How can I edit multiple files in Vim?

you can open another file while vim is open with :tabe filename and to switch to the other file you type :tabn or :tabp for next and previous accordingly.

The keyboard shortcuts gT and gt can also be used to switch tabs when you are not in editing mode (i.e. not in insert, replace etc modes). On some systems Ctrl+Alt+Page Up and Ctrl+Alt+Page Down also allow tab-switching, but this does not always work (for example, it won’t work in the OS X terminal ‘out of the box’).

And you can see the filename at the top of the vim app.

Commands to switch between buffers:

:bf            # Go to first file.
:bl            # Go to last file
:bn            # Go to next file.
:bp            # Go to previous file.
:bw            # Close file.

:help buffer to find more information

To know filename use Ctrl+G,:file or :f

Another option apart from the answers given, is to split the window with:

:sp
:vsp

:vsp is for vertical split. Then use Ctrl+W <ARROW_KEYS> to move in panes.

:n -> Move to next file
:N -> Move to previous file

I asked a similar question at superuser,

“How to copy and paste between different bash windows and files opened with VI?”

The answer to my question was you can’t, but you can open two files in one bash window using VIM’s :split command:

1. Open a file with $ vim file1, open a second file within VIM using :split file2 command.
2. Or, use $ vim -o file1 file2 from bash.
3. Switch between files–toggle active file–in VIM with ctrl–w ctrl–w.
4. An example operation then is copy (or yank) in file1 yy, switch (3), then paste (or put) p contents into file2.
5. Everything else is normal when either window is active, thus :q quits and :q! force quits.

My bash is black and white, so the file name of each screen is styled as a reversed ‘selected’ line with the file name cited there.

Woot!

There are a lot of way to do so. The first one, maybe the less convenient, is to call vim with the files you want to edit – create:

vim first_file second_file ...

It calls the two files in two buffers. To switch from a file to another, please use :n and :N. To list the files you are editing, :args will do the job. :help buffer will help you more on this.

This should answer your question. But here are more information:

There is a way to edit your files in a more convenient way by splitting your console screen using vim. To do this, open two frames with :split (:sp) or :vsplit (:vs) while using vim. Then navigate in these frames by using the combination Ctrl + W > Ctrl + W. You can also use Ctrl + W + the arrow or the key (H, J, K or L) corresponding to the next frame. When this is done, edit the file you want with :e file_name. :help opening-window will help you more on this.

Now, if you’d like to see the differences between files, use the -d argument or call the vimdiff program (it is the same) with the corresponding files. :help diff will help you more on this.

vim -d first_file second_file ...

Please let me know if you have some issue.

I find the most convenient method of editing multiple files is by using tabs. You can open multiple files in separate tabs via the command line like so:

vim -p file1.txt file2.txt

Or if you already have vim open, you can open a new file in a new tab like so:

:tabe file2.txt

Once you have the tabs open, use gt to view the next tab and gT to view the previous tab.

You can also jump to the first tab with 1gt, the second tab with 2gt, etc.

You can close tabs using :tabc

Finally you can move the current tab to the nth location with :ntabm where n is any number greater than or equal to 0.

I like to use split windows – both horizontal and vertical – to edit multiple files.

I use tmux to manage those windows more easily

https://tmux.github.io/
“What is a terminal multiplexer? It lets you switch easily between several programs in one terminal, detach them (they keep running in the background) and reattach them to a different terminal. And do a lot more. See the manual.”

Example: Looking at files or running tests on the right, editing test and source files on the left:

:e #(filename) to toggle between two opened files

:p for previous file

:n for next file

argadd a/b c/d e/f

argadd ... will add all files to args, and also to :ls / :buffers and allow you to edit them.

See :h arglsit & :h argedit & :h argsd

Also, you can perform certain actions only on args with :argdo ..., and you can start afresh with your args by doing :argsd*.