Changes: Format paragraph without changing the cursor position

Latest revision as of 05:25, 13 July 2012

Tip 347 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created 2002 · complexity basic · version 6.0

To format the current paragraph:

gqap
gwap same, but restores cursor position

Comments[]

TO DO

Thanks to anon who pointed out that gwap makes the original tip obsolete (I have removed it).
We don't have any other tips that explain basics of paragraph formatting, so this may as well be it.
Need to explain what "format" means here.
Need to mention textwidth, formatexpr, formatprg and probably more (but keep it simple).

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{review}}
 {{TipImported
 |id=347
 |previous=346
 |next=348
-|created=October 18, 2002
+|created=2002
-|complexity=intermediate
+|complexity=basic
-|author=Kartik Agaram
+|author=
 |version=6.0
 |rating=18/11
+|category1=
+|category2=
 }}
+To format the current paragraph:
-<pre>
+*<code>gqap</code>
-map &lt;silent&gt; &lt;C-j&gt; :let line=line(".")&lt;CR&gt;:let col=col(".")&lt;CR&gt;gqap:exec ":".line&lt;CR&gt;:exec "normal " . col . "\|"&lt;CR&gt;
+*<code>gwap</code> same, but restores cursor position
-imap &lt;silent&gt; &lt;C-j&gt; &lt;Esc&gt;:let line=line(".")&lt;CR&gt;:let col=col(".")&lt;CR&gt;gqap:exec ":".line&lt;CR&gt;:exec "normal " . col . "\|"&lt;CR&gt;a
-</pre>
 ==Comments==
+{{todo}}
-Why not simply use &lt;C-O&gt; after gq command?
+*Thanks to anon who pointed out that gwap makes the original tip obsolete (I have removed it).
+*We don't have any other tips that explain basics of paragraph formatting, so this may as well be it.
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+*Need to explain what "format" means here.
-Let me try to describe a case. Let's say you open a text file and start inserting text somewhere in between without ever adding to the jump list (just arrow keys, '{}'). Now typing &lt;Esc&gt; gqap &lt;C-o&gt; doesn't restore cursor position. At least for me.
+*Need to mention textwidth, formatexpr, formatprg and probably more (but keep it simple).
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-Ok, mea culpa - I always used gq}, and it worked. The gqap is different.
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-It may be more desirable to preserve the cursor's logical position (i.e., which word it is currently on), rather than its line/col position.
-The following nmap does this by inserting a small and unusual bogus text at the current cursor position; formatting the paragraph; using search to get to the bogus word; and then deleting it.
- nmap gb i&lt;zqfm&gt;&lt;esc&gt;gqip?&lt;zqfm&gt;&lt;cr&gt;df&gt;
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-Absolutely outstanding.
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