vim: ruler offset

[Christopher Collins]

In vim, ":set ruler" causes the cursor position to be printed at the
bottom of the window. Is it possible to apply a constant offset to the
coordinates? E.g., if I applied (-2, 0), and my cursor were at position
(10,10), then "8,10" would be displayed instead of the actual cursor
position.

Here is some context. I have a C source file with an array of strings,
e.g.,:

const char *strings[] = {
"123456",
"abcdef",
"ABCDEF",
};

Elsewhere, I need to reference specific elements of the above block of
text with x-y coordinates. E.g., (5,0) would refer to the '6'
character. If I could configure vim such that it displayed "0,0" when
the cursor is on the '1' character, it would make this process easier.

All suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[Michael Soyka]

Chris,

Trying putting this in your vimrc:

function! ShowOffset()
let colOffset = virtcol(".") - g:referenceColumn
let lineOffset = line(".") - g:referenceLineNum
let text = '(' . string(colOffset) . ',' . string(lineOffset) . ')'
return text
endfunction
function! SetRuler()
let g:referenceColumn = virtcol(".")
let g:referenceLineNum = line(".")
set ruler
set rulerformat=%{ShowOffset()}
endfunction
function! UnsetRuler()
set rulerformat&
endfunction
nmap <Leader>s :call SetRuler()<CR>
nmap <Leader>u :call UnsetRuler()<CR>


To use this, put the cursor on the "1" in "123456" and press \s. This
sets a "reference" position and changes the ruler appearance. Use \u to
revert to the default ruler.

Mike

[Christopher Collins]

On 2013-05-11, Michael Soyka <mss...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Chris,
>
> Trying putting this in your vimrc:
>
> function! ShowOffset()
> let colOffset = virtcol(".") - g:referenceColumn
> let lineOffset = line(".") - g:referenceLineNum
> let text = '(' . string(colOffset) . ',' . string(lineOffset) . ')'
> return text
> endfunction
> function! SetRuler()
> let g:referenceColumn = virtcol(".")
> let g:referenceLineNum = line(".")
> set ruler
> set rulerformat=%{ShowOffset()}
> endfunction
> function! UnsetRuler()
> set rulerformat&
> endfunction
> nmap <Leader>s :call SetRuler()<CR>
> nmap <Leader>u :call UnsetRuler()<CR>
>
>
> To use this, put the cursor on the "1" in "123456" and press \s. This
> sets a "reference" position and changes the ruler appearance. Use \u to
> revert to the default ruler.
>
> Mike

Very cool, it works perfectly. Thanks, Mike!