simple-vim-surround

A vim plugin with simplified vim-surround behavior.

Motivation for the plugin

I found some unexpected behavior in the classic vim-surround plugin while coding in Elm and trying to manipulate surrounding square brackets (see examples below). Being relative new to vim-scripting, I found the code in vim-surround plugin too complicated to understand, so I decided to write my own simplified version of the plugin.

Install

SpaceVim

Add following to init.toml

[[custom_plugins]]
    repo = "michelrandahl/simple-vim-surround"
    merged = false

And under [options] add vim-surround to the list of disabled plugins, to make the keybindings available to simple-vim-surround.

[options]
    disabled_plugins = ["vim-surround"]

Plug

Add Plug 'michelrandahl/simple-vim-surround'

---

Other recommended options in Vim init file

Selection in Haskell-style anonomous functions

By default Vim/Neovim cannot figure out the correct scope of parantheses if a backslash is involved. This is a problem if you are editing code with a Haskell-like-syntax for anonomous functions, for example:

(\(x,y) -> ...)

Luckily this can be solved with a Vim cpoption (lookup :help cpoptions and view existing cpoptions with :set cpoptions?). Add following to your init.vim, to solve the problem:

set cpoptions+=M

Avoid selection of leading whitespace when selecting strings

By default Vim/Neovim will select any leading whitespace when selecting a string using va. For example, when standing on f in the following code and typing va" in normal mode, Vim will select ' "foobar"', -this can be quite annoying if you only intend to select "foobar".

, "foobar"

If you don't want to include leading whitespace, you can add following remapings to your vim.init:

nnoremap va' v2i'
nnoremap va" v2i"
nnoremap va` v2i`

---

Keybindings summary

• Delete surrounding: ds<char>
• Change surrounding: cs<old_char><new_char>
• Surround current line: yss<char>
• Surround visual selection: S<char>

---

Delete surrounding chars

Delete surrounding chars by pressing ds<char>.

Examples

Example 1

"lorum blablabla"

Press ds" to delete the surrounding "

lorum blablabla

Example 2

[ foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum]]

With the cursor at the word foobar press ds[ to delete surrounding []

 foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum]

Example 3

viewRelatedPhoto : String -> Html Msg
viewRelatedPhoto url =
    img
        [ class "related-photo"
        , onClick (ClickedPhoto url)
        , src (urlPrefix ++ "photos/" ++ url ++ "/thumb")
        ]
        []

With the cursor at the word class press ds[ to delete surrounding []

viewRelatedPhoto : String -> Html Msg
viewRelatedPhoto url =
    img
         class "related-photo"
        , onClick (ClickedPhoto url)
        , src (urlPrefix ++ "photos/" ++ url ++ "/thumb")
        
        []

Current limitations and bugs

Deleting surrounding chars, where the chars are on different lines, only works for the chars ()[]{}.

For example, pressing ds" to delete the " chars in the following text doesn't work:

"
foobar
"

Change surrounding char

Change surrounding chars by pressing cs<old_char><new_char>

Examples

Example 1

"lorum blablabla"

Press cs"' to change the surrounding " to '

'lorum blablabla'

Example 2

[ foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum]]

With the cursor at the word foobar press cs[( to change surrounding [] to ()

( foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum])

Example 3

[ foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum]]

With the cursor at the word lorem press cs[{ to delete surrounding [] to {}

[ foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] {lorem ipsum}]

Current limitations and bugs

Changing surrounding chars, where the chars are on different lines, only works for the chars ()[]{}.

For example, pressing cs"' to change the " chars to ' in the following text doesn't work:

"
foobar
"

Surround current line

Surround the current line with specific chars by pressing yss<char>

Examples

Example 1

lorum blablabla

Press yss( to surround with ()

(lorum blablabla)

Surround visual selection

Surround the current visual selection with specific chars by pressing S<char>

Examples

Example 1

With the cursor at the begining of the line, visual select following text with vee

lorum blablabla

Then press S" to surround with "

"lorum blablabla"

Example 2

With the cursor on foobar, first visual select with vi[

[ foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum]]

Then press S{ to surround with {}

[{ foobar
  , blabla
  , stuff [] [lorem ipsum]}]

Example 3

With the cursor on foo, first visual select with Vjjj

foo
bar
lorem
ipsum

Then press S( to surround with ()

(
foo
bar
lorem
ipsum
)