I open several files in Vim by, for example, running
vim a/*.php
which opens 23 files.
I then make my edit and run the following twice
:q
which closes all my buffers.
How can you close only one buffer in Vim?
A word of caution: “the w in bw does not stand for write but for wipeout!”
More from manuals:
:bd
Unload buffer [N] (default: current
buffer) and delete it from
the buffer list. If the buffer was changed, this fails,
unless when [!] is specified, in which case changes are
lost.
The file remains unaffected.
If you know what you’re doing, you can also use :bw
:bw
Like |:bdelete|, but really delete the
buffer.
If this isn't made obvious by the the previous answers:
:bd will close the current buffer. If you don't want to grab the buffer list.
Check your buffer id using
:buffers
you will see list of buffers there like
1 a.php
2 b.php
3 c.php
if you want to remove b.php from buffer
:2bw
if you want to remove/close all from buffers
:1,3bw
Rather than browse the ouput of the :ls command and delete (unload, wipe..) a buffer by specifying its number, I find that using file names is often more effective.
For instance, after I opened a couple of .txt file to refresh my memories of some fine point.. copy and paste a few lines of text to use as a template of sorts.. etc. I would type the following:
:bd txt <Tab>
Note that the matching string does not have to be at the start of the file name.
The above displays the list of file names that match 'txt' at the bottom of the screen and keeps the :bd command I initially typed untouched, ready to be completed.
Here's an example:
doc1.txt doc2.txt
:bd txt
I could backspace over the 'txt' bit and type in the file name I wish to delete, but where this becomes really convenient is that I don't have to: if I hit the Tab key a second time, Vim automatically completes my command with the first match:
:bd doc1.txt
If I want to get rid of this particular buffer I just need to hit Enter.
And if the buffer I want to delete happens to be the second (third.. etc.) match, I only need to keep hitting the Tab key to make my :bd command cycle through the list of matches.
Naturally, this method can also be used to switch to a given buffer via such commands as :b.. :sb.. etc.
This approach is particularly useful when the 'hidden' Vim option is set, because the buffer list can quickly become quite large, covering several screens, and making it difficult to spot the particular buffer I am looking for.
To make the most of this feature, it's probably best to read the following Vim help file and tweak the behavior of Tab command-line completion accordingly so that it best suits your workflow:
:help wildmode
The behavior I described above results from the following setting, which I chose for consistency's sake in order to emulate bash completion:
:set wildmode=list:longest,full
As opposed to using buffer numbers, the merit of this approach is that I usually remember at least part of a given file name letting me target the buffer directly rather than having to first look up its number via the :ls command.
Use:
:ls - to list buffers
:bd#n - to close buffer where #n is the buffer number (use ls to get it)
Examples:
to delete buffer 2:
:bd2
You can map next and previous to function keys too, making cycling through buffers a breeze
map <F2> :bprevious<CR>
map <F3> :bnext<CR>
from my vimrc
Close buffer without closing the window
If you want to close a buffer without destroying your window layout (current layout based on splits), you can use a Plugin like bbye. Based on this, you can just use
:Bdelete (instead of :bdelete)
:Bwipeout (instead of :bwipeout)
Or just create a mapping in your .vimrc for easier access like
:nnoremap <Leader>q :Bdelete<CR>
Advantage over vim's :bdelete and :bwipeout
From the plugin's documentation:
Close and remove the buffer.
Show another file in that window.
Show an empty file if you've got no other files open.
Do not leave useless [no file] buffers if you decide to edit another file in that window.
Work even if a file's open in multiple windows.
Work a-okay with various buffer explorers and tabbars.
:bdelete vs :bwipeout
From the plugin's documentation:
Vim has two commands for closing a buffer: :bdelete and :bwipeout. The former removes the file from the buffer list, clears its options, variables and mappings. However, it remains in the jumplist, so Ctrl-o takes you back and reopens the file. If that's not what you want, use :bwipeout or Bbye's equivalent :Bwipeout where you would've used :bdelete.
How about
vim -O a a
That way you can edit a single file on your left and navigate the whole dir on your right...
Just a thought, not the solution...
[EDIT: this was a stupid suggestion from a time I did not know Vim well enough. Please don't use tabs instead of buffers; tabs are Vim's "window layouts"]
Maybe switch to using tabs?
vim -p a/*.php opens the same files in tabs
gt and gT switch tabs back and forth
:q closes only the current tab
:qa closes everything and exits
:tabo closes everything but the current tab
Those using a buffer or tree navigation plugin, like Buffergator or NERDTree, will need to toggle these splits before destroying the current buffer - else you'll send your splits into wonkyville
I use:
"" Buffer Navigation
" Toggle left sidebar: NERDTree and BufferGator
fu! UiToggle()
let b = bufnr("%")
execute "NERDTreeToggle | BuffergatorToggle"
execute ( bufwinnr(b) . "wincmd w" )
execute ":set number!"
endf
map <silent> <Leader>w <esc>:call UiToggle()<cr>
Where "NERDTreeToggle" in that list is the same as typing :NERDTreeToggle. You can modify this function to integrate with your own configuration.
