Mapping 1 command to multiple key combinations in vim

Question

Im using nerdtree plugin in vim. With let NERDTreeMapActivateNode="<Right>" a tree node opens up bs using the right arrow key. But I want also the left arrow key do the same. Is that even possible that 2 Keymappings can do the same thing? If so, how?

Answer 1

Yes, it is definitely possible to have a single command mapped to many key sequences:

nnoremap a diw
nnoremap b diw
nnoremap c diw

But this is a special case, where the mapping is done internally by a plugin and it is arbitrarily limited to one.

Apparently , the plugin sets the filetype of its buffer as nerdtree , so you might be able to deal with this in an agnostic way by mapping <Left> to <Right> only in the desired context:

" after/ftplugin/nerdtree.vim (relative to your `.vim` or `vimfiles`)
nmap <buffer> <Left> <Right>

But a better solution would probably be to use the plugin's own :help NERDTreeKeymapAPI .

Answer 2

created a file ~/.vim/nerdtree_plugin/mymapping.vim

call NERDTreeAddKeyMap({                                                                                                                                              
    \ 'key': '<Left>',                                                                                                                                     
    \ 'callback': 'FunctionLEFTkey',
    \ 'quickhelpText': 'echo full path of current node',                                                                                                   
            \ 'scope': 'DirNode' })

function! FunctionLEFTkey(dummy_node_arg_required_cozof_scope)
    execute 'normal' g:NERDTreeMapActivateNode                                                                                                                    
endfunction                                                                                                                                                          

call NERDTreeAddKeyMap({                                                                                                                                              
    \ 'key': '<Right>',                                                                                                                                    
    \ 'callback': 'FunctionRIGHTkey',                                                                                                                      
    \ 'quickhelpText': 'echo full path of current node',                                                                                                   
    \ 'scope': 'all' })                                                                                                                                    

function! FunctionRIGHTkey()                                                                                                                                          
    execute 'normal' g:NERDTreeMapActivateNode                                                                                                                    
endfunction

• Pressing Leftarrow in nerdtree closes or opens a directory node.
• Pressing Rightarrow in nerdtree closes or open a directory or opens a file.

Works as long NERDTreeMapActivateNode (in vimrc) isn't set to Leftarrow or Rightarrow key because then only this key can toggle NERDTreeMapActivateNode and NERDTreeAddKeyMap doesn't work anymore.