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When searching for a command to enable me to open multiple tabs in normal mode, I found a custom command to do this:

" Open multiple tabs at once
fun! OpenMultipleTabs(pattern_list)
    for p in a:pattern_list
        for c in glob(l:p, 0, 1)
            execute 'tabedit ' . l:c
        endfor
    endfor
endfun

command! -bar -bang -nargs=+ -complete=file Tabedit call OpenMultipleTabs([<f-args>])

" less typing:
map <C-n> :Multitab

However, this doesn't work when trying to open a path that doesn't exist yet. So one cannot use this to create new files. Example:

:Tabedit *.c
" works: opens all matching .c files
:!touch existing-file.txt
:Tabedit existing-file.txt
" works: opens the existing file
:Tabedit new-file.txt
" doesn't do anything at all

So what I want is for strings that don't require expansion, to open the same as with :tabedit.

bitmask
  • 143
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1 Answers1

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My crude solution is to test whether glob finds any files and otherwise just to open the expression previously passed to glob. There is probably a more elegant way to do this.

fun! OpenMultipleTabs(pattern_list)
    for p in a:pattern_list
        let gl = glob(l:p, 0, 1)
        if empty(gl)
            let gl = [ l:p ]
        endif
        for c in gl
            execute 'tabedit ' . l:c
        endfor
    endfor
endfun
bitmask
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  • 8
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    Won't this fail if you pass *.c and there are no C files...i.e. try to open single file *.c? Might be better to test the pattern for wildcards. If none, open using name as is otherwise use glob(). Question is whether there's a portable, robust way to test for wildcards. (You could simply look for for *, ?, ** but what about escaped wildcards? Or system specific wildcards?) – B Layer Mar 30 '20 at 22:49
  • @BLayer Yes, I realise that. It just opens *.c as a file name. This is likely not intended, but I can live with it. And as you say, you'd need to have a portable way to test for wildcards, which I'm not keen on jury rigging myself. – bitmask Mar 30 '20 at 23:01
  • If it's just a personal script and you're using it on nix I'd go the wildcard match route. It should be less error-prone than the current version. Pattern is just something like `[^\\](?||[[^]]]). If you don't use[abc]wildcards then you just need[^\\](?|)` and that'll work on Windows, too. Your vim, your decision, though. – B Layer Mar 31 '20 at 00:08