Is there any way to shorten a command in VIM?

Question

I use the plugin NERDTree, but every time I call it, I need to type

:NERDTree

I can\'t use the EscKey

Answer 1

Just remap it to something easier:

" F12 toggles NERDTree
map <F12> :NERDTreeToggle<CR>

" Or cmap it to :NT
cmap NT NERDTree

But anyway, you can just press <Tab> to autocomplete it after the first few characters.

:NER<Tab>

... autocompletes :NERDTree

Answer 2

By default, command-line completion is done with the <Tab> key. This can be configured with the wildchar option.

To complete using <Esc> instead, put the following in your vimrc:

set wildchar=<Esc>

For more information see :help 'wildchar'.