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I'm using both Vim and MacVim (or well, trying to). I installed the Tagbar plugin but find it impossible to switch to the actual Tagbar window to make my selection.

I've been reading loads about window switching in VIM, found a lot of default keybindings (CMD+`, CTRL+W+↑ or ↓), tried setting my own. NONE worked.

I always use VIM for quick file edits and got intrigued by using it as my full-time IDE. After spending a full hour just trying to figure out how to switch a window I'm totally turned off by the idea though. Still, I feel I have to know. How do you switch the window? Am I being totally blind here?

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  • 10
    Vim is one of those tools where everything makes perfect sense - after you know about it. Before then it may as well be in welsh.
    – Phoshi
    Commented May 7, 2011 at 19:13

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Control+W followed by W to toggle between open windows and,

Control+W followed by H/J/K/L to move to the left/bottom/top/right window accordingly,

Control+W followed by Left/Down/Up/Right arrow to move to the left/bottom/top/right window accordingly.

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    Nope, not doing anything.
    – Naatan
    Commented May 7, 2011 at 18:14
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    Ugh, I was pressing them at the same time. Tried Ctrl+W, THEN (seperately) one of the last keys and it worked. Sigh. Thanks!
    – Naatan
    Commented May 7, 2011 at 18:15
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    Besides the H/J/K/L directional keys you can also hit W again (with or without Control) to switch back and forth between the previously focused window.
    – Caleb
    Commented May 7, 2011 at 18:33
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    The arrow keys can also be used besides h/j/k/l.
    – Eugene Yarmash
    Commented Jan 4, 2014 at 9:28
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    You can also add prefix the direction with a number if you need to go more than one window; e.g. C-w 2k
    – Walf
    Commented Aug 1, 2016 at 6:12
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Control + W twice does the trick for me on Macbook Pro.

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    It does also work on Linux.
    – tomrozb
    Commented Mar 4, 2014 at 12:44
  • This is the only thing that's worked for me on OSX. None of those <C-w><h/j/k/l> or <C-w><C-h/j/k/l> things the internet says does anything. Too bad <C-w><C-w> only cycles through the windows rather than going directly...
    – wren romano
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 4:59
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    Control + W sucks when running a terminal in a browser
    – Quinn Wilson
    Commented Sep 18, 2018 at 13:39
  • Running a terminal in a browser... interesting. Btw. if it sucks, you can remap it to a different keys.
    – user254319
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 7:40
  • Surprisingly it worked on vim in termux(android terminal emulator.).
    – Abinash Dash
    Commented Sep 7, 2020 at 22:17
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It's possible to remap these to a more convenient keys (i.e. instead of Control+W followed by h/j/k/l)

Add this to your .vimrc

nnoremap <C-H> <C-W>h
nnoremap <C-J> <C-W>j
nnoremap <C-K> <C-W>k
nnoremap <C-L> <C-W>l

After that, Control + h/j/k/l will switch window focus.

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  • This is nice. I placed it into my vimrc.
    – Enis Arik
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 14:40
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    This is clutch for those running a terminal in a browser (as mentioned in another comment) since Ctrl+W on Windows is "close window". Oof.
    – Excel Help
    Commented Jun 22, 2022 at 12:07
  • ❤️ that one! Thanks!
    – Thanasis Petsas
    Commented Aug 20, 2022 at 0:07
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These mappings allow cycling through the windows. Whereas something like <C-W>l stops at the most right window <C-w>w moves the focus to the the first window.

In your .vimrc:

nnoremap <C-h> <C-w>W
nnoremap <C-l> <C-w>w
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    – Community Bot
    Commented Feb 18, 2023 at 20:00

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