Vim's UserGettingBored Autocmd

# Vim's UserGettingBored autocmd Source: [https://evanhahn.com/usergettingbored-vim/](https://evanhahn.com/usergettingbored-vim/) *In short: Vim has a jokeautocmdcalled`UserGettingBored`that doesn’t do anything\.* Vim’sautomatic commandsfeature, usually shortened to “autocmd”, lets you run code when various events occur\. For example, you could implement an auto\-save feature by binding the`TextChanged`event to the`:w`command\. Vim has over 100 events, from “buffer was created” to “file was saved”\. But one of them sticks out to me:`UserGettingBored`\. Here’s the documentation: > `UserGettingBored`: When the user presses the same key 42 times\. Just kidding\! :\-\) When I saw this, I was busy doing something else and it completely derailed me\. “I must know more,” I thought\. Here’s what I found: - Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything\. It only exists in the documentation \(and some tests\)\. If you try to use it with somethig like`autocmd UserGettingBored \.\.\.`, you’ll get a “no such group or event” error\. - It’s present in[Vim](https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/autocmd.html#UserGettingBored),[Neovim](https://neovim.io/doc/user/autocmd/#UserGettingBored), and[Vim Classic](https://vim-classic.org/doc/autocmd.html#UserGettingBored)\. - It was first added by Bram Moolenaar in[July 2000](https://github.com/vim/vim-history/commit/c3cba9278b34e6ff131e99d5ef39e346176957de#diff-7fc4babd126f0b22993940da3ae8260a3b82ec20aa3dca54425bc4d27e6d8600R379-R380), over a year before Vim 6\.0 was released\. The original description was, “When the user hits CTRL\-C\. Just kidding\!” And it didn’t do anything back then, so I don’t think it’s*ever*been real\. - In August 2001, he[added the smiley face to the documentation](https://github.com/vim/vim-history/commit/a9b9a230b2431d7877eb4ce685eb6ec766b86045#diff-7fc4babd126f0b22993940da3ae8260a3b82ec20aa3dca54425bc4d27e6d8600R483)\. It then read, “When the user hits CTRL\-C\. Just kidding\! :\-\)” - Twelve years later, in 2013,[the description changed](https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/bf88493c0979d88279930b5330f667d0bd6b651e#diff-7fc4babd126f0b22993940da3ae8260a3b82ec20aa3dca54425bc4d27e6d8600R854-R855)to its current iteration: “When the user presses the same key 42 times\. Just kidding\! :\-\)” In 2022, developer Mike Smith[created an unofficial plugin](https://codeberg.org/mikesmith/ugbi)inspired by this jokeautocmd\. If you press the same key 42 times in Insert mode, a picture of Samuel L\. Jackson appears\. 22 years later, it’s finally real\.