Space).
The good news? In trying to sort this out I realized that MacVim is a very courteous MacVim indeed and implements, by default anyway, many standard Mac shortcuts including: ⌥+⌘+S for "Save All". Open MacVim, click the file menu and then hit the option key to see it in action.
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 think that using Menu key to quit vim's insert mode would be a great thing. It would be also nice to use Super key for that, but I'm not sure if it possible since Super key is a modifier.
Anyway, I couldn't find anything related to this. Looking for your help and thanks in advance!
I don't think there's any way you can configure Vim to pay attention to the Menu key as such,
but depending on your system there are various ways to turn the Menu key into an Escape key.
If you're using X11 on Linux:
The command xmodmap -e 'keycode 135 = Escape' will turn your Menu key into an Escape key for the current session, but is not permanent. To make it permanent under Gnome, you might try adding it under System → Preferences → Startup Applications.
The xkeycaps program will give you a GUI for similar remappings.
For more information:
http://46dogs.blogspot.com/2008/05/remap-keys-in-ubuntu-804-hardy-heron.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-106209.html
I haven't found a way to map it in gVim yet, but I was able to successfully map the Menu key in a urxvt+screen+vim stack by the following method:
In a terminal, type Ctrl+v and press Menu. This is mapped to the quoted-insert function in Zsh and in Readline-based tools like Bash.
It will generate an escape sequence like ^[[29~ at the prompt. (The initial ^[ must be translated to <Esc> for use in .vimrc.)
Open up .vimrc and add a line like this:
imap <Esc>[29~ <Esc>
(or imap <Esc>[29~ <Esc><Esc> if you don't want it to wait for further input like the Escape key does.)
Note that not all keys return something usable from Ctrl+v. This is a limitation of terminal emulators and can be remedied by remapping the key. You may be able to do that at the level of the terminal emulator rather than for all X apps.
For example, for urxvt, I had to add the following lines to ~/.Xresources and run xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources to apply them:
! Unbreak zsh keys in URxvt
URxvt*keysym.Home: \033[1~
URxvt*keysym.End: \033[4~
(\033 is <Esc> in ~/.Xresources syntax.)
Just try using ctrl+[ instead of binding another key. This combination is a standard one in vim, btw.
This is even easier when having rebound capslock into an additional ctrl.