show illegal whitespace (such as unbreakable space) in source code

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1
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I sometimes type (by accident) shift-space, inserting unbreakable space into code. With c++, I get this:

error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜302Ã¢Â€Â™ in program
error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜240Ã¢Â€Â™ in program

while in other formats (like RestructuredText), I am hunting mysterious errors of syntax without any visible cause.

Is there a way to

always highlight unbreakable spaces (and perhaps other type of "illegal" whitespace, i.e. any whitespace besides space and tab)

map shift-space to space, so that these characters are not inserted in the first place?

Thanks!

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

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up vote
1
down vote

favorite

I sometimes type (by accident) shift-space, inserting unbreakable space into code. With c++, I get this:

error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜302Ã¢Â€Â™ in program
error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜240Ã¢Â€Â™ in program

while in other formats (like RestructuredText), I am hunting mysterious errors of syntax without any visible cause.

Is there a way to

always highlight unbreakable spaces (and perhaps other type of "illegal" whitespace, i.e. any whitespace besides space and tab)

map shift-space to space, so that these characters are not inserted in the first place?

Thanks!

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

New contributor

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

favorite

I sometimes type (by accident) shift-space, inserting unbreakable space into code. With c++, I get this:

error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜302Ã¢Â€Â™ in program
error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜240Ã¢Â€Â™ in program

while in other formats (like RestructuredText), I am hunting mysterious errors of syntax without any visible cause.

Is there a way to

always highlight unbreakable spaces (and perhaps other type of "illegal" whitespace, i.e. any whitespace besides space and tab)

map shift-space to space, so that these characters are not inserted in the first place?

Thanks!

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

New contributor

I sometimes type (by accident) shift-space, inserting unbreakable space into code. With c++, I get this:

error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜302Ã¢Â€Â™ in program
error: stray Ã¢Â€Â˜240Ã¢Â€Â™ in program

while in other formats (like RestructuredText), I am hunting mysterious errors of syntax without any visible cause.

Is there a way to

always highlight unbreakable spaces (and perhaps other type of "illegal" whitespace, i.e. any whitespace besides space and tab)

map shift-space to space, so that these characters are not inserted in the first place?

Thanks!

key-bindings highlight unicode

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

New contributor

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

New contributor

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

New contributor

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

asked 3 hours ago

eudoxos

1083

New contributor

eudoxos is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

I do have this in my custom vimrc file, which highlights git conflict markers as well as special whitespace characters.

" highlight VCS conflict markers
" highlight strange Whitespace
aug CustomHighlighting
 au!
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi1") | let w:custom_hi1 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '^(<|=|>)7([^=].+)?$') | endif
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi2") | let w:custom_hi2 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '[x0bx0cu00a0u1680u180eu2000-u200au2028u202fu205fu3000ufeff]') | endif
aug END

kudos to Benjamin Haskell via the vim_use mailinglist

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

You can use

:syntax match ErrorMsg " "

while inserting an unbreakable space between the "'s.

To automatically load the rule, you can simply add

au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match ErrorMsg " "

to your .vimrc.

If you want to customize the highlighting, create a custom rule before the syn match, i.e.

highlight UnbreakableSpace ctermbg=red guibg=red
au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match UnbreakableSpace " "

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

I don't think you can use the <S-Space> notation in a mapping* but I think you should be able to map it by pressing Shift+Space when typing in the mapping where I've written [lhs] below:

:inoremap [lhs] <Space>

Of course, when reading your .vimrc, this will be a bit confusing, so you might be better off using an :execute command and Vim's notation for adding Unicode characters to a string:

execute "inoremap u00A0 <Space>"

(N.B. I'm not entirely sure which character you are inserting when you press Shift+Space: you may need to adjust the Unicode value accordingly.)

_{* I think that the keystrokes are probably converted in your terminal and never make it to Vim. So Vim only sees the unbreakable space: it doesn't know you pressed Shift+Space.}

edited 3 hours ago

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

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3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

I do have this in my custom vimrc file, which highlights git conflict markers as well as special whitespace characters.

" highlight VCS conflict markers
" highlight strange Whitespace
aug CustomHighlighting
 au!
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi1") | let w:custom_hi1 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '^(<|=|>)7([^=].+)?$') | endif
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi2") | let w:custom_hi2 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '[x0bx0cu00a0u1680u180eu2000-u200au2028u202fu205fu3000ufeff]') | endif
aug END

kudos to Benjamin Haskell via the vim_use mailinglist

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

I do have this in my custom vimrc file, which highlights git conflict markers as well as special whitespace characters.

" highlight VCS conflict markers
" highlight strange Whitespace
aug CustomHighlighting
 au!
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi1") | let w:custom_hi1 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '^(<|=|>)7([^=].+)?$') | endif
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi2") | let w:custom_hi2 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '[x0bx0cu00a0u1680u180eu2000-u200au2028u202fu205fu3000ufeff]') | endif
aug END

kudos to Benjamin Haskell via the vim_use mailinglist

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

accepted

I do have this in my custom vimrc file, which highlights git conflict markers as well as special whitespace characters.

