Close another buffer that had same name on window split

Question

Here some asciinema videos, notice that in the videos, when I open another file (plugins.vim) in split using Ctrl+v it will create buffer tab named plugins.vim in the left, but when I close the plugins.vim (on the right) it will not close the plugins.vim buffer tab on the left.

Is vim work like these? If yes how do I automatically close split window with :q but also close the tab buffer on the left?

Some plugin setup : - FZF Config

• Airline Config

Answer 1

It seems you are confused about the way Vim handles files and buffers.

Each file you open is loaded in a buffer. When hidden is set (which seems to be the case for you), closing the window (or split) where a buffer is displayed will not actually close the buffer. It stays in memory for you to reopen on demand.

This is why, when you quit a window with :q, you can still see the file name on the top bar (which is a buffer list, made by airline). The buffer is still here.

You can unload a buffer with :bd, this will remove it from the buffer list.

I suggest you take a look at :h buffers, :h :e, :h :q and :h :bd to get an overhaul sense of how Vim deals with windows and files.

Answer 2

You have a very large and elaborate config. However, it looks like you've copied it from somewhere and never bothered to check what it actually does. Unfortunately, it's a common problem for people who want "to make (Neo)Vim look pretty", but feel too lazy to read a ton of the docs.

This is the line number 3 from your "settings.vim":

set hidden                              " Required to keep multiple buffers open multiple buffers

In fact, the comment doesn't explain anything. What 'hidden' really does, it keeps all open buffers in memory even if they are not shown in any window (i.e. hidden) until Vim exit or an explicit buffer unload operation (such as ZQ, :quit!, :bunload, :bdelete, :bwipeout and so on). Typing simply :quit differs from :quit! here!

So this is right and expected behaviour. What you're going to do with this is your choice. You can set nohidden, or use :q! instead of :q, or reconfigure airline not to show the buffer list, or even do nothing and leave it as is. Just make sure you fully understand what is "a buffer" and what is "a window" in Vim slang first.