In gnome-terminal, I can just press Alt + (1, 2, 3, etc.) to switch to specific tabs. I can also use Ctrl + (PgUp / PgDn) to cycle through tabs (admittedly less convenient, but it can be remapped).
If I want to use vim tabs instead of gnome-terminal tabs, typing :tabn and :tabp is quite cumbersome. I could map them to keyboard shortcuts, but that is still a lot less convenient than jumping directly to tab 4 with Alt + 4.
Is there a faster way to switch between tabs in vim?
Why not make use of your leader (my leader is mapped to Space):
" Go to tab by number
noremap <leader>1 1gt
noremap <leader>2 2gt
noremap <leader>3 3gt
noremap <leader>4 4gt
noremap <leader>5 5gt
noremap <leader>6 6gt
noremap <leader>7 7gt
noremap <leader>8 8gt
noremap <leader>9 9gt
noremap <leader>0 :tablast<cr>
You can use the settings below to toggle between the current and last active tab (here it is mapped to Ctrl+L, i.e., <c-l>):
" Go to last active tab
au TabLeave * let g:lasttab = tabpagenr()
nnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>
vnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>
This is the easiest way that I found, to switch between tabs faster and simple.
Add next lines to your .vimrc and enjoy it, more tricks about vim tabs here.
nnoremap <C-Left> :tabprevious<CR>
nnoremap <C-Right> :tabnext<CR>
Now you can use Ctrl ← to go left and Ctrl → to go right.
Or just use:
1gt to go to tab one,
2gt to go to tab two,
3gt to go to tab three, etc... now you have the idea.
As I am on a Mac and not using MacVim (but plain vim within a terminal) I have had some difficulty with key combinations not being sent through to the terminal.
The most-compatible (and for me most comfortable) way to switch tabs quickly comes from the Vim Wikia site.
Place in your .vimrc file:
nnoremap H gT
nnoremap L gt
Now Shift-h (capital H) and Shift-l (capital L) will switch you quickly between tabs, and follows the convention that h and l correspond to left and right in vim on a regular qwerty keyboard.
(Unfortunately) vim also uses CtrlPgDn/PgUp to cycle through tabs. You'll need to use map to map tabn/tabp to something usable.
Add these to .vimrc to enable tab navigation hot keys:
<ctrl-l>toggle between 2 most recent tabs;
<ctrl-j/k>goto the last/next tab;
<ctrl-t>open a new tab.
" tab navigation: Alt or Ctrl+Shift may not work in terminal:
" http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Alternative_tab_navigation
" Tab navigation like Firefox: only 'open new tab' works in terminal
nnoremap <C-t> :tabnew<CR>
inoremap <C-t> <Esc>:tabnew<CR>
" move to the previous/next tabpage.
nnoremap <C-j> gT
nnoremap <C-k> gt
" Go to last active tab
au TabLeave * let g:lasttab = tabpagenr()
nnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>
vnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>
If you're using gvim or similar (i.e., something outside of the terminal), you can imitate the gnome-terminal behaviour you describe with:
" Map alt-x keys to jump to a tab
for i in range(1, 8)
execute "nmap \<M-" . i . "> " . i . "gt"
endfor
nmap <M-9> :tablast<CR>
So alt-1 jumps to the first tab, etc. But alt-9 jumps to the last tab (as in Chrome).
You might want to wrap this in if has("gui_running") (although this doesn't seem to work with Neovim), or put this in .gvimrc.
I like to switch windows/tabs with fzf-vim. It is fast and
For instance you can make a bindkey <leader>w which calls Windows or Buffers. Also Jumps and Changes are useful tools for fast switching.
Buffers:
Windows :
Here some maps for fzf I am using frequently:
nnoremap <silent><Leader>f :Files<CR>
nnoremap <silent><leader>j :Jumps<CR>
nnoremap <silent><leader>c :Changes<CR>
nnoremap <silent><Leader>m :Marks<CR>
nnoremap <silent><Leader>w :Windows<CR>
nnoremap <silent><Leader>h :Helptags<CR>
nnoremap <silent><Leader>b :Buffers<CR>
nnoremap <silent><Leader>bl :BLines<CR>
I encountered this problem the same as you,
but later I find out what I really need might be a Marker.
Especially when using uppercase characters like mA ,
It will take you to your marked tab by using "`A" as fast as it can.
Hope it can help.
