How do I close the quickfix window inside a user-defined function?

Question

If the quickfix window is open, I can close it with :cclose. I can map that to a shortcut key:

vim.keymap.set('n', '<C-q>', ":cclose<CR>")
vim.keymap.set('n', '<C-q>', vim.cmd.cclose)

But if I write a user-defined function and try to close the window and then do some other stuff, it doesn't work:

vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('Checkit',
    function()
        vim.cmd.cclose()
        print('🐰 checking ...')
        local output = vim.fn.systemlist("check some stuff here (this takes a while)")
        local errors = ... -- parse output
        vim.fn.setqflist(errors)
        vim.cmd.copen()
    end,
    { nargs = 0 }
)

The quickfix window never closes, even if the system command here takes several seconds.

How can I close the quickfix window at the beginning of this user-defined function?

Answer 1

I suspect the screen isn't redrawing when you want: use :redraw[!] or the Lua equivalent to force that.

You might also be interested in using makeprg and errorfmt by writing a compiler plugin (:help write-compiler-plugin) so that :compiler checkit gives you the write settings and :make runs your executable (parsing the output with errorfmt into the quickfix list).