CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vim
Alex
Alex

Reputation: 36161

How to automatically insert braces after starting a code block in vim?

It's really easy to insert a closing brace after typing the opening one:

inoremap { {<CR>}<Esc>ko

This way

if (true) {

converts to

if (true) {
    |
}

But I'd like to save time and to type 1 character less:

if (true)<CR>

So I'd like to create the following rule: if return is pressed and the line starts with if/for/while, execute {<CR>}<Esc>ko

Is this doable?

Thanks

Upvotes: 1

Views: 143

Answers (1)

romainl
romainl

Reputation: 196826

Building on your previous mapping, this should do what you want:

inoremap )<CR> ) {<CR>}<Esc>ko

However, you should try a snippet expansion plugin like SnipMate or Ultisnips. Both plugins allow you to define snippets with placeholders and miroring (lots of them are included by default) that are expanded when a <Tab> is pressed after a trigger.

For example, you have a snippet associated with the trigger if that expands into:

if ([condition]) {

}

condition is selected, ready for you to type, and, once you are done, you can hit <Tab> again to jump the cursor between the curly braces, ready to type:

if (myVar == 5) {
  |
}

This is incredibly handy.

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions