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I frequently use vim to edit multiple files. On the command line, I'll type vim * or the like, and use :wn to move through the files until I get to the end.

Invariably, I get to the last file, and type :wn and get the maddening message E165: Cannot go beyond last file, when really what I want vim to do is quit at that point (:wq). Is there a configuration that controls this behavior?

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    Vim has a simple mind: you ask it to do :wn and it does :wn. If you want it to do :wq, don't tell it to do :wn, tell it to do :wq.
    – romainl
    Jul 30, 2016 at 20:08

3 Answers 3

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I don't think there is a configuration option to change that behaviour. However you can create a custom command, that catches error E165 and quits in that case. Something like this should work (untested):

com! -count -bang Wnext try | <count>wn<bang> | catch /^Vim\%((\a\+)\)\=:E165/ | q | endtry
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  • Hm...I tried this and it didn't work (nothing happened). I'm not familiar with custom commands in vim, and I didn't see the com command looking through the documentation...so I haven't been able to grok/debug this...I'd be happy if you pointed me at documentation.... Aug 8, 2016 at 22:10
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You can define a function like this:

function! NextFileOrQuit()
  execute 'try | n | catch | try | wq! | catch | | endtry | endtry'
endfunction

And then setup a normal mode mapping like so:

noremap <Tab> :call NextFileOrQuit()<CR>

With this setup, pressing <Tab> will move through the files and then "quit" once it reached the last one.

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This is the normal behaviour of vi. You can do a :rew to start with the first file again. In vim you can also use :bn and :bp to go to the next or previous file. But :rew works with any vi variant.

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  • I'm aware that this is the normal behavior of vim...my question was specifically how to change that normal behavior. Aug 8, 2016 at 22:05

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