To insert text from a file in the current Vim buffer I use :r filename to insert the text below the cursor or :0r filename to insert in the first line.
How do you insert the contents of a file where [Cursor] is located?
Actual line with some coding [Cursor] // TODO for later version
Line below actual line ...
This inserts the contents of the file whose path is at the cursor position:
:r <cfile>
Insert a line break, read the file, and then take out the line break...
I propose Ctrl-R Ctrl-O = join(readfile('filename','b'), "\n")
Other solution:
Possibly open the other file in another window, use :%yh (h is a register name) and in your original file, in normal mode use "hp or "hP or in insert mode, Ctrl-R Ctrl-O h
To expand on the accepted answer with actual code, since I tried the suggestion and it worked nicely;
Here is an example of it working to insert a little php snippet:
`nnoremap <leader>php a<CR><ESC>:.-1read $SNIPPETS/php<CR>I<BS><ESC>j0i<BS><ESC>l`
In general the syntax is
`nnoremap [KEY SEQUENCE] a<CR><ESC>:.-1read [FILE PATH]<CR>I<BS><ESC>j0i<BS><ESC>l`
Just to break it down:
nnoremap : I'm about to define a new key mapping for normal mode
<leader>php : I would like to trigger the command sequence when this key combination is pressed. In my case <leader> is , so I type ,php to trigger the command.
Now for the command, bit by bit:
a<CR><ESC> : go into insert mode (after the cursor), insert a line break, go back into normal mode.
:.-1read <file><CR> : this enters the desired file on the line above the current line.
I<BS><ESC> : jump to the start of the line, delete line break, return to normal mode.
j0i<BS><ESC>l : Go down one line (to the remainder of the line that you were initially on), jump to the start, enter insert mode, delete the line break, return to normal mode.
l : position the cursor to the right of the pasted file (this just made the command work more like how you expect it to).
note
You have a choice of whether to paste before or after the cursor. I have chosen in this example to paste after the cursor because that is how the p command usually works to paste yanked text. Alternately, to paste before the cursor you should change the a at the start of the command to an i. You could use one of these exclusively, or you could bind them both to different but related key sequences. For example:
`nnoremap <leader>php i<CR><ESC>:.-1read $SNIPPETS/php<CR>I<BS><ESC>j0i<BS><ESC>l`
Could paste text before the cursor,
and :
`nnoremap <leader><leader>php a<CR><ESC>:.-1read $SNIPPETS/php<CR>I<BS><ESC>j0i<BS><ESC>l`
could paste text after the cursor. Or vice versa. I have made 'before the cursor' easier to trigger because I use it more often when pasting in-line.
other note
This solution is mainly useful if you're reading from a file that you expect to use often enough that it's worthwhile setting up a key mapping for it (ie reading a snippet from a file). This doesn't really help if you just want to read in a random files whenever since you won't have the key mapping ready.
Since it is very formulaic, I'm sure it would be possible to define a function that would take the file name as an argument and do the same thing though. I've never written a function in vimscript though so if someone who knows more feels like editing this answer to contain that solution - I urge them to do so!
" put this in your ~/.vimrc
" in insert mode press ,n
"
imap ,n <c-r>=expand("%:p")<cr>
Read more in wikia.
Related
Assume a text file with 5 lines, each having a line break. This text file is opened in gvim. While in command mode and cursor in line number 1, the content of current line is yanked into default register.
How to paste/put yanked to different line number without moving the cursor? For example, cursor is in line number 1. Yanked content should be put in line number 4. How to do this in gvim without moving the cursor to line number 4?
The cursor position is an important part of command addressing; for interactive editing, it does not make sense to have commands that work "at a distance". (Inside Vimscript you can use low-level functions like setline() to modify arbitrary places, but that should not be part of normal use, and here I disagree with #SergioAraujo's answer, which presents this command as suitable for interactive use.)
