how can I keep `<C-f>` literal in map definition?

Question

I've write myself a function, which receive a motion and perform it in other window. However, a problem raises when I need to map a real motion to a key sequence:

nnoremap <c-p> :call Motion('\<C-F>')<cr>

Unexpectedly, vim executes <C-F> for me when I just want vim to put <C-F> there as string literal.

Is there any solution to this?

Answer 1

You can pass a literal Ctrl+f by pressing CtrlvCtrlf in insert mode, but I'm not sure this will work for you.

The other method which I find more correct (or easier and more widely used) is to pass the key/motion as a string and use :execute to create the maps inside your function. Here is an example from the CtrlP plugin:

The part in the plugin:

if g:ctrlp_map != '' && !hasmapto('<plug>(ctrlp)')
        exe 'map' g:ctrlp_map '<plug>(ctrlp)'
en

You can set the motion in .vimrc as:

let g:ctrlp_map = '<C-f>'

and then <plug>(ctrlp) would be mapped to it.

In your case you would have a simple call in .vimrc like this:

nnoremap <c-p> :call Motion('<C-F>')<cr>

and in Motion:

function Motion(sequence)
    " other stuff
    execute 'map' a:sequence '<Plug>(action)'
    " more stuff
endfunction