Lexplore and split windows

Question

Like many, I like to browse using :Lexplore. However, as indicated by the manual,

By default, :Lexplore will change an uninitialized |g:netrw_chgwin| to 2; edits will thus preferentially be made in window#2.

Additionally, I have set

let g:netrw_browse_split = 4

to open the files from the explorer in the previous buffer.

Now, if I have only a single window opened, it works fine. But consider the following sequence

:edit foo.txt
:split bar.txt
:2wincmd w

We have bar.txt open on the top, foo.txt on the bottom and currently active.

Now, if I call :Lexplore it will set the g:netrw_chgwin to 2 as indicated in the help. So opening a file in the explorer will take place in the bar.txt's window.

Furthermore, the help for g:netrw_browse_split states that

This option does not affect |:Lexplore| windows.

I can try to set g:netrw_chgwin as

:let g:netrw_chgwin = winnr()
:Lexplore

But on foo.txt, it gets the number 2 (2/2). After opening the explorer, foo.txt's windows gets assigned the number 3 (explorer taking the 1). So opening will again use bar.txt's window.

I tried to use

:let l:cur_buf = bufnr('%');
:Lexplore
:let g:netrw_chgwin = bufwinnr(l:cur_buf)

But to no avail.

How can I override :Lexplore's default behaviour? Or make it to open on the last visited window?

Answer 1

Interesting question. I’ll leave it to someone else to fix your splitting issue; in the meantime, I’ll suggest an alternative workflow (one that works well for me). It consists of two steps:

1. Explore
2. <CR>

That’s it.

The idea is to let netrw take over the window I’m editing in, and open my next file directly in that window (not split it). This way, I don’t have to guess where my new file will go on the screen.

Additionally, :Rexplore is handy to switch between netrw and a file. And mapping a sequence of keys (like <Leader>ed) to Explore makes this really quite quick.

See also project drawers and file explorers