*SnipMate.txt*  Plugin for using TextMate-style snippets in Vim.

SnipMate                                       *snippet* *snippets* *SnipMate*
Last Change: December 27, 2009

1. Description                        |SnipMate-description|
2. Usage                              |SnipMate-usage|
3. Interface and Settings             |SnipMate-interface| |SnipMate-settings|
4. Snippet syntax                     |SnipMate-syntax|
5. Snippet sources                    |SnipMate-snippet-sources|
6. Disadvantages to TextMate          |SnipMate-disadvantages|
7. Contact                            |SnipMate-contact|
8. License                            |SnipMate-license|

For Vim version 7.0 or later.
This plugin only works if 'compatible' is not set.
{Vi does not have any of these features.}

SnipMate depends on vim-addon-mw-utils and tlib.

==============================================================================
DESCRIPTION                                             *SnipMate-description*

SnipMate implements snippet features in Vim. A snippet is like a template,
reducing repetitive insertion of pieces of text. Snippets can contain
placeholders for modifying the text if necessary or interpolated code for
evaluation. For example, in C, typing "for" then pushing <Tab> could expand
to: >

    for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        /* code */
    }

SnipMate is inspired by TextMate's snippet features.

==============================================================================
USAGE                                                         *SnipMate-usage*

Every snippet consists of an expansion and a trigger. Typing a trigger into
your buffer and then hitting your trigger key (<Tab> by default, see
|SnipMate-mappings|) will replace the trigger with the expansion text.

The expansion text can optionally include tab stops. When it does, upon
expansion of the snippet, the cursor is placed at the first one, and the user
can jump between each tab stop. Each of these tab stops can be represented by
default placeholder text. If such a placeholder is provided, then the text of
the placeholder can be repeated in the snippet at specified mirrors. Any edits
to the placeholder are instantly updated at every mirror.

SnipMate allows multiple snippets to use the same trigger. When triggered,
a list of all snippets with that trigger is provided and prompts for which
snippet to use.

                                                             *SnipMate-scopes*
SnipMate searches for snippets inside a directory named "snippets" inside each
entry in 'runtimepath'. Which files are loaded depends on 'filetype' and
'syntax'; see |SnipMate-syntax| for more information. Snippets are loaded and
refreshed automatically on demand.

Note: SnipMate does not ship with any snippets. In order to use it, the user
must either write their own snippets or obtain some from a repository like
https://github.com/honza/vim-snippets

==============================================================================
INTERFACE AND SETTINGS                *SnipMate-interface* *SnipMate-settings*

                                                           *SnipMate-commands*
Commands~

                                                   *:SnipMateOpenSnippetFiles*
:SnipMateOpenSnippetFiles       Opens a list of all valid snippet locations
                                based on the current scope |SnipMate-scopes|.
                                Only existing files and non-existing .snippets
                                files will be shown, with the existing files
                                shown first.

                                                            *SnipMate-options*
Options~

g:snips_author                  A variable used in some snippets in place of
                                the author's (your) name. Similar to
                                $TM_FULLNAME in TextMate. For example, >
                                    snippet name
                                        `g:snips_author`
<                               creates a snippet "name" that expands to your
                                name.

g:snipMate                      This |Dictionary| contains other SnipMate
                                options. In short add >
                                    let g:snipMate = {}
<                               to your .vimrc before setting other SnipMate
                                options.

g:snipMate.scope_aliases        A |Dictionary| associating certain filetypes
                                with other scopes |SnipMate-scopes|. The
                                entries consist of a filetype as the key and
                                a comma-separated list of aliases as the
                                value. For example, >
                                    let g:snipMate.scope_aliases = {}
                                    let g:snipMate.scope_aliases['ruby']
                                                \ = 'ruby,ruby-rails'
<                               tells SnipMate that "ruby-rails" snippets in
                                addition to "ruby" snippets should be loaded
                                when editing files with 'filetype' set to
                                "ruby" or contains "ruby" as an entry in the
                                case of dotted filetypes.

