Useful keyboard shortcuts and tips for ESS/R - emacs

I would like to ask regular ESS/R users what key bindings do they use frequently and tips on using ESS/R.

I have set several shortcuts in my .emacs file. The most useful are:
C-tab to switch between the R command line and the file (similar to josh answer, but much faster):
(global-set-key [C-tab] 'other-window)
Control and up/down arrow keys to search history with matching what you've already typed:
(define-key comint-mode-map [C-up] 'comint-previous-matching-input-from-input)
(define-key comint-mode-map [C-down] 'comint-next-matching-input-from-input)
Comment-uncomment a selected region with C-d or C-maj-d
(defun uncomment-region (beg end)
"Like `comment-region' invoked with a C-u prefix arg."
(interactive "r")
(comment-region beg end -1))
(define-key ess-mode-map (kbd "C-d") 'comment-region)
(define-key ess-mode-map (kbd "C-S-d") 'uncomment-region)
Also I've also enabled CUA mode (from options menu) and reconfigured quite a lot of shortcuts to require only two keystrokes (instead of four in standard mode):
;; Delete selection when pressing [delete] key
(delete-selection-mode t)
;; ESS Mode (.R file)
(define-key ess-mode-map "\C-l" 'ess-eval-line-and-step)
(define-key ess-mode-map "\C-p" 'ess-eval-function-or-paragraph-and-step)
(define-key ess-mode-map "\C-r" 'ess-eval-region)
;; iESS Mode (R console)
(define-key inferior-ess-mode-map "\C-u" 'comint-kill-input)
(define-key inferior-ess-mode-map "\C-w" 'backward-kill-word)
(define-key inferior-ess-mode-map "\C-a" 'comint-bol)
(define-key inferior-ess-mode-map [home] 'comint-bol)
;; Comint Mode (R console as well)
(define-key comint-mode-map "\C-e" 'comint-show-maximum-output)
(define-key comint-mode-map "\C-r" 'comint-show-output)
(define-key comint-mode-map "\C-o" 'comint-kill-output)
;; Search with C-f / C-F (control-maj-F for backware search)
(global-set-key "\C-f" 'isearch-forward)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-f") 'isearch-backward)
(define-key isearch-mode-map "\C-f" 'isearch-repeat-forward)
(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "C-S-f") 'isearch-repeat-backward)
;; Save with C-s / C-S
(global-set-key (kbd "C-s") 'save-buffer)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-s") 'write-file)
;; need to redefine them for isearch mode (don't know why)
(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "C-s") 'save-buffer)
(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "C-S-s") 'write-file)
;; Pause = dedicate window.
(defun toggle-current-window-dedication ()
(interactive)
(let* ((window (selected-window))
(dedicated (window-dedicated-p window)))
(set-window-dedicated-p window (not dedicated))
(message "Window %sdedicated to %s"
(if dedicated "no longer " "")
(buffer-name))))
(global-set-key [pause] 'toggle-current-window-dedication)
;; delete = delete
(global-set-key [delete] 'delete-char)
;; C-b = list buffers
(global-set-key (kbd "C-b") 'bs-show)
You will find many more useful shortcuts in ESS documentation.

C-c C-z ess-switch-to-end-of-ESS
is nice to jump from your source file that you are editing foo.R to the R console

I found this link to be extremely helpful. It provides elisp code to make Shift+Enter do many common tasks in a context dependent fashion.
http://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2009/10/12/make-shift-enter-do-a-lot-in-ess/

Great stuff, have been using it for ages. Unfortunately as of 15-11-2013 the uncomment key binding may not work due to EMACS changes (I think, at least it was working before I loaded the latest version). This is because the default uncomment function has 3 arguments but the one defined above has 2. The best way to fix this is to simply delete the uncomment function from the code and retain the keybinding, so it uses the default uncomment function. Or in other words just use this:
(define-key ess-mode-map (kbd "C-d") 'comment-region)
(define-key ess-mode-map (kbd "C-S-d") 'uncomment-region)

M-n and M-p in the ESS R console for next/previous command.

Related

Evil Emacs: is there a way to disable vim-like keys in «insert» mode?

