Vimer

Vimer is a convenience wrapper script to open files in an existing instance of GVim or MacVim.

The Windows script has been tested on Windows 7 only. However, it should work fine on other recent versions of Windows too.

The Linux/Mac script has been tested with bash, ksh and zsh on Debian and Mac as well as with dash, posh and yash on Debian. It should work fine on any POSIX compliant system with a POSIX compliant shell.

Contents

• Necessity
• Getting Started
• Troubleshooting
• Context Menu
  • Windows
  • Xfce on Linux
  • GNOME on Linux
  • Mac
• License
• Support

Necessity

This project was written to address the following needs.

1. Running gvim foo.txt on Windows or Linux, or mvim foo.txt on Mac, opens the file in a new GVim or MacVim window. Launching GVim or MacVim from the shell in this manner again and again can easily clutter the desktop with too many windows. Moreover, if the file being opened is already open in another instance of GVim or MacVim, the editor warns about an existing swap file and requires the user to take action for it. This can be distracting sometimes.

   Of course, one can open and edit all files from within a single GVim or MacVim instance with the editor commands such as :e or :tabe to avoid these problems, but it is still useful to be able to edit files from the shell, especially while navigating directories in the shell.

   Vimer offers a way to edit files from the shell such that every file being edited opens in a new buffer in the same instance of GVim or MacVim. If a file being opened is already open in GVim or MacVim, no warning occurs; instead the editor silently displays the specified file.

2. The problems discussed in the previous point can also be solved using a simple wrapper script on Windows, say, myvim.cmd.

   @echo off
   gvim --remote-silent %*
   

   Or using alias on Linux.

   alias myvim="gvim --remote-silent"
   

   Here is a similar alias for Mac.

   alias myvim="mvim --remote-silent"
   

   But this solution is not without flaws. Of course, it takes care that a command like myvim foo.txt bar.txt opens both files in two buffers in the same instance of GVim or MacVim. However the following annoying behaviour occurs.

   • Running myvim without arguments leads to an error: Argument missing after: "--remote-silent".
   • Trying to pipe standard output of one command into the standard input of GVim or MacVim with a command like ls | myvim - results in an empty buffer for a file named -. The reason for this is documented in the editor's documentation. Enter :help remote in the editor to read it.

   Vimer offers a litle more elaborate wrapper script that handles these special cases better.

   • vimer foo.txt bar.txt opens both files in the same instance of GVim or MacVim.
   • vimer launches a new instance of GVim or MacVim.
   • ls | vimer - shows the output of ls in an existing instance of GVim or MacVim if it exists.

3. Vim provides a context menu option called Edit with Vim that opens a file in a new buffer in an existing tab page in an existing instance of GVim. However, it doesn't provide a context menu option that opens a file in a new tab page in an existing instance of GVim. Vimer fills this gap by creating a context menu option for files called Edit with GVim tab that opens a file in a new tab page in an existing instance of GVim. This feature is available only for Windows.

Getting Started

Vimer is a single-file executable script.

Download vimer.cmd for Windows, or vimer for Linux or Mac.

Copy it to a directory specified in the PATH environment variable. On Linux or Mac, make the script executable: chmod u+x vimer.

The following list describes some of the ways Vimer may be used.

1. Launch a new instance of GVim or MacVim.

   vimer
   

2. Edit files.

   vimer foo.txt bar.txt baz.txt
   

   If an instance of GVim or MacVim is already running, this command opens the files in separate buffers in the same instance of the editor. Otherwise, they are opened in separate buffers in a new instance of the editor.

3. If the -t option is specified, then files are opened in separate tab pages in an existing instance of GVim or MacVim if it exists. If no instance of GVim or MacVim already exists, the files are opened in separate tabs in a new instance of the editor.

   vimer -t foo.txt bar.txt baz.txt
   

4. Pipe the standard output of a command into the standard input of GVim or MacVim. Use the -t option to open it in a separate tab.

   ls -l | vimer -
   ls -l | vimer -t -
   

5. Launch a new instance of GVim or MacVim with a specific server name.

   vimer -s FOO
   

   If the specified server name is already being used by another instance of the editor, a number postfix is applied (e.g. FOO1, FOO2, etc.) until a free name is encountered.

6. Edit files in GVim or MacVim with a specific server name.

   vimer -s FOO foo.txt bar.txt baz.txt
   

   If an instance of GVim or MacVim with the specified server name is already running, this command opens the files in that instance of the editor. If such an instance of the editor does not exist, then the first server with the number postfix will be used.

   If there is no existing instance of the editor with a matching server name or a server name with number postfix, the files are opened in separate buffers in a new instance of the editor with the specified server name, or a server name with number postfix.

7. Enable a context menu option called Edit with GVim for files on Windows.

   vimer --enable
   

   After executing the above command, on right clicking a file, an option called Edit with GVim should appear in the context menu. Selecting this option opens the file in an existing instance of GVim if it exists. If no existing instance of GVim already exists, then the file is opened in a new instance of GVim.

   A similar context menu option called Edit with existing Vim is already provided by the GVim installer for Windows. But this option is provided in Vimer anyway because combining this option with -t creates a context menu option to open files in separate tab pages, as explained in the next point. Such a context menu option is not provided by the GVim installer for Windows.

8. Enable a context menu option called Edit with GVim tab for files on Windows.

   vimer -t --enable
   

9. Disable context menu options on Windows.

   vimer --disable
   vimer -t --disable
   

   The --enable and --disable options are not supported for Linux and Mac. See the Context Menu section below to read how to create such context menu option in other desktop environments.

10. For more details on how to use Vimer, execute the following command.

    vimer --help
    

Users who are very used to typing vi, vim, gvim or mvim to run the editor and find it difficult to type vimer might want to rename this script. For example, a user very used to typing vi, might want to rename this script from vimer.cmd to vi.cmd on Windows, or to vi on Linux or Mac.

Troubleshooting

1. When the script is executed from a 32 bit Console2 window running on a 64 bit Windows operating system, the script fails with the following error.

   ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.
   

   To work around the issue, execute the script in the native Windows Command Prompt, or install the 64 bit Console2 application and execute the script from a 64 bit Console2 window.

2. After the script is renamed to gvim on Linux or mvim on Mac, running gvim or mvim with a filename as argument may still open the file in a new instance of the editor, not in an existing instance of the editor, even if such an instance already exists.

   If this happens, it is very likely that the gvim or mvim command is still running GVim or MacVim, respectively, not Vimer.

   To confirm, execute the following command on Linux.

   gvim --version
   

   Or the following command on Mac.

   mvim --version
   

   If the string "VIM" appears in the first line of the output, it is GVim or MacVim.

   If it is confirmed that running gvim on Linux, or mvim on Mac executes GVim or MacVim, respectively, ensure that the path where this script is located appears before the path where GVim or MacVim is located in the PATH environment variable.

   Further, on Linux or Mac, set the VIM_CMD environment variable to the absolute path of GVim or MacVim. For more details about this, see the next point.

3. When the script is renamed to gvim on Linux or mvim on Mac, and gvim or mvim is run, the shell may hang. If the VIM_CMD environment variable is not set, internally, the script invokes the gvim command on Linux or the mvim command on Mac to edit files. But when this script itself is named as gvim on Linux or mvim on Mac, invoking gvim or mvim, respectively, ends up invoking itself thereby resulting in an infinite recursion.

   To resolve the issue, set the VIM_CMD environment variable to the absolute path of GVim. Here is an example for Linux.

   export VIM_CMD=/usr/bin/gvim
   

   Here is an example for Mac.

   export VIM_CMD=/usr/local/bin/mvim
   

   Consider adding this to the shell's initialization file (e.g. ~/.bashrc) so that this environment variable is persistent and available across shell sessions.

   As a workaround, consider renaming the script to something other than gvim or mvim, perhaps vi which is short and sweet and has the additional advantage that no matter what system it is, one only has to remember to type vi to edit files.

Context Menu

This section descibes how to add context menu option for files that opens files in an existing instance of GVim or MacVim in various desktop environments. This section does not require the use of Vimer.

The steps provided in the sections below create a context menu option to edit files in new buffers. To edit files in new tabs instead, use the --remote-tab-silent option instead of the --remote-silent option in the sections below.

Windows

The following steps have been found to work fine on Windows XP and Windows 7. These steps probably work fine on other versions of Windows too.

1. Run the following command.

   regedit
   

2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell. Right click on the node named shell, select New > Key. Name the new key as Edit with GVim.

3. Then right click on the new node, select New > Key and name the new node as command.

4. Now HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Edit with GVim\command should be the current node. On the right-hand pane, double click on (Default) and enter the command to edit a file in existing GVim. Here is an example.

   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Vim\vim74\gvim.exe" --remote-silent "%1"
   

5. Click OK.

To remove this context menu option, run regedit, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell, right click on the node for this context menu, select Delete and click Yes.

Alternatively, run vimer --enable to automatically find the path to gvim.exe and create the registry value described above. To remove this registry value, run vimer --disable. To enable or disable similar registry value that creates a context menu option to edit files with existing GVim in a new tab page, run vimer --tab --enable or vim --tab -disable, respectively.

Xfce on Linux

The following steps have been found to work fine on Xfce 4.10 on Debian 8.0. These steps probably work fine on Xfce 4 on any Linux distribution.

1. Run Thunar, i.e. Applications Menu > File Manager.

2. From the menu, go to Edit > Configure custom actions.

3. Click the plus icon to add a new custom action..

4. Enter the following details.

   • Name: Edit with GVim
   • Command: gvim --remote-silent %F
   • Icon: vim

5. Go to Apperance Conditions tab and select Directories, Text Files and Other Files.

6. Click OK. Click Close.

To remove this context menu option, follow step 1 again, select the context menu option, click the bin icon to delete the currently selected action and click Delete.

GNOME on Linux

The following steps have been found to work fine on GNOME 2.28.2 on CentOS 6.5 and GNOME 3.4.1 on Debian 8.2 (Jessie). These steps probably work fine on GNOME 2 and GNOME 3 on any Linux distribution. The steps below need to be performed in a shell.

1. On GNOME 2, go to the ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/ directory.

   cd ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/
   

   On GNOME 3, go to ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts/ instead.

   cd ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts/
   

2. Now create an executable script that contains the shell command to edit files in an existing instance of GVim if it exists.

   echo 'gvim --remote-silent "$@"' > "Edit with GVim"
   chmod u+x "Edit with GVim"
   

After following these steps, open Nautilus (File Browser on GNOME 2, or Files on GNOME 3), right click on a file, select Scripts > Edit with GVim.

To remove this context menu option, delete the script for the context menu option from ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts (GNOME 2) or ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts (GNOME 3).

Mac

The following steps have been found to work fine on Mac 10.9.5 (Mavericks).

1. Go to Launchpad, search for Automator, then click on it to launch it. It should display a dialog box to choose a type for the new document. If this is not displayed, click New Document to display it.

2. Select Service and click Choose.

3. In the Service receives selected drop-down list, select files or folders.

4. Under Library, select Utilities and double click Run Shell Script.

5. In the new pane that appears, go to the Pass Input drop-down list and select as arguments.

6. Erase all the code in the text box and enter the shell command to edit files in an existing instance of MacVim if it exists. Note that the absolute path to MacVim should be used in the command.

   /usr/local/bin/mvim --remote-silent "$@"
   

7. From the menu, select File > Save. Enter Edit with MacVim as the service name and click Save.

8. From the menu, select Automator > Quit Automator.

To remove this context menu option, launch Finder, select Go > Go to Folder, enter ~/Library/Services, right click on the workflow for this context menu option and select Move to Trash.

License

This is free and open source software. You can use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of it, under the terms of the MIT License. See LICENSE.md for details.

This software is provided "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied. See LICENSE.md for details.

Support

To report bugs, suggest improvements, or ask questions, please create a new issue at http://github.com/susam/vimer/issues.