This function calls a list of handlers until one returns true, indicating the event was handled. If no handler returns true, a default action is executed. Take for example, the following CloseScratch function. function! CloseScratch() if &buftype == "nofile" && &bufhidden == "hide" && !&swapfile bdelete return 1 endif return 0 endfunction Using RunHandlers I can now dynamically overload > to call this function (in normal mode), like so: Adding more handlers should be easy enough. In this case, CloseScratch is tried first, and if that fails DefaultEsc is called.