Question

I wish to map <D-1> to <- when i’m editing R files.

I initially edited ~/.vim/bundle/Vim-R-plugin/ftdetect/r.vim and added:

inoremap <D-1> <space><-<space>

However it was available when i was editing all types of files — i tested .py and my .vimrc.

Why does this occur?

To fix the problem, i added:

autocmd FileType r inoremap <D-1> <space><-<space>

to my .vimrc. Now the map is not there when i initially open mvim, however once i’ve opened an *.r file, the mapping exists for all my other files.

To test what was going on, i added:

autocmd FileType python inoremap <D-1> <space>==<space>

and found that when i had loaded neither type of file, <D-1> wasn’t mapped; that when i loaded an *.r file, that <D-1> gave me <- (as desired) in *.r files, as well as in all other files — and when i next opened an *.py file, that <D-1> yielded == in all files — including in the *.r files.

Experimenting, i found that whatever file type i had most recently opened would define the mapping. This is undesirable behaviour when editing more than one filetype.

What is the best practice solution to this problem?

I use MacVim and manage my bundles with vundle.

Answer 1

As sylvain.joyeux mentioned in his answer you should use ‘ftplugin’ directory for your mappings. But this won’t solve mapping issues. The reason why <D-1> mapping is available for all buffers is that you define it for all buffers (globally). If you want to limit a mapping to some particular buffer you should use <buffer> special argument of :map commands. So your mapping command should look like this:

inoremap <buffer> <D-1> <space><-<space>

See :help :map-<buffer> for details.