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I would like to map , to have the same effect as typing :b <Tab> in Vim; that is, have the <Tab> trigger the commandline completion to show all buffers.

I tried nnoremap , :b <tab> but I get ^I in the commandline, instead of triggering the completion.

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This is the expected behaviour; otherwise you'd have the reverse problem: you wouldn't be able to enter a <Tab> character in the commandline.

You'll have to use the feedkeys() function to do this:

:call feedkeys(":b \<Tab>", 'tn')

The t flag in the second argument does the trick; this tells feedkey() to handle keys as if they're typed by the user. See the help page for more information on that.

To map it, use:

:nnoremap , :call feedkeys(":b \<Tab>", 'tn')<CR>
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    that is not completly true. You just have to :set wildcharm=<tab> and then nnoremap , :b <tab> should just work.
    – Christian Brabandt
    Sep 7, 2017 at 20:30
  • Thank you @ChristianBrabandt; I was not aware of that setting. Learning Vim really is like learning to play an instrument: you never stop learning new stuff :-)
    – Martin Tournoij
    Sep 7, 2017 at 20:33
  • yeah, it's one of the more obscure settings.
    – Christian Brabandt
    Sep 7, 2017 at 20:38

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