vim: ad hoc code completion?

[Rui Maciel]

Is it possible to configure vim to, say, when a user types "itemize" in
insert mode automatically insert:

\begin{itemize}
_
\end{itemize}

...being _ the cursor position?

I suspect that the imap command is the way to go, but I haven't found any
tutorial on how to use it for this purpose.


Thanks in advance,
Rui Maciel

[Rui Maciel]

Rui Maciel wrote:

> I suspect that the imap command is the way to go, but I haven't found any
> tutorial on how to use it for this purpose.

The best that I could come up with was this:

:imap <Leader>item \begin{itemize}<enter>\end{itemize}<esc>k0o

when \item is typed in insert mode, an itemize environment is defined.

Does anyone know of a better way to pull this off?

[Gary Johnson]

You could use an abbreviation instead of an imap, but you would have to
be careful when typing "itemize" anywhere in the document. A way around
that would be to use a shortened version or misspelling of itemize,
e.g.,

iab <buffer> itemiz \begin{itemize}<enter>\end{itemize}<esc>k0o

HTH,
Gary