g:snipMate_no_default_aliases
                                When set to 1, prevents SnipMate from loading
                                default scope aliases. The defaults are:
                                    Filetype    Alias ~
                                    cpp         c
                                    cu          c
                                    eruby       eruby-rails,html
                                    html        javascript
                                    mxml        actionscript
                                    objc        c
                                    php         php,html,javascript
                                    ur          html,javascript
                                    xhtml       html
                                Note: Setting this option does not disable
                                scope aliases entirely, only those made by
                                SnipMate itself. Any scope aliases created by
                                the user or someone else will still be in
                                effect.

g:snipMate['no_match_completion_feedkeys_chars']
                                A string inserted when no match for a trigger
                                is found. By default a tab is inserted
                                according to 'expandtab', 'tabstop', and
                                'softtabstop'. Set it to the empty string to
                                prevent anything from being inserted.

                                                           *SnipMate-mappings*
Mappings~

The mappings SnipMate uses can be customized with the |:map| commands. For
example, to change the key that triggers snippets and moves to the next
tabstop, >

        :imap <C-J> <Plug>snipMateNextOrTrigger
        :smap <C-J> <Plug>snipMateNextOrTrigger

The list of possible <Plug> mappings is as follows:

<Plug>snipMateNextOrTrigger     Default: <Tab>          Mode: Insert, Select
                                Jumps to the next tab stop or, if none exists,
                                try to expand a snippet. Use in both insert
                                and select modes.

<Plug>snipMateTrigger           Default: unmapped       Mode: Insert
                                Try to expand a snippet regardless of any
                                existing snippet expansion. If done within an
                                expanded snippet, the outer snippet's tab
                                stops are lost, unless expansion failed.

<Plug>snipMateBack              Default: <S-Tab>        Mode: Insert, Select
                                Jump to the previous tab stop, if it exists.
                                Use in both insert and select modes.

<Plug>snipMateShow              Default: <C-R><Tab>     Mode: Insert
                                Show all available snippets (that start with
                                the previous text, if it exists). Use in
                                insert mode.

<Plug>snipMateVisual            Default: <Tab>          Mode: Visual
                                See |SnipMate-visual|.

Additionally, <CR> is mapped in visual mode in .snippets files for retabbing
snippets.

==============================================================================
SYNTAX                                      *snippet-syntax* *SnipMate-syntax*

SnipMate looks inside of each entry of 'rtp' (or |SnipMate-snippet-sources|)
for a directory named /snippets/. Based on the 'filetype' and 'syntax'
settings (taking into account the dotted syntax), the following files are read
for snippets: >

    .../snippets/<scope>.snippets
    .../snippets/<scope>/<name>.snippets
    .../snippets/<scope>/<trigger>.snippet
    .../snippets/<scope>/<trigger>/<description>.snippet

where <scope> is an entry in 'filetype' or 'syntax', <name> is an arbitrary
name, <trigger> is the trigger for a snippet, and <description> is
a description used for |SnipMate-multisnip|.

A .snippet file defines a single snippet with the trigger (and description)
determined by the filename. The entire contents of the file are used as the
snippet expansion text.

Multiple snippets can be defined in *.snippets files. Each snippet definition
looks something like: >

    snippet trigger optional description
    guard left_from_cursor='^\s*'
        expanded text
        more expanded text

<                                                         *SnipMate-multisnip*
The description is optional. If it is left out and a second snippet inside the
same .snippets file uses the same trigger, the second one will overwrite the
first. Otherwise multisnip is used.

The guard condition line is also optional. It can be used to make a snippet
available only in some cases. The value should be a VimL expression.

Note: Hard tabs in the expansion text are required. When the snippet is
expanded in the text and 'expandtab' is set, each tab will be replaced with
spaces based on 'softtabstop' if nonzero or 'shiftwidth' otherwise.

Comments can be made in .snippets files by starting a line with a # character.
However these can't be used inside of snippet definitions: >

    # this is a correct comment
    snippet trigger
        expanded text
    snippet another_trigger
        # this isn't a comment!
        expanded text

This should hopefully be clear with the included syntax highlighting.

