This tip shows you how to open files from the command line in the same window (Vim instance), using applescript. The applescript is specific to Vim.app.

Create a file called gvim.scpt (for example) with the following applescript code:

on run argv
   tell application "Vim"
      repeat with n from 1 to (count of argv)
         set theUnixPath to item n of argv
         set theMacPath to (POSIX file theUnixPath) as string
         open file theMacPath
      end repeat
      activate
   end tell
end run

This applescript tells a running Vim.app to open each argument in a new buffer. The script can be invoked with the 'osascript' command ('man osascript' for details): a good way to do this is to create a shell script somewhere in your path:

#!/bin/sh
osascript /path/to/gvim.scpt $*

What this doesn't do yet: Create the files automatically if they do not exist. In fact the script will fail and complain if you pass the name of a file that doesn't exist, and any following files also won't be opened.

Comments

see this page for doing this with the new mac vim