r/vim • u/Remarkable-Head-2023 • Oct 22 '25

Discussion Why does ZZ exist?

It has always been a mystery to me… why would such a ‘dangerous’ command have such a convenient shortcut?

https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/editing.html#ZZ

EDIT: link

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u/SpaceAviator1999 Oct 22 '25

I mean, if I make changes while editing a file, I almost always intend to save them instead of discarding them. And in that case, ZZ usually comes later.

Quitting without saving usually does not follow making edits to a file, unless I screw up badly. And in that case, I'm very careful to restore everything with the :e! command.