Instead, Vim makes it easy to temporarily go to a location and then return back to where you came from. The :help jumplist and especially CTRL-O are for that. Your example paste you be done via 4Gp<C-O> or 4Gp``; to use Ex commands, you have to explicitly set the jump point: m':4put<CR>``. The advantage of working with the jumplist is that the paste target now also became part of it, so you can easily go forward (with <C-I>) to it, too.
Here an example:
:call setline(4, getline(4) . " " . #")
We are setting line 4 to line 4 itself plus space " "
plus default register #" .
Just In case you want just put the content
of the line 1 on the line 4 type:
:call setline(4, getline(1))
Use the :t command (a synonym for :copy). Examples:
:1t 4
:.t 4
Is it possible to reuse the range of ex commands in VIM?
As an example, I can write (copy) lines 4 to 10 from my current file to a new file using the following command:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
But what I really want to do is move the lines to a new file. I can do this like so:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
:4,10d
But it's a bit annoying to have to type 4,10 both times.
So I have two questions:
Generally, Is there a way to reference the previously used range in ex commands?
Specifically, if there is not a way to do (1), is there any easier way to cut and paste a number of lines from one file into a new one.
I usually use cat to do this:
:4,10!cat > foo/bar.txt
This works because you're piping the lines through cat and replacing them with the resulting output, which is nothing. And of course you can append to the end of an existing file by doing >> instead of >.
I am unaware of an answer to (1), but to answer (2), there are a number of different ways of doing it that don't require reselecting the lines by hand. In visual mode this will work:
4GV10G
:w foo/bar.txt
gvd
because gv reselects the previous selection, which is almost what you want, without using an ex range.
But you could just turn the problem on its head, and try:
:4,10d
:sp foo/bar.txt
pZZ
to cut, then paste into a new file, then close it.
Other than using the Vim history (:Cursor Up, q:) and removing the previous command so that just the range is kept, there's no way to re-use the last range, no magic variable.
If I used this move lines combination more often, I would write a custom command for it:
command! -bang -range -nargs=1 -complete=file MoveWrite <line1>,<line2>write<bang> <args> | <line1>,<line2>delete _
You need to specify the range only once and save typing.
You can write something like this for other combinations, too. The main challenge is specifying all the command attributes (bang, range, completion), and, later, remembering the custom command name.
Generally, what I do is delete the lines from the one file, switch to the other file, and paste.
Also, I generally use marks. Instead of typing the actual numbers, I hit mb to mark the beginning line, then go to the end line and hit d'b to delete back to the line marked as b. But you can use mb to mark a begin line, and me to mark an end line, then run an ex command:
:'b,'e w somefile.txt<Enter>
Of course you can use any letters from a through z for your marks; I usually use b and e but you can use what you like.
How I would move the lines:
m'b
<navigate to end line>
d'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
p
Ctrl+^
Ctrl+^ switches from the current open file to the previous open file. (You could also just open a pane and switch panes, if you prefer. Panes don't work in plain vi but do work in vim.)
The above assumes that you have set the autowrite option on. With autowrite, the :n command and Ctrl+^ both just write the current file and then switch files, instead of complaining that the file has been changed without you saving it. You can also do the above and just explicitly write the file before using :n or Ctrl+^.
By the way, I use Ctrl+^ so much that I mapped it onto K. Easier to type, but I got in that habit long ago when I used to have to sometimes use a dumb terminal that couldn't type Ctrl+^.
By the way, when you delete lines, they go into the "unnamed buffer". In vim, the unnamed buffer is preserved when you switch files. In original vi, the unnamed buffer is cleared. So the above won't work with old vi. You can make it work by deleting into a named buffer, then pasting from the named buffer; that works in any version of vi.
m'b
<navigate to end line>
"ad'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
"ap
Ctrl+^
The above deletes into the buffer named a, then pastes from a in the other file. This does work in vim of course; it's just that you don't need it.
Here's a command-line mapping that achieves this. I've bound it to CTRL-G CTRL-U, since it performs a similar action as CTRL-U. (But you can change that, of course!)
