Using Vim's tabs like buffers
editor, tabs, vim
Solution
Stop, stop, stop.
This is not how Vim's tabs are designed to be used. In fact, they're misnamed. A better name would be "viewport" or "layout", because that's what a tab is—it's a different layout of windows of all of your existing buffers.
Trying to beat Vim into 1 tab == 1 buffer is an exercise in futility. Vim doesn't know or care and it will not respect it on all commands—in particular, anything that uses the quickfix buffer (`:make`, `:grep`, and `:helpgrep` are the ones that spring to mind) will happily ignore tabs and there's nothing you can do to stop that.
Instead:
- `:set hidden` If you don't have this set already, then do so. It makes vim work like every other multiple-file editor on the planet. You can have edited buffers that aren't visible in a window somewhere.
- Use `:bn`, `:bp`, `:b #`, `:b name`, and `ctrl-6` to switch between buffers. I like `ctrl-6` myself (alone it switches to the previously used buffer, or `#ctrl-6` switches to buffer number `#`).
- Use `:ls` to list buffers, or a plugin like MiniBufExpl or BufExplorer.
Problem
I have looked at the ability to use tabs in Vim (with `:tabe`, `:tabnew`, etc.) as a replacement for my current practice of having many files open in the same window in hidden buffers. I would like every distinct file that I have open to always be in its own tab. However, there are some things that get in the way of this. How do I fix these: When commands like `gf` and `^]` jump to a location in another file, the file opens in a new buffer in the current tab. Is there a way to have all of these sorts of commands open the file in a new tab, or switch to the existing tab with the file if it is already open? When switching buffers I can use `:b <part of filename><tab>` and it will complete the names of files in existing buffers. `<part of filename>` can even be the middle of a filename instead of the beginning. Is there an equivalent for switching tabs?