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I would like to have a file that contains all files that I opened with vim in the past. I know that there is the viminfo file but I want to have just a file with the filenames.

For this I would like to write the list of open buffers with autocmd VimLeave to a file.

I tried :ls | w >> test.txt but this does not work correctly.

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  • I know that there is the viminfo file Do you also know that there's :oldfiles command? Doesn't it make the whole idea of having "an own file" useless? – Matt Nov 21 '19 at 10:17
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    That does sound like a XY problem maybe you should ask a question about what you want to do with this list of files and there is probably a better solution to use it than writting it by yourself :) – statox♦ Nov 21 '19 at 10:26
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    I wonder if sessions would be useful to you – D. Ben Knoble Nov 21 '19 at 13:38
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Try using redir command (:h redir)

For example:

func! MyRedir() abort
    redir! > ~/test.txt
    :ls
    redir END
endfunc

augroup save_files | au!
    au VimLeave * call MyRedir()
augroup end
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  • Or oldfiles instead of ls – D. Ben Knoble Nov 21 '19 at 13:37
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    There's also execute(), which I often find more convenient than :redir, especially for a single command... – filbranden Nov 21 '19 at 15:43
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You can have all buffer names that haven't been unloaded (or wiped out?) with:

let files = filter(map(range(1,bufnr('$')), 'bufname(v:val)'), '!empty(v:val)')

You can save it with 

call writefile(files, '/path/to/filename.txt')
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