How to use GVIM to edit a remote file?

Question

I use GVIM on Ubuntu 9.10. I\'m looking for the right way to configure GVIM to be able to edit remote files (HTML, PHP, CSS) by for exemple ftp.

• When i use :e scp:

Answer 1

In order for netrw to work seamlessly, I believe you need to not be in compatibility mode.

Try

:set nocompatible

then

:edit scp://host/path/to/file

Answer 2

Try this

:e scp://username@remotehost//path/to/file

Note that the use of // is intentional after remotehost it gives the absolute path of your file :)

http://www.celsius1414.com/2009/08/19/how-to-edit-remote-files-with-local-vim/

Answer 3

There is one way and that is using the remote host's copy, using SSH to forward the X11 client to you, like so:

user@local:~/$ ssh -X user@host
...
user@host:~/$ gvim file

The latter command should open gvim on your desktop. Of course, this relies on the remote host having X11 / gnome / gvim installed in the first place, which might not be the solution you're looking for / an option in your case.

Note: X11 forwarding can be a security risk.

Answer 4

About your command, :e scp://username@remotehost/./path/to/file : note that with netrw, scp is taken relative to your home directory on that remote host. To avoid home-relative pathing, drop that "."; ie. :e scp://username@remotehost//path/to/file .