vim/Keyshort/Open/Follow the File Path Under Cursor

• Keyshort vim vim/Keyshort vim/Keyshort/Open
  • Follow the File Path Under the Cursor
    • Shortcut: gf
    • Description: Reads the filename at or after the cursor and edits it in the current window. Stock vim, the same key in nvim, and LazyVim leaves it alone.
    • The Mnemonic: f for file. gf stays inside the editor, while gx hands the target to the operating system.
  • Open the same target somewhere other than the current window

    • Keys	Where the file opens
      gf	the current window
      <C-w>f	a horizontal split
      <C-w>v then gf	a vertical split
      <C-w>gf	a new tab
      gF	the current window, on the line named by a path:12 suffix
      gf in visual mode	the current window, taking the whole selection as the name

    • There is no stock vertical-split form of gf. Splitting the window first and following the path in the new one gets there in two keys.
    • <C-o> returns from the jump and <C-i> moves forward again — see vim/Keyshort/Jump/Back and Forward.
  • What decides whether the path resolves
    • isfname decides where the name starts and ends. Two characters a Logseq filename leans on are in it by default: _ carries the triple underscore of a namespace, and % carries the %3F that stands in for a question mark.
    • path is the list of directories the search runs through. Its default .,, means the directory of the file being edited, then the editor's working directory.
    • suffixesadd is empty on a Markdown buffer, so a target written without its .md fails until the option is set.
  • Where it stops
    • A space ends the name early. isfname holds no space, so pages/A Page With Spaces.md is read as pages/A and the search fails. Selecting the whole path and pressing gf in visual mode opens it, since the visual form ignores isfname and takes the selection whole.
    • The list marker counts as part of a filename. - is an isfname character, so gf with the cursor on the - of a bullet reads that dash as the name. From the space after it onward, the whole path is in reach.
    • A buffer-local mapping that steps past the marker puts the key back in reach from column 1 — vim/Q/In (neo-)vim or LazyVim, how can I open a file whose path a Markdown document gives from the repo root? carries it.
  • My Note
    • A path written from the repository root — the shape a garden page uses for journals/2026_08_24.md — resolves under gf only while the editor's working directory is that root. vim/Q/In (neo-)vim or LazyVim, how can I open a file whose path a Markdown document gives from the repo root? has the setting that frees it from the working directory.
    • For a link written as Markdown rather than as a bare path, LazyVim/Q/In LazyVim, how can I open a Markdown link with a keyboard shortcut? compares gf against gx and gd on the same target.