How to open file using only keyboard in Sublime Text

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How do I open a file using only keyboard in Sublime Text 2/3?

Looking for equivalent of <Esc>:e /path/to/file from Vim.

Best Answer

On OS X, Press Cmd-O to open the file browser.

Then, Cmd-Shift-G allows you to enter the name of the folder to go to.

Screenshot of file dialog

Finally, just type the file name (or a unique prefix) to select the file you want. You can also navigate using the arrow keys.

Plugin for opening files by name

The following plugin allows you to type a file name and have it opened in Sublime Text 2. It should work on any OS.

import sublime, sublime_plugin

def open_file(window, filename):
    window.open_file(filename, sublime.ENCODED_POSITION)

class OpenFileByNameCommand(sublime_plugin.WindowCommand):
    def run(self):
        fname = self.window.active_view().file_name()
        if fname == None:
            fname = ""

        def done(filename):
            open_file(self.window, filename)

        self.window.show_input_panel(
            "file to open: ", fname, done, None, None)

This allows you to encode a position in that file in the file name:

/path/to/file:42 will open the file and go to line 42
/path/to/file:42:23 will open the file and go to line 42, column 23

Selecting a file:

Screenshot 1

After selection:

Screenshot 2

For information how plugins work and how you can integrate this in the UI, see this answer.

Related Solutions

Setting up Sublime Text 2 Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Custom key bindings: Open Preferences > Key Bindings-Default read through or search for the binding you want to change. Copy the command and then open Preferences > Key Bindings-User. Paste and edit the command.

To change the bindings for switching panes, edit these commands. Notice how keys are separated by + and the end of each line (except the last) needs a comma. I'm not sure if you can set it up so you can move to right/left panes. The way I set it up is ctrl + 1 switches to the first pane, etc.

// panes
{ "keys": ["ctrl+1"], "command": "focus_group", "args": { "group": 0 } },
{ "keys": ["ctrl+2"], "command": "focus_group", "args": { "group": 1 } },
{ "keys": ["ctrl+3"], "command": "focus_group", "args": { "group": 2 } }

More info: http://docs.sublimetext.info/en/latest/customization/key_bindings.html

Sublime text 2 open file from find results keyboard shortcut

Normally F4 & Shift + F4 are used for cycling through found results. But if you set your cursor position to one line upper of what you want to go and press F4 it opens the file and sets your cursor position to start of that line.

And if you want to change shortcut put this in your "Default (OSX).sublime-keymap" file in User directory and change F4 to shortcut you want:

{ "keys": ["f4"], "command": "next_result" }

Edit: Just noticed Shift + F4 goes to right result (as long as cursor is not at first column of line. In that case previous result shows up) even if your cursor is 'at' the results itself. So that's better for this question.

Second edit: "User" directory is "/Users/Username/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text 2/Packages/User" which also can be accessed through Sublime Text 2 (Command Palette (Super + Shift + P) or through menu (Sublime Text 2 > Preferences > Browse Packages...))