Open buffer for new files in file explorer

[jgreitemann]

Use case

I love the new file explorer, particularly the ability to open it in the current buffer's directory (<space>E by default). One remaining source of frustration arises when I need to create a new file in the same subdirectory as the current buffer. Unless I'm missing something, this requires typing :o full/path/to/subdirectory/relative/to/workspace/root/new_file.txt. Even with fuzzy search and tab-complete this is some effort (mostly from recalling where it actually is that I'm navigating to).

Proposal

Continue to only show the files in full/path/to/subdirectory/relative/to/workspace/root when opening the file explorer, but include an additional entry once something has been typed. For example, while editing full/path/to/subdirectory/relative/to/workspace/root/existing_file.txt I could

• bring up the file explorer in that directory using <space>E at which time only the existing files (and ..) would be shown,
• then type new_file.txt which would show the existing file not_so_new_file.txt (as well as any other files fuzzy matching according to the usual rules), and an entry new_file.txt (new file),
• press <up> to select the new_file.txt (new file) (being the last one),
• press <return> to open a new buffer at full/path/to/subdirectory/relative/to/workspace/root/new_file.txt. Like :open, it will not actually create a file until the buffer is saved.

The (new file) option would only be displayed when a file or directory with that exact name does not yet exist.

Extension: new directories

It might also make sense to add such an option for creating directories as well, but I also see a risk of overcrowding the file explorer. New directories are created a lot less often. If included, selecting the (new directory) entry would simply open the file explorer in that virtual directory; from there a nested directory or a new file could be created in the same way. Just like for files and :open, this will not yet create any directories on disk; this is delegated to :w!.

Alternative: relative paths for :open

Instead of using the file explorer, :open could instead be extended to accept relative paths (which would be resolved relative to the current buffer's directory). In the above example, :o ./new_file.txt would similarly solve that use case.

The benefit of this is that it allows to tab-select an existing file and then edit the file name to create a new one without re-typing the whole name. An application that immediately springs to mind is creating a .c/.cpp file for a header: given that I'm editing full/path/to/subdirectory/relative/to/workspace/DelegateViewModelControllerFactory.h, I could type :o ./, then tab-select DelegateViewModelControllerFactory.h and type <backspace>cpp<return>. Another benefit is that creating directories is trivial.

The downsides of using :open in this way is that it is less discoverable, more crammed when navigating through the filesystem, and lacks a preview of existing files which may inform the decision where to create the new one.