vim:leader
Table of Contents
VIM - Leader
vim allows a set of keys to be mapped as an alias to a different command in the ~/.vimrc file.
For example:
:nnoremap -d dd
NOTE: This maps that when -d is typed, it actually runs the dd command.
In this example,it would delete the current line.
- :nnoremap: denotes normal mode.
Why not just map d to dd. Surely this would save typing a keystroke.
- This could be dangerous, as just typing a single character could delete data.
- As a safety precaution it is best to have to type this extra character.
- But what if in future you want to change this prefix character?
- One way is to manually modify each alias. Alternatively, use a leader.
Use a leader
:let mapleader = "-"
NOTE: Sets the leader to a hyphen.
:nnoremap <leader>d dd
NOTE: Defining the leader in one place makes it easy to change later.
Local Leader
Vim has a second “leader” key called local leader.
- This is meant to be a prefix for mappings that only take effect for certain types of files, like Python files or HTML files.
:let maplocalleader = "\\"
NOTE:
- \\ is used, and not just \ because \ is the escape character.
The <localleader> can be used just like <leader>.
Help
:help mapleader :help maplocalleader
References
vim/leader.txt · Last modified: 2021/02/15 23:21 by peter