Vim use two windows

You can then use Ctrl-W direction to switch windows where direction is one of the normal hjkl cursor movement keys, or the arrow keys. You can either split vim windows by opening multiple files using -o , -O , -o2 parameters. Or if you're already editing multiple files in one window, you can use :ba to split horizontally or :vert ba to split vertically. If it contains a command that splits a window, it will be split vertically. You can use :split or :vsplit for horizontal and vertical splits respectively.

Provide the path to the file you want to open to open a specific file. Or just type the command to open a copy if the current file. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Is it possible to split Vim window to view multiple files at once? The result was a very long list of requested features.

The top two items were clear: Popup windows and text properties. After more than a year of development the new features are now ready for the Vim crowds.

Popup windows make it possible to show messages, function prototypes, code snippets and anything else on top of the text being edited. They open and close quickly and can be highlighted in many ways. More about that below. This was no small effort. Although the existing window support could be used, popup windows are different enough to require a lot of extra logic.

Especially to update the screen efficiently. Also to make it easy for plugin writers to use them; you don't need to tell Vim exactly where to show one, just give a reference point and the text to display, Vim will figure out the size and where the popup fits best. Text properties can be used for something as simple as highlighting a text snippet or something as complicated as using an external parser to locate syntax items and highlight them asynchronously.

This can be used instead of the pattern based syntax highlighting. When no argument specified, the current file will be displayed in both split windows. To open another file in a new window, use the command :split , followed by the desired filename, as follows:. To switch to the next window to the left of the current window, use either of the following shortcuts:. This article showed you how to open and switch between multiple files and windows in the Vim text editor.

Hopefully, this should make it easier for you to use this amazing text editing tool. Karim Buzdar holds a degree in telecommunication engineering and holds several sysadmin certifications. As an IT engineer and technical author, he writes for various web sites. He blogs at LinuxWays. By default, Vim starts with a single window, which is enough for editing a single file. But sometimes, you may have to work on multiple files. Here are a few Vim tutorials that will really help you quickly grasp the basics and get your fingers flying in no time.

For starters, one way Vim is different from other code editors is that Vim has "modes". Here are all of Vim's modes explained, with examples. Vim can be intimidating. There is so much to learn. But this guide will show you how not to be afraid of Vim anymore.

If you're already using VS Code and want to switch completely to Vim, this article will explain how you can do so. In this article, he not only explain these, but shows demos of these tips in action. In the 30 years since Bram Moolenaar first created Vim, its influence has spread far and wide. And even today, the Vim project is actively maintained and constantly improving.

I hope this guide has helped you get running Vim on your Windows PC. And I hope these other tutorials I've shared with you here will help you go from zero-to-sixty within the coming months. The key is to keep practicing and not get discouraged by how many Vim shortcuts there are to remember.