I like VIM idea of text objects, so I installed EVIL (a Emacs plugin to emulate VIM features). But I'd like «insert» mode to leave Emacs keybindings unchanged (except perhaps Escape which is to switch into «normal» mode). Any way to achieve this?
By the way: ATM «insert» mode have a mixed set of hotkeys, which isn't very comfortable either way. E.g. the «M-b» works as in Emacs, but the «C-o» works as in VIM.
In the #emacs IRC channel I was told that someone already solved a similar problem. Here's the modified version I use:
(require 'evil)
;; remove all keybindings from insert-state keymap
(setcdr evil-insert-state-map nil)
;; but [escape] should switch back to normal state
(define-key evil-insert-state-map [escape] 'evil-normal-state)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "[ m") 'beginning-of-defun)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "] m") 'end-of-defun)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "k") 'evil-previous-visual-line)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "j") 'evil-next-visual-line)
(evil-mode t)
(setq evil-jumps-cross-buffers nil) ;; for C-o and C-i to not cross buffers
(provide 'emvil)
The (provide 'emvil) is to allow require 'ing it in the configuration. I also found it useful to jump-to-definition in the next split screen unless the definition is in the buffer I'm currently in. Here's the code:
(defun evil-goto-definition-next-split ()
"If there's a free split, goto definition in this split,
otherwise use current one (except when a definition in the
current split)"
(interactive)
(let ((origin-spl (selected-window))
(origin-buf (current-buffer)))
(evil-goto-definition)
(when (and (eq origin-spl (selected-window)) ;; otherwise it's done
(not (eq origin-buf (current-buffer)))) ;; otherwise either definition not found, or
;; it's in the same buffer
(let ((defin-buf (current-buffer))
(defin-point (point)))
(switch-to-buffer origin-buf)
(other-window 1)
(switch-to-buffer defin-buf)
(goto-char defin-point)
))
))
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "g d") 'evil-goto-definition-next-split)

ido-completion-map keys not working when ergoemacs is enable

When using ergo emacs, for some reason M-l and M-j (forward-char and backward-char respectively) don't work properly in the minibuffer (with ido mode).
I've tried setting the ido-completion-map with the following:
(add-hook 'ido-setup-hook
(lambda ()
(define-key ido-completion-map (kbd "M-k") 'ido-next-match)
(define-key ido-completion-map (kbd "M-i") 'ido-prev-match)
(define-key ido-completion-map (kbd "M-l") 'ido-next-match)
(define-key ido-completion-map (kbd "M-j") 'ido-prev-match)))
but these don't seem to stick.
I seem to be having a similar problem to this person: ido-mode binding masked by global-set-key but none of the solutions seems to work for me
Any help would be very appreciated
Kind regards
Nimai
Although the instructions at the outset of ido.el suggest using:
;; Customization
;; -------------
;;
;; Customize the Ido group to change the Ido functionality.
;;
;; To modify the keybindings, use the ido-setup-hook. For example:
;;(add-hook 'ido-setup-hook 'ido-my-keys)
;;
;;(defun ido-my-keys ()
;; "Add my keybindings for ido."
;; (define-key ido-completion-map " " 'ido-next-match)
;; )
I recently found that using the ido-common-completion-map had better luck when using a frame-switch function -- the original poster can substitute his / her own preferred keyboard shortcuts instead of m-tab and/or m-S-tab:
(add-hook 'ido-setup-hook 'ido-my-keys)
(defun ido-my-keys ()
"Add my keybindings for ido."
(define-key ido-common-completion-map (kbd "<M-tab>") 'ido-next-match)
(define-key ido-common-completion-map (kbd "<M-S-tab>") 'ido-prev-match) )
I have met the save problem, i'm using Emacs 24.4 with ergoemacs-mode-5.14.7.3 (i don't use the latest version of ergoemacs because it has the speed issue. See: github issue). After a lot of searching, i finally find this github commit, and get it work by adding below code to my emacs init file:
after enable ergoemacs-mode:
(when ido-mode
(global-set-key [remap ido-magic-forward-char] 'ido-next-match)
(global-set-key [remap ido-magic-backward-char] 'ido-prev-match))
Hope it helps, thanks!

