Deadkeys / Accented Characters and Mutt integration

Tip 776 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created August 23, 2004 · complexity basic · author Max Baker · version 5.7

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Using Mutt and Vim for my email, I need to write in Spanish a few times a week, but I'm using a US key layout.

Deadkeys are used for entering accented and special characters. First you hit a modifier key like apostrophe (') and then a vowel to get the accented version (ό).

This tip turns the ' ` ^ and " characters into deadkeys to allow for most all characters used in European languages.

Two functions are added to to turn on deadkeys and turn off deadkeys. Those functions are then mapped to F-keys. Finally, an addition to your .muttrc helps start vim in a wordprocessing mode.

The bulk of the work was done by Claudio Fleiner at http://www.fleiner.com/vim/deadkey.html . I just wrapped them into functions for ease of use.

" vimrc
nm <F6> :call DeadKeys()<CR>
nm <F7> :call DeadKeysOff()<CR>

function! DeadKeys()
  echo "Dead Keys: On"
  let g:DeadKeysOn=1
  " map dead keys
  imap "a    ä
  imap "A    Ä
  imap "e    ë
  imap "E    Ë
  imap "i    ï
  imap "I    Ï
  imap "o    ö
  imap "O    Ö
  imap "u    ü
  imap "U    Ü
  imap "y    ÿ
  imap "<Space>    ""<BS>
  imap ""    ""<BS>

  imap 'a    á
  imap 'A    Á
  imap 'e    é
  imap 'E    É
  imap 'i    í
  imap 'I    Í
  imap 'o    ó
  imap 'O    Ó
  imap 'u    ú
  imap 'U    Ú
  imap 'y    ý
  imap ''    ''<BS>
  imap '<Space>    ''<BS>

  imap 'c    ç
  imap 'C    Ç

  imap `a    à
  imap `A    À
  imap `e    è
  imap `E    È
  imap `i    ì
  imap `I    Ì
  imap `o    ò
  imap 'O    Ó
  imap 'u    ú
  imap 'U    Ú
  imap 'y    ý
  imap ''    ''<BS>
  imap '<Space>    ''<BS>

  imap 'c    ç
  imap 'C    Ç

  imap `a    à
  imap `A    À
  imap `e    è
  imap `E    È
  imap `i    ì
  imap `I    Ì
  imap `o    ò
  imap `O    Ò
  imap `u    ù
  imap `U    Ù
  imap ``    ``<BS>
  imap `<Space>    ``<BS>

  imap ^a    â
  imap ^A    Â
  imap ^e    ê
  imap ^E    Ê
  imap ^i    î
  imap ^I    Î
  imap ^o    ô
  imap ^O    Ô
  imap ^u    û
  imap ^U    Û
  imap ^y    xxxx
  "imap ^y " this one was giving me problems.
  imap ^^    ^^<BS>
  imap ^<Space>    ^^<BS>

  imap ~n    ñ
  imap ~N    Ñ
  imap ~~    ~~<BS>
  imap ~<Space>    ~~<BS>
endfunction " deadkeys()

function! DeadKeysOff()
  " Make sure turning them off without having turned them on
  " does nothing bad.
  if !exists("g:DeadKeysOn") || !g:DeadKeysOn
    echo "Dead Keys not on."
    return
  endif
  echo "Dead Keys: Off"
  let g:DeadKeysOn=0
  iunmap "a
  iunmap "A
  iunmap "e
  iunmap "E
  iunmap "i
  iunmap "I
  iunmap "o
  iunmap "O
  iunmap "u
  iunmap "U
  iunmap "y
  iunmap ""
  iunmap "<Space>

  iunmap 'a
  iunmap 'A
  iunmap 'e
  iunmap 'E
  iunmap 'i
  iunmap 'I
  iunmap 'o
  iunmap 'O
  iunmap 'u
  iunmap 'U
  iunmap 'y
  iunmap '<Space>
  iunmap ''
  iunmap 'c
  iunmap 'C

  iunmap `a
  iunmap `A
  iunmap `e
  iunmap `E
  iunmap `i
  iunmap `I
  iunmap `o
  iunmap `O
  iunmap `u
  iunmap `U
  iunmap `<Space>
  iunmap ``

  iunmap ^a
  iunmap ^A
  iunmap ^e
  iunmap ^E
  iunmap ^i
  iunmap ^I
  iunmap ^o
  iunmap ^O
  iunmap ^u
  iunmap ^U
  "iunmap ^y
  iunmap ^^
  iunmap ^<Space>

  iunmap ~n
  iunmap ~N
  iunmap ~~
  iunmap ~<Space>
endfunction

# .muttrc
# Make VI into wordprocessor mode -- auto wrap, backspace to previous line
set editor="vim -c 'set tw=76' -c 'set fo=tcq' -c 'set bs=eol' -c 'set wrap'"

Comments

Looks like VimTip273 has some more mutt/mail quote stuff too!

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I have a compose key defined for such things (using an old IBM model M with US layout). Not only can I access the "accented" characters for my mother tngue (German), but I also get easy access to all the other more nifty chars: http://www.schwarzvogel.de/compose.shtml

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In Windows 2000 or XP the same behavior can be configured for all apps by selecting the US-International -- make sure, INTERNATIONAL -- keyboard locale in control panel.

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With a compose key, you don't have to. "é" is compose-'-e while "'e" is just '-e.

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Or you could simply use vim's digraphs instead of reinventing the wheel.

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