Shortcut for tabn & tabp in vim/vi

Question

When I open several files using vim+tabf, switching across the files will involve using tabp & tabn.

Can I have a quicker way to do so?

Answer 1

In vim you can replace any command with a shortcut key sequence. For tabp and tabp you might want to use ctrl-k and ctrl-j. To create that mapping you would add the following to your .vimrc:

nmap <C-k> :tabn<cr>
nmap <C-j> :tabp<cr>

Answer 2

By default, vim maps gt to :tabn and gT to :tabp - this can be useful if you're logged into a server without your vimrc on it, or if you are logged in as root on a machine other people have to use.

But when I do have my vimrc, I use <C-h> and <C-l> for switching tabs.