• Vertical Mode

s - skips forward half the distance between the cursor and the end of the line.

*    cursor                                 ___ white space
---> movement of cursor after press of s    ### non-whitespace


Press s once to get to here..\/   again...  \/ ...  \/ .....etc.
*---------------------------> * -----------> * ---> * -> *
|_____#__########_###_____##################_____#####____|  <--- a line in buffer

S - skips backward half the distance between the cursor and the beginning of the line.

*    cursor                                 ___ white space
---> movement of cursor after press of s    ### non-whitespace


                          \/ Press S once from end of line
 * <- * <---- * <--------- * <-----------------------------
|_____#__########_###_____##################_____#####____|  <--- a line in buffer

gs moves your cursor to the center of the line.

This plugin provides 3 other ways to skip around the current line, but this is the default. Of course, you do not need to start from the beginning/end of the line; the logarithmic skipping happens relative to the cursor. You can also:

1. move by thirds, fourths or any other fraction (default is halves, as above)
2. choose to ignore indenting and trailing white space
3. skip through one end of the line to wrap to the other
4. skip through the end of the line to wrap to the center
5. skip through the end of the line to wrap to the succeeding/preceeding line

You can stack options 3,5 or 4,5 to, for example, wrap to the center of the succeeding line by skiping through the end of the current line. This "logarithmic skipping" is the default functionality of vim-skip but perhaps not the most useful depending on the layout of files you commonly edit. See the Modes section below for other behaviors.

Vim-skip attempts to provide a "mid-range" movement, between the longer $, 0 and the shorter w, W, e, E, b, B. It is built to quickly move the cursor to parts of the line which can otherwise be difficult to get to, e.g. the middle half of the line. It is more precise than $, 0 while not filling the role of w, W, e, E, b, B. These word/WORD text object motions are necessary and vim-skip does not want to replace them. Instead, Vim-skip hopes to complement them by providing a fast way to get your cursor nearby any word on the line, no matter how long the line may be.

Though there are multiple options and modes, Vim-skip does not attempt to provide you many mid-range motions! Rather, it strives to provide a minimal tool set allowing the user to tailor a single, efficient mid-range motion based on their own needs. Don't get overwhelmed with the modes or options! It is my intention to keep this skipping motion quick and efficient, while still providing enough versatility to fit your working style on many file types.

Thought another way, whenever you would think about skipping rather than a using w, e, b sequence, vim-skip hopes to provide a motion to get you very close to where you want to go with high probability. To get you where you exactly want to go, you would just use / or ? commands. Vim-skip must be quicker than these to be efficient!

Using your favorite package manager, for example see Vundle, or copy /doc/* to $HOME/.vim/doc/ and likewise for /plugin.

Vim-skip provides two options which allow you to ignore intial/trailing whitespace. Once your cursor lies inside the line you define, you won't skip outside of it. This works well for files which may have a lot of indentation.

a)      |--------------------------------------------|            # = non-whitespace character
b) |-------------------------------------------------|            _ = whitespace
c)      |--------------------------------------------------|
d) |____#__#######_##_#########_##################_###_____| <---- a line in buffer

The way you "skip" forward or backward depends on your mode (see below) and the options you have set.

• s - skip forward
• S - skip backward
• gs - skip to center of the line

The distance your cursor skips always (except in fixed mode) depends on its position in the line. Fractions will always represent the actual position of the cursor in the line as a fraction of the line's length, e.g. 0, 1/2 and 1 mean the cursor is at the beginning, middle and end of the line respectively.

To give brief examples of how sequences like sS behave, I'll write 0 --s--> 1/2 --S--> 1/4 to mean "first press s then S move your cursor from the beginning of the line, to the middle of the line, then to 1/4 of the line's length from the beginning of the line. Of course, this also shows that stopping after the first s will leave your cursor at the middle of the line. These examples are given to showcase how a couple presses of s and S get to predetermined spots quickly.

The default mode. This mode works well for getting the cursor across the line quickly and slows down near the beginning/end of the line.

• s - skips forward half (default, can be changed. Applicable for every mode) the distance between the cursor and the end of the line.
• S - skips backward half the distance between the cursor and the beginning of the line.

Examples

• 0 --s--> 1/2 --s--> 3/4
• 0 --s--> 1/2 --S--> 1/4
• 1 --S--> 1/2 --s--> 3/4
• anywhere --gs--> 1/2 --s--> 3/4
• 1 --s--> 0 and 0 --S--> 1, so that skipping forward through the end of the line wraps you to the beginning of the line (analagously for skipping backward through the beginning).