Related
I often use the command :Explore to switch to another file. I also use a lot the command :buffer to switch between previously opened files, but it is not always convenient when a lot of files are opened.
Is there a way to display a list of all opened files (buffers) in the current window, in a "explore" way, without using plugin?
:help :ls is the closest you can get with basic built-in tools.
I would recommend creating a normal map like this in your ~/vimrc file.
" list buffers and jump to a chosen one
nnoremap <Leader>b :ls<CR>:b<Space>
It triggers your <Leader> plus b to execute two commands at once, first it shows all open buffers, then it allows you to type the buffer number to open it. It wort reading :h leader.
I have NERDTree and MiniBufExplorer open at the launch of vim, so I have three windows. Whenever I use the aforementioned plugins the files/buffers are presented in the correct window, which is the initial one. However whenever I use a command such as :e ~/.vimrc the command works on the window which contains the cursor. This means I have to always remember to move the cursor over to the window used for editing. I was wondering if there was a way to have commands work on that window regardless of where the cursor is, or if file buffers would automatically present themselves in that window?
I was looking at a way to have the cursor move over to the right window when : (or some other key I could use) is pressed, but I couldn't figure out a way as there is no way to identify windows (or is there?).
Files, Buffers, and Splits Oh My!
You are asking Vim to change how every single file and buffer command to change to accommodate your plugin choice and workflow. You are going against the vim way here and it will hinder your use of Vim's splits.
First things first is to realize that Vim has no concept of Project drawers, only splits/windows. This means that NerdTree and other plugins go to great lengths to emulate Project Drawer behavior and ultimately fail.
Lets look at problems with using NerdTree and MiniBufExplorer as always open windows:
NerdTree:
Wasted space. How often do you look at your file structure? 10% of the time? Less?
Splits - open up a few split now switch to the bottom right most split via <c-w>b. Open up a file via NerdTree in this window. Did you use <c-w>t to go to the top left most window? Feels like quite a nuance to use so many window commands just to open a file
NerdTree doesn't play well when rearranging splits. Create some splits then do <c-w>J or <c-w>H. See how it messed up your layout
MiniBufExplorer
Scale - MiniBufExplorer just doesn't scale with the number of buffers. I have opened up over a hundred buffers without issue. I can not imagine the waste of space this would cause with MiniBufExplorer
There is little to be gained by seeing all your open buffers all the time. You only need to see them when you are switching to a different buffer
Switching buffers - You can switch buffers just as easily by mapping the :bnext and :bprev commands
More on switching buffers - Moving to the MiniBufExplorer window is tedious and annoy if that is how you want to switch buffers
Rearranging windows - Same as NerdTree
MiniBufExplorer is akin to using Vim's tabs for each file in vim see: Use buffer effectively
The Vim Way
As laid out in the Vimcast post, Oil and vinegar - split windows and the project drawer, Vim prefers to just open a file explorer when you need it then switch away from it when it isn't needed. You can user NerdTree in this fashion too, just forget the alway on file explorer bit. There are other ways of opening files in vim:
Use file completion, via <tab>, with commands like :e and :sp
Use <c-d> instead of <tab> to get a list of completions
:e and :sp commands take globs. e.g. :e *.c and :e foo/**/bar.c
:find and setup 'path' and 'suffix' options
Ctags or cscope to jump to tags
gf will go to a file under the cursor
Look into fuzzy finders like CtrlP or Command-T
Create project specific navigation via Projectile (Rails is a good example of this)
There are plenty of ways to switch buffers in Vim:
:b and :sb take buffer numbers but also names that will complete and glob
Use :ls to see a list of your buffers then use :b to switch directly
<c-6> will go the the previous buffer
Map :bnext and :bprev example [b and ]b are Unimpaired.vim mappings
set hidden make switching buffers easier. Don't worry vim will let you know if you have unwritten buffer before exiting
Once again look into fuzzy finder plugsin like CtrlP and Command-T to switch buffers
Vim is split happy. Make sure you use splits as effectively as you can. There are many split commmands, see :h opening-window. Better yet read the whole :h window help file, there are many treasure in there.
