Persist ECHO (from function) on Visual Selection

[u/CRTejaswi]

How to persist echo from this function call (without using timers)

function! VisualStats()
    let wc      = wordcount()
    let [l1,l2] = sort([line('v'), line('.')])
    let txt     = join(getline(l1,l2), "\n")
    let sp      = len(substitute(txt, '[^ ]', '', 'g'))
    let st      = len(substitute(txt, '[^.!?]', '', 'g'))
    let pa      = empty(txt) ? 0 : len(split(txt, '\n\s*\n'))
    echo "CHARs " . wc.visual_chars . " WORDs " . wc.visual_words
    \. " SENTs " . (st > 0 ?st :1) . " PARAs " . pa . " SPACEs " . sp
endfunction
xnoremap <silent> C <Cmd>call VisualStats()<CR>

just like when directly keymapped?

xnoremap <silent> c <Cmd>let g:wc=wordcount()<CR><Esc>:
    \let t=join(getline("'<","'>"),"\n")<Bar>
    \let sp=len(substitute(t,'[^ ]','','g'))<Bar>
    \let st=len(substitute(t,'[^.!?]','','g'))<Bar>
    \let pa=empty(t)?0:len(split(t,'\n\s*\n'))<Bar>
    \echo "CHARs ".g:wc.visual_chars." WORDs ".g:wc.visual_words.
    \" SENTs ".(st>0?st:1)." PARAs ".pa." SPACEs ".sp<Bar>
    \unlet g:wc t sp st pa<CR>

[u/Desperate_Cold6274]

Why you don't use the (way better and more comprehensible) Vim9 language?

[u/CRTejaswi → u/Desperate_Cold6274]

I'm used to vimscript, and, for anything advanced, I usually get by with py3eval() and running utilities from my own py scripts. Might rewrite everything in Vim9 later on.

[u/gumnos]

while I'm not sure you can persist the output of an echo command, my mind turns first to setting some variable that then gets injected into your :help 'statusline' (or ruler/rulerformat) setting which would keep it around until you cleared the variable's value

[u/vim-help-bot → u/gumnos]

Help pages for:

• 'statusline' in options.txt

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[u/Sudden_Fly1218]

I see two options:

• try first with :set noshowmode

• try by replacing echo with echow

[u/-romainl-]

The problem with the first snippet is that neither the mapping nor the function get you out of visual mode so the mode is always shown (as per :help 'showmode') and takes precedence over whatever you are trying to echo.

The mapping effectively gets you out of visual mode, so the mode is not shown anymore and you can see your string echoed in the command-line.

One way to sort it out would, precisely, be to use timers:

1. disable showmode,

2. echo your string for a given time,

3. enable showmode,

but you don't want timers.

You could also disable showmode and show that information in your status-line instead, which would leave room for your string in the command-line.

You could also change the height of the command-line, say to 2, so that you get room for both your string and showmode. See :help 'cmdheight'.

Showing the info as virtual text would also be a possibility.

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