bufferhint is a handly buffer switcher for Vim.

With this plugin, you can browse all buffers in a popup side window.

In addition, this plugin provides a "hint key" for each buffer, just like what Vimperator/Vimium/VimFx does.

Therefore, you can switch among buffers quickly with a single key stroke in the best case.

cp bufferhint.vim ~/.vim/plugin/

cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone https://github.com/bsdelf/bufferhint.git

Add following two lines in ~/.vimrc:

nnoremap - :call bufferhint#Popup()
nnoremap \ :call bufferhint#LoadPrevious()

1. vim foo.txt bar.txt doe.txt.
2. Type - to popup bufferhint window.
3. Type j, k, C-f, C-b, PGUP, PGDN to navigate.
4. Type ENTER to load the buffer under cursor.

1. vim foo.txt bar.txt doe.txt.
2. Type - to popup bufferhint window.
3. Type b to load "bar.txt".
4. Type \ to load the previous buffer namely "foo.txt".

1. Type - to popup bufferhint window.
2. Type SPACE to switch sort mode.

1. vim foo.txt bar.txt doe.txt.
2. Type - to popup bufferhint window.
3. Type dd to delete the buffer under cursor.
4. Type db to delete a buffer by hint.

• Yellow hints means the buffers are sorted by path, green hints means the buffers are sorted by LRU.
• You can also type / in bufferhint window and search what you want, then type ENTER to load it.
• Apparently j/k/d/n/N are excluded from the hint chars.

• bufferhint#Popup()

  Toggle bufferhint window.

• bufferhint#LoadPrevious()

  Load the second item in LRU. It's very useful in the scene where you want to switch back and forth between two files.

• bufferhint#Save()

  Save current session to an external session file which can be restored by vim -S command in the future. The default session file name is "session.vim".

• g:bufferhint_SortMode

  Default sort mode.

  • 0: sort by path
  • 1: sort by LRU

• g:bufferhint_MaxWidth

  Maxmium window width.

• g:bufferhint_PageStep

  Page step, will affect PGUP, PGDN, C-f, C-b.

• g:bufferhint_SessionFile

  The default session file name.

• g:bufferhint_KeepWindow

  Set to 1 to keep window open after buffer deleting.

If you like this plugin, please rate it here!