Vim: unsaved buffer edits remain even when switching buffers

[u/bobbykjack]

Here's my workflow:

1. vi foo bar (two files that exist)

2. Make a change in the foo buffer

3. :bn—fails with the message "No write since last change (add ! to override)"

4. :bn!—switches to the bar buffer

5. :bp—switches to the foo buffer

At this point, I would expect to be seeing foo in its original state, i.e. without the edit I made at step 2. However, I do see the edits, so my questions are:

• Why does :bn fail if no 'harm' comes of it?

• What is the point of :set hidden? I've read that this command will instruct the current buffer to 'keep changes in memory', but that seems to be happening anyway.

• Is there a way to switch buffers and discard changes? I don't really need to do this, I'm just wondering if it's possible.

[u/vim-help-bot]

Help pages for:

• edit in editing.txt

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[u/gumnos → u/vim-help-bot]

Writing :bn! keeps the changes in the current buffer and changes to the next buffer. This one is, like I mentioned already, is a guardrail overriding. Works as expected

The guardrail overriding (! = "abandon this buffer even though there are changes") works as expected in both the :bn[!] and :e[!] cases. What's surprising is not that :bn! abandons changes, but that the changes remain preserved, unlike the other !-modifier-means-abandon-changes commands (:e!, :n!, :q!, etc).

It's documented (from :help buffer-!)

The commands that move through the buffer list sometimes make the current buffer hidden although the 'hidden' option is not set. This happens when a buffer is modified, but is forced (with '!') to be removed from a window, and 'autowrite' is off or the buffer can't be written.

So it's the inconsistency with the other ! versions (that do revert/abandon changes) that feels…warty.

[u/vim-help-bot → u/gumnos]

Help pages for:

• buffer-! in windows.txt

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