In Vim there are many ways to close a file. One of the best is :x
, also know as :xit
.
:x
writes and quits a file when changes have been made, like :wq
, but with one less keystroke.
An important distinction:
:x
and :wq
are similar, but not identical commands.
The difference is that :wq
writes the current file and quits, as long as the file is not read-only and has a name, while :x
only writes if changes have been made. So, if you were to generate a file with Vim, make no changes, and try to write and quit with :x
, the file would not be written. Doing the same thing with :wq
would write the file.