How do I close all tabs and buffers except the current one?

Explanation

When your Vim session becomes cluttered with many tabs and buffers, you can clean up by closing all tabs except the current one with :tabonly, then deleting all buffers with :%bdelete, and reopening the current file with :edit #.

How it works

• :tabonly — close all tab pages except the current one
• :%bdelete — delete all buffers (but keeps the window)
• :edit # — reopen the alternate file (your current file before bdelete)
• Combined: cleans up everything and leaves you with just one file

Example

" Close everything except current file
:tabonly | %bdelete | edit #

Before: 5 tabs, 15 buffers open
After:  1 tab, 1 buffer (your current file)

Tips

• Use :%bdelete | edit # alone if you don't use tabs
• :bufdo bdelete is an alternative that processes buffers one by one
• Add ! to force close modified buffers: :%bdelete!
• For buffers only: :1,1000bdelete deletes buffers 1-1000 (skips current if not in range)