CODEWITHSUNDEEP
shellvim
username_4567
username_4567

Reputation: 4903

Open a small window while in Vim for executing commands

I need to write lot of code and compile very often. I hate switching back and forth various windows just to compile the code. Is it possible to open a small window at bottom and run invoke shell and close that window when needed?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 980

Answers (4)

Mark Setchell
Mark Setchell

Reputation: 207445

Maybe map a key to shell out to the compiler and run the program if compilation is successful:

:map F8 :!cc % && ./a.out

Or maybe just

:sh
make run
Ctrl-D

Another option is to suspend vi, using Ctrl-Z and do your stuff in the shell, then type fg to bring vim back to the foreground. Note that this is actually a feature of your shell, rather than vim but it produces the effect you seek.

Note this idea originates from the book "Efficient Linux at the Command Line" by Daniel Barrett. I forget the page number.

Upvotes: 0

Diego Pino
Diego Pino

Reputation: 11576

I use tmux to achieve something like that. I have the following in my ~/.tmux.conf file:

bind s splitw -v -p 25 -c '#{pane_current_path}' '/bin/bash'
bind q kill-pane

On pressing Ctrl-b + s (prefix + s), a new pane containing a bash shell opens up at the bottom. I can run shell commands from there: find, grep, make, etc. When I'm done, I press Ctrl-b + q to close the shell.

To enable tmux on every bash session, add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

[[ -z "$TMUX" ]] && exec tmux

Upvotes: 0

romainl
romainl

Reputation: 196546

With GVim or MacVim, you can run external commands in the command-line: Gvim/MacVim comes with a (very) limited shell that will happily show you whatever the compiler outputs. The general usage pattern is:

:!command
:!command %

With CLI Vim, the same method will pause Vim and return to the shell to execute your command.

In both cases, you'll get a message asking you to press ENTER to come back to your normal editing.

Using :make | cw would be a slightly more sophisticated alternative, with the added bonus of showing the errors in the quickfix window.

An even more sophisticated approach would be to use Tim Pope's Dispatch plugin in combination with tmux or screen.

Upvotes: 1

Nathan Hatch
Nathan Hatch

Reputation: 109

Sounds like a problem for Screen http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/

Quick reference of commands http://aperiodic.net/screen/quick_reference

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions