Question

I want to create a key binding that insert a piece of text in the code, for example “hi”.

I tried adding this to my .vimrc file:

map gp :hi

but it doesnt work..

Any idea?

Javi

Answer 1

There are three approaches shown in this answer for inserting text with shortcuts. The first one is for mapping in normal mode, the second inserting abbreviations in insert mode, and the third for abbreviations in command mode.

Additionally, you can take a look to plugins like snipmate

---

1. Insert text from normal mode and return to normal

:nnoremap gp iHi<Esc>

---

2. Change ‘hi’ to ‘hello’ and keep in insert mode

Abbreviations in insert mode are:

:iab hi Hello (test it typing hi followed by spacebar)

if you like to insert a month list:

:iab mOn Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

if you want a shortcut for including stdio.h

:iab inC #include <stdio.h>

---

3. Abbreviations in command mode

:ab hi Hello

A practical example, using e.g. wsu for saving the current file with superuser credentials.

:ab wsu w !sudo tee %