Tip #165: Deleting a buffer without closing the window

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Rating 16/9, Viewed by 673

created:		November 16, 2001 11:50		complexity:		intermediate
author:		Raymond Li		as of Vim:		6.0

I'm not sure if this functionality is already within Vim, but I sometimes I find it useful to keep a split window from closing when deleting a buffer. This has already been discussed on the [email protected] mailing list. However, I feel this solution is a little easier to use. " Put this into .vimrc or make it a plugin. " Mapping :Bclose to some keystroke would probably be more useful. " I like the way buflisted() behaves, but some may like the behavior " of other buffer testing functions. command! Bclose call <SID>BufcloseCloseIt() function! <SID>BufcloseCloseIt() let l:currentBufNum = bufnr("%") let l:alternateBufNum = bufnr("#") if buflisted(l:alternateBufNum) buffer # else bnext endif if bufnr("%") == l:currentBufNum new endif if buflisted(l:currentBufNum) execute("bdelete ".l:currentBufNum) endif endfunction

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Additional Notes

[email protected], December 19, 2001 0:09

The MiniBufExplorer.vim plugin (in the scripts area) provides this capability with a really simple and small user interface...

Anonymous, June 24, 2002 22:58

This tip didn't seem to work in gvim 6, I placed it in my _vimrc file as instructed, but deleting buffers still closes the windows they are in, as before ;-(.

Anonymous, November 16, 2002 6:16

I didn't try the tip, but this is the solution I came up with: You can use the :BufClose command with or without an argument. The argument can be the filename associated with a buffer, or a buffer number. You don't have to be in the window that has the buffer open if you use an argument. command! -nargs=? -complete=buffer -bang BufClose \ :call BufClose(expand('<args>'), expand('<bang>')) function! BufClose(buffer, bang) if a:buffer == '' let buffer = bufnr('%') else let buffer = bufnr(a:buffer) endif if buffer == -1 echohl ErrorMsg echomsg "No matching buffer for" a:buffer echohl None return endif let current_window = winnr() let buffer_window = bufwinnr(buffer) if buffer_window == -1 echohl ErrorMsg echomsg "Buffer" buffer "isn't open in any windows." echohl None return endif if a:bang == '' && getbufvar(buffer, '&modified;') echohl ErrorMsg echomsg 'No write since last change for buffer' \ buffer '(add ! to override)' echohl None return endif if buffer_window >= 0 exe 'norm ' . buffer_window . "\<C-w>w" exe 'enew' . a:bang exe 'norm ' . current_window . "\<C-w>w" endif silent exe 'bdel' . a:bang . ' ' . buffer endfunction

[email protected], November 25, 2002 6:08

I dunno how old this tip is, but :bd <bufferName> works fine for me!




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