.vimrc options to assist with perl coding

[Malach]

Although not perl code, this has sped up my development in perl markedly.

Stole (and altered) this off a friend of mine who found it and altered it somewhere else.

For those who are that way inclined, you can also do similar things with php.

Simple instruction: F1 validates the per... checking for syntax errors etc etc, and brings up the results in a new window. f2 closes the window.

f3 runs the perl script, bringing up the results in a new window. (again) f2 closes the window. Generally, I use this for debugging.

Improvements and suggestions welcomed.

" F2 close current window (commonly used with my F1/F3 functions)
noremap <f2> <Esc>:close<CR><Esc>

" perl -cw buffer, using a temp file, into a new window
function! PerlCW()
    let l:tmpfile1 = tempname()
    let l:tmpfile2 = tempname()

    execute "normal:w!" . l:tmpfile1 . "\<CR>"
    execute "normal:! perl -cw ".l:tmpfile1." \> ".l:tmpfile2." 2\>\&1
+ \<CR>"
    execute "normal:new\<CR>"
    execute "normal:edit " . l:tmpfile2 . "\<CR>"
endfunction

" perl buffer, using a temp file, into a new window
function! PerlOutput()
    let l:tmpfile1 = tempname()
    let l:tmpfile2 = tempname()
    
    execute "normal:w!" . l:tmpfile1 . "\<CR>"
    execute "normal:! perl ".l:tmpfile1." \> ".l:tmpfile2." 2\>\&1 \<C
+R>"
    execute "normal:new\<CR>"
    execute "normal:edit " . l:tmpfile2 . "\<CR>"
endfunction

" Settings for editing perl source (plus bind the above two functions)
function! MyPerlSettings()
    if !did_filetype()
        set filetype=perl
    endif

    set textwidth=78
    set expandtab
    set tabstop=4
    set shiftwidth=4
    set cindent
    set comments=:#
    set formatoptions=croql
    set keywordprg=man\ -S\ 3
    
    noremap <f1> <Esc>:call PerlCW()<CR><Esc>
    noremap <f3> <Esc>:call PerlOutput()<CR><Esc>
   
endfunction

    if has("eval")
           augroup SetEditOpts
            au!
        autocmd FileType perl :call MyPerlSettings()
    augroup END
   endif

endif

[toadi]

Another part I have in my .vimrc:

au BufNewFile *.pl,*.cgi s,^,#!/usr/bin/perl -w,
      \ | w
      \ | !chmod +x %

Maybe not pretty but does the trick, maybe you can also add to this the use strict; stuff and some other header stuff. So eacht time you start a new perl file it automatically puts a header in. Try it for the next version :)

--
My opinions may have changed,
but not the fact that I am right

[markjugg]

It looks like you are trying to re-invent the nice quickfix mode integration for Perl that's built into VIM 6.0. Here's how to get started with it. It's super handy.
• Quickfix Mode Integration Like other great editors, vim has a built in mechanism to speed up the compile-debug-edit cycle. Here's the least you need to know to get running with this.
  1. Tweak your .vimrc file Add these lines to your .vimrc to get started. The first command tells vim to compile the current buffer when you type ":make", the second command tells vim to recognize the error format that Perl returns.

        set makeprg=$VIMRUNTIME/tools/efm_perl.pl\ -c\ %\ $*
           set errorformat=%f:%l:%m
        

     To make this cycle even faster, also add this line:

        set autowrite
        

     That will cause the file to automatically be saved in some cases, such as when you type ":make".

  2. Set your Perl Path If you are using some of your own modules, you need to give vim a hint about where to find them. There are two straightforward ways to handle this. One is to set the path in one of the environment variables that Perl will look in, such as PERL5LIB. The other method is to simply use vim command ":lcd" to set the Local Current Directory for the perl file you want to compile to be relevant libary path.
  3. Compile your Perl from within vim You are now ready to compile a script from within vim. Simply use ":make" for this. Vim will run "perl -c yourscript.cgi" and process the results. It will show you a list of the resulting errors, if any, and jump to the first error.
  4. Navigate your errors You are now in quickfix mode and have some commands available to quickly address the remaining errors. Here are the essential commands for this: ":cl" lists all the errors for you again, ":ccN" jumps to error number 'N', ":cn" jumps to the next error. You can read the details with ":help quickfix"

-mark

[Malach]

Thanks mark... definitely looks worth investigating

Just in case I'm missing something... What benefits does this add (over my method) other than the being able to skip through the errors?

Malach
So, this baby seal walks into a club.....

[markjugg]

quickfix mode is nice because it offers a standard command set-- you can use the same commands for compiling as Perl as you for grepping through code, or compiling C or another language. I haven't actually tried your method, so I can't do a direct comparison.

-mark