Remapping keys while using vim-latex

Question

I am using the plugin vim-latex/vim-latex. It's a fantastic plugin for sure. But I want some of my own mapping to be there. Say whenever I press 4 I want $$ in return with the cursor on the second $, or whenever I press { I want {} in return with the cursor on }.

Earlier I added the following to my .vimrc:

inoremap 4 $$ < esc>i

inoremap { {} < esc>i

inoremap 0 <Esc>lla

The last one takes the cursor 2 steps to the right while in insert mode.

But these are not working now. What can I do to achieve similar functionality now? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The suggestion from Vim-LaTeX is to use IMAP() which takes IMAP('lhs','rhs','ft') which looks for lhs, replaces it with rhs when the filetype is ft.

For your two cases the following work

call IMAP('4','$<++>$','tex')
call IMAP('{','{<++>}','tex')

where <++> is a placeholder to indicate where the cursor should go (see the vim-LaTeX documentation or What does <++> signify when using Vim LatexSuite?).

Personally I prefer to define an vim-latex environment as

let g:Tex_Env_m = "$ <++> $<++>"

which can then be called with mF5 to produce inline maths.

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Responding to the comment, non-insert mode stuff can be called using Ctrl+O e.g.

call IMAP('3',"\<C-O>f{",'tex')

will temporarily use normal mode to execute f{ which will find the next { and then leaving you with insert mode.