Question

I’m trying to define an operator-pending mapping (using onoremap) to match
all text between the previous { and the next }. This is for use in a css
file, so I can easily delete, change or copy rules with ir.

I’ve used the syntax used in “Learn vimscript the hard way”, which is a combination
of execute and normal. What I have been unable to do is clear the highlight
search after my last search. After using the mapping, all the } in the file
get highlighted.

So far, here’s what I got :

au Filetype css noremap <buffer> ir :<C-U>execute "normal! ?{\rjV/}\rk"<CR>

I know I need to call :nohlsearch but I don’t know how to fit that in the
mapping. The mapping results in a text being visually selected, so when
:nohlsearch gets called it’s applied to the selection, which does not work.

I need a way to clear the '<,'> markers but I couldn’t find how to write
<C-U> in the normal command to get it executed right. Another way might be
to leave Visual mode, execute the :nohlsearch and then reselect the last
selected text with gv, but even for that I can’t find how to write <Esc> in
my normal statement.

Answer 1

In this particular case, it’s probably easier to use something like:

au Filetype css noremap <buffer> ir :<C-U>call search('{', 'Wb')\|call search('}', 'Ws')\|normal! v''<CR>

Note that this does what your example does, not the right thing. Nested braces for example won’t be handled correctly.

Calling the search function without the ‘s’ flag won’t set any marks or change the search register so you don’t need to reset anything.

Note that this isn’t really the best way of accomplishing what you want – you probably want the iB or i{ (they’re the same) text object instead.