How do I jump to a tag in Vim and automatically choose if there is only one match?

Explanation

Vim's :tjump is the smarter sibling of :tag and :tselect. When there is exactly one matching tag it jumps straight there. When multiple definitions exist it shows a numbered list so you can choose. This makes it more useful than the default <C-]> binding (which always takes the first match) and more ergonomic than :tselect (which always shows the list).

How it works

• :tjump {name} — jumps directly if there is one match; shows a selection list if there are many
• g<C-]> — the normal-mode equivalent: use on the word under the cursor
• :tselect {name} — always shows the list regardless of the number of matches
• :tag {name} — always jumps to the first match (no ambiguity resolution)
• After jumping, use <C-t> or :pop to go back

Example

With a tag file that has init defined in three places:

:tjump init
  # Title    File               Line Kind Lang
  1 init     src/app.py           12 f    Python
  2 init     src/db.py            45 f    Python
  3 init     lib/util.py           7 f    Python
Type number and <Enter> (empty cancels):

Type the number and press <Enter> to jump to that definition. With a unique tag, the list never appears.

Tips

• Remap <C-]> to g<C-]> for always-smart behavior: nnoremap <C-]> g<C-]>
• Use :tjump /pattern (with a slash) to search for tags matching a regex rather than an exact name
• View the tag stack at any time with :tags to see where you jumped from
• Works with any ctags-compatible tags file (Universal Ctags, Neovim's ctag(), LSP via plugins)