Open MacVim tabs from command-line


MacVim takes vim and provides better integration with Apple’s OS X - I’ve only just started using it and I am already loving it. Provided along with the application is a wrapper-script written to handle calls from the command-line:

cd project
mvim project_file.php

MacVim supports tabs, but unfortunately calling mvim multiple times from the command-line results in multiple separate windows opening, instead of multiple tabs in one window. I made the following modifications to the mvim script to correct this.

Add the following line to the top of the file, below the commented section:

tabs=true

Replace the if structure at the bottom of the file with the following:

# Last step:  fire up vim.
if [ "$gui" ]; then
  if $tabs && [[ `$binary --serverlist` = "VIM" ]]; then
    exec "$binary" -g $opts --remote-tab-silent ${1:+"$@"}
  else
    exec "$binary" -g $opts ${1:+"$@"}
  fi
else
  exec "$binary" $opts ${1:+"$@"}
fi
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This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 1:41 pm and is filed under OS X. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Open MacVim tabs from command-line”

  1. Bryan said this on October 31st, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Thank you! This tip was just what I was looking for. Much appreciated.

  2. cybertoast said this on November 7th, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    And the obvious addition to this is that starting multiple tabs from the command-line is to do mvim -p file1 file2 ..

    It would be very useful to have a command-line option to specify whether the new file should be opened in an existing tab, or in a new window.

  3. choey said this on January 16th, 2009 at 2:57 am

    thanks for the tip! it works great.

    cyboertoast, a quick fix would be to add the following right after tabs=true:

    if [ "$1" = "-n" ]
    then
    tabs=false
    fi

    then, by default, “mvim foo” will open foo in a new tab, while “mvim -n foo” will open foo in a new window.

  4. Brian Smith said this on August 15th, 2009 at 6:38 am

    Thanks! Just what I was looking for. =)

  5. Agapov said this on August 27th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    75. ???? ???? ????? ????????? ?? ?????????? ??????. ?????, ????? ??????? :)

  6. Dzung Hong said this on September 8th, 2010 at 12:31 am

    Cool! Thank you so much

  7. bryan kennedy said this on January 8th, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    Oh faboo.

    Thanks for this. It really helps complete my Vim environment.

  8. Faith Heuwinkel said this on January 18th, 2011 at 12:56 am

    You raise plenty of questions in my thoughts; you wrote a superb submit, but this publish is also thought scary, and I must think about it some extra; I will probably be again soon.

  9. Kylie Egeland said this on February 15th, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Greetings, this is a genuinely absorbing internet blog and I’ve cherished learning several in the content and posts contained around the internet internet site, keep up the exceptional get the job done and want to learn a great deal much more stimulating content inside the future.

  10. Daniel said this on March 17th, 2011 at 3:13 pm

    Great tip. Thank you very much!

  11. Lincoln Whitebear said this on June 13th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    That’s Too great, when it comes in india hope it could make a Rocking location for youngster.. hope that
    come true.

  12. Nick said this on June 22nd, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    You can set this alias in you .bash_profile instead:

    alias mvim=”open -a MacVim.app”

    Then in MacVim 7.3 go to preferences and set “Open files from applications:” to “in the current window” “with a tab for each file”.

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  14. Making MacVim open files in vertical splits :: yjsoon said this on August 4th, 2011 at 3:39 am

    [...] I’m at it, here’s another useful one: this link shows you how to edit mvim, the command line script to open MacVim, so that it doesn’t open [...]

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