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regexsearchvimspecial-characterswrapper

How to execute a search and command containing `<C-..>` within a function?

I still struggle executing commands from within a function:

Function:

 function! MyFunc(key)
  let r = a:key
  exe r
 endfun

a:key can be anything but when it is a search or a command containing <C-..> it doesn't work

1) special keys example
When a:key = 'normal \<C-w>t\<C-w>H'
it does exe 'normal \<C-w>t\<C-w>H' in above function
it has to be exe "normal \<C-w>t\<C-w>H" (double quotes)
How can I execute special keys from a variable (a:key)/ function call?

2) highlighting example
When I call this function from the commandline :call MyFunc('/\s')
even if highlighting is on, I have to push the n key to see the items found highlighted
or an alternative is to check within the function if r starts with / then do return normal! n
How can I avoid this?
This has the same effect:
:call MyFunc('let @/ = "\\s"')

How do I exec special keys and search items from a function call?

Solution

  • RE 1. You have to pass in the special keys to your function in the final form, e.g.

    :call MyFunc("normal \<C-w>t\<C-w>H")

    RE 2. Inside functions, the last used search pattern will not be changed (cp. :h function-search-undo). This is a feature, not a bug. To work around that, you have to execute the command outside the function (i.e. directly in the command or mapping); you can still invoke a function to generate the search pattern, though.