 Tip #97: How do I add a current time string inside Vim?
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August 9, 2001 1:06 |
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complexity: |
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basic |
| author: |
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newbie |
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as of Vim: |
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6.0 |
This is a *request* for a tip.
Sometimes (eg. editing HTML pages) I need to add a timestamp string to my editing buffer.
On UNIX systems, I can use
:r!date
to get a localized date time string; but on Windows ('date' on Windows will query the user to input new date)
or other platforms which does not have 'date' command, how do I get a timestamp easily?
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Additional Notes
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none,
August 9, 2001 4:27
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The best thing to do is install cygwin from http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin.
This will give you 'date' and a host of other UNIX utilities under windows.
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[email protected],
August 9, 2001 5:54
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vim has a function to help with this called strftime (do :help on it); these abbreviations work, but they aren't my own (i fear i forget whose file i got these from):
"date/time abbreviations
iab mdyl <c-r>=strftime("%a %d %b %Y")<cr>
iab mdys <c-r>=strftime("%y%m%d")<cr>
iab mdyc <c-r>=strftime("%c")<cr>
iab hml <c-r>=strftime("%d/%m/%y %H:%M:%S")<cr>
iab hms <c-r>=strftime("%H:%M:%S")<cr>
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[email protected],
August 9, 2001 9:03
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You might want to automatically update existing time stamps when writing a file:
That's what's in my _vimrc:
--- CUT HERE ---
" first add a function that returns a time stamp in the desired format
if !exists("*TimeStamp")
fun TimeStamp()
return "Time-stamp: <" . strftime("%d %b %Y %X") . " My Name>"
endfun
endif
" this function searches for an existing time stamp and updates it using the
" function declared above
if !exists("*UpdateTimeStamp")
fun UpdateTimeStamp()
if (match(getline(1),"Time-stamp: <.*>")) > 1
exe "1,1 s/Time-stamp: <.*>/" . TimeStamp()
endif
endfun
endif
" abbreviation to manually enter a timestamp. Just type YTS in insert mode
iab YTS <C-R>=TimeStamp()<CR>
" add an autocommand to update an existing time stamp when writing the file
" It uses the functions above to replace the time stamp and restores cursor
" position afterwards (this is from the FAQ)
autocmd BufWritePre,FileWritePre * ks|call UpdateTimeStamp()|'s
--- CHAINSAW OFF ---
My time stamp has the format
Time-stamp: <09 Aug 2001 02:32:42 Editors Name>
It is searched for in the first line of the file only (you can certainly change that) in columns > 1. I did that mainly for security reasons (in source code, there will be almost always a comment start, e.g. /* in c, preceding the time stamp).
Kind regards
Sven
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[email protected],
August 14, 2001 8:12
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I use the following insert-maps in my <.vimrc>:
" Dates/Times
imap \ymd <C-R>=strftime("%y%m%d")<CR>
imap \mdy <C-R>=strftime("%m/%d/%y")<CR>
imap \Mdy <C-R>=strftime("%b %d, %Y")<CR>
imap \hms <C-R>=strftime("%T")<CR>
So, while in insert mode, a \ymd will insert the year, month, and day in
the form 010814.
For html I have an autocmd that I use which fires on write:
au BufWritePre *.html exe "norm mz"|exe '%s/\(<!-- DATE -->\).\{-}\d\d:\d\d:\d\d/\1'.strftime("%b %d, %Y %X")."/e"|norm `z
That way a string of the form <!-- DATE -->Aug 13, 2001 14:19:50
embedded in the text which will be updated to the current date
(using Vim's built-in strftime() function) and time automatically --
every time I save the file (the ...DATE... stuff is an HTML comment
which won't appear).
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[email protected],
January 1, 2002 10:43
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try:
r!date /T
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[email protected],
February 1, 2004 16:45
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to add the current date and time at the cursor (on any platform):
"=strftime("%c")<Enter>p
Vary the format string, i.e. the argument to strftime(), to get the time and/or date in a different format. Depending on the format string used, the result may depend on your locale.
see
:help quote=
:help strftime()
:help :language
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[email protected],
October 13, 2004 16:46
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I want to embed the current date in a substitution:
:s/^abc/\/<today's date>/
Can any one please help?
Regards.
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Anonymous,
November 10, 2004 13:31
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| s/^abc/\=strftime("%c")/ should do it
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[email protected],
August 10, 2005 15:06
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Building off Antoine's note, I mapped the time function in vimrc:
map T "=strftime("%m/%d/%y %H:%M")<CR>p
The leading quotation mark is necessary and solitary, i.e., no closing quotes. I don't know about anyone else, but I had a heck of a time until I figured out that quote= literally meant "=
MjM
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[email protected],
August 20, 2005 13:08
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as well as these "= commands:
" in normal mode, paste before cursor position, allows date insertion
" at the start of the line.
" --------------------
nmap <leader>tt "=strftime("%x %X (%Z) ")<CR>P
" in insertmode, esc to normal, paste, and return to insert
" --------------------
imap <leader>tt <Esc>"=strftime("%x %X (%Z) ")<CR>Pi
you could also use the following :execute commands:
nmap <leader>tt :execute "normal i" . strftime("%x %X (%Z) ")<Esc>
imap <leader>tt <Esc>:execute "normal i" . strftime("%x %X (%Z) ")<Esc>i
<leader> by default is "\", but it's a variable you can modify.
In my case I hit "\tt" in normal or insert mode and hello time and date.
see "man strftime" to find replacements for the date format "%x %X (%Z)".
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[email protected],
September 29, 2006 9:57
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| How about recreating the F5 timestamp feature found in Notepad?
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tarun<AT>tarunsadhana.com,
October 25, 2006 0:55
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for F5 mapping do the following :
imap <f5> <C-R>=strftime("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S")<CR>
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