Mastering Vim

:e with wildmenu enabled

Another way to explore file trees is to use the set wildmenu option in your .vimrc file. This option sets an autocomplete menu to operate in enhanced mode, showing possible autocomplete options above the status line. With wildmenu enabled, type in :e (followed by a space) and hit Tab. This will bring up a list of files in the current directory, and you can use the Tab key to iterate through these and Shift + Tab to move backward (the left and right arrow keys perform the same function):

Pressing Enter will open the selected file or directory. The down arrow allows you to drill down into directory under cursor, and ...