Vim: what happened to buffer 2?

Question

If I open a new instance of vim, and :ls the open buffers, I see:

1 %a   "[No Name]"                    line 1

Then when I open a file:

  1 %a   "Makefile"                     line 1

and another:

1 #h   "Makefile"                     line 1
3 %a   "start.sh"                     line 1

what happened to buffer 2? I'm using vim on linux, but I'm sure I've seen the same behaviour on mac os too. I know it doesn't really matter, but it always piqued my curiosity. I've googled it and found nothing, and I'm not sure I'm curious enough to read the source, but if anyone knows the answer I'd love to hear it!

$ vim --version
VIM - Vi IMproved 7.4 (2013 Aug 10, compiled Jan 14 2015 20:15:22)
Included patches: 1-580
Compiled by Arch Linux
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl             +farsi           +mouse_netterm   +syntax
+arabic          +file_in_path    +mouse_sgr       +tag_binary
+autocmd         +find_in_path    -mouse_sysmouse  +tag_old_static
-balloon_eval    +float           +mouse_urxvt     -tag_any_white
-browse          +folding         +mouse_xterm     -tcl
++builtin_terms  -footer          +multi_byte      +terminfo
+byte_offset     +fork()          +multi_lang      +termresponse
+cindent         +gettext         -mzscheme        +textobjects
-clientserver    -hangul_input    +netbeans_intg   +title
-clipboard       +iconv           +path_extra      -toolbar
+cmdline_compl   +insert_expand   +perl            +user_commands
+cmdline_hist    +jumplist        +persistent_undo +vertsplit
+cmdline_info    +keymap          +postscript      +virtualedit
+comments        +langmap         +printer         +visual
+conceal         +libcall         +profile         +visualextra
+cryptv          +linebreak       +python          +viminfo
+cscope          +lispindent      -python3         +vreplace
+cursorbind      +listcmds        +quickfix        +wildignore
+cursorshape     +localmap        +reltime         +wildmenu
+dialog_con      +lua             +rightleft       +windows
+diff            +menu            +ruby            +writebackup
+digraphs        +mksession       +scrollbind      -X11
-dnd             +modify_fname    +signs           -xfontset
-ebcdic          +mouse           +smartindent     -xim
+emacs_tags      -mouseshape      -sniff           -xsmp
+eval            +mouse_dec       +startuptime     -xterm_clipboard
+ex_extra        +mouse_gpm       +statusline      -xterm_save
+extra_search    -mouse_jsbterm   -sun_workshop    -xpm
   system vimrc file: "/etc/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H   -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2  -march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1      
Linking: gcc   -L. -Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro -fstack-protector -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic -Wl,-E -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib/perl5/core_perl/CORE  -Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro -L/usr/local/lib -Wl,--as-needed -o vim        -lm -lncurses -lelf -lnsl   -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl  -L/usr/lib -llua -Wl,-E -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib/perl5/core_perl/CORE -Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro -fstack-protector -L/usr/local/lib  -L/usr/lib/perl5/core_perl/CORE -lperl -lnsl -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lpthread -lc -L/usr/lib/python2.7/config -lpython2.7 -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm -Xlinker -export-dynamic   -lruby -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm  -L/usr/lib

Answer 1

It's still there, but it is an unlisted-buffer . Use :buffers! to see it.

From :h unlisted :

                        *unlisted-buffer*
unlisted    The buffer is not in the buffer list.  It is not used for
        normal editing, but to show a help file, remember a file name
        or marks.  The ":bdelete" command will also set this option,
        thus it doesn't completely delete the buffer.