Friday, June 4, 2010

Vim Plugins You Should Know About: NERDTree

Category: — SkyHi @ Friday, June 04, 2010

This is the sixth post in the article series "Vim Plugins You Should Know About". This time I am going to introduce you to a vim plugin called "nerd_tree.vim". It's so useful that I can't imagine working without it in vim.


Nerd Tree is a nifty plugin that allows you to explore the file system and open files and directories directly from vim. It opens the file system tree in a new vim window and you may use keyboard shortcuts and mouse to open files in new tabs, in new horizontal and vertical splits, quickly navigate between directories and create bookmarks for your most important projects.


This plugin was written by Marty Grenfell (also known as scrooloose).


Previous articles in the series:



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How to use nerd_tree.vim?


Nerd Tree plugin can be activated by the :NERDTree vim command. It will open in vim as a new vertical split on the left:


Vim Nerd Tree

A screenshot of Nerd Tree plugin in action.



Here are the basics of how to use the plugin:


  • Use the natural vim navigation keys hjkl to navigate the files.
  • Press o to open the file in a new buffer or open/close directory.
  • Press t to open the file in a new tab.
  • Press i to open the file in a new horizontal split.
  • Press s to open the file in a new vertical split.
  • Press p to go to parent directory.
  • Press r to refresh the current directory.

All other keyboard shortcuts can be found by pressing ?. It will open a special help screen with the shortcut listings. Press ? again to get back to file tree.


To close the plugin execute the :NERDTreeClose command.


Typing :NERDTree and :NERDTreeClose all the time is really inconvenient. Therefore I have mapped the toggle command :NERDTreeToggle to the F2 key. This way I can quickly open and close Nerd Tree whenever I wish. You can also map it to F2 by putting map <F2> :NERDTreeToggle<CR> in your .vimrc file.


How to install nerd_tree.vim?


To get the latest version:


  • 1. Download NERD_tree.zip.
  • 2. Extract NERD_tree.zip to ~/.vim (on Unix/Linux) or ~\vimfiles (on Windows).
  • 3. Run :helptags ~/.vim/doc (on Unix/Linux) or :helptags ~/vimfiles/doc (on Windows) to rebuild the tags file (so that you can read :help NERD_tree.)
  • 4. Restart Vim.

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