                                                            *snipMate-extends*
Borrowing from UltiSnips, .snippets files can also contain an extends
directive, for example: >

 extends html, javascript, css

will tell SnipMate to also read html, javascript, and css snippets.

                                                          *SnipMate-tabstops*
Tab stops~

A tab stop, specified by ${#} where # is a number, tells SnipMate where to
position the cursor next. The special tab stop ${0} denotes the last cursor
position; in its absence, the cursor is placed at the end of the snippet.

For example, to place the cursor first on the id of a <div> tag, allow
the user to press <tab> to go to the middle of it, and finally end after
</div>: >

    snippet div
        <div id="${1}">
            ${2}
        </div>

<                                   *SnipMate-placeholders* *SnipMate-mirrors*
Placeholders and Mirrors~

Placeholder text can be supplied using "${#:text}", where # is the number of
the tab stop. This text then can be copied throughout the snippet using "$#",
given # is the same number as used before. So, to make a C for loop: >

    snippet for
        for (${2:i}; $2 < ${1:count}; $1++) {
            ${4}
        }

This will cause "count" to first be selected and change if the user starts
typing. When <tab> is pressed, the "i" in ${2}'s position will be selected;
all $2 variables will default to "i" and automatically be updated if the user
starts typing.

NOTE: "$#" syntax is used only for mirrors, not for tab stops as in TextMate.

Mirrors can also be used inside of placeholders. For instance: >

 snippet opt
        <option value="${1:option}">${2:$1}</option>

Will, as usual, cause "option" to first be selected and update all the $1
variables if the user starts typing. Since one of these variables is inside of
${2}, this text will then be used as a placeholder for the next tab stop,
allowing the user to change it if he wishes.

To copy a value throughout a snippet without supplying default text, simply
use the "${#:}" construct without the text, e.g.: >

 snippet foo
        ${1:}bar$1

<                                                            *SnipMate-visual*
There is a special placeholder called {VISUAL}. If you visually select text,
then press <Tab> Vim switches to insert mode. The next snippet you'll expand
will replace {VISUAL} by the text which was selected previously.

                                                               *SnipMate-eval*
Interpolated Vim Script~

Snippets can also contain Vim script commands that are executed (via |eval()|)
when the snippet is inserted. Commands are given inside backticks (`...`); for
TextMates's functionality, use the |system()| function. E.g.: >

 snippet date
        `system("date +%Y-%m-%d")`

will insert the current date, assuming you are on a Unix system. Note that you
can also (and should) use |strftime()| for this example.

Filename([{expr}] [, {defaultText}])                     *SnipMate-Filename()*

Since the current filename is used often in snippets, a default function
has been defined for it in SnipMate.vim, appropriately called Filename().

With no arguments, the default filename without an extension is returned;
the first argument specifies what to place before or after the filename,
and the second argument supplies the default text to be used if the file
has not been named. "$1" in the first argument is replaced with the filename;
if you only want the filename to be returned, the first argument can be left
blank. Examples: >

 snippet filename
        `Filename()`
 snippet filename_with_default
        `Filename('', 'name')`
 snippet filename_foo
        `Filename('$1_foo')`

The first example returns the filename if it the file has been named, and an
empty string if it hasn't. The second returns the filename if it's been named,
and "name" if it hasn't. The third returns the filename followed by "_foo" if
it has been named, and an empty string if it hasn't.

==============================================================================
SNIPPET SOURCES                                     *SnipMate-snippet-sources*

SnipMate is configurable.

plugin/SnipMate.vim assigns three important keys: >

    " default implementation collecting snippets by handlers
    let g:SnipMate['get_snippets'] = SnipMate#GetSnippets
    " default handler:
    let g:SnipMateSources['default'] = SnipMate#DefaultPool
    " default directories containing snippets:
    let g:SnipMate['snippet_dirs']
                \ = funcref#Function('return split(&runtimepath,",")')

You can override all of those settings.

