I use buffers as "tabs" in Vim, and open new files using :e[dit] command. Why can't I use globbing with :e command?
:e some_dir/*
E77: Too many file names
Just use :n instead:
:n some_dir/*
You can use globbing with :edit and other commands; however, there must be a single, unique result of the glob, because the :edit command only takes a single file. (How else should it display multiple matches in the single current window?)
If you want to edit multiple files sequentially, you can use :args or :argadd instead. Note that the :split command does not take multiple files, neither (probably because of the risk that many matches will inadvertently cause an impractically large number of window splits), but you could write your own :Split command that provides this functionality.
You should use :args or :argadd instead.
:args src/*
:tab all
First command loads all files from src/ folder to buffers and second command puts each buffer then into separate tabs.
:help arglist will give more information
I want to execute a substitution in vim on around 20 *.C and *.H files, and I want to open them all at once. All files are distributed in multiple nested directories, and the command is executed in the top parent directory. Can I do this using only vim, or do I need the "find" command and the "-p" option as shown on this answer?
Start Vim at the root of your project:
$ vim /path/to/project
Add the relevant files to the arglist, recursively:
:argadd **/*.C **/*.H
See :h starstar and :h :argadd.
Perform your substitution on every file in the arglist:
:argdo s/foo/bar/gc
See :h argdo and :h s_flags.
Is it possible to have ctags generate tags for filenames as well? I would like to be able to jump to a file given a filename. :find seems to be awfully slow compare to tags...
Try running ctags -R --extra=f .
The --extra=f option tells ctags to:
"Include an entry for the base file name of every source file (e.g. "example.c"), which addresses the first line of the file."
When you open vim, you can the use :tag <filename> to jump to the first line of the file.
You can open the filename under the cursor with gf
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Open_file_under_cursor
You can also use cscope:
:cs find f <filename>
or, if you've setup cscope in vim as recommended in :help cscope, put the cursor on top of a filename, and press <C-_>f.
Have you tried setting your path and then using vim's 'gf' command?
Is there any way to search a directory recursively for a file (using wildcards when needed) in Vim? If not natively, is there a plugin that can handle this?
You can use wildcards with the :edit command. So,
:e **/test/Suite.java
will open test/Suite.java no matter where it is in the current directory hierarchy. This works with tab-completion so you can use [tab] to expand the wildcards before opening the file. See also the wildmode option for a way to browse through all possible extensions instead.
Another trick is to use
:r! find . -type f
to load a list of all files in the current directory into a buffer. Then you can use all the usual vim text manipulation tools to navigate/sort/trim the list, and CTRL+W gf to open the file under the cursor in a new pane.
There is a find command. If you add ** (see :help starstar) to your 'path' then you can search recursively:
:set path
will show you your current path, add ** by doing something like
:set path+=**
then you can just type
:find myfile.txt
and it opens magically!
If you add the set command to your .vimrc it'll make sure you can do recursive search in future. It doesn't seem to search dot directories (.ssh for example)
I'd recommend ctrlp.vim. It's a very good plugin, ideal to work inside large projects. It has search by file name or full path, regexp search, automatic detection of the project root (the one with the .git|hg|svn|bzr|_darcs folder), personalized file name exclusions, and many more.
Just press <c-p> and it will open a very intuitive pane where you can search what you want:
It's possible to select and open several files at once. It also accepts additional arbitrary commands, like jump to a certain line, string occurrence or any other Vim command.
Repo: https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim
vim as a builtin find command (:help find) but only open the first found file. However you can use this amazing plugin : FuzzyFinder which does everything you want and even more
You can browse the file system with :ex ., but I do not know how to search recursively (I am a Vim novice — I have been using it only ten years).
There are a few popular file browsers plug-ins:
NERD tree
Lusty explorer
vtreexplorer
See also this thread on SuperUser.
Command-T lets you find a file very fast just by typing some letters. You can also open the file in a new tab, but it need vim compiled with ruby support.
You can use ! to run shell commands :
:! find . -name *.xml
vim has bild in commands named grep, lgrep, vimgrep or lvimgrep that can do this
here is a tutorial on how to use them
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Find_in_files_within_Vim#Recursive_Search
you can also use an external command like find or grep from vim by executing it like this
:!find ...
Quickfix-like result browsing
Usage:
Find my.regex
Outcome:
a new tab opens
each line contains a relative path that matches a grep -E regex
hit:
<enter> or <C-w>gf to open the file on the current line in a new tab
gf to open the file on the current tab and lose the file list
Find all files instead:
Find
Alternative methods:
Gfind my.regex: only search for Git tracked files (git ls-files). Fugitive request: https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive/issues/132#issuecomment-200749743
Gtfind my.regex: like Gfind, but search from the git Top level instead of current directory
Locate somefile: locate version
Code:
function! Find(cmd)
let l:files = system(a:cmd)
if (l:files =~ '^\s*$')
echomsg 'No matching files.'
return
endif
tabedit
set filetype=filelist
set buftype=nofile
" TODO cannot open two such file lists with this. How to get a nice tab label then?
