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spacemacs/README.md
syl20bnr 3c93a7ab9d Vimacs readme
2013-11-23 01:12:46 -05:00

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Vimacs

The best editor is not Emacs nor Vim, the best editor is Vimacs, Emacs+Vim !

Goal

These configuration files try to bring the power of Vim modal editing to the powerful Emacs editing platform to finally "build" the Vimacs editor.

To achieve this, Vimacs uses two modes heavily:

Who can benefit from this configuration files set ?

Vimacs is first intented to be used by Vim users who wants to go to the next level by using Emacs.

It is also a good fit for people wanting to lower the risks of RSI induced by the default Emacs key bindings.

People wanting to learn a new way to edit files or wanting to learn Vim.

As a note side, if you are a programmer and you don't know Vim key bindings yet, I deeply recommend you to learn the basics as recommended in Sacha Chua's one-page guide about how to learn Emacs.

Install

Vimacs is only tested with Emacs 24.3.1.

Backup your current .emacs.d. Clone this repository in your home folder:

cd ~
mv .emacs.d .emacs.bak
git clone http://github.com/syl20bnr/vimacs .emacs.d

Get the submodules:

cd ~/.emacs.d
git submodule init
git submodule update

Packages and Extensions Organization

Modes/libraries are separated into two categories:

  • package: packages installed from package.el compliant repositories.
  • extension: modes directly fetched from git repositories (as submodules)

There are two types of extensions:

  • pre-extensions: loaded before packages
  • post-extensions: loaded after packages

Modes/libraries are listed in the following three files depending whether they are packages, pre-extensions or post-extensions:

  • packages.el
  • pre-extensions.el
  • post-extensions.el

A package or extension has a corresponding init-....el file responsible for its initialization, those files are stored respectively in the init-package and init-extension directories.

init-....el files lazy load the modes by using the use-package macro.

How it works

With Vimacs there is no need to remap your keyboard modifiers to lower the risks of RSI, every command can be executed very easily while you are in normal mode:

Save a buffer:

<SPC> f s

Save all opened buffers:

<SPC> f S

Open (switch) to a buffer with helm:

<SPC> b s

How to switch to normal mode efficiently ?

One of the main design flaw in Vim key bindings is the way you have to press the ESC key to return to normal mode.

The popular way to avoid this is to replace ESC by jj pressed rapidly. In Vimacs you have to press fd quickly by default.

Note that keychords.el mode is not used to achieve this, the reasons for this is latency and the fact that keychords wants you to press several keys almost at the same time which is something very difficult to master correctly on a keyboard. Vimacs has a special function called fd-trigger to handle the fd key sequence and fix the keychords issues.

How to use it ?

Every sequences must be peformed in normal mode.

Navigation (point/cursor)

Navigation is performed using the Vi key bindings hjkl.

The current line of the cursor (point) is always at the center of the buffer. This effect is achieved with centered-cursor mode. It can be toggled on and off with:

<SPC> z z

To move quickly up a buffer:

H

To move quickly down a buffer:

L

ace-jump mode

I often use ace-jump mode so this key binding does not require the evil leader, just press ,:

,

To go back to previous location:

<SPC> ,

Navigation (buffers/files)

Vimacs uses helm coupled to popwin to handle buffer navigation.

Note: Vimacs also uses ido for opening files since ido way to navigate the file system is better than helm (especially because ido can remember the last selected directories and buffers, maybe helm can do this ?). ido is also used to kill buffers.

Buffer manipulation commands start with b and file manipulation with f.

Open a file:

<SPC> f f

Save a file:

<SPC> f s

Switch to an opened buffer:

<SPC> b s

Kill a buffer:

<SPC> b k

Kill all other buffer:

<SPC> b K

Rename a buffer:

<SPC> b r

Delete a buffer (well a file):

<SPC> b d

Move a buffer to the left:

<SPC> b m h

Window manipulation

Window manipulation commands start with w. Split windows are dynamically resized depending on whether they are selected or not. Resizing is performed by the golden-ratio mode.

Every window has a number displayed at the start of the mode-line and can be accessed using <SPC> number. For instance to go to the window number 2, you can press:

<SPC> 2

Split a window horizontaly:

<SPC> w b

Split a window verticaly:

<SPC> w v

Close a window:

<SPC> w c

Undo close window:

<SPC> w u

Toggle window dedication (dedicated window cannot be used by a mode):

<SPC> w d

Rotate windows clockwise or counter-clockwise:

<SPC> w r
<SPC> w R

Maximize/minimize a window:

<SPC> w m

Color theme

Vimacs uses this Solarized theme. It is possible to switch between the light and dark themes.

Activate daylight theme:

<SPC> t t d

Activate night theme:

<SPC> t t n

UI elements

The mode line is a powerline customized to show the window number and to colorize the current editing mode.

Some UI indicators can be toggled on and off:

Fill column indicator for 80 columns wide buffers:

<SPC> t 8

I suggest to not always display it since it slow down Emacs.

Toggle line numbers:

<SPC> t n

Idem, I suggest to display this only if required for performance reason.

Toggle fringe mode:

<SPC> t f

Minor Modes

Vimacs uses diminish mode to reduce the size of minor mode indicators:

The minor mode area can be toggled on and off with:

<SPC> t m

Note that in terminal the regular indicators are used insteaf of the utf-8 ones.

Formating

Vimacs leverage paredit in all major modes by using smartparens mode.

To join the current line with the next line:

<SPC> j k

To split the current line at point and auto-indent:

<SPC> j j

To auto-indent the line below the current line and jump to it:

<SPC> j i

<SPC> j k, <SPC> j j and <SPC> j i used together are very powerful.

To split a quoted string (ie. "Hello Emacs Hello Vim" to "Hello Emacs" and "Hello Vim", but nobody wants to do that!):

<SPC> l CTRL+j

ahah a modifier! It should be the only one.

Errors handling

Vimacs uses Flycheck to gives error feedback on the fly. The checks are only performed at save time by default.

To go to the next/previous flycheck error:

<SPC> f n
<SPC> f p

To display the list of errors/warnings:

<SPC> f l

Could be great to turn this command into a toggle. By the way l is for lisp.

Various

expand-region mode

initiate expand-region with:

<SPC> v

to expand region:

v

to contract:

V

to reset:

r

narrow region

narrow to a region:

<SPC> nr

widen a region:

<SPC> nw

auto-highlight-symbol mode

toggle the mode:

<SPC> t h

edit all highlighted symbols:

<SPC> h e

and more...

There are sets of key bindings for different major modes I'm using, the convention is to start the major mode key sequences by M.

See my-keybindings.el for more keybindings.

TODO list

  • Add a way to easily share/activate/deactivate sets of key bindings for major or minor modes key bindings (maybe by leveraging use-package ?).
  • Add support for multiple-cursors mode.

Are there any other configuration files like Vimacs ?

Yes there is:

Let me now if you know other great Vimacs configurations and I'll list them here.