4

I often find myself in this situation:

\foo{\bar abc \baz{def} more stuff}
          ↑

and I want to change anything from the cursor position to the correct enclosing brace. In simple cases, ct} works fine, but not here, as it would yield

\foo{\bar } more stuff}
          ↑

In other simple cases, when I am happy to change the whole content of the braces, I can use text objects, i.e. ci}, to change everything correctly:

\foo{}
     ↑

But how do I get to 

\foo{\bar }
          ↑

ideally somehow using text objects (i.e. i}), so that it works well in general?

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
5

The ninja-feet.vim plugin by Tom McDonald adds this functionality to Vim.

With it installed, add [ or ] between the operator and text object to specify which end you wish edit: press c]i} to perform the edit you describe.

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1
  • Unfortunate that it’s a plugin, but otherwise, perfect!
    – Joachim Breitner
    Jan 3, 2018 at 11:05
4

when I do c2t} it seems to work, but this is assuming you know that it's the second bracket.

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3
  • I was wondering why someone wouldn't just use the repeat command with . so that would be ct}.
    – Ibn Rushd
    Jan 3, 2018 at 10:41
  • 1
    Note that you can do c2t} (change to the destination of 2t}) or 2ct} (change twice to the destination of t}) which will change how the . command will repeat your command. In general it is better to use c2t} as Ibn Rushd said I think it is more consistent.
    – statox
    Jan 3, 2018 at 10:42
  • Damn my comment was 31 seconds too late :)
    – statox
    Jan 3, 2018 at 10:42
2

If you don't mind having the retype the closing } would:

c]}

do what you want? Although I think I prefer v]} so I can see what it's going to change first ...

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3
  • Nice! This seems like the best solution for the specific example. N.B. ]} is an exclusive motion (see :help exclusive), so you won't have to re-type the closing } if you use c]}, only if you use the visual mode alternative you suggest.
    – Rich
    Jan 5, 2018 at 9:52
  • Is it? Oh .. it looks as though it's highlighting the } when I use v, but not deleting it with the c ... TIL etc. Thanks :)
    – Will Crawford
    Jan 5, 2018 at 14:24
  • Yes! At least when it’s braces. I will reach to the ninja feet plugin since there are text objects like t (for HTML tags) where ] does not seem to work (or does it?).
    – Joachim Breitner
    Jan 5, 2018 at 18:05
0

Use the change command, using search (/) semantics: "Change until the next occurrence of right brace":

c/}
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1
  • 1
    That does not work, as the next right brace is not the next enclosing right brace. Also, for a single character, ct} is faster than c/}.
    – Joachim Breitner
    Jan 4, 2018 at 0:15

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