Vimpeccable

Write your .vimrc in Lua!

Vimpeccable is a plugin for Neovim that adds a simple lua api to map keys directly to lua code. This can be used to easily replace your vimscript-based

.vimrc

init.vim

init.lua

NOTE: Requires Neovim 0.5+

Table of Contents

• Quick Start Example
• Vimpeccable Command Syntax
• Runtime Reloading of Entire Vimrc Plugin
• Repeatable Maps
• Duplicate Map Detection
• Chord Cancellation Maps
• Buffer Local Maps
• User Command Maps

Quick Start Example

Given the following example .vimrc:

call plug#begin(stdpath('data') . '/plugged')
Plug 'morhetz/gruvbox'
call plug#end()

set ignorecase
set smartcase
set incsearch
set history=5000
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
let mapleader = "<space>"
nnoremap hw :echo 'hello world'
" Toggle line numbers
nnoremap n :setlocal number!
" Keep the cursor in place while joining lines
nnoremap J mzJ`z
nnoremap ev :vsplit ~/.config/nvim/init.vim
colorscheme gruvbox

When using Neovim 0.5 and Vimpeccable, you could instead write it in lua or any lua-based language as well. You can do this by creating an

init.lua

init.vim

vim.cmd 'packadd paq-nvim'

require 'paq' {
  {'savq/paq-nvim', opt = true};
  'morhetz/gruvbox';
  'svermeulen/vimpeccable'
}
vim.o.ignorecase = true
vim.o.smartcase = true
vim.o.incsearch = true
vim.o.hidden = true
vim.o.history = 5000
vim.o.tabstop = 4
vim.o.shiftwidth = vim.o.tabstop
vim.g.mapleader = " "
vim.cmd('colorscheme gruvbox')
-- Note that we are using 'vimp' (not 'vim') below to add the maps
-- vimp is shorthand for vimpeccable
local vimp = require('vimp')
vimp.nnoremap('hw', function()
  print('hello')
  print('world')
end)
-- Toggle line numbers
vimp.nnoremap('n', function()
  vim.wo.number = not vim.wo.number
end)
-- Keep the cursor in place while joining lines
vimp.nnoremap('J', 'mzJ`z')
vimp.nnoremap('ev', ':vsplit ~/.config/nvim/init.lua')
-- Or:
-- vimp.nnoremap('ev', [[:vsplit ~/.config/nvim/init.lua]])
-- Or:
-- vimp.nnoremap('ev', function()
--   vim.cmd('vsplit ~/.config/nvim/init.lua')
-- end)
vim.cmd('colorscheme gruvbox')

For the purposes of this example we use paq-nvim but you are of course free to use whichever plugin manager you prefer.

Then you can open Neovim and execute

:PaqInstall

hw

ev

init.lua

Vimpeccable Command Syntax

Vimpeccable mirrors the standard vim API and so has all the variations of

nnoremap

nmap

xnnoremap

The standard format to add a mapping in vimscript is:

[MODE](nore?)map [OPTIONS] [LHS] [RHS]

Where: -

MODE

x

v

s

o

i

c

t

nore

OPTIONS

Examples:

nnoremap hw :echo 'hello world'

" Note that we need to use recursive here we are mapping to a non-default RHS
nmap c Commentary
xmap c Commentary
nnoremap   t :call g:DoCustomThing()

Vimpeccable mirrors the above except that it is a lua method call and therefore requires that each parameter is seperated by commas:

vimp.[MODE](nore?)map [OPTIONS?], [LHS], [RHS]

Examples:

-- Note that in lua we can represent strings either with quotes or with double square brackets
vimp.nnoremap('hw', [[:echo 'hello world']])

vimp.nmap('c', 'Commentary')
vimp.xmap('c', 'Commentary')
-- Also note that we need to pass the options as a list instead of as seperate parameters
-- Also note that unlike vimscript, the options are not surrounded with angle brackets
vimp.nnoremap({'expr', 'silent'}, '1', [[:call g:DoCustomThing()]])
-- Or, alternatively, implement DoCustomThing in lua instead:
vimp.nnoremap({'expr', 'silent'}, '1', function()
    -- Add logic here
end)

Vimpeccable also comes with extra methods named

bind

rbind

vimp.bind('n', 'hw', [[:echo 'hello world']])

-- plugs need to use rbind
vimp.rbind('nx', 'c', 'Commentary')

Note that the only difference here is that

rbind

These methods can be especially useful to allow binding multiple modes at the same time. Note also that you can pass multiple values for LHS like this as well:

vimp.rbind('nx', {'c', 'gc'}, 'Commentary')

Which in vimscript would require 4 different statements for each variation.

Runtime Reloading of Entire Vimrc Plugin

For many vimmers, It is common to regularly be making tweaks to your vimrc.

