1*usr_22.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2010 Feb 21 2 3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar 4 5 Finding the file to edit 6 7 8Files can be found everywhere. So how do you find them? Vim offers various 9ways to browse the directory tree. There are commands to jump to a file that 10is mentioned in another. And Vim remembers which files have been edited 11before. 12 13|22.1| The file browser 14|22.2| The current directory 15|22.3| Finding a file 16|22.4| The buffer list 17 18 Next chapter: |usr_23.txt| Editing other files 19 Previous chapter: |usr_21.txt| Go away and come back 20Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt| 21 22============================================================================== 23*22.1* The file browser 24 25Vim has a plugin that makes it possible to edit a directory. Try this: > 26 27 :edit . 28 29Through the magic of autocommands and Vim scripts, the window will be filled 30with the contents of the directory. It looks like this: 31 32" ============================================================================ ~ 33" Netrw Directory Listing (netrw v109) ~ 34" Sorted by name ~ 35" Sort sequence: [\/]$,\.h$,\.c$,\.cpp$,*,\.info$,\.swp$,\.o$\.obj$,\.bak$ ~ 36" Quick Help: <F1>:help -:go up dir D:delete R:rename s:sort-by x:exec ~ 37" ============================================================================ ~ 38../ ~ 39./ ~ 40check/ ~ 41Makefile ~ 42autocmd.txt ~ 43change.txt ~ 44eval.txt~ ~ 45filetype.txt~ ~ 46help.txt.info ~ 47 48You can see these items: 49 501. The name of the browsing tool and its version number 512. The name of the browsing directory 523. The method of sorting (may be by name, time, or size) 534. How names are to be sorted (directories first, then *.h files, 54 *.c files, etc) 555. How to get help (use the <F1> key), and an abbreviated listing 56 of available commands 576. A listing of files, including "../", which allows one to list 58 the parent directory. 59 60If you have syntax highlighting enabled, the different parts are highlighted 61so as to make it easier to spot them. 62 63You can use Normal mode Vim commands to move around in the text. For example, 64move the cursor atop a file and press <Enter>; you will then be editing that 65file. To go back to the browser use ":edit ." again, or use ":Explore". 66CTRL-O also works. 67 68Try using <Enter> while the cursor is atop a directory name. The result is 69that the file browser moves into that directory and displays the items found 70there. Pressing <Enter> on the first directory "../" moves you one level 71higher. Pressing "-" does the same thing, without the need to move to the 72"../" item first. 73 74You can press <F1> to get help on the things you can do in the netrw file 75browser. This is what you get: > 76 77 9. Directory Browsing netrw-browse netrw-dir netrw-list netrw-help 78 79 MAPS netrw-maps 80 <F1>.............Help.......................................|netrw-help| 81 <cr>.............Browsing...................................|netrw-cr| 82 <del>............Deleting Files or Directories..............|netrw-delete| 83 -................Going Up...................................|netrw--| 84 a................Hiding Files or Directories................|netrw-a| 85 mb...............Bookmarking a Directory....................|netrw-mb| 86 gb...............Changing to a Bookmarked Directory.........|netrw-gb| 87 c................Make Browsing Directory The Current Dir....|netrw-c| 88 d................Make A New Directory.......................|netrw-d| 89 D................Deleting Files or Directories..............|netrw-D| 90 <c-h>............Edit File/Directory Hiding List............|netrw-ctrl-h| 91 i................Change Listing Style.......................|netrw-i| 92 <c-l>............Refreshing the Listing.....................|netrw-ctrl-l| 93 o................Browsing with a Horizontal Split...........|netrw-o| 94 p................Use Preview Window.........................|netrw-p| 95 P................Edit in Previous Window....................|netrw-p| 96 q................Listing Bookmarks and History..............|netrw-q| 97 r................Reversing Sorting Order....................|netrw-r| 98< (etc) 99 100The <F1> key thus brings you to a netrw directory browsing contents help page. 101It's a regular help page; use the usual |CTRL-]| to jump to tagged help items 102and |CTRL-O| to jump back. 103 104To select files for display and editing: (with the cursor is atop a filename) 105 106 <enter> Open the file in the current window. |netrw-cr| 107 o Horizontally split window and display file |netrw-o| 108 v Vertically split window and display file |netrw-v| 109 p Use the |preview-window| |netrw-p| 110 P Edit in the previous window |netrw-P| 111 t Open file in a new tab |netrw-t| 112 113The following normal-mode commands may be used to control the browser display: 114 115 i Controls listing style (thin, long, wide, and tree). 