Enter Unicode characters with 8-digit hex code

Question

How do I enter Unicode characters like without copying it to the clipboard and pasting it?

Things I know:

The command ga on the character gives me hex:0001d4ed.
I can copy it on the clipboard and paste it via "+p.
I know how to enter Unicode values that have a 4 digit hex code:
<C-v>u for example <C-v>u03b1 gives the α character.

There are no unicode codepoints that require 8 hex digits. 6 is the maximum as `0x10ffff` is the maximum codepoint. — Mike Samuel, Feb 02 '12 at 20:48

score 50 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 02 '12 at 20:48

50

You can use <C-v>U, that is, an uppercase u, to input an 8 digit hex codepoint character.

More information here and here.

answered Feb 02 '12 at 20:48

Eduardo Ivanec

1

you're so fast - I can't accept it yet. ;-) thank you - I completely overread the `U` in the first link you gave me, when I read it first. – epsilonhalbe Feb 02 '12 at 20:54

ib. · Answer 2 · 2020-02-21T02:41:19.493

12

There is a Vim feature designed to simplify entering characters that cannot be typed directly. It is called Digraphs (see :help digraphs).

To define a custom digraph for entering ‘’, use an Ex command similar to the one below.

:dig dd 120045

where 120045 is the decimal representation of ‘’, as one can easily confirm using the ga command.

Inserting a character using a digraph is simple: Type Ctrl+K followed by the shortcut of that digraph (dd for the above example).

edited Feb 21 '20 at 02:41

answered Feb 03 '12 at 08:32

ib.

defining a global digraph - sounds a bit overkill to me I only have to insert the character once or twice and then have a `imap \curld ` in a tex-plugin to use it just with latex - in other places I don't need it and digraphs I can enter via the keyboard-compose key (I use the neo-keyboard-layout). – epsilonhalbe Feb 03 '12 at 11:35
@epsilonhalbe: Yeah, that is a fine approach, too. – ib. Feb 21 '20 at 02:41

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 17 '15 at 00:37

6

There exists a Unicode plugin for Vim. According to the plugin description, this plugin has three main features:

Character/digraph completion using either the Unicode name or the codepoint.
Identify the character/digraph under the cursor.
Search for digraphs by name; transform two normal characters into their corresponding digraph.

edited Oct 17 '15 at 00:37

shoover

answered Oct 16 '15 at 22:59

epsilonhalbe

3 Answers3