vim Getting started with vim Exiting Vim
Example
In order to exit Vim, first make sure you are in Normal mode by pressing Esc.
:qEnter (will prevent you from exiting if you have unsaved changes - short for :quit)
To discard changes and exit Vim:
:q!Enter to force exit and discard changes (short for:quit!, not to be confused with:!q),ZQis a shortcut that does the same as:q!,:cqEnter quit and return error (discard all changes so the compiler will not recompile this file)
To save changes and exit Vim:
:wqEnter (shorthand for:writeand:quit),:xEnter (same as:wq, but will not write if the file was not changed),ZZis a shortcut that does the same as:x(Save workspace and quit the editor),:[range]wq!Enter (write the lines in [range])
To close multiple buffers at once (even in multiple windows and/or tabs), append the letter a to any of the Commands above (the ones starting with :). For example, to write and quit all windows you can use:
:wqaEnter or:xaEnter — Write all changed buffers and exit Vim. If there are buffers without a file name, which are readonly or which cannot be written for another reason, Vim will not quit:xa!Enter — Write all changed buffers, even the ones that are readonly, and exit Vim. If there are buffers without a file name or which cannot be written for another reason, Vim will not quit:qaEnter — try to quit, but stop if there are any unsaved files;:qa!Enter — quit without saving (discard changes in any unsaved files)
If you have opened Vim without specifying a file and you want to save that file before exiting, you will receive E32: No file name message. You can save your file and quit using:
:wq filenameEnter or;:x filenameEnter
Explanation:
The : keystroke actually opens Command mode. The command q is an abbreviation of quit, w, of write and x, of exit (you can also type :quit, :write and :exit if you want). Shortcuts not starting with : such as ZZ and ZQ refer to Normal mode key mappings. You can think of them as shortcuts.
The ! keystroke is sometimes used at the end of a command to force its execution, which allows to discard changes in the case of :q!.
Placing the ! at the beginning of the command has a different meaning.
For example, one can mistype :!q instead of :q! and vim would terminate with a 127 error.
An easy way to remember this is to think of ! as a way of insisting on executing something.
Just like when you write: "I want to quit!"
