Bundle of more than 30 new textobjects for Neovim.
textobject | description | inner / outer | forward-seeking | default keymaps | filetypes (for default keymaps) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
indentation | surrounding lines with same or higher indentation | see overview from vim-indent-object | - | ii , ai , aI , (iI ) |
all |
restOfIndentation | lines down with same or higher indentation | - | - | R |
all |
greedyOuterIndentation | outer indentation, expanded to blank lines; useful to get functions with annotations | outer includes a blank, like ap /ip |
- | ag /ig |
all |
subword | like iw , but treating - and _ as word delimiters and only part of camelCase |
outer includes trailing _ ,- , or space |
- | iS /aS |
all |
toNextClosingBracket | from cursor to next closing ] , ) , or } |
- | small | C |
all |
toNextQuotationMark | from cursor to next unescaped[^1] " , ' , or ` |
- | small | Q |
all |
anyQuote | between any unescaped[^1] " , ' , or ` in a line |
outer includes the quotation marks | small | iq /aq |
all |
anyBracket | between any () , [] , or {} in a line |
outer includes the brackets | small | io /ao |
all |
restOfParagraph | like } , but linewise |
- | - | r |
all |
entireBuffer | entire buffer as one text object | - | - | gG |
all |
nearEoL | from cursor position to end of line, minus one character | - | - | n |
all |
lineCharacterwise | current line, but characterwise | outer includes indentation and trailing spaces | - | i_ /a_ |
all |
column | column down until indent or shorter line. Accepts {count} for multiple columns. |
- | - | | |
all |
value | value of key-value pair, or right side of a assignment, excl. trailing comment (in a line) | outer includes trailing commas or semicolons | small | iv /av |
all |
key | key of key-value pair, or left side of a assignment | outer includes the = or : |
small | ik /ak |
all |
url | works with http[s] or any other protocol |
- | big | L |
all |
number | numbers, similar to <C-a> |
inner: only pure digits, outer: number including minus sign and decimal point | small | in /an |
all |
diagnostic | LSP diagnostic (requires built-in LSP) | - | ∞ | ! |
all |
closedFold | closed fold | outer includes one line after the last folded line | big | iz /az |
all |
chainMember | field with optional call, like .foo(param) or .bar |
outer includes the leading . (or : ) |
small | im /am |
all |
visibleInWindow | all lines visible in the current window | - | - | gw |
all |
restOfWindow | from the cursorline to the last line in the window | - | - | gW |
all |
lastChange | Last non-deletion-change, yank, or paste.[^2] | - | - | g; |
all |
mdlink | markdown link like [title](url) |
inner is only the link title (between the [] ) |
small | il /al |
markdown, toml |
mdEmphasis | markdown text enclosed by * , ** , _ , __ , ~~ , or == |
inner is only the emphasis content | small | ie /ae |
markdown |
mdFencedCodeBlock | markdown fenced code (enclosed by three backticks) | outer includes the enclosing backticks | big | iC /aC |
markdown |
cssSelector | class in CSS like .my-class |
outer includes trailing comma and space | small | ic /ac |
css, scss |
cssColor | color in CSS (hex, rgb, or hsl) | inner includes only the color value | small | i# /a# |
css, scss |
htmlAttribute | attribute in html/xml like href="foobar.com" |
inner is only the value inside the quotes | small | ix /ax |
html, xml, css, scss, vue |
doubleSquareBrackets | text enclosed by [[]] |
outer includes the four square brackets | small | iD /aD |
lua, shell, neorg, markdown |
shellPipe | segment until/after a pipe character (| ) |
outer includes the pipe | small | iP /aP |
bash, zsh, fish, sh |
pyTripleQuotes | python strings surrounded by three quotes (regular or f-string) | inner excludes the """ or ''' |
- | iy /ay |
python |
notebookCell | cell delimited by double percent comment, such as # %% |
outer includes the bottom cell border | - | iN /aN |
all |
Variant 1: Have nvim-various-textobjs
set up all the keybindings from the
table above for you.
-- lazy.nvim
{
"chrisgrieser/nvim-various-textobjs",
event = "UIEnter",
opts = { useDefaultKeymaps = true },
},
-- packer
use {
"chrisgrieser/nvim-various-textobjs",
config = function ()
require("various-textobjs").setup({ useDefaultKeymaps = true })
end,
}
Variant 2: Use your own keybindings. See the Configuration section for information on setting your own keymaps.
