Preview Window Commands and Examples

shows the found tag in a "Preview" window without changing the current buffer or cursor position. If a "Preview" window already exists, it is re-used (like a help window is). If a new one is opened, 'previewheight' is used for the height of the window. See also |:tag|. See below for an example. |CursorHold-example| Small difference from |:tag|: When [tagname] is equal to the already displayed tag, the position in the matching tag list is not reset. This makes the CursorHold example work after a |:ptnext|. CTRL-W z *CTRL-W_z* CTRL-W CTRL-Z *CTRL-W_CTRL-Z* *:pc* *:pclose* :pc[lose][!] Close any "Preview" window currently open. When the 'hidden' option is set, or when the buffer was changed and the [!] is used, the buffer becomes hidden (unless there is another window editing it). The command fails if any "Preview" buffer cannot be closed. See also |:close|. *:pp* *:ppop* :[count]pp[op][!] Does ":[count]pop[!]" in the preview window. See |:pop| and |:ptag|. CTRL-W } *CTRL-W_}* Use identifier under cursor as a tag and perform a :ptag on it. Make the new Preview window (if required) N high. If N is not given, 'previewheight' is used. CTRL-W g } *CTRL-W_g}* Use identifier under cursor as a tag and perform a :ptjump on it. Make the new Preview window (if required) N high. If N is not given, 'previewheight' is used. *:pb* *:pbuffer* :[N]pb[uffer][!] [+cmd] [N] Edit buffer [N] from the buffer list in the preview window. If [N] is not given, the current buffer remains being edited. See |:buffer-!| for [!]. This will also edit a buffer that is not in the buffer list, without setting the 'buflisted' flag. Also see |+cmd|. *:ped* *:pedit* :ped[it][!] [++opt] [+cmd] {file} Edit {file} in the preview window. The preview window is opened like with |:ptag|. The current window and cursor position isn't changed. Useful example: > :pedit +/fputc /usr/include/stdio.h < Also see |++opt| and |+cmd|. *:ps* *:psearch* :[range]ps[earch][!] [count] [/]pattern[/] Works like |:ijump| but shows the found match in the preview window. The preview window is opened like with |:ptag|. The current window and cursor position isn't changed. Useful example: > :psearch popen < Like with the |:ptag| command, you can use this to automatically show information about the word under the cursor. This is less clever than using |:ptag|, but you don't need a tags file and it will also find matches in system include files. Example: > :au! CursorHold *.[ch] ++nested exe "silent! psearch " .. expand("<cword>") < Warning: This can be slow. Example *CursorHold-example* > :au! CursorHold *.[ch] ++nested exe "silent! ptag " .. expand("<cword>") This will cause a ":ptag" to be executed for the keyword under the cursor, when the cursor hasn't moved for the time set with 'updatetime'. "++nested" makes other autocommands be executed, so that syntax highlighting works in the preview window. The "silent!" avoids an error message when the tag could not be found. Also see |CursorHold|. To disable this again: > :au! CursorHold A nice addition is to highlight the found tag, avoid the ":ptag" when there is no word under the cursor, and a few other things: > :au! CursorHold *.[ch] ++nested call PreviewWord() :func PreviewWord() : if &previewwindow " don't do this in the preview window : return : endif : let w = expand("<cword>") " get the word under cursor : if w =~ '\a' " if the word contains a letter : : " Delete any existing highlight before showing another tag : silent! wincmd P " jump to preview window : if &previewwindow " if we really get there... : match none " delete existing highlight : wincmd p " back to old window : endif : : " Try displaying a matching tag for the word under the cursor : try : exe "ptag " .. w :

This section details various commands for interacting with the preview window in Vim, including closing it (:pc[lose]), performing a pop operation (:pp[op]), using a tag under the cursor (:ptag with CTRL-W }), and editing a specific buffer or file in the preview window (:pb[uffer], :ped[it]). It also covers searching for a pattern and displaying the match in the preview window (:ps[earch]). The section provides a CursorHold example that automatically displays the tag for the keyword under the cursor in the preview window when the cursor is idle.