Today I Learned

hashrocket A Hashrocket project

Netrw Special Command

Building off this previous post, today I learned a new command in Netrw: the 'special command'.

When navigating, enter x over any file, and your operating system will open it with its tool of choice (Preview for images and Finder for directories on a Mac, etc.). This is great for exploring a directory.

From the Netrw help:

Certain files, such as html, gif, jpeg, (word/office) doc, etc, files, are
best seen with a special handler (ie. a tool provided with your computer's
operating system).  Netrw allows one to invoke such special handlers by:

        * when Exploring, hit the "x" key
        * when editing, hit gx with the cursor atop the special filename
          (latter not available if the g:netrw_nogx variable exists)
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Every developer at Hashrocket is a Vim expert. Check out our development environment, Dotmatrix, and if you are in Chicago, come to the Vim Chicago Meetup hosted at our Chicago office.