This mode is like applying Normal mode to the first and second halves of the line separately. This mode is best for files with long lines coupled with $, 0 to get you from the first half of the line to the second half quickly.

• s - skips forward half the distance to the:
  • center, when the cursor is in the first half of the line
  • end of the line, when the cursor is in the second of the line
• S - skip backward half the distance to:
  • center, when the cursor is in the second half of the line
  • beginning of the line, when the cursor is in the first half of the line

Examples

• 0 --s--> 1/4 --s--> 3/8
• 0 --s--> 1/4 --S--> 1/8
• 1 --S--> 3/4 --S--> 5/8
• 1 --S--> 3/4 --s--> 7/8
• anywhere --gs--> 1/2 --s--> 3/4

By default, tapping s from the beginning of the line will eventually allow you to "pass through" to the second half of the line (likewise for S moving from the second half). This is customizable, however, this would take more s presses than one would want to actually use. If it is your goal to get to the center, simply gs, or to the second half of the line gss or $S.

The simplest of all the modes. The amount the cursor moves depends only on the length of the line, not the cursor position within the line. When using this mode, be sure to adjust g:vimskip_multiplier.

• s - skip cursor forward (line length) * (g:vimskip_multiplier). The variable g:vimskip_multipler=0.5 by default (useful for other modes) which is not helpul here. Lower values are more appropriate.
• S - skip cursor backward (line length) * (g:vimskip_multiplier).

Examples (when g:vimskip_multiplier=0.2)

• 0 --s--> 1/5 --s--> 2/5 etc.
• 1 --S--> 4/5 --S--> 3/5 etc.
• anywhere --gs--> 1/2 --s--> 7/10

This mode moves the cursor through the ends of the lines quickly and slows near the center. It receives its name from the following visual:

                       Turning a line of a buffer into a circle by 
                       joining the beginning and end of the line, which
                       becomes the north pole of the circle.  We then
                       move the points we logarithmically skip toward to 
                       the south pole, then unwrap.  We now skip slowly 
                       toward the center!
| = ends of line
* = center of line          -->||<--             ---||---          Anti mode
                           /        \           /        \
 |<---*--->|      ===>    |          |   ===>  |          |  ===> |----->*<-----|
  ^       ^                \        /           \        /              ^ ^
  |       |                 ---*----             --->*<--               | |  
  |       |                                                             | |
 a line in the buffer where the <,> mark points which we skip slowly toward in 
 normal and anti modes.

So if you imagine joining the ends of the line, we get a circle. Then s skips counter-clockwise and S clockwise. In normal mode, both skip half the arc length from their current position to the north pole. In anti(podal) mode, simply move the point which we skip toward to the south pole (the antipodal point of the circle) which is the center of the line!

• s - skip forward , wrap if necessary, half the distance between the cursor and the:
  • center, when the cursor is in the first half of the line
  • end of the line + (length of first half of line), when the cursor is in the second half of the line.
• S - skip backward, wrap if necessary, half the distance between the cursor and the:
  • center, when the cursor is in the second half of the line
  • beginning of the line + (length of second half of line), when the cursor lies in the first half of the line.

Note that skipping backward (S) in the first half of the line is not considered skipping away from the center (likewise for s in the second half of the line). In fact, you are skipping toward the center when you consider the end and beginning of the line to be connected. These skips are best understood using the circle analogy above still noting that s skips counter-clockwise, S clockwise and that skips move half the arc length between the current position and the south pole (which is the center of the line).

Examples

• 0 --s--> 1/4 --s--> 3/8
• 1 --S--> 3/4 --S--> 5/8
• 1/4 --S--> 7/8 --S--> 11/16 (= 1/2 + 3/8)
• anywhere --gs--> 1/2 --s--> 1
• anywhere --gs--> 1/2 --S--> 0

This mode may seem awkward, but it may be the most advantageous. In normal mode, the cursor jumps across the center quickly, and becomes more accurate near the ends. But one could argue the movement "near the center" should be a mid-range movement's forte'. Split mode allows movement near the center to be more precise, but movement is slowed due to the line being "chopped in half".

Anti mode, on the other hand, has a hard time getting to the ends of the line (unless you commonly start from 1/2 and keep g:vimskip_multiplier=0.5) where we already have $ and 0 at our disposal. Finding a personal "sweet spot" for g:vimskip_multiplier in this mode could make it the most efficient of the modes since it can be configured to have the cursor spend most of its time in the middle half of the line. For example

• g:vimskip_multiplier=0.75 will always skip your cursor into the middle half [1/4,3/4] of the line and
• g:vimskip_multiplier=0.66 will always skip your cursor into the middle two thirds [1/6,5/6] of the line.

