How to effectively work with multiple files in Vim

Why not use tabs (introduced in Vim 7)? You can switch between tabs with :tabn and :tabp, With :tabe <filepath> you can add a new tab; and with a regular :q or :wq you close a tab. If you map :tabn and :tabp to your F7/F8 keys you can easily switch between files.

If there are not that many files or you don't have Vim 7 you can also split your screen in multiple files: :sp <filepath>. Then you can switch between splitscreens with Ctrl+W and then an arrow key in the direction you want to move (or instead of arrow keys, w for next and W for previous splitscreen)

Listing

To see a list of current buffers, I use:

:ls

Opening

To open a new file, I use

:e ../myFile.pl

with enhanced tab completion (put set wildmenu in your .vimrc).

Note: you can also use :find which will search a set of paths for you, but you need to customize those paths first.

Switching

To switch between all open files, I use

:b myfile

with enhanced tab completion (still set wildmenu).

Note: :b# chooses the last visited file, so you can use it to switch quickly between two files.

Using windows

Ctrl-W s and Ctrl-W v to split the current window horizontally and vertically. You can also use :split and :vertical split (:sp and :vs)

Ctrl-W w to switch between open windows, and Ctrl-W h (or j or k or l) to navigate through open windows.

Ctrl-W c to close the current window, and Ctrl-W o to close all windows except the current one.

Starting vim with a -o or -O flag opens each file in its own split.

With all these I don't need tabs in Vim, and my fingers find my buffers, not my eyes.

Note: if you want all files to go to the same instance of Vim, start Vim with the --remote-silent option.

:ls

for list of open buffers

• :bp previous buffer
• :bn next buffer
• :bn (n a number) move to n'th buffer
• :b <filename-part> with tab-key providing auto-completion (awesome !!)

In some versions of vim, bn and bp are actually bnext and bprevious respectively. Tab auto-complete is helpful in this case.

Or when you are in normal mode, use ^ to switch to the last file you were working on.

Plus, you can save sessions of vim

:mksession! ~/today.ses

The above command saves the current open file buffers and settings to ~/today.ses. You can load that session by using

vim -S ~/today.ses

No hassle remembering where you left off yesterday. ;)

To add to the args list:

:argadd

To delete from the args list:

:argdelete

In your example, you could use :argedit test.pl to add test.pl to the args list and edit the file in one step.

:help args gives much more detail and advanced usage

I use buffer commands - :bn (next buffer), :bp (previous buffer) :buffers (list open buffers) :b<n> (open buffer n) :bd (delete buffer). :e <filename> will just open into a new buffer.

I think you may be using the wrong command for looking at the list of files that you have open.

Try doing an :ls to see the list of files that you have open and you'll see:

   1 %a   "./checkin.pl"            line 1
  2 #    "./grabakamailogs.pl"     line 1
  3      "./grabwmlogs.pl"         line 0
  etc.

You can then bounce through the files by referring to them by the numbers listed, e.g. :3b

or you can split your screen by entering the number but using sb instead of just b.

As an aside % refers to the file currently visible and # refers to the alternate file.

You can easily toggle between these two files by pressing Ctrl Shift 6

Edit: like :ls you can use :reg to see the current contents of your registers including the 0-9 registers that contain what you've deleted. This is especially useful if you want to reuse some text that you've previously deleted.

Vim (but not the original Vi!) has tabs which I find (in many contexts) superior to buffers. You can say :tabe [filename] to open a file in a new tab. Cycling between tabs is done by clicking on the tab or by the key combinations [n]gt and gT. Graphical Vim even has graphical tabs.

When using multiple files in vim, I use these commands mostly (with ~350 files open):

• :b <partial filename><tab> (jump to a buffer)
• :bw (buffer wipe, remove a buffer)
• :e <file path> (edit, open a new buffer>
• pltags - enable jumping to subroutine/method definitions

I use the same .vimrc file for gVim and the command line Vim. I tend to use tabs in gVim and buffers in the command line Vim, so I have my .vimrc set up to make working with both of them easier:

" Movement between tabs OR buffers
nnoremap L :call MyNext()<CR>
nnoremap H :call MyPrev()<CR>

" MyNext() and MyPrev(): Movement between tabs OR buffers
function! MyNext()
    if exists( '*tabpagenr' ) && tabpagenr('$') != 1
        " Tab support && tabs open
        normal gt
    else
        " No tab support, or no tabs open
        execute ":bnext"
    endif
endfunction
function! MyPrev()
    if exists( '*tabpagenr' ) && tabpagenr('$') != '1'
        " Tab support && tabs open
        normal gT
    else
        " No tab support, or no tabs open
        execute ":bprev"
    endif
endfunction

This clobbers the existing mappings for H and L, but it makes switching between files extremely fast and easy. Just hit H for next and L for previous; whether you're using tabs or buffers, you'll get the intended results.

If you are going to use multiple buffers, I think the most important thing is to set hidden so that it will let you switch buffers even if you have unsaved changes in the one you are leaving.

In my and other many vim users, the best option is to,

• Open the file using,

:e file_name.extension

And then just Ctrl + 6 to change to the last buffer. Or, you can always press

:ls to list the buffer and then change the buffer using b followed by the buffer number.

• We make a vertical or horizontal split using

:vsp for vertical split

:sp for horizantal split

And then <C-W><C-H/K/L/j> to change the working split.

You can ofcourse edit any file in any number of splits.

I use multiple buffers that are set hidden in my ~/.vimrc file.

The mini-buffer explorer script is nice too to get a nice compact listing of your buffers. Then :b1 or :b2... to go to the appropriate buffer or use the mini-buffer explorer and tab through the buffers.

I would suggest using the plugin

NERDtree

Here is the github link with instructions.

Nerdtree

I use vim-plug as a plugin manager, but you can use Vundle as well.

vim-plug

Vundle

You can be an absolute madman and alias vim to vim -p by adding in your .bashrc:

alias vim="vim -p"

This will result in opening multiple files from the shell in tabs, without having to invoke :tab ball from within vim afterwards.

1. To open 2 or more files with vim type: vim -p file1 file2

2. After that command to go threw that files you can use CTRL+Shift+↑ or ↓ , it will change your files in vim.

3. If u want to add one more file vim and work on it use: :tabnew file3

4. Also u can use which will not create a new tab and will open file on screen slicing your screen: :new file3

5. If u want to use a plugin that will help u work with directories and files i suggest u NERDTree.

6. To download it u need to have vim-plug so to download other plugins also NERDTree to type this commands in your ~/.vimrc.

    let data_dir = has('nvim') ? stdpath('data') . '/site' : '~/.vim'
    if empty(glob(data_dir . '/autoload/plug.vim'))
      silent execute '!curl -fLo '.data_dir.'/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs 
      https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'
      autocmd VimEnter * PlugInstall --sync | source $MYVIMRC
    endif

    call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
    Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree'
    call plug#end()

7. Then save .vimrc via command :wq , get back to it and type: :PlugInstall

After that the plugins will be installed and u could use your NERDTree with other plugins.