Tip #237: If you prefer vertical splits

This is just in case there's somebody else who likes to work in a maximized vim window on a high resolution desktop. If you follow good coding practice and make sure your programs use only 80 characters in each row, have you noticed how much space lies unused on the right?

I find that the following settings keep me from ever seeing another horizontal split, unless I specifically ask for it.

cabbrev split vsplit
cabbrev hsplit split
cabbrev sta vertical sta
cabbrev help vertical help
cabbrev new vnew
cabbrev right botright

; A more heavyweight solution for ^W^]
function! ToggleSplit (dir)
    let currFname = bufname ("%")
    let old = winnr ()

    " Window navigation to ensure the correct window is 'last'.
    if (a:dir == "u")
        wincmd k
        let back="j"
    elseif (a:dir == "d")
        wincmd j
        let back="k"
    elseif (a:dir == "l")
        wincmd h
        let back="l"
    elseif (a:dir == "r")
        wincmd l
        let back="h"
    endif

    if (winnr () == old)
        echo "Ouch"
        return
    endif

    exec "wincmd " . back

    quit

    if (back == "j" || back == "k")
        let orientation = "vsplit"
    else
        let orientation = "split"
    endif

    if (back == "j" || back == "l")
        let dir = "below"
    else
        let dir = "above"
    endif

    exec dir . " " . orientation " " . currFname
endfunction
noremap ^W^] ^W^]:silent call ToggleSplit ("d")<CR>

; Optional.
set splitright
; In which case the above mapping becomes:
noremap ^W^] :set splitbelow<CR>^W^]:silent call ToggleSplit ("u")<CR>:set nosplitbelow<CR>
; Or you could just
set splitbelow
; :-)

; Very elegant and almost perfect, but it screws up if you want to run a command with ranges :-)
;noremap : :vertical<Space>

; EOF

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