You can see that the default set of snippets is determined by Vim's 'rtp'.

Example 1:~
autoload/SnipMate_python_demo.vim shows how you can register additional
sources such as creating snippets on the fly representing python function
definitions found in the current file.

Example 2:~
Add to your ~/.vimrc: For each know snippet add a second version ending in _
adding folding markers >

    let g:commentChar = {
                \   'vim': '"',
                \   'c': '//',
                \   'cpp': '//',
                \   'sh': '#',
                \   'python': '#'
                \ }
    " url https://github.com/garbas/vim-snipmate/issues/49
    fun! AddFolding(text)
        return substitute(a:text,'\n'," ".g:commentChar[&ft]." {{{\n",1)."\n".g:commentChar[&ft]." }}}"
    endf

    fun! SnippetsWithFolding(scopes, trigger, result)
        " hacky: temporarely remove this function to prevent infinite recursion:
        call remove(g:SnipMateSources, 'with_folding')
        " get list of snippets:
        let result = SnipMate#GetSnippets(a:scopes, substitute(a:trigger,'_\(\*\)\?$','\1',''))
        let g:SnipMateSources['with_folding'] = funcref#Function('SnippetsWithFolding')

        " add folding:
        for k in keys(result)
        let a:result[k.'_'] = map(result[k],'AddFolding(v:val)')
        endfor
    endf

    " force setting default:
    runtime plugin/SnipMate.vim
    " add our own source
    let g:SnipMateSources['with_folding'] = funcref#Function('SnippetsWithFolding')

See |SnipMate-syntax| for more details about all possible relative locations
to 'rtp' can be found in.

==============================================================================
DISADVANTAGES                                         *SnipMate-disadvantages*

SnipMate.vim currently has the following disadvantages to TextMate's snippets:
    - Nested placeholders are not currently possible. E.g.: >
        '<div${1: id="${2:some_id}}">${3}</div>'
<     In TextMate this would first highlight ' id="some_id"', and if
      you hit delete it would automatically skip ${2} and go to ${3}
      on the next <tab>, but if you didn't delete it it would highlight
      "some_id" first. You cannot do this in SnipMate.vim.
    - Regex cannot be performed on variables, such as "${1/.*/\U&}"
    - Placeholders cannot span multiple lines.
    - Activating snippets in different scopes of the same file is
      not possible.

Perhaps some of these features will be added in a later release.

==============================================================================
CHANGELOG                                                 *SnipMate-changelog*

0.85 - 2013-04-03
-----------------

* Allow trigger key customization
* Enable undoing of snippet expansion
* Support backslash escaping in snippets
* Add support for {VISUAL}
* Expand filetype extension with scope_aliases
* Add expansion guards
* Enable per-buffer expansion of snippets
* Fix 'cpo' compatibility
* Update supertab compatibility
* Enable customization of various things through g:SnipMate

* Disable spelling in snippet files
* Highlight trigger names in .snippets files

* Update many snippets
* Separate sample snippets into separate repository

0.84
----

* Unreleased version by Michael Sanders, available on his GitHub,
  <https://github.com/msanders/snipmate.vim>

0.83 - 2009-07-13
-----------------

* Last release done by Michael Sanders, available at
  <http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2540>

==============================================================================
CONTACT                                   *SnipMate-contact* *SnipMate-author*

SnipMate is currently maintained by:
  - Rok Garbas
  - Marc Weber (marco-oweber@gmx.de)
  - Adnan Zafar

For bug reports, issues, or questions, check out the Issues page on GitHub:
https://github.com/garbas/vim-snipmate/issues

The original author, Michael Sanders, can be reached at:
msanders42+snipmate <at> gmail <dot> com


==============================================================================
LICENSE                                                     *SnipMate-license*

SnipMate is released under the MIT license:

Copyright 2009-2010 Michael Sanders. All rights reserved.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or
implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability,
fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the
authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other
liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from,
out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the
software.

==============================================================================
 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: