1 *bufexplorer.txt* Buffer Explorer Last Change: 19 Nov 2008
3 Buffer Explorer *buffer-explorer* *bufexplorer*
6 Plugin for easily exploring (or browsing) Vim |:buffers|.
8 |bufexplorer-usage| Usage
9 |bufexplorer-installation| Installation
10 |bufexplorer-customization| Customization
11 |bufexplorer-changelog| Change Log
12 |bufexplorer-todo| Todo
13 |bufexplorer-credits| Credits
15 For Vim version 7.0 and above.
16 This plugin is only available if 'compatible' is not set.
18 {Vi does not have any of this}
20 ==============================================================================
21 INSTALLATION *bufexplorer-installation*
24 - Download the bufexplorer.zip.
25 - Extract the zip archive into your runtime directory.
26 The archive contains plugin/bufexplorer.vim, and doc/bufexplorer.txt.
27 - Start Vim or goto an existing instance of Vim.
28 - Execute the following command:
30 :helptag <your runtime directory/doc
32 This will generate all the help tags for any file located in the doc
35 ==============================================================================
36 USAGE *bufexplorer-usage*
38 To start exploring in the current window, use: >
40 To start exploring in a newly split horizontal window, use: >
42 To start exploring in a newly split vertical window, use: >
45 If you would like to use something other than '\', you may simply change the
46 leader (see |mapleader|).
48 Note: If the current buffer is modified when bufexplorer started, the current
49 window is always split and the new bufexplorer is displayed in that new
52 Commands to use once exploring:
54 <enter> Opens the buffer that is under the cursor into the current
56 <F1> Toggle help information.
57 <leftmouse> Opens the buffer that is under the cursor into the current
59 <shift-enter> Opens the buffer that is under the cursor in another tab.
60 d |:wipeout| the buffer under the cursor from the list.
61 When a buffers is wiped, it will not be shown when unlisted
63 D |:delete| the buffer under the cursor from the list.
64 The buffer's 'buflisted' is cleared. This allows for the buffer
65 to be displayed again using the 'show unlisted' command.
66 f Toggles whether you are taken to the active window when
67 selecting a buffer or not.
68 p Toggles the showing of a split filename/pathname.
70 r Reverses the order the buffers are listed in.
71 R Toggles relative path/absolute path.
72 s Selects the order the buffers are listed in. Either by buffer
73 number, file name, file extension, most recently used (MRU), or
75 t Opens the buffer that is under the cursor in another tab.
76 u Toggles the showing of "unlisted" buffers.
78 Once invoked, Buffer Explorer displays a sorted list (MRU is the default
79 sort method) of all the buffers that are currently opened. You are then
80 able to move the cursor to the line containing the buffer's name you are
81 wanting to act upon. Once you have selected the buffer you would like,
82 you can then either open it, close it(delete), resort the list, reverse
83 the sort, quit exploring and so on...
85 ===============================================================================
86 CUSTOMIZATION *bufexplorer-customization*
88 *g:bufExplorerDefaultHelp*
89 To control whether the default help is displayed or not, use: >
90 let g:bufExplorerDefaultHelp=0 " Do not show default help.
91 let g:bufExplorerDefaultHelp=1 " Show default help.
92 The default is to show the default help.
94 *g:bufExplorerDetailedHelp*
95 To control whether detailed help is display by, use: >
96 let g:bufExplorerDetailedHelp=0 " Do not show detailed help.
97 let g:bufExplorerDetailedHelp=1 " Show detailed help.
98 The default is NOT to show detailed help.
100 *g:bufExplorerFindActive*
101 To control whether you are taken to the active window when selecting a buffer,
103 let g:bufExplorerFindActive=0 " Do not go to active window.
104 let g:bufExplorerFindActive=1 " Go to active window.
105 The default is to be taken to the active window.
107 *g:bufExplorerReverseSort*
108 To control whether to sort the buffer in reverse order or not, use: >
109 let g:bufExplorerReverseSort=0 " Do not sort in reverse order.
110 let g:bufExplorerReverseSort=1 " Sort in reverse order.