The core of a solution can be found in the NERDTree source via s:Opener._firstUsableWindow, which I then edited some to get the id and include modified buffers:
" Returns the first window ID containing a file buffer
"
" Iterates through window numbers until the last (winnr('$')),
" Skipping special buffer types & preview windows
function! FirstFileWindowID()
let i = 1
while i <= winnr('$')
let bnum = winbufnr(i)
if bnum !=# -1 && getbufvar(bnum, '&buftype') ==# ''
\ && !getwinvar(i, '&previewwindow')
" TODO I don't know what excluding &hidden does in the original,
" but may be desirable for correctness
return win_getid(i)
endif
let i += 1
endwhile
return -1
endfunction
This can then be used with win_execute to target recent file buffers, gaining tab-like behavior with buffers:
"tab movement (ctrl-n for next tab, ctrl-p for previous)
map <c-n> :call win_execute(FirstFileWindowID(), 'bnext')<CR>
map <c-p> :call win_execute(FirstFileWindowID(), 'bprev')<CR>
I use tmux for all my pane management, so while I'm sure leveraging the full range of vim's tab / window / buffer paradigm is best for many, I personally don't use it to is fullest extent.
I'm editing a file :e foo.
Now I'd like to save it, close the buffer (so I can go back to the state before I opened foo), using a command.
I have this right now:
command! GC silent execute ":wq" | silent execute ":close"
But if I didn't have any buffer open before, I get this error:
E444: Cannot close last window
How can I close the window, such that if it's the last window, it still closes it, and returns me back to the empty screen that you get when you just run vim?
I think you're looking for the :update + :bdelete command combination. The first persists changes if there are any, and the latter removes the buffer. If there are other split windows, the current one is closed. Otherwise, if you have other arguments / hidden buffers, the next one is displayed in the single window. If there is no other window, an empty buffer (like :enew) is shown.
What you see when you start Vim without a file as argument, $ vim, is just an empty buffer. If its state is not altered in any way it is discarded when you do :e file.
You can see that with :ls: the only buffer available is file.
If you want an empty buffer (and I have no idea why you would want that) you'll need to create one explicitly with:
:enew
unless there's an option that I don't know about.
Anyway, I'd suggest you to do:
$ vim file
rather than:
$ vim
:e file
Do you want to do save all files, and exit vim ? Then just type ZZ.
Or you want to do save all files if updated, and close all windows ? Then
command! GC bufdo update | windo bw
When dealing with a single file, I'm used to:
/blah
do some work
n
do some work
n
do some work
Suppose now I want to search for some pattern over all buffers loaded in Vim, do some work on them, and move on. What commands do I use for this work flow?
Use the bufdo command.
:bufdo command
:bufdo command is roughly equivalent to iterating over each buffer and executing command. For example, let's say you want to do a find and replace throughout all buffers:
:bufdo! %s/FIND/REPLACE/g
Or let's say we want to delete all lines of text that match the regex "SQL" from all buffers:
:bufdo! g/SQL/del
Or maybe we want to set the file encoding to UTF-8 on all the buffers:
:bufdo! set fenc=utf-8
The above can be extrapolated for Windows (:windo), Tabs (:tabdo), and arguments (:argdo). See help on :bufdo for more information.
We can do this using vimgrep and searching across the argslist. But first let's populate our argslist with all our buffers:
:bufdo :args ## %
Now we can search in our argslist
:vimgrep /blah/ ##
Where % == the current filepath and ## == the arglist.
I recommend watching these vimcasts if you want to learn more: Populate the arglist, Search multiple files with vimgrep
I have the following mappings (inspired by Vimperator) that make switching previous/next buffer easier.
nmap <C-P> :bp<CR>
nmap <C-N> :bn<CR>
This works really well with 'n'. When you're done working with your file, just hit CTRL-n before hitting n again and you're searching in the next buffer. Redo until you're through all buffers.
Another way of working with many files is the argument list.
It contains any files passed as parameters when you started vim (e.g: vim someFile.txt someOtherFile.py). The file within [brackets] is the current file.
:args
[someFile.txt] someOtherFile.py
:n will bring you to the next file in the list and :N will bring you back. You can also add to the argslist with :argadd, or create a new args list with
:n some.py files.py you.py want.py to.py work.py with.py
or to open all *.py files recursively from some project.
:n ~/MyProjects/TimeMachine/**/*.py
The args list work well with macros too (see :help q), if you have similar changes to your files. Just record your macro on the first file, finish with :n to move to the next file, and stop recording.
qq/searchForSomethingAndDoStuffOrWhatever:nq
Then run your macro through all files (6#q), have a look to make sure everything went well, and finish with a :wall.
