:o! vs :vi!/:e! (was: error message issue)

On Sat, Aug 04, 2012 at 04:50:20PM -0400, shawn wilson wrote:
> so, i go to open a file:
> :o t2.pl
> E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)
>
> ok, fine:
> :o! t2.pl
> E477: No ! allowed
>
> so, what is the issue and shouldn't the error be better / more descriptive?

Yepp, there is an inconsitency between ":open! file" and
":visual! file"/":edit! file" (The latter two silently
drop your old changes).

In Joy's good old vi :open stood for something
completely different, namely switch to a mode
suited for really dumb terminals.

Vi clones don't have this open mode, so :open
was aliased to :visual in Vim.

But to implement the ! flag was forgotten, as
nearly everyone would use :edit to load
another file, I guess.

flori

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