In vim, how can I quickly switch between tabs?

Next tab: gt

Prior tab: gT

Numbered tab: nnngt

Why not make use of your leader (my leader is mapped to Space):

" Go to tab by number
noremap <leader>1 1gt
noremap <leader>2 2gt
noremap <leader>3 3gt
noremap <leader>4 4gt
noremap <leader>5 5gt
noremap <leader>6 6gt
noremap <leader>7 7gt
noremap <leader>8 8gt
noremap <leader>9 9gt
noremap <leader>0 :tablast<cr>

You can use the settings below to toggle between the current and last active tab (here it is mapped to Ctrl+L, i.e., <c-l>):

" Go to last active tab

au TabLeave * let g:lasttab = tabpagenr()
nnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>
vnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>

This is the easiest way that I found, to switch between tabs faster and simple.
Add next lines to your .vimrc and enjoy it, more tricks about vim tabs here.

nnoremap <C-Left> :tabprevious<CR>
nnoremap <C-Right> :tabnext<CR>

Now you can use Ctrl ← to go left and Ctrl → to go right.

Or just use:
1gt to go to tab one,
2gt to go to tab two,
3gt to go to tab three, etc... now you have the idea.

As I am on a Mac and not using MacVim (but plain vim within a terminal) I have had some difficulty with key combinations not being sent through to the terminal.

The most-compatible (and for me most comfortable) way to switch tabs quickly comes from the Vim Wikia site.

Place in your .vimrc file:

nnoremap H gT
nnoremap L gt

Now Shift-h (capital H) and Shift-l (capital L) will switch you quickly between tabs, and follows the convention that h and l correspond to left and right in vim on a regular qwerty keyboard.

Add these to .vimrc to enable tab navigation hot keys:

<ctrl-l> toggle between 2 most recent tabs;

<ctrl-j/k> goto the last/next tab;

<ctrl-t> open a new tab.

" tab navigation: Alt or Ctrl+Shift may not work in terminal: " http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Alternative_tab_navigation " Tab navigation like Firefox: only 'open new tab' works in terminal nnoremap <C-t> :tabnew<CR> inoremap <C-t> <Esc>:tabnew<CR> " move to the previous/next tabpage. nnoremap <C-j> gT nnoremap <C-k> gt " Go to last active tab au TabLeave * let g:lasttab = tabpagenr() nnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr> vnoremap <silent> <c-l> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<cr>