Vim: Issue normal-mode commands in user-defined command

Question

I'm certain this will have been asked somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find it, and it's not in the Defining command-line commands section of the Vim documentation.

I want to create a user-defined command which will insert the word foo before the current word.

^{(Note: I want it to be a function because I don't trust myself to remember yet another shortcut key. I know how to do it with noremap...)}

In my .vimrc I add:

command AddFoo bifoo<esc>w

But when I type :AddFoo I get Not an editor command: bifoow.

Is it possible to have a function which issues normal mode commands?

Ingo Karkat · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-11 15:32:07Z

5

The :normal Ex command allows to issue arbitrary normal mode commands.

command AddFoo normal! bifoo<esc>w

If you want to interpolate expressions etc., you need to use :execute; I'll just show your example again with the use of :help key-notation:

command AddFoo execute "normal! bifoo\<esc>w"

The ! after :normal prevents the use of custom mappings, like :noremap (vs :map).

answered Sep 11, 2014 at 15:32

Ingo Karkat

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romainl · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-11 15:35:22Z

1

Please make sure you get the difference between a command and a function.

The right hand side of a command definition is supposed to be at least one Ex command like write or bnext:

command! Foo update | tabnext

You can call a function:

command! Bar call Bar()

or execute a normal mode macro:

command! Baz normal ciw"<C-r>""

See :help :normal.

answered Sep 11, 2014 at 15:35

romainl

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dsummersl · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-11 15:31:05Z

0

Should be simple to get what you want, you just need to switch to normal mode to make your changes:

command AddFoo normal bifoo<esc>w

answered Sep 11, 2014 at 15:31

dsummersl

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