ci[ ; bracket recognition fails

Question

i have the following Text in my vim ('|' is my cursor.:

"|--------------[ LatexBox ]-------------

When i press ci[, nothing happens. I would expect that it doesn't matter where exactly in the line my cursor is. at least when a pair of brackets in the line is.

"--------------[| LatexBox ]-------------

Now, when i press ci[ nvim delets the content of the Brackets and puts me in insert mode, as expected.

=> How can i fix that?

PS: I know this question, but in this example i don't have multiple brackets.

EDIT: Btw. that example doesn't work also in a single buffer without any other content (suggested also in 1)

Answer 1

What you see is the expected behavior of ci[ (and ci(, and ci{). There is nothing to "fix", here.

But you can use this script to add your desired behavior to Vim:

" Motion for "next/last object". For example, "din(" would go to the next "()" pair
" and delete its contents.

onoremap an :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('a', 'f')<cr>
xnoremap an :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('a', 'f')<cr>
onoremap in :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('i', 'f')<cr>
xnoremap in :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('i', 'f')<cr>

onoremap al :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('a', 'F')<cr>
xnoremap al :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('a', 'F')<cr>
onoremap il :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('i', 'F')<cr>
xnoremap il :<c-u>call <SID>NextTextObject('i', 'F')<cr>

function! s:NextTextObject(motion, dir)
  let c = nr2char(getchar())

  if c ==# "b"
      let c = "("
  elseif c ==# "B"
      let c = "{"
  elseif c ==# "d"
      let c = "["
  endif

  exe "normal! ".a:dir.c."v".a:motion.c
endfunction