Finding the file to edit

Files can be found everywhere. So how do you find them? Vim offers various ways to browse the directory tree. There are commands to jump to a file that is mentioned in another. And Vim remembers which files have been edited before.

22.1 The file browser 22.2 The current directory 22.3 Finding a file 22.4 The buffer list

Next chapter: usr_23.txt Editing other files Previous chapter: usr_21.txt Go away and come back Table of contents: usr_toc.txt

Nvim can edit a directory. Try this:

:edit .

The window will be filled with a directory listing. It looks like this:

check/
autoload.txt
change.txt
eval.txt
filetype.txt
help.txt

Directories end in "/".

You can use Normal mode Vim commands to move around in the text. For example, move the cursor atop a file and press <Enter>; you will then be editing that file. To go back to the listing use ":edit ." again. CTRL-O also works.

Try using <Enter> while the cursor is atop a directory name. The result is that the file browser moves into that directory and displays the items found there. Pressing "-" moves you one level higher, to the parent directory. "R" reloads the listing.

The directory listing opened by ":edit ." is a viewer, not a file manager. For netrw's browser, file operations, and remote directories, use ":Explore":

:Explore .

The netrw browser may also use URLs such as:

:Explore ftp://somehost/path/to/dir/
:e scp://somehost/path/to/dir/

Note: The trailing "/" is important.

See netrw-browse for more.

Just like the shell, Vim has the concept of a current directory. Suppose you are in your home directory and want to edit several files in a directory "VeryLongFileName". You could do:

:edit VeryLongFileName/file1.txt
:edit VeryLongFileName/file2.txt
:edit VeryLongFileName/file3.txt

To avoid much of the typing, do this:

:cd VeryLongFileName
:edit file1.txt
:edit file2.txt
:edit file3.txt

The ":cd" command changes the current directory. You can see what the current directory is with the ":pwd" command:

:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName

Vim remembers the last directory that you used. Use "cd -" to go back to it. Example:

:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
:cd /etc
:pwd
/etc
:cd -
:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
:cd -
:pwd
/etc

WINDOW LOCAL DIRECTORY

When you split a window, both windows use the same current directory. When you want to edit a number of files somewhere else in the new window, you can make it use a different directory, without changing the current directory in the other window. This is called a local directory.

:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName
:split
:lcd /etc
:pwd
/etc
CTRL-W w
:pwd
/home/Bram/VeryLongFileName

So long as no :lcd command has been used, all windows share the same current directory. Doing a :cd command in one window will also change the current directory of the other window. For a window where :lcd has been used a different current directory is remembered. Using :cd or :lcd in other windows will not change it. When using a :cd command in a window that uses a different current directory, it will go back to using the shared directory.

When you open a new tabpage, it uses the directory of the window in the previous tabpage from which the new tabpage was opened. You can change the directory of the current tabpage using the :tcd command. All the windows in a tabpage share this directory except for windows with a window-local directory. Any new windows opened in this tabpage will use this directory as the current working directory. Using a :cd command in a tabpage will not change the working directory of tabpages which have a tab local directory. When the global working directory is changed using the :cd command in a tab page, it will also change the current tabpage working directory.

You are editing a C program that contains this line:

You want to see what is in that "inits.h" file. Move the cursor on the name of the file and type:

gf

Vim will find the file and edit it. What if the file is not in the current directory? Vim will use the 'path' option to find the file. This option is a list of directory names where to look for your file. Suppose you have your include files located in "c:/prog/include". This command will add it to the 'path' option:

:set path+=c:/prog/include

This directory is an absolute path. No matter where you are, it will be the same place. What if you have located files in a subdirectory, below where the file is? Then you can specify a relative path name. This starts with a dot:

:set path+=./proto

This tells Vim to look in the directory "proto", below the directory where the file in which you use "gf" is. Thus using "gf" on "inits.h" will make Vim look for "proto/inits.h", starting in the directory of the file. Without the "./", thus "proto", Vim would look in the "proto" directory below the current directory. And the current directory might not be where the file that you are editing is located.

