How do I open the directory of the current open file?

Question

If I open a file with vim dir/to/my/file.c how can I easily open the directory dir/to/my in vim's filebrowser?

innaM · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-31T08:50:21.667

141

Try :Ex[plore]. From :help Ex:

:Explore will open the local-directory browser on the current file's directory (or on directory [dir] if specified). The window will be split only if the file has been modified, otherwise the browsing window will take over that window. Normally the splitting is taken horizontally.

edited Jul 31 '14 at 08:50

answered Aug 31 '09 at 10:04

innaM

10,302

Make sure you set nocompatible on your .vimrc or somewhere else. If you open vim in compatible mode (e..g, vim -u NONE), even if you set nocompatible later, netrw plugin won't be loaded and you won't be able to run :Ex. The following setting might be necessary, too: filetype plugin on. More details here: https://vi.stackexchange.com/questions/29343/why-isnt-netrw-explore-loaded-when-starting-vim-using-vim-u-none. – awvalenti Mar 20 '24 at 12:49

score 106 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 28 '09 at 21:24

106

I personally prefer the:

:Sex

command. It does the split window for you, and drops you into the current directory.

:Sex dir/to/my

works too.

answered Sep 28 '09 at 21:24

Jack M.

3,483

22

You can also use :Vex to open the directory in a vertical split. – Chuan Ma Jun 25 '14 at 16:56
8

And it turns out that Tex was exactly what I was looking for (rather than tabe.) – SpoonMeiser Apr 28 '16 at 13:42
1

Why can I never remember this shortcut – Anton Strogonoff Aug 18 '18 at 06:17
:Sex is short for :Sexplore and :Vex is short for :Vexplore , and so on. – Flimm Aug 15 '23 at 06:58

score 28 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 21:16

28

You could use:

:e %:h

More info on expansions is here: http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/eval.html#expand()

answered Sep 27 '13 at 21:16

Jake

899

I love this! You can run this command repeatedly to keep going up one directory. – Flimm Aug 15 '23 at 06:59
To turn it into a keyboard shortcut binding to F4, add this to your .vimrc file: noremap <F4> :e %h<cr> – Flimm Aug 15 '23 at 07:00

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 11 '09 at 06:12

As already mentioned, you can just do ":Explore" and it will open the file explorer for the directory of the current file.

However, if you need to explicitly specify the directory, you can use ctrl+r on the :-command line to read the contents of any register in, and the % register is the current filename, including a path if necessary. So, just do :e ctrl+r% then backspace over the filename, and press enter.

There are other ways to do it, but this is the method I usually use.

I know this is way old, but you can also do :e %[tab] which will expand % for you. — Brian, Dec 07 '11 at 15:20

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 30 '14 at 14:40

7

For opening Windows Explorer showing current file's directory :

:!start explorer /select,%:p

(Source : http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Open_Windows_Explorer_showing_directory_of_current_buffer )

edited Jul 30 '14 at 14:40

Excellll

12,717

answered Jul 30 '14 at 14:01

DomCha

71

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 06 '20 at 19:18

3

Just :E should do it. Tested on neovim.

answered Jul 06 '20 at 19:18

barrrista

1,729

2

How do we go back to the file after :E? – user674669 Jan 05 '21 at 05:16
1

Use this command :Rex – user1068352 Oct 30 '21 at 09:42
1

Just Re, no need for x, appears to work to go back and forth between netrw and editing a file. – Advait Junnarkar Nov 25 '22 at 18:50

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 31 '09 at 11:19

3

:e `dirname %`

dirname expands to the directory in which current file is.

answered Aug 31 '09 at 11:19

Tadeusz A. Kadłubowski

2,205

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 26 '18 at 16:23

1

if you want to actually get a shell in it you'll need to :lcd %:p:h run :shell and then restore the working directory after you've exited

answered Feb 26 '18 at 16:23

JonnyRaa

213
1
3
10

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 28 '09 at 22:22

:e dir/to/my/

:e . opens the directory you initially launched vim from.

Vim browser 'c' sets the working directory.

I'm not sure if there is a way to automatically jump to the directory of the file you are editing.

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Aug 29 '09 at 03:40

1

If you edit with the pwd command on unix it will open the current directory you are in.

:e `pwd`

This will not work like you want it if you did a cd while in vim.

edited Aug 29 '09 at 03:40

Dan Walker

9,327

answered Aug 29 '09 at 03:39

nik

56,306

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 03 '23 at 21:42

If you want to launch a custom terminal emulator in your current directory's buffer, add something like this to your vimrc:

" Set Vim's current directory to the opened buffer
set autochdir
nmap <leader>k :silent !kitty &<cr>

Replace kitty with your favorite terminal emulator.

How do I open the directory of the current open file?

11 Answers11