Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!sci.kun.nl!cs.kun.nl!hansm
From: hansm@cs.kun.nl (Hans Mulder)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: :wq (Re: One user's editor wish list)
Summary: Don't use :wq.  Use :x.
Message-ID: <2900@wn1.sci.kun.nl>
Date: 27 Mar 91 16:18:34 GMT
References: <1991Feb22.134323.20410@scrumpy@.bnr.ca> <1991Mar25.191821.11019@scrumpy@.bnr.ca>
Sender: root@sci.kun.nl
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Lines: 44

In article <1991Mar25.191821.11019@scrumpy@.bnr.ca> bnrmtl!lewis@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (Pierre Lewis) writes:
>1) vi commands :w :q and :n
>
>   With the vi on our SunOS 4.0.3, I can do the following:
>     :w    to write back a file
>     :q    to quit the editor
>     :wq   to write back a file AND quit the editor
>
>   I can also do:
>     :n    to move to next file (if current file has no pending changes)
>
[ ... so he tried... ]
>     :wn
>   and got the message "wn: Not an editor command".  There is surely some
>   other command that will do it, but why not the intuitive choice?

The :wq command was a mistake and should be expelled from vi ASAP.

For one thing, it invites the mistake Pierre described above.
Plus, the :x command is superior:
- it skips the write if the buffer was not [Modified]
- it gives you a second chance if the write failed
- it's shorter :-)
- ZZ is mapped to :x.


By the way, Pierre, the trick to get two ex commands on a line is to
separate them by a |, e.g.:
	:w|n
But :g and :! commands can have |s in their arguments, so they must be
the last command on the line.

If you find yourself typing :w|n all the time, you might want to
	:set autowrite
and use :n! on those rare occasions when you don't want to save changes.

Keep in mind that vi also autowrites when you stop it using ctrl-Z, use
	:stop! 
if you don't want to autowrite before stopping.


Have a nice day,

Hans Mulder	hansm@cs.kun.nl