vim logfile reviewer auto file follower

Question

I am sure this has been solved, but I cannot find a matching question.

I have a log file with the format:

<LOG SEVERITY> <FILENAME> (<LINENO>) @<TIME> <MESSAGE>

Where <FILENAME> and <LINENO> are the file and line in the src code that printed that message to the logfile.

I want have a split vim window with the logfile in one window, and the file that line in the log points to in the other window.

I have looked at:

• vim-logreview
• quickfix
• <c-w>f

<c-w>f is the closest to what I want. But I want it to auto update when I move the cursor in the logfile. I also want it to move to the line pointed to by the logfile.

I have tried the quickfix feature using :grep for specific patterns, but this only lets me navigate through the logfile. I want to navigate through the files pointed to by the logfile entries.

Answer 1

<c-w>f is the closest to what I want.

There's also Ctrl-WF that accepts line number and it's documented right next to Ctrl-Wf.

But I want it to auto update when I move the cursor in the logfile.

Of course, you can trap <CursorMoved> and do some stuff automatically, but IMO it always creates more problems than it solves. It is much more natural to remap, say, <CR> to open preview on demand, e.g.

nnoremap <buffer>CR :pedit +<C-R>=matchstr(getline('.'), '(\zs\d\+\ze)')<CR> <cfile><CR>

Then put it under your custom "ftplugin" and you're done.