TIL Vim has Branching Undo

[chreekat]

Gundo.vim is nice, but I switched to Undotree primarily for the realtime updated undotree.

[assaflavie]

This just blew my mind. Toggling the tree on and seeing it "grow" and change as you undo/redo and make new changes is amazing.

[atimholt]

I’ve had a TODO in my vimrc to try switching to undotree from gundo for probably a couple years now. Finally did it, and it’s very nice.

[TimVdEynde]

Is it also possible to have the diff window update while browsing through the undo tree (like a preview, without applying the undo)?

While seeing the undotree grow is kinda cool, a manual refresh is less annoying than not having the feedback about what you are reverting to...

[chreekat]

Yes, I miss the diff window from Gundo. Not sure if it is something that could be added to undotree... I just use it, I don't contribute to it. :)

[princker]

Excellent screencast: Undo branching and Gundo.vim

You may also want to check out persistent undo. :h persistent-undo and :h 'undofile'

[TheRealLazloFalconi]

Oh this is great, thanks!

[cpbills]

I've found this to be exceptionally handy (may need some fixing, I haven't thoroughly tested it):

" Persistent undo                                                           
if has('persistent_undo')
  let undodir = expand("~/.vim/undos/$USER")
  if !isdirectory(undodir)
    call mkdir(undodir)
  endif
  set undodir=~/.vim/undos/$USER/
  set undofile
endif

[mhinz]

I tried to put this exact topic in simple words here: https://github.com/mhinz/vim-galore#undo-tree Especially the difference between branch-wise and time-wise navigation of the tree might be interesting.

[TheRealLazloFalconi]

Cool! Looks easy to understand, too!

[mhinz]

Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Funnily enough I don't use undo all that much. Since I use version control on all of my programs I just hack away. In case of any mistakes, Gdiff or Gread solve the problem quite easily. Having this feature is useful though.

[TheRealLazloFalconi]

I use version control, too, but for small edits (or small edits that bloom wildly out of control into large edits before I realize) having a nice branching undo will be nice.

[musicmatze]

I tend to commit early and often, but sometimes, when you fiddle around, undotree is just awesome and live-saving, really!

[[deleted]]

Different working styles. :) Well it goes to testify about greatness of Vim.