" c_CTRL-G_CTRL-U Remove all characters between the cursor position and
" the closest previous |:range| given to a command. When
" directly after a range, remove it.
" Useful to repeat a recalled command line with the same
" range, but a different command.
let s:singleRangeExpr = '\%(\d\+\|[.$%]\|''\S\|\\[/?&]\|/[^/]*/\|?[^?]*?\)\%([+-]\d*\)\?'
let s:rangeExpr = s:singleRangeExpr.'\%([,;]'.s:singleRangeExpr.'\)\?'
let s:upToRangeExpr = '^\%(.*\\\#<!|\)\?\s*' . s:rangeExpr . '\ze\s*\h'
" Note: I didn't take over the handling of command prefixes (:verbose, :silent,
" etc.) to avoid making this overly complex.
function! s:RemoveAllButRange()
let l:cmdlineBeforeCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), 0, getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:cmdlineAfterCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:upToRange = matchstr(l:cmdlineBeforeCursor, s:upToRangeExpr)
if empty(l:upToRange)
return getcmdline()
else
call setcmdpos(strlen(l:upToRange) + 1)
return l:upToRange . l:cmdlineAfterCursor
endif
endfunction
cnoremap <C-g><C-u> <C-\>e(<SID>RemoveAllButRange())<CR>
as a plugin
My CmdlineSpecialEdits plugin has (among many others) this mapping as well.
You can also do something like this to write the contents of the anonymous register to file2.txt
:4,10d | :call writefile(split(##, "\n", 1), 'file2.txt')
You can do the deleting first, and then open a new tab and paste the contents - so :4,10d, then :tabe foo/bar.txt, followed by p... does that sound better?
In Vim 8 and NVIM 0.3.7 as of writing, you can actually edit your command list and hit enter to execute.
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
q:
q: is to enter interactive ex command
Once you open the interactive command list, you can then edit it and press enter to execute.
I love moopet's answer though, it's efficient.
I noticed this accidentally when playing around in vimtutor. What's the difference between append and insert mode in Vim? When I type a in normal mode (not A) I can insert text. When should I use one and not the other?
The append command will put the cursor after the current position, while the insert command will put the cursor before it.
Using the append command is like moving the cursor one character to the right, and using the insert command.
Using the insert command is like moving the cursor one character to the left, and using the append command.
You choose which depending on where you want to start typing.
Note that vimtutor doesn't initially make the case of the command obvious:
SHIFT+A (capital A, as opposed to a) the cursor moves to the end of the current line.
SHIFT+I (capital I, as opposed to i)moves to the start of the current line.
Another important aspect on Append is that if the position after the current position is a empty space followed by a word. After you are done writing it will concatenate both words.
E.g. A file with the following text:
Hi there.
With the cursor on i. After pressing the a button and then ESC you would have:
Hithere.
Is it possible to reuse the range of ex commands in VIM?
As an example, I can write (copy) lines 4 to 10 from my current file to a new file using the following command:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
But what I really want to do is move the lines to a new file. I can do this like so:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
:4,10d
But it's a bit annoying to have to type 4,10 both times.
So I have two questions:
Generally, Is there a way to reference the previously used range in ex commands?
Specifically, if there is not a way to do (1), is there any easier way to cut and paste a number of lines from one file into a new one.
I usually use cat to do this:
:4,10!cat > foo/bar.txt
This works because you're piping the lines through cat and replacing them with the resulting output, which is nothing. And of course you can append to the end of an existing file by doing >> instead of >.
I am unaware of an answer to (1), but to answer (2), there are a number of different ways of doing it that don't require reselecting the lines by hand. In visual mode this will work:
4GV10G
:w foo/bar.txt
gvd
because gv reselects the previous selection, which is almost what you want, without using an ex range.
But you could just turn the problem on its head, and try:
:4,10d
:sp foo/bar.txt
pZZ
to cut, then paste into a new file, then close it.
Other than using the Vim history (:Cursor Up, q:) and removing the previous command so that just the range is kept, there's no way to re-use the last range, no magic variable.
