I can open a gvim session and drag&drop a folder while holding the shift key to change pwd to the dropped folder. This works fine but I was wondering if it's possible to do the same without first opening a gvim (I can drop a folder on a gvim icon on my desktop to start a gvim session with the given folder but it does not change the working directory even when I hold shift key).
If relevant, I'm using an ubuntu system with unity desktop and also NERDTree plugin.
Add this to your .vimrc:
au VimEnter * if isdirectory(expand('%')) | cd % | endif
Related
autochdir automatically sets the current working directory to the present file that the cursor is located on. I'd like to exclude autochdir from changing the directory if the cursor is in the NERDTree window.
For example, if the present file I'm working on is in ~/foo, and the NERDTree window is in ~/lots/of/stuff/here, I'd like to go to the NERDTree window and still have the current working directory set to ~/foo.
That way, one can apply the CD keybind, which will set NERDTree's root tree node to ~/foo. Otherwise, it's terribly inconvenient to manually change the root tree node in the NERDTree window by navigating to ~/foo, and then applying the cd keybind.
From :help autochdir:
This option is provided for backward compatibility with the Vim
released with Sun ONE Studio 4 Enterprise Edition.
Note: When this option is on some plugins may not work.
I.e. it is obsolete, inflexible and breaks plugins. I suggest you don't use it, and instead use one of the alternate, more configurable mechanisms here. For instance,
autocmd BufEnter * if &ft !~ '^nerdtree$' | silent! lcd %:p:h | endif
However, while this does not change the current directory when you pull up NERDTree, it will not preserve it, either. I'm not 100% sure what you mean in your last paragraph.
If I open a folder in vim like this:
$ mvim . # or vim .
NERDTree opens by default in full width:
How can I prevent this from happening and show default VIM welcome screen instead?
You are explicitly telling vim to start with a listing of the current directory, if you don't want that, just do $ vim.
Run vim to get the Welcome Screen.
If you open vim . you'll get a directory listing of the current working directory (Netrw or NERDTree Directory Listing).
NERDTree overrides the default file browser (netrw).
To disable directory listing by NERDTree at startup, add let g:NERDTreeHijackNetrw=0 to your ".vimrc".
This Option tells NERD tree whether to replace the netrw autocommands for exploring local directories.
Run vim --noplugin . and you see an empty buffer.
I'm a new user of NERD tree in Vim and am obviously not that much familiar with its features.
When I'm using :NERDTreeToggle, the sidebar window always opens my home directory, ~. How can I change the default directory (like open a project in Sublime Text)?
Also, how can I keep this sidebar window open in all of the new tab windows (something like the Sublime Text sidebar)? Or at least, is there another alternative to this task?
In your .vimrc file, add the following code, which will by default open Vim with a NERD tree sidebar of the current directory. So if you are in the projects directory and you type "vim" it will open Vim with a sidebar on the left showing all the files and directories in the projects folder
autocmd StdinReadPre * let s:std_in=1
autocmd VimEnter * if argc() == 0 && !exists("s:std_in") | NERDTree | endif
If you want toggle on and off the sidebar, just add this into your .vimrc file so that if you want to toggle the sidebar, just type Ctrl + N:
map <C-n> :NERDTreeToggle<CR>
Vim has no concept of "project".
The closest you can get without installing clunky plugins is the "current directory": when you start Vim, the "current directory" is set to the directory where you started Vim.
In your shell, this is easy to manage:
$ cd /path/to/project
$ vim
:pwd --> /path/to/project
If you use gVim or MacVim, the "current directory" is usually set automatically to $HOME if you start Vim without a file so, either you find a way to start Vim in an arbitrary directory or you use :cd /path/to/dir as soon as possible.
Without argument, the :NERDTree* commands open the NERD tree window in the "current directory".
You can use :NERDTreeToggle /path/to/dir to make it display the content of a specific directory.
Or you can make sure you start Vim from your project's directory and NERD tree will do what you want it to do.
When I open a file in vim with (Directory A in) NERDTree, it works well.
But if I open one more file in another directory (Directory B), it doesn't refresh to show the contents of directory B (While it still shows directory A).
Can NERDTree automatically refresh by itself?
From https://gist.github.com/geekontheway/2667442 : just hit the r or R key to refresh the current tree. Could be mapped to auto refresh in .vimrc
Keymap to Refresh NERDTree
Instead of switching to the NERDTree window, hitting R and switching back, I use a custom map that does it for me:
nmap <Leader>r :NERDTreeFocus<cr>R<c-w><c-p>
Once set, pressing Leader + r would refresh NERDTree.
Note: Since I also use CtrlP, my actual key map has a last step to refresh CtrlP after refreshing NERDTree
I detested the idea of having to manually refresh my NERDTree plugin. So, I've added this to my .vimrc:
map <C-n> :call NERDTreeToggleAndRefresh()<CR>
function NERDTreeToggleAndRefresh()
:NERDTreeToggle
if g:NERDTree.IsOpen()
:NERDTreeRefreshRoot
endif
endfunction
Now, NERDTree refreshes every time I open it.
After you have opened the new file just issue the :NERDTreeFind command. It will select the current editing file node in the NerdTree. If the node does not exists then the NerdTree will initialize a new tree with the root as the current file's directory.
You can use the autocommand to track the directory while opening vim.
au VimEnter * NERDTreeFind
For anyone seeing this on 2016, this worked for me:
autocmd CursorHold,CursorHoldI * call NERDTreeFocus() | call g:NERDTree.ForCurrentTab().getRoot().refresh() | call g:NERDTree.ForCurrentTab().render() | wincmd w
Enjoy!
NerdTree will keep pointing at the directory from which vim was originally opened no matter what new files are opened.
In order to change it, place the cursor on the desired directory node inside the NerdTree window and press cd.
NerdTree will confirm the directory change in the command line:
NERDTree: CWD is now: [new directory here]
Note that this also changes the working directory of vim in general which is important when running commands like :edit somefile.
using vim + NERDTree in windows is a bit of a pain for me because each time I start vim and toggle NERDTree, NERDTree takes a long time caching my whole /Windows/system32 directory.
In order to avoid that, how can I create a shortcut to open vim in say C:\users\me\vim ?
You can add somewhere in your .vimrc.
cd C:\users\me\vim
It will change the working directory of your Vim instance.
According to :help starting.txt.vimrc is loaded before plugins.