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iago-lito
iago-lito

Reputation: 3218

Mark selections in Vim

I sometime dream of a mark-selection feature in Vim, just like when you type:

ma

in normal mode, you can then hit, from anywhere:

`a

to get back to this place a. I wish there were something like:

ma

in visual mode. This would save your visually selected area. And you would just type then, from any place in normal mode:

<someHeader>a

to enter visual mode back with this a selection.

Is there such a feature in Vim? Or an extension that looks like? Or an easy way to implement it?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 122

Answers (3)

iago-lito
iago-lito

Reputation: 3218

Here is the kind solution of Steven Hall, along with some modifications I needed for the visual marks not to overwrite regular registers.

https://github.com/iago-lito/vim-visualMarks

It is a small vimScript allowing one to mark a visually selected area by typing, in visual mode:

ma

(for mark a)

Then retrieve it later from any place by typing, in normal mode:

<a

It does still need some basic improvements, but now anyone can try, improve and share. Thank you Steven for having launched the process :)

Upvotes: 1

Steven Hall
Steven Hall

Reputation: 61

I have written this which I believe is what you are asking for:

function! VisualMark()
  call inputsave()
  let registers = input("m")
  call inputrestore()
  exec "normal! `<m" . registers[0]
  exec "normal! `>m" . registers[1]
endfun

function! GetVisualMark()
  call inputsave()
  let registers = input("`")
  call inputrestore()
  exec "normal! `" . registers[0]
  if strlen(registers) > 1
    exec "normal! v`" . registers[1]
  endif
endfun

vnoremap m <esc>:call VisualMark()<cr>
nnoremap ` :call GetVisualMark()<cr>

they should behave in the same way as a regular mark except only in visual mode, and they both need two arguments.

First, to get a visually selected area saved, in visual mode with the block selected, hit the m key like you normally would. It will then let you type in some more text... here the function will expect 2 characters which are the two registers that the beginning and end marks will be saved to... so for example entering mab in visual mode and then pressing enter (I could not figure out a way to make it work without an enter), would create a mark in register a for the beginning of the block, and b would be the end of the block.

To reselect the block visually, go to visual mode and do the ` which is the same as a regular mark... this too will expect two characters

EDIT:

I have made the implementation better in my opinion. Before I had it so that to bring back the visually selected block you had to be in visual mode then hit the backtick (same button that you would use for a normal mark) button and then the 2 registers. Now you do it in normal mode... This means that the default use of the backtick now uses this function, but the function now checks how many registers you provide... so if you only use one register, it will only take you back to that one. if you provide 2 registers, then it will visually select them... if you provide more than 2, it will only use the first 2.

The enter key is still required to enter in your selection though. It is probably better this way with the new implementation anyways.

For those that want to see, or use the old implementation this is it:

function! VisualMark()
  call inputsave()
  let registers = input("m")
  call inputrestore()
  exec "normal! `<m" . registers[0]
  exec "normal! `>m" . registers[1]
endfun

function! GetVisualMark()
  call inputsave()
  let registers = input("`")
  call inputrestore()
  exec "normal! `" . registers[0]
  exec "normal! v`" . registers[1]
endfun

vnoremap m <esc>:call VisualMark()<cr>
vnoremap ` <esc>:call GetVisualMark()<cr>

Upvotes: 2

Anthony Geoghegan
Anthony Geoghegan

Reputation: 11993

I'm fairly certain there isn't any way to name selections similar to how marks or registers can be referenced.

The closest feature that I can think of is the gv command which enters Visual mode with the last previously selected block already re-selected. I find this to be a lot more convenient than having to manually re-selecting the same block of text more than once.

It should be possible to write a function using Vimscript that saves the start and ends of a visual block as marks that can be re-used to reselect a Visual block. I had a look to see if it was possible to use Vimscript to save the < and > marks as other (less ephemeral) marks but I didn't see anything.

Upvotes: 2

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