Suppose I am editing a file using vim, and I go back to the file's current directory using :Ex, and I have a list of all the files I could open, I know arrow keys + Enter works, but is there a way to use : something to open a specific file? I tried :e filename but this goes directly back to the root of vim instead of the current directory.
Thanks.
The following is not a :-command, but it does the job and it can be in the muscle memory already:
You can move around the directory listing just like in a standard buffer. So you can /filename<Enter> to get to your file and <Enter> to open it. But typing whole filename can be rather cumbersome, so let's improve:
If there is something specific in the filename-baz, it will be enough to /baz<Enter><Enter>. And yet better, if you run vim with set incsearch and set hlsearch as many do, you'll see the search space narrow down to your filename, so you can easily get the prefix-search behavior of file commanders. Or even better, thanks to the coloring.
In case you can see the filename on the screen, then with EasyMotion, you can <Leader><Leader>w, then the usually two letters to get there and <Enter><Enter>.
tried :e filename but this goes directly back to the root of vim instead of the current directory.
This may happen because you are running vim from a different directory.
Suppose I run vim from my home directory, you will have to run :e /path/to/filename and :tabe /path/to/filename where the filepath is relative to the home directory.
you can open another file while vim is open with :tabe filename and to switch to the other file you type :tabn or :tabp for next and previous accordingly.
Maybe this link can help you
Vim newbie here.
I use :find command to open a file and make some changes.
Suppose I want to open another file without saving the current changes, then how should I do it.
What is the best way to list all open files and quickly open them again for editing.
Thanks in advance.
:e! filename
will allow you to open a named file in a new buffer (note the exclamation mark overrides the warning re. an unsaved file).
CTRL-W + cursor
will move between visible buffers and does not enforce the saving of your file as you navigate.
:buffers
will list your open buffers and allow you to navigate to each one (albeit with some cryptic flags indicating which buffers are visible/hidden/amended etc.)
:help buffers
will tell you about all the buffer-related features.
:help :wincmd
will tell you all about windows navigations
See also the VIM buffer FAQ
I am using linux.
In terminal I can type
vim sample
A vim window for the file 'sample' opens
Here any change can be saved with :w
But I want to open a new vim file having no name and save it with the name sampleName using
:w sampleName
But I am unable to do so.
Typing only vim in terminal gives me a window with about and copyright information
I am not using gvim but vim
You should be able to just run vim with no arguments. It will open vim by itself. To save it to a file, execute the command: :w <new file name>
Issue the Command, :enew and Also Learn about How Vim Manages File Editing
I would recommend reading up on file and buffer usage in Vim in the help file, usr_22.txt.
As architrex has indicated, by default, if one does not have a file(s) listed in the argument list when starting Vim, a new buffer is created. See :help starting.
If you started vim with one file in the file argument list like you described, vim sample, a common way to work with an empty buffer is to issue the :enew command (typically after you would have written changes to the file named, sample, :w).
We can see the new buffer here:
Once one is done modifying the new buffer, you can issue the write command, :w sampleName, with the expected result of writing the file.
Vim's use of buffers is intuitive and you will become more skillful as you use it.
When I started using Vim, I leveraged using NETRW which is a seeded file navigation plugin with Vim for file creation (and placing those new files in buffers).
What follows is one way to leverage NETRW to do this.
If you have already started Vim, I would type :Exp or :e . which are ex commands which will start the file explorer which is a feature of the seeded file navigation plugin, NETRW.
One could start Vim:
Start the file explorer for NETRW:
I would then use the file explorer to navigate to the desired file to create a new file you wish to edit (k is up, j is down, enter key means select).
Next, I would type,%, once I have navigated to the desired location.
You will be notified to "Enter filename". Just enter "sampleName" and press enter.
Go into edit mode (e.g. i) and start typing.
NETRW is a robust file navigation tool. Creating files in the file locations desired is an essential skill to have to utilize Vim well.
You could also read the help files concerning NETRW (e.g. the ex command, :help netrw).
Let's say I am in my home directory. I open a file that is present in some deep nested directory structure:
vim /some/really/long/path/file.txt
Now, within vim, I want to start a vertical split with another file from that same long location (but I don't want to change the current directory to that path, I still want to be in the home directory).
A layman (like me) will do something like:
:vsp /some/really/long/path/file2.txt
But I want to find out from all you VIM geniuses out there, is there an easier way to do this?
On the same note, if I had multiple files already open residing in different paths, can VIM automatically assign some sort of internal variables to all the locations? And then when I want to start a new VSP or SP with one of the files from one of those locations, I simply use those internal variables?
Try this:
:vs %:p:h/otherfile
as %:p:h gives you the path of the current file.
See :help %:p for more info.
Edit another file in the same directory:
:vs %<Tab><C-w><C-w><C-w>file2<Tab>
With a mapping:
nnoremap <key> :vs <C-R>=expand('%:p:h')<CR>
If you like more navigation than typing the commands, a convenient option could be the use of the embedded Explore command, which opens a window with the list files in the directory of the file in current buffer. Then you can navigate with the cursors and press v when over the file you want to open in a vertical split.
A convenient way is to map the Explore command, like:
" open embedded file system navigator
map <leader>\ :Explore<cr>
Press <leader>\ and navigate to the file, then press v.
With some versions of vim, the Explore window stays open after pressing v -- in that case, if you want to avoid extra burden to close the Explore window, you can do first the vertical split with :vsp, invoke :Expore and open the desired file by pressing Enter.
I want to open a file in Vim like in Eclipse using Ctrl + Shift + R, or via the Ctrl + N option of autofill. Invoke a keyboard shortcut, type the file name/pattern, and choose from all the matching files names.