" http://superuser.com/questions/715928/vim-change-label-for-specific-tab
"file [filelist]
put =l:files
normal ggdd
nnoremap <buffer> <Enter> <C-W>gf
execute 'autocmd BufEnter <buffer> lcd ' . getcwd()
endfunction
command! -nargs=1 Find call Find("find . -iname '*'" . shellescape('<args>') . "'*'")
command! -nargs=1 Gfind call Find('git ls-files | grep -E ' . shellescape('<args>'))
command! -nargs=1 Gtfind call Find('git rev-parse --show-toplevel && git ls-files | grep -E ' . shellescape('<args>'))
command! -nargs=1 Locate call Find('locate ' . shellescape('<args>'))
Depending on your situation (that is, assuming the following command will find just a single file), perhaps use a command like:
:e `locate SomeUniqueFileName.java`
This will cause Vim to open, in the current tab (the e command) a file that is the result of running (in this example),
locate SomeUniqueFileName.java
Note that the magic here is the backticks around the command, which will convert the output from the shell command into text usable in the Vim command.
You don't need a plugin only for this function, below code snippet is enough.
function! FindFiles()
call inputsave()
let l:dir = input("Find file in: ", expand("%:p:h"), "dir")
call inputrestore()
if l:dir != ""
call inputsave()
let l:file = input("File name: ")
call inputrestore()
let l:nf = 'find '.l:dir.' -type f -iname '.l:file.' -exec grep -nH -m 1 ".*" {} \;'
lexpr system(l:nf)
endif
endfunction
nnoremap <silent> <leader>fo :call FindFiles()<CR>
Run:
:args `find . -name '*xml'`
Vim will run the shell command in backticks, put the list of files to arglist and open the first file.
Then you can use :args to view the arglist (i.e. list the files found) and :n and :N to navigate forward and bacwards through the files in arglist.
See https://vimhelp.org/editing.txt.html#%7Barglist%7D and https://vimhelp.org/editing.txt.html#backtick-expansion
You can find files recursively in your "path" with this plugin. It supports tab completion for the filename as well.
I am surprised no one mentioned Unite.vim yet.
Finding files (fuzzily or otherwise) is just the very tip of the iceberg of what it can do for a developer. It has built in support for ag, git, and a myriad of other programs/utilities/vim plugins. The learning curve can be a bit steep, but i cannot imagine my life without it. User base is big, and bugs are fixed immediately.
ag tool and corresponding Ag vim plugin solves this problem perfectly:
To find a file using some pattern use:
AgFile! pattern
It will open quickfix window with results where you can choose.
You can add vim keybinding to call this command using selected word as a pattern.
nnoremap <silent> <C-h> :AgFile! '<C-R><C-W>'<CR>
vnoremap <silent> <C-h> y :AgFile! '<C-R>"'<CR>
In a given working directory, if I do
:tabe **/test*.py
vim complains with E77: Too many file names. What if I want it to open every matching file in a separate tab? There must be a way to do it, but I can't find it.
You could use the args list and argdo like so:
:args **/test*.py
:argdo tabe %
However, the syntax event is turned off by argdo (to speed up the normal use case), so the files will be loaded without syntax at first. You could follow it up with a :syntax on to force the syntax event on all loaded buffers. Compressed into one line (need to wrap argdo in execute so it doesn't absorb the following |):
:args **/test*.py | execute 'argdo tabe %' | syntax on
Alternately, you can open vim from the command line via:
vim -p **/test*.py
But that will max out at 10 tabs.
You can use the following:
:next **/test*.py
It opens all the files.
To map it
nmap <c-d> :args **/*.tpl<bar>execute 'argdo tabe %'<bar>syntax on<cr>
But still it displays list of files, you have to press enter few times (depending of number of files).
This functionality can be included as a command in your .vimrc file:
"open all files in seperate tabs
command -nargs=1 OpenAll call <SID>openAll(<f-args>)
function! s:openAll(dir)
execute 'args ' . a:dir
silent argdo tabe %
syntax on
endfunction
With this function running :OpenAll **/*.py from vim will quickly open all files into new tabs
None of the other answers works for me, but this is fine:
find <path> -iname <pattrn> | xargs -o vim -p
all files are visible in different tabs
file lookup is recursive
Note, vim can limit tabs - to be changed by set tabpagemax=42.
Also, if you wonder how to close all tabs at once, use :qa