Buffer specific remap of a global map to a plugin command

Question

I have this in my .vimrc as global for gf: map gf :edit <cfile><cr> from the help on gf, but I want to remap gf in markdown files for a plugin command with the following:

autocmd FileType markdown nnoremap <buffer>gf <Plug>Markdown_EditUrlUnderCursor

When running :nmap I see the following output:

n  ge           @<Plug>Markdown_EditUrlUnderCursor
n  gx           @<Plug>Markdown_OpenUrlUnderCursor
n  gf          *@<Plug>Markdown_EditUrlUnderCursor

but gf doesn't do what it should. I see the little star there and I guess it has something to do with it, but I have no idea what that means. ge works as expected. How can I achieve what I want?

Answer 1

When you want to map a <Plug> mapping always use nmap not nnoremap.

Basically a <Plug>(Something) is a sequence of chars that are mapped to some functionality.

Imagine you have:

" you have some mapping
nnoremap a :echo "hello"<CR>
" and want remap that mapping
nmap b a

" same
nnoremap asdf :echo "world"<CR>
nmap b asdf

" same
nnoremap <Plug>(hello) :echo "hello world"<CR>
nmap gf <Plug>(hello)