Stop NERDTree opening when vim starts

Question

I have NERDTree plugin installed but it is always present when I start vim like this:

vim .

I only want it to open on demand.

How can I stop it opening whenever I start vim?

Iodine

Answer 1

Try adding

let g:NERDTreeHijackNetrw=0

to your vimrc and make sure there is no other line that sets this variable.

Gerard

I'm curious where do you get this info. I've taken a look at this but I didn't find anything. – Phosphatase

@Vdt From docs, just the same file. You’ve overlooked it. – Gerard

@Vdt Don’t search for g:Smth, if you really read NERDTree help you should’ve noted all options go without g: prefix hence they are searched by NERDTreeHijackNetrw. – Gerard

This does not work for gvim. – Inauspicious

Answer 2

$ vim . always opens a file explorer. If you don't have NERDTree or NERDTree is configured as per ZyX's answer you'll get netrw by default anyway.

I wonder what would happen if the netrw plugin was somehow removed.

Virginiavirginie

You can easily test this with gvim --noplugin . and you get an empty buffer and the prompt "'.' is a directory". – Viscountcy

Answer 3

In your vimrc file, do below steps

1. comment autocmd VimEnter * NERDTree, which stops opening nerdTree by default

2. paste map <C-n> :NERDTreeToggle<CR> in vimrc, this will open NerdTree only when 'Ctrl+n' is pressed from keyboard

Fitton

I was using this approach for a long time. But for some weird reason, I am getting "E42: No Errors" when I press Ctrl + n. Do you have any idea why? – Anders