How to open same file in multiple window but with changes present only in one window?

Question

I want to view the initial copy of the file in a separate window while I make changes to the same file in another window. Is this possible?

If you're using git, then you could use vim-fugitive to have latest commit and changes side by side. Otherwise, you'd need to keep the original file as backup and open that backup. Because Vim doesn't have a different view on files, the windows are viewports to the files on disk and nothing more. If you want two windows to have different texts inside them then they must refer to different files. — 3N4N, May 1, 2019 at 12:24

Matt Mancini · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-01 12:56:04Z

2

As a workaround what you could do is:

:vnew | execute("0read " . @#)

vnew creates a new buffer in a vertical split
execute runs a string as an ex command
@# contains the file name of the alternate-file
- read more at :help alternate-file
0read reads from a file into the first line of a file

Edit:

If you're not making a custom command from this you can do

:vnew | 0read <C-r><C-#>

Both of these require the file to be saved

answered May 1, 2019 at 12:56

Matt Mancini

361 silver badge2 bronze badges

Note that there has an extra blank line in the end of new buffer.
– dedowsdi
May 1, 2019 at 14:44

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