How to Insert a console.log for word under cursor in new line

Question

Use case:

In a JS file, I have an expression like:

if (someVar === 'someValue') {
    statements;
}

and, for debugging purposes, I sometimes want to include a console.log in the line above:

console.log('someVar:', someVar);
if (someVar === 'someValue') {
    statements;
}

(Working) Attempt:

I want to have some keybinding to achieve this, so I tried:

nnoremap <Leader>L "ayiwOconsole.log(':', );<Esc>2F'"apf "ap

that basically yanks word under cursor to register a, then writes an empty console.log(':', ); template in the line above, moves to the desired positions and pastes register a twice.

It works, but it feels some-way dirty. Can you think of a more elegant way to do the same?

Answer 1

You can use <C-R> from insert mode to insert the contents of a register. That way you can insert the whole line at once, including the repeat of the variable name.

For example:

nnoremap <Leader>L "ayiwOconsole.log('<C-R>a:', <C-R>a);<Esc>

You might want to consider adding a visual mode mapping as well, in which case you can use that also to log the value of an expression, and not just a single variable that will match a word:

xnoremap <Leader>L "ayOconsole.log('<C-R>a:', <C-R>a);<Esc>

See :help i_CTRL-R for more details on how <C-R> works in insert mode.

Answer 2

Can you guys think of a more elegant way to do the same?

Well, at least we can try our best :-)

nnoremap <silent><Leader>L :put! =printf('console.log(''%s:'',  %s);', expand('<cword>'), expand('<cword>'))<CR>