Advanced text editing commands

[R. H. van der Gaag]

> On 27 Apr 2023, at 16:57, Scott Kostyshak <skostysh at lyx.org> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Apr 27, 2023 at 10:01:59AM -0400, Richard Kimberly Heck wrote:
>> On 4/27/23 03:13, R. H. van der Gaag wrote:
>>> Having come from Vim and Obsidian, I find I miss a number of ‘advanced’ text editing commands, like jumping to a particular place in the text with just a few keystrokes,
>> Such as?
>>> or selecting a sentence.
>> 
>> I don't know how easy this would be to do in a multi-lingual way.
> 
> R. H., to answer your question directly, yes I miss them :). I am used to Vim, and I often wish I could use Vim-like features in LyX. e.g., I love using 'g;' in Vim. I think the first 'g;' in LyX can be down with "Navigate back" ('Ctrl + shift + <' or something like that) but I would love to go through the entire change list as quickly as with 'g;'.
> 
> Also, I've requested persistent undo (https://www.lyx.org/trac/ticket/12578), which I've gotten used to in Vim.
> 
> I imagine Emacs users have similar desires to use Emacs features in LyX.
> 
> That said, without considerable work, I don't see it happening in LyX anytime soon.
> 
> Scott

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one! I guess the number of editing tricks I miss isn’t even that large. I would like to be able to select, change, and delete around a word and a sentence, like I can in Vim. And to do a ‘light speed’ jump to any part of the visible text by typing some shortcut and then typing the first two letters of the word I want to jump to; in Vim, and in Obsidian (using a plugin) the matches are then marked with a letter, and hitting that letter takes me there. On top of that, going back and forward through the locations where my cursor has been placed, and like you say, persistent undo would be wonderful. 

I have no idea how to do this in LFUN, and no time, frankly, to figure out if that is even possible.

I now find myself reverting to Obsidian or Vim to write longer copy, which is less than ideal. 

RH