Vim - Shortcut To Go To NERDTree Without Resetting?

Question

I am new to vim, so if this is really stupid I apologize in advance, but I can't seem to find it on google.

I found on stack overflow this snipped which sets the focus to nerdtree:

let mapleader = ","
nmap <leader>ne :NERDTree<cr>

But if i have a bunch of directories expanded when I run this command it resets, is there a way where it does not reset?

I am using Macvim if it helps.

Also, I know about :NERDTreeToggle, but I want the tree visable all the time.

Answer 1

@FDinoff has shown the way, but actually you don't need to implement the NERDTree focus yourself. It's undocumented, but it's built in.

Try this mapping:

:nnoremap <leader>ne :NERDTreeFocus<CR>

Taken from this great answer by @kev.

Answer 2

The nerdtree window has the filetype of nerdtree

Below is a function that will focus the first window that has filetype nerd tree or leave the cursor in the window it was originally in.

function! FocusNERDtree()
    let initial_win_num = winnr()
    for i in range(1, winnr('$'))
        exec i.'wincmd w'
        if &filetype == 'nerdtree'
            return 1
        endif
    endfor
    exec initial_win_num.'wincmd w'
    return 0
endfunction

So you can just create a map for this.

nnoremap <leader>nf :call FocusNERDtree()<cr>

Or you could just move the window manually using <c-w> and a direction (h,j,k or l)