Open quickfix in current vertical split

Question

I usually use a layout of one vertical split and two different buffers. When i use :copen, the quickfix window always opens in the right split, regardless where my cursor is. Consequently, if my cursor is in the left split, and I issue the commands :copen, :cclose, the buffer is changed.

Is there any way of opening the quickfix window in the same vertical split where my cursor is?

Answer 1

We can use :b{N} to open buffer {N}, and :sb{N} to open the {N}th buffer in a new (horizontal) split. The quickfix window, if it had been opened previously, is an unlisted buffer.

To show all buffers, including unlisted buffers, we can use the :ls! command. An example result would be

  1  a   "a"                            line 0
  2 #a   "b"                            line 0
  3 %a-  "[Quickfix List]"              line 1

showing the quickfix window to be the 3rd buffer. To open the quickfix window in a specific split, simply move over to the desired left or right split, and use :sb3.