Editing Using vertical splits

{{review}}
{{TipImported
|id=237
|previous=236
|next=238
|created=April 23, 2002
|complexity=intermediate
|author=Kartik Agaram
|version=6.0
|rating=4/4
|category1=
|category2=
}}
This is just in case there's somebody else who likes to work in a maximized Vim window on a high resolution desktop. If you follow good coding practice and make sure your programs use only 80 characters in each row, have you noticed how much space lies unused on the right?

I find that the following settings keep me from ever seeing another horizontal split, unless I specifically ask for it.

<pre>
cabbrev split vsplit
cabbrev hsplit split
cabbrev sta vertical sta
cabbrev help vertical help
cabbrev new vnew
cabbrev right botright
" A more heavyweight solution for ^W^]
function! ToggleSplit (dir)
  let currFname = bufname ("%")
  let old = winnr ()
  " Window navigation to ensure the correct window is 'last'.
  if (a:dir == "u")
    wincmd k
    let back="j"
  elseif (a:dir == "d")
    wincmd j
    let back="k"
  elseif (a:dir == "l")
    wincmd h
    let back="l"
  elseif (a:dir == "r")
    wincmd l
    let back="h"
  endif
  if (winnr () == old)
    echo "Ouch"
    return
  endif
  exec "wincmd " . back
  quit
  if (back == "j" <nowiki>||</nowiki> back == "k")
    let orientation = "vsplit"
  else
    let orientation = "split"
  endif
  if (back == "j" <nowiki>||</nowiki> back == "l")
    let dir = "below"
  else
    let dir = "above"
  endif
  exec dir . " " . orientation " " . currFname
endfunction
noremap ^W^] ^W^]:silent call ToggleSplit ("d")&lt;CR&gt;
</pre>

Optional.
 set splitright

In which case the above mapping becomes:
 noremap ^W^] :set splitbelow&lt;CR&gt;^W^]:silent call ToggleSplit ("u")&lt;CR&gt;:set nosplitbelow&lt;CR&gt;

Or you could just
 set splitbelow

Very elegant and almost perfect, but it screws up if you want to run a command with ranges
 noremap : :vertical&lt;Space&gt;

==Comments==