I know opening it normally like:
:tabe <filepath>
:new <filepath>
:edit <filepath>
The problem here is that I have to specify the whole file path in these cases.
What I normally do is e . (e-space-dot) which gives me a browsable current directory - then I can / - search for name fragments, just like finding a word in a text file. I find that generally good enough, simple and quick.
I recently fell in love with fuzzyfinder.vim
... :-)
:FuzzyFinderFile will let you open files by typing partial names or patterns.
:find is another option.
I open vim from the root of my project and have the path set to there.
Then, I can open files located anywhere in the tree using:
:find **/filena< tab >
Tab will autocomplete through various matches. (** tells it to search recursively through the path).
You can search for a file in the current path by using **:
:tabe **/header.h
Hit tab to see various completions if there is more than one match.
Consider using CtrlP plug-in.
It is included in Janus Distributive.
Allows you to find files in the current directory, open buffers or most recently used files using "fuzzy matching" or regular expression.
unless I'm missing something, :e filename is the fastest way I've found.
You can use tab to autocomplete the filename as well.
I like the :FuzzyFinderTextMate (or Ctrl + F) on my setup.
See http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2008/10/10/coming-home-to-vim
I use a couple of shortcuts in my .vimrc file (exact syntax below).
They are based on the fact that in 90% of the cases, I want to open another file in the same directory as the file that I am currently editing, or in a directory that is very close in the hierarchy to that edited file.
Here's what the commands do do:
,cd : Change the current working directory to the directory that the current file you are editing is in.
,e : Opens a file with the current working directory already filled in so you have to specify only the filename.
Put these into your .vimrc:
map ,e :e <C-R>=expand("%:p:h") . "/" <CR>
map ,cd :cd %:p:h <CR>
Here's a sequence of events:
You are editing a file called test.java in "/home/prog"
,cd -> Current working directory now
becomes "/home/prog"
,e -> Expands to ":e /home/prog" so
that you can just fill in the file
name, say test.h.
,e -> Expands to ":e /home"
tab -> Cycle through subdirectories of /home
enter -> cd to the directory you
want say /home/prog
,e -> Expands to ":e /home/prog"
There's also command-t which I find to be the best of the bunch (and I've tried them all). It's a minor hassle to install it but, once it's installed, it's a dream to use.
https://wincent.com/products/command-t/
Use tabs, they work when inputting file paths in vim escape mode!
If you've got tags (and you should), you can open a file from the command line just by the name of the class or method or c function, with "vim -t DBPlaylist", and within vim with ":tag ShowList".
If you're editing files in a common directory, you can :cd to that directory, then use :e on just the filename.
For example, rather than:
:e /big/long/path/that/takes/a/while/to/type/or/tab/complete/thingy.rb
:sp /big/long/path/that/takes/a/while/to/type/or/tab/complete/other_thingy.c
:vs /big/long/path/that/takes/a/while/to/type/or/tab/complete/one_more_thingy.java
You can do:
:cd /big/long/path/that/takes/a/while/to/type/or/tab/complete/
:e thingy.rb
:sp other_thingy.c
:vs one_more_thingy.java
Or, if you already have a file in the desired directory open, you can use the % shorthand for the current filename, and trim it to the current directory with the :h modifier (:help :_%:) :
:e /big/long/path/that/takes/a/while/to/type/or/tab/complete/thingy.rb
:cd %:h
:sp other_thingy.c
:vs one_more_thingy.java
And, like others have said, you can tab-complete file names on the ex-line (see :help cmdline-completion for more).
This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but it's good in many cases (though not all).
If you VIM open and there's a name of a file in the buffer, you can put the cursor on that filename and type gf. This opens the file whose name is under the cursor in the same buffer. It's the same as
:e CTRL+r CTRL+w
I know three plugins that permit to open files, support auto-completion, and don't require to enter the full path name of the file(s) to open (as long as the files are under one of the directories from &path vim option):
searchInRuntime that I'm maintaining (the completion is not on :e/:find, but on split actions)
fuzzy finder as it has been already pointed out,
lookupfile.
Lately, I've seen another plugin with a similar feature, but I don't remember the name.
Soon, :find is likely support auto-completion -- patches on this topic are circulating on vim_dev mailing-list these days.
you can use (set wildmenu)
you can use tab to autocomplete filenames
you can also use matching, for example :e p*.dat or something like that (like in old' dos)
you could also :browse confirm e (for a graphical window)
but you should also probably specify what vim version you're using, and how that thing in emacs works. Maybe we could find you an exact vim alternative.
FuzzyFinder has been mentioned, however I love the textmate like behaviour of the FuzzyFinderTextmate plugin which extends the behaviour to include all subdirs.
Make sure you are using version 2.16 of fuzzyfinder.vim - The higher versions break the plugin.
With Exuberant ctags, you can create tag files with file information:
ctags --extra=+f -R *
Then, open file from VIM with
:tag filename
You can also use <tab> to autocomplete file name.
In GVIM, The file can be browsed using open / read / write dialog;
:browse {command}
{command} - open / read / write
open - Opens the file
read - Appends the file
write - SaveAs dialog
I installed FuzzyFinder. However, the limitation is that it only finds files in the current dir. One workaround to that is to add FuzzyFinderTextmate. However, based on the docs and commentary, that doesn't work reliably. You need the right version of FuzzyFinder and you need your copy of Vim to be compiled with Ruby support.
A different workaround I'm trying out now is to open all the files I'm likely to need at the beginning of the editing session. E.g., open all the files in key directories...
:args app/**
:args config/**
:args test/**
etc...
(This means I would have possibly scores of files open, however so far it still seems to work OK.)
After that, I can use FuzzyFinder in buffer mode and it will act somewhat like TextMate's command-o shortcut...
:FuzzyFinderBuffer