jumping to a character instead of byte
Derick Eddington
to character X not byte X. If I have an external thing (in my case, an
interpreter) telling me I need to look at character X, when the file is
in a multi-byte encoding (typically UTF-8), I need to be able to tell
Vim to go to character X. How can this be done?
I searched around for the answer but couldn't find it, so thanks for any
help.
--
: Derick
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Mechelynck
> I'm trying to figure out how to configure Vim so that ":goto X" will go
> to character X not byte X. If I have an external thing (in my case, an
> interpreter) telling me I need to look at character X, when the file is
> in a multi-byte encoding (typically UTF-8), I need to be able to tell
> Vim to go to character X. How can this be done?
>
> I searched around for the answer but couldn't find it, so thanks for any
> help.
>
":goto" will always count by bytes, but there's another way to do it:
:set ww+=s ve=onemore
:exe "normal gg" . (char_number - 1) . " "
don't forget the space at the end. When doing it at the keyboard you may
type just gg then the number (one less than the desired character
number) followed by a space: "exe 'normal'" is not necessary in that case.
see
:help 'whichwrap'
:help 'virtualedit
The ":set virtualedit=onemore" is necessary to count linebreaks (but
each of them as only one character even on Windows). That option value
doesn't exist in Vim 6 or earlier.
You can check the result with the Normal-mode command g Ctrl-G
Best regards,
Tony.
--
It is illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats, and other
domesticated animal kept as pets.
[real standing law in Illinois, United States of America]
Derick Eddington
That's a lot to have to type every time I want to go to a character.
I'm thinking there must be a way to package that code into a Vim
function/procedure/command, say :gotoc, but I'm totally new to Vim,
could you or anyone quickly tell/point me how to do that and where to
put it so it's available when I start Vim? Thank you very much. I
imagine adding a new :gotoc to Vim would be greatly appreciated by
many others, now that multi-byte encodings are becoming so much more
prevalent.
[TMI, I never received your response, I'm having to use the Google
Groups interface to read and reply, even though I subscribed.]
--
: Derick
----------------------------------------------------------------
On May 3, 5:05 pm, Tony Mechelynck <antoine.mechely...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Tony Mechelynck
> Thanks Tony.
>
> That's a lot to have to type every time I want to go to a character.
> I'm thinking there must be a way to package that code into a Vim
> function/procedure/command, say :gotoc, but I'm totally new to Vim,
> could you or anyone quickly tell/point me how to do that and where to
> put it so it's available when I start Vim? Thank you very much. I
> imagine adding a new :gotoc to Vim would be greatly appreciated by
> many others, now that multi-byte encodings are becoming so much more
> prevalent.
You would in any case have had to either type the character-count
manually, or (in a script) get it from a variable. Manually, it's
usually just as many keypresses (and sometimes one less) to type "one
less than the number". Prefix that by gg and postfix that by one hit on
the spacebar and you're done (assuming that the correct settings are set
once and for all).
In a script, you can write the appropriate ex-commands where you need to
use them; or if you need them at several places in various scripts, you
can define a user-command or function and invoke that.
>
> [TMI, I never received your response, I'm having to use the Google
> Groups interface to read and reply, even though I subscribed.]
Make sure your Google Groups are set to forward all group posts to your
email address. If you use a gmail address, set it up for POP (or IMAP
but personally I prefer POP).
Best regards,
Tony.
--
It's always darkest just before it gets pitch black.