Digraphs in Vim

Ever wondered how to use digraphs to insert characters such as ⇐ or ⅛ into text files with Vim?

Simple - use the key combination Ctrl-K followed by the two-letter digraph code directly in insert mode.

For example, Ctrl-K DE generates ∆ and Ctrl-K 23 generates ⅔.

For a list of all the available digraphs and their key codes, use the command ":dig".

Sample Digraph Codes

The ability to insert digraphs directly into the editor opens up a lot of possibilities for customization. For example, to make tabs and trailing whitespace characters visible in code, you can add something like this to your .vimrc.

" Show tabs and trailing spaces.
" Ctrl-K >> for »
" Ctrl-K .M for ·
" (use :dig for list of digraphs)
set list listchars=tab:»»,trail:·

Here's what it looks like:

Using Digraphs to see Whitespace Characters

Digraphs are fun. Vim is fun. Digraphs + Vim = ∏☺♣☆は℞ψ. For more on digraphs in Vim, visit the vim digraph page.