Buffers in VIM

Buffers are essential knowledge in VIM.

A buffer represents an open file. If you know how to manipulate buffers, you'll easily be able to switch between files.

There are three essential things to know.

• :badd <file> will open <file> into a new buffer.
• :ls will list open buffers.
• :b <buffer_number> will open <buffer_number> into the current window.

That's all you need for buffer basics. If you want to close out a buffer, you can open it into the current window and use :q. Alternatively, you can use :bdelete <buffer_number>.

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