How to Open Multiple Files in Vim Splits and Tabs
You can open multiple files in vim in splits and tabs.
In the examples below, I have three files in the current directory like this:
.
├── file1
├── file2
└── file3
Open Multiple Files in Horizontal Splits
$ vim -o file1 file2
Open Multiple Files in Vertical Splits
$ vim -O file1 file2
In this screenshot I’ve opened three files in vertical splits:
Open Multiple Files in Vim Tabs
Vim tabs are more powerful than tabs in other editors like VS Code, because a tab is an arrangement of panes, not a file. Each tab can contain a different layout of files. Use gt
and gT
to rotate through tabs. (Tip: you can move by more than one tab at a time by typing things like 2gt
and 3gT
.) To move tabs use :tabm
(see :h tabm
for documentation).
$ vim -p file1 file2
Bash/Zsh Aliases
If you use fzf
, these aliases are useful shortcuts:
alias v='vim `fzf`'
alias vof='vim -o `fzf`'
alias vOf='vim -O `fzf`'
alias vpf='vim -p `fzf`'
Here’s a short clip that demonstrates all the techniques above: