vim-sexp cheatsheet

vim-sexp-cheatsheet.md

Prereqs

These are for the combined vim-sexp (https://github.com/guns/vim-sexp) and vim-sexp-mappings-for-regular-people (https://github.com/tpope/vim-sexp-mappings-for-regular-people) plugins. vim-sexp is neat on its own but Tim Pope makes common stuff much easier.

Note that some vim-sexp functionality depends on <LocalLeader> mappings. This is a different leader key than the global leader, and is the variable maplocalleader (instead of mapleader). To see if you have this set, use :echo maplocalleader; if it errors out you'll need to set it, otherwise it will echo the key. If you want to set your LocalLeader to <Space>, you'll need two commands in your .vimrc, since by default <Space> is bound to <Right> in normal mode:

nnoremap <Space> <Nop>
let maplocalleader=" "

TOC

1. Movements
2. Text objects
3. Lispy actions
   1. Indenting
   2. Wrapping
   3. Splicing

Movement

• ( and ) move to the nearest paired structural bracket; ( will take you backwards to the nearest (, {, or [
• W and B move forwards/backwards element-wise within a form, ending on element heads: that is, if you're on a in the outer form of (a (b c) d), you'll jump from a to ( to d when pressing WW, versus ww which takes you a => ( => b
• E and gE move forwards/backwords element-wise, ending on tails: EE on (a (b c) d) takes you a => ) => d
• [[ and ]] move forwards/backwards between top-level elements: [[ on 2 in (1 (a b)) (d (c d) 2) will move you to the opening paren of 1
• [e and ]e selects adjacent elements fowards/backwards
• <I and >I insert at the head/tail of a form

Text objects

These are best used with the i (inside) and a (around) movements.

• f refers to the form under the cursor; if when the cursor is on c of (a (b c) d) selects b c
• F refers to the top-level form around the cursor; iF on c of (a (b c) d) selects a (b c) d
• s refers to strings
• e refers to elements; in a word this means the word, on a parenthese this means the form
• w refers to words, which are non-form elements; e.x. you cannot vif from a parenthese

Lispy actions

Indenting

• == indents the current form
• =- indents the top level form

Wrapping

• <LocalLeader>i and <LocalLeader>I surround the current form with () and places the cursor at the front (i) or end (I)
• <LocalLeader>[ and <LocalLeader>] do the same things for []
• <LocalLeader>{ and <LocalLeader>} do it for {}
• <LocalLeader>w and <LocalLeader>W surround the current element with () and place the cursor at the front/end
• <LocalLeader>e[, <LocalLeader>e], <LocalLeader>e{, <LocalLeader>e} behave as above element-wise

Splicing

• <LocalLeader>@ splices the current form into its parent: (1 (2 3) 4) => (1 2 3 4)
• <LocalLeader>o replaces the parent form with the current form: o in the middle of (1 (2 3) 4) => (2 3)
• <LocalLeader>O replaces the parent form with the current element: O on 2 in (1 (2 3) 4) => (1 2 4)
• >f and <f swap or move the current form right/left (in the direction of the arrow): >f on 2 of (1 (2 3) 4) => (1 4 (2 3))
• >e and <e move the current element right/left
• >) and <( slurp right/left; think of them like arrows moving the corresponding parentheses a direction: >) in the inner form of (1 (2 3) 4) => (1 (2 3 4))
• <) and >( burp right/left; again, the arrows are moving the parentheses: <) in the inner form of (1 (2 3) 4) => (1 (2) 3 4)