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Tip 1016 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created 2005 · complexity basic · author Anthony Van Ham, Gerald Lai · version 6.0


Some programs use CamelCaseWords (or camelCaseWords). The following maps allow you to move word by word, for example, from the 'C' of Camel, to the 'C' of Case, to the 'W' of Words. Some alternate versions are given, starting with something simple and more easily understood.

Simple move[]

nnoremap <C-Left> :call search('\<\<Bar>\u', 'bW')<CR>
nnoremap <C-Right> :call search('\<\<Bar>\u', 'W')<CR>
inoremap <C-Left> <C-o>:call search('\<\<Bar>\u', 'bW')<CR>
inoremap <C-Right> <C-o>:call search('\<\<Bar>\u', 'W')<CR>

Better handling of all-uppercase words[]

Here is a more thorough version. It does not go through a CAPITALIZED word one character at a time.

nnoremap <silent><C-Left> :<C-u>call search('\<\<Bar>\U\@<=\u\<Bar>\u\ze\%(\U\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%^','bW')<CR>
nnoremap <silent><C-Right> :<C-u>call search('\<\<Bar>\U\@<=\u\<Bar>\u\ze\%(\U\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%$','W')<CR>
inoremap <silent><C-Left> <C-o>:call search('\<\<Bar>\U\@<=\u\<Bar>\u\ze\%(\U\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%^','bW')<CR>
inoremap <silent><C-Right> <C-o>:call search('\<\<Bar>\U\@<=\u\<Bar>\u\ze\%(\U\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%$','W')<CR>

Enhanced version[]

With the following, the cursor will stop at:

  • The beginning of a word.
  • The beginning of a run of camel characters.
  • A camel character followed by a run of non-camel characters.
  • The start and end of the file.
" Use one of the following to define the camel characters.
" Stop on capital letters.
let g:camelchar = "A-Z"
" Also stop on numbers.
let g:camelchar = "A-Z0-9"
" Include '.' for class member, ',' for separator, ';' end-statement,
" and <[< bracket starts and "'` quotes.
let g:camelchar = "A-Z0-9.,;:{([`'\""
nnoremap <silent><C-Left> :<C-u>call search('\C\<\<Bar>\%(^\<Bar>[^'.g:camelchar.']\@<=\)['.g:camelchar.']\<Bar>['.g:camelchar.']\ze\%([^'.g:camelchar.']\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%^','bW')<CR>
nnoremap <silent><C-Right> :<C-u>call search('\C\<\<Bar>\%(^\<Bar>[^'.g:camelchar.']\@<=\)['.g:camelchar.']\<Bar>['.g:camelchar.']\ze\%([^'.g:camelchar.']\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%$','W')<CR>
inoremap <silent><C-Left> <C-o>:call search('\C\<\<Bar>\%(^\<Bar>[^'.g:camelchar.']\@<=\)['.g:camelchar.']\<Bar>['.g:camelchar.']\ze\%([^'.g:camelchar.']\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%^','bW')<CR>
inoremap <silent><C-Right> <C-o>:call search('\C\<\<Bar>\%(^\<Bar>[^'.g:camelchar.']\@<=\)['.g:camelchar.']\<Bar>['.g:camelchar.']\ze\%([^'.g:camelchar.']\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%$','W')<CR>
vnoremap <silent><C-Left> :<C-U>call search('\C\<\<Bar>\%(^\<Bar>[^'.g:camelchar.']\@<=\)['.g:camelchar.']\<Bar>['.g:camelchar.']\ze\%([^'.g:camelchar.']\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%^','bW')<CR>v`>o
vnoremap <silent><C-Right> <Esc>`>:<C-U>call search('\C\<\<Bar>\%(^\<Bar>[^'.g:camelchar.']\@<=\)['.g:camelchar.']\<Bar>['.g:camelchar.']\ze\%([^'.g:camelchar.']\&\>\@!\)\<Bar>\%$','W')<CR>v`<o

Alternatives[]

The camelcasemotion script is based on this tip, but much refined and enhanced. It can move through both CamelCase and underscore_notation words. It provides configurable mappings for normal mode, operator-pending mode and visual mode, plus a corresponding "inner" text object. -- Inkarkat 12:12, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

A challenger appears: https://github.com/chaoren/vim-wordmotion. Fewer bugs and better tested than camelcasemotion.

Comments[]

This is nice but what I am looking for is motions that work with other commands like v,y,d,c etc.

Try adapting them to use :onoremap for operator-pending mode. --Fritzophrenic (talk) 21:27, April 19, 2016 (UTC)
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