Practical Vim, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6Manage Multiple Files

Vim lets us work on multiple files at the same time. The buffer list lets us keep track of the set of files that we’ve opened in the course of an editing session. In Tip 37, we’ll learn how to interact with this list as well as learn the distinction between a file and a buffer.

The argument list is a great complement to the buffer list. In Tip 38, we’ll see how to use the :args command to group files from the buffer list into a collection. We can then traverse the list or execute an Ex command on each member of the set using the :argdo command.

Vim allows us to divide our workspace into split windows. We’ll learn how in Tip 40. Then in Tip 41, we’ll see how Vim’s tabbed interface can be used to organize split ...