better-bash-vi-mode

simple shell script I use to emulate bash's vi-mode motions for yanking (y), cutting (d) and pasting (p) to system clipboard

leverages bash's readline options (see man bash sections 'READLINE' and 'bind')

could be used as a starting point for defining other custom actions supporting vi(m) motions

• use specified buffer for clipboard actions e.g. system clipboard via xclip while still allowing motions (including numeric arguments) e.g. y2w: yank current + next word
• changes behaviour of w when used for cutting, yanking and pasting: apply action to whole word, no matter where the cursor was placed inside the word

Note I wrote this as a somewhat quick & dirty fix for personal use and shared it in case someone found this usefull when facing the clipboard buffer problem.

So feel free to try this out or use the idea. If you're having trouble with this you may open an issue or create a pull request if you have added any features etc.

currently supported motions

key	motion
w	whole word
0	beginning of line
ß	end of line
b	beginning of word
e	end of line
h	left
l	right
yy dd etc.	whole line

numeric arguments can also be used (including negative numeric args although the sign may not be used), may only affect motions such as w, h Example: d3l

Installation

source brl-actions.sh inside the corresponding ~/.bashrc file and use bash's bind -m [mode] -x [binding] function to bind any of the functions from the file to a key of your choice (see 'bind' in man bash)

make sure to put the file named brl-motions.sh in the same directory as it is sourced from the other file