How to Close a Tab in Vim

To close a tab in vim, use :tabclose

Ally Piechowski · · 1 min read
How to Close a Tab in Vim

In order to close a tab in vim, in normal mode type :tabclose (or the shorthand :tabc).

This will close the current tab page and all of its windows.

If you only have one tab open, vim will give you an error. Use :q instead.

You can read more by typing :help tabclose, which outputs this message:

:tabc[lose][!]    Close current tab page.
        This command fails when:
        - There is only one tab page on the screen.
        - When 'hidden' is not set, [!] is not used, a buffer has
          changes, and there is no other window on this buffer.
        Changes to the buffer are not written and won't get lost, so
        this is a "safe" command. >
                    :tabclose   " close the current tab page

Looking to open a new tab instead? See How to Open a New Tab in Vim.

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