" highlight VCS conflict markers
" highlight strange Whitespace
aug CustomHighlighting
 au!
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi1") | let w:custom_hi1 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '^(<|=|>)7([^=].+)?$') | endif
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi2") | let w:custom_hi2 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '[x0bx0cu00a0u1680u180eu2000-u200au2028u202fu205fu3000ufeff]') | endif
aug END

kudos to Benjamin Haskell via the vim_use mailinglist

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

I do have this in my custom vimrc file, which highlights git conflict markers as well as special whitespace characters.

" highlight VCS conflict markers
" highlight strange Whitespace
aug CustomHighlighting
 au!
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi1") | let w:custom_hi1 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '^(<|=|>)7([^=].+)?$') | endif
 au WinEnter * if !exists("w:custom_hi2") | let w:custom_hi2 = matchadd('ErrorMsg', '[x0bx0cu00a0u1680u180eu2000-u200au2028u202fu205fu3000ufeff]') | endif
aug END

kudos to Benjamin Haskell via the vim_use mailinglist

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

answered 3 hours ago

Christian Brabandt

14.5k2443

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

You can use

:syntax match ErrorMsg " "

while inserting an unbreakable space between the "'s.

To automatically load the rule, you can simply add

au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match ErrorMsg " "

to your .vimrc.

If you want to customize the highlighting, create a custom rule before the syn match, i.e.

highlight UnbreakableSpace ctermbg=red guibg=red
au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match UnbreakableSpace " "

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

You can use

:syntax match ErrorMsg " "

while inserting an unbreakable space between the "'s.

To automatically load the rule, you can simply add

au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match ErrorMsg " "

to your .vimrc.

If you want to customize the highlighting, create a custom rule before the syn match, i.e.

highlight UnbreakableSpace ctermbg=red guibg=red
au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match UnbreakableSpace " "

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

You can use

:syntax match ErrorMsg " "

while inserting an unbreakable space between the "'s.

To automatically load the rule, you can simply add

au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match ErrorMsg " "

to your .vimrc.

If you want to customize the highlighting, create a custom rule before the syn match, i.e.

highlight UnbreakableSpace ctermbg=red guibg=red
au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match UnbreakableSpace " "

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

You can use

:syntax match ErrorMsg " "

while inserting an unbreakable space between the "'s.

To automatically load the rule, you can simply add

au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match ErrorMsg " "

to your .vimrc.

If you want to customize the highlighting, create a custom rule before the syn match, i.e.

highlight UnbreakableSpace ctermbg=red guibg=red
au VimEnter,BufWinEnter * syn match UnbreakableSpace " "

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

answered 3 hours ago

Mr Shunz

1862

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

I don't think you can use the <S-Space> notation in a mapping* but I think you should be able to map it by pressing Shift+Space when typing in the mapping where I've written [lhs] below:

:inoremap [lhs] <Space>

Of course, when reading your .vimrc, this will be a bit confusing, so you might be better off using an :execute command and Vim's notation for adding Unicode characters to a string:

execute "inoremap u00A0 <Space>"

(N.B. I'm not entirely sure which character you are inserting when you press Shift+Space: you may need to adjust the Unicode value accordingly.)

_{* I think that the keystrokes are probably converted in your terminal and never make it to Vim. So Vim only sees the unbreakable space: it doesn't know you pressed Shift+Space.}

edited 3 hours ago

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

I don't think you can use the <S-Space> notation in a mapping* but I think you should be able to map it by pressing Shift+Space when typing in the mapping where I've written [lhs] below:

:inoremap [lhs] <Space>

Of course, when reading your .vimrc, this will be a bit confusing, so you might be better off using an :execute command and Vim's notation for adding Unicode characters to a string:

execute "inoremap u00A0 <Space>"

(N.B. I'm not entirely sure which character you are inserting when you press Shift+Space: you may need to adjust the Unicode value accordingly.)

_{* I think that the keystrokes are probably converted in your terminal and never make it to Vim. So Vim only sees the unbreakable space: it doesn't know you pressed Shift+Space.}

edited 3 hours ago

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

I don't think you can use the <S-Space> notation in a mapping* but I think you should be able to map it by pressing Shift+Space when typing in the mapping where I've written [lhs] below:

:inoremap [lhs] <Space>

Of course, when reading your .vimrc, this will be a bit confusing, so you might be better off using an :execute command and Vim's notation for adding Unicode characters to a string:

execute "inoremap u00A0 <Space>"

(N.B. I'm not entirely sure which character you are inserting when you press Shift+Space: you may need to adjust the Unicode value accordingly.)

_{* I think that the keystrokes are probably converted in your terminal and never make it to Vim. So Vim only sees the unbreakable space: it doesn't know you pressed Shift+Space.}

edited 3 hours ago

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

I don't think you can use the <S-Space> notation in a mapping* but I think you should be able to map it by pressing Shift+Space when typing in the mapping where I've written [lhs] below:

:inoremap [lhs] <Space>

Of course, when reading your .vimrc, this will be a bit confusing, so you might be better off using an :execute command and Vim's notation for adding Unicode characters to a string:

execute "inoremap u00A0 <Space>"

(N.B. I'm not entirely sure which character you are inserting when you press Shift+Space: you may need to adjust the Unicode value accordingly.)

_{* I think that the keystrokes are probably converted in your terminal and never make it to Vim. So Vim only sees the unbreakable space: it doesn't know you pressed Shift+Space.}

edited 3 hours ago

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

edited 3 hours ago

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

answered 3 hours ago

Rich

13.8k11763

add a commentÂ |Â

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