Switch buffers in vim without saving to a currently modified file

switchingvim

Ok, I'm a vim user with the Minibufexl plugin which shows buffer tabs, I've mapped Shift+J and Shift+K to switch between tabs. One thing that frequently frustrates me is while editing a file, and switching to another buffer, I HAVE to write to the current file and then switch.

Eg, I have foo.cpp and foo.h open in two buffers, and I'm editing foo.cpp and haven't saved it, I need to check foo.h to see a function definition. I then use either the alternate files quickly plugin (a.vim) or my shortcut above. This is where I have to save before switching, it gets annoying quickly.

I don't know which search query to use in the Googles so I'm asking here, my apologies if it's misleading.

Best Answer

You want to have

set hidden

in your .vimrc file. Read a (little) more about the hidden option and hidden buffers

Related Solutions

Have VIM jump to a ctag in an existing tab

You can do this with :tab tag NAME_OF_TAG, but that isn't mapped to anything. You could remap <Ctrl-]> to do that as follows in your .vimrc file:

:nmap <c-]> :tab tag <c-r><c-w><cr>

<c-r><c-w> will grab the word under the cursor and <cr> is the final enter/carriage return to run the command.

EDIT: oh no, I re-read the question. This will open a new tab each time, which sucks!!

According to the taglist help page:

The following table lists the description of the keys that can be used in the taglist window.

t Jump to the tag in a new tab. If the file is already opened in a tab, move to that tab.

And indeed pressing t in the taglist pane does this, but it means you had to already have the tag visible in the taglist pane. And that too is a bit lame...

Vim’s relativenumber setting and multiple buffers

Yes, it is expected behavior, unless you explicitly set it globally with ":setglobal":

:setglobal relativenumber

See ":help :setglobal" and ":help 'relativenumber'" (with the single quotes as part of the command).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Have VIM jump to a ctag in an existing tab

Vim’s relativenumber setting and multiple buffers

Related Question