Jump to the definitions of variables, classes, functions, etc., without relying on tags. To definity and beyond!

vim-definitive is definitively simple to use!

:FindDefinition uses :grep to search for the definition of the word under the cursor.

:FindDefinition FunctionOrVariableName greps for the definition of FunctionOrVariableName.

:SFindDefinition and :VFindDefinition are like :FindDefinition but the results will be returned in a new horizontal or vertical split, respectively.

All matches are populated into the quickfix list. If a single match is found, FindDefinition will jump to the definition immediately. If more than one match is found, FindDefinition will open the quickfix list and jump to the first match. If there is a match within the current file, FindDefinition will jump to the first match before the cursor, opening the quickfix list if there are any more matches.

No mappings are created by default, so I recommend mapping :FindDefinition to something simple, a la:

nnoremap <Leader>d :FindDefinition<CR> " Normal mode
vnoremap <Leader>d "ay:FindDefinition <C-R>a<CR> " Visual mode

g:definitive_definitions contains the regex dictionary used to search for definitions based on filetype. To append to this dictionary or override an existing definition, simply extend g:definitive_definitions as follows:

let g:definitive_definitions = {
      \ 'javascript': '\<\(\(const\|let\|var\)\s\+%1\>\|\(function\s\+\)\=%1\s*(.*)\s*{\|class\s\+%1\s*{\)',
      \ 'some_other_filetype': 'some\+other.*fancy\\regex\s%1'
      \}

Note: %1 is used as the placeholder for the keyword that will be grepped for, so don't forget to include it somewhere in your regex.

You can also specify that a filetype should use the same regex as another filetype by using 'extends' as follows:

let g:definitive_definitions = {
    \ 'javascript.jsx': { 'extends': 'javascript' }
    \}

PS: If you can come up with a regex for a language that vim-definitive does not currently support by default, let me know or create a PR!

Languages currently supported by default:

• Javascript
• Typescript
• JSX
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• Elixir
• Scala
• Kotlin
• Vimscript
• Shell scripts

g:definitive_associated_filetypes is used to tell vim-definitive to use a certain filetype's definition when searching from a different filetype. An example use case would be wanting to find the definition of a variable in a ruby project from inside an ERB file, which is of filetype 'eruby', not 'ruby', normally causing vim-definitive to call off its search. You can specify such relationships between filetypes as follows:

let g:definitive_associated_filetypes = {
      \  'eruby': 'ruby',
      \  'html.handlebars': 'javascript',
      \}

This will tell vim-definitive to look for ruby variables when you're in an ERB template and javascript variables when you're in a Handlebars template.

g:definitive_root_markers is the list of project root directory markers. These are files or directories which typically mark the root directory of a given project. vim-definitive uses this list to determine where it should be looking when it is searching for definitions. Common examples include .git or .hg directories or a Makefile, Gemfile, or Pipfile, and so on. You can extend this list as follows:

let g:definitive_root_markers = {
      \ 'all': [ '.git', '.gitignore', '.hg', '.hgignore', 'Makefile' ],
      \ 'javascript': [ 'package.json' ]
      \}

Note that this is filetype-specific, and that vim-definitive will search first for those files listed for the current filetype, and then for any listed under 'all'.

Also note that your extensions will overwrite the defaults for that filetype. For example, the default for javascript is to look for package.json, so if you did something like javascript: [ 'node_modules' ], vim-definitive would no longer look for the package.json file.

g:definitive_jump_to_first_match determines when vim-definitive will jump to the first match found

If 2, always jump to the first match found. If 1, only jump to the first match found if there is only a single match. If 0, never jump to the first match found. (default: 1)

Note: Regardless of what this is set to, vim-definitive will always jump to a match if there is one found within the current file.

g:definitive_open_quickfix determines when vim-definitive opens the quickfix list

If 2, always open the quickfix list. If 1, only open the quickfix list if there is more than one match. If 0, never open the quickfix list, even if there is more than one match. (default: 1)

Install it however you usually install plugins.

For example, if you use Vim-Plug, simply add to your vimrc:

Plug 'misterbuckley/vim-definitive'

Pathogen users:

cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone https://github.com/misterbuckley/vim-definitive.git

vim-definitive requires git version 2.19.0 or higher. If you have installed or updated vim-definitively recently and you are unable to find definitions outside of the current file, it may be because your git-grep is out of date. If you are on Ubuntu, see this StackOverflow thread.