-- lazy.nvim
{
"chrisgrieser/nvim-various-textobjs",
lazy = true,
keys = {
-- ...
},
},
-- packer
use { "chrisgrieser/nvim-various-textobjs" }
[!TIP] You can also use the
disabledKeymaps
config option to disable only some default keymaps.
The .setup()
call is optional if you are fine with the defaults below.
-- default config
require("various-textobjs").setup {
-- set to 0 to only look in the current line
lookForwardSmall = 5,
lookForwardBig = 15,
-- use suggested keymaps (see overview table in README)
useDefaultKeymaps = false,
-- disable only some default keymaps, e.g. { "ai", "ii" }
disabledKeymaps = {},
-- display notification if a text object is not found
notifyNotFound = true,
}
If you want to set your own keybindings, you can do so by calling the respective functions. The function names correspond to the textobject names from the overview table.
[!NOTE] For dot-repeat to work, you have to call the motions as Ex-commands. When using
function() require("various-textobjs").diagnostic() end
as third argument of the keymap, dot-repeatability is not going to work.
-- example: `U` for url textobj
vim.keymap.set({ "o", "x" }, "U", '<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").url()<CR>')
-- example: `as` for outer subword, `is` for inner subword
vim.keymap.set({ "o", "x" }, "as", '<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").subword("outer")<CR>')
vim.keymap.set({ "o", "x" }, "is", '<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").subword("inner")<CR>')
For most text objects, there is only one parameter which accepts "inner"
or
"outer"
. There are two exceptions for that:
-- 1. THE INDENTATION TEXTOBJ requires two parameters, the first for
-- exclusion of the starting border, the second for the exclusion of ending border
vim.keymap.set(
{ "o", "x" },
"ii",
'<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").indentation("inner", "inner")<CR>'
)
vim.keymap.set(
{ "o", "x" },
"ai",
'<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").indentation("outer", "inner")<CR>'
)
-- an additional parameter can be passed to control whether blank lines are included
vim.keymap.set(
{ "o", "x" },
"ai",
'<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").indentation("outer", "inner", "noBlanks")<CR>'
)
-- 2. THE DIAGNOSTIC TEXTOBJ accepts `"wrap"` or `"nowrap"`
vim.keymap.set({ "o", "x" }, "!", '<cmd>lua require("various-textobjs").diagnostic("wrap")<CR>')
All textobjects can also be used as an API to modify their behavior or create custom commands. Here are some examples:
ii
on unindented line should select entire bufferUsing a simple if-else-block, you can create a hybrid of the inner indentation text object and the entire-buffer text object, if you prefer that kind of behavior:
-- when on unindented line, `ii` should select entire buffer
vim.keymap.set("o", "ii", function()
if vim.fn.indent(".") == 0 then
require("various-textobjs").entireBuffer()
else
require("various-textobjs").indentation("inner", "inner")
end
end)
gx
The code below retrieves the next URL (within the amount of lines configured in
the setup
call), and opens it in your browser. As opposed to vim's built-in
gx
, this is forward-seeking, meaning your cursor does not have to stand on
the URL.
vim.keymap.set("n", "gx", function()
-- select URL
require("various-textobjs").url()
-- plugin only switches to visual mode when textobj is found
local foundURL = vim.fn.mode():find("v")
if not foundURL then return end
-- retrieve URL with the z-register as intermediary
vim.cmd.normal { '"zy', bang = true }
local url = vim.fn.getreg("z")
vim.ui.open(url) -- requires nvim 0.10
end, { desc = "URL Opener" })
You could go even further: When no URL can be found by various-textobjs
, you
could retrieve all URLs in the buffer and select one to open. (The URL-pattern
used by this plugin is exposed for this purpose.)
