Append inside brackets, quotes, double quotes

Question

I've been using Vim for a few weeks now and I find myself constantly using ci" or ci( to change whats enclosed in "" or (). I do also find myself wanting to append inside of the brackets e.g.:

If I have:

if (name == "Frank") {

I want to be anywhere on that line and append && lastName == "Castle" to my condition inside the (). To end up with:

if (name == "Frank" && lastName == "Castle") {

OR I want to append Castle to what's inside the "". To end up with:

if (name == "Frank Castle") {

Obviously ai" and ai( doesn't work, since it puts you in append/insert mode and you then just type i"...

Anyone know how to do that, or if it's possible?

Answer 1

There's not a command that follows the ci... structure to do that. You can add a remap to do it (see below), or use core vim commands f and t (and their counterparts F and T) motions to get the cursor to where you want, and then switch to insert mode (with i or a) to effect the change (see even further below).

Adding a remap to do it

Here's a mapping to do it:

nnoremap <LEADER>ci" ci"<C-r>"

The way it works: The ctrl + r + " pastes from the unnamed register once in insert mode - and since the unnamed register will contain whatever was between the double quotes it just pastes it back in and leaves you in insert mode to append your string:

Showing how the map works, step by step:

if (name == "Frank") {

ci" (this leaves you in insert mode)

if (name == "") {

ctrl+r + " (this pastes the content back, and leaves you in insert mode)

if (name == "Frank") {

Typing your addition && lastName == "Castle":

if (name == "Frank && lastName == "Castle") {

Using core vim (i.e. without a remap)

Relevant stuff from the help:

f{char}    To [count]'th occurrence of {char} to the right.  The
           cursor is placed on {char}... 

F{char}    To the [count]'th occurrence of {char} to the left.
           The cursor is placed on {char}...

t{char}    Till before [count]'th occurrence of {char} to the
           right.  The cursor is placed on the character left of
           {char}...
            
T{char}    Till after [count]'th occurrence of {char} to the
           left.  The cursor is placed on the character right of
           {char}...

;          Repeat latest f, t, F or T [count] times.

,          Repeat latest f, t, F or T in opposite direction
           [count] times.

In the following, the ^ shows where the cursor is.

First case

if (name == "Frank") {
     ^

Pressing f):

if (name == "Frank") {
                   ^

Typing i && lastName == "Castle":

if (name == "Frank" && lastName == "Castle") {

Second case

if (name == "Frank") {
  ^                    

Pressing t) or f"; or 2f":

if (name == "Frank") {
                  ^                    

Typing i Castle:

if (name == "Frank Castle") {
                         ^                    

Going backwards with F

if (name == "Frank") {
                     ^                    

Pressing F":

if (name == "Frank") {
                  ^

Going backwards with T

if (name == "Frank") {
                     ^                    

Pressing T"; or 2T":

if (name == "Frank") {
             ^

Answer 2

To help someone else looking for this, below is my complete mapping.

Note: ^R is entered by pressing Ctrl + v, then Ctrl + r which turns it into ^R.

nnoremap <LEADER>ci" ci"^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci' ci'^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci( ci(^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci) ci)^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci{ ci{^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci} ci}^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci[ ci[^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci] ci]^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci< ci<^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci> ci>^R"<space>
nnoremap <LEADER>ci` ci`^R"<space>

Cheers,