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Text expansion in vim
1. Text Expansion In Vim
These slides accompanied the 2013-09-17
NoVA Vim meetup and have since been
edited. They’re still a bit more of an outline,
but have a few gems of content.
@mattboehm github.com/mattboehm
2. Rationale
One of the most frequently cited reasons for
using vim is that it saves you time/keystrokes,
yet many people do not use any kind of input
expansion.
* type faster
* save keystrokes (prevent RSI)
* avoid common typos
3. imap
● instantly replaces characters typed
● works even in the middle of a word
● if you start typing characters that happen to
be part of a map, the text doesn’t display on
the screen til you finish the map or type a
differing character
● no easy way to undo?
● (you probably don’t want this for most cases)
4. iabbrev
● triggered when you finish typing a word and
hit space
● great for common strings like email
addresses and urls
● no easy way to un-expand? =(
5. Snippets
Many snippet plugins, but the two I’m most
familar with are:
* Snipmate: port of textmate’s snippet behavior
* Ultisnips: inspired by textmate/snipmate.
Added functionality, but requires vim compiled
with a modern python.
6. My Ultisnips Configuration
let g:UltiSnipsExpandTrigger="<tab>"
let g:UltiSnipsJumpForwardTrigger="<tab>"
let g:UltiSnipsJumpBackwardTrigger="<s-tab>"
let g:UltiSnipsSnippetDirectories=["mysnippets"]
I recommend copying the stock snippets into a
separate directory and changing them to meet
your needs.
7. Quickly edit snippets
I used to have a snippet plugin installed, but never used it
because editing/listing them was too hard. Make editing
snippets effortless.
nnoremap <leader>vs :call g:EditMySnippets()
<CR>
function! g:EditMySnippets()
let ft = &ft
tabe ~/.vim/bundle/mbsnippets/mysnippets/
call search(ft)
endfunction
When i type ,vs this opens my snippet dir in NERDTree and
jumps to the first snippet containing the filetype of the
original file
8. Basic usage
snippet l "console.log"
console.log(“${1}”);
endsnippet
I type: l<tab>
Result: console.log(“|”)
9. snippet for "for (...) {...}"
for (var ${2:i}=0; $2 < ${1:Things}.length; $2++) {
${3:$1[$2]}
};
endsnippet
I type “for<tab>” and get:
for (var i=0; i < Things.length; i++) {
Things[i]
};
“Things” is highlighted. As I type, it changes to what I’m
updating and all positions update in real time.
10. Visual replacement.
snippet if "if"
if (${1:condition}) {
${VISUAL}$0
}
endsnippet
I want to wrap code in an if block. I select it and
type <tab>if<tab>
11. Interpolation
snippet date "date"
the date is `date`
endsnippet
runs the bash date command and inserts its
result
snippet ver "pythonversion"
python version: `!p import sys;snip.rv=sys.version`
endsnippet
check out SirVer’s screencast for a better
example:http://ww.sirver.net/blog/2012/03/31/fourth-episode-of-ultisnips-screencast/
12. Zen Coding
Plugins exist for many editors
* zencoding (now emmet) is the initial popular
vim port
* sparkup adds some features and is what I
currently use
15. Sparkup Pros/Cons
● extended syntax
● jump between
insert locations
● not easily
configurable
● Main repo not
pathogen-friendly; I
use tristen’s branch
16. How can I productively use input
expansion?
Pick a small set of uses that come up a lot.
Practice using the expansions until they’re
ground into your brain then add more as
desired.
Do not look at the screen for feedback! You
need to be able to type your shortcuts with your
eyes closed while barely thinking about it.