111 The default is NOT to sort in reverse order.
113 *g:bufExplorerShowDirectories*
114 Directories usually show up in the list from using a command like ":e .".
115 To control whether to show directories in the buffer list or not, use: >
116 let g:bufExplorerShowDirectories=1 " Show directories.
117 let g:bufExplorerShowDirectories=0 " Don't show directories.
118 The default is to show directories.
120 *g:bufExplorerShowRelativePath*
121 To control whether to show absolute paths or relative to the current
123 let g:bufExplorerShowRelativePath=0 " Show absolute paths.
124 let g:bufExplorerShowRelativePath=1 " Show relative paths.
125 The default is to show absolute paths.
127 *g:bufExplorerShowUnlisted*
128 To control whether to show unlisted buffer or not, use: >
129 let g:bufExplorerShowUnlisted=0 " Do not show unlisted buffers.
130 let g:bufExplorerShowUnlisted=1 " Show unlisted buffers.
131 The default is to NOT show unlisted buffers.
133 *g:bufExplorerSortBy*
134 To control what field the buffers are sorted by, use: >
135 let g:bufExplorerSortBy='extension' " Sort by file extension.
136 let g:bufExplorerSortBy='fullpath' " Sort by full file path name.
137 let g:bufExplorerSortBy='mru' " Sort by most recently used.
138 let g:bufExplorerSortBy='name' " Sort by the buffer's name.
139 let g:bufExplorerSortBy='number' " Sort by the buffer's number.
140 The default is to sort by mru.
142 *g:bufExplorerSplitBelow*
143 To control where the new split window will be placed above or below the
144 current window, use: >
145 let g:bufExplorerSplitBelow=1 " Split new window below current.
146 let g:bufExplorerSplitBelow=0 " Split new window above current.
147 The default is to use what ever is set by the global &splitbelow
150 *g:bufExplorerSplitOutPathName*
151 To control whether to split out the path and file name or not, use: >
152 let g:bufExplorerSplitOutPathName=1 " Split the path and file name.
153 let g:bufExplorerSplitOutPathName=0 " Don't split the path and file
155 The default is to split the path and file name.
157 *g:bufExplorerSplitRight*
158 To control where the new vsplit window will be placed to the left or right of
159 current window, use: >
160 let g:bufExplorerSplitRight=0 " Split left.
161 let g:bufExplorerSplitRight=1 " Split right.
162 The default is to use the global &splitright.
164 ===============================================================================
165 CHANGE LOG *bufexplorer-changelog*
168 * Thanks to David L. Dight for spotting and fixing an issue when
169 using ctrl^. bufexplorer would incorrectly handle the previous
170 buffer so that when ctrl^ was pressed the incorrect file was opened.
172 * Thanks to Dimitar for spotting and fixing a feature that was
173 inadvertently left out of the previous version. The feature was
174 when bufexplorer was used together with WinManager, you could use
175 the tab key to open a buffer in a split window.
176 7.2.0 - Enhancements:
177 * For all those missing the \bs and \bv commands, these have now
178 returned. Thanks to Phil O'Connell for asking for the return of
179 these missing features and helping test out this version.
181 * Fixed problem with the bufExplorerFindActive code not working
183 * Fixed an incompatibility between bufexplorer and netrw that caused
184 buffers to be incorrectly removed from the MRU list.
186 * TaCahiroy fixed several issues related to opening a buffer in a
189 * Removed ff=unix from modeline in bufexplorer.txt. Found by Bill
192 * Could not open unnamed buffers. Fixed by TaCahiroy.
194 * Sometimes when a file's path has 'white space' in it, extra buffers
195 would be created containing each piece of the path. i.e:
196 opening c:\document and settings\test.txt would create a buffer
197 named "and" and a buffer named "Documents". This was reported and
200 * Added code to allow only one instance of the plugin to run at a
201 time. Thanks Dennis Hostetler.
203 * Fixed a jumplist issue spotted by JiangJun. I overlooked the
204 'jumplist' and with a couple calls to 'keepjumps', everything is
206 * Went back to just having a plugin file, no autoload file. By having
207 the autoload, WinManager was no longer working and without really
208 digging into the cause, it was easier to go back to using just a
211 * A problem spotted by Thomas Arendsen Hein.
