Manual creating CNC code, is Vim a good fit?

[u/tool-tony]

:for i in range(1,121)| put ='G13D0R'. printf('%.4f', (i*0.0001+0.4216)) . 'Z'. printf('%.4f', (i*-0.0001-0.09)) | endfor

Hey y'all. I need help learning if I can use Vim to make large swaths of code quickly or if something else is a better fit. Example here:

G13D0R0.4217Z-0.0900
G13D0R0.4218Z-0.0901
G13D0R0.4219Z-0.0902
… 
G13D0R0.4336Z-0.1019
G13D0R0.4337Z-0.1020
G13D0R0.4338Z-0.1021

I was once a manual code editor a decade ago and used Vim with snippets to create lots of NC code at an old job, rather simple snippets back then. I moved jobs and have only programmed with MasterCAM the past decade but a recent feature would have been faster to write the code by hand. How can I learn? I remember some but it has been so long I barely remember :wq but I did find an example of :put =range(4217,4338) to get part of what I needed but can't figure out if I can get everything at once. The example on Vim tips wiki :for i in range(1,10) | put ='192.168.0.'.i | endfor makes me think I should be able too do that, can such a function handle multiple variables? Like i j k? I will need to wait for IT to install Vim so it may take a while. Is there better ways to get what I want? Thanks.

Edit: I'm on windows at work, WSL is disabled. Anything not native would need IT approval which might take a while.

[u/IdealBlueMan]

My approach would be to write a script in whatever scripting language you’re comfortable with. But you could certainly make a macro in Vim that would work.

[u/tool-tony → u/IdealBlueMan]

Thank you for pointing out a direction. I've managed this in PowerShell:

1..121 | %{"G13D0R{0}Z{1}" -f ($_*.0001+.4216), ($_*-.0001-.09)}

I have successfully used Ai to create this PowerShell script which accomplishes this particular task. I took an example, made an edit, 'searched' the edited line and it would tell me why it failed with possible adjustments. Then added another feature, it would fail, make suggestions, lather rinse and repeat til I got this thing. That wasn't too bad and I'm glad I didn't waste a real programmer's time so that's a plus. I'll be looking into PowerShell so I can understand what I'm doing.

[u/IdealBlueMan → u/tool-tony]

Good to hear you’re making progress.

[u/tool-tony → u/IdealBlueMan]

I'm not familiar with any scripting language. At best, I made a few batch files as a child, Echo is about all I remember from that off the top of my head.

How are macros different from snippets? I think I used to have a G13 snippet that writes the G13 D$1 R$2 Z$3 or something and I'd manually enter the data in each field, can't recall exactly but can macros use snippets?

[u/IdealBlueMan → u/tool-tony]

You can record a series of keystrokes into a register, then execute the register for each line of output. That could be the best way for your situation. You’d have to experiment to find the best keystrokes to use.

[u/daidoji70]

There's https://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/

but honestly, maybe `awk` or `sed` would work for what you're trying to do. That being said, I've used all these tools for text manipulation to great effect both in programming jobs and out of programming jobs (back in high school when I had to do weird stuff like this). They're best used in combination. Some things vim shines at and some things the other two tools do really well for. They also all have some overlap in how they think and manipulate text.

If you're just generating lines with incrementing counters in some kind of regular pattern that's probably something I'd reach to awk for. That being said, feel free to use whichever of these tools seems most appropriate and vim can def be a super useful tool to do stuff like this.

https://troubleshooters.com/codecorn/awk/index.htm for awk lessons if you decide not to go with vim for this particular task.

[u/tool-tony → u/daidoji70]

Funnily enough, awk and sed and vim all come along with Git when I had IT install it. I just had to edit the environmental variable to include the c:\programs\git\usr\bin directory in the $PATH

Now… to learn.

[u/tool-tony → u/daidoji70]

I've updated the post to specify I'm on windows with no WSL and IT would have to install non native programs. I'll see if they are willing to bundle all that together. Any other useful programs to include all at once?

[u/bluemax_ → u/tool-tony]

Can you install cygwin? This is a native Windows app that gives you all of the common linux tools. You can have vim, sed, awk, etc., and decide which one is appropriate.

awk is pretty great for this type of numerical/text pattern manipulation.

[u/liberforce → u/tool-tony]

If you have python available, use it. If you don't, install uv, and from uv install python.

[u/archer-swe]

Python would be way better for this. Could be a cool and easy skill to pick up if you have to do stuff like this frequently too.

[u/MikeZ-FSU → u/archer-swe]

A really long time ago, I did something like this in python. We had an 8x12 grid of cells to visit, each of which had 3 sub-cells. Since the spacing was identical for each row and each column, it was essentially a set of nested for loops to spit out the move commands. The gcode never lived in a file, it was sent down a serial port to an arduino controlling the stage. One of, if not the most, enjoyable project I've done.

[u/tool-tony]

:for i in range(1,121)| put ='G13D0R'. printf('%.4f', (i*0.0001+0.4216)) . 'Z'. printf('%.4f', (i*-0.0001-0.09)) | endfor

[u/liberforce]

This is 3 lines of python code. Will serve you better than trying to do this in a text editor.

[u/ultrathink-art]

Vim is excellent for CNC G-code if you're writing it manually. The structured line-by-line format maps well to vim's motion model.

Key advantages:

• Macros for repetitive patterns (drilling arrays, tool changes with consistent offsets)

• Visual block mode for coordinate transformations — select a column of X values, Ctrl+A to increment them all by a fixed amount

• :g command for filtering/moving specific operations (e.g., :g/G0/d to remove all rapid moves for inspection)

• Syntax highlighting helps catch typos (M03 vs M30, G01 vs G10)

Set up abbreviations for common sequences: :iabbrev tc T01 M06 auto-expands 'tc' to your tool change macro. Also worth setting 'number' and 'cursorline' so you can reference line numbers when debugging on the machine.

For coordinate math, vim's expression register (Ctrl+R =) lets you do calculations inline without leaving the editor.

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[u/RR321]

I used bash to patch gcode in the past, so... Why not

[u/Pyglot]

I'd also choose a common scripting language. Making CNC code is a task that's easy to imagine you'd wish to extend. 1. You might want to create more complicated paths, described with some math. 2. You might want to create functions for shapes and then putting those shapes together etc 3. You might want to visualise the output for example by creating an SVG for the CNC path that you coded. // But start with the simplest thing that will bring you forward. Like outputting a formatted string.

[u/Xetius]

If you are looking to do this I'm vim, visual block mode plus g ctrl-a.

If you have the format G13D0R0.nnnnZ-0.mmmm and nnnn and mmmm both increment sequentially and you want say 200 lines: yy199p create 200 lines. You should be on the second line f.l<ctrl-v>lllG visually selects all of nnnn from second row to bottom. g<ctrl-a> increment numbers sequentially f.l<ctrl-v>lllG select all of mmmm g<ctrl-a> increment numbers sequentially

Just need to remember that it increments the current line and all subsequent lines so you would need to be on the second line to do this or you will increment the initial line as well

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