vim select function in python

Question

I am new to vim and recently I learned that it is possible to select a function in c with vip, and I was wondering if there is a way to do it with functions in python

keep in mind that function can contain different indentation levels for example

def func():
    pass

    if 1 > 2:
        pass

and that I can't use any plugins

Answer 1

vip is v, followed by ip:

• v enters visual mode,
• ip is a text object that expands the selection to cover the current "paragraph".

It could be used to visually select a function in any language with functions, maybe, if that function satisfies Vim's definition of "paragraph". But that is a big "if", so vip is as far from being a "select function" silver bullet as it can be.

See :help v and :help ip.

Now, the way text objects like ip work is that they essentially locate a known landmark in one direction (a blank line in the case of ip) and then look for a matching one in the other direction.

Given that (simplified) description, it would be relatively easy to imagine a custom pseudo-text object for a Ruby function:

def say_hello(name)
    var = "Hello, " + name

    return var
end

because its boundaries are clearly defined.

But Python functions:

def func():
    pass

    if 1 > 2:
        pass

don't have well defined boundaries and there is not a single built-in text object that is able to cover such a case.

You will need third-party help for that:

• https://github.com/jeetsukumaran/vim-pythonsense
• https://github.com/bps/vim-textobj-python
• probably others…