Vim, ruby... and code completion?

[apoth]

Does anyone know how to get code completion working for ruby in vim?

Thanks

[Modred]

Are you getting the error that "Ruby#omnicomplete function not found" or "not compiled with +ruby" or something along those lines?

You can check to see if it was compiled with Ruby by running vim --version or using the :version command inside a buffer. If the version reports -ruby, then you'll need to either find a binary compiled for Ruby or compile one yourself.

If VIM is compiled with +ruby, then make sure first that you have Ruby installed, and second that you're using the right VIM commands. ^X^O for omni-completion.

[apoth]

+ruby is in vim --version

I'm not getting any errors, I don't know how to use it - what keys are ^X^O? I've never looked into the vi shortcut commands in enough depth to remember the shorthands.

[Modred]

+ruby is in vim --version

I'm not getting any errors, I don't know how to use it - what keys are ^X^O? I've never looked into the vi shortcut commands in enough depth to remember the shorthands.

By that I meant press Control+X. So ^X^O would be Ctrl+X then Ctrl+O. Here's an example to show you how it works:



class C
def hello
puts "Hello World"
end
def goodbye
puts "Goodbye, cruel world"
end
end

x = C.new

Now, when you get here, type x. and then press ^X^O. It should give you a little box to select from hello and goodbye methods. And that's all there is to it. I normally use an example like this to test the completion since it will limit the number of options presented, but you could just as easily assign a string to x and then use ^X^O to choose from the methods.

You can also use ^N^P (or either of them separate, as ^N or ^P will shortcut to ^N^P) to do a general word completion. Useful for typing long variable or function names. There are several other types of auto completion, but omnicompletion (^X^O) and keyword completion (^N^P) are what you'll probably use the most.

You might also find the gf command useful. If you have separate class files (or are using some built in packages), you can put the cursor on the class name and then, in command mode, type gf. It will then replace your current buffer with the file that defines that class.

[apoth]

Fantastic. Thanks a lot, hugely valuable post. :)