How Can I Rename a Command but Still Use the Original Command

Question

I have the following Vim code:

function! TabClose(...)
    if a:1 == ""
        tabonly
    elseif a:1 == "left"
        Tabops Close Left
    elseif a:1 == "right"
        Tabops Close Right
    else
        execute "tabclose " a:1
    endif
endfunction

command -nargs=* TabClose call TabClose("<args>")

I would really like to completely rebind the tabclose command. So I tried the following.

command -nargs=* tabclose call TabClose("<args>")

But it did not work because tabclose is called in the function. How can I name my command tabclose but still use the original unmodified tabclose in that function?

Answer 1

If you want to keep your habit typing tabclose you could use:

cnoreabbrev tabclose TabClose

Or as mentioned by @Rich to avoid that the abbreviation triggers in search or as part of other commands:

cnoreabbrev <expr> tabclose (getcmdtype() == ":" && getcmdline() == "tabclose") ? 'TabClose' : 'tabclose'

The getcmdtype() == ":" condition ensures that the abbreviation not used when using the command line to search (/, ?) or non execution command line modes.

The getcmdline() == "tabclose" conditions ensures that the abbreviation is used only for the :tabclose command and not as part of some more fancy commands like :e tabclose

With this when you enter the command:

:tabclose

Vim will translate it to :TabClose when you hit Enter