vimutils

A command line tool for a working with a Vim server from the shell.

Quick Example

$ vu start                  # Starts a vim server instance named 'DEFAULT'
$ vu open /etc/hosts        # Opens the /etc/hosts file in a new buffer

Installing

$ git clone https://github.com/enotodden/vimutils
$ cd vimutils/
$ ./install.sh
$ echo 'source ~/.vimutils.shell' >> ~/.bashrc  # or other shell rc

Commands

Names in parenthesis are shell aliases (~/.vimutils.shell)

servers (vls)

List running Vim servers

$ vu servers
MY_VIM
MY_OTHER_VIM

start (vs)

Start a new Vim server.

Starts a Vim server instance and sources a vimutils helpers vimscript in that instance.

$ vu start

open (ve)

Open one or more files as buffers in the vim instance.

$ vu open /path/to/my/file.txt /path/to/my/other/file.txt

tabs (vt)

Same as 'open' but uses :tabnew

diff (vd)

Open a set of files in a diff-split view.

$ vu diff ./file1.txt ./file2.txt

buffers (vbls)

List all the buffers in the Vim instance in plain text(default) or JSON format. This works like ':buffers' except for writing output to the shell instead of inside Vim.

$ vu buffers

Or, as JSON:

$ vu buffers --json

dump-buffer (vdb)

Prints the contents of a buffer by buffer id (buffer number).

$ vu dump-buffer 5

keys (vk)

Sends a string of keys to a Vim instance.

$ vu keys ':echo "Hello Vim" <CR>'

run (vr)

Runs a command in the Vim instance prints the output.

$ vu run ":ls"

grep (vgrep)

Search the contents of the buffers in the Vim instance using a Python regular expression.

$ vu grep '^import'

Changing the vim command or default server name

Copy example.vimutils.json to ~/.vimutils.json in your home directory, use the -s and -c parameters or use the $VIMUTILS_VIM and $VIMUTILS_DEFAULT_SERVER environment variables.