QFEnter

QFEnter allows you to open items from Vim's quickfix or location list wherever you wish.

You can set a target window by giving it focus just before jumping to the quickfix (or location list) window , or you can open items in new splits, vsplits, and tabs. You can even open multiple items at once by visual selection!

A normal mode example:

A visual mode example:

Motivation

Vim's default means of opening items from the quickfix list are limited and inconvenient:

• You cannot select a window in which to open a file when you press <Enter>:

  Hitting the <Enter> key or double-clicking the mouse on a line has the same effect. The file containing the error is opened in the window above the quickfix window. -- from :help quickfix

  It is inconsistent with other Quickfix commands like :cnext and :cprev which open a file in a previously focused window.

• You cannot decide where a horizontal split will be created when using Ctrl-W <Enter>, Vim always creates the new split window above the quickfix window.

• There is no command at all for 'open in a new vertical split window'.

These are confusing and bothered me every time, so I wrote a simple plugin to make up for these weak points. Its name comes from the most basic way to open a file from the quickfix window -- the <Enter> key.

Installation

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

Usage

In the quickfix (or location list) window,

• <Enter>, <2-LeftMouse>

  • Normal mode : Open an item under cursor in the previously focused window.
  • Visual mode : Open items in visual selection in the previously focused window. As a result, the last item appears in the window.

• <Leader><Enter>

  • Normal mode : Open an item under cursor in a new vertical split of the previously focused window.
  • Visual mode : Open items in visual selection in a sequence of new vertical splits from the previously focused window.

• <Leader><Space>

  • Normal mode : Open an item under cursor in a new horizontal split from the previously focused window.
  • Visual mode : Open items in visual selection in a sequence of new horizontal splits of the previously focused window.

• <Leader><Tab>

  • Normal mode : Open an item under cursor in a new tab.
  • Visual mode : Open items in visual selection in a sequence of new tabs.
  • By default, the quickfix window is automatically opened in the new tab to help you open other quickfix items. This behavior can be changed with the g:qfenter_enable_autoquickfix option.

Key mapping

You can change the key mappings in your .vimrc in the following format:

let g:qfenter_keymap = {}
let g:qfenter_keymap.predefined_command = shortcut_key_list

The default setting is,

let g:qfenter_keymap = {}
let g:qfenter_keymap.open = ['<CR>', '<2-LeftMouse>']
let g:qfenter_keymap.vopen = ['<Leader><CR>']
let g:qfenter_keymap.hopen = ['<Leader><Space>']
let g:qfenter_keymap.topen = ['<Leader><Tab>']

If you're a CtrlP user, for instance, you might like these for familiarity:

let g:qfenter_keymap = {}
let g:qfenter_keymap.vopen = ['<C-v>']
let g:qfenter_keymap.hopen = ['<C-CR>', '<C-s>', '<C-x>']
let g:qfenter_keymap.topen = ['<C-t>']

Predefined commands

Commands	Meaning
open	Open items under cursor or in visual block in a previously focused window.
vopen	Open items under cursor or in visual block in new vertical splits from a previously focused window.
hopen	Open items under cursor or in visual block in new horizontal splits from a previously focused window.
topen	Open items under cursor or in visual block in new tabs.
cnext	Open items using :cnext command in a previously focused window.
vcnext	Open items using :cnext command in new vertical splits from a previously focused window.
hcnext	Open items using :cnext command in new horizontal splits from a previously focused window.
tcnext	Open items using :cnext command in new tabs.
cprev	Open items using :cprev command in a previously focused window.
vcprev	Open items using :cprev command in new vertical splits from a previously focused window.
hcprev	Open items using :cprev command in new horizontal splits from a previously focused window.
tcprev	Open items using :cprev command in new tabs.
open_keep	Same as open, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
vopen_keep	Same as vopen, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
hopen_keep	Same as hopen, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
topen_keep	Same as topen, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
cnext_keep	Same as cnext, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
vcnext_keep	Same as vcnext, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
hcnext_keep	Same as hcnext, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
tcnext_keep	Same as tcnext, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
cprev_keep	Same as cprev, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
vcprev_keep	Same as vcprev, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
hcprev_keep	Same as hcprev, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.
tcprev_keep	Same as tcprev, but the quickfix (or location list) window keeps focus after opening items.

