Lion.vim is a tool for aligning text by some character. It defines some Vim operators that can be used with motion commands to align a targeted block of text.
The two operators are gl
and gL
. gl
will add spaces to the left of
the alignment character, and gL
will add spaces to the right. Both
operators accept a count, a motion, and a single character. Without a
count, all occurrences of the character will be aligned.
For example, glip=
will turn
$i = 5;
$username = 'tommcdo';
$stuff = array(1, 2, 3);
into
$i = 5;
$username = 'tommcdo';
$stuff = array(1, 2, 3);
Typing 3gLi(,
with the cursor somewhere inside (
and )
will turn
$names = array(
'bill', 'samantha', 'ray', 'ronald',
'mo', 'harry', 'susan', 'ted',
'timothy', 'bob', 'wolverine', 'cat',
'lion', 'alfred', 'batman', 'linus',
);
into
$names = array(
'bill', 'samantha', 'ray', 'ronald',
'mo', 'harry', 'susan', 'ted',
'timothy', 'bob', 'wolverine', 'cat',
'lion', 'alfred', 'batman', 'linus',
);
It is also possible to align text by a pattern. To enter a pattern, use /
as
the alignment character (e.g. glip/
) and then you will be prompted to input
the pattern. To align by /
, simply leave the pattern empty (by pressing
Enter
).
If you don't have a preferred installation method, I recommend installing pathogen.vim, and then simply copy and paste:
cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone git://github.com/tommcdo/vim-lion.git
Once help tags have been generated, you can view the manual with
:help lion
.
Option | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
g:lion_create_maps |
Whether to create mappings | 1 |
b:lion_squeeze_spaces g:lion_squeeze_spaces |
Squeeze extra spaces | 0 |
g:lion_map_right |
Mapping for right-align operator | gl |
g:lion_map_left |
Mapping for left-align operator | gL |
If you set: let b:lion_squeeze_spaces = 1
, and hit glip=
, you will turn
$i = 5;
$user = 'tommcdo';
$stuff = array(1, 2, 3);
into:
$i = 5;
$user = 'tommcdo';
$stuff = array(1, 2, 3);
instead of (b:lion_squeeze_spaces = 0
):
$i = 5;
$user = 'tommcdo';
$stuff = array(1, 2, 3);