Tip #493: Open the directory for the current file in Windows

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created: June 24, 2003 9:10 complexity: basic

author: Adam Wolff as of Vim: 6.0

It's often handy to open the folder that corresponds to a file I'm editing (as much as I hate to leave Vim!) I've added this mapping: map <C-e> :silent !explorer %:p:h:gs?\/?\\\\\\?<CR> So that typing ctrl-e in any buffer opens the folder that the file lives in in Windows. See :help filename-modifiers for more.

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Additional Notes

rpilkey at magma.ca, June 24, 2003 9:42

Good tip, I changed it to this: map <C-e> :!start explorer %:p:h:gs?\/?\\\\\\?<CR> This stops the console window from flashing up on the screen. See :help !start Rog

Anonymous, June 24, 2003 12:59

Very good! I call instead the windows explorer the explorer plugin with: map <C-e> :Exp %:p:h:gs?\/?\\\\\\?<CR> But this works only on Windows. Anybody knows how it should looks for unix?

[email protected], June 24, 2003 15:10

Well, I found I can reuse iexplore.exe, as in the following: map <silent> <C-E> :sil!!start C:/PROGRA~1/INTERN~1/iexplore -nohome -e <C-R>=getcwd()<CR><CR> If cygwin is installed, we can have a simple one: map <silent> <C-E> :sil!r!cygstart -x .<CR>

[email protected], June 24, 2003 15:12

On Unix, try using a free program called Worker: http://www.boomerangsworld.de/worker/woverview.php3?lang=en It is an X-based file explorer, similar to Windows explorer. I had to modify the mapping to: map <C-e> :silent !worker %:p:h<CR>

[email protected], June 26, 2003 7:14

For quite a while now I've been doing it this way: func! OpenCWD() if has("gui_running") if has("win32") let s:stored_shellslash = &shellslash; set noshellslash !start explorer.exe %:p:h let &shellslash; = s:stored_shellslash elseif has("gui_kde") !konqueror %:p:h & elseif has("gui_gtk") " TODO: test! !nautilus %:p:h & elseif has("mac") && has("unix") !open %:p:h endif endif endfunc command! OpenCWD call OpenCWD() " or whatever you like I'm not sure how flawless it is, but it has worked for me on a couple of different platforms.

[email protected], June 26, 2003 19:07

A solution that I like is to use the vi file manager (http://vifm.sourceforge.net). You can use it with or without being in vim (a vim plugin comes with the distribution). Unfortunately, I have not been able to get it to compile in cygwin on windows yet, and I am on a windows machine right now, so I can't access it to give more of the specifics. I think the plugin comes with a command like :Vifm, but, that could be mapped.

sgovindachar at yahoo, June 27, 2003 8:38

Since I perfer to stay within Vim, I use the following: :sf %:p:h This splits the window and lists the contents of the directory of the file. Putting the cursor on an item from the list in that window and typing o opens up a new window with the contents of the item.

Anonymous, June 4, 2005 19:26

How is this different from ":Sexplore" or the shorter ":Sex"?




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