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From: maart@cs.vu.nl (Maarten Litmaath)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: VI showmatch option
Keywords: SHOWMATCH
Message-ID: <3791@solo6.cs.vu.nl>
Date: 24 Oct 89 02:43:22 GMT
References: <1188@cnetlu.UUCP>
Organization: V.U. Informatica, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Lines: 35

cornily@cnetlu.UUCP (Cornily) writes:
\... '[' and ']' characters as expression delimiters.
\I'd like to get the showmatch possibility for those characters. Now, it
\seems to work only on '(' and ')' characters. Any solution ?

`{' and `}' are handled too.
The following is a work-around for `[' and `]':

	map! ] ^V^V]^[%a ^H^[%a

(^V = ctrl-V, ^[ = escape, ^H = ctrl-H)
Note: when typed from within vi (using :map!), every one of the
abovementioned control characters has to be escaped with another ^V.

Explanation:

	^V^V]		- the double ^V will become a single one in the map;
			  when the `]' you typed is expanded, this ^V will
			  prevent the `]' in the map from being expanded too
			  (which would lead to a recursive macro)
	^[		- end insert mode
	%		- go to the match of `]'
	a ^H^[		- append a space, backspace to the point of insertion,
			  end append mode, i.e. nothing is appended; this
			  command sequence only serves to keep the cursor near
			  the matching `[' for a moment - you might want to
			  use a longer sequence
	%		- go to the match of the `[', i.e. the `]' you typed
	a		- re-enter append mode

Bug: if there's no match, the first `%' will fail, which will end the macro
expansion, i.e. the macro won't put you back into append mode.
-- 
A symbolic link is a POINTER to a file, | Maarten Litmaath @ VU Amsterdam:
 a hard link is the file system's GOTO. | maart@cs.vu.nl, mcsun!botter!maart