Is it possible in vim to create a split view for command line use?

Question

I know about the option :!ls, but I would like to use one of the splitted interface ( after is used :sp) as a command line window. Is this possible? If it is, how do I do it?

Answer 1

Unlike Emacs, Vim tries to be a bit more minimal when it comes to working with the shell. It does not have an option to include the interactive shell inside one of it's tabs or buffers.

Although there are workarounds for this. Just like you, I really like to have a bash window in the same terminal session as I have Vim running. It is super useful while editing source files. In my case I really like to have the Ruby REPL environment running so I can test out statements before I put them in the source files.

I use Tmux to accomplish the split window. In Tmux I create a split window (default key is ctrl+b, "). This will open 2 interactive shell sessions just like a split window in Vim. Then I run Vim in one of the sessions and I'm all set.

You can see from the picture below that I have split the window horizontally with bash on top and Vim on bottom.

I also use Tmux to support pair programming with others. You can read more about my setup on my blog at http://jjasonclark.com/Remote-Pairing-with-SSH-and-Tmux-on-a-Mac.

Answer 2

Have you tried screen? Any reason that wouldn't work out for you?

Answer 3

I was looking for this for long and as much as I can say nothing good is really possible. I have tried many plugins/addons for vim but no one worked as I wanted.

This one is good though: ConqueTerm

However it has some inconsistency with colors. Give it a try maybe it works out for you.