Using buffers in vim

Using buffer is simply a way to open multiple documents in a single vim session.

For example, you want to open /etc/passwd, and copy some of it contents into a new file called /tmp/mylist. 

What you would do:

1. open /etc/passwd

$ vim /etc/passwd

2. while in vim, open a new buffer 

:e /tmp/mylist

3. To list all opened buffers, we can use :ls. This is also a way you can know the buffer number

:ls

4. To move to a buffer number

:b <buffer number>

5. We can also use some part of the file name to move to the buffer that the file is opened

:b passwd

6. We can also use :bn to go to the next buffer in the list, or :bp to go to the previous buffer in the list

7. To copy contents between buffer

• highlight the text that you want to copy in the current buffer (v)
• then use the usual yank (y) to copy the highlighted texts
• switch to the target buffer using (:bp), (:bn), (:b number) or (:b filename)
• paste using paste command (p)