Say, I have files foo.js and bar.css in my project. There is a ":find" command in vim, which find files, matching string. But this command, alas, has some limitations. For example, if I launch this way - "vim", or even this way - "vim ." - there's nothing to be find in js subdirectory. But if I launch vim this way - "vim js/any_file_other_than_foo.js", then calling ":find foo.js" works pretty well.
Since it is not intuitive (i'm working in the same directory, "pwd" returns the same path), my first question is - can anybody explain how to circumvent this issue? And, even broader, is there any way to type something like find foo - and open first file, which name matches pattern foo.
thanks in advance.
You could try
:e[dit] **/*foo* and then press 'tab' to move to the first match.
the ** is a directory globbing pattern, while * is character matching.
If you were so inclined, you could write a simple fuzzy finder command, for more information you can check out the vim tips wiki: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Find_files_in_subdirectories
Vim's :find works by searching each directory in the path variable (and ignores pwd). By default, it does not search recursively. That's why find is only working for you when you open a js file. The '.' in path refers to the directory for the current file -- not pwd.
You can change path to include your desired directories:
set path+=$PROJECT/js
See :help path.
One of the magic bits to use is to add ** to a path to search that path recursively:
" search recursively in my project
set path+=$PROJECT/**
" search recursively from the current file's directory
set path+=./**
See :help file-searching for more magic.
A nice plugin that accomplishes a similar effect is Command-T.
The Command-T plug-in provides an
extremely fast, intuitive mechanism
for opening files with a minimal
number of keystrokes. It's named
"Command-T" because it is inspired by
the "Go to File" window bound to
Command-T in TextMate.
Files are selected by typing
characters that appear in their paths,
and are ordered by an algorithm which
knows that characters that appear in
certain locations (for example,
immediately after a path separator)
should be given more weight.should be given more weight.
Here is a screencast of Command-T in action.
Related
I move a lot between files from within Vim by highlighting a path and pressing the keys gf. I'm creating a makeshift Vim wiki for note-taking purposes, and I wanted to write only the beginning of a filename to be used as a link, because the way I have it, each filename begins with a unique identifier and so there would be no other matches, like so:
/notes/20190712*
I'm wondering if a simple asterisk wildcard could suffice for Vim to properly follow the incomplete filename, like how it autocompletes when :edit,:find or similar commands.
Vim's help alludes to some sort of expansion that takes place if it can't find a file, using something called includeexpr:
...used for the gf command if an unmodified file name can't be found.
Allows doing "gf" on the name after an 'include' statement.
Any help is appreciated. Thank you.
I already know how to quit Vim, now I'm wondering is it possible anyhow to force Vim search '/somedir/file.js' in current directory when you press gf, as if it were './somedir/file.js'?
UPD: There's question how to set path in general, but it doesn't help to make /myfolder/ pointed to some certain folder I want. /myfolder/ is always absolute path to the root of current volume.
Vim counts filenames beginning with / as file system root always, as
you observed. If that wasn't the case, of if 'isf' (the option that
controls what is considered file name) accepted a regex, this would be
easier to solve. But if you remove / from 'isf' then no slashes are
considered part of a file name anymore.
The only solution to this I can think of is using the visual mode for
gf. As you may know, if you have text selected visually and use gf
then the visual selection will be considered, instead of the 'isf'
match. Then all we need to do is to visually select the file name under
cursor excluding a possible leading /. This can be solved in a map, if
you don't mind messing your previous search:
nnoremap <silent> gf :let #/ = substitute(expand('<cfile>'), '^/', '', '')
\ <bar>normal gngf<cr>
This overwrites your gf to set the search to the filename under cursor
(expand()), minus leading slash if any (substitute()) and then run
the normal commands gn which selects the match and finally the
original gf.
If you want to save your previous search and restore, you can easily
create a function to wrap this all. Note that I also wrote this is two
lines just because I'm a declared enemy of long lines. But if you just
want to test it remove the \ and write in a single line.
