"More than two buffers in diff mode" - How do you turn off diff on the buffers?

Question

I did :vert diffsplit file1.txt, then realized I didn't want to diff it but a different file. So I closed one window with :q and turned off the diff highlighting with :diffoff.

I then tried :vert diffsplit file2.txt, but now if I try to dp or do to put/get changes, I get the E101: More than two buffers in diff mode, don't know which one to use error.

How do I avoid this, or what am I doing wrong?

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 07 '12 at 07:53

14

You should switch off diff mode for the unwanted buffer with :diffoff before quitting it with :q. Depending on your settings (e.g. :set hidden), the buffer will persist in the buffer list (:ls), and Vim will consider it when doing a diff.

A :bufdo diffoff should turn off diff for all existing buffers, though I usually just quit Vim and relaunch it with vimdiff ... should such a situation arise.

answered Nov 07 '12 at 07:53

Ingo Karkat

167,457
16
250
324

I sometimes to diffs within gvim with many other tabs open. My normal solution for vimdiff was just to quit, but for gvim that's not ideal. Thanks! – keflavich Nov 07 '12 at 14:54
2

Before quitting any of the windows execute `:diffoff!` or `:diffo!` for short. This will turn diff mode for all the windows in the current tab page. See `:h :diffo` – Peter Rincker Nov 07 '12 at 19:26
I tried doing :diffoff! and it still did not work. Had to do :buffo diffoff. Once I did that, I found that the buffer in my left split was still in diff mode. So on that buffer I did a :diffoff and then was able to do :diffthis in two other buffers successfully and make changes. – Brian Jun 30 '14 at 17:10

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 09 '23 at 13:46

4

Note the buffer number which you want to put/get the changes by :ls command.

Then prefix your put/get command with the buffer number of your choice, e.g. 2dp.

edited Mar 09 '23 at 13:46

J. Scott Elblein

4,013
15
58
94

answered Jun 25 '20 at 16:00

kenorb

155,785
88
678
743

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 06 '13 at 06:06

3

This may be kind of late reply but still for future feference

i do

:tabdo diffoff!

answered Dec 06 '13 at 06:06

justrajdeep

855
3
12
29

"More than two buffers in diff mode" - How do you turn off diff on the buffers?

3 Answers3