Managing Stale Buffers When Switching Git Branches in Vim

When switching between branches in Git, it’s possible that files you have open in Vim may have been modified outside of the editor, without you realizing it. This can lead to a situation where the buffer in Vim becomes stale and no longer reflects the current state of the file on disk.

To handle this more effectively, you can configure Vim to automatically detect and reload files when they change on disk. Here’s how you can set this up in your .vimrc:

1set autoread
2au CursorHold * checktime

• set autoread: This tells Vim to automatically reload a file if it has been modified externally.
• au CursorHold * checktime: This creates an auto-command that triggers a check whenever the cursor is idle for a brief moment (CursorHold). It checks whether the file has changed since it was last read.

With these settings in place, Vim will automatically reload the buffer if the file changes on disk, helping you stay in sync with the latest changes.

What if I’ve Made Changes to the File But Haven’t Saved?

If you’ve made local changes to the file and haven’t saved them, Vim will alert you that the file has been modified externally. You’ll then have the option to either:

• Save your changes and overwrite the external modifications.
• Reload the file from disk, discarding your changes.

This ensures that you can make informed decisions about how to handle the state of your file, avoiding conflicts between the file on disk and your in-memory buffer.