Can you solve this TextEditing challenge in less than 5 keystrokes?(vimgolf.com)
vimgolf.com
Can you solve this TextEditing challenge in less than 5 keystrokes?
http://vimgolf.com/challenges/4d1db1b8de2f897c2a00014a
3 comments
On emacs, the immediately obvious approach takes 11 keystrokes:
C-x ( C-f <return> C-x ) C-u 2 5 C-x e
C-x ( C-f <return> C-x ) C-u 2 5 C-x e
The way that first comes to mind to do that particular text transform is (using up arrow notation for control characters):
If shifted and control characters count as one keystroke, not two, then that is 11 characters (^M takes two, because it is entered as ^V ENTER). However, the leader board currently shows 12 as the best solution, and I'm having a hard time believing, since I'm not anywhere near being a vim guru, that my first "off the top of my head" solution could take the lead.
So I would assume that means modifier keys do count. In that case, mine is 14. Interestingly, no one else has a 14 on the leader board. There are a bunch of 12's, then a 13, then a 16.
Assuming the cursor starts on the first character of the first line, my second idea is
That would be 12. That's about the limit of my vim-fu. Under 5? Way beyond me...unless the submitter accidentally linked to the wrong problem!
EDIT: OK, my first attempt above doesn't work. It puts an extra blank line at the top of the file. (Swapping the order of ^M and & puts an extra blank at the bottom). The second solution above works, and I was curious enough to see if I'd guessed the counting rules that I signed up and submitted it, and sure enough it is 12, and it is the same (up to the name of the macro) as all the other 12 keystroke solutions. (Although it turns out I didn't guess the rules. Shifted characters count as one, but it counts whatever you use to save and exit).
It's interesting to see the names others use for their macro. A lot of people used 'a' or 'q', and one person used '0'. I'm the only 'e'. I use 'e' for temporary macros because invocation is easier with 'e': @e is easier, it seems to me, to type than @a or @q or @0.
EDIT 2: the problem the submission links to is named "Reverse simple deletion". There is another problem named "Simple deletion" which currently has a best score of 6. (http://vimgolf.com/challenges/4d1d9f55de2f897c2a000103). I wonder if the submitter meant to submit that one?