How to swap files between windows in VIM?

mdrozdziel picture mdrozdziel · Feb 9, 2010 · Viewed 31.6k times · Source

When I work with VIM, I always have multiple windows visible. Sometimes I would like to have an easy way, to swap those windows in places. Is there any Plugin, Macro, etc to make this more easy? BTW, I use MiniBufExplorer.

Answer

DrAl picture DrAl · Feb 9, 2010

There are a few useful commands built in which give you a certain amount of control, but it's not comprehensive. The main ones are:

  • Ctrl-W, r (i.e. hold CTRL, press W, release CTRL, press r) - which rotates the windows (The first window becomes the second one, the second one becomes the third one, etc.)

  • Ctrl-W, x - swap the current window with the next one

  • Ctrl-W, Shift-H - move this window to the far left

  • Ctrl-W, Shift-K - move this window to the top

(and similarly for Ctrl-W, Shift-J and Ctrl-W, Shift-L). See:

:help window-moving

for more information.