CtrlK is a plugin to navigate C++ symbols. It is based on Clang library, and uses FuzzyFinder as a front-end internally.

It uses compilation databases to get the project files, and LevelDB to store the internal index.

Supported features are:

1. Symbol navigation similar to Ctrl+K in QtCreator / Ctrl+Comma in Visual Studio

2. GoTo Definition

3. Find References

Before installing the ctrlk plugin, you need to install ctrlk python library, as well as leveldb and clang libraries:

sudo pip install leveldb
sudo pip install clang
sudo pip install ctrlk

The source code for ctrlk library is in its own git repo py-ctrlk

The easiest way to install CtrlK plugin itself is to use Vundle.

Bundle 'L9'
Bundle 'FuzzyFinder'
Bundle 'SkidanovAlex/CtrlK'

Or, in the newer version or Vundle

Plugin 'L9'
Plugin 'FuzzyFinder'
Plugin 'SkidanovAlex/CtrlK'

Here's a sample .vimrc file, that mimics QtCreator key bindings:

let g:ctrlk_clang_library_path="/home/user/llvm/lib"
nmap <F3> :call GetCtrlKState()<CR>
nmap <C-k> :call CtrlKNavigateSymbols()<CR>
nmap <F2> :call CtrlKGoToDefinition()<CR>
nmap <F12> :call CtrlKGetReferences()<CR>

Set g:ctrlk_clang_library_path to your llvm lib folder (the folder that contains libclang.so). This maps Ctrl+k to open symbol navigation window, F2 to go to the current symbol's definition and F12 to show all the references to symbol under cursor. F3 is showing the current state of the indexer and background parsing thread in the form

Index: <status of the indexer> / Current: <status of the parsing thread> / Jump: <any errors related to code navigation>

Note that CtrlK's indexer is rather slow. Indexing your project first time can take a considerable amount of time. Pressing F3 will tell you how many files are being parsed right now. When all the files are parsed, F3 will print "Parse queue size = 0" as the indexer status.

With the bindings above F2 opens the definition in the same window. If you want to open the definition in a new window after a split or a vsplit, use the following bindings:

nmap <F4> :call CtrlKGoToDefinitionWithSplit('j')<CR>
nmap <F5> :call CtrlKGoToDefinitionWithSplit('k')<CR>

1. CtrlK can show current function name in the status bar.

To do that just add %{CtrlKGetCurrentScope()} into your status bar template. For example here's my status bar definition:

hi User1 ctermbg=darkgreen ctermfg=black guibg=darkgreen guifg=black
hi User2 ctermbg=gray ctermfg=black guibg=gray  guifg=black
hi User3 ctermbg=darkgray ctermfg=gray  guibg=darkgray  guifg=gray

set statusline=%1*\ %{CtrlKGetCurrentScope()}\ %2*\ %F%m%r%h\ %w\ \ %3*\ %r%{getcwd()}%h%=%l:%c

Currently this feature only works for source (but not for header) files

2. CtrlK can show an extra window that constanntly shows the definition of symbol under cursor. To enable this feature add the following line to your config:

let g:ctrlk_follow_definition=1

CtrlK uses compilation databases to parse your project. If you use CMake, creating the compilation database is just a matter of running:

cmake . -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON

When you run vim, CtrlK will find the compilation database file that is closest to the current folder, and place its own index next to it into a .ctrlk folder.