README.R_with_vim

SVN: $Id: README.R_with_vim 79 2007-11-21 14:15:56Z ranke $
Last Change: 2007 Nov 21

For working with vim and R it is convenient to open a fresh xterm on a
fresh virtual desktop, covering the left half of the screen, and start vim,
check if the filetype is set correctly (:set ft), set it if necessary (e.g.
with :set ft=r) and press <F2>. This will open a second xterm listening to an R
interpreter.  You can then send visually highlighted code from vim to R with
the vmap "r".

Caution: If there are adjacent tabs in the source code (can be made visible
with :set list, then they show up as ^I^I), then your R console will list 
the contents of your working directory in the middle of interpreting your
code and most likely get confused. I don't recommend using tabs anyway (use 
the vim option expandtab, as set in ftplugin/r.vim). A workaround for existing
code is to execute it with the R command source().

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As an alternative to this plugin on www.vim.org you can also install my Debian
package if you are using the Debian distribution

	$ su
	$ echo "deb http://www.uft.uni-bremen.de/chemie/ranke/debs ./" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
	$ apt-get update
	$ apt-get install vim-r-plugin

Note that you have to activate addons like this plugin since vim version
7.1-022+1, July 2007. For system-wide activation, use

	$ vim-addons -w install r-plugin

(details in README.Debian). You can then ignore the rest of this file.

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Making this plugin work requires the installation of the perl script,
ftplugin/funnel.pl. It just has to be in your $PATH and executable, so if you
are the only one working with the plugin on your machine, e.g.

mv ftplugin/funnel.pl ~/bin
chmod +x ~/bin/funnel.pl

(be sure ~/bin is in your $PATH variable) or if you have superuser privileges
you can put funnel.pl it into /usr/local/bin.

funnel.pl requires two perl libraries:

	IO::Pty and Term::ReadLine

If you add the lines

	au BufNewFile,BufRead *.R     setf r
	au BufNewFile,BufRead *.R     set syntax=r

to your ~.vim/filetype.vim file (or create one with only these lines) then the
vimscript r.vim will be activated upon opening any file with a filename
matching *.R. The whole set of commands available at this point is elucidated
in ftplugin/r.vim.

I am also including my syntax files for R help files and R noweb files (Sweave files)
as well as a Makefile for processing R noweb files from within vim with :make. The 
syntax files are part of vim starting from version 7.

I have one report of the funnel.pl not working on Mac OS X with the default perl on this
OS. If anybody gets this to work, please drop me a line.