How can I make VIM play typewriter sound when I write a letter?

linux vim vim-plugin
Jakub Arnold picture Jakub Arnold · Dec 11, 2010 · Viewed 10.5k times · Source

After a lot of writing in Q10 on Windows, I got used to the typewriter sound it makes every time you press a key. At least for me it feels great to have this sort of sound feedback.

On Linux on the other hand, I love writing it VIM, because of it's editing features. How could I add this functionality to VIM?

Simply said, I want to play a sound every time I press a key in the insert mode.

Answer

Trotter picture Trotter · Dec 11, 2010

Alright, this kinda crazy, but it appears to work. First, grab yourself a typewriter sound in aiff format. Then put that typewriter sound in ~/.vim/support/my_typewriter_sound.aiff. Then add the following to your ~/.vimrc.

function! PlaySound()
  silent! exec '!afplay ~/.vim/support/my_typewriter_sound.aiff &'
endfunction
autocmd CursorMovedI * call PlaySound()

Note that the above function calls out to afplay, which I know works on a Mac and needs to be replaced with play on Linux. On Windows, I have no idea.

So you know what's happening above, we're first creating a function called PlaySound that shells out to afplay. We then setup an autocommand that gets fired anytime the cursor moves in insert mode. When it fires, it calls PlaySound.

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