vim-easy-align/doc/easy_align.txt

vim-easy-align                              *vim-easy-align* *easy-align*
=========================================================================

A simple, easy-to-use Vim alignment plugin without too much ambition.

  Author: Junegunn Choi
  Source: https://github.com/junegunn/vim-easy-align


EasyAlign                                                     *EasyAlign*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

vim-easy-align defines interactive `:EasyAlign` command in the visual mode.

For convenience, it is advised that you define a mapping for triggering it
in your `.vimrc`.

    vnoremap <silent> <Enter> :EasyAlign<cr>

With this mapping, you can align selected lines with a few keystrokes.

1. <Enter> key to start interactive EasyAlign command
2. Optional Enter keys to switch justficiation mode (default: left)
3. Optional field number (default: 1)
    1        Alignment around 1st delimiters
    2        Alignment around 2nd delimiters
    ...
    *        Alignment around all delimiters (recursive)
    -        Alignment around the last delimieters
    -2       Alignment around the one before the last delimieters
4. Delimiter
    <space>  General alignment around whitespaces
    =        Operators containing equals sign (=, ==, !=, +=, &&=, ...)
    :        Suitable for formatting JSON or YAML
    .        Multi-line method chaining
    ,        Multi-line method arguments. CSV.
    }        Closing braces (Try using it with a negative field number)
    |        Table markdown

During the key sequence, <Enter> key will toggle right-justification mode.

Examples:

  <Enter>=         Alignment around 1st equals signs (and the likes)
  <Enter>2=        Alignment around 2nd equals signs (and the likes)
  <Enter>3=        Alignment around 3rd equals signs (and the likes)
  <Enter>*=        Alignment around all equals signs (and the likes)
  <Enter><Enter>=  Right-justified alignment around 1st equals signs
  <Enter><space>   Alignment around 1st whitespaces
  <Enter>2<space>  Alignment around 2nd whitespaces
  <Enter>-<space>  Alignment around the last whitespaces
  <Enter>:         Alignment around 1st colons
  <Enter>-}        Alignment around the last closing braces


EasyAlignRight                                           *EasyAlignRight*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

EasyAlignRight is the right-justified version of EasyAlign command.


Partial alignment in blockwise-visual mode
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In blockwise-visual mode (`CTRL-V`), EasyAlign command aligns only
the selected text in the block, instead of the whole lines in the range.


Ignoring comment lines                      *g:easy_align_ignore_comment*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

EasyAlign by default ignores comment lines.

For example,

    {
      # Quantity of apples: 1
      apple: 1,
      # Quantity of bananas: 2
      bananas: 2,
      # Quantity of grapefruits: 3
      grapefruits: 3
    }

becomes

    {
      # Quantity of apples: 1
      apple:       1,
      # Quantity of bananas: 2
      bananas:     2,
      # Quantity of grapefruits: 3
      grapefruits: 3
    }

Since finding comment lines is done heuristically using syntax highlighting
feature, this only works when syntax highlighting is enabled.

If you do not want comment lines to be ignored, you can unset
`g:easy_align_ignore_comment` as follows.

    let g:easy_align_ignore_comment = 0

Then you get,

    {
      # Quantity of apples:      1
      apple:                     1,
      # Quantity of bananas:     2
      bananas:                   2,
      # Quantity of grapefruits: 3
      grapefruits:               3
    }


Handling unmatched lines                  *g:easy_align_ignore_unmatched*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lines without a matching delimiter are ignored as well (except in
right-justification mode).

For example, when aligning the following code block around the colons,

    {
      apple: proc {
        this_line_does_not_have_a_colon
      },
      bananas: 2,
      grapefruits: 3
    }

this is usually what we want.

    {
      apple:       proc {
        this_line_does_not_have_a_colon
      },
      bananas:     2,
      grapefruits: 3
    }

However, this default behavior is also configurable.

    let g:easy_align_ignore_unmatched = 0

Then we get,

    {
      apple:                             proc {
        this_line_does_not_have_a_colon
      },
      bananas:                           2,
      grapefruits:                       3
    }


Extending alignment rules                       *g:easy_align_delimiters*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

    let g:easy_align_delimiters = {
    \ '>': { 'pattern': '>>\|=>\|>' },
    \ '/': { 'pattern': '//\+' },
    \ '#': { 'pattern': '#\+' },
    \ ']': {
    \     'pattern':       '[\[\]]',
    \     'margin_left':   '',
    \     'margin_right':  '',
    \     'stick_to_left': 0
    \   },
    \ ')': {
    \     'pattern':       '[()]',
    \     'margin_left':   '',
    \     'margin_right':  '',
    \     'stick_to_left': 0
    \   }
    \ }