A common pattern I find myself doing in a non-vim text editor is:
Cmd a Cmd c
to copy all the content in the entire file, and then open a new file and
Cmd v
to then paste in all that content. When all is said and done, I can usually do this entire copy-paste in about 0.5s. What would be the most common/efficient way to do this in vim?
I do the same quite often by running the following commands: ggVGy.
The first command, gg, jumps to the beginning of the file. Then we select the entire first line with V. Still in visual mode, we jump to the end of the file with G, before copying (yanking) everything with y.
You can make this even faster and easier by mapping all of these commands to one key. With the mapping below, pressing the leader key and X will copy the entire file.
nnoremap <leader>X ggVGy
If you need the content to be available to the system clipboard, and not only in Vim, you should use "+y instead of y. This will yank to the "+ register used for the system clipboard. You can find more information on this topic in this question.
Related
I've read this How to make vim paste from (and copy to) system's clipboard? and I know what the hotkeys are. But I'm unable to execute any of those commands. For example, what exactly should I press to call
"* or "+? In which mode also? I've tried different things and none of them worked.
I am assuming you've double-checked that :echo has('clipboard') returns 1. If it returns 0, you're out of luck since vim isn't compiled with access to the system clipboard.
If you have clipboard powers, then yanking and pasting inside of vim is done with pressing just the letter y and the letter p, in normal mode. Start doing this first, to confirm that you can yank and paste inside of vim. For instance, yank a line: yy and paste it p.
Next, confirm that you can yank inside of vim to the system clipboard with "*y. (That means pressing the double-quote (shift-'), then an asterix (shift-8), then the letter y, all in quick-ish succession. Toggle over to another app and paste with the regular control-V. (You may be able to look at the bottom left of status line to see what you are literally typing, which might help).
If that works, then the clipboard functionality is "good to go." If it doesn't you might need to tweak your .vimrc to get things working. Try setting the clipboard to unnamed: set clipboard=unnamed and retest step 3 again.
According to official vim wiki copying any text into system clipboard is a something I've never expected to see in a text editor created by humans.
gg"+yG – copy the entire buffer into + (normal mode)
Copy/Pasting between the browser and a text file with 6 keystrokes is something I refuse to accept as normality.
Are there any sane alternatives?
It's not difficult, it's powerful. As the yank command takes a {motion}, you can copy arbitrary (and precisely selected) text areas, all with the same command. Likewise, "+ is just one destination of many, and Vim's named registers are very useful.
You may have noticed that most people (sometimes heavily) customize their Vim setup. On top of the powerful editing abstractions, that puts it on yet another level (at the expense of now being dependent on your Vim configuration).
So, if you need to copy the entire buffer to the system clipboard often, create your own shortcut, and persist it in your ~/.vimrc. For example:
:nnoremap <F2> :%yank +<CR>
There you have it: copying with a single keystroke (cp. :help key-notation for how keys are specified; as function keys are sparse, I would prefer <Leader>y instead).
If you often yank (various areas) to the system clipboard, making that the default register might also be worthwhile:
:set clipboard^=unnamedplus
To break it down:
gg
Move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer
"+
Set the target for copy to the system clipboard register
yG
Copy ("yank") everything from the cursor position to the end of the buffer (i.e. the whole file).
To give another example. If you want to copy just the current word to the clipboard you might perform:
"+yw
Since "w" is the command to move the cursor to the end of the current word.
If you want to shorten a regularly repeated action you could record a macro, or map a keyboard shortcut.
When I want to copy a whole file I just do :%y+
: Enter ex command
y[ank]
+ To clipboard register
I want to select all the text from the vim editor, I tried the command :%y+ but getting error E850: Invalid register name. I get this command from this link. Please help me how to copy all the text from file which is open in vim. They are using yank, what is meaning of it..
I had a similar problem. Don't know why you got so many down votes.
The problem is that you haven't installed vim-gnome which takes about 24 MB and adds a feature to the inbuilt vim.
sudo apt-get install vim-gnome
then your command will work. :%y+ This command will copy all the text in system's clipboard.
TLDR: If you want to copy text in Vim to the system clipboard type ggVG"*y. Explanation below...
Vim runs in the terminal and, depending upon how you are using it and which type of Vim you are running, it's not really designed for you to select text with a mouse and copy and paste in the traditional way.
If you want to select all of the text using Vim then use ggVGy (note the uppercase VG in the middle). This command moves the cursor to the top of the file, enters visual mode, moves to the bottom of the file (thus, selecting all of the text) and then yanks (copies) it. You can then use p to put (paste) this code but only inside of Vim.
