How to open and split multiple files

Question

How can I open in a split window multiple files. One split for each file if I'm not being clear.

I want to do something like. :sp app/views/*.erb and have the ~7 files all open in their own split windows.

score 62 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 14:38

62

Not actually from within vim, but perhaps you can run vim like this:

vim -o app/views/*.erb

answered Aug 13 '09 at 14:38

32

And `-O` instead of `-o` for vertical splitting. – scai May 07 '13 at 12:47
1

Doesn't work for me with more than two files. Using `-o` or `-O` with three files: the first file opens twice, the second file once, and the third file doesn't open. Vim 7.4. – Dennis Apr 11 '14 at 14:50
Working fine on Vim 7.3.429 – Roberto Decurnex Jun 24 '14 at 14:40
Is is possible to make vim do this by default? Current I have an alias which does this. – brianegge Nov 04 '14 at 03:56
Works for me in vim 7.4.629 and vim 7.3.646. Very nice, thank you. – Wildcard Nov 19 '15 at 19:46

score 32 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 04 '11 at 21:22

32

Just learned from tonymec@#vim that you can do

:args app/views/*.erb | all

for horizontal splits or

:args app/views/*.erb | vertical all

for vertical.

answered Jan 04 '11 at 21:22

Henrik N

Works. Would you please explain how this works? Got no clue why I need to use "args. Expansion to use a new tab for this would be appreciated to (idk how to "pass" the `:tab` modifier to all) – Florian Jul 15 '18 at 22:46
I got the code from someone back then and I've never delved deep into how it works. If you figure it out (maybe using `:help args` and so on), please share in a comment! :) – Henrik N Jul 16 '18 at 06:45
Explanation: vim remembers all files opened at start-up. This is called the argslist. Even if you open other files from within vim, the argslist remains the same. Here, the argslist is set from withing vim, with `args` (see args_f). Next (it is the next command since we use a bar to separate it (see :bar)) we use `all` to see all files in the argslist at once. Vim used to only have a horizontal split (just easier to implement), so splits are by default a horizontal split. That's why `vertical` exists, which just executes a command but replaces horizontal splitting with vertical splitting. – Hielke Walinga May 24 '19 at 13:25

score 23 · Answer 3 · edited May 18 '20 at 11:52

23

vim -O app/views/*.erb

This is also from the shell. It will open as vertical splits.

edited May 18 '20 at 11:52

Eric Renouf

answered Mar 02 '12 at 14:50

James F

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 14:22

3

What happens when you do a

:sf app/views/*.erb

from within vim?

answered Aug 13 '09 at 14:22

Rob Wells

1

works for me on Mac. But I was trying to do vertically. from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32399791/sf-in-vim-but-split-vertically I fount it would be :vert sf – fangmobile Sep 24 '15 at 17:58

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 15 '09 at 01:57

1

Had to whip up a function.

  fun! OpenSplits(dir)
    for f in split(glob(a:dir), '\n')
      execute "sp " f
    endfor
  endfun

answered Aug 15 '09 at 01:57

lagsalot

5 Answers5