Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

Chapter 11. Multiple Windows in Vim

By default, Vim edits all its files in a single window, showing just one buffer at a time as you move between files or to different parts of a single file. But Vim also offers multi-window editing, which can make complex editing tasks easier. This is different from starting multiple instances of Vim on a graphical terminal. This chapter covers the use of multiple windows in a single instance of a running Vim process (which we’ll call a session).

You can initiate your editing session with multiple windows or create new windows after a session starts. You can add windows to your edit session up to the limit imposed by sanity, and you can delete them back to a single edit window.

Here are some examples where multiple windows make your life easier:

• Editing a number of files that need to be formatted the same way, where you would like to compare them visually as you go along

• Cutting and pasting text quickly and repeatedly among multiple files or multiple parts of a single file

• Displaying one part of a file for reference, to facilitate work elsewhere in the same file

• Comparing two versions of a file

Vim offers many window-managing convenience features, including the ability to:

• Split windows horizontally or vertically

• Navigate from one window to another and back again quickly

• Copy and move text to and from multiple windows

• Move and reposition windows

• Work with buffers, including hidden buffers (to be described later)

• Use external tools such as the diff command ...