How to set working/current directory in Vim?

text-editor vim
Fred picture Fred · Feb 18, 2010 · Viewed 56.1k times · Source

So when I want to create a new file by using the :e command I don't want to specify the whole path, just the new filename. Can it be done?

Answer

falstro picture falstro · Feb 18, 2010

As already suggested, you can use autochdir, which will change to the directory of the file you opened, the other option is

:cd mydirectory

which will change the directory. This can be an absolute or relative path, so :cd .. will move up one level. Or you can use :cd %:h which will also change to the directory the current file is in, but without setting autochdir.

:cd

will change directory to your home directory (or on windows, print the current directory).

:cd -

will change the directory to the previous directory you visited.

Related questions

See line breaks and carriage returns in editor

Does anyone know of a text editor on Linux that allows me to see line breaks and carriage returns? Does Vim support this feature?

Read More
How to run vi on docker container?

I have installed docker on my host virtual machine. And now want to create a file using vi. But it's showing me an error: bash: vi: command not found

Read More
Vim multiline editing like in sublimetext?

I started to use gvim, and I can't quite understand how the multiline edit works in gvim. For example: Original text: asd asd asd asd asd; asd asd asd asd asd; asd asd asd asd asd; asd asd asd asd …

Read More