This page contains animated GIFs that demonstrate many of the core VimTeX
editing features listed in :help vimtex-features. The related mappings are
documented in detail at :help vimtex-mappings. The GIFs and accompanying
descriptions are used with permission from
@ejmastnak's guide to Getting started with the
VimTeX plugin.
Hopefully, the animations can give you a clearer mental image of what VimTeX's
mappings do and how you might use them. You may want to scroll through this page
while simultaneously looking through :help vimtex-features—the animations
should nicely complement the plain-text documentation.
You can find a description of how the GIFs were made at the bottom of this page.
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This page is made possible only with help from the community. @ejmastnak, not @lervag, takes primary responsibility for maintaining it, but contributions from all VimTeX users are welcome.
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If you notice mistakes or outdated content (following a VimTeX update, say), feel free to open a PR to fix it yourself. Alternatively, contact @ejmastnak at ejmastnak@gmail.com, who will be happy to help fix it.
- Motion commands
- Text objects
- Deleting surrounding LaTeX content
- Changing surrounding LaTeX content
- Toggling commands
- How these GIFs were made
Use ]] to jump to the beginning of the next \section, \subsection or
\subsubsection, whichever comes first. Use [[ to jump backward through
sections, and see the similar shortcuts ][ and [] in the VimTeX
documentation at :help <Plug>(vimtex-][) and :help <Plug>(vimtex-[]).
Use ]m and [m to jump to the next or previous environment \begin{}
command. See the VimTeX documentation for the similar shortcuts ]M and [M,
described in :help <Plug>(vimtex-]M) and :help <Plug>(vimtex-[M).
Use ]n and [n to jump to the beginning of the next or previous math zone.
See the VimTeX documentation for the similar shortcuts ]N and [N,
described in :help <Plug>(vimtex-]N) and :help <Plug>(vimtex-[N).
Use ]r and [r to jump to the beginning of the next or previous Beamer
frame environment. See the VimTeX documentation for the similar shortcuts
]R and [R, described in :help <Plug>(vimtex-]R) and :help <Plug>(vimtex-[R).
Use % to move between matching delimiters, inline-math $ delimiters, and LaTeX environments.
VimTeX provides text objects for commands, delimiters, environments, math zones, sections, and items. The following GIFs use Vim's visual mode to show the scope of the text objects.
The i$ and a$ text objects select inline math, display math, and
common math environments.
The iP and aP text objects select LaTeX sections (their
subsection variations); the id and ad objects select delimiters
(parentheses, brackets, braces...); the ic and ac objects select
LaTeX commands.
The ie and ae text objects select LaTeX environments and the im
and am objects select items in enumerated environments.
Use dsc to delete a LaTeX command while preserving the command's argument(s);
the dsc mapping also recognizes and correctly deletes parameters inside square
brackets.
Use dse to delete the \begin{} and \end{} declaration surrounding a LaTeX
environment without changing the environment contents.
Use ds$ to delete surrounding math zones (display math, standard environments,
and inline math) without changing the math contents.
Use dsd to delete delimiters (e.g. (), [], {}, and any of their \left \right, \big \big variants) without changing the enclosed content.
Use csc to change a LaTeX command while preserving the command's argument(s).
Use cse to change the type of a LaTeX environment without changing the
environment contents.
Use cs$ to change the type of surrounding math zone without changing the math
contents. You can switch between display math, standard environments, and inline
math.
Use csd to change delimiters (e.g. (), [], {}, and any of their \left \right, \big \big variants) without changing the enclosed content; the csd
command is "smart" and correctly recognizes and preserves \left \right-style
modifiers.
Use tsc and tse to toggle between starred and un-starred versions of
commands and environments, respectively.
Use ts$ to toggle between inline math, display math, and standard math environments.
Use tsd to change between plain and \left/\right versions of delimiters.
Use the g:vimtex_delim_toggle_mod_list variable to add more modifiers to the
delimiter toggle list. (e.g. \big as in the GIF below)
Use tsf to toggle between inline and \frac{}{} versions of fractions.
(Based on interest and discussion in issue #2685.)
The basic toolkit is Menyoki for recording the GIFs and screenkey to display the keys being typed, all running on a Linux system using the X11 window system.
On top of this are some aesthetic details to make the GIFs look nicer, including:
- Goyo to remove Vim peripherals (status bar, line numbers, etc.) for a cleaner look
- Limelight to draw focus to the currently selected paragraph (and gray out the rest of the document)
- Screen recording region (crop, basically) set via Menyoki to exactly capture the terminal window (and not e.g. the rest of my desktop)
- Enlarged terminal font for the duration of the GIF recording for better readability
- Vim and screenkey color schemes and fonts aligned for visual consistency.
The aesthetic details and cropping are wrapped in shell scripts for repeatability across multiple GIF recordings—the original scripts and auxiliary files can be found in the GitHub repo ejmastnak/ejmastnak.github.io, although they might be difficult to parse without additional context.
Feel free to contact @ejmastnak if you're interested in the details or recording similar GIFs.