check if file exists without opening it with gf

Question

gf edits the file whose name is under the cursor.

Sometimes I use gf to check if the file exist or not, by just going to the file and coming back. But if the file is large, then it takes time for opening it.

Is there a simple way in normal model to check the file whose name under the cursor does exist or not?

D. Ben Knoble · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-15T14:54:36.310

2

As Maxim Kim hints in the comments, you can try

:echo filereadable(expand('<cfile>')) ? 'exists' : 'does not exist'

According to :help <cfile>, this should work exactly like gf<C-o> in terms of the filename used.

edited Feb 15 '22 at 14:54

answered Feb 14 '22 at 19:22

D. Ben Knoble

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Could you show me a few examples gf can handle, but the method cannot? – auditory Feb 14 '22 at 23:54
I ended up with map like nmap gG :echo filereadable(expand('<cfile>')) ? 'exists' : 'does not exist'<CR>. Thank you. – auditory Feb 15 '22 at 13:26
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@auditory use nnoremap. It turns out <cfile> does all the things gf does, so never mind about that! – D. Ben Knoble Feb 15 '22 at 14:54
okay. I will use non-recursive mappig like :nnoremap .... Thanks. – auditory Feb 20 '22 at 14:06

check if file exists without opening it with gf

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