'In Vim how to switch quickly between .h and .cpp files with the same name?

Suppose I have a folder with lots of .h and .cpp files. I frequently need to do the following:

  1. open a file prefix_SomeReallyLongFileName.h,
  2. make some changes to it,
  3. and then open prefix_SomeReallyLongFileName.cpp.

I can do this using :e <filename> using auto-complete, but as the prefix is same for many of the files, this becomes inconvenient.

Is there a quick way to open a file with same name as current file, but a different extension?

Do other people come across this situation too, and if so what is your preferred way of navigating the C++ files in a directory? Thanks.

vim


Solution 1:[1]

According to the Vim wiki there are quite a few suggested ways.

I will outline a few options from the article:

  • a.vim or FSwitch.vim plugins
  • using ctags
  • :e %<.c or :e %<.h. %< represents the current file w/o the extension
  • A quick mapping nnoremap <F4> :e %:p:s,.h$,.X123X,:s,.cpp$,.h,:s,.X123X$,.cpp,<CR>. Add this to your ~/.vimrc.

Solution 2:[2]

Install “unimpaired” and then use ]f and [f to go the previous and next file. Since source and header have they same name except for the suffix, they are next and previous files.

Solution 3:[3]

This is just using simple(?!) vimscript, so you can put it into your vimrc, now it works for .c files, but can be modified pretty easily for .cpp (obviously), it even has some "error handling" in the inner if-statements (that is probably pointless), but if anyone needs it, hey, it's there! Without it it's way much shorter (just leave the :e %<.h, for example), so choose whatever you want.

function! HeaderToggle() " bang for overwrite when saving vimrc
let file_path = expand("%")
let file_name = expand("%<")
let extension = split(file_path, '\.')[-1] " '\.' is how you really split on dot
let err_msg = "There is no file "

if extension == "c"
    let next_file = join([file_name, ".h"], "")

    if filereadable(next_file)
    :e %<.h
    else
        echo join([err_msg, next_file], "")
    endif
elseif extension == "h"
    let next_file = join([file_name, ".c"], "")

    if filereadable(next_file)
        :e %<.c
    else
        echo join([err_msg, next_file], "")
    endif
endif
endfunction

then add further to your vimrc something along these lines:

let mapleader = "," " <Leader>
nnoremap <Leader>h :call HeaderToggle()<CR>

Now whenever you're in normal mode, you press comma , (this is our <Leader> button) then h and function from the above gets called, and you will toggle between files. Tada!

Solution 4:[4]

Adding my two cents ;) to the above great answers:

  1. Install Exuberant Ctags
  2. Put the following code into your .vimrc
" Jump to a file whose extension corresponds to the extension of the current
" file. The `tags' file, created with:
" $ ctags --extra=+f -R .
" has to be present in the current directory.
function! JumpToCorrespondingFile()
    let l:extensions = { 'c': 'h', 'h': 'c', 'cpp': 'hpp', 'hpp': 'cpp' }
    let l:fe = expand('%:e')
    if has_key(l:extensions, l:fe)
        execute ':tag ' . expand('%:t:r') . '.' . l:extensions[l:fe]
    else
        call PrintError(">>> Corresponding extension for '" . l:fe . "' is not specified") 
    endif
endfunct

" jump to a file with the corresponding extension (<C-F2> aka <S-F14>)
nnoremap <S-F14> :call JumpToCorrespondingFile()<CR>
inoremap <S-F14> <C-o>:call JumpToCorrespondingFile()<CR>

" Print error message.
function! PrintError(msg) abort
    execute 'normal! \<Esc>'
    echohl ErrorMsg
    echomsg a:msg
    echohl None
endfunction

Solution 5:[5]

https://github.com/ericcurtin/CurtineIncSw.vim is an option.

Once configured searches the current directory recursively and the directory your source file is in recursively for the file you want to switch to.

Solution 6:[6]

You can switch from .cc to .h files with :VH.

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