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Sometimes when a background process in Vim runs (in my case, compiling a poorly written LaTeX document) the background process stops which makes Vim unresponsive.

Terminating the process from terminal solves the problem but is cumbersome to execute. Ctrl c does not seem to work.

How should the background process be aborted?

Preferably, the process should be terminated but a solution that just unfreezes Vim is fine.

My current command is: :silent exec "!make"<CR>

A solution is to add a make vim in the makefile that ignores the errors but it would be nice to be able to force quit the process.

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  • Do you need a synchronous solution (Vim waiting the compiler) or could you consider an asynchronous solution (Vim not waiting, the compiler working on the background).
    – Vivian De Smedt
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 15:57
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    Try C-\, which is a bit more forceful than C-c
    – D. Ben Knoble ♦
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 21:41
  • Thank you @D.BenKnoble, that worked perfectly and also terminated the background process! If you write it as an answer I will accept it.
    – Hunaphu
    Commented Mar 4, 2023 at 17:43

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Ctrl-\ (SIGQUIT) works in most unix terminals I’ve used and is more forceful than Ctrl-c (SIGINT). Try it when a program is misbehaving (but be careful hammering it in a nested context, where you might accidentally stop the inner and outer programs “unkindly”).

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  • @Ben is it a Vim shortcut or only a terminal shortcut? Do we have to first switch to the terminal with Ctrl-Z
    – Vivian De Smedt
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 10:27
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    It's a terminal-level key, same as C-c, since it sends signals directly to the active process.
    – D. Ben Knoble ♦
    Commented Mar 5, 2023 at 15:01
  • For me, it also works in gVim.
    – Hunaphu
    Commented Mar 6, 2023 at 1:58
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My recommendation would be to use the asyncrun plugin.

If you were used to run :!mycompiler.sh, it let you run your compiler with a command like:

:AsyncRun mycompiler.sh

The output is sent to the QuickList and parsed using the errorformat.

You can stop the compiler using the command:

:AsyncStop
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  • Thank you, I would prefer async but also I don't want any unnecessary dependencies, if the answer is that it is impossible to abort, then that's fine.
    – Hunaphu
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 18:23
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    Is the plugin an unnecessary dependencies? I'm not aware of standard asynchronous functionality and I believe it doesn't exist :-)
    – Vivian De Smedt
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 18:26
  • I see your point but always try to avoid all plugins.
    – Hunaphu
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 18:30
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    I understand. I have no solution to propose :-/
    – Vivian De Smedt
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 18:34

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