I'm currently going back to Vim from Spacemacs. Is there a plugin that offers a similar way to search / open files? In Spacemacs you can easily navigate the file system after pressing SPC-f-f.
You can see an example here. I really like how it shows a list of the files and directories under the current directory.
If you can live without as-you-type fuzzy-completion, the built-in :help 'wildmenu' works beautifully.
If you absolutely need as-you-type fuzzy-completion there are many plugins to choose from:
Fzf
CtrlP
Command-t
FuzzyFinder
Unite
etc.
Related
Using vim editor, a common task is to browse buffers.
I now use standard commands like :ls or a :cnext
I would like to browse buffers as list in quickfix window,
in the simple (=excellent) way MRU plugin (https://github.com/yegappan/mru) implement.
There is a plugin simple as MRU files but acting on buffers ?
OK, a possible solution could be to use :CtrlpBuffers command, part of Ctrlp plugin (https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim) but I'm not a big fan of Ctrlp, that have sometime beahviours I do not fully understand (the fuzzy choices...); so I'm look for something really simple as MRU plugin.
BTW, I joked with :cexpr {expr} command, trying populate the quickfix windows with content of :buffers list, without success (maybe because my ignorance programming vimscripts)
Any suggestion ?
thanks
giorgio
Have a look at the bufexplorer plugin. It opens a browsable list of all buffers in a sidebar, similar to the mentioned MRU plugin. Also, there are several more such plugins on vim.org.
What is the best way/plugin to explore filesystem and to open files and directories?
The best way to explore filesystem/directories in Vim is the one that best suits your needs. As it is phrased, this question can't get an answer because there's no "way" universally agreed upon.
On the other hand, if you want to have an overview of the many ways to explore the filesystem in Vim then, yes, that is a question that can be answered. In a non-exhaustive way, though.
NERDTree and netrw are already covered. These plugins show you a tree-like list of files and directories that you can act on. Before trying NERDTree, I'd suggest you try your hands on netrw as it comes with Vim by default and offers a much wider range of features than NERDTree. You should look around on http://www.vim.org because there are a bunch of similar plugins.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have Vim's own file handling capabilities. Here is a sample of commands you can use from Vim to open files:
:e filename edits filename
:sp filename edits filename in an horizontal split
:vs filename edits filename in a vertical split
:tabe filename edits filename in a new tab
You have tab-completion, just like in the shell:
:e <tab> goes through all the directories/files in the working directory
You can use wildcards, of course:
:e **/*.js<tab> shows all the js files in the working directory and its subdirectories
Assuming you have set wildmenu in your ~/.vimrc, you can make tab-completion even better with an horizontal menu which can be customized further…
You can also use "args"… but that will be for another time.
Somewhere between Vim's default commands and netrw/NERDTree you can find a bunch of "fuzzy" and less fuzzy file openers more or less modeled after a feature introduced in TextMate a while ago: FuzzyFinder, LustyExplorer, Command-T, CtrlP and many other variations on the same theme. The core concept is to provide you with a list of choice that you narrow down by typing more characters in a prompt until the file ou want to edit is selected.
If you decide you want to go down the plugin road, I'd suggest you visit http://www.vim.org, compare what's there, try a few plugins and decide for yourself.
Anyway, you should get used to the basics before looking for a plugin.
Try NERD Tree, besides the tree tab it also enhances the classical directory listing as suggested by #ATOzToa.
On Windows, I find :!start explorer %:p:h to be the way to go, or :!start explorer . if I'm in the directory I want opened.
On MacVim you could probably do something similar with :!open . to open a Finder window on the current directory but I don't have a Mac handy to try it out.
Not sure what you'd use in GNU/Linux; it probably depends on your desktop manager.
I've tried out the NERDTree plugin for vim, and it's very powerful but is probably overkill for what I use it for. I'm not anti-plugin in general, but I don't like relying on plugins when I'm not using them to their full extent.
