How to map number keys within motions typed during the operator-pending mode?

Question

Typing source code is easier for me when the numbers row above the letters (the numrow) is permanently shifted, giving me access to the symbols at a single keypress, without pressing Shift. The numbers themselves are available when pressing Shift of course. To achieve this, I use the following in my configuration:

nnoremap 1 !
nnoremap 2 @
nnoremap 3 #
nnoremap 4 $
" etc...

vnoremap 1 !
vnoremap 2 @
vnoremap 3 #
vnoremap 4 $
" etc...

onoremap 1 !
onoremap 2 @
onoremap 3 #
onoremap 4 $
" etc...

" the inverse maps not included here

This works great normally, but I have a problem. The command for 'select everything inside parantheses', namely vi), isn't working as expected, because I still have to press Shift for ), otherwise Vim will receive the command vi0, which isn't what I want.

What I want is to press vi0 but have the 0 mapped to ) without shifting. Unfortunately, onoremap 0 ) didn't have any effect. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

Vim maps will handle commands, not individual keystrokes, so if you want to remap your keys, you'll need to handle two character commands which use one of those keys explicitly.

In the example you brought up, vi), you'll want to create new Visual and operator-pending mappings for i) (and a) which is similar):

onoremap i0 i)
vnoremap i0 i)
onoremap a0 a)
vnoremap a0 a)

But then you'll see that there are more such two character commands that use the symbols on those keys, and will want to remap those as well. For example, g# and g*:

nnoremap g3 g#
nnoremap g8 g*

And then you'll start finding more and more.

Maybe it's not that bad, but it feels like it's not the best solution for this problem. I think I'd recommend looking into keyboard mappings at the O.S. level, or at least terminal emulator. Some advantages of that would be:

• That would work in any program, not just Vim.
• That would work in Vim regardless of mode and whether the mapped character is part of a multi-character command.
• That would work even for new mappings introduced by plug-ins that include the remapped symbols.
• You could remap the numeric keys on the top row, but leave the keypad untouched so it would still produce numbers (with, or perhaps even without, NumLock.) With the Vim mappings, you're affecting all of them the same, since you can't tell them apart.

So I think there are better solutions to this problem than Vim mappings... But if you go that way, then consider the multi-character mappings as part of what you need to handle.