How can I edit multiple files in VIM?

Question

I know I can open multiple files with vim by doing something like vim 2011-12*.log, but how can I switch between files and close the files one at a time? Also, how can I tell the file name of the current file that I'm editing?

Answer 1

First of all, in vim you can enter : and then help help, ala :help for a list of self help topics, including a short tutorial. Within the list of topics move your cursor over the topic of interest and then press ctrl-] and that topic will be opened.

A good place for you to start would be the topic

|usr_07.txt|  Editing more than one file

Ok, on to your answer.

After starting vim with a list of files, you can move to the next file by entering :next or :n for short. :wnext is short for write current changes and then move to next file.

There's also an analogous :previous, :wprevious and :p

To see where you are in the file list enter :args and the file currently being edited will appear in [] brackets

vim foo.txt bar.txt
:args

[foo.txt] bar.txt

Answer 2

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.

The keyboard shortcuts gT and gt can also be used to switch tabs when you are not in editing mode (i.e. not in insert, replace etc modes). On some systems Ctrl+Alt+PgUp and Ctrl+Alt+PgDown also allow tab-switching, but this does not always work (for example, it won't work in the OS X terminal 'out of the box').

And you can see the filename at the top of the vim app.

Answer 3

Another option apart from the answers given, is to split the window with:

:sp
:vsp

:vsp is for vertical split. Then use Ctrl+W <ARROW_KEYS> to move in panes.

Answer 4

Commands to switch between buffers:

:bf            # Go to first file.
:bl            # Go to last file
:bn            # Go to next file.
:bp            # Go to previous file.
:bw            # Close file.

:help buffer to find more information

To know filename use Ctrl+G or :file

Answer 5

I asked a similar question at superuser,

"How to copy and paste between different bash windows and files opened with VI?"

The answer to my question was you can't, but you can open two files in one bash window using VIM's :split command:

1. Open a file with $ vim file1, open a second file within VIM using :split file2 command.
2. Or, use $ vim -o file1 file2 from bash.
3. Switch between files--toggle active file--in VIM with ctrl-w ctrl-w.
4. An example operation then is copy (or yank) in file1 yy, switch (3), then paste (or put) p contents into file2.
5. Everything else is normal when either window is active, thus :q quits and :q! force quits.

My bash is black and white, so the file name of each screen is styled as a reversed 'selected' line with the file name cited there.

Woot!

Answer 6

:n -> Move to next file
:N -> Move to previous file