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Step 3 of 6

Finding buffers by name

Finding buffers by name

Walking the buffer list with gp and gn gets slow once more than two or three files are open. Helix’s answer is the buffer picker.

Press Space and then b to open it. The picker lists every open buffer, and as you type, the list shrinks to the buffers whose names match what you’ve typed. Press Enter to jump to the highlighted buffer, or Esc to close the picker without moving.

Work through the checklist below. Each step of this course starts with a fresh editor, so first load a.txt and b.txt back into the buffer list with :e. Then use the picker twice: once to get back to exercise.txt, and once to jump straight to a.txt — no matter how many buffers are open, that’s always one hop.

  1. Open a.txt Every step starts with a fresh editor, so load it first — type :e a.txt and press Enter.
  2. Open b.txt Type :e b.txt and press Enter.
  3. Pick exercise.txt from the buffer picker Press Space then b, type exercise to filter the list, and press Enter.
  4. Pick a.txt from the buffer picker Press Space then b, type a.txt, and press Enter.
Open a.txt Every step starts with a fresh editor, so load it first — type :e a.txt and press Enter.

Next: Open b.txt

Loading editor…