For example, to open a next quickfix item in a previously focused window while keeping focus in the quickfix window by typing <Leader>n, you can use these:

let g:qfenter_keymap = {}
let g:qfenter_keymap.cnext_keep = ['<Leader>n']

Preventing opening items in windows of certain filetypes

Use g:qfenter_exclude_filetypes to prevent quickfix items from opening in windows of certain filetypes. For example, you can prevent opening items in NERDTree and Tagbar windows using the following code in your .vimrc:

let g:qfenter_exclude_filetypes = ['nerdtree', 'tagbar']

You can check filetype of the current window using :echo &filetype.

Policy to determine the previous window / tab

Use g:qfenter_prevtabwin_policy to determine which window on which tab should have focus when the wincmd p is executed after opening a quickfix item.

• 'qf': The previous window and tab are set to the quickfix window from which the QFEnter open command is invoked and the tab the window belongs to.
• 'none': Do nothing for the previous window and tab. The previous window is the window that previously had focus before the target window, in the process of tabwinfunc.
  • For v* and h* predefined commands, the previous window is the window focused before the quickfix window.
  • For t* predefined commands, the previous window and tab are the window focused before the quickfix window and the tab it belongs to.
• 'legacy': The option for legacy behavior prior to QFEnter 2.4.1.
  • For t* predefined commands, follow the 'qf' policy.
  • Otherwise, follow the 'none' policy.

The default setting is,

let g:qfenter_prevtabwin_policy = 'qf'

Use of custom functions to specify a target window (for advanced users)

You can use your custom function, instead of the predefined commands, to specify the window to jump to.

For this, use g:qfenter_custom_map_list in your .vimrc. Each item in g:qfenter_custom_map_list should have four key-value pairs:

• tabwinfunc: The name of your custom function to specify the target window, which should not have any parameters. Its return value should be a list of [tabpagenr, winnr, hasfocus, isnewtabwin].
  • tabpagenr: tabpage number of the target window
  • winnr: window number of the target window
  • hasfocus: whether the target window already has focus or not
  • isnewtabwin:
    • 'nt': the target window is in a newly created tab
    • 'nw': the target window is a newly created window
    • otherwise: the target window is one of existing windows
• qfopencmd: One of the following values
  • 'cc': Open a quickfix item using :cc.
  • 'cn': Open a quickfix item using :cnext.
  • 'cp': Open a quickfix item using :cprev.
• keepfocus: 1 to keep focus in the quickfix (or location list) window after opening an item, otherwise 0.
• keys: shortcut key list

For example, with the following code in .vimrc,

• You can open a next quickfix item in a previously focused window while keeping focus in the quickfix window by typing <Leader>n (identical effect to let g:qfenter_keymap.cnext_keep = ['<Leader>n']).
• You can open a quickfix item under cursor in the first window (winnr==1) in the first tab (tabpagenr==1) by typing <Leader>f.

let g:qfenter_custom_map_list = []
call add(g:qfenter_custom_map_list, {
			\'tabwinfunc': 'QFEnter#GetTabWinNR_Open',
			\'qfopencmd': 'cn',
			\'keepfocus': 1,
			\'keys': ['<Leader>n'],
			\})
call add(g:qfenter_custom_map_list, {
			\'tabwinfunc': 'TestTab1Win1_Open',
			\'qfopencmd': 'cc',
			\'keepfocus': 0,
			\'keys': ['<Leader>f'],
			\})
func! TestTab1Win1_Open()
	return [1, 1, 0, '']
endfunc