How to prevent FzfLua from replacing current buffer when opening files?

[nothankyouzzz]

Hi, I’m using Neovim with fzf-lua and I ran into a question about window behavior.

When I run :FzfLua oldfiles and select a file, fzf-lua replaces the buffer in the current window with the selected file. I don’t want this replacement.

I tried setting winfixbuf, but then the behavior changes: instead of replacing the buffer, fzf-lua creates a new split window and opens the file there.

I know I could solve this with a custom action, but here’s the interesting part:

• When the cursor is in a neo-tree window or a terminal buffer, fzf-lua does not replace those buffers. Instead, it automatically finds another suitable window and opens the file there.
• This is actually the behavior I want for all windows.

Question:
👉 Is there a way to configure fzf-lua to always use this “open in another window” behavior (like it does for neo-tree or terminal), without writing a custom action?

Thanks!

[nenahp]

• When the cursor is in a neo-tree window or a terminal buffer, fzf-lua does not replace those buffers. Instead, it automatically finds another suitable window and opens the file there.

I guess neo-tree did some proxy to set buffer again.

👉 Is there a way to configure fzf-lua to always use this “open in another window” behavior (like it does for neo-tree or terminal), without writing a custom action?

I didn't get it. isn't this feasible via action,,,?

[nenahp]

fzf-lua change your vimcmd when buffer is winfixbuf:

fzf-lua/lua/fzf-lua/actions.lua

Lines 226 to 229 in 682c485

	if will_replace_curbuf then
	if utils.wo.winfixbuf then
	utils.warn("'winfixbuf' is set for current window, will open in a split.")
	vimcmd, will_replace_curbuf = "split", false

[nenahp]

Oh. I see, you want to open in another "existing" window, but not creating window

fzf-lua won't do this for you unless you write an action (where you get your selected entry and do anything you want). an action is your logic to handle "open".

[nothankyouzzz]

Exactly! So I need to wrap file_edit_or_qf, otherwise I won’t get the expected behavior?

[nenahp]

unless i'm tpope, i'm not sure I can do well in the heuristics of "find window" logic.

[nenahp]

winnr('#') to get alternative win

[nenahp]

EDIT: i have an idea, maybe you can find neo-tree window in find_my_win...

local find_my_win = function() 
end
local open = function(selected, opts)
  vim.api.nvim_win_call(find_my_win(), function() require('fzf-lua.actions').vimcmd_entry('', edit, selected, opts, true) end)
end

[nothankyouzzz]

Thanks! I’ll check how neo-tree handles this before dropping the snippets into my config.

Basically, what I want is something like open_files_do_not_replace_types in neo-tree, so certain window buffers don’t get replaced.

For example:

open_files_do_not_replace_types = { "terminal", "Trouble", "trouble", "qf", "Outline" },

With this option, any window whose buffer has a matching buftype or filetype will not be replaced.

[nothankyouzzz]

I’ve hooked into the enter action with the following config:

local function get_appropriate_win()
  local cur_win = vim.api.nvim_get_current_win()
  if not vim.wo[cur_win].winfixbuf then
    return cur_win
  end

  local wins = vim.api.nvim_tabpage_list_wins(0)
  for _, w in ipairs(wins) do
    if not vim.wo[w].winfixbuf then
      return w
    end
  end

  vim.notify("No appropriate window found for fzf-lua")
end

return {
  "ibhagwan/fzf-lua",
  opts = {
    defaults = {
      actions = {
        ["enter"] = function(selected, opts)
          vim.api.nvim_win_call(get_appropriate_win(), function()
            require("fzf-lua").actions.file_edit_or_qf(selected, opts)
          end)
        end,
      },
    },
  },
}

Thanks again for your help!