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I would like to execute a command every single time I enter visual mode and another command every time I leave visual mode. Is there a way to achieve this?

My objective is to automatically record what I do when I enter visual mode. I want to be able to automatically do :normal! qv to store everything in the v register, and when when I'm back to normal mode :normal! q to stop recording.

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  • I want to be able to automatically do :normal! qv q does not work inside normal (read :h q). Also, visual mode is only good for text select, and you can restore a selection with gv, for example. No need to save all the keypresses. – Matt Oct 7 at 11:47
  • I don't think there is a non hacky way to do it. From :h autocmd-events you can see there is no event for when you switch to visual or normal mode, only insert mode. But creating a mapping for changing modes shouldn't be too hard. The hard part is to log you keystrokes independently. I think I would try to use :h -w and parse the produced file afterwards – statox♦ Oct 7 at 11:48
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    Also your question sounds like a XY problem: You should explain us what you want to do in the end, maybe there is an easier way to do it. – statox♦ Oct 7 at 11:49
  • @Matt I think there is a good reason for doing it, to be able to repeat operators while visually seeing what range is selected by the text-object. It changes the syntax to v -> text-object -> operator instead of operator-> text-object, but can be quite useful in my opinion. Also it allows to expand, now I can do "visual in quote", and to expand to an upper quote level if I repeat "in quote". Recording it allows to repeat it with no effort. What are your thoughts? – Blasco Oct 7 at 12:41
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If your Vim version contains the patch 8.1.2044, you could try this:

let s:last_mode = 'n'
augroup visual_enter_normal_enter
    au!
    au SafeState * call s:fire_visualenter_or_normalenter()
augroup END

fu! s:fire_visualenter_or_normalenter() abort
    if reg_executing() isnot# '' | return | endif
    let mode = mode()
    if s:last_mode is# 'n'
    \ && index(['v', 'V', "\<c-v>"], mode) != -1
    \ && exists('#User#VisualEnter')
        do <nomodeline> User VisualEnter
    elseif s:last_mode isnot# 'n'
    \ && mode is# 'n'
    \ && exists('#User#NormalEnter')
        do <nomodeline> User NormalEnter
    endif
    let s:last_mode = mode
endfu

augroup record_keys_in_visual_mode
    au!
    au User VisualEnter call s:recording_start()
    au User NormalEnter call s:recording_stop()
augroup END

fu! s:recording_start() abort
    if reg_recording() is# ''
        let @v = mode()
        call feedkeys('qV', 'int')
    endif
endfu

fu! s:recording_stop() abort
    if reg_recording() is# 'V'
        call feedkeys('q', 'int')
    endif
endfu

I haven't tested the code a lot, but it seems to do what you want; i.e. record all the keys typed while in visual mode inside the register v.

Note that SafeState is fired frequently, so s:fire_visualenter_or_normalenter() will be run frequently too, and I don't know how much impact it will have on Vim's performance, nor whether it can cause unexpected issues.

If you don't have SafeState, you can use a timer which repeats invoking its callback forever:

let s:last_mode = 'n'
let s:waiting_time = 10
call timer_start(s:waiting_time, {-> s:fire_visualenter_or_normalenter()}, {'repeat': -1})

fu! s:fire_visualenter_or_normalenter() abort
    if reg_executing() isnot# '' | return | endif
    let mode = mode()
    if s:last_mode is# 'n'
    \ && index(['v', 'V', "\<c-v>"], mode) != -1
    \ && exists('#User#VisualEnter')
        do <nomodeline> User VisualEnter
    elseif s:last_mode isnot# 'n'
    \ && mode is# 'n'
    \ && exists('#User#NormalEnter')
        do <nomodeline> User NormalEnter
    endif
    let s:last_mode = mode
endfu

augroup record_keys_in_visual_mode
    au!
    au User VisualEnter call s:recording_start()
    au User NormalEnter call s:recording_stop()
augroup END

fu! s:recording_start() abort
    if reg_recording() is# ''
        let @v = mode()
        call feedkeys('qV', 'int')
    endif
endfu

fu! s:recording_stop() abort
    if reg_recording() is# 'V'
        call feedkeys('q', 'int')
    endif
endfu

If you notice a too big impact on Vim's performance, try to increase the value of s:waiting_time.

If you notice that some typed keys are missing from the register v, try to decrease the value of s:waiting_time.

For more information, see:

:h SafeState
:h User
:h reg_executing(
:h reg_recording(
:h mode(
:h index(
:h exists(
:h feedkeys(
:h timer_start(
:h :do
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  • That's amazing. Thank you very much, you made my day – Blasco Oct 7 at 12:39
  • It doesn't work perfectly though. If I go to visual, then to insert, then to normal, it seems not to catch it – Blasco Oct 7 at 12:45
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    @Matt It's probably not necessary here, but I use it to be consistent with other comparisons where is is useful to avoid this issue: github.com/Kuniwak/vint/issues/233 – user938271 Oct 7 at 13:17
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    @Matt is# is a comparison operator just like ==#. I can use it as much as possible and avoid it only if necessary. Or I can use ==# as much as possible and avoid it only if necessary. But in practice, is# is more reliable when you intend to compare strings, so I prefer to use is# when I compare strings. I don't want to ask myself every time I perform a string comparison whether one of the operand could be a number; it is obvious here, but it may not always be the case. – user938271 Oct 7 at 19:43
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    If "language feature" was referring to the automatic conversion of a string into a number, I don't want to rely on it; I find it makes the code's behavior harder to predict. Even bram thinks that it may have been a bad idea (which is hard to get rid of now): github.com/vim/vim/pull/3857#issuecomment-457746952 – user938271 Oct 7 at 20:38

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