212 When running Vim (7.1.94), error E493 was being thrown.
214 * Added 'D' for 'delete' buffer as the 'd' command was a 'wipe'
216 7.1.0 - Another 'major' update, some by Dave Larson, some by me.
217 * Making use of 'autoload' now to make the plugin load quicker.
218 * Removed '\bs' and '\bv'. These are now controlled by the user. The
219 user can issue a ':sp' or ':vs' to create a horizontal or vertical
220 split window and then issue a '\be'
221 * Added handling of tabs.
222 7.0.17 - Fixed issue with 'drop' command.
223 Various enhancements and improvements.
224 7.0.16 - Fixed issue reported by Liu Jiaping on non Windows systems, which was
226 Open file1, open file2, modify file1, open bufexplorer, you get the
230 Error detected while processing function
231 <SNR>14_StartBufExplorer..<SNR>14_SplitOpen:
233 E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)
235 But the worse thing is, when I want to save the current buffer and
236 type ':w', I get another error message:
237 E382: Cannot write, 'buftype' option is set
240 7.0.15 - Thanks to Mark Smithfield for suggesting bufexplorer needed to handle
242 7.0.14 - Thanks to Randall Hansen for removing the requirement of terminal
243 versions to be recompiled with 'gui' support so the 'drop' command
244 would work. The 'drop' command is really not needed in terminal
246 7.0.13 - Fixed integration with WinManager.
247 Thanks to Dave Eggum for another update.
248 - Fix: The detailed help didn't display the mapping for toggling
249 the split type, even though the split type is displayed.
250 - Fixed incorrect description in the detailed help for toggling
251 relative or full paths.
252 - Deprecated s:ExtractBufferNbr(). Vim's str2nr() does the same
254 - Created a s:Set() function that sets a variable only if it hasn't
255 already been defined. It's useful for initializing all those
257 - Removed checks for repetitive command definitions. They were
259 - Made the help highlighting a little more fancy.
260 - Minor reverse compatibility issue: Changed ambiguous setting
261 names to be more descriptive of what they do (also makes the code
263 Changed bufExplorerSortDirection to bufExplorerReverseSort
264 Changed bufExplorerSplitType to bufExplorerSplitVertical
265 Changed bufExplorerOpenMode to bufExplorerUseCurrentWindow
266 - When the BufExplorer window closes, all the file-local marks are
267 now deleted. This may have the benefit of cleaning up some of the
269 - Changed the name of the parameter for StartBufExplorer from
270 "split" to "open". The parameter is a string which specifies how
271 the buffer will be open, not if it is split or not.
272 - Deprecated DoAnyMoreBuffersExist() - it is a one line function
273 only used in one spot.
274 - Created four functions (SplitOpen(), RebuildBufferList(),
275 UpdateHelpStatus() and ReSortListing()) all with one purpose - to
276 reduce repeated code.
277 - Changed the name of AddHeader() to CreateHelp() to be more
278 descriptive of what it does. It now returns an array instead of
279 updating the window directly. This has the benefit of making the
280 code more efficient since the text the function returns is used a
281 little differently in the two places the function is called.
282 - Other minor simplifications.
283 7.0.12 - MAJOR Update.
284 This version will ONLY run with Vim version 7.0 or greater.
285 Dave Eggum has made some 'significant' updates to this latest
287 - Added BufExplorerGetAltBuf() global function to be used in the
288 user
\92s rulerformat.
289 - Added g:bufExplorerSplitRight option.
290 - Added g:bufExplorerShowRelativePath option with mapping.
291 - Added current line highlighting.
292 - The split type can now be changed whether bufexplorer is opened
293 in split mode or not.
294 - Various major and minor bug fixes and speed improvements.
296 Other improvements/changes:
297 - Changed the help key from '?' to <F1> to be more 'standard'.
298 - Fixed splitting of vertical bufexplorer window.