In order to make edits at runtime without requiring a full restart of vim, often what people do is open up their vimrc and then simply execute

:so %

:luafile %

To show how this is done, let's add the following to our

init.lua

-- r = reload vimrc
vimp.nnoremap('r', function()
  -- Remove all previously added vimpeccable maps
  vimp.unmap_all()
  -- Unload the lua namespace so that the next time require('config.X') is called
  -- it will reload the file
  require("config.util").unload_lua_namespace('config')
  -- Make sure all open buffers are saved
  vim.cmd('silent wa')
  -- Execute our vimrc lua file again to add back our maps
  dofile(vim.fn.stdpath('config') .. '/init.lua')

  print("Reloaded vimrc!")
end)

Let's also add a custom lua namespace, where we can place all our custom Lua that we'll want to reload. We can do this by: - Creating a new directory at

lua/config

init.lua

util.lua

local M = {}

M['unload_lua_namespace'] = function(prefix)
  local prefix_with_dot = prefix .. '.'
  for key, value in pairs(package.loaded) do
    if key == prefix or key:sub(1, #prefix_with_dot) == prefix_with_dot then
      package.loaded[key] = nil
    end
  end
end
return M

Now we can open neovim again and execute

r

vimp.unmap_all

unload_lua_namespace

unload_lua_namespace

lua/config

To test our new

r

hw

r

hw

util.lua

As your vimrc grows in complexity, you may want to split it up into multiple files, which we can now do easily in lua by using the

require

Repeatable Maps

Vimpeccable can also optionally make custom maps repeatable with the

.

vimp.bind('[e', ':move--')
vimp.bind(']e', ':move+')

You might want to be able to hit

]e..

repeatable

vimp.bind({'repeatable'}, '[e', ':move--')
vimp.bind({'repeatable'}, ']e', ':move+')

Note that this feature requires that vim-repeat is installed.

Duplicate Map Detection

By default, vimpeccable will reject any maps that are already taken. To see what that looks like, try adding the following map to the same

vimrc.lua

vimp.bind('hw', function() print('hi!') end)

If you then execute

r

This is because we have already defined a map for

hw

In some cases you might want to override the previous mapping anyway, which you can do by passing in the

override

vimp.bind({'override'}, 'hw', function() print('hi!') end)

If you then reload with

r

hw

Vimpeccable will also automatically detect maps that 'shadow' each other as well. For example, if we change our map to this instead:

vimp.bind('h', function() print('hi!') end)

And then attempt to reload again with

r

This is different from vim's default behaviour. If we added these maps using vimscript like this instead:

nnoremap hw :echo 'hello world'
nnoremap h :echo 'hi!'

Then every time we execute

h

hw

Chord Cancellation Maps

If you find yourself using a lot of leader maps, you might notice that it is not possible to cancel a leader operation without sometimes causing unintended side effects. For example, given the following map:

vimp.bind('ddb', function() print("Executed map!") end)

If you then type

dd

b

dd

d

You can avoid these problems by adding the following to the bottom of your

vimrc.lua

vimp.add_chord_cancellations('n', '')

Now if we reload with

r

dd

d

Under the hood, what vimpeccable is actually doing here is adding maps for

dd

d

Buffer Local Maps

Vimpeccable also supports buffer local maps. Given this vimscript map:

nnoremap  t1 :echo 'buffer local map!'

As you might expect, the equivalent in lua would be:

vimp.nnoremap({'buffer'}, 't1', [[:echo 'buffer local map!']])
vimp.nnoremap({'buffer'}, 't2', [[:echo 'another buffer local map!']])

Or alternatively:

vimp.add_buffer_maps(function()
  vimp.nnoremap('t1', function() print('lua map!') end)
  vimp.nnoremap('t2', function() print('lua map two!') end)
end)

You can also specify the exact buffer if you know the buffer id like this:

vimp.add_buffer_maps(bufferId, function()
  vimp.nnoremap('t1', function() print('lua map!') end)
  vimp.nnoremap('t2', function() print('lua map two!') end)
end)

Advanced Options

• vimp.always_override

  (default:

  false

  )
  • When true, all maps will be added as if they always have the

    override

    option set

• vimp.all_maps

  • A dictionary containing the full list of maps and their associated info

• vimp.current_map_info

  • A table of info for the currently executing map

• vimp.maps_in_progress

  • A collection of all maps that are currently executing

User Command Maps

In some cases it might be better to define a custom action as a vim command rather than mapping it to a key. This way we don't use up any open key maps and our custom commands are discoverable on the command line by pressing tab (which can be easier than having to remember whatever leader map we chose). For example, you might want to define the following user commands in vimscript:

function! g:OpenFileOnGithub()
    echom "Open the URL on github for current file on current line"
endfunction

function! g:RenameFile(newName)
    echom "Todo - rename current file to " . a:newName
endfunction
command! -nargs=0 SvOpenFileOnGithub call g:OpenFileOnGithub()
command! -nargs=* SvRename call g:RenameFile()

Note here that I'm using

Sv

Sv

To do this in lua with vimpeccable instead, you could do this:

vimp.map_command('SvOpenFileOnGithub', function()
  print("Todo - Open the URL on github for current file on current line")
end)

vimp.map_command('SvRename', function(newName)
  print("Todo - rename current file to " .. newName)
end)

Note that vimpeccable will automatically fill in the

nargs

Viewing Maps

If you want to view all the maps that are managed by vimpeccable, you can call

vimp.show_maps

-- Arguments: mode (optional)
vimp.map_command("ShowAllMaps", function(...) 
  -- Use empty string as prefix to select all
  vimp.show_maps('', ...)
end)

-- Arguments: prefix (required), mode (optional)
vimp.map_command("ShowMaps", function(...) 
  vimp.show_maps(...)
end)

Then, you can execute

:ShowAllMaps

:ShowAllMaps i

:ShowMaps 

:ShowMaps  n