The 'path' option allows specifying the directories where to search for files in many more ways. See the help on the 'path' option. The 'isfname' option is used to decide which characters are included in the file name, and which ones are not (e.g., the " character in the example above).

When you know the file name, but it's not to be found in the file, you can type it:

:find inits.h

Vim will then use the 'path' option to try and locate the file. This is the same as the ":edit" command, except for the use of 'path'.

To open the found file in a new window use CTRL-W f instead of "gf", or use ":sfind" instead of ":find".

A nice way to directly start Vim to edit a file somewhere in the 'path':

vim "+find stdio.h"

This finds the file "stdio.h" in your value of 'path'. The quotes are necessary to have one argument -+c.

The Vim editor uses the term buffer to describe a file being edited. Actually, a buffer is a copy of the file that you edit. When you finish changing the buffer, you write the contents of the buffer to the file. Buffers not only contain file contents, but also all the marks, settings, and other stuff that goes with it.

Suppose you are editing the file one.txt and need to edit the file two.txt. You could simply use ":edit two.txt", but since you made changes to one.txt that won't work. You also don't want to write one.txt yet. Vim has a solution for you:

:hide edit two.txt

The buffer "one.txt" disappears from the screen, but Vim still knows that you are editing this buffer, so it keeps the modified text. This is called a hidden buffer: The buffer contains text, but you can't see it. The argument of ":hide" is another command. ":hide" makes that command behave as if the 'hidden' option was set. You could also set this option yourself. The effect is that when any buffer is abandoned, it becomes hidden. Be careful! When you have hidden buffers with changes, don't exit Vim without making sure you have saved all the buffers.

When a buffer has been used once, Vim remembers some information about it. When it is not displayed in a window and it is not hidden, it is still in the buffer list. This is called an inactive buffer. Overview:

Active Appears in a window, text loaded. Hidden Not in a window, text loaded. Inactive Not in a window, no text loaded.

The inactive buffers are remembered, because Vim keeps information about them, like marks. And remembering the file name is useful too, so that you can see which files you have edited. And edit them again.

View the buffer list with this command:

:buffers

A command which does the same, is not so obvious to list buffers, but is much shorter to type:

:ls

The output could look like this:

1 #h   "help.txt"			line 62
2 %a + "usr_21.txt"			line 1
3      "usr_toc.txt"			line 1

The first column contains the buffer number. You can use this to edit the buffer without having to type the name, see below. After the buffer number come the flags. Then the name of the file and the line number where the cursor was the last time. The flags that can appear are these (from left to right):

u Buffer is unlisted unlisted-buffer. % Current buffer. # Alternate buffer. a Buffer is loaded and displayed. h Buffer is loaded but hidden. = Buffer is read-only. - Buffer is not modifiable, the 'modifiable' option is off. + Buffer has been modified.

You can edit a buffer by its number. That avoids having to type the file name:

:buffer 2

But the only way to know the number is by looking in the buffer list. You can use the name, or part of it, instead:

:buffer help

Vim will find the best match for the name you type. If there is only one buffer that matches the name, it will be used. In this case "help.txt". To open a buffer in a new window:

:sbuffer 3

This works with a name as well.

You can move around in the buffer list with these commands:

:bnext go to next buffer :bprevious go to previous buffer :bfirst go to the first buffer :blast go to the last buffer

To remove a buffer from the list, use this command:

:bdelete 3

Again, this also works with a name. If you delete a buffer that was active (visible in a window), that window will be closed. If you delete the current buffer, the current window will be closed. If it was the last window, Vim will find another buffer to edit. You can't be editing nothing!

Note: Even after removing the buffer with ":bdelete" Vim still remembers it. It's actually made "unlisted", it no longer appears in the list from ":buffers". The ":buffers!" command will list unlisted buffers (yes, Vim can do the impossible). To really make Vim forget about a buffer, use ":bwipe". Also see the 'buflisted' option.

Next chapter: usr_23.txt Editing other files

Copyright: see manual-copyright