Change cursor position in another window

Question

Is there a function like setpos that lets change the cursor position in a different window (split), given the window number?

Or, even better, is there a command to execute a command in specific window?

Answer 1

You should use the win_execute() command to run commands in a different window.

It takes your command to be executed as a string, or it can also take a list of strings to execute multiple commands.

The main advantage of using win_execute() over switching to a window is that it will avoid pitfalls such as window event triggers, modifications to the previous window, modifications to the height of squashed windows. It's also necessary for popup windows, as switching to those windows is not allowed.

Using setpos() by itself didn't trigger an update on the other window. Even though the cursor position was changed, the view didn't reflect it until I changed to that window. One option is to run both that command and a redraw to force that to happen:

call win_execute(1010, ['call setpos(".", [0, 1, 1, 1])', 'redraw'])

Another option is to use winrestview(), since that command seems to work correctly without any redraws:

call win_execute(1010, 'call winrestview({"col": 1, "lnum": 1})')

(Another advantage of winrestview() is that it also offers control of the first line and column of the window, not just the cursor position.)

One thing to watch for with win_execute() is that it will fail silently if the window doesn't exist, you don't get any indication that the command failed because the window id is invalid. So make sure you get a valid window id before you execute that command.