How to use code snippets in Vim like a cowboy 🤠️

#vim #go #python #productivity

Its time to increase your horsepower and write code faster than before. In this tutorial I will cover how to setup and use code-snippets in Vim or NeoVim for Go, Python, Bash and Markdown (since I deal with them everyday)

Also note that this tutorial is for people who have recently started to use Vim as their main editor, or for people who are looking for reasons to switch to Vim gang (don’t worry Vim has everything a modern editor can provide & much more!)

Introduction
- Installing Plugins
- How to use ultisnips
Code Snippets for Go
Code Snippets for Python
Code Snippets for Bash/Shell Scripts
Code Snippets for Markdown
How to create your own snippets

Introduction

Code snippet ecosystem in Vim is segregated into different plugins, here is how it looks like in a generic way


                ---------------------
                |  Snippet Provider | [vim-snippets]
                ---------------------
                          | 
                          v
                ---------------------
                |  Snippet Manager | [Ultisnips, snipMate]
                ---------------------
                          |
                          v
                --------------------
                | Code Completion  | [YCM, deoplete, coc]
                --------------------

Installing Plugins

For this tutorial, we will be installing Ultisnips and vim-snippets.

If you use Plug,

Plug 'SirVer/ultisnips'
Plug 'honza/vim-snippets'

For Vundle,

Plugin 'SirVer/ultisnips'
Plugin 'honza/vim-snippets'

For vanilla vim, run the following commands

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/bundle/start && cd $_
git clone https://github.com/SirVer/ultisnips.git
git clone https://github.com/honza/vim-snippets.git

Let me know if the above commands don't work on vanilla vim, I nuked mine 😛️

Once you have installed both the plugins, open your vimrc or init.vim to configure some key mappings for ultisnips

let g:UltiSnipsExpandTrigger="<tab>"
" list all snippets for current filetype
let g:UltiSnipsListSnippets="<c-l>"

How to use ultisnips

Type the “snippet trigger” (listed below in the 1st column) and press TAB in insert mode to evaluate the snippet block.
Use Ctrl + j to jump forward within the snippet.
Use Ctrl + k to jump backward within the snippet.
Use Ctrl + l to list all the snippets available for the current file-type

Below are some of the most common snippets you should start using right now!

Code Snippets for Go

Snippet Trigger	Description
`fun`	Go function
`fum`	Go Method
`for`	Infinite for loop
`forr`	Range based for loop
`err`	Go Basic Error Handling
`im`	Import Packages
`pf`	fmt.Printf(…)
`pl`	fmt.Println(…)
`ps`	fmt.Sprintf(…)
`om`	if key in map
`if`	Go basic `if` statement
`ife`	Go basic `if/else` statement
`sw`	Switch statement
`sl`	Go `select` for channels
`ga`	goroutine anonymous function
`test`	Go Test function
`testt`	Go Table test function

All Go snippets. Also, see Ultisnips specific snippets

Code Snippets for Python

Snippet Trigger	Description
`cl`	New Python class
`def`	New Python function definition
`adef`	Python Async function definition
`err`	Go Basic Error Handling
`try`	Try/Except Block
`trye`	Try/Except/Else Block
`tryf`	Try/Except/Finally Block
`tryef`	Try/Except/Else/Finally Block
`"`	Python docstring
`if`	Python basic `if` statement
`el`	Python basic `else` statement
`for`	Range based for loop
`lcp`	List comprehension

All python snippets. Also see Ultisnips specific snippets

Bonus Django Snippets

Code Snippets for Shell

Snippet Trigger	Description
`for`	Basic `for` loop with iterator
`fori`	Range based `for` loop
`while`	Bash basic `while` loop
`case`	Bash `switch` statement
`if`	Bash basic `if` statement
`fun`	Bash basic function definition
`sbash`	shebang with secure guard

All shell snippets. Also, see Ultisnips specific snippets

Code Snippets for Markdown

Snippet Trigger	Description
`*`	Italics text
`**`	Bold text
`/*`	Markdown/HTML Comment
`cbl`	Code block
`link` or `[`	Markdown link
`img` or `![`	Markdown image
`detail`	Details/Summary Tag
`tb`	Markdown Table
`tbN,M`	Responsive Table
	(tb12 creates a table with 1 row & 2 columns)

All shell snippets. Also, see Ultisnips specific snippets

You can also power up note-taking in markdown with some more plugins like vim-markdown & tabular

How to create your own snippets

vim-snippets stores its code-snippets in 2 different directories:

$HOME/.config/nvim/plugged/vim-snippets/snippets/ snipMate compatible
$HOME/.config/nvim/plugged/vim-snippets/UltiSnips/ for people who use vim-snippets with ultisnips (the snippet format is different)

The variable g:UltiSnipsSnippetDirectories can be used to specify different locations to look for snippets

let g:UltiSnipsSnippetDirectories=["UltiSnips", $HOME.'/Documents/.Varshney/snippets/']

Creating a snippet is fairly easy, the basic format is as follows

snippet <trigger_word> "Description" [options]
# code block
endsnippet

Read more about snippet options in manual :help UltiSnips-snippet-options

Below is an example of a Jekyll Post header from my dotfiles

snippet head "Jekyll Post Header" b
---
layout: post
comments: true
title: ${1:title}
description: ${2:description}
tags: ${3:tags}
image: ${4:image}
---

$0
endsnippet

The part in braces {1:title} is called a placeholder. When the snippet is expanded, Ctrl + j will visually select the next placeholder so that you can change the text. In the same way, Ctrl + k will visually select the previously entered placeholder

Here is a short demo of how this works