Reflow paragraphs in Vim

Use gqap to reflow paragraphs in Vim.

Vim golf: delete back one word and change to end of line

Start with ...

The LookupError 

... in a text file with the cursor positioned at orange.

Then use the Vim command TEC (yes, all are caps) to get ...

The LookupE 

... which enables easy typing of ...

The LookupExpression 

... in a single go.

The secrets are the T motion to go back before the last occurrence of a linewise character and the C command to delete everything to the end of the line and drop automatically into insert mode.

Using Vim to grep projectwide

You can use ...

   :grep -Ir --exclude=*.svn* foo *

... to grep for foo in all files projectwide. The -I flag tells grep to ignore binary files; the -r flag tells grep to descend directories recursively; the --exclude=*.svn* tells grep to avoid directories with .svn anywhere in the name; foo is the search string; and the terminal * starts grep on the contents working directory.

Using Vim's quickfix with the output of grep

Set makeprg and errorformat to use Vim's quickfix list with a custom external program.

These settings ...

  :setlocal makeprg=abj-grp\ READ

  :setlocal errorformat=%f:%l:%m

... work when running the custom command abj-grp READ on a tree of the filesystem.

Using Vim to break long Python import statements

You can use ...

    :%s/^\(from.*\)\(import.*[a-z]\)\%>79v/\1\\\r\t\2/g

... to change long lines like ...

from experimental.tools.musicexpressiontools.RhythmRegionExpression import RhythmRegionExpression

... to two shorter lines like this ...

from experimental.tools.musicexpressiontools.RhythmRegionExpression \

    import RhythmRegionExpression

... in a single command.

Using Vim to replace line-terminal ReST :: with line-separate ReST :: indicators.

You can transform this ...

def foo(x, y):

   r'''Explanation of function::

      >>> foo(7, 8)

      ...

   Return something.

   '''

   ...

... to this ...

def foo(x, y):

   r'''Explanation of function:

   ::

      >>> foo(7, 8)

      ...

   Return something.

   '''

   ...

... using Vim substitution.

The command ...

   :%s/\(\s*\)\(.*\w\)\(::\)$/\1\2:\r\r\1::/g

... will do the trick.

Changing Python list comprehensions to generator comprehensions

The list comprehension ...

    assert all([x % 2 == 0 for x in sequence])

... can be rewritten as the generator comprehension ...

    assert all(x % 2 == 0 for x in sequence)

... instead.

You can use the Vim substitution :%s/all(\[\(.*\)\])/all(\1)/g to change all([...]) to all(...) everywhere in a file.

Using Vim to yank and put from the clipboard

Use "*2yy in normal mode to yank two lines into the clipboard.

Then use "*p in normal mode to paste the contents of clipboard register.

Under OS X you can use "+2yy and "+p, too. This is because Vim's quotestar and quoteplus registers are both assigned to the clipboard under OS X.

Note that none of the commands here contains a colon because all commands are issued in normal mode.

 

Using Vim to open all classfiles recursively in a directory tree

Assuming your classfiles are MixedCase, you can use ...

  :args **/[A-Z]*.py

... to open all classfiles into Vim. And you can use ...

  :args **/[^test]*.py

... to open all files that are not test files. And you can use ...

  :args **/[^test_]*.py

... to open all files that are neither test files nor __init__.py files.

And you can use ...

  :args **/subpackage/[A-Z]*/[A-Z]*.py

to open all the classfiles in specific subpackage (assuming each classfile is housed in an eponymous directory).

After running any of these commands in Vim, you can use ...

  :args

... to see the complete list of files Vim has opened.

Using Tim Pope's pathogen to manage vim plugins

Using Tim Pope's pathogen to manage vim plugins is essential.

Tim hosts the project on Git.

Type this ...

mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload ~/.vim/bundle; \
curl -Sso ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim \
    https://raw.github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/master/autoload/pathogen.vim

... to install pathogen.

That's all there is to it.

(Re)compiling vim from source

Vim sources are hosted at Google code  here.

The sources are maintained in a Mercurial repository. So if you want to (re)compile vim from source then you should first make sure a Mercurial client is installed on your machine.

Then type these commands into your shell. Make sure to include the --enable-pythoninterp flag if you want to compile vim with +python attribute set.

