Tip 41: Open a File by Its Filepath Using :edit

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Open a File Relative to the Current Working Directory

Open a File Relative to the Active File Directory

• :edit %<Tab>: reveal the absolute path of the active buffer
  • %: shorthand for the filepath of the active buffer

References

# If you open the file in vim,
# then you can \"ayy@a the next line to execute the vim command: 
:h cmdline-special

• :edit %:h<Tab>: remove the filename while preserving the rest of the path

References

# If you open the file in vim,
# then you can \"ayy@a the next line to execute the vim command: 
:h ::h

Easy Expansion of the Active File Directory

map %% to %h:h<Tab>

cnoremap <expr> %%  getcmdtype() == ':' ? expand('%:h').'/' : '%%'

References