Vsvim: Ctrl-w in Insert Mode does not behave correctly

[tmajest]

Ctrl-w in insert mode should perform a 'backwards kill word' command. This should delete the word before the cursor. If you repeat Ctrl-w, it should continue deleting words before the cursor. In VSVim, it only seems to delete words that have been made since going into insert mode. It should continue to delete text.

[jaredpar]

Thanks for reporting. I will take a look at that.

As an aside, what is the value of the backspace setting? It can affect scenarios like this.

[tmajest]

It looks like VsVim uses a default backspace setting of backspace="". In gvim, I think the setting defaults to backspace=indent,eol,start.

From the vim documentation - "When 'backspace' is empty, Vi compatible backspacing is used. You cannot backspace over autoindent, before column 1 or before where insert started."

So it appears that it is behaving correctly according to the documentation. Maybe instead we can set the default behavior for backspace to equal backspace=indent,eol,start instead of ""?

[tmajest]

Interestingly enough, you can still use the backspace key to delete characters that have been added before going into insert mode when the backspace setting is backspace="". However, Ctrl-w and Ctrl-u do not (this is the expected behavior). You shouldn't be able to backspace, Ctrl-w, or Ctrl-u to delete text made before going into insert mode unless backspace=start is set.

So perhaps the bug should be: backspace="" does not work as expected.

I still think the default behavior should be backspace=indent,eol,start.

[jaredpar]

The default for vim 7.2 is backspace="" which is what VsVim ended up
standardizing on. I thought that we moved to 7.3 defaults in the latest
release though. That can be changed via the options though.

Tools -> Options -> VsVim

It is possible though that there is a bug in Ctrl-W either way though. Will
look into that.

On Thursday, April 30, 2015, tmajest [email protected] wrote:

Interestingly enough, you can still use the backspace key to delete
characters that have been added before going into insert mode when the
backspace setting is backspace="". However, Ctrl-w and Ctrl-u do not (this
is the expected behavior). You shouldn't be able to backspace, Ctrl-w, or
Ctrl-u to delete text made before going into insert mode unless
backspace=start is set.

So perhaps the bug should be: backspace="" does not work as expected.

I still think the default behavior should be backspace=indent,eol,start.

—
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Jared Parsons
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[ricksladkey]

Last time I checked, VsVim behaves the same way as vim: if you have an rcfile, backspace defaults to vi-compatible and you need to set it in that rcfile to get the more modern setting. Only when you don't have an rcfile do the user-friendly settings kick in.

[zizhengwu]

I am experiencing the same issue.

VsVim seems to behave correctly after I put

set backspace=indent,eol,start

in vsvimrc. Thanks!

[chaitanyagurrapu]

Can confirm that adding the above line to the .vimrc file works

[ricksladkey]

Closing because :set backspace=indent,eol,start is now the default for anyone without an rcfile and set backspace= for anyone with an rcfile, exactly like gvim 8.1.