REPLs play nicely with :terminal on Vim and Neovim

reply.vim is a Vim and Neovim plugin to make edit buffers play with REPLs nicely.

• REPLs are run in :terminal window
• Interaction between edit buffer and REPL
  • Send source from/to edit buffer to/from REPL
  • Automatically evaluate edit buffer with REPL in realtime
• REPL can be selected by filetype with availability
  • e.g. For ruby filetype, pry is used if available. Otherwise irb
• More than 40 REPLs are supported by default
• Your own REPL can be added
• Supports both Vim (8+) and Neovim
• Tested

Screen casts

Open node with :Repl command from JavaScript buffer with sending some code from an edit buffer. :ReplSend can send additional text from an edit buffer.

Open pry (Ruby REPL) with :Repl command and Input some lines in REPL. Finally sends the inputs to an edit buffer with :ReplRecv.

Open node with :ReplAuto and some code edited in an edit buffer are sent to REPL and evaluated automatically. This feature is experimental and it may not work with some REPL command.

Problem This Plugin Solves

REPL is useful to learn/confirm APIs and language features promptly. I usually split a new Tmux pane and started a new REPL. However, in terms of reuse of input code in REPL, I needed to copy the code from the Tmux pane to Vim via clipboard or simply to input it again in Vim. I wondered I could improve the experience to use REPLs while editing some code in Vim.

Installation

If you use any package manager, please follow its instruction.

With vim-plug:

Plug 'rhysd/reply.vim', { 'on': ['Repl', 'ReplAuto'] }

With dein.vim:

call dein#add('rhysd/reply.vim', {
            \   'lazy' : 1,
            \   'on_cmd' : ['Repl', 'ReplAuto'],
            \ })

With minpac:

call minpac#add('rhysd/reply.vim')

When you're using Vim's builtin packager, please follow instruction at :help pack-add.

Usage

Open REPL

• :Repl

Without any arguments, it opens REPL for current filetype as a new terminal window with :terminal.

• :Repl {REPL}

Open REPL specified by name. Supported REPL's names are listed in output of :ReplList.

• :Repl {REPL} {args...}

Open REPL specified by name with any arguments. Arguments will be passed to underlying command execution of the REPL.

• :[range]Repl [{REPL} [{args...}]]

In visual mode, :Repl opens a REPL and sending the selected text to REPL. It is useful when you want to start a REPL with some code in the edit buffer.

• :<mods> Repl [{REPL} [{args...}]]

Specify how to open :terminal window. For example, :botright Repl opens a terminal window for REPL by splitting horizontally.

Send lines from edit buffer to REPL

• :ReplSend

Send the current line in edit buffer to REPL running in a terminal window. This command is available in an edit buffer.

• :[range]ReplSend

In visual mode, selected text is sent to REPL running in a terminal window.

Receive lines from REPL in edit buffer

• :ReplRecv

Sends input codes in REPL to edit buffer. This command is available in both a terminal window and an edit buffer.

• :[range]ReplRecv

In visual mode, selected text in REPL is sent to edit buffer. Visual mode support is only available in a terminal window.

Close REPL

• :ReplStop

It closes the terminal window. It is available in both an edit buffer and a terminal window. reply.vim remembers which REPL terminal window was opened from which edit buffer.

Check list of REPLs

• :ReplList

It shows a list of REPLs and their filetypes with syntax highlights. Unavailable REPLs are colored with Comment highlight group.

Bind input to edit buffer with REPL (experimental)

• :ReplAuto

It is similar to :Repl, but it binds input to the edit buffer with opened REPL. All inputs are automatically sent to REPL and evaluated when you type an enter key in the edit buffer.

It is useful for lazy people who want to write some code with confirming the value. But please be careful not to break your environment by sending a dangerous code to REPL. This feature is supposed to be used for learning a new language.

Mappings

No mapping is defined by default. Please allocate the commands to your favorite keys.

Customization

g:reply_repls and b:reply_repls

• Type: dict (string => list<string | function>)
• Default value: {}

Dictionary from filetype to list of REPL names. The list is candidates to open on the filetype. For example, following configuration will use only irb for ruby filetype even if pry is available on your system.

let g:reply_repls = {
\   'ruby': ['irb']
\ }

For filetypes not specified in g:reply_repls, reply.vim uses default values defined at top of autoload/reply/lifecycle.vim.

For an element of the list, function value is also available to define your own REPL.

For example, let's say you have your own mycalc REPL which shows a prompt calc> .

function! s:define_mycalc_repl() abort
    return reply#repl#base('mycalc', {
        \   'prompt_start' : '^calc> ',
        \   'prompt_continue' : v:null,
        \ })
endfunction

let g:reply_repls = {
\   'text': [function('s:define_mycalc_repl')],
\ }

It opens your mycalc command by :Repl in text filetype or :Repl mycalc.

Lambda expression is also available to avoid defining functions for each your REPLs.

let g:reply_repls = {
\   'text': [
\     {-> reply#repl#base('mycalc', {
\       'prompt_start' : '^calc> ',
\       'prompt_continue' : v:null,
\     })}
\   ],
\ }

For usage of reply#repl#base() function, please read codes for default REPL supports at autoload/reply/repl/.

b:reply_repls is a buffer-local variable which overwrites g:reply_repls locally.

g:reply_termwin_max_height and g:reply_termwin_max_width

• Type: number
• Default value: undefined

Specify max lines and colmuns of a terminal window opened by :Repl and :ReplAuto. It is useful to avoid consuming too wide space by REPL.

b:reply_termwin_max_height and b:reply_termwin_max_width are buffer-local version of the variables.

License

Distributed under the MIT license.