In general, setting 0.5 < g:vimskip_multiplier <= 0.75 will produce the best results.

This is normal mode except that you skip vertically as opposed to horizontally. These skips respect scrolloff (for logistical reasons) so that if &scrolloff > 0, you will not be able to skip to the last line on the screen. The "top" and "bottom" lines on the screen, referred to below, are the same as achieved by the H and L commands (aka the (first/last line) +/- &scrolloff). There are no default maps, but the relevant functions are

• <Plug>NORMALDown skips half the distance between the cursor line and the bottom line on the screen.
• <Plug>NORMALUp skips half the distance between the cursor line and the top line on the screen.
• <Plug>ToggleVertical will toggle the current (horizontally moving) mode with vertical mode.

To map these put, for example, nmap <F1> <Plug>ToggleVertical in your .vimrc. See also g:vimskip_wraptomiddleline.

• g:vimskip_disable_default_maps: set to 1 to not use the default key mappings (s, S, gs). Default 0.
• g:vimskip_mapforwardskip: key to map forward skip. Default 's'.
• g:vimskip_mapbackwardskip: key to map backward skip. Default 'S'.
• g:vimskip_maptocenter: key to map movement to center of line. Default 'gs'.
• g:vimskip_multiplier: (float) between 0 and 1. Determines the fraction of a distance to skip. Values greater than 1 were not intended to be used, though they are not restricted. You currently cannot skip past the succeeding line when g:vimskip_helix is active. Default 0.5.
• g:vimskip_mode: one of "normal", "split", "fixed" or "anti". Default "normal".
• g:vimskip_wraptocenter: Set to 1 to wrap to the center of line rather than beginning (resp. end) of line when skipping forward (resp. backward) through the end (resp. beginning) of line. Default 0.
• g:vimskip_wraptomiddleline : Set to 1 to wrap to the middle line (equivalent to line moved to by M) when skipping vertically through the top/bottom line of the screen. Default 0.
• g:vimskip_split_passthroughcenter: (for split mode) Set to 0 to keep the cursor from passing through the center by repeatedly tapping s or S. Default 1.
• g:vimskip_helix: Set to 1 to move down (resp. up) a line when skipping forward (resp. backward) through the beginning (resp. end) of a line. Should work in conjunction with g:vimskip_wraptocenter, though there might be unexpected behavior (especially with short lines). Default 0.
• g:vimskip_ignore_initial_ws: Set to 0 to allow skipping into whitespace preceeding all non-whitespace characters on the line (usually an indent). Default 1.
• g:vimskip_ignore_trailing_ws: Set to 0 to allow jumping into trailing whitespace. Default 1.

Map these using, e.g. nmap <F1> <Plug>SwitchMode.

• <Plug>SwitchMode: Will cycle you through the different modes.
• <Plug>ToggleVertical will toggle the current (horizontally moving) mode with vertical mode.
• <Plug>IncreaseMultiplier: Increase g:vimskip_multiplier by 0.05.
• <Plug>DecreaseMultiplier: Decrease g:vimskip_multiplierby 0.05.
• VSMultiplier(x): Call this from the command line to set g:vimskip_multipler to the value given by the float 0 < x < 1.

The following are all the modes' skip functions.

• <Plug>ToCenter
• <Plug>NORMALForward
• <Plug>NORMALBackward
• <Plug>ANTIForward
• <Plug>ANTIBackward
• <Plug>SPLITForward
• <Plug>SPLITBackward
• <Plug>FIXEDForward
• <Plug>FIXEDBackward
• <Plug>NORMALDown
• <Plug>NORMALUp

A special thanks to the nice people at #vim for answering my stupid questions. Especially accolade, Raimondi and sakkemo!

Constructive feedback would be great! This is my first vim script and I am a newbie to both vim and programming in general. It is my intent for this plugin to provide a new way of thinking about motions, not necessarly to showcase my technical prowess. If nothing else, I hope some vim afficianados take a look this and go on to create something very clever!

Please take a look at the code, if you so desire, and let me know of optimizations. There are currently no comments, but it is written to be readable (since optimal is out of my reach!). =)

• V 0.1 (1/20/2014): Initial working commit.
• V 0.2 (1/23/2014): Added Vertical Mode.
• ToDo:
  • Comment the script.
  • Update the help doc to include vertical mode.
  • Make vim help doc different from this readme.
  • Allow different multipliers for skipping forwards and backwards. Easy, will do if requested.
  • Due to rounding, skipping "at center" is unpredictable. Try to clean up this up.