11

I have a very long vimrc mapping to deal with for example 

nnoremap <space>e :exe "!tmux send-keys -t.- 'cd $TEST' Enter"<Cr> :exe "!tmux send-keys -t.- 'source $TEST_NT/bin/activate' Enter"<Cr>

how can I break this long line into several short lines so that I can see everything in one screen

Something like the following style: 

 nnoremap <space>e 
     :exe "!tmux send-keys -t.- 'cd $TEST' Enter"<Cr> 
     :exe "!tmux send-keys -t.- 'source $TEST_NT/bin/activate' Enter"<Cr>
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1 Answer 1

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15

You can split your long line by inserting a Vim line continuation character (backslash) at the beginning of each continued line:

nnoremap <space>e 
       \ :exe "!tmux send-keys -t.- 'cd $TEST' Enter"<Cr> 
       \ :exe "!tmux send-keys -t.- 'source $TEST_NT/bin/activate' Enter"<Cr>

This is explained here: :help line-continuation. You should note the comment on leading whitespace, i.e.:

All leading whitespace characters in the line before a backslash are ignored.
Note however that trailing whitespace in the line before it cannot be inserted freely; it depends on the position where a command is split up whether additional whitespace is allowed or not.

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5
  • 1
    You beat me by a couple of seconds. If you add the VimDoc link, then I'll delete my answer.
    – Karl Yngve Lervåg
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 6:45
  • 1
    @KarlYngveLervåg: Hmm, hmm. I am reluctant to add a link to online documentation. If I did that now, I would have to do that forever, and I simply dread the effort. I expect you to answer "fair enough" ;-).
    – nst0022
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 10:57
  • 1
    I saved you the work.
    – Karl Yngve Lervåg
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 11:40
  • 2
    Fair enough :-).
    – nst0022
    Commented Sep 6, 2018 at 14:47
  • 1
    I was getting issues with additional wrapped lines beginning with \ :. This was fine for the first wrapped line, but for others this meant a space was being added and my cursor would move forwards. I therefore had to have \: at the beginning of all but one of the lines, instead.
    – Alex W
    Commented Jan 15, 2022 at 12:08

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