vim.keymap.set("n", "gx", function()
require("various-textobjs").url()
local foundURL = vim.fn.mode():find("v")
if foundURL then
vim.cmd.normal('"zy')
local url = vim.fn.getreg("z")
vim.ui.open(url)
else
-- find all URLs in buffer
local urlPattern = require("various-textobjs.charwise-textobjs").urlPattern
local bufText = table.concat(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, 0, -1, false), "\n")
local urls = {}
for url in bufText:gmatch(urlPattern) do
table.insert(urls, url)
end
if #urls == 0 then return end
-- select one, use a plugin like dressing.nvim for nicer UI for
-- `vim.ui.select`
vim.ui.select(urls, { prompt = "Select URL:" }, function(choice)
if choice then vim.ui.open(choice) end
end)
end
end, { desc = "URL Opener" })
Using the indentation textobject, you can also create custom indentation-related
utilities. A common operation is to remove the line before and after an
indentation. Take for example this case where you are removing the foo
condition:
-- before
if foo then
print("bar") -- <- cursor is on this line
print("baz")
end
-- after
print("bar")
print("baz")
The code below achieves this by dedenting the inner indentation textobject
(essentially running <ii
), and deleting the two lines surrounding it. As for
the mapping, dsi
should make sense since this command is similar to the ds
operator from vim-surround but
performed on an indentation textobject. (It is also an intuitive mnemonic:
d
elete s
urrounding i
ndentation.)
vim.keymap.set("n", "dsi", function()
-- select outer indentation
require("various-textobjs").indentation("outer", "outer")
-- plugin only switches to visual mode when a textobj has been found
local indentationFound = vim.fn.mode():find("V")
if not indentationFound then return end
-- dedent indentation
vim.cmd.normal { "<", bang = true }
-- delete surrounding lines
local endBorderLn = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_mark(0, ">")[1]
local startBorderLn = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_mark(0, "<")[1]
vim.cmd(tostring(endBorderLn) .. " delete") -- delete end first so line index is not shifted
vim.cmd(tostring(startBorderLn) .. " delete")
end, { desc = "Delete Surrounding Indentation" })
Similarly, you can also create a ysii
command to yank the two lines surrounding
an indentation textobject. (Not using ysi
, since that blocks surround
commands like ysi)
). Using nvim_win_[gs]et_cursor()
, you make the
operation sticky, meaning the cursor is not moved. vim.highlight.range
is
used to highlight the yanked text, to imitate the effect of vim.highlight.yank
.
vim.keymap.set("n", "ysii", function()
local startPos = vim.api.nvim_win_get_cursor(0)
-- identify start- and end-border
require("various-textobjs").indentation("outer", "outer")
local indentationFound = vim.fn.mode():find("V")
if not indentationFound then return end
vim.cmd.normal { "V", bang = true } -- leave visual mode so the '< '> marks are set
-- copy them into the + register
local startLn = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_mark(0, "<")[1] - 1
local endLn = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_mark(0, ">")[1] - 1
local startLine = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, startLn, startLn + 1, false)[1]
local endLine = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, endLn, endLn + 1, false)[1]
vim.fn.setreg("+", startLine .. "\n" .. endLine .. "\n")
-- highlight yanked text
local ns = vim.api.nvim_create_namespace("ysi")
vim.api.nvim_buf_add_highlight(0, ns, "IncSearch", startLn, 0, -1)
vim.api.nvim_buf_add_highlight(0, ns, "IncSearch", endLn, 0, -1)
vim.defer_fn(function() vim.api.nvim_buf_clear_namespace(0, ns, 0, -1) end, 1000)
-- restore cursor position
vim.api.nvim_win_set_cursor(0, startPos)
end, { desc = "Yank surrounding indentation" })
The lastChange
textobject can be used to indent the last text that was pasted.
This is useful in languages such as Python where indentation is meaningful and
thus formatters are not able to automatically indent everything for you.
If you do not use P
for upwards paste, "shift p
aste" serves as a great
mnemonic.
vim.keymap.set("n", "P", function()
require("various-textobjs").lastChange()
local changeFound = vim.fn.mode():find("v")
if changeFound then vim.cmd.normal { ">", bang = true } end
end
If you have some other useful ideas, feel free to share them in this repo's discussion page.
nvim-treesitter-textobjects
.Thanks
@vypxl
and @ii14
for figuring out dot-repeatability.In my day job, I am a sociologist studying the social mechanisms underlying the digital economy. For my PhD project, I investigate the governance of the app economy and how software ecosystems manage the tension between innovation and compatibility. If you are interested in this subject, feel free to get in touch.
I also occasionally blog about vim: Nano Tips for Vim
[^1]: This respects vim's quoteescape option.
[^2]: The lastChange
textobject does not work well with plugins that
manipulate paste operations such as
yanky.nvim or plugins that auto-save
the buffer.