Open files with "whitespace names" from within Vim with gx

Question

I have a file, e.g. ~/abc def.mp3 that I want to open from within a Vim buffer that already contains these lines.

If there were no whitespaces in the filename, I could simply open the file with the standard application for that file type by having the cursor on its name somewhere and pressing gx. How could I make this work with a file that includes whitespaces?

I already tried to visually select it and press gx (with or withouth including a \ before the whitespace, surrounding double quotes etc.) but can't figure it out.

Answer 1

This is more of a workaround until gx is fixed.

I created a map key that will do the job. The trick was to surround the path with " [ double quotes ]

Disclaimer : This uses open command that works only on a Mac

There are some gotchas that you need to keep in mind while using this

The assumptions are that

1. There is only one file path on a given line and
2. There is no other text after the file path on that line
3. I have only assumed *nix like paths

Scenario 1 : File name starting after a hypen

Ex : - /path/ to /file with spaces.pdf

I had the above line in my markdown file. So I created a specific map key for this scenario

:nnoremap <C-o> ^wy$:! open "^R""^M^M

• The ^w takes the cursor to the first word from the beginning of the line
• y$ copies the rest of the line to clipboard
• ! open : Please make sure you keep that space between ! and open
• ^R" inserts the data present in clipboard to the command mode
  • Note how the copied text is surrounded by a pair of "
  • This was needed to take care of the spaces in the file path

So, now with the cursor on any character of the file path, pressing <ctrl-o> opens me the file with the associated application

Scenario 2 : File name starting anywhere in a line

Ex : some text : /path/ to /file with spaces.pdf

Assumption here is that :

1. All file paths are absolute and begin with a /
2. There is no / in the text before the absolute path
3. There is only one . in the file name

:nnoremap <C-p> ^f/vf.ey:! open "^R""^M^M

• f/ moves the cursor to the first / on the line
• f. moves the cursor to the first . within the absolute file path
• e takes the cursor to the end of file path
• y copies the text that is blocked by the v : visual mode

The rest is same as Scenario 1.

So, now with the cursor on any character of the file path, pressing <ctrl-p> opens me the file with the associated application

Ofcourse, instead of using <ctrl-o> and <ctrl-p>, you can specify map keys that suit you.