quickfix Menu Usage With :tselect and :vimgrep

Question

I am currently using the following mapping to search for knows tags:

nnoremap <expr> <Leader>t "<ESC>:tselect /" . input("") . "<ESC>"

I also use this mapping to grep all files below the closest tags file:

noremap <expr> <Leader>g "<ESC>:vimgrep /" 
\ . escape(input('/'), '/') 
\ . "/ " 
\ . fnamemodify(findfile('tags', ';'), ':p:h') 
\ . "/**<CR>:cope<CR>"

1. Is there an easy way to get :tselect results to show up in the quickfix menu, so that I can browse and preview the buffers that contain the matches?
2. For :vimgrep, how can I show just the menu, rather than automatically opening matches?
3. Is there a way to open the selected result from the menu in a new split, or replace the current buffer based on user input?

NOTE: I am trying to learn more about Vim, so I prefer to not just install plugins.

Answer 1

You can use the ":ltag" command which adds the matching tags to the location list for the current window. You can then use the location list commands to browse the matches.

BTW, the location list feature was originally developed in 2005 to add support for this command.

Answer 2

1. Check out :help taglist()—it returns a dictionary of tag-related items. Unfortunately, the quickfix list works with exact locations (file, line, and column). Tags provide an Ex command to get to the tag, often a special search pattern. (Example from some vimscript: <C-y> ../links/vim/plugin/pbcopy_op.vim /^vnoremap <silent> <C-y> :<C-u>call pbcopy#operator(visualmode(), 1)<CR>$/;" —we get a tag name, file, and search command, rather than line numbers and such.) So it may be difficult to get these matches into the quickfix list. But the function does give you enough information to build your own "tag list" buffer from which you could navigate.
2. Use the /j flag: vimgrep /pattern/j | copen
3. From :help quickfix-window:

                    *CTRL-W_<Enter>* *CTRL-W_<CR>*
You can use CTRL-W <Enter> to open a new window and jump to the error there.