How to save all files in tabs on Vim?

Question

If I have multiple files in tabs on VIM and I edit few of them. How to save them with one command?

To save all and exit, try: `:xa`. – kenorb Apr 18 '15 at 20:54 — kenorb, Apr 18 '15 at 20:54

score 63 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:19

63

The command wa (short for wall) will write all changed buffers. You can also use :tabdo w, which is definitely exactly what you want, and generalizes nicely.

answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:19

Cascabel

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`:tabdo w` is not equivalent to `:wa`. If a tab has multiple windows open, `:tabdo w` will only save the currently focused window in each tab, whereas `:wa` will save all of them. `:wa` will also save hidden buffers. – Andrew Marshall Feb 08 '13 at 17:29

score 28 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 18 '15 at 21:20

28

Just do

:wa

(followed by return) which is a shorthand for

:wall

Also to "save everything and exit" you can do

:wqa or :xa

(="write-quit-all")

edited Apr 18 '15 at 21:20

kenorb

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answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:18

Paul

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score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 18 '15 at 21:20

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It's possible to suffix a[ll] for a number of Vim command-line commands (i.e. type : when in normal mode), include:

:wa - save all tabs / unsaved buffers
:xa/:wqa - save all tabs / unsaved buffers and exit Vim
:qa - exit vim (will warn if unsaved buffers exist)

edited Apr 18 '15 at 21:20

kenorb

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answered Aug 20 '14 at 12:30

snowbound

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score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:18

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To save all the files just use an a after the write command to write all the files.

:wa

answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:18

Colin Newell

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score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 22 '10 at 17:02

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And you can use :tabdo! w too, I'm just adding this, because it's useful for other things too (e.g. :tabdo! g/somepattern/ s/something/anything/... I use it all the time for refactoring purposes...)

answered Nov 22 '10 at 17:02

Zsolt Botykai

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I'd recommend a read on `help :g`, but in short, it only applies the next command (in my case the `s/something/anything/` to the lines, that matches `somepattern`). Yeah I know, that usually I can do that without the `:g`, but sometimes not (I used to match multiline regexes via `\\_.`), and the best part is `:g`'s little "sister" `:v`. – Zsolt Botykai Nov 22 '10 at 22:01
See [my comment on the other post above](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4246268/how-to-save-all-files-in-tabs-on-vim#comment20689678_4246310) for why `:tabdo w` may not work as expected. – Andrew Marshall Feb 08 '13 at 17:32
@AndrewMarshall Thanks TIL about those behavior of `:tabdo w`. – Zsolt Botykai Feb 10 '13 at 19:27

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:19

3

Check out :wall command

answered Nov 22 '10 at 14:19

Arnis Lapsa

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How to save all files in tabs on Vim?

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