Open file in vertical split in Vim / netrw

Question

If I open vim with vim . netrw provides me with a nice list of the files and directories in the current directory.

If I open a file using v the file opens in a very narrow split down the left hand side of the screen and the directory listing remains open in a wide split on the right hand side of the screen.

Ideally I'd like it to have the opposite effect, that is, to show the directory listing in a narrow split on the left hand side of the screen and show the file in a wide split on the right hand side of the screen.

Answer 1

I'm sure this could be improved upon you can write a custom mapping that target's the netrw filetype.

Stick this in your .vimrc:

" open file vertically to the right
augroup netrw_mappings
    autocmd!
    autocmd filetype netrw call Netrw_mappings()
augroup END
function! OpenToRight()
  :rightbelow vnew
  :wincmd p
  :normal P
endfunction
function! Netrw_mappings()
    noremap V :call OpenToRight()<cr>
endfunction

The only thing is that you need to use V rather than v. For some reason I was unable to override netrw's v command, but using the capital version seems better anyway since it's not overriding a default.