Nested Lists in Vim

A while back, I worked on a project called Simplist. It was a little web app for creating, managing and sharing infinitely nestable lists.

It was really handy, and I was very proud of myself, until I realized that this is something you can do in Notepad with little effort and in vim with even less.

So I created a short script to duplicate Simplist's basic features in vim:



Notice that some items are marked as completed ("x") and some have priorities (numbers). The last item is actually a list itself with sub-items and is folded.

With a few simple commands, it's pretty handy:

,n - create a [n]ew list item
,x - mark item as done ("x")
,p - mark item as in [p]rogress ("=")
,- - mark item as undone ("-")
,N - mark item with priority N where N is 1-5
,t - update item's [t]imestamp

If you combine these with a few vim keys:

>> - indent line (make it a sub-item of item above)
<< - outdent line (make it a super-item)
zo - open a folded list
zc - fold an open list

you get a pretty decent way to manage lists. I use this all the time--every day at work and for personal lists.

Here's the vim script. Just paste it into your .vimrc:

if version >= 700
 autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.list call ListFile()
 autocmd TabEnter *.list call ListFile()

 " 'install' list features
 function ListFile()
  setlocal foldmethod=expr
  setlocal foldexpr=ListFoldLevel(v:lnum)
  setlocal shiftwidth=4
  setlocal tabstop=4
  setlocal foldtext=ListFoldLine(v:foldstart)
  setlocal noshowmatch
  setlocal cindent
  " add [n]ew item below current
  map  ,n o- =ListTimestamp()^la
  " mark item as [x]
  map  ,x mz^rxf[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  " mark item as [-]
  map  ,- mz^r-f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  " mark item as = (in [p]rogress)
  map  ,p mz^r=f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  " mark item with a rank
  map  ,1 mz^r1f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  map  ,2 mz^r2f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  map  ,3 mz^r3f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  map  ,4 mz^r4f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  map  ,5 mz^r5f[hdf]$a=ListTimestamp()`z
  " add/update [t]imestamp
  map  ,t mz$a [^f[hd$a=ListTimestamp()`z
 endfunction

 " return properly formatted timestamp
 function ListTimestamp()
  return ' ['.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %T').']'
 endfunction

 " return fold line format
 function ListFoldLine(linenum)
  let s:count = 1
  let s:spaces = ''
  while s:count <= &shiftwidth
   let s:spaces = s:spaces.' '
   let s:count = s:count + 1
  endwhile
  return substitute(getline(a:linenum),"\t",s:spaces,'g')
 endfunction

 " foldexpr function
 function ListFoldLevel(linenum)
  let s:prefix = ''
  let s:myline = getline(a:linenum)
  let s:nextline = getline(a:linenum+1)
  let s:mynumtabs = match(s:myline,"[^\t]",0)
  let s:nextnumtabs = match(s:nextline,"[^\t]",0)
  if s:nextnumtabs > s:mynumtabs " if this item has sub-items
   let s:level = s:nextnumtabs
  else " next item is either same or higher level
   let s:level = s:mynumtabs
   if s:nextnumtabs < s:mynumtabs " if next item has higher level, close this fold
    let s:prefix = '<'
    let s:level = s:nextnumtabs+1
   end
  endif
  if a:linenum > 1
   s:pline = getline(a:linenum-1)
   s:pnumtabs = match(s:pline,"[^\t]",0)
   if s:level < s:pnumtabs
   " if this is higher level than prev, start a new fold
    let s:prefix = '>'
   endif
  endif
  return s:prefix.s:level
 endfunction
endif