Question

When I want to open a file in vim, I enter :e to see directories on my disk (set wildmenu). Vim shows me list of directories I have, then I press tab several times to choose directory I need, and when I select that directory (vim highlights it) what should I do to stop completion on current level and enter that directory?

I know that in insert mode completion it’s ctrl-y, from vim help file:

                        *complete_CTRL-Y*
When the popup menu is displayed you can use CTRL-Y to stop completion and
accept the currently selected entry.  The CTRL-Y is not inserted.  Typing a
space, Enter, or some other unprintable character will leave completion mode
and insert that typed character."

how to do that in command mode?

Answer 1

I think its Ctrl E in command mode

From vim docs,

                        *complete_CTRL-E*

When completion is active you can use CTRL-E to stop it and go back to the
originally typed text. The CTRL-E will not be inserted.

I tried this in my gVim and it works.

EDIT: Thanks to the suggestion by @François, Ctrl D does the same thing with some additional info. ie it stops completion in the current level and also shows the contents of the current selection

Something like

:e eclipse-cpp-indigo-SR2-incubation-win32-x86_64\eclipse\ <Ctrl><D>
artifacts.xml   eclipse.exe     epl-v10.html    p2\
configuration\  eclipse.ini     features\       plugins\
dropins\        eclipsec.exe    notice.html     readme\

It is showing the contents inside the folder eclipse too apart from stopping completion at the eclipse directory level.