It kinda depends on what you want to do. If you just have one change that is exactly the same across many files (and those are the only ones you have loaded), I also like the :ba (:tabdo sp) command. It's very quick and you can see what's happening.
And if you have a bunch of buffers open, you can load up the files you want to work within, each in a window, and do a regexp on all of them.
CTRL-w v :b someFile
:sp anotherFile
...
:windo :%s/foo/bar/g
I really recommend FuzzyFinder, it makes your life a lot easier when opening files.
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1984
MMmMmmmm VIM IS NICE! SO SEXY! : )
Anytime you want to switch to another buffer try this.
:b + <any part of file in buffer> + tab
For an example. I have this in my buffer
77 "/var/www/html/TopMenuAlertAlert.vue" line 65
78 "/var/www/html/MainSidebar.vue" line 29
79 "/var/www/html/FullScreenSearch.vue" line 26
80 "/var/www/html/Menu.vue" line 93
81 "/var/www/html/layouts/RightSidebar.vue" line 195
As I want to change to another buffer, I probably remember some detail about the file like 'Alert'
So I just go
:b Alert + tab
if the file given is not the one I want, I just keep on pressing tab.
Vim will keep on giving the next file close to it.
Once you got it. Press Enter.
Here is your gospel:
https://github.com/jeetsukumaran/vim-buffersaurus
This lovely plugin shows you all the files that match your query in a separate window, from which you can choose. It support regex.
I don't believe it's possible to extend the 'n' functionanly across files or buffers. You could use
:grep blah *
And then do
:cn
To move to the next line with blah on it. That will switch between files but it's not quite as neat. It's more cumbersome to type the colon all the time, and it will only take you to the line, not the word.
What I usually do is either to open the files I want to searched in tabs and then use 'n' and 'gt' to jump to next tab when I reach the end of the file, or list the files on the command line to I can skip to the next file with ':wn' when I'm done editing it.
Hope it helps!
Another approach:
:call setqflist([]) " clear quickfix list
:silent bufdo grepadd! foo % " edit foo in command-line history window
:cw " view search results
Or mapped:
cmap bbb call setqflist([]) \| silent bufdo grepadd! %<C-F>$hha
I would open all the buffers in a new tab using the following two commands:
:tab sp
:bufdo sp
Then search through each file one by one and close its window when you are done (use :q or :close). Use CTRL+W_ to maximize each window as you are working in it. When you're finished and you close the last window, the tab page will close and you'll be dropped back wherever you were before you decided to do the search.
I'm losing all previous buffers when by mistake I'm trying to switch behind the last buffer [n:].
If for example I open couple of files in editor
:ls
1 # "/etc/moduli" line 1
2 %a "/etc/motd" line 1
:n
E163: There is only one file to edit
:p
E163: There is only one file to edit
now i can navigate between tabs just using :b [number]
Please advice how to fix this behavior. How can I prevent buffers from closing in this case?
I think you're confusing something there. A buffer is something like an open file. When you switch to the next file in the argument list using :n you close the current buffer and open the next one, so the changes must either be saved or discarded at this point.
Additionally the default behaviour of vim is to display an error message if you try to go beyond the last file in your argument list, so losing anything is not very easy in vim.
Maybe describing your actions (pressed keys) could help here, if this does not answer your question.
[edit]
Ok, now I know what the problem is: There is a difference between a buffer and the list of files to edit that you supply when starting vim. If you start vim with
vim a.txt b.txt
there are 2 files to edit. This does not mean, there are multiple buffers. You can navigate using :n and :p (meaning n(ext) file and p(revious) file). If you have the global flag :hidden set, this means that every buffer you close will become a hidden buffer. The file is still being edited, but it is not shown in any window. This value is possibly set upon startup of vim in your system. Try adding :se nohidden to your .vimrc and try the following:
:help buffer-hidden
[/edit]
:bn
will display the next file in your buffer (in your case "/etc/moduli")
:bp
will display the previous file in your buffer (also "/etc/moduli" because it does a permutation)
One thing that you'll notice is that the file you're editing is marked with
%a
whereas
#
means it's the last file you displayed.
Hope it helps you.
:n and :p doesn't switch between buffers :)
try :bufnext and :bufprev
maybe you'll like:
nmap <LEADER>k :bnext<CR>:redraw<CR>
nmap <LEADER>j :bprevious<CR>:redraw<CR>
nmap <LEADER>d :bd<CR>
nnoremap <LEADER>b :buffers<CR>:buffer<space>
Press ,j for the previous buffer, ,k for the next buffer, ,d to close the current buffer and ,b to list your buffers and select one with number keys.