Find a file (via recursive directory search) in Vim

Question

Is there any way to search a directory recursively for a file (using wildcards when needed) in Vim? If not natively, is there a plugin that can handle this?

Answer 1

Quickfix-like result browsing

Usage:

Find my.regex

Outcome:

• a new tab opens
• each line contains a relative path that matches a grep -E regex
• hit:
  • or gf to open the file on the current line in a new tab
  • gf to open the file on the current tab and lose the file list

Find all files instead:

Find

Alternative methods:

• Gfind my.regex: only search for Git tracked files (git ls-files). Fugitive request: https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive/issues/132#issuecomment-200749743
• Gtfind my.regex: like Gfind, but search from the git Top level instead of current directory
• Locate somefile: locate version

Code:

function! Find(cmd)
  let l:files = system(a:cmd)
  if (l:files =~ '^\s*$')
    echomsg 'No matching files.'
    return
  endif
  tabedit
  set filetype=filelist
      set buftype=nofile
  " TODO cannot open two such file lists with this. How to get a nice tab label then?
  " http://superuser.com/questions/715928/vim-change-label-for-specific-tab
  "file [filelist]
  put =l:files
  normal ggdd
  nnoremap   gf
  execute 'autocmd BufEnter  lcd ' . getcwd()
endfunction
command! -nargs=1 Find call Find("find . -iname '*'" . shellescape('') . "'*'")
command! -nargs=1 Gfind call Find('git ls-files | grep -E ' . shellescape(''))
command! -nargs=1 Gtfind call Find('git rev-parse --show-toplevel && git ls-files | grep -E ' . shellescape(''))
command! -nargs=1 Locate call Find('locate ' . shellescape(''))