VimTrick: Type less with abbreviations
Use Vim's built in abbreviation mapping system to save time typing
You may not know that Vim has a built-in system for expanding text abbreviations into longer strings. This has numerous applications for all types of Vim users. You might be writing prose and often have long, difficult-to-type names. Or if you’re writing code, you might have common snippets you want to insert by typing just a short abbreviation. Here’s how to save time by storing abbreviation mappings in Vim:
Add the mapping to Vim’s abbreviation registry:
:ab short_string Longer Description
Then, whenever you type short_string
in insert mode, it will auto-expand to Long Description
upon pressing space or enter. Here’s a quick demo:
In the screencast, I first define the new abbreviation. In this case, I want spacex
to expand to Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
automatically. I define it like so:
:ab spacex Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Then, back in insert mode I simply type spacex
and when I press space, it auto expands.
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VimTrick: Type less with abbreviations
I have some abbreviations like these:
inoreabbrev fname <C-R>=expand("%:t")<CR>
inoreabbrev Fname <C-R>=expand("%:p")<CR>
inoreabbrev idate <C-R>=strftime("%b %d %Y %H:%M")<CR>