# Buffer Time Travel Vim allows you to go to an *earlier* text state for a buffer with `:earlier`. For instance, if you want to see the state of the buffer from 10 minutes ago: ``` :earlier 10m ``` Similarly, you can move back toward the present text state of the buffer with `:later`. If 10 minutes earlier was too far, you can come back 5 minutes like so: ``` :later 5m ``` I encountered these in [Nick Nisi's 'Vim + Tmux'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r6yzFEXajQ) talk.