Current dir does not change when opening a file

[alextrastero]

Description

Steps:
cd ~/Downloads
vim ../Documents/how-to-close-vim.docx
:NvimTreeOpen

Result:
nvim tree opens in Downloads folder

Expected:
nvim tree opens in Documents folder

my config:

-- disable netrw at the very start of your init.lua (strongly advised)
vim.g.loaded_netrw = 1
vim.g.loaded_netrwPlugin = 1

nvim_tree.setup {
  respect_buf_cwd = true,
  sync_root_with_cwd = true,
}

Neovim version

NVIM v0.9.0-dev-1092+gbc15b075d

Operating system and version

Linux fedora 6.1.14-200.fc37.x86_64

nvim-tree version

Updated nvim-tree/nvim-tree.lua: bbb6d48..1d79a64

Minimal config

-- disable netrw at the very start of your init.lua (strongly advised)
vim.g.loaded_netrw = 1
vim.g.loaded_netrwPlugin = 1

nvim_tree.setup {
  respect_buf_cwd = true,
  sync_root_with_cwd = true,
}

Steps to reproduce

cd ~/Downloads
vim ../Documents/how-to-close-vim.docx
:NvimTreeOpen

Expected behavior

nvim tree opens in Documents folder

Actual behavior

nvim tree opens in Downloads folder

[Elias-Gill]

I was trying to solve this but is so annoying.

As far as my limited knowledge about lua, nvimtree and programming itself allows me; the main problem is that the autocmd is running change_dir.fn() on every bufEnter, so when you focus nvimtree again, it switches to the first root directory of that instance.

It has to have a simple solution.

[alex-courtis]

respect_buf_cwd will cause nvim-tree to open at the root of the buffer/window's cwd. In this case, ~/Downloads.

You can have it open the tree in ~/Documents by first changing the local directory of the window / buffer via :lcd ../Documents.

sync_root_with_cwd will cause nvim-tree to change it's root to match the global cwd. In this case it is still ~/Downloads

[alex-courtis]

I don't mean to be rude @alextrastero ; are you new to vim? The title of the document suggests so...

It appears we have a misunderstanding of expectations here.

In any case, you can handle startup directories etc. yourself: see wiki: Open At Startup for recipes to achieve this.

[CharlesARoy]

At risk of also being called "new to vim", I'm wondering if someone could spell out exactly how to achieve the behavior @alextrastero was trying to get. FWIW, when reading the documentation, I was also under the impression that respect_buf_cwd would behave as alextrastero described.

Anyway, I'm unsure of how to configure nvim-tree so that when you open it, it shows the contents of the directory of the file you currently have open in your buffer.

Is there an autocommand that can be configured to do this? Something like:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({ "BufEnter" }, { callback = require("nvim-tree.api").tree.change_root(<command_to_load_cwd>)})

[alex-courtis]

Anyway, I'm unsure of how to configure nvim-tree so that when you open it, it shows the contents of the directory of the file you currently have open in your buffer.

There are many ways to achieve this functionality, however this might be the clearest mapping:

vim.keymap.set("n", "<Leader>a", function()
  api.tree.open({
    path = vim.fn.fnamemodify(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0), ":h"),
    find_file = true,
  })
end, { noremap = true })

It will open the tree at the directory of the current buffer and find it.

[alex-courtis]

I'm wondering if someone could spell out exactly how to achieve the behavior @alextrastero was trying to get.

Very forcefully change the global cwd before opening, which will be in the new cwd:

vim.keymap.set("n", "<Leader>a", function()
  vim.cmd.cd(vim.fn.fnamemodify(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0), ":h"))
  api.tree.open({
    find_file = true,
  })
end, { noremap = true })

Set actions.change_dir.global to have the global cwd changed when you change directories inside the tree e.g. - <C-]>

As above, there are many ways to achieve this behaviour. See #2350 (comment)

[alex-courtis]

Looking back over this discussion, it seems that the deficiency might be around tree.open, tree.toggle, tree.find_file behaviour for files that are within the current tree root but several levels down.

*nvim-tree.update_focused_file.update_root*
(previously `update_focused_file.update_cwd`)
Update the root directory of the tree if the file is not under current
root directory. It prefers vim's cwd and `root_dirs`.
Otherwise it falls back to the folder containing the file.
Only relevant when `update_focused_file.enable` is `true`
  Type: `boolean`, Default: `false`

A means of always changing the tree root may be useful.

[alex-courtis]

#2405

[alex-courtis]

#2406

[CharlesARoy]

@alex-courtis thanks very much for your help with this, I appreciate it!

I was actually a little unclear in my question. What I really wanted was a single keymap that would both toggle nvim-tree and change to the directory of the file you currently have open in your buffer. That said, I was able to figure out the rest of it from your examples and came up with the following.

First, I created this function in my nvim-tree.lua file:

local M = {}
M.cwd_to_buf_and_toggle = function()
    local status_ok, nvimtree_api = pcall(require, "nvim-tree.api")
    if not status_ok then
        vim.notify("WARNING: nvim-tree.lua failed to load.")
        return
    end

    nvimtree_api.tree.find_file({ buf = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0), update_root = true, focus = true })
    nvimtree_api.tree.toggle()
end
return M

Then, in my keymap file I have a keymap that calls the cwd_to_buf_and_toggle() function, e.g.:

vim.keymap.set("n", "<Leader>e", "<cmd>lua require('nvim-tree').cwd_to_buf_and_toggle()<CR>", silent=true)

Obviously, I don't need to export the function and define the keymap in a different file for this to work, but I like to have my keymaps all in one place for easier management.

[alex-courtis]

Nice one, glad it's working.

but I like to have my keymaps all in one place for easier management.

Yes. I do the same.

[alexventuraio]

Today, I faced kind of the same need, being on my home directory I wanted to open the nvim config folder to work on, so I opened iTerm...

...and from there, I did this:

nvim ~/.config/nvim
:NvimTreeOpen

Result:
Nvim-Tree opens in my Home folder 🤦🏻‍♂️

Expected result:
Nvim-Tree to have the nvim folder as the root one

---

Doing some googling, I found that there are a lot of people asking for the same thing and tried multiple suggestions but the one that really worked like a charm was this one I found in Reddit and that I tweaked a little bit for my Lua config:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('VimEnter', {
  desc = 'Open Nvim-Tree on the given directory from command line',
  group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup('NvimTreeSetGivenDirectory', { clear = true }),
  pattern = '*',
  command = "if argc() == 1 && isdirectory(argv()[0]) && !exists('s:std_in') | wincmd p | enew | execute 'cd '.argv()[0] | endif",
})

P.D.:
I'd love to convert the command into Lua code just because, so if anyone can help out, that'll be much appreciated (if possible of course). Thanks 😺

[alex-courtis]

Take a look at the Open At Startup recipes.

Lua code for your command looks to be all there.

[alex-courtis]

Please see Open At Startup