Now your gf will interpret /file as file. Thus if you're on the
correcty directory this will work. If you need to search in a different
directory, the option you're looking for is 'path', or 'pa' for
short. You can give a list of directories to search. Much like Unix
shell's $PATH. Separated by commas. From the help (be sure to read the
rest yourself, with :h 'pa):
This is a list of directories which will be searched when using the
gf, [f, ]f, ^Wf, :find, :sfind, :tabfind and other
commands, provided that the file being searched for has a relative
path (not starting with "/", "./" or "../"). The directories in the
'path' option may be relative or absolute.
In conclusion, to use this in your project, set your 'path' if needed
as you wish and enable this map. Or run it all automatically in a
:autocmd or something similar. You aren't changing the root of the
project as you initially suggested, but you're kind of emulating this by
including the desired directory in 'path' and then forcing gf to
ignore the leading /.
I just switched from Sublime Text to GVIM (on Windows). I am still debating whether I should continue ST or move completely to VIM. One feature that I desperately need (or miss) are
Ctrl+P to go to any file that I want in my list of folders.
Ctrl+Shift+f to find (and replace) any text in those list of folders.
I had added number of folders using Add Folders to Project feature in Sublime Text 3. It was really helpful. Now, I know that CtrlP plugin for VIM can do similar thing, but I can't figure out how to make it search the folders that I want, and not the root directory of current file.
I played around a bit with setting path in my vimrc file without much success.
Can you please help. If it is a repeated question, please excuse me.
Thanks.
AFAIK, ctrlp plugin only searches within one directory (and its descendants). Use the Unix features: make a directory with links to out-of-project directories you are interested in. This way, the association with out-of-project directories is not just something the editor knows about, but something recorded in the actual project.
Search and replace is a bit stickier thing. You want to work with all the files you are interested in, then repeat the replace command through all of them. For example, if you want to do the search for foo and replace with bar on all C files here and under,
:args **/*.c
:argdo %s/foo/bar/g
Ctrl+P to go to any file that I want in my list of folders.
The :find command can be used to "find" a file in the directories specified in the 'path' option:
set path+=/some/arbitrary/path
set path+=/another/one
:find *foo
I find these two mappings very handy:
nnoremap <key> :find * " search in every directory
" in 'path'
nnoremap <key> :find <C-R>=expand('%:p:h').'/**/*'<CR> " start from the directory
" of the current file
Ctrl+Shift+f to find (and replace) any text in those list of folders.
What amadan said above.
Good switch! So you’ve discovered CtrlP. It has extensive documentation built in. Use :h ctrlp to see the full vimdocs explaining the various options. It’ll explain some important settings for working dirs, which are pretty important for a good experience with it. Take for example some of the settings I use:
" The one you really care about...
" Set root to CWD. Another good option is 'r' for VCS mode.
" You should start vim in the root of your project tree
let g:ctrlp_working_path_mode = 0
" You _can_ switch dirs
let g:ctrlp_extensions = ['dir']
" Avoid big/unimportant project areas
set wildignore+=*/node_modules/*,*/build/*,*/components/*,*/_public/*,*/tmp/*,*/vendor/*
" Cache -- get used to pressing F5 on tree changes/additions
let g:ctrlp_use_caching = 1
let g:ctrlp_clear_cache_on_exit = 0
" Somewhat self-explanatory
let g:ctrlp_show_hidden = 1
let g:ctrlp_switch_buffer = 2
let g:ctrlp_max_depth = 6
let g:ctrlp_max_height = 50
" Open *h*orizontally and *j*ump to first win.
let g:ctrlp_open_multiple_files = 'hj'
" Use <C-d> to toggle
"let g:ctrlp_by_filename = 1
For further control of where to look for files outside your working tree, consult g:ctrlp_user_command. There is a Windows example using dir. You’d use that, but with your desired extra paths.
You might also want to add NerdTree, a nice complement to CtrlP. It is reminiscent of ST’s sidebar. Use its ? to get help. It has a menu that lets you quickly add files and dirs, maybe like you’re wanting out of “Add folders to project”.
For search-and-replace, look at ag.vim. I map it to <leader>g (meaning “grep”).
Those mentioned are some of my favorites, but you should explore the world of Vim plugins to decide which others are worth adopting. I recommend trying one at a time while you’re new, rather than a sometimes-opaque “distribution”. Tools to make plugin management easier are Vundle / Pathogen (choose one).
Eureka...!!!!!