How to customize Emacs keyboard shortcut for deleting current line

I want the current line to be deleted when Alt, and the letter d is pressed twice.
How can I achieve this inside my Emacs configuration file?
Currently all I have is this in my .emacs:
(global-set-key (kbd "M-9") 'prev-window)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-0") 'other-window)
You can use your own keymap:
(defvar somename-map (make-sparse-keymap) "Keymap for M-d")
(define-key somename-map (kbd "M-d") 'kill-line)
(define-key somename-map (kbd "M-w") 'kill-word)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-d") somename-map)

How to keep traditional binding on M-x in emacs evil mode

I am trying to bind execute-extended-command to M-x in evil normal mode.
I currently have
;; evil mode
(require 'evil)
(evil-mode 1)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map "M-x" 'execute-extended-command)
in my .emacs file but the keybinding doesn't work. I tried replacing
"M-x"
with
"\M-x"
and
(kbd "M-x")
but neither works. I also tried adding it to evil.el and evil-maps.el.
I don't know what's wrong with your binding. You could use Emacs' own global-set-key for global stuff and if you plan something special for say, insert mode, you could override that later on, like this:
;; this works, just tested. My evil is 1.0-dev from github.
(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'smex)
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "M-x") 'execute-extended-command)
Use (kdb "") macro when you have modifier keys in your binding. But you can use the macro always, regardless of the content. These are for example usage. When in doubt, wrap the key in (kdb ).
(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'smex)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-X") 'smex-major-mode-commands)
;;(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'execute-extended-command)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map ",d" 'volatile-kill-buffer)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map ",b" 'ido-switch-buffer)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map ",s" 'ispell-word)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-x g") 'magit-status)
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-f") 'my-expand-file-name-at-point)
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-x C-l") 'my-expand-lines)
(define-key minibuffer-local-map (kbd "C-w") 'backward-kill-word)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd ",ff") 'ido-find-file)
After long research and with help from #emacs and #evil-mode channels on irc, it turned out that my emacs was broken. It was a snapshot from http://emacs.naquadah.org/ I tried all this on another emacs version (from debian jessies repos) and it worked ok.

Ctrl+U in emacs when using evil key bindings

I'm using the wonderful evil package for vim bindings in emacs.
The one key that is not right is Ctrl+U. It is still the emacs prefix, rather than "up".
Does anybody have a solution for that in some lisp code for my .emacs?
Thanks.
there is a variable that you can add to your .emacs
(setq evil-want-C-u-scroll t)
it needs to appear before the call to (require 'evil).
Alternatively, it's easy enough to define your own keybindings, and the evil API is rich enough to make it super easy:
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-u")
(lambda ()
(interactive)
(evil-delete (point-at-bol) (point))))
I had to go this route as evil-want-C-u-scroll wasn't functioning correctly for me.
In order to get bling's answer to work for anyone useing John Wiegley's use-package, make sure you define it in the :init section, like so:
(use-package evil
:ensure t
:init
(setq evil-want-C-u-scroll t)
:config
(evil-mode 1)
;; snip...
)
HTH
Vim's C-u is half-screen page up. I replicated it using the following,
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
From C-h f evil-scroll-up,
(evil-scroll-up COUNT)
Scrolls the window and the cursor COUNT lines upwards.
The default is half the screen.
The vim's C-u is not 'previous-line, it's more like page up. I don't know how to replicate the exact behavior, but you could just try C-b (evil-scroll-page-up) or map C-k, C-j to go up/down 10 lines.
(global-set-key (kbd "C-k") (lambda () (interactive) (previous-line 10)))
(global-set-key (kbd "C-j") (lambda () (interactive) (next-line 10)))
The C-u key is also quite important to Emacs so you probably shouldn't overwrite it anyway.
To add to melleb's answer, I also defined the key combination when evil-want-C-u-scroll:
(use-package evil
:ensure t
:init
(setq evil-want-C-u-scroll t)
(when evil-want-C-u-scroll
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-motion-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up))
:config
(evil-mode 1)
...
)
This works for GNU Emacs 24.4.1
First, to answer your question:
(define-key evil-insert-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-replace-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-motion-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
Since I can't really test myself (no evil), try maybe the following if those do not work:
Replace
(define-key evil-motion-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
With
(define-key evil-motion-state-map "cu" 'previous-line)
Do this for whichever mode of evil you want it/it is neccessary.
Furthermore, maybe there is an "evil" version of up, you might want to bind that instead.
Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure evil 'ships' with a functional/useful "up" somewhere in those keybindings, maybe read up on it somewhere.