Re: How can I open help in the current window?

On 22/04/13 12:37, Thiago Padilha wrote:
> I googled about this but only found how to open in a vertical split or
> in a full window. I cannot find how can I navigate to help without
> splitting or breaking my current layout.
>
> Normally I already have two windows splitting the screen vertically and
> would like to open help in the current window then navigate back with
> ctrl+o. Any easy way to accomplish that?
>

Actually, the solution is simple, maybe so simple no one thought of it:

:view $VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt

(assuming of course that there isn't yet an open help window). From then
on, the :help and :helpgrep commands (and the <F1> keystroke) will
return to the window where you viewed help.txt — but only as long as
there is a helpfile in that window. You can go back from help.txt to
whatever was there before with Ctrl-O but then that window loses its
"help window" attribute and :help, :helpgrep or <F1> will open a new window.

So you can always open help for subject foobar in the current window by
doing

:view $VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt | help foobar

If you add the following mapping:

:map <F1> :<C-U>view +1 $VIMRUNTIME/doc/help.txt<CR>

(where <C-U> clears any possible count or visual mode which may have
been present when you hit <F1>, and the +1 means "with the cursor on
line 1"), then <F1> does its usual job but in the current window, and
you can open the help for any subject in the current window by hitting
<F1> immediately before typing your :help (or :helpgrep) command.

Beware that with this mapping, if you hit <F1> while there _already_ is
a help window in the current tab page, you will find yourself with a
second help window open, and then I don't know which one of them will be
affected by a following :help or :helpgrep command. Using

:exe 'help' | q

will close an existing help window (if any), of course, but it may also
leave you in a different window than before, so adding that (minus colon
and plus a bar at the end) between <C-U> and view seems not to be a
solution if you want to avoid the risk of opening a second help window.


Best regards,
Tony.
--
"I'll rob that rich person and give it to some poor deserving slob.
That will *prove* I'm Robin Hood."
-- Daffy Duck, "Robin Hood Daffy", [1958, Chuck Jones]

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