After searching tirelessly for days (and sleepless nights), I found my answer (please read on).
First some foolosophy though
I was so keen not to give up on Vim. But this issue was just eating me from inside, and was disruptive in my work flow. I have many project folders in windows that I want vim to search through. Ctrl+p for some reason never really worked. I had some not-so-nice thoughts of giving up on Vim. and then I found this!
My Answer
This is a little different from what I expected. But the answer is Everything (by VoidTools). It allows to search from anywhere and gives results in a fraction of sec. It is by far the best filename search tool in Windows. It supports Regex. (though it is not text search tool). It has a command line interface called
es.exe
using Vim's FindEverything.vim plugin (FindEverything), I was able to search not only through my project folders, but pretty much anywhere. It returns the results in the vim buffer.
Thanks Y'all for your help. I know that not everyone may agree with this solution. But on Windows, this is by far the best solution, I found! Hopefully, it is useful for others why are in same boat!!!
Is there a way to set a PATH-like sequence of directories to search for files in vim? My project has C files split across many directories, and it would be nice to jump back and forth without remembering the full path each time.
For instance, if I have:
platform/drivers/uart.c
ui/display/menu.c
cpu/registers/regs.h
I would like to be able to set PATH to "platform/drivers:ui/display:cpu/registers". Then when I want to switch to a file, I can just type:
:e uart.c
instead of
:e platform/drivers/uart.c
I understand that I can change the working directory, but then I have to type
:e ../../ui/display/menu.c
to get to another directory.
Alternatively, is there a better way to navigate a project like this than using :edit?
There is, and it's called path. The way you use path is with the :find command: :find menu.c would search for menu.c in the directories in path and edit it. There are other commands that use path, like :sfind that opens the found file in a new split. See the documentation of path for details and other commands that use it.
Another thing that may help you find your files is the **-wildcard that can expand to any directory path. For example :edit **/menu.c will look for menu.c in subdirectories, so you don't have remember and type the full path.
I want to get the file name without the file extension in Vim.
I wrote the following function in my .vimrc file to compile and run the Java program:
:function! JAVA_RUN()
:!javac %^M
:endfunction
map <F3> :execute JAVA_RUN()<CR> :source $HOME/.vimrc<CR>
How can I get the file name without the extension inside the function?
:help expand() should give you the answer, see expand().
You should use the r modifier for %, with %:r instead of % to get the file name without extension.
If you want to write functions to build and execute files, you should also have a look at the documentation for shellescape, in order to prevent problems with spaces in file name or path.
If you want to expand a filename (other than % etc) take a look at fnamemodify()
fnamemodify({fname}, {mods}) *fnamemodify()*
Modify file name {fname} according to {mods}. {mods} is a
string of characters like it is used for file names on the
command line. See |filename-modifiers|.
fnamemodify("main.java", ":r") returns main.
I literally just read a similar question to this (in that someone else seemed to be trying to configure vim to build automagically for them with the F-key), and wrote an answer about how you can leverage the power of vim's :make command without even needing to write a Makefile. In your case, it's less directly related to the question, but I thought I'd mention it in case you were interested.
Furthermore, someone seems to have written something on Vim Tips Wiki about how to set up vim's :make command to specifically work with Java projects built with ant. I haven't worked with Java in a while myself, but in your case specifically it might be a good place to get started.
I came here looking for an answer for a similar question. I wanted to be able to extract the current class name from the java file being edited. I found a very neat way to do this in vim with an abbreviation:
ab xclass <C-R>=expand('%:t:r')<CR>
Place this line in your .vimrc (or similar) for this to work. An abbreviation will auto-trigger as soon as you press space, and so I usually prefix them with 'x' to avoid their accidental expansion.
The trick here is the combination of :t and :r in the argument to expand(). % is the "current file name", :t selects just the tail of the path ("last path component only") and :r selects just the root ("one extension removed"). (quoted parts are from the official expand() documentation.)
So when you are creating a new class in file /a/b/ClassIAmAboutToCreate.java you would type:
public class xclass {
the moment you press space after "xclass", the abbreviation will be expanded to public class ClassIAmAboutToCreate, which is exactly what you need.
Also, note that an abbreviation can be triggered by pressing Ctrl+] which avoids inserting a space after the class name.