perlhelp.vim is a Vim plugin that simplifies access to perldoc, allowing for rapid navigation and retrieval of Perl documentation.
Vim is a text editor that was first released more than 30 years ago by developer Bram Moolenaar. It was originally designed for the Amiga computer. Vim has many added features that can ease programming tasks, with its full name being "Vi IMproved." Although it works across different operating systems, it is most popular on Unix-like systems. Vim is free and open-source software that is licensed under a license that is compatible with the GNU GPL. Vim also incorporates features that encourage charitable donations.
Learning Vim can be a challenge for many programmers initially, but once you get the hang of it, you'll find that it can improve your productivity greatly. Vim has a built-in tutorial for beginners, along with the Vim Users' Manual that contains both basic and advanced Vim features. This manual can be read from within Vim, or you can find it online.
The perlhelp.vim plugin comes with several useful functions that accept an argument for the topic that you want to look up. If no argument is supplied, they will prompt you to enter the topic. Some of these functions include PerlFAQ, which lets you lookup a regular expression using perldoc -q, PerlHelp, which looks up any Perl topic using perldoc, and PerlMod, which lets you lookup a module using perldoc -m.
The plugin also incorporates key mappings that allow you to quickly search through different Perl topics. For example, < Leader >ph lets you look up the selected text in visual mode, or the word under the cursor in normal mode using perldoc. < Leader >pq lets you search for a regular expression using perldoc -q. By default, the < Leader > key is mapped to '', so to lookup the word under your cursor, you simply need to type 'ph'.
Finally, I would like to mention that adding 'let perl_include_pod=1' to your vimrc file can make it easier to read POD documentation in Perl modules. This is a great feature that can help you understand the code you are working with much better. Overall, perlhelp.vim is a fantastic plugin for any Perl programmer who wants to quickly access perldoc, and search through Perl topics seamlessly within Vim.
Version 1.5: N/A