2

Since mac os x's terminal.app does not support many of the vim visual aspects, including the cursor change from block to line when switching to insert mode, I use osascript to accopmlisch something similar.

In my .vimrc file I've written:

autocmd InsertEnter * silent !osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to set current settings of first window to settings set 11`j
autocmd InsertLeave * silent !osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to set current settings of first window to settings set 12`j

where settings set 11 is a set of terminal setting that has a line cursor and settings set 12 is one that has a block cursor.

This actually works quite well but there is one small problem.. On InsertLeave the cursor always gets moved one character to the left, which isn't such a big deal but it can be anoying.

I tried to compensate by putting autocmd InsertLeave h into my .vimrc, but to no avail (it gives me an error).

How should I tell vim to:

  1. not shift to the left?
  2. if the above isn't possible, to compensate by shifting to the right
romeovs
  • 5,785
  • 9
  • 43
  • 74
  • I can't reproduce this shifting to the left bug with similar autocommands (I do not have mac, so I tried to replace everything starting from `osascript` (inclusive) with `true` (this command does nothing)). Try doing `s/osascript.*/true/` on both lines and see whether new autocommands will move the cursor or not. If they will, then it is vim bug. If they won't, then it is a problem in your script. – ZyX Apr 30 '11 at 16:35
  • they do shift when using just the `true` command... – romeovs May 01 '11 at 08:34
  • Is it reproducible with  `vim -u NONE --cmd 'autocmd InsertEnter * silent !true' --cmd 'autocmd InsertLeave * silent !true'`? By the way, you may try using `system()` instead of `!`: `autocmd InsertEnter * call system('osascript -e ''tell ...''')`. – ZyX May 01 '11 at 09:19
  • yes, it is even reproducible with the given command.. – romeovs May 02 '11 at 07:17
  • Then this is the bug, which is to be reported to [vim-dev](http://groups.google.com/group/vim_dev) with output of `vim --version` attached. Don't forget to check whether it was fixed in the most recent vim if you have an older version. – ZyX May 02 '11 at 07:26

1 Answers1

2

Before answering the question, I'd recommend you to have a look in MacVim (if you haven't). If you would like (or need) to stick with terminal, maybe another terminal like iTerm will provide more functionality. Anyway, the cursor change between block - bar is not present in iTerm (at least I think so) and your way to solve it was phenomenal, it's bookmarked here now. Thanks!

An easy way to solve it would be adding another autocommand, like you said. But in yours, the pattern and the correct command to execute are missing.

The h is not a command. To execute a normal mode sequence, use the :normal command. This may work correctly:

au InsertLeave * normal! h
sidyll
  • 57,726
  • 14
  • 108
  • 151
  • You should use `normal!` here, not `normal`. – ZyX Apr 30 '11 at 16:29
  • ok does what I want! Looks a bit funny but it's ok. The reason why I don't switch to MacVim is that I really want to stay in the terminal... I don't like switching between apps. I know macvim looks clean, It would be awesome to have a terminal app that looked like that.. – romeovs Apr 30 '11 at 19:48
  • 1
    @romeovs then iTerm 2 (iterm2.com) may help you a lot. It's much more customizable, than Terminal.app . And it's a 256 color terminal (vs. 16 from the standard terminal). Glad that the solution worked. – sidyll Apr 30 '11 at 20:20