Changes: Wrap a visual selection in an HTML tag

Latest revision as of 06:27, 13 July 2012

Tip 1495 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created 2007 · complexity intermediate · author Max Cantor · version 6.0

There are a bunch of HTML wrapper tips and tricks out there, but I couldn't find any that suited my desire to be able to quickly wrap an arbitrary visual highlight in an arbitrary HTML tag. Here's the function, and a mapping to go with it:

" Wrap visual selection in an HTML tag.
vmap <Leader>w <Esc>:call VisualHTMLTagWrap()<CR>
function! VisualHTMLTagWrap()
  let tag = input("Tag to wrap block: ")
  if len(tag) > 0
    normal `>
    if &selection == 'exclusive'
      exe "normal i</".tag.">"
    else
      exe "normal a</".tag.">"
    endif
    normal `<
    exe "normal i<".tag.">"
    normal `<
  endif
endfunction

Put it in ~/.vim/scripts/wrapwithtag.vim and enable in ~/.vimrc:

au Filetype html,xml source ~/.vim/scripts/wrapwithtag.vim

When editing HTML file, visually highlight text and press {Leader} w, enter tag name (where {Leader} defaults to the '\' key, but you can override with a :let mapleader = command :help mapleader).

Comments[]

Another option is to use the xml.vim plugin. Save it as ~/.vim/ftplugins/html.vim. To wrap some text with tag, visually select the text, and press <LocalLeader>x (<LocalLeader> is backslash \ by default). To strip the surrounding tag, press <LocalLeader>d.

Why not use ftplugin directory instead of a Filetype autocmd?

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 |previous=1491
 |next=1498
-|created=January 29, 2007
+|created=2007
 |complexity=intermediate
 |author=Max Cantor
-|version=5.7
+|version=6.0
-|rating=12/6
+|rating=
 |category1=Automated Text Insertion
 |category2=
 }}
-There are a bunch of HTML wrapper tips and tricks out there, but I couldn't find any that suited my desire to be able to quickly wrap an arbitrary visual highlight in an arbitrary HTML tag.
+There are a bunch of HTML wrapper tips and tricks out there, but I couldn't find any that suited my desire to be able to quickly wrap an arbitrary visual highlight in an arbitrary HTML tag. Here's the function, and a mapping to go with it:
-Here's the function, and a mapping to go with it:
 <pre>
-" Wraps visual selection in an HTML tag
+" Wrap visual selection in an HTML tag.
-vmap ,w <Esc>:call VisualHTMLTagWrap()<CR>
+vmap <Leader>w <Esc>:call VisualHTMLTagWrap()<CR>
 function! VisualHTMLTagWrap()
-  let a:tag =  input( "Tag to wrap block: ")
+  let tag = input("Tag to wrap block: ")
+  if len(tag) > 0
-  let a:jumpright = 1 + len( a:tag )  " corrected from  2 to 1 DG12 10/08/08
-  normal `<
+    normal `>
+    if &selection == 'exclusive'
-  let a:init_line = line( "." )
-  exe "normal i<".a:tag.">"
+      exe "normal i</".tag.">"
-  normal `>
+    else
+      exe "normal a</".tag.">"
-  let a:end_line = line( "." )
+    endif
-  " Don't jump if we're on a new line
+    normal `<
-  if( a:init_line == a:end_line )
+    exe "normal i<".tag.">"
-    " Jump right to compensate for the characters we've added
-    exe "normal ".a:jumpright."l"
+    normal `<
   endif
-  exe "normal a</".a:tag.">"
 endfunction
 </pre>
+Put it in <code>~/.vim/scripts/wrapwithtag.vim</code> and enable in <code>~/.vimrc</code>:
-==Comments==
-Why don't you do it the opposite way:
 <pre>
+au Filetype html,xml source ~/.vim/scripts/wrapwithtag.vim
-normal `>
-exe "normal a</".a:tag.">"
-normal `<
-exe "normal i<".a:tag.">"
 </pre>
+When editing HTML file, visually highlight text and press '''{Leader} w''', enter tag name (where {Leader} defaults to the '\' key, but you can override with a <code>:let mapleader =</code> command {{help|mapleader}}).
-Here, you don't have to care about shifting your selected area.
+==Comments==
+Another option is to use the {{script|id=1397|text=xml.vim}} plugin. Save it as <code>~/.vim/ftplugins/html.vim</code>. To wrap some text with tag, visually select the text, and press '''<LocalLeader>x''' (<LocalLeader> is backslash '''\''' by default). To strip the surrounding tag, press '''<LocalLeader>d'''.
 ----
+Why not use ftplugin directory instead of a Filetype autocmd?