116 The long listing includes size and date information. 117 s Repeatedly pressing s will change the way the files 118 are sorted; one may sort on name, modification time, 119 or size. 120 r Reverse the sorting order. 121 122As a sampling of extra normal-mode commands: 123 124 c Change Vim's notion of the current directory to be 125 the same as the browser directory. (see 126 |g:netrw_keepdir| to control this, too) 127 R Rename the file or directory under the cursor; a 128 prompt will be issued for the new name. 129 D Delete the file or directory under the cursor; a 130 confirmation request will be issued. 131 mb gb Make bookmark/goto bookmark 132 133 134One may also use command mode; again, just a sampling: 135 136 :Explore [directory] Browse specified/current directory 137 :NetrwSettings A comprehensive list of your current netrw 138 settings with help linkage. 139 140The netrw browser is not limited to just your local machine; one may use 141urls such as: (that trailing / is important) 142 143 :Explore ftp://somehost/path/to/dir/ 144 :e scp://somehost/path/to/dir/ 145 146See |netrw-browse| for more. 147 148============================================================================== 149*22.2* The current directory 150 151Just like the shell, Vim has the concept of a current directory. Suppose you 152are in your home directory and want to edit several files in a directory 153"VeryLongFileName". You could do: > 154 155 :edit VeryLongFileName/file1.txt 156 :edit VeryLongFileName/file2.txt 157 :edit VeryLongFileName/file3.txt 158 159To avoid much of the typing, do this: > 160 161 :cd VeryLongFileName 162 :edit file1.txt 163 :edit file2.txt 164 :edit file3.txt 165 166The ":cd" command changes the current directory. You can see what the current 167directory is with the ":pwd" command: > 168 169 :pwd 170 /home/Bram/VeryLongFileName 171 172Vim remembers the last directory that you used. Use "cd -" to go back to it. 173Example: > 174 175 :pwd 176 /home/Bram/VeryLongFileName 177 :cd /etc 178 :pwd 179 /etc 180 :cd - 181 :pwd 182 /home/Bram/VeryLongFileName 183 :cd - 184 :pwd 185 /etc 186 187 188WINDOW LOCAL DIRECTORY 189 190When you split a window, both windows use the same current directory. When 191you want to edit a number of files somewhere else in the new window, you can 192make it use a different directory, without changing the current directory in 193the other window. This is called a local directory. > 194 195 :pwd 196 /home/Bram/VeryLongFileName 197 :split 198 :lcd /etc 199 :pwd 200 /etc 201 CTRL-W w 202 :pwd 203 /home/Bram/VeryLongFileName 204 205So long as no ":lcd" command has been used, all windows share the same current 206directory. Doing a ":cd" command in one window will also change the current 207directory of the other window. 208 For a window where ":lcd" has been used a different current directory is 209remembered. Using ":cd" or ":lcd" in other windows will not change it. 210 When using a ":cd" command in a window that uses a different current 211directory, it will go back to using the shared directory. 212 213============================================================================== 214*22.3* Finding a file 215 216You are editing a C program that contains this line: 217 218 #include "inits.h" ~ 219 220You want to see what is in that "inits.h" file. Move the cursor on the name 221of the file and type: > 222 223 gf 224 225Vim will find the file and edit it. 226 What if the file is not in the current directory? Vim will use the 'path' 227option to find the file. This option is a list of directory names where to 228look for your file. 229 Suppose you have your include files located in "c:/prog/include". This 230command will add it to the 'path' option: > 231 232 :set path+=c:/prog/include 233 234This directory is an absolute path. No matter where you are, it will be the 235same place. What if you have located files in a subdirectory, below where the 236file is? Then you can specify a relative path name. This starts with a dot: 237> 238 :set path+=./proto 239 240This tells Vim to look in the directory "proto", below the directory where the 241file in which you use "gf" is. Thus using "gf" on "inits.h" will make Vim 242look for "proto/inits.h", starting in the directory of the file. 243 Without the "./", thus "proto", Vim would look in the "proto" directory 244below the current directory. And the current directory might not be where the 245file that you are editing is located. 246 247The 'path' option allows specifying the directories where to search for files 248in many more ways. See the help on the 'path' option. 249 The 'isfname' option is used to decide which characters are included in the 250file name, and which ones are not (e.g., the " character in the example 251above). 252 253When you know the file name, but it's not to be found in the file, you can 254type it: > 255 256 :find inits.h 257 258Vim will then use the 'path' option to try and locate the file. This is the 259same as the ":edit" command, except for the use of 'path'. 