My vundle - vim extentions

I use vim as my editor, I am far from a leet user but am comfortable with it and find it speeds up my development compared to other editors I have tried.

I dont have a hugly customised config or use a many extentions, but thought I might benifit from writing up about the extentions I do use.

vundle

This I use to manage my extentions. Rather than manually downloading stuff, copying to the right place and removing if it does not workout, I let Vundle handle it. I tell Vundle about the extentions I want in my vim config then tell Vundle to install it, my workflow goes something like:

  • Add name of extention to vim config (.vimrc)

Plugin 'EXTENTION/NAME'

  • Open vim

    $ vim

  • Give vim a command to install my extentions

    BundleInstall

ctags

For this you need a package installed on your machine called ctags, this program can read code and output and effective “source map”, so vim knows where functions are defined.

The command ctags needs to be run on a project before vim can use its “source map” to be able to find where functions are defined, for this is do.

: Rtags

Now vim knows about where things are, use it to jump to different parts of the code.

Move the cursor over a function call and hit Ctrl+] .. you can jump back with Ctrl+t

nerdtree

https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree

Can be handy if I open a directory and want to browse in classic tree view style.

To open nerdtree

: NT

To open a file in a tab, highlight and press t

powerline

https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline

This provides a more useful status line in vim

ctrlp

https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim

This is really good for finding files, just hit Ctrl+p

Start start typing stuff to find the file you want, use Ctrl with the vim nav keys to choose file.

Open the file in a tab with Ctrl+t

ack

https://github.com/mileszs/ack.vim

I use ack all the time on the command line, this gives you the same functionally but from within vim.

: Ack SEARCHTHIS ./path

When ack has found stuff, you can open it in using o or in a tab using t

git-time-lapse

You can read about this here

vim-surround

https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround

Being a developer I often have to surround things in quotes, this helps me do that.

To change "hello mate" with ‘hello mate’, move inside the double quotes and do cs”’`