Vim Skeleton Files

Note: This repository is archived and read-only. Better solutions exist nowadays (e.g., vim-skeletons, UltiSnips, or modern IDE templates).

Skeleton files are a way to have a template instantiated upon opening a new file. For example, all C++ files might have a header like:

//
//  file.cpp
//  skeleton-files
//
//  Created by Illya Starikov on 04/28/17.
//  Copyright 2017. Illya Starikov. All rights reserved.
//

Well, skeleton files are a way to do that (the filename, directory, and date are auto-populated).

Getting Started

To start using this directory, first clone the repository in your .vim repository (alternatively, cd ~/.vim && git clone https://github.com/IllyaStarikov/skeleton-files.git). In your .vimrc, add the following lines.

if has("autocmd")
    augroup templates
        autocmd BufNewFile main.* silent! execute '0r ~/.vim/skeleton-files/skeleton-main.'.expand("<afile>:e")
        autocmd BufNewFile *.* silent! execute '0r ~/.vim//skeleton.'.expand("<afile>:e")

        autocmd BufNewFile * %substitute#\[:VIM_EVAL:\]\(.\{-\}\)\[:END_EVAL:\]#\=eval(submatch(1))#ge
    augroup END
endif

Creating New Skeleton File(s)

All skelton files have the same structure, with the extension determining which files are used. In the skeleton files directory, create a file called skelton with the extension you want. However, because only some files have particular extras, (i.e., not all C++ files have an int main), programs with a driving function should have skeleton files named skeleton-main with the appropriate extension.

Advanced auto-population (i.e. the directory, filename, or date) is created by Vim command evaluation. The syntax is [:VIM_EVAL:]COMMAND[:END_EVAL:]. The VIM_EVAL and END_EVAL are keywords to wrap around the command you want executed. The command is placed in the COMMAND field. Basic commands can be found here.

Adding more functionality, like different subset of skeleton files, will require a new autocmd BufNewFile command in your .vimrc.