260 261To open the found file in a new window use CTRL-W f instead of "gf", or use 262":sfind" instead of ":find". 263 264 265A nice way to directly start Vim to edit a file somewhere in the 'path': > 266 267 vim "+find stdio.h" 268 269This finds the file "stdio.h" in your value of 'path'. The quotes are 270necessary to have one argument |-+c|. 271 272============================================================================== 273*22.4* The buffer list 274 275The Vim editor uses the term buffer to describe a file being edited. 276Actually, a buffer is a copy of the file that you edit. When you finish 277changing the buffer, you write the contents of the buffer to the file. 278Buffers not only contain file contents, but also all the marks, settings, and 279other stuff that goes with it. 280 281 282HIDDEN BUFFERS 283 284Suppose you are editing the file one.txt and need to edit the file two.txt. 285You could simply use ":edit two.txt", but since you made changes to one.txt 286that won't work. You also don't want to write one.txt yet. Vim has a 287solution for you: > 288 289 :hide edit two.txt 290 291The buffer "one.txt" disappears from the screen, but Vim still knows that you 292are editing this buffer, so it keeps the modified text. This is called a 293hidden buffer: The buffer contains text, but you can't see it. 294 The argument of ":hide" is another command. ":hide" makes that command 295behave as if the 'hidden' option was set. You could also set this option 296yourself. The effect is that when any buffer is abandoned, it becomes hidden. 297 Be careful! When you have hidden buffers with changes, don't exit Vim 298without making sure you have saved all the buffers. 299 300 301INACTIVE BUFFERS 302 303 When a buffer has been used once, Vim remembers some information about it. 304When it is not displayed in a window and it is not hidden, it is still in the 305buffer list. This is called an inactive buffer. Overview: 306 307 Active Appears in a window, text loaded. 308 Hidden Not in a window, text loaded. 309 Inactive Not in a window, no text loaded. 310 311The inactive buffers are remembered, because Vim keeps information about them, 312like marks. And remembering the file name is useful too, so that you can see 313which files you have edited. And edit them again. 314 315 316LISTING BUFFERS 317 318View the buffer list with this command: > 319 320 :buffers 321 322A command which does the same, is not so obvious to list buffers, but is much 323shorter to type: > 324 325 :ls 326 327The output could look like this: 328 329 1 #h "help.txt" line 62 ~ 330 2 %a+ "usr_21.txt" line 1 ~ 331 3 "usr_toc.txt" line 1 ~ 332 333The first column contains the buffer number. You can use this to edit the 334buffer without having to type the name, see below. 335 After the buffer number come the flags. Then the name of the file 336and the line number where the cursor was the last time. 337 The flags that can appear are these (from left to right): 338 339 u Buffer is unlisted |unlisted-buffer|. 340 % Current buffer. 341 # Alternate buffer. 342 a Buffer is loaded and displayed. 343 h Buffer is loaded but hidden. 344 = Buffer is read-only. 345 - Buffer is not modifiable, the 'modifiable' option is off. 346 + Buffer has been modified. 347 348 349EDITING A BUFFER 350 351You can edit a buffer by its number. That avoids having to type the file 352name: > 353 354 :buffer 2 355 356But the only way to know the number is by looking in the buffer list. You can 357use the name, or part of it, instead: > 358 359 :buffer help 360 361Vim will find the best match for the name you type. If there is only one 362buffer that matches the name, it will be used. In this case "help.txt". 363 To open a buffer in a new window: > 364 365 :sbuffer 3 366 367This works with a name as well. 368 369 370USING THE BUFFER LIST 371 372You can move around in the buffer list with these commands: 373 374 :bnext go to next buffer 375 :bprevious go to previous buffer 376 :bfirst go to the first buffer 377 :blast go to the last buffer 378 379To remove a buffer from the list, use this command: > 380 381 :bdelete 3 382 383Again, this also works with a name. 384 If you delete a buffer that was active (visible in a window), that window 385will be closed. If you delete the current buffer, the current window will be 386closed. If it was the last window, Vim will find another buffer to edit. You 387can't be editing nothing! 388 389 Note: 390 Even after removing the buffer with ":bdelete" Vim still remembers it. 391 It's actually made "unlisted", it no longer appears in the list from 392 ":buffers". The ":buffers!" command will list unlisted buffers (yes, 393 Vim can do the impossible). To really make Vim forget about a buffer, 394 use ":bwipe". Also see the 'buflisted' option. 395 396============================================================================== 397 398Next chapter: |usr_23.txt| Editing other files 399 400Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 401