echo expand('%') shows !/bin/zsh after :term about vim

[chrisbra]

that is correct however. Internally the terminal is a buffer with a name starting with ! + shell name

[Konfekt]

Okay, reading

When using '%' or '#', and the current or alternate file name
		is not defined, an empty string is used

I suspected that the buffer does not have a current file name. Maybe clarify in the Vim doc what a file name is.

[chrisbra]

it seems it is documented here:

vim/runtime/doc/terminal.txt

Lines 211 to 215 in 3f905ab

	A new buffer will be created, using [command] or
	'shell' as the name, prefixed with a "!". If a buffer
	by this name already exists a number is added in
	parentheses. E.g. if "gdb" exists the second terminal
	buffer will use "!gdb (1)".

I'll add a reference to it

[Konfekt]

Maybe easier: In :help expand(), where it says

			%		current file name
			#		alternate file name
			#n		alternate file name n

does it actually mean buffer name instead of file name? Until now I assumed %:p:h to give the path of the file of a buffer, but maybe % is rather the buffer name which coincides with the file name for a buffer showing a file.

[chrisbra]

A buffer is a view into a file typically. So a buffer name is typically also the file name. So that is correct.