NAME Vim::Complete - Generate auto completion information for vim VERSION version 1.100880 SYNOPSIS my (@dirs, $verbose, $min_length); my $filename = '...'; Vim::Complete->new( dirs => \@dirs, verbose => $verbose, min_length => $min_length, )->parse->report_to_file($filename); DESCRIPTION Vim has a good auto completion mechanism. In insert mode, you can type Control-n to complete on the current string; you can cycle through the possible completions by repeatedly typing Control-n. See ":help complete" in vim for more information. By default, vim completes on identifiers it finds in the current buffer, buffers in other windows, other loaded buffers, unloaded buffers, tags and included files. That means you still have to type the identifier once so vim knows about it. However, you can extend the way vim completes. It can take additional identifiers from a file. So Vim::Complete takes a list of directories - usually @INC -, looks at the modules contained therein, parses package names, variable names and subroutine names and writes them to a file. Now you need to tell vim where to find the file with the Perl identifiers. Put this line into your ".vimrc": set complete+=k~/.vimcomplete The "+=k" tells vim to also look into the specified file. For this to work well, you need to tell vim that colons are part of identifiers in Perl (for example, "Foo::Bar" is an identifier. Put this line in your ".vimrc": set iskeyword+=: Included in this distribution is the program "mk_vim_complete", which is a command-line frontend to Vim::Complete. You can tell Vim::Complete to only use identifiers that are of a certain minimum length. An identifier that is only one character long (such as $x) doesn't need to be completed. If you would include two-character identifiers, you might throw off the auto completion by having to cycle through too many identifiers. So the default minimum length is 3. METHODS parse Assumes that "dir()", and optionally "verbose()" and "min_length()", have been set and starts to look in the directories for files ending in ".pm". For each file it gathers information using "gather()". Returns the Vim::Complete object so method calls can be chained as seen in the "SYNOPSIS". report Takes all the gathered findings and returns the list of identifiers. Returns an array in list context, or a reference to the array in scalar context. report_to_file Takes as argument a filename. Writes the report generated by "report()" to the file. gather Takes a filename of a module, parses the source code and makes a note of the package names, subroutine names and variable names it sees. This method is called by "parse()"; it is unlikely that you want to call it yourself. min_length The minimum length a package name, variable name or subroutine has to have for a tag to be made. Defaults to 3. A basic getter/setter method. If called without an argument, it returns the value. If called with a single argument, it sets the value. Examples: my $value = $obj->min_length; $obj->min_length($value); There are also the following helper methods for this accessor: "clear_min_length" "min_length_clear" Clears the value. Example: $obj->clear_min_length; dirs A list of directories to be searched. Get or set the array values. If called without arguments, it returns the array in list context, or a reference to the array in scalar context. If called with arguments, it expands array references found therein and sets the values. Examples: my @values = $obj->dirs; my $array_ref = $obj->dirs; $obj->dirs(@values); $obj->dirs($array_ref); There are also the following helper methods for this accessor: "push_dirs" "dirs_push" Pushes elements onto the end of the array. Example: $obj->push_dirs(@values); "pop_dirs" "dirs_pop" Pops the last element off the array, returning it. Example: my $value = $obj->pop_dirs; "unshift_dirs" "dirs_unshift" Unshifts elements onto the beginning of the array. Example: $obj->unshift_dirs(@values); "shift_dirs" "dirs_shift" Shifts the first element off the array, returning it. Example: my $value = $obj->shift_dirs; "clear_dirs" "dirs_clear" Deletes all elements from the array. Example: $obj->clear_dirs; "count_dirs" "dirs_count" Returns the number of elements in the array. Example: my $count = $obj->count_dirs; "splice_dirs" "dirs_splice" Takes three arguments: An offset, a length and a list. Removes the elements designated by the offset and the length from the array, and replaces them with the elements of the list, if any. In list context, returns the elements removed from the array. In scalar context, returns the last element removed, or "undef" if no elements are removed. The array grows or shrinks as necessary. If the offset is negative then it starts that far from the end of the array. If the length is omitted, removes everything from the offset onward. If the length is negative, removes the elements from the offset onward except for -length elements at the end of the array. If both the offset and the length are omitted, removes everything. If the offset is past the end of the array, it issues a warning, and splices at the end of the array. Examples: $obj->splice_dirs(2, 1, $x, $y); $obj->splice_dirs(-1); $obj->splice_dirs(0, -1); "index_dirs" "dirs_index" Takes a list of indices and returns the elements indicated by those indices. If only one index is given, the corresponding array element is returned. If several indices are given, the result is returned as an array in list context or as an array reference in scalar context. Examples: my $element = $obj->index_dirs(3); my @elements = $obj->index_dirs(@indices); my $array_ref = $obj->index_dirs(@indices); "set_dirs" "dirs_set" Takes a list of index/value pairs and for each pair it sets the array element at the indicated index to the indicated value. Returns the number of elements that have been set. Example: $obj->set_dirs(1 => $x, 5 => $y); verbose A flag that indicates whether verbose diagnostics should be sent to STDERR. If called without an argument, returns the boolean value (0 or 1). If called with an argument, it normalizes it to the boolean value. That is, the values 0, undef and the empty string become 0; everything else becomes 1. Examples: $obj->verbose($value); my $value = $obj->verbose; There are also the following helper methods for this accessor: "set_verbose" "verbose_set" Sets the boolean value to 1. Example: $obj->set_verbose; "clear_verbose" "verbose_clear" Clears the boolean value by setting it to 0. Example: $obj->clear_verbose; INSTALLATION See perlmodinstall for information and options on installing Perl modules. BUGS AND LIMITATIONS No bugs have been reported. Please report any bugs or feature requests through the web interface at . AVAILABILITY The latest version of this module is available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Visit to find a CPAN site near you, or see . The development version lives at . Instead of sending patches, please fork this project using the standard git and github infrastructure. AUTHOR Marcel Gruenauer COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2007 by Marcel Gruenauer. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.