How do I open :help in a new tab?

[sergio acosta]

This is kind of a vim newbee question.

I don't like that the :help command opens always in a split window. I
would like to be able to have it open in a new tab.

Is there any way to force it to open in a new tab, or at least in the
current full window? (in that case I can open a new empty tab before
calling :h )

I find that even if I first create a new tab with an unnamed,
unmodified document, the help window will open in a split.

And I know I could do the following:

1.- Open a new tab
2.- :help 'whatever-subject'
3.- <C-W>, o

But that's too many keystrokes

thanks in advance for any suggestions

[John Beckett]

sergio acosta wrote:
> I don't like that the :help command opens always in a split
> window. I would like to be able to have it open in a new tab.

Much to my surprise, I just tried the following and it did what you want:

:tab h pattern

John

[Tony Mechelynck]

Nothing surprising in that. The ":tab" prefix will open a new tab in
place and stead of a split-window for every commands that opens one
except :diffsplit, :diffpatch, :execute or :normal.

Similarly, ":bot h" will open the help window (if there isn't one yet)
at the very bottom, ":vert h" will split it vertically, etc.

Best regards,
Tony.
--
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of purge."

[Sergio Acosta]

Yeah, the ":tab" prefix is exactly what I wanted.

Thanks John, and Tony for the extra clarification.

[Pento]

Thanks a lot for this tip!