vish

A handful of conveniences for anyone using Fish extensively, with some vim-like syntax.

• <Leader> - <register> - <action> vim-like mnemonics.
• Register sets for common bits like working directories and commandline snippets,
• Statusline toggles, clipboard registers, assorted features.
• Extensible - define your own registers and bindings.

Installation

Vish is available as a package in oh-my-fish. Once you have oh-my-fish set up, just run:

omf install vish

Demo

Configuration

• Set the following variables in your config.fish, before omf hooks:
  • _VISH_ESCAPE to the terminal sequence you want to be your "leader" key. By default it's set to \e'.
  • VISH_FEATURES (array) to the set of features you want. Default is dirs prefices prompt misc, add tmux if you use it.
  • If you use tmux, set _VISH_PROMPT_MAGIC_CHAR to a character that only appears in your prompt. This helps some keybindings identify your prompt in tmux panes.

Usage

Vish uses modal key sequences, kind of like vim does. All sequences start with the leader key <L>, then use some sequence of register names and commands, usually <register><command>. For example, <L><L>h calls history --merge, while <L>am saves current directory to register a. Here's a few sequences I commonly use:

• <L>am saves current directory to register a. <L>ag goes to directory under register a. <L>=m lists all saved directories.
• <L>*p saves current commandline contents to selection buffer.
• <L>*a appends selection buffer to commandline.
• With tmux, <L>-1la appends last line of command output to commandline.

To list all configured bindings with brief descriptions, run vish_help.

Registers

Vish defines registers from a to z, plus some special registers. Unlike vim, there can be multiple sets of registers a-z, e.g. one for directories, one for commands etc, with each keybinding implicitly using one of them. Registers are UNIVERSAL and are shared between all shells. Special registers are shared by all keybindings, and by default are as follows:

• 0 is the "implicit" register.
• * and + are equivalents of vim clipboard registers. For convenience they're also mapped under , and ., respectively.
• Additionally, <L>a* and <L>a+ bindings copy register 'a' to the clipboard register.

Each register set is bound to a letter. For a set bound to a letter <x>, <L>a<x> sets register a, <L>a-<x> clears it and <L>=<x> lists all letters in a set.

Feature: directories

Enabled by dirs in VISH_FEATURES. Defines a "dirs" register set under letter m.

• <L>am saves current directory to register a.
• <L>ag goes to directory under register a. Try <L>*g for going to directory saved to clipboard.

Feature: commands

Enabled by prefices in VISH_FEATURES. Defines a "prefices" register set under letter p.

• <L>ap to save current commandline to register a.
• <L>aa to append contents of register a to commandline.
• <L>ax to execute contents of register a.
• <L>az to prepend contents of register a at every prompt, <L>az again to turn it off.

Feature: misc bindings

Enabled by misc in VISH_FEATURES.

• <L><L>h calls history --merge.

Feature: prompt

Enabled by prompt in VISH_FEATURES.

For fish_prompt:

• _vish_prompt_path prints current directory in short or long format. <L><L>s toggles the format.

For fish_right_prompt:

• _vish_right_prompt_git_branch prints current git branch. <L><L>g toogles it on or off.
• _vish_right_prompt_status prints return code of last command.
• _vish_right_prompt_states prints useful status info. At the moments it prints j if there are background jobs and I if ping mode is enabled.

Each right prompt function can be toggled by calling _vish_prompt_toggle GIT_BRANCH/PING/SHORT_PATH, e.g. in your config.fish.

<L><L>i toogles ping mode on and off.

• When ping mode is on, fish will run a _vish_ping function, if defined, after long-running commands. It's up to you to define _vish_ping.
• Any command that matches a regex in $VISH_INTERACTIVE_CMDS array will be considered interactive and _vish_ping won't be called.
• By default any command that runs 10 seconds or longer is long-running. You can change that nubmer by defining $VISH_COMMAND_PING_MIN_TIME.

Feature: tmux

Enabled by tmux in VISH_FEATURES.

• <L>t<x> for various tmux shortcuts, see vish_help. In particular <L>tt autocompletes word under cursor, searching in current window's panes.
• <L><N>l to copy lines from last command's output to register 0, then wait for another keybinding. For example:
  • <L>-1la to copy first line from the bottom to prompt.
  • <L>3l+ to copy third line from the top to clipboard.
• <L><N>g to copy current directory from pane N to register 0, then wait for another keybinding. For pane 0, use -1.

Functions

• vish_help - list all bindings.

Custom bindings and scripting

It's possible to define your own registers and bindings and do some limited scripting. For details, see custom.md.