If you want to copy to the clipboard to use somewhere outside of Vim then try this:
First, select everything using the commands outlined above but without the final y: (ggVG). Then press "*y. This should now copy it to your operating system's clipboard and you can just paste (Ctrl/Cmd+v) anywhere you want outside of Vim. This can vary depending on what settings you have for Vim but it should work.
A brief explanation of the commands used. gg goes to the top of the file. V enters visual mode by lines. G goes to the end of the file. y yanks (copies) the text but not to the clipboard. p puts (pastes) the text.
The more advanced (i.e. cool) stuff:
" allows you to access registers. For example "a provides access to register a.
The * is the system clipboard so "* provides access to the system keyboard. Therefore, "*y yanks into the system clipboard.
While there's a great explanation of how to exploit the system clipboard in vim, it sounds like you're just having trouble getting your vim to access the clipboard in the first place. Try installing vim-gnome, it gives you the packages you need to get to the system clipboard.
For some reason, "* didn't work for me, but the exact same command with the "+ register did.
To select the whole file you can jump to the beginning, start visual mode, jump to the end:
ggVG
This question is a few years old now, but I had this same problem on Linux Mint 18. I found using xclip worked for me. You can map the command vmap <F7> :!xclip -sel c<CR><CR> in your .vimrc to have your current selection in visual mode copied to the system clipboard.
Here is a thread containing the above (and other) solutions.
You can use
Vggy/vggy or,
VGy/VGy
To visually select any number of text and then copy it, in your case it is gg / G as you want all text on the file,
gg is to copy while your cursor is at bottom of the file, gg for go to top
G is to copy while your cursor is at top of the file
Or even you can always use
Vk(as number of time)y to copy the selected lines of text.
I am editing a dictionary in a text file, containing Russian words - one word per line.
Some nouns are missing their derivatives, which are usually the same word appended by few more letters - in 6-7 variations as shown in this screenshot:
In Vim I would like to put the cursor in the first column and scroll down line by line. And when I recognize a noun, I'd like to press some (as few as possible!) keystrokes to take that word, copy it in separate lines and append the letters.
I can get rid of the duplicates by issuing %sort u later.
If I could run that command on the whole file it would be something like:
%s/\(.\+\)$/\1^M\1а^M\1ам^M\1ами^M\1ах^M\1е^M\1ном^M/
Do you please have an idea, how to create such a "macro" in Vim?
There are a couple of ways that you can handle this. You can create a macro or you can create a map. Either can be done while running VIM. Either can be placed in another file (your .vimrc, for example, or a file with bindings specific to this project) and sourced when needed.
I will also give you a bit more advice with regular expressions: if you are writing something particularly complex, you can greatly decrease the number of \s needed by starting the regular expression with \v (i.e., :s/\v([0-9a-f]+\s)/0x\1/g).
Creating a Macro in VIM
You can start a macro in VIM by pressing q in Normal mode, followed by the key that you wish to use for the macro. You can then invoke the macro by pressing # followed by the macro's letter. Press q again in Normal mode to stop recording.
You can therefore enter this macro as follows (using the q register):
qq:s/\(.\+\)$/\1\r\1а\r\1ам\r\1ами\r\1ах\r\1е\r\1ном\r/Enterq
Then, when you are on a line and you want to run this command, enter #q from Normal mode.
Storing a macro in a file and sourcing it
When you created a macro in the last step, what you were actually doing was setting the q register. You can check this by entering the registers in command mode. You can instead set this macro in your .vimrc file as follows and it will be available every time you start VIM.
Create the file you want to store this macro in (:new).
Add the following line to the file:
let #q=":s/\\(.\\+\\)$/\\1\\r\\1a\\r\\1b\\r\\1ам\\r\\1ами\\r\\1ах\\r\\1е\\r\\1ном\\r/^M"
(If you yank the line and paste it in VIM with Ctrl+R", there will be a proper ^M character at the end of the line. You'll need to do some manual editing to make sure that it's inside the quotes. Alternatively, you can enter Ctrl+VCtrl+M to enter the ^M character.)
Save the file (:w testmacro.vim).
Source it (:so % or :source %).
Test your macro by typing #q on one of the lines you'd like to do this to.
Later, you will be able to load this macro by running :so testmacro.vim.
Create a Mapping
You can instead create a mapping. The following mapping copies the last word in a given line, pastes it onto the following six lines, and then appends to each of the given lines.
nnoremap <c-j> yy6pAа<esc>jAам<esc>jAами<esc>jAах<esc>jAе<esc>jAном<esc>j
n at the beginning of "nnoremap" indicates that it only functions in Normal mode.
noremap means that this command won't engage in any recursive remapping (whereas with nmap, this could happen).
<c-j> maps to Ctrl+J
yy6p yanks the line and pastes it 6 times.
Aa<esc>j appends to the end of the current line, enters the text (in this case a), exits Insert mode, and moves down a line.