299 Hopefully I have not forgot something :)
300 7.0.11 - Fixed a couple of highlighting bugs, reported by David Eggum. He also
301 changed passive voice to active on a couple of warning messages.
302 7.0.10 - Fixed bug report by Xiangjiang Ma. If the 'ssl' option is set,
303 the slash character used when displaying the path was incorrect.
304 7.0.9 - Martin Grenfell found and eliminated an annoying bug in the
305 bufexplorer/winmanager integration. The bug was were an
306 annoying message would be displayed when a window was split or
307 a new file was opened in a new window. Thanks Martin!
308 7.0.8 - Thanks to Mike Li for catching a bug in the WinManager integration.
309 The bug was related to the incorrect displaying of the buffer
310 explorer's window title.
311 7.0.7 - Thanks to Jeremy Cowgar for adding a new enhancement. This
312 enhancement allows the user to press 'S', that is capital S, which
313 will open the buffer under the cursor in a newly created split
315 7.0.6 - Thanks to Larry Zhang for finding a bug in the "split" buffer code.
316 If you force set g:bufExplorerSplitType='v' in your vimrc, and if you
317 tried to do a \bs to split the bufexplorer window, it would always
318 split horizontal, not vertical. He also found that I had a typeo in
319 that the variable g:bufExplorerSplitVertSize was all lower case in
320 the documentation which was incorrect.
321 7.0.5 - Thanks to Mun Johl for pointing out a bug that if a buffer was
322 modified, the '+' was not showing up correctly.
323 7.0.4 - Fixed a problem discovered first by Xiangjiang Ma. Well since I've
324 been using vim 7.0 and not 6.3, I started using a function (getftype)
325 that is not in 6.3. So for backward compatibility, I conditionaly use
326 this function now. Thus, the g:bufExplorerShowDirectories feature is
327 only available when using vim 7.0 and above.
328 7.0.3 - Thanks to Erwin Waterlander for finding a problem when the last
329 buffer was deleted. This issue got me to rewrite the buffer display
330 logic (which I've wanted to do for sometime now).
331 Also great thanks to Dave Eggum for coming up with idea for
332 g:bufExplorerShowDirectories. Read the above information about this
334 7.0.2 - Thanks to Thomas Arendsen Hein for finding a problem when a user
335 has the default help turned off and then brought up the explorer. An
336 E493 would be displayed.
337 7.0.1 - Thanks to Erwin Waterlander for finding a couple problems.
338 The first problem allowed a modified buffer to be deleted. Opps! The
339 second problem occurred when several files were opened, BufExplorer
340 was started, the current buffer was deleted using the 'd' option, and
341 then BufExplorer was exited. The deleted buffer was still visible
342 while it is not in the buffers list. Opps again!
343 7.0.0 - Thanks to Shankar R. for suggesting to add the ability to set
344 the fixed width (g:bufExplorerSplitVertSize) of a new window
345 when opening bufexplorer vertically and fixed height
346 (g:bufExplorerSplitHorzSize) of a new window when opening
347 bufexplorer horizontally. By default, the windows are normally
348 split to use half the existing width or height.
349 6.3.0 - Added keepjumps so that the jumps list would not get cluttered with
350 bufexplorer related stuff.
351 6.2.3 - Thanks to Jay Logan for finding a bug in the vertical split position
352 of the code. When selecting that the window was to be split
353 vertically by doing a '\bv', from then on, all splits, i.e. '\bs',
354 were split vertically, even though g:bufExplorerSplitType was not set
356 6.2.2 - Thanks to Patrik Modesto for adding a small improvement. For some
357 reason his bufexplorer window was always showing up folded. He added
358 'setlocal nofoldenable' and it was fixed.
359 6.2.1 - Thanks goes out to Takashi Matsuo for added the 'fullPath' sorting
361 6.2.0 - Thanks goes out to Simon Johann-Ganter for spotting and fixing a
362 problem in that the last search pattern is overridden by the search
363 pattern for blank lines.
364 6.1.6 - Thanks to Artem Chuprina for finding a pesky bug that has been around
365 for sometime now. The <esc> key mapping was causing the buffer
366 explored to close prematurely when vim was run in an xterm. The <esc>
367 key mapping is now removed.
