Editing Auto end-quote html/xml attribute values as you type in insert mode

{{duplicate|630}}
{{review}}
{{TipImported
|id=1020
|previous=1018
|next=1021
|created=2005
|complexity=basic
|author=Nick Caniglia
|version=6.0
|rating=8/5
}}
I often use Vim with the xml.vim plugin script from Devin Weaver {{script|id=301}} for html/xml editing, however it seem to lack the auto-quoting of xml attribute values feature that you find in a lot of IDEs these days. So here is a simplistic but still pretty useful mapping tip you might want to add to your favorite xml plugin Vim script or vimrc:
<pre>
inoremap " ""<LEFT>
inoremap ' ''<LEFT>
</pre>

It simply replaces the double or single quotation mark character that you just typed with a pair of them and then moves the cursor in between the pair so you are ready to type the attribute's value.

This mapping can get annoying if you find yourself typing quote characters for reasons other than attributes, and you don't want the matching end-quote--you could make it better using a function along the lines of [[VimTip102]] to maybe only do it when the prior charater is an equal sign '=' , but I ended up liking it this simple way.
:This is quite smart actually, because for other purposes you should use &amp;quot; and &amp;#39;, ragtag.vim may help you enter them escaped.

==Comments==
I normally use
<pre>
imap "" ""<LEFT>
imap '' ''<LEFT>
</pre>

Additionally, those are quite handy, too:
<pre>
imap () ()<LEFT>
imap [] []<LEFT>
imap {} {}<LEFT>
imap <> <><LEFT>
</pre>

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For this to work only after an equal sign, you can remap the sequences =" and =', i.e.:
<pre>
inoremap =" =""<Left>
inoremap =' ='' <Left>
</pre>

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[[Category:Brackets]]
[[Category:HTML]]
[[Category:XML]]