VIM - Abbreviations

VIM allows abbreviations to be set.

This can support:

The Basics

Abbreviations can be assigned with the command :ab[breviate].

To have abbreviations only work whilst in insert mode use :iabbrev:

:iabbrev [<expr>] [<buffer>] {abbreviation} {expansion}

NOTE:

Anything inside a [] is optional.
<expr> means that you could use a vimscript expression to create the expansion.
<buffer> means that it only applies to the current buffer.
abbreviation is the thing you type and that will be replaced by the expansion.

:ab Lunix Linux
:ab hapy happy
:ab hte the
:ab BTC The Big Cat
:ab myemail someemail@somewhere.com
 
:iabbrev Lunix Linux

NOTE: The words will be automatically corrected just after you typed them.

WARNING: Be careful with the abbreviations that are set, as they may prevent using a term for another purpose.

For example, an entry for BTC might want to be entered without expanding into the separate words.

To avoid expansion in insert mode, type CTRL-V after the last character of the abbreviation (on Windows, type CTRL-Q instead of CTRL-V).

Abbreviations can use special sequences like <CR> (the enter key), <Up>, <Tab> and many more.

This gives us the power to move around the cursor and create more elaborate snippets.

:iabbrev <buffer> con console.log();<Left><Left>

…converts to:

console.log( );

NOTE: The <buffer> is used to prevent this being available in every buffer, just the ones where I can use valid javascript syntax.

There is a space between the parenthesis in the log function, because we chose to “expand it” with the space key.
- Vim will replace the abbreviation after we press a “non-keyword character” and that character will be inserted after the expansion is done.
- Basically all the letters and a few special characters are considered “keyword characters” and anything that is not in that set will begin the expansion.
- Might want to check :help 'iskeyword' for more details.
- If that extra space is not wanted then you can begin the expansion with the sequence <C-]>, that is CTRL + closing bracket.

:iabbrev <buffer> iife@ (async function() {})();<Left><Left><Left><Left><Left><CR><CR><Up>

…converts to:

(async function() {
 
})();

NOTE: When the iife@ is typed it will do the conversion.

The @ sign in this case is not important. It is just a silly convention that is followed to make it clear this will be expanded into something else.

All those <Left>s can quickly become very complex. A better way is to escape insert mode and go into normal mode.

We can “press” <Esc> to go to normal mode and take advantage of all the vim goodness we can do in that mode. So, we could rewrite it like this.

:iabbrev <buffer> iife@ (async function() {})();<Esc>4hi<CR><CR><Up>

NOTE: The same snippet is now a bit less awful.

We replaced the five <Left>s with <Esc>4hi, a bit more cryptic but shorter.
- In VIM, you would press that 4hi yourself.
- In fact, since we are just entering in insert mode to make one command (4h) and then going back we could simplify it a little bit.

:iabbrev <buffer> iife@ (async function() {})();<C-o>4h<CR><CR><Up>

NOTE: Now we use <C-o> (control + o) to go to normal mode, make one command and immediately go back to insert mode.

Abbreviations can also be set in autocommands to make file specific abbreviations automatically.

If you put something like this in your .vimrc.

:autocmd FileType html,javascript,typescript,vue
  \ :iabbrev <buffer> some-abbreviation some-expansion

NOTE: It would make some-abbreviation available to you in html, javascript, typescript and vue files.

:abclear