How to elegantly return to text file after executing a `:terminal` command similar to `:!`?

Question

I want to return to the open file after I executed command with :terminal <command>

First off, I am using neovim.

So to get to the situation, I want to improve: follow these steps :

1. create a sample file with nvim foo
2. write some text, e.g. hello you and save :w
3. in vim command mode, run :terminal cat foo

Currently, what happens? I can see how the terminal returns my output hello you.

My question is, how do I return to my file foo?

When I type :q I quit vim. Then I could run :e foo, but I prefer a more elegant solution. Since when I run :! cat foo I get

:! cat foo
Hello you

Press ENTER or type command to continue

So that a simple enter returns me to my file. Is there a similar way to do this with :terminal

Remark I prefer :terminal since it has the terminal colors which help in reading longer test results. Surely, I am using the cat command just as an example.

update

After some digging in the documentation link. I found that the terminal has its own mapping so that I can change the esc key to get into command mode with

:tnoremap <Esc> <C-\><C-n>

I assumed that just adding :!q like :tnoremap <Esc> <C-\><C-n>:!q would quit but that does not work.

But when using :tnoremap <Esc> <C-\><C-n> in the command I type :!q I get

E37: No write since last change
E162: No write since last change for buffer "[No Name]"
Press ENTER or type command to continue

That means I only need to add force stop into shortcut Does anybody know how to do that?

Answer 1

If terminal process has already finished then Vim/Neovim is back in Normal mode. So you can do absolutely anything that is available in Normal mode for buffer switching. For example, :h ctrl-^. More info for beginners can be found in :h user-manual, specifically, the section "Editing more than one file" in :h usr_07.txt.

Answer 2

You could change the :shortmess=a option or try :silent !cat foo