368 6.1.5 - Thanks to Khorev Sergey. Added option to show default help or not.
369 6.1.4 - Thanks goes out to Valery Kondakoff for suggesting the addition of
370 setlocal nonumber and foldcolumn=0. This allows for line numbering
371 and folding to be turned off temporarily while in the explorer.
372 6.1.3 - Added folding. Did some code cleanup. Added the ability to force the
373 newly split window to be temporarily vertical, which was suggested by
375 6.1.2 - Now pressing the <esc> key will quit, just like 'q'.
376 Added folds to hide winmanager configuration.
377 If anyone had the 'C' option in their cpoptions they would receive
378 a E10 error on startup of BufExplorer. cpo is now saved, updated and
379 restored. Thanks to Charles E Campbell, Jr.
380 Attempted to make sure there can only be one BufExplorer window open
382 6.1.1 - Thanks to Brian D. Goodwin for adding toupper to FileNameCmp. This
383 way buffers sorted by name will be in the correct order regardless of
385 6.0.16 - Thanks to Andre Pang for the original patch/idea to get bufexplorer
386 to work in insertmode/modeless mode (evim). Added Initialize
387 and Cleanup autocommands to handle commands that need to be
388 performed when starting or leaving bufexplorer.
389 6.0.15 - Srinath Avadhanulax added a patch for winmanager.vim.
390 6.0.14 - Fix a few more bug that I thought I already had fixed. Thanks
391 to Eric Bloodworth for adding 'Open Mode/Edit in Place'. Added
393 6.0.13 - Thanks to Charles E Campbell, Jr. for pointing out some embarrassing
394 typos that I had in the documentation. I guess I need to run
395 the spell checker more :o)
396 6.0.12 - Thanks to Madoka Machitani, for the tip on adding the augroup command
397 around the MRUList autocommands.
398 6.0.11 - Fixed bug report by Xiangjiang Ma. '"=' was being added to the
399 search history which messed up hlsearch.
400 6.0.10 - Added the necessary hooks so that the Srinath Avadhanula's
401 winmanager.vim script could more easily integrate with this script.
402 Tried to improve performance.
403 6.0.9 - Added MRU (Most Recently Used) sort ordering.
404 6.0.8 - Was not resetting the showcmd command correctly.
405 Added nifty help file.
406 6.0.7 - Thanks to Brett Carlane for some great enhancements. Some are added,
407 some are not, yet. Added highlighting of current and alternate
408 filenames. Added splitting of path/filename toggle. Reworked
410 Changed my email address.
411 6.0.6 - Copyright notice added. Needed this so that it could be distributed
412 with Debian Linux. Fixed problem with the SortListing() function
413 failing when there was only one buffer to display.
414 6.0.5 - Fixed problems reported by David Pascoe, in that you where unable to
415 hit 'd' on a buffer that belonged to a files that no longer existed
416 and that the 'yank' buffer was being overridden by the help text when
417 the bufexplorer was opened.
418 6.0.4 - Thanks to Charles Campbell, Jr. for making this plugin more plugin
419 *compliant*, adding default keymappings of <Leader>be and <Leader>bs
420 as well as fixing the 'w:sortDirLabel not being defined' bug.
421 6.0.3 - Added sorting capabilities. Sort taken from explorer.vim.
422 6.0.2 - Can't remember.
423 6.0.1 - Initial release.
425 ===============================================================================
426 TODO *bufexplorer-todo*
428 - The issuing of a ':bd' command does not always remove the buffer number from
431 ===============================================================================
432 CREDITS *bufexplorer-credits*
434 Author: Jeff Lanzarotta <delux256-vim at yahoo dot com>
436 Credit must go out to Bram Moolenaar and all the Vim developers for
437 making the world's best editor (IMHO). I also want to thank everyone who
438 helped and gave me suggestions. I wouldn't want to leave anyone out so I
441 ===============================================================================
442 vim:tw=78:noet:wrap:ts=8:ft=help:norl: