How can I constantly see the current filename in vim?

Question

I am using vim and I need a way to always be able to see the file that I am working on without having to do ^G.
I see the file name when I start vim but when I start to work and use various functions it gets lost.
Also I have seen other people have some kind of "addons" in the lower part of the vim console that seem like they are "button"/"tabs" (I am not sure how to describe them) that show various info constantly including the file name.
Any idea what are these plugins? Or how can I achieve what I want?

somewhat related: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/104901/how-to-find-out-which-file-is-currently-opened-in-vim — amphibient, Jan 30 '14 at 00:18
Might you be thinking of https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline ? — johnny, Feb 03 '14 at 01:10

score 56 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

56

You can add this to your .vimrcfile, or temporarily while in vim.

vimrc - set laststatus=2
in vim - :set laststatus=2

To get the full path you can add this command, again to either your .vimrc or while in vim.

vimrc - set statusline+=%F
in vim - :set statusline+=%F

Examples

normal mode

ss #1

command line mode

ss #2

For more info than you care to read through there's additional info on both of these available in vim.

:help laststatus
:help statusline

References

edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

Community

1

answered Jan 29 '14 at 22:48

slm

369,824

Weird name (no mnemonic I think). This does not seem to show the full path. Would showing the full path be an option? – Jim Jan 29 '14 at 22:54
@Jim - see updates – slm Jan 29 '14 at 23:07
@Jim it's just as ls command set ls=2 – Rahul Patil Jan 30 '14 at 08:09

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 07 '21 at 08:00

14

I find that adding the currently opened file name on the window title bar using

: set title

in the .vimrc looks like less obnoxious then always having the status bar taking up a full line at the bottom.

edited Jul 07 '21 at 08:00

AdminBee

22,803

answered Jul 17 '15 at 03:06

Rex

141

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 30 '14 at 01:10

6

The tabs you are probably referring to is not a plugin, but a vim built-in. Try

:tabnew

It should open a new tab and you should see the menu bar, showing the name of the files in the different tabs. To always show this menu-bar, use

:set showtabline=2

Although this makes only sense when you really want to work with tabs (I can recommend it). Otherwise I'd suggest to set the name in the statusbar as outlined by others.

answered Jan 30 '14 at 01:10

pfnuesel

5,837

No.Not tabs for sure.I know about tabs. – Jim Jan 30 '14 at 06:13
1

Thanks for the downvote. Tabs show the name of the file, that's what you want, no? You called them tabs yourself... – pfnuesel Jan 30 '14 at 11:10
2

@Jim what's wrong with tabs? – Walf Jul 20 '16 at 03:14
2

This is exactly what I was looking for. – Eddy Ekofo Jan 02 '21 at 06:52

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 18 '14 at 00:36

4

Also check out vim-airline. Note that you still have to use "set laststatus=2" show the status line.

enter image description here

answered Dec 18 '14 at 00:36

Peter Tseng

141
4

wow, will try it after finish this task!. – Luke Aug 03 '21 at 15:18

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 30 '14 at 06:53

1

Try this for full path:

:set statusline =%4*\ %<%F%*

More info: http://got-ravings.blogspot.com/2008/08/vim-pr0n-making-statuslines-that-own.html

edited Jan 30 '14 at 06:53

Michael Mrozek

93,103
40
240
233

answered Jan 29 '14 at 23:07

kingdaemon

119

How can I constantly see the current filename in vim?

5 Answers5

Examples

References