You can enter this command in VIM's command mode or you can store it in a file and load it with the :source command.
Combining Registers with Mappings
You can access a register in your mappings. This means that if you know that entering a given replacement regex will do what you want, you can save that in a register and then enter your command on the current line.
To do this, enter the following commands in a file and then source it:
nnoremap <c-i> :<c-r>f<cr>
let #f="s/\\(.\\+\\)$/\\1\\r\\1a\\r\\1b\\r\\1ам\\r\\1ами\\r\\1ах\\r\\1е\\r\\1ном\\r/^M"
Now you can enter Ctrl+I to run the replacement regex in register f on the current line.
Alternatively, dedicate a few registers to the purpose - let's say a-f.
nnoremap <c-l> yy6p$"apj"bpj"cpj"dpj"epj"fpj
let #a="a"
let #b="ам"
let #c="ами"
let #d="ax"
let #e="e"
let #f="ном
In this case, we're using the ability to press " and the name of a register before hitting a command that uses it, such as paste.
You can record macros by pressing q in the escape mode. For example,
position your cursor on the noun you want to edit.
press qa to start recording macro and store it in register a (other alphabet and digits may also be used for registers) .
do whatever general actions you want to do (copy line, paste, append letters, etc. as in you have tried to show in your search string).
once you are done with the changes, in escape mode press q again.
Your macro is now created in register a. Whenever, you want to repeat your key sequences, just press #a.
Note that you can do anything in recording mode, including any kinds of commands, insertions, cursor movements, and so on. For more information on macros and related options, check out Vim help :h complex-repeat.
Vim registers are shared as place holders for both macros and yanked test; this feature allows you to even save and edit your macros in a file. See this question for details.
Here is a map solution - which copies the line into a buffer and then pastes using p.
The A appends at the end of the line
map <F2> 0dwpo<esc>pAa<enter><esc>pAam<enter><esc>pAax ...etc
If your goal is, when your cursor on a special word, and press something, vim will append different "suffixes" (I hope I used the right word, but you knew what I mean). You could go macro (q). However since you have already written the :s command, you could create a mapping using that command do the same, and it would be shorter.
in command line, you can get the word under cursor by pressing <c-r><c-w>. so you could try:
nnoremap <leader>z :s/<c-r><c-w>/& & &..../<cr>
I didn't write the & & &... part, since I don't know (never tried, I don't have vim under windows. I don't even have windows) if the line break \n could be used here under windows. & means the whole matched part, which in this case is the word under your cursor.
So you just move your cursor to the word, type <leader>z, vim will do the job for you. (if the replacement part is correct :) ).
I use vim (Actually gvim on windows) as my main text editor. In my work flow I have to copy sentences to/from various external sources, therefore I use clipboard=unnamed to save me key strokes (p instead of "*p).
I copy text from an outer source and I want to paste it over two different places in vim. I mark the first one (v) and then use p to paste over it. The problem is that at this point I lose the original buffer and can't paste it in the second place. It does not exist in the unnamed buffer, the * buffer or the numbered buffers. My guess is that pasting over selection is putting the "pasted over" text in the unnamed buffer.
How can I paste my original string in two locations? i.e. prevent it from getting lost from the buffers.
Thanks.
Try this:
:vmap p "_xP
vmap means to make a mapping that only applies in visual mode.
p is the key to create the mapping for.
"_ is the black hole register. This is used in any situation where you want to delete text without affecting any registers.
xP means delete the selected text, then paste before the resulting cursor position.
You could set up a mapping to ease your pain:
:vmap <F5> "zxP
This will delete the visually selected text, but put it in a different register, so the clipboard isn't affected. Change <F5> to whatever is easiest for you.
I don't know if I misunderstand you but I tried what you are doing and I have no problem in doing that with the + drop-register.
My workflow:
copy a sentence in an external application (ie. browser)
visual select a sentence in vim and replaced it with "+p or p (with clipboard=unnamed set)
visually select another sentence and replace it with "+p
Sadly when pasting the second time you have to explicitly paste from the + register. Therefore I would recommend a mapping for p/P instead of using clipboard=unnamed
nmap p "+p
Try using
:registers
to see the contents of the different registers.
I don't know how to do that on Windows. With KDE, the clipboard has a history that you can select from, so you could do the paste, select the previous selection from the clipboard, and paste in the new location.
That said, it sounds like it might make more sense for you to have it in only one location, then write a script to take that input and create the output you need. Can you elaborate more on what it is you are trying to accomplish?
Check the value of the 'guioptions' options. Make sure the 'a' flag is not set. Also, check that the 'clipboard' option and verify that neither the 'unnamed' or 'autoselect' flags are set.
:set go-=a
:set clipboard-=unnamed