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37 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
# Head of File Name
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At Hashrocket, I kept seeing my coworkers type a variety of commands into
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vim command mode that included `%:h`. I finally decided to ask what was
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going on. It turns out that it produces the directory of the file in your
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current vim buffer.
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The `%` represents the current file and `:h` is a filename modifier,
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*head of the filename*, that truncates the last component and any
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separators. So if you remove the file part of the current file (`%`), you
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are left with the (relative) directory of the current file. Your imagination
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and vim's flexibility can now take over.
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A common use case is to use it to quickly edit another file that you know is
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in the same directory. Why type out a long pathname over and over throughout
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the day, when you can type:
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```
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:e %:h<tab>
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```
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After hitting tab, the pathname will be auto-completed. Complete the rest of the
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filename as you do.
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Or perhaps you aren't sure what file you want to edit and you'd rather just
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get a picture of the whole directory:
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```
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:e %:h
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```
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You are now exploring the whole directory in netrw mode. Yay!
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If you want to find out more about similar features,
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there is a section in the Vim documentation that talks all about [filename
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modifiers](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/cmdline.html#filename-modifiers).
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