TWcmd.vim

TWcmd.vim is a set of useful commands for navigating / moving / managing windows and tabs in vim.
It also provides the ability to jump to the last focused window when closing a window or tab, by managing the tab-window history stack.

• Navigating windows and tabs

• Moving the current window to other windows' positions, or even to other tabs

• Moving the current tab to other tabs' positions

• Stacking visited windows and recovering them when closing (by using :TWcmd tcm q or :TWcmd wcm q)

• Jumping to the last focused window when closing a window or tab (by using :TWcmd tcm q or :TWcmd wcm q)

Installation

• Using plugin managers (recommended)
  • Vundle : Add Bundle 'yssl/TWcmd.vim' to .vimrc & :BundleInstall
  • NeoBundle : Add NeoBundle 'yssl/TWcmd.vim' to .vimrc & :NeoBundleInstall
  • vim-plug : Add Plug 'yssl/TWcmd.vim' to .vimrc & :PlugInstall
• Using Pathogen
  • cd ~/.vim/bundle; git clone https://github.com/yssl/TWcmd.vim.git
• Manual install (not recommended)
  • Download this plugin and extract it in ~/.vim/

Usage

In vim normal mode, type the following command and press <Enter>.
:TWcmd {cmd} {arg}

• {cmd} : sub-commands for tabs or windows
• {arg} : vim's :wincmd-style single character arguments

For example,

:TWcmd tcm l    |" go to the right tab
:TWcmd tmv l    |" move the current tab right
:TWcmd wmv h    |" move the current window left
:TWcmd tcm q    |" close current tab

It must be much more convenient to define key mappings for frequently used commands.
My key mapping recommendation is given in the last section of this page.

Commands

{cmd}	description
tcm	tab commands
tmv	tab moving commands
wcm	window commands
wmv	window moving commands
wmvt	window moving commands between tabs
twh	tab-window history commands

Arguments

{cmd}	{arg}	description
tcm / wcm	h	Go to the left tab / window.
	l	Go to the right tab / window.
	j	Go to the below window. (wcm only)
	k	Go to the above window. (wcm only)
	W	Go to the left tab / left or above window. Wraps around from the first to the last one.
	w	Go to the right tab / right or below window. Wraps around from the last to the first one.
	t	Go to the first tab / top-left window.
	b	Go to the last tab / bottom-right window.
	p	Go to the previous tab / previous window in the current tab.
	q	Close the current tab / window and go to the latest one in the tab-window history.
	n	Open a new tab / window.
	o	Close all other tabs / windows except the current one.
	m	Toggle maximizing the current window. (wcm only)

• wcm can be used with all other arguments that used in the vim's :wincmd command.

---

{cmd}	{arg}	description
tmv / wmv / wmvt	h	Move the current tab left / window left / window to the left tab.
	l	Move the current tab right / window right / window to the right tab.
	j	Move the current window below. (wmv only)
	k	Move the current window above. (wmv only)
	W	Move the current tab left / window left or above / window to the left tab. Wraps around from the first to the last one.
	w	Move the current tab right / window right or below / window to the right tab. Wraps around from the last to the first one.
	t	Move the current tab to first position / window to top-left position / window to the first tab.
	b	Move the current tab to last position / window to bottom-right position / window to the last tab.
	p	Move the current tab to previous position / window to previous position / window to the previous tab.

For wmvt,

• The current tab will be closed after moving its window if it is the only one.
• If the target tab has only one window with [No Name] title and empty buffer, the moved window will replace it.
• Otherwise, the moved window will be located as a new vertical split window in the target tab.

---

{cmd}	{arg}	description
twh	h	Move forward in the tab-window history stack.
	l	Move backward in the tab-window history stack.

Tab-Window History

When you leave a window in vim, TWcmd.vim pushes [tab_id, window_id] information of the window into its tab-window history stack.

TWcmd.vim moves the cursor to the last focused window using the history stack when closing a window or tab. (see :help g:twcmd_focus_after_closing for more details.) You can also walk through windows in the history with twh sub-command.

Recommended Key Mappings

TWcmd.vim does not provide default key mappings to keep your key mappings clean. Instead, I suggest convenient one what I'm using now. You can add them to your .vimrc and modify them as you want.

For your information, I'm currently using right-alt shortcuts because I used left-alt shortcuts too much and felt pain in my left thumb. If you are experiencing similar symptoms, I would recommend using the right-alt shortcuts using the following .vimrc setting. If you just want to use left-alt shortcuts, you can just set let g:left_alt = 1 in the following code.

function! s:nnoreicmap(option, shortcut, command)
	execute 'nnoremap '.a:option.' '.a:shortcut.' '.a:command
	execute 'imap '.a:option.' '.a:shortcut.' <Esc>'.a:shortcut
	execute 'cmap '.a:option.' '.a:shortcut.' <Esc>'.a:shortcut
endfunction

let g:left_alt = 0
if g:left_alt
	" tab cursor moving and managing
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-H>',':TWcmd tcm h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-L>',':TWcmd tcm l<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-P>',':TWcmd tcm p<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-Q>',':TWcmd tcm q<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-N>',':TWcmd tcm n<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-Y>',':TWcmd tcm t<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-)>',':TWcmd tcm b<CR>')

	" tab moving
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-J>',':TWcmd tmv h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-K>',':TWcmd tmv l<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-U>',':TWcmd tmv t<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-I>',':TWcmd tmv b<CR>')

	" window cursor moving and managing
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-h>',':TWcmd wcm h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-j>',':TWcmd wcm j<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-k>',':TWcmd wcm k<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-l>',':TWcmd wcm l<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-p>',':TWcmd wcm p<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<C-w>',':TWcmd wcm q<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-n>',':TWcmd wcm n<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<C-v>',':TWcmd wcm v<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-m>',':TWcmd wcm m<CR>')

	" window moving
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-y>',':TWcmd wmv h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-o>',':TWcmd wmv l<CR>')

	" window moving between tabs
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-u>',':TWcmd wmvt h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-i>',':TWcmd wmvt l<CR>')
else
	" tab cursor moving and managing
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-S>',':TWcmd tcm h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-G>',':TWcmd tcm l<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-Q>',':TWcmd tcm p<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-C>',':TWcmd tcm q<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-B>',':TWcmd tcm n<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-W>',':TWcmd tcm t<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-T>',':TWcmd tcm b<CR>')

	" tab moving
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-D>',':TWcmd tmv h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-F>',':TWcmd tmv l<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-E>',':TWcmd tmv t<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-R>',':TWcmd tmv b<CR>')

	" window cursor moving and managing
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-s>',':TWcmd wcm h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-f>',':TWcmd wcm j<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-d>',':TWcmd wcm k<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-g>',':TWcmd wcm l<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-q>',':TWcmd wcm p<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-c>',':TWcmd wcm q<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-b>',':vnew<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-v>',':TWcmd wcm v<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-x>',':TWcmd wcm m<CR>')

	" window moving
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-w>',':TWcmd wmv h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-t>',':TWcmd wmv l<CR>')

	" window moving between tabs
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-e>',':TWcmd wmvt h<CR>')
	call s:nnoreicmap('','<A-r>',':TWcmd wmvt l<CR>')
endif

I've define the function s:nnoreicmap() to map for normal, insert and command-line modes simultaneously, and installed plugin to use alt-key mappings. <A-H> means alt+shift+h.