Shell running inside vim windows

Question

Is there a way that a open up a window or buffer, where i can run my bash commands? I thought on something like you know it from VS Code(1). The code windows on the top and a small command prompt on the bottom of the view, where i can run for example my rails or node server?

For more clearity I want an editor on the top and a command prompt on the bottom of the window, where I can switch using commands. On the terminal should run a long running part.

Answer 1

You need Vim 8.1, then you can use the following command:

:below terminal ++rows=10

Normally a terminal is opened above the current window, but with below it is opened at the bottom. And in this case, the terminal should have a height of 10 rows.

See :help :terminal for additional ++-options.

Answer 2

For older Vim versions, there is Conque Shell, a no-longer-supported plugin which nevertheless has served me well in the past, and for now, continues to do so. It's still provided by e.g. vim-addons, which makes it really easy to add to your setup.

You can start a bash (or any other command, really...) using the current window as terminal:

:ConqueTerm bash

Personally I have the following two corresponding lines in my ~/.vimrc:

let g:ConqueTerm_CWInsert = 1      " Allow <C-w> to switch buffer without leaving insert mode
let g:ConqueTerm_InsertOnEnter = 1 " Automatically enter insert mode when switching to Conque buffer