whitespace.vim

whitespace.vim is a Vim plugin that finds and corrects common whitespace errors. Inspiration for this plugin was taken from the Vim Tips wiki.

Installation

This plugin is compatible with several popular plugin managers:

Pathogen

git clone git://github.com/sstallion/vim-whitespace.git ~/.vim/bundle/vim-whitespace

Vundle

Add the following to your .vimrc and execute the :PluginInstall command:

Plugin 'sstallion/vim-whitespace'

NeoBundle

Add the following to your .vimrc and execute the :NeoBundleInstall command:

NeoBundle 'sstallion/vim-whitespace'

vim-plug

Add the following to your .vimrc and execute the :PlugInstall command:

Plug 'sstallion/vim-whitespace'

Configuration

whitespace.vim has a number of global variables that modify the default behavior:

g:whitespace_autostrip

Enables automatic whitespace correction when writing the current buffer. Defaults to 0.

g:whitespace_hidden

Disables showing whitespace errors when reading a new buffer. Defaults to 0.

g:whitespace_highlight

Name of the highlight group used to display whitespace errors. Defaults to ExtraWhitespace.

g:whitespace_ignore

List of file types to ignore whitespace errors. Defaults to the empty list.

g:whitespace_ignore_splits

Disables showing whitespace errors in split windows. Defaults to 0.

g:whitespace_ignore_tabs

List of file types to ignore tab-related errors. Defaults to the empty list.

Commands

:WhitespaceStrip

Corrects whitespace errors, optionally accepting a range. By default the entire buffer is corrected.

Key Mappings

Key mappings may be overridden by assigning the corresponding <Plug> binding to a different sequence in your .vimrc.

<Leader>w

Toggles display of matched whitespace errors in normal mode. Mapped to <Plug>WhitespaceToggle.

[w

Jump to previous whitespace error in normal mode. Mapped to <Plug>WhitespacePrev.

]w

Jump to next whitespace error in normal mode. Mapped to <Plug>WhitespaceNext.

gS

Corrects whitespace errors for the entire buffer in normal mode. Mapped to <Plug>WhitespaceStripBuffer.

gs

Corrects whitespace errors for the current line in normal mode or the highlighted area in visual mode. Mapped to <Plug>WhitespaceStripLine and WhitespaceStripVisual, respectively.

FAQ

Why do I see Error detected while processing function ...Whitespace?

Some color schemes do not define the ExtraWhitespace highlight group. The easiest way to work around this issue is to link ExtraWhitespace to a compatible group, or to modify the g:whitespace_highlight variable in your .vimrc:

" The ErrorMsg highlight group is usually good enough; this will be an
" issue for colorschemes that do not provide a legible background color:
highlight! link ExtraWhitespace ErrorMsg

Why do I see whitespace errors when editing git commit messages?

This is usually seen when setting 'expandtab' by default (git uses tabs in the default commit message template). To prevent whitespace.vim from detecting mixed tab errors, add the following to your .vimrc:

let g:whitespace_ignore_tabs = [
    \ 'git',
    \ 'gitcommit',
    \ 'gitconfig',
    \ 'gitrebase',
    \ 'gitsendemail',
    \ ]

Why do I see whitespace errors when using Command-T (and other plugins)?

Many plugins will split the current window in order to display information. Unfortunately, there is not a good way to detect these cases, however there is usually a filetype associated with the loaded buffer. If adding this value to g:whitespace_ignore doesn't help (as in the case of Command-T), you can disable whitespace checking for split windows by adding the following to your .vimrc:

let g:whitespace_ignore_splits = 1

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! If a problem is encountered using this plugin, please file an issue on GitHub.

License

Source code in this repository is licensed under a Simplified BSD License. See LICENSE for more details.