Minimal and fast tabline showing listed buffers

For full experience needs nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons plugin (but works without it).

See more details in Features and help file.

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⦿ This is a part of mini.nvim library. Please use this link if you want to mention this module.

⦿ All contributions (issues, pull requests, discussions, etc.) are done inside of 'mini.nvim'.

⦿ See the repository page to learn about common design principles and configuration recipes.

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If you want to help this project grow but don't know where to start, check out contributing guides of 'mini.nvim' or leave a Github star for 'mini.nvim' project and/or any its standalone Git repositories.

Demo

demo-tabline.mp4

Features

• Buffers are listed in the order of their identifier.
• Different highlight groups for "states" of buffer affecting 'buffer tabs'.
• Buffer names are made unique by extending paths to files or appending unique identifier to buffers without name.
• Current buffer is displayed "optimally centered" (in center of screen while maximizing the total number of buffers shown) when there are many buffers open.
• 'Buffer tabs' are clickable if Neovim allows it.
• Allow showing extra information section in case of multiple Neovim tabpages.

Installation

This plugin can be installed as part of 'mini.nvim' library (recommended) or as a standalone Git repository.

There are two branches to install from:

• main (default, recommended) will have latest development version of plugin. All changes since last stable release should be perceived as being in beta testing phase (meaning they already passed alpha-testing and are moderately settled).
• stable will be updated only upon releases with code tested during public beta-testing phase in main branch.

Here are code snippets for some common installation methods (use only one):

With mini.deps

Github repo	Branch	Code snippet
'mini.nvim' library	Main	Follow recommended 'mini.deps' installation
	Stable
Standalone plugin	Main	add('echasnovski/mini.tabline')
	Stable	add({ source = 'echasnovski/mini.tabline', checkout = 'stable' })

With folke/lazy.nvim

Github repo	Branch	Code snippet
'mini.nvim' library	Main	{ 'echasnovski/mini.nvim', version = false },
	Stable	{ 'echasnovski/mini.nvim', version = '*' },
Standalone plugin	Main	{ 'echasnovski/mini.tabline', version = false },
	Stable	{ 'echasnovski/mini.tabline', version = '*' },

With junegunn/vim-plug

Github repo	Branch	Code snippet
'mini.nvim' library	Main	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.nvim'
	Stable	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.nvim', { 'branch': 'stable' }
Standalone plugin	Main	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.tabline'
	Stable	Plug 'echasnovski/mini.tabline', { 'branch': 'stable' }

Important: don't forget to call require('mini.tabline').setup() to enable its functionality.

Note: if you are on Windows, there might be problems with too long file paths (like error: unable to create file <some file name>: Filename too long). Try doing one of the following:

• Enable corresponding git global config value: git config --system core.longpaths true. Then try to reinstall.
• Install plugin in other place with shorter path.

Default config

-- No need to copy this inside `setup()`. Will be used automatically.
{
  -- Whether to show file icons (requires 'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons')
  show_icons = true,

  -- Function which formats the tab label
  -- By default surrounds with space and possibly prepends with icon
  format = nil,

  -- Whether to set Vim's settings for tabline (make it always shown and
  -- allow hidden buffers)
  set_vim_settings = true,

  -- Where to show tabpage section in case of multiple vim tabpages.
  -- One of 'left', 'right', 'none'.
  tabpage_section = 'left',
}

Similar plugins

• akinsho/bufferline.nvim
• romgrk/barbar.nvim
• ap/vim-buftabline