$ hg clone https://vim.googlecode.com/hg/ vim

$ cd vim/src

$ ./configure --enable-pythoninterp --with-features=huge --prefix=$HOME/opt/vim

$ make && make install

$ mkdir -p $HOME/bin

$ cd $HOME/bin

$ ln -s $HOME/opt/vim/bin/vim

Then type ...

  which vim

... and sure that the shell finds your freshly compiled $HOME/bin/vim.

If the shell finds a different version of vim then you may need to add something like ...

  export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH

... to your .profile.

Finally, type ...

  vim --version

... and check that the +python attribute is set.

These instructions are taken verbatim from Martin Brochhaus's presentation on using vim as an IDE. Martin's presentation is available on his github page at https://github.com/mbrochh/vim-as-a-python-ide.

(The whole presentation is recommended. As it Martin's .vimrc file.)

Running Python commands in vim

Run ...

:py print 2 ** 38

... to print 274877906944 to screen in vim.

The feature works only when vim has been compiled with the the +python option enabled.

Run ...

vim --version

... to see if your install of vim was compiled with the +python option enabled.

vimrc

The current .vimrc looks like this.

   set ts=3
   set sw=3
   set expandtab
   set noai
   set fileencoding=utf-8
   set encoding=utf-8

Vim s-underdot

Vim accepts Unicode characters in insert mode following CTRL-v. Prefix Unicode values with u, as in Python, and enter two byte codes as four character hex. Vim ṣ is CTRL-v u1e63 in insert mode. Thanks to Mark for the tip.

Vim theta

:digraphs gives the vim table of digraphs.

And CTRL^K followed by h* gives lowercase theta.

Gene's .vimrc and .screenrc

"What're you using for .vimrc and .screenrc?"

Then email:

   filetype indent on
   filetype plugin on
   colorscheme evening
   "colorscheme default
   source ~/.vim/WordLength.vim
   syntax on
   set mouse=a
   set printoptions=paper:letter,duplex:off,collate:n,syntax:n
   set tags=~/.tags
   set tabstop=3
   set shiftwidth=3
   set textwidth=75
   set autoindent
   set noignorecase
   set nobackup
   set noexpandtab
   set clipboard=unnamed
   set grepprg=grep\ -nH\ $*
   set foldmethod=indent

WordLength.vim is a script Gene put together when editing a ton of SQL with fieldnames absolutely limited to 18 characters.

   function! WordLength()
   let saveLine = line(".")
   let savePos = col(".")
   execute "normal b"
   let startPos = col(".")
   execute "normal e"
   let endPos = col(".")

   if (savePos < endPos) && (savePos > startPos)
      let leftCount = endPos-savePos
      execute "normal " . leftCount . "h"
   elseif savePos == startPos
      execute "normal b"
   endif

   return endPos-startPos+1
   endfunction
   command! Wl echo WordLength()
   nmap ^C :Wl^M

And in python:

   set expandtab
   set wrap
   set textwidth=80
   set wrapmargin=1

And .screenrc:

   hardstatus alwayslastline "[%n: %t]%? [%u]%? %h"
   vbell on
   multiuser on
   acladd root

Apple keyboards and .vimrc delete and backspace

From the vim 4.0 docs on backspace and delete:

"In 3.0 both the delete key and the backspace key worked as a backspace in insert mode; they deleted the character to the left of the cursor. In 4.0 the delete key has a new function: it deletes the character under the cursor, just like it does on the command-line. If the cursor is after the end of the line and 'bs' is set, two lines are joined."

Apply keyboards have a delete key -- two, sometimes, actually -- but no backspace key. So users of Apple keyboards effectively have, by default under vim 4.0, no backspace. If you find yourself pressing delete and repeatedly joining a bunch of lines, that's probably what's going on.

The solution's in the next part of the same helpscreen:

If you prefer backspace and delete in Insert mode to have the old behavior, put this line in your vimrc:

 inoremap ^? ^H

And you may also want to add these, to fix the values for <BS> and <Del>:

 set t_kb=^H
 set t_kD=^?

(Enter ^H with CTRL-V CTRL-H and ^? with CTRL-V CTRL-? or <Del>.)