Avoid destroying record of last visual selection
author |
Daniel Robert Allen <allen.daniel.r@gmail.com> |
date |
Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:33:46 -0700 |
parents |
e66e6a4e104d |
children |
(none) |
Paths
=====
Vim is a text editor, and text editors (usually) work with text files. Text
files live on filesystems, and to specify files we use paths. Vimscript has
a few built-in utilities that can be extremely helpful when you need to work
with paths.
Absolute Paths
--------------
Sometimes it's handy to be able to get the absolute path of a certain file for
use with external scripts. Run the following commands:
:::vim
:echom expand('%')
:echom expand('%:p')
:echom fnamemodify('foo.txt', ':p')
The first command displays the relative path of whatever file you're currently
editing. `%` means "the current file". Vim supports a bunch of other strings
you can use with `expand()` as well.
The second command displays the full, absolute path of that file. The `:p` in
the string tells Vim that you want the absolute path. There are a ton of other
modifiers you can use.
The third command displays an absolute path to the file `foo.txt` in the current
directory, regardless of whether that file actually exists. `fnamemodify()` is
a Vim function that's more flexible than `expand()` in that you can specify any
file name, not just one of `expand()`'s special strings.
Listing Files
-------------
You might also want to get a listing of files in a specific directory. Run the
following command:
:::vim
:echo globpath('.', '*')
Vim will display all of the files and directories in the current directory. The
`globpath()` function returns a string, with each name separated by a newline.
To get a list you'll need to `split()` it yourself. Run this command:
:::vim
:echo split(globpath('.', '*'), '\n')
This time Vim displays a Vimscript list containing each path. If you've got
newlines in your filenames you're on your own, sorry.
`globpath()`'s wildcards work mostly as you would expect. Run the following
command:
:::vim
:echo split(globpath('.', '*.txt'), '\n')
Vim displays a list of all `.txt` files in the current directory.
You can recursively list files with `**`. Run this command:
:::vim
:echo split(globpath('.', '**'), '\n')
Vim will list all files and directories under the current directory.
`globpath()` is *extremely* powerful. You'll learn more when you complete this
chapter's exercises.
Exercises
---------
Read `:help expand()`.
Read `:help fnamemodify()`.
Read `:help filename-modifiers`.
Read `:help simplify()`.
Read `:help resolve()`.
Read `:help globpath()`.
Read `:help wildcards`.