Question

Is there some sort of Vim plugin that would allow me to do something like this, given the code:

function something (arbitraryObject) {
  arbitraryObject.something = doesNotMatter;
}

Then let’s say I just select the word arbitraryObject in the function body, I’d like an easy way to write a macro that, given a short key combination or command-mode command, could give me something like:

function something (arbitraryObject) {
  arbitraryObject.something = doesNotMatter;
  console.log(arbitraryObject);
}

or…

function something (arbitraryObject) {
  arbitraryObject.something = doesNotMatter;
  window.arbitraryObject = arbitraryObject;
}

Note that I’m not asking what this macro would actually look like, I’m curious if there are built-in tools or plugins that make the creation of things like this particularly easy.

Answer 1

I know that you aren’t asking for the specific macro, but it’s easiest to learn these types of things by example. The first one (console.log) can be achieved through this mapping:

:vmap <leader>il y<esc>oconsole.log(<c-r>");<esc>

Likewise, the second one could look like this:

:vmap <leader>iw y<esc>owindow.<c-r>" = <c-r>";<esc>

Can you spot the similarities? <leader>il means that the command binds to the leader key (usually ,) followed by i followed by l. You can check what the following commands mean by using :help [key] in vim, but the mappings basically yank (copy) the selected text, enters a new line (Esc, o) and then appends some text followed by Ctrl+r and ", which inserts the yanked text.