For years, I’ve been using programs to replace small snippets of text in my programming. I type<\/p>\n
`z<\/pre>\nand the program outputs<\/p>\n
cd \/var\/replicate\/Replicate\/trunk\/app<\/pre>\nand hits enter for me. This is much faster than typing out the whole path (even with Bash tab completion), or password, or chunk of code (whatever I happen to have in that shortcut).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I had a few dozen of these quick key replacements that probably saved me hundreds or thousands of hours over the years. The backtick character ` was great for triggering them, since it hardly ever gets used otherwise, even in programming, where you’re constantly using other generally-obscure symbols like &*{}[]|. I had quite the muscle memory built up for my various shortcuts. I could hit<\/p>\n
`1`6<\/pre>\nin quick succession and know that I’d get a debug of the variable in my clipboard, followed by an exit statement.<\/p>\n
I started with the decent ShortKeys<\/a> program (which was where I picked up the habit of using backtick as a trigger), then a couple of years ago I got tired of its nag-ware reminders and moved over to the excellent free Texter<\/a> (from Lifehacker’s Adam Pash). But when I got a new 64-bit Windows 7 system at home, quickly followed by a 64-bit Win8 setup at work, I realized that Texter has severe problems on 64-bit systems. My main problem was that regular Windows drag-and-drop operations were being blocked<\/a>, plus sometimes key combinations weren’t being triggered, and sometimes I’d get double text lliikkee tthhiiss.<\/p>\n
So I went looking for a 64-bit compatible replacement for Texter. Most of the suggestions<\/a> were to use AutoHotkey<\/a>, but I considered that overkill. I didn’t need to remap complete Windows key combinations or simulate mouse clicks, just do a little text-replacement.<\/p>\n
I tried a couple of other programs that didn’t work out: PhraseExpress<\/a> (clunky, non-commercial use only) and Auspex<\/a> (buggy, crashy) before coming back around to try AutoHotkey. I found that it was the perfect replacement for me — I learned how to use its scripting system to exactly replicate the shortcuts that I’d had in Texter, plus a lot more. Another nice thing is that its configuration is all text-based, so I don’t have to mess with a GUI to add another shortcut, and I can sync my configuration over Dropbox. I still think that it’s overkill (like using a shotgun to kill a fly), but it’s the best solution I’ve found.<\/p>\n
Here’s my configuration:<\/p>\n
\n:*:``\\::- Curtis
\n:*:``-::[sensitive string]
\n:*:``1::echo \"^v : \" pr($^v); \/\/ debug{!}
\n:*:``6::exit(); \/\/ debug{!}
\n:*:``9::soundconcepts.com
\n:*C:``*::[sensitive string]
\n:*C:``$::[sensitive string]
\n:*C:``a::apache2ctl -k graceful{Enter}
\n:*C:``ba::Bad Apostrophe
\n:*C:``bna::Bad Non-Apostrophe
\n:*C:``C::cgibby
\n:*C:``c::curtis
\n:*C:``e::[sensitive string]
\n:*C:``m::@mailinator.com
\n:*C:``o::cd \/var\/orderform\/ordersystem\/trunk\/{Enter}
\n:*C:``p::<?php ?>{Left}{Left}
\n:*C:``P::[sensitive string]
\n:*C:``r::rm tmp\/cache\/models\/{Enter}rm tmp\/cache\/persistent\/{Enter}
\n:*C:``t::[sensitive string]
\n:*C:``W::cd \/var\/welcomekit\/app\/{Enter}
\n:*C:``w::[sensitive string]
\n:*C:``x::svn update{Enter}
\n:*C:``Z::\/var\/zijaweb\/app{Enter}
\n:*C:``z::cd \/var\/replicate\/Replicate\/trunk\/app{Enter}
\n::functino::function<\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, I’ve been using programs to replace small snippets of text in my programming. I type `z and the program outputs cd \/var\/replicate\/Replicate\/trunk\/app and hits enter for me. This is much faster than typing out the whole path (even with Bash tab completion), or password, or chunk of code (whatever I happen to have… Continue reading Like using a shotgun to kill a fly<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[147,144,146,156,145,148,143,159],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programming","category-work","tag-auspex","tag-autohotkey","tag-phraseexpress","tag-programming","tag-shortkeys","tag-text-replacement","tag-texter","tag-work","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtisgibby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}