Dubs Vim — File Finder

Or, Just a Command-T Wrapper

About This Plugin

This script wraps Command-T so it's available from <Leader>t and so you can invoke Command-T without needing to supply any directory paths.

Installation

Installation is easy using the packages feature (see :help packages).

To install the package so that it will automatically load on Vim startup, use a start directory, e.g.,

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/landonb/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/landonb/start

If you want to test the package first, make it optional instead (see :help pack-add):

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/landonb/opt
cd ~/.vim/pack/landonb/opt

Clone the project to the desired path:

git clone https://github.com/landonb/dubs_file_finder.git

If you installed to the optional path, tell Vim to load the package:

:packadd! dubs_file_finder

Just once, tell Vim to build the online help:

:Helptags

Then whenever you want to reference the help from Vim, run:

:help dubs-file-finder

Install Command-T

After installing the Command-T plugin, you'll have to build it.

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/wincent/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/wincent/start
git clone https://github.com/wincent/command-t.git

cd ~/.vim/pack/wincent/start/command-t/ruby/command-t
sudo apt-get install -y ruby-dev
ruby extconf.rb
make

File Finder Commands

The short of it:

1. Find the cmdt_paths directory in your Vim folder. | It'll be under dubs_file_finder.

Populate the directory with symlinks.
Press <Ctrl-D>.

The long of it:

This script doesn't require you to enter a target directory when invoking the file finder. It'll search all the projects linked to from a special folder.

The plugin will automatically create the cmdt_paths directory for you. Check under this project's directory, dubs_file_finder.

In this manner, it's just one key-combo to invoke Command-T, and you don't have to specify the directory to scan. You might be concerned that listing all projects' files together will make it harder to find the file you want, but Command-T is such a great tool that even with thousands of source files, it's still a cinch to find and open files.

You can instead access Command-T directly using :CommandT {some_dir}.

Compare to CtrlP and NERDTree, two other plugins that help you find files.

Key Mappings

Finding and Opening Files (Trendy Methods)

Key Mapping	Description	Notes
`Ctrl-D`	Calls Command-T to Fuzzy-find by filename	Calls `:CommandT dubs_file_finder/cmdt_paths` so you can use a fuzzy autocomplete algorithm to type part of a filename and open it. The `cmdt_paths` directory is just a collection of symlinks to project folders whose files you want Command-T to list for you.
`:CtrlP <somedir>`	Use CtrlP to find files	The CtrlP plugin is nifty, but I like Command-T better, so I didn't bind this command to an easy key combination. It's included anyway so you can try different find-and-open-file techniques and decide which one you like best.

Finding and Opening Files (Other Methods)

In addition to using the methods described above to find and open files or using the Project plugin, there are obviously other methods of finding and opening files, including:

Key Mapping	Description	Notes
`:NERDTreeToggle`	Toggle NERD Tree tray	The NERD Tree is similar to the Project tray, but it shows your whole filesystem (so you don't have to prime it, e.g., edit `.vimprojects`, to use it). It's a nice plugin, but if you use the Command-T or the Project tray, you probably won't ever use NERDTree. Dubs Vim includes this plugin.
`:Explore`	Vim command similar to NERD Tree	See `:help explore`.
`:tabedit`, etc.	Vim built-ins	Vim has a lot of ways to open new or existing files, and to specify whether to open them in the current window, a new window, or a new tab. See `:help` for such commands as `:edit`, `:new`, `:tabedit`, and `:tabnew`. See also the Wikia article, Open file under cursor.
`$ gvim ...`	From the terminal	Use, e.g., `$ gvim --servername ABC --remote-silent <filename>` to open files in the same gVim instance by specifying the `servername` switch.
Quickfix window	Search and error output	You can search files using `\g` and double-click or <enter> on entries in the quickfix window to open files. Other commands that show log and error files can also be loaded into the quickfix window so you can easily jump to specific lines of files.