Vim plugin to open a shell in a split window

vimvim-plugins

Are there any vim plugins for creating a split window with a shell inside? Almost like a split window with the :sh command contained inside. I also can't use something like screen becuase this is in MacVim (gvim for Mac OS X).

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I have not used it (I found it in an SO answer), but Conque is a Vim plugin that seems like it might do what you want: in a (possibly split) Vim window, interact with a spawned program over a pty with a decent amount of terminal emulation^*. It requires Vim 7 with Python support and it indicates that MacVim automatically comes with it.

^{* Vim does not do any terminal emulation itself, which is a problem when trying to use termcap- or terminfo-based software in a :shell under GUI-based instances of Vim (see :help gui-pty).}

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GNU Screen – Removing vim window after quit

Enable the altscreen option in ~/.screenrc.

Full-screen programs use a terminal feature called "alternate screen", which has a separate screen buffer and (often) minor behavior changes to adapt to such interfaces. The program enters the 'alternate' screen when started, and goes back to 'normal' when exiting.

Since Screen itself acts as a terminal emulator, it has to emulate the alt-screen feature as well. All other terminal emulators enable this feature by default, but Screen has it hidden behind the altscreen option for some historical reasons.

How to pass vim buffer contents through shell command and capture the output to a split window

I would put something like this in my ~/.vimrc or a file with the .vim extension in ~/.vim/plugin/:

command! FW call FilterToNewWindow('myscript')

function! FilterToNewWindow(script)
    let TempFile = tempname()
    let SaveModified = &modified
    exe 'w ' . TempFile
    let &modified = SaveModified
    exe 'split ' . TempFile
    exe '%! ' . a:script
endfunction

Then you can just do ":FW".

It might be a good idea to change the command definition to require a filter script name argument to pass to the function instead of "hard coding" it.

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Related Solutions

GNU Screen – Removing vim window after quit

How to pass vim buffer contents through shell command and capture the output to a split window

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