tmux: how to open file under cursor - vim

Question

i am a vim user and got used to the gf command, which opens the file under the cursor.
Now i wanted to ask, if there is something like that for tmux.
I can navigate through a tmux-pane and it happens often that there is a file-path under the cursor. Now i like to have the possibility to open that file under the cursor with vim.
A: in the current window
B: in another window which includes and opened vim
Maybe there is a possibility to run a sh-script in that navigation-mode when invoking a special key-combination? that would make it possible to write my own scripts like i got used to in vim with vimscript.
I am already using some vi-copy modes in mux .tmux.conf
# VIM
# ===================================================================
# Vimlike copy mode.
unbind [
bind Escape copy-mode
unbind p
bind p paste-buffer
bind -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection
bind -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection
# Enable vi keys.
setw -g mode-keys vi
# https://coderwall.com/p/4b0d0a/how-to-copy-and-paste-with-tmux-on-ubuntu
bind -t vi-copy y copy-pipe "xclip -sel clip -i"

Answer 1

I've been searching for an answer for years and ended up making a tmux plugin: https://github.com/artemave/tmux_super_fingers. It still baffles me how such in integral part of terminal based workflow is not a solved problem (well, it is now).

Answer 2

To achieve what you want, you need to use the stdin in your command line (xargs can do that) and tell tmux, in a new-window, to open the data with the arguments from the copy buffer:
bind -t vi-copy y copy-pipe "xargs -I{} tmux new-window 'vim {}'"
This needs more tuning (getting the right session, the right command, use $EDITOR instead of vim etc.
It is quite dangerous: Think copying /foo/bar/my;rm -rf /.
Also, as-is, this will only work for paths relative to tmux' working directory.

Answer 3

There's a mod for tmux allowing to bind an action of any complexity in 'mode': http://ershov.github.io/tmux/
There's an example of how to mark the word under cursor using that patch:
proc is_word_char {c} {
print [scan $c %c]
return [expr {$c > " " && $c != "\x7f"}]
}
proc mark-current-word {} {
clear-selection
set l [copy-mode-screenline]
set x [copy-mode-get-cx]
if {![is_word_char [string range $l $x $x]]} return
incr x
while {[is_word_char [string range $l $x $x]]} {
cursor-right
incr x
}
incr x -2
begin-selection
while {[is_word_char [string range $l $x $x]]} {
cursor-left
if {$x < 1} return
incr x -1
}
}
# Open selection in a vim mini-window (no shell and files)
bind-key -t vi-copy y tcl {
split-window -c [f #{pane_current_path}] -l 5 "
echo -n [shell-quote [copy-mode-selection]] | vim -R -"
}
Hence, to open the current file in vim:
mark-current-word
split-window -c [f #{pane_current_path}] -l 5 "vim -R [shell-quote [copy-mode-selection]]"

Answer 4

So i got it running with the following binding:
bind -t vi-copy y copy-pipe "xargs -I{} tmux send-keys -t 1 ';edit {}' Enter && tmux select-pane -t 1"
notes
i changed vim command : to ;
i have a open vim in pane 1