How to keep focus in the "normal" editing buffer while a terminal buffer is opened and running a command?

Question

I am editing a DocBook XML file and want to validate it by running a custom command validate_cmd. In my plugin, I'm running the following:

let term_buff_no = term_start(validate_cmd, {'term_rows': 10})

The problem is that I don't want vim to focus the newly opened terminal buffer but instead keep the editing buffer opened and continue working. How to do that?

Answer 1

After the terminal buffer is opened, you can switch back to the previous window with the keys <C-w>p.

For non-interactive use (such as in a script), you may append those keystrokes with :normal! <C-w>p. Equivalently -- as Ben mentioned in the comments -- you may use :wincmd p.

---

FYI, from the documentation of :normal,

:norm[al][!] {commands}                 *:norm* *:normal*
            Execute Normal mode commands {commands}.  This makes
            it possible to execute Normal mode commands typed on
            the command-line.  

            If the [!] is given, mappings will not be used.

and from the documentation of :wincmd,

:[count]winc[md] {arg}
        Like executing CTRL-W [count] {arg}.