Vim extension (via Python)?

Question

is it possible to extend vim functionality via custom extension (preferably, written in Python)?

What I need ideally is custom command when in command mode. E.g.

ESC

:do_this

:do_that

Answer 1

vim supports scripting in python (and in perl as well, I think).

You just have to make sure that the vim distribution you are using has been compiled with python support.

If you are using a Linux system, you can download the source and then compile it with

./configure --enable-pythoninterp 
make
sudo make install

Inside vim, you can type

:version

to list the available features; if it has python support, you should see a '+python' somewhere (a '-python' otherwise).

Then, to check the usage of the python module, you can type

:help python

P.S: if you're going to compile the vim sources, make sure to check the available configure options, you might need to specify --with-python-config-dir as well.

P.P.S: to create a "custom command in command mode" (if I understand correctly what you mean), you can create a function "MyFunction" in a vim script (using python or the vim scripting language) and then invoke it with

:Call MyFunction()

Check

:help user-functions

for details

Answer 2

Yes it is. There are several extensions on http://www.vim.org/scripts/index.php

It can be done with python as well if the support for python is compiled in.

Article about it: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/extending-vim-with-python/

Google is our friend.

HTH

Answer 3

Had a problems to compile Vim with Python.

...checking if compile and link flags for Python are sane... no: PYTHON DISABLED" in the ./configure output.

On Ubuntu 10.04 you have to install python2.6-dev. The flags for ./configure are:

--enable-pythoninterp
--with-python-config-dir=/usr/lib/python2.6/config

Make sure you got a path to directory, which contains config.c file. Also no / at the end of the path! That caused me problems.