Netrw open file in the netrw buffer

Question

When I execute :Vex or something similar the netrw buffer open which is perfectly fine. However I want to open a file, chosen from netrw, in the netrw buffer that I opened with the :Vex command. Is this possible?

Unless I misunderstand, you just need to press Enter on the file name, in the netrw buffer, and it will be opened inside that same window; [`:help netrw-enter`](https://vimhelp.appspot.com/pi_netrw.txt.html#netrw-enter). — Ingo Karkat, Nov 15 '19 at 10:51
When I press enter, it opens in a vertical buffer next to the netrw buffer, so that doesn't seem to work. — Tom Stock, Nov 15 '19 at 10:53
That's not the default netrw behavior; have you reconfigured it? From that link above: _The |g:netrw_browse_split| option, which is zero by default, may be used to cause the opening of files to be done in a new window or tab instead of the default._ — Ingo Karkat, Nov 15 '19 at 10:56

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 02 '20 at 13:37

As suggested in the comments, check the current value of g:netrw_browse_split using

:let g:netrw_browse_split

Then compare with the desired values from the docs (:h g:netrw_browse_split):

  *g:netrw_browse_split*    when browsing, <cr> will open the file by:
                =0: re-using the same window  (default)
                =1: horizontally splitting the window first
                =2: vertically   splitting the window first
                =3: open file in new tab
                =4: act like "P" (ie. open previous window)
                    Note that |g:netrw_preview| may be used
                    to get vertical splitting instead of
                    horizontal splitting.
                =[servername,tab-number,window-number]
                    Given a |List| such as this, a remote server
                    named by the "servername" will be used for
                    editing.  It will also use the specified tab
                    and window numbers to perform editing
                    (see |clientserver|, |netrw-ctrl-r|)
                This option does not affect the production of
                |:Lexplore| windows.

Netrw open file in the netrw buffer

1 Answers1