vim interpret argument with colon(s) as filename:line:column

Question

Is it possible to configure VIM in a such way that if I type

vim filename:123:89

it opens file filename goes to line 123 and column 89?

If not through VIM maybe with a hack for the shell?

Answer 1

You can install the file-line plugin to open a file to the line and column specified after the filename. (github mirror)

From the Readme on github

When you open a file:line, for instance when coping and pasting from an error from your compiler vim tries to open a file with a colon in its name.

Examples:

vim index.html:20 
vim app/models/user.rb:1337

With this little script in your plugins folder if the stuff after the colon is a number and a file exists with the name especified before the colon vim will open this file and take you to the line you wished in the first place.

Answer 2

I'm not sure how to skip to the column, but I've wanted the same feature for ages, so I just hacked up the "jump to line" functionality. In your .bashrc, set

VIM=$(which vim)

function vim {
    local args
    IFS=':' read -a args <<< "$1"
    "$VIM" "${args[0]}" +0"${args[1]}"
}

This splits the argument to Vim by :, then constructs a command line of the form

vim <filename> +0<line>

The +0 is a hack to make sure the default line number is zero.

(If you're not using Bash, you can adapt this into a script and put it in your path, or translate it to your favorite shell language. To edit filename:with:colons, use $VIM.)