What I'm really looking for is the ability to open the file browser in a split, similar to how :Sex and :Vex work. I'd select the file I want, which would open in the original window, and the file browser goes away.
Are there any built-in commands that would work this way?
See :help netrw for all the mappings available in :Ex and friends.
The one you want is simply P.
By the way, netrw is also a plugin.
I'm looking for a vim plugin similar to http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1325 with a directory list in which you can select a file to open. Does this exist somewhere? Wasn't able to find it myself.
NERDTree is the second best ranked plugin on vim.org and it perfectly fits your description.
There are many other variations of the same principle:
FuzzyFinder
LustyExplorer (the one I used before)
Command-T (famous among TextMate switchers, I never liked it, though)
CtrlP (the one I use now)
…
And I second :Explore.
Have you tried the :Explore command that comes with the standard vim distribution since (roughly) version 6?
See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/File_explorer for basic help on that command.
See http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/pi_netrw.html#netrw-quickhelp for detailed help on what the Explorer can do.
If you want to open an explorer without replacing the current buffer, you can use the :Sexplore command. A puerile mnemonic for that is to execute :Sex.
I'm looking for a way to make Vim have the ability to open a file by fuzzy-searching its name.
Basically, I want to be able to define a project once, and then have a shortcut which will give me a place to type a file name, and will match if any letters match up.
This kind of functionality exists in most editors I've seen, but for the life of me I can't understand how to get Vim to do this.
Note that I'm looking for something that won't require me to have any idea where in my directory tree a file is. I just want to be able to open it by the filename, regardless of what directory it's in.
Thanks
There are two great vim plugins for this.
ctrlp:
Written in pure VimL
Works pretty much everywhere
Supports custom finders for improved performance
Most popular fuzzy search plugin for Vim
Command-T:
Written in C, VimL and Ruby
Fast out of the box
Requires +ruby support in Vim
Recommends Vim version >= 7.3
EDIT:
I use CtrlP with ag as my custom finder and it's incredibly quick (even on massive projects) and very portable.
An example of using ag with CtrlP:
if executable('ag')
" Use Ag over Grep
set grepprg=ag\ --nogroup\ --nocolor
" Use ag in CtrlP for listing files. Lightning fast and respects .gitignore
let g:ctrlp_user_command = 'ag %s -l --nocolor -g ""'
endif
CommandT for Vim is very much the comparable feature as in TextMate. My work flow is now
1) open up MacVim
2) :cd ~/my_project
3) (I have this mapped as described in the installation help)
4) C-v the file to open the file in a vertical split, or CR to open a new horizontal split.
5) to close the split, use :bd (buffer delete)
6) to switch to another buffer, I have BufferExplorer installed, so just \be and select
This workflow is comparable to TextMate, it takes a while to get used to, and I'm still learning.
Basic solution
Simply add this to your .vimrc
nnoremap <C-p> :find ./**/*
Pressing Ctrl+p will now allow you to fuzzyfind files in your current working directory and sub-directories thereof. Use the tab key to cycle through options.
Related solution
For those who want to keep it basic i.e. no plugins, this entertaining video shows another way to achieve fuzzy file find in vim.
They actually use
set path+=**
set wildmenu
in their .vimrc to find files in current sub-directories.
For example, with :find *Murph followd by tab, I would find the files KilianMurphy2012Why.R and KilianMurphy2014ROLE.R in subdir code which I can cycle through with the tab key. The first solution above has the advantage that the relative path is also shown.
Note that your current working directory will matter and that other files on your path (:set path?) will also be found with the this type of solution. The wildmenu option adds visual information and is not essential.
For a keyboard shortcut, add
nnoremap <C-p> :find *
to your .vimrc. Now you will be able to quickly search for files inside your project/current dir with Ctrl+p in normal mode.
What about http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1984 Then there is http://github.com/jamis/fuzzy_file_finder .
Also see these blog posts: http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2008/10/10/coming-home-to-vim and http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2009/1/28/the-future-of-fuzzyfinder-textmate
HTH