Multiple run mode

There is a -mode=? option can allow you specify how to run your command.

Available modes

mode	description
async	default behavior, run async command and output to quickfix window
bang	same as !
os	(windows only) open a new cmd.exe window and run your command in it
term	open a reusable built-in terminal window and run your command

Run command with traditional bang (!) command

You may ask, why there is still a -mode=bang since you can use :!command directly. The reason is asyncrun can setup environment variables and can help you change directory (-cwd) before execution:

:AsyncRun -mode=bang -cwd=<root> gcc -c "$(VIM_FILENAME)"

is different with:

:!gcc abc.c -o abc

When you are using AsyncRun -mode=bang, environment variables (eg $VIM_FILEDIR, $VIM_ROOT and $VIM_SVRNAME ..etc) can be setup and you can indicate -cwd=? to indicate where to run the command (eg, in current project root).

Sometimes it is helpful than directly using !.

Run command in a new cmd.exe window

If you are using GVim on Windows. The -mode=os option can use a new cmd.exe window:

Like most windows editors/IDEs, execute program in an external cmd window.

Run command in a reusable built-in terminal window

When you are using -mode=terminal or -mode=term like:

:AsyncRun -mode=term [-pos=?] [-rows=N] [-cols=N] {cmd}

AsyncRun will open a new terminal window to run your command:

Parameter -pos can be one of tab, left, right, top and bottom to indicate where you want to open the terminal. The window size can be indicated by -rows and -cols.

If there is an existing terminal window in the current tabpage, AsyncRun will use it without opening a new one. This is more efficient than directly using :term xxx, especially when you run a command for multiple times, it will not open a lot of terminal window and force you close them one by one.

This feature is available for vim 8.1 / neovim 0.3 or later.