How do you return from 'gf' in Vim

197
votes

I am using Vim for windows installed in Unix mode. Thanks to this site I now use the gf command to go to a file under the cursor.

I'm looking for a command to either:

  1. return to the previous file (similar to Ctrl+T for ctags), or
  2. remap gf to automatically launch the new file in a new window.
11
vimeditor

11 Answers

310
votes

I use Ctrl-O

77
votes

I frequently use Ctrl-6 for this.

It's handy because it allows me to quickly jump back and forth between the two files.

48
votes

You might want to use CTRL-W gf to open the file in a new tab.

You can close the newly opened file as always with :bd, or use CTRL-6 and other usual ways of changing buffers.

15
votes

Just use :e# followed by Enter - that basically says to edit the last (most recent) file.

14
votes

Use gf to descend into a file and use :bf to get back

9
votes

Ctrl-Shift-6 is one.

:e#↲ is another.

5
votes

I don't know the answer to part 2 of your question, but I can help with part 1. Use

:e#

Vim maintains a list of files (buffers) that it's editing. If you type

:buffers

it will list all the files you are currently editing. The file in that list with a % beside it is the current file. The one with the # beside it is the alternate file. :e# will switch between the current and alternate file. Rather than type that much, I map F2 to :e# so I can easily flip between the current and alternate files. I map the command to F2 by adding this to .vimrc

nmap `<F2> :e#<CR>`
5
votes

I got CTRL-Wf to work.
It's quite depressing that I've spent so long perfecting maps for these commands only to discover that there are built-in versions.

2
votes

When you open a new file (with gf or :n or another command) the old file remains in a buffer list. You can list open files with :ls

If you want to navigate easily between buffers in vim, you can create a mapping like this:

nmap <M-LEFT> :bN<cr>
nmap <M-RIGHT> :bn<cr>

Now you can switch between buffers with Alt+← or Alt+→.

The complete documentation on mappings is here:

:help map.txt
0
votes

I haven't looked at your gf command but I imagine it uses the :e or :find command.
Assuming that this is correct, simply replace the :e or :find with :new (or :vnew for a vertical split) and the file will open in a new window instead of the same one.

e.g. 

"Switch between header and cpp
nmap ,s :find %:t:r.cpp<CR>
nmap ,S :new %:t:r.cpp<CR>
nmap ,h :find %:t:r.h<CR>
nmap ,H :new %:t:r.h<CR>
nmap ,F :new =expand("<cfile>:t")<CR><CR>
nmap ,d :new =expand("<cfile>")<CR><CR>