Is there a way to access the terminal while using Vim?
I do not like to open another terminal or save and exit the current terminal.
Ubuntu – Access to the terminal while you are on Vim
backgroundprocessvim
Related Solutions
Use the vim help:
:h key-notation
The corresponding VimDoc page is http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/intro.html#key-notation.
A partial reproduction:
notation meaning equivalent decimal value(s)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
<Nul> zero CTRL-@ 0 (stored as 10) <Nul>
<BS> backspace CTRL-H 8 backspace
<Tab> tab CTRL-I 9 tab Tab
linefeed
<NL> linefeed CTRL-J 10 (used for <Nul>)
<FF> formfeed CTRL-L 12 formfeed
<CR> carriage return CTRL-M 13 carriage-return
<Return> same as <CR> <Return>
<Enter> same as <CR> <Enter>
<Esc> escape CTRL-[ 27 escape <Esc>
<Space> space 32 space
<lt> less-than < 60 <lt>
<Bslash> backslash \ 92 backslash <Bslash>
<Bar> vertical bar | 124 <Bar>
<Del> delete 127
<CSI> command sequence intro ALT-Esc 155 <CSI>
<xCSI> CSI when typed in the GUI <xCSI>
<EOL> end-of-line (can be <CR>, <LF> or <CR><LF>,
depends on system and 'fileformat') <EOL>
<Up> cursor-up cursor-up cursor_up
<Down> cursor-down cursor-down cursor_down
<Left> cursor-left cursor-left cursor_left
<Right> cursor-right cursor-right cursor_right
<S-Up> shift-cursor-up
<S-Down> shift-cursor-down
<S-Left> shift-cursor-left
<S-Right> shift-cursor-right
<C-Left> control-cursor-left
<C-Right> control-cursor-right
<F1> - <F12> function keys 1 to 12 function_key function-key
<S-F1> - <S-F12> shift-function keys 1 to 12 <S-F1>
<Help> help key
<Undo> undo key
<Insert> insert key
<Home> home home
<End> end end
<PageUp> page-up page_up page-up
<PageDown> page-down page_down page-down
<kHome> keypad home (upper left) keypad-home
<kEnd> keypad end (lower left) keypad-end
<kPageUp> keypad page-up (upper right) keypad-page-up
<kPageDown> keypad page-down (lower right) keypad-page-down
<kPlus> keypad + keypad-plus
<kMinus> keypad - keypad-minus
<kMultiply> keypad * keypad-multiply
<kDivide> keypad / keypad-divide
<kEnter> keypad Enter keypad-enter
<kPoint> keypad Decimal point keypad-point
<k0> - <k9> keypad 0 to 9 keypad-0 keypad-9
<S-...> shift-key shift <S-
<C-...> control-key control ctrl <C-
<M-...> alt-key or meta-key meta alt <M-
<A-...> same as <M-...> <A-
<D-...> command-key (Macintosh only) <D-
<t_xx> key with "xx" entry in termcap
I initially tried editing /usr/share/applications/vim.desktop. I commented out #Exec=vim %F and added Exec=xfce4-terminal -e 'vim %F'. This worked for a while and then it started opening both Xterm and Xfce4 Terminal.
Instead in Thunar I right clicked on a txt file. I went to Properties > Open With: > Other Application > Use a custom command. I added xfce4-terminal -e 'vim %F'. This now works perfect.
To access the .desktop file you just created you can go to ~/.local/share/applications/. In the file you will see Exec=xfce4-terminal -e 'vim %F' %f. You can remove the %f if you'd like. Mine initially used a folder icon in Thunar. I changed it to use the Xfce4 Terminal icon instead by adding the line Icon=utilities-terminal.
Best Answer
You can send vim the SIGTSTP signal. You do this by pressing ctrl+z. Vim will get suspended in the background, and you can use the terminal. Type
fgin the terminal to resume with vim.Bonus tip: This works on nearly all terminal applications. Use
bgto enable the application to continue running in the background.