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        Around the 1st occurrences of delimiters
    2        Around the 2nd occurrences of delimiters
    *        Around all occurrences of delimiters
    **       Left-right alternating alignment around all delimiters
    -        Around the last occurrences of delimiters (`-1`)
    -2       Around the second to last occurrences of delimiters
    ...
4. Delimiter key (a single keystroke)
    <space>  General alignment around whitespaces
    =        Operators containing equals sign (=, ==, !=, +=, &&=, ...)
    :        Suitable for formatting JSON or YAML
    .        Multi-line method chaining
    ,        Multi-line method arguments. CSV.
    |        Table markdown

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

Examples:

  <Enter><space>     Alignment around 1st whitespaces
  <Enter>2<space>    Alignment around 2nd whitespaces
  <Enter>-<space>    Alignment around the last whitespaces
  <Enter>:           Alignment around 1st colon
  <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>**=         Left-right alternating alignment around all equals signs
  <Enter><Enter>=    Right-justified alignment around 1st equals signs
  <Enter><Enter>**=  Right-left alternating alignment around all equals signs


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 delimiters in comments or strings         *g:easy_align_ignores*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

EasyAlign can be configured to ignore delimiters in certain syntax
highlight groups, such as code comments or strings. By default, delimiters
that are highlighted as code comments or strings are ignored.

    " Default:
    "   If a delimiter is in a highlight group whose name matches
    "   any of the followings, it will be ignored.
    let g:easy_align_ignores = ['Comment', 'String']

For example, the following paragraph

    {
      # Quantity of apples: 1
      apple: 1,
      # Quantity of bananas: 2
      bananas: 2,
      # Quantity of grape:fruits: 3
      'grape:fruits': 3
    }

becomes as follows on `<Enter>:`

    {
      # Quantity of apples: 1
      apple:          1,
      # Quantity of bananas: 2
      bananas:        2,
      # Quantity of grape:fruits: 3
      'grape:fruits': 3
    }

Naturally, this feature only works when syntax highlighting is enabled.

You can change the default rule by defining `g:easy_align_ignores` array.

    " Ignore nothing!
    let g:easy_align_ignores = []

Then you get,

    {
      # Quantity of apples:  1
      apple:                 1,
      # Quantity of bananas: 2
      bananas:               2,
      # Quantity of grape:   fruits: 3
      'grape:                fruits': 3
    }


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

Lines without any 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
    \   }
    \ }