Difference between make and make!

Question

According to the help page the only difference between :make and :make! is that the latter doesn't jump to the first error. So why isn't :make! <Bar> silent cnext<CR> equivalent to :make?

I'm using the following compiler in ~/.config/nvim/after/compiler/python3.vim:

if exists("current_compiler")
  finish
endif
let current_compiler = "python3.vim"

let s:cpo_save = &cpo
set cpo&vim

CompilerSet errorformat=
  \%*\\sFile\ \"%f\"\\,\ line\ %l\\,\ %m,
  \%*\\sFile\ \"%f\"\\,\ line\ %l,
CompilerSet makeprg=python3\ %

let &cpo = s:cpo_save
unlet s:cpo_save

If I edit this test file

foo
print("foo")

make jumps to the first line, while make! followed by a cnext returns the error

E553: No more items

Is the quickfix list not being populated with :make!?

Answer 1

This is happening because while :make! doesn't jump to the first error message, it actually sets the quickfix cursor at it. So when you use :cnext it will actually try to go to the second error, which in your case doesn't exist. (You can easily prove that yourself by creating a test case that produces more than one error.)

If you use :make! and then want to jump to the current error (which should be the first one), you can use :cc instead. (See :help :cc.)