Create a Vim command to add a php debug statement

Question

I'm trying to create a vim command to easily insert a debug statement on the variable name under the cursor. I would at least like to handle some common cases so it doesn't have to be perfect but the following should all work:

$test_var = array($test->get_test_var()) || $test->get_test_var() || $test_var;

Having the cursor over any of these variable names and running the command should insert a line above the call with the value of the expression inside. E.g. place the cursor over anything in '$test->get_test_var()' and then the following is inserted above on a new line:

print_r($test->get_test_var());

Placing the cursor over 'array($test->get_test_var())' should insert the same thing and not include the array. Placing it over array should do this:

print_r(array($test->get_test_var()));

And finally, placing it over '$test_var;' should insert the following (not including the semicolon):

print_r($test_var);

Obviously I'm working on this myself, but some of you could have insight on how to do this easily that I will miss as a relatively new user of vim.

Answer 1

If you put something like this in your vimrc, you'll autoreplace %DATE% with the format:

    iab %DATE% <c-r>=strftime("%a %d %b %Y")

For simpler stuff, put in:

    iab br best regards,<CR><CR>Your Name

This will replace "br" with best regards etc.

So you could try something like:

    iab debugr ...

Not sure if you need to press enter in order to replace, but give it a try.