lh-brackets

Features

lh-brackets (ex- map-tool) provides various commands and functions to help design smart and advanced mappings dedicated to text insertion.

It is made of three sub-systems:

• the core bracketing-system,
• a placeholder subsystem,
• various Vim functions to support ftplugin definitions.

The bracketing subsystem

Brackets insertion

This subsystem provides a command that helps define INSERT-, NORMAL-, and VISUAL-mode mappings to insert any pairs of brackets-like characters.

• The INSERT-mode mappings will
  • insert the pair of brackets-like characters when the opening one is triggered, add a placeholder after the closing character, and move the cursor between the two bracket characters;
  • insert the closing character when pressed, or move after it if it is the next character after the cursor ;
  • delete the current pair of empty brackets when <BS> is hit from within the brackets (following placeholders will also be deleted) (this can be disabled by setting [gb]:cb_delete_empty_brackets to 0)
  • insert an extra newline when <CR> is hit within an empty pair of curly-brackets {} (this can be disabled by setting [gb]:cb_newline_within_empty_brackets to 0)
• The VISUAL-mode mapping will surround the current selection with the pair of bracket-like characters ;
• The NORMAL-mode mapping will select the current word (or the current line depending on the use of the newline (-nl) option), and then surround this selection with the pair of bracket-like characters.

It is possible to:

• tune what is exactly inserted in INSERT-mode (thanks to the -open and -close options),
• not insert the placeholder (depending on b:usemark value),
• specify which keys sequence actually triggers the mappings defined (thanks to the -trigger option),
• define the mappings only in some modes (thanks to the options -insert, -visual, and also -normal)
• make the mappings line-wise (thanks to the -nl option),
• tune how the NORMAL-mode mapping select a current anything (thanks to the -normal option),
• toggle the definitions of all the brackets mappings by pressing <F9> (:h <Plug>ToggleBrackets) ;
• make the mappings global with :Brackets!, or local to a buffer with :Brackets. ;
• neutralize the INSERT-mode mappings:
  • for specific filetypes with -but option
  • when the cursor is not under a space, coma, (semi-)colon, a equal sign, a closing pair character or at the end of line by default -- it will be possible to tune this feature in a later version
• specify exactly which is the canonical pair for deletion when it's not immediate from the context (thanks to the -pair option)

Here is an excerpt from the C&C++ brackets definitions, see the documentation for more help.

let b:usemarks         = 1
let b:cb_jump_on_close = 1

:Brackets { } -visual=0 -nl
:Brackets { } -visual=0 -trigger=#{
:Brackets { } -visual=1 -insert=0 -nl -trigger=<localleader>{
:Brackets { } -visual=1 -insert=0

:Brackets ( )
:Brackets [ ] -visual=0
:Brackets [ ] -insert=0 -trigger=<localleader>[
:Brackets " " -visual=0 -insert=1 -escapable
:Brackets " " -visual=1 -insert=0 -trigger=""
:Brackets ' ' -visual=0 -insert=1
:Brackets ' ' -visual=1 -insert=0 -trigger=''
:Brackets < > -open=function('lh#cpp#brackets#lt') -visual=0

Note: This feature has been completely rewritten for the version 1.0.0 of map-tools. The old way of tuning the brackets insertion is no longer available.

By default, the mappings are active for most filetypes.

Brackets replacement

lh-brackets provides mappings (originally from auctex.vim) to replace a pair of bracket-characters by another pair of bracket-characters. See :h brackets_manipulations for more information.

The placeholder subsystem

This subsystem provides functions and mappings to:

• mark places in the code where we could jump to later,
  See the help about !mark!, lh#marker#txt(), and <Plug>MarkersMark
• jump forward and backward to those places.
  See the help about !jump!, and <Plug>MarkersJumpF
• close all placeholders on the same line that are after closing bracket-like characters and jump to the last one -- see <Plug>MarkersCloseAllAndJumpToLast which is binded by default to <M-End> (or <C-L>$ in terminal instancef of Vim).

The marker/placeholder characters:

• default to the French quote characters («»),
• can be specified on a filetype basis,
• are converted to match the current encoding,
• can be shared with the ones from imaps.vim (:h g:use_place_holders).

Jumping to the next/previous placeholder:

• is binded to <M-Del> (GUI) or <C-J> (terminal) by default (see :h <Plug>MarkersJumpF), or <M-S-Del>/<C-L><S-Del> to jump backward. Can be disabled by setting g:marker_define_jump_mappings to 0.
• can be tuned to delete or select the placeholder the cursor is jumping to (:h g:marker_prefers_select, :h g:marker_select_empty_marks),
• can select or ignore the placeholder where the cursor is currently within (if any) (:h g:marker_select_current, :h g:marker_select_current_fwd),
• may move the line of the placeholder (we jump to) to the middle of the window (:h g:marker_center),
• respects 'wrapscan',
• opens the folder where the placeholder, we jump to, is,
• doesn't break redo (is the case of empty placeholders, when placeholders are deleted instead of selected) ; this feature requires Vim 7.4-849.

The Vim library

As lh-vim-lib, map-tools provides a few functions of its own. All these functions are specialized into the definition of smart abbreviations and INSERT-mode mappings.

Function	Purpose
lh#map#no_context(), lh#map#no_context2()	Core functions to define mappings that only expand outside of string, comment, and character contexts
lh#map#4_these_contexts()	Like lh#map#no_context(), except this time we can specify which text must be returned depending on the current context
lh#map#insert_around_visual()	This is the core surrounding function ; the surrounding text is not interpreted
lh#map#surround()	Interprets the !.*! mappings that are passed to lh#map#insert_around_visual() (!cursorhere! tells were to put the cursor). This function also recognises when the selected area is actually a marker/placeholder in order to not surround, but expand instead.
lh#map#build_map_seq()	Core function that interprets !.*! mappings
lh#map#eat_char(), :I(nore)abbr	Permits to define abbreviations that do not insert a whitespace when the <space> key is used to trigger the abbreviation
lh#map#insert_seq()	High level function that interprets !.*! mappings, and take the context into account

Installation

• Requirements: Vim 7.+ (7.4-849 in order to support redo), lh-vim-lib v5.3.0+, lh-style v1.0.0+ for unit testing.
• With vim-addon-manager, install lh-brackets (this is the preferred method because of the dependencies)

ActivateAddons lh-brackets

• or with vim-flavor (which also support dependencies)

flavor 'LucHermitte/lh-brackets'

• or you can clone the git repositories

git clone git@github.com:LucHermitte/lh-vim-lib.git
git clone git@github.com:LucHermitte/lh-brackets.git

• or with Vundle/NeoBundle:

Bundle 'LucHermitte/lh-vim-lib'
Bundle 'LucHermitte/lh-brackets'

Credits

• This bracketing system is actually a variation on Stephen Riehm's original bracketing system ;
• The brackets manipulation comes from Saul Lubkin code, also present in auctex.vim ;
• Using SELECT-mode when reaching a placeholder was a suggestion from Gergely Kontra.

See also

• imaps.vim, from LaTeX-suite, with which map-tools is compatible (there is no conflictual mappings if both are installed) ;
• All the brackets related tips on vim.wikia ;
• Most of my ftplugins for examples of use, or more simply the Python ftplugin shipped with lh-brackets.
• muTemplate, a template-files expander built on top of map-tools.
• surround plugin on SF