If I used this move lines combination more often, I would write a custom command for it:
command! -bang -range -nargs=1 -complete=file MoveWrite <line1>,<line2>write<bang> <args> | <line1>,<line2>delete _
You need to specify the range only once and save typing.
You can write something like this for other combinations, too. The main challenge is specifying all the command attributes (bang, range, completion), and, later, remembering the custom command name.
Generally, what I do is delete the lines from the one file, switch to the other file, and paste.
Also, I generally use marks. Instead of typing the actual numbers, I hit mb to mark the beginning line, then go to the end line and hit d'b to delete back to the line marked as b. But you can use mb to mark a begin line, and me to mark an end line, then run an ex command:
:'b,'e w somefile.txt<Enter>
Of course you can use any letters from a through z for your marks; I usually use b and e but you can use what you like.
How I would move the lines:
m'b
<navigate to end line>
d'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
p
Ctrl+^
Ctrl+^ switches from the current open file to the previous open file. (You could also just open a pane and switch panes, if you prefer. Panes don't work in plain vi but do work in vim.)
The above assumes that you have set the autowrite option on. With autowrite, the :n command and Ctrl+^ both just write the current file and then switch files, instead of complaining that the file has been changed without you saving it. You can also do the above and just explicitly write the file before using :n or Ctrl+^.
By the way, I use Ctrl+^ so much that I mapped it onto K. Easier to type, but I got in that habit long ago when I used to have to sometimes use a dumb terminal that couldn't type Ctrl+^.
By the way, when you delete lines, they go into the "unnamed buffer". In vim, the unnamed buffer is preserved when you switch files. In original vi, the unnamed buffer is cleared. So the above won't work with old vi. You can make it work by deleting into a named buffer, then pasting from the named buffer; that works in any version of vi.
m'b
<navigate to end line>
"ad'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
"ap
Ctrl+^
The above deletes into the buffer named a, then pastes from a in the other file. This does work in vim of course; it's just that you don't need it.
Here's a command-line mapping that achieves this. I've bound it to CTRL-G CTRL-U, since it performs a similar action as CTRL-U. (But you can change that, of course!)
" c_CTRL-G_CTRL-U Remove all characters between the cursor position and
" the closest previous |:range| given to a command. When
" directly after a range, remove it.
" Useful to repeat a recalled command line with the same
" range, but a different command.
let s:singleRangeExpr = '\%(\d\+\|[.$%]\|''\S\|\\[/?&]\|/[^/]*/\|?[^?]*?\)\%([+-]\d*\)\?'
let s:rangeExpr = s:singleRangeExpr.'\%([,;]'.s:singleRangeExpr.'\)\?'
let s:upToRangeExpr = '^\%(.*\\\#<!|\)\?\s*' . s:rangeExpr . '\ze\s*\h'
" Note: I didn't take over the handling of command prefixes (:verbose, :silent,
" etc.) to avoid making this overly complex.
function! s:RemoveAllButRange()
let l:cmdlineBeforeCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), 0, getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:cmdlineAfterCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:upToRange = matchstr(l:cmdlineBeforeCursor, s:upToRangeExpr)
if empty(l:upToRange)
return getcmdline()
else
call setcmdpos(strlen(l:upToRange) + 1)
return l:upToRange . l:cmdlineAfterCursor
endif
endfunction
cnoremap <C-g><C-u> <C-\>e(<SID>RemoveAllButRange())<CR>
as a plugin
My CmdlineSpecialEdits plugin has (among many others) this mapping as well.
You can also do something like this to write the contents of the anonymous register to file2.txt
:4,10d | :call writefile(split(##, "\n", 1), 'file2.txt')
You can do the deleting first, and then open a new tab and paste the contents - so :4,10d, then :tabe foo/bar.txt, followed by p... does that sound better?
In Vim 8 and NVIM 0.3.7 as of writing, you can actually edit your command list and hit enter to execute.
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
q:
q: is to enter interactive ex command
Once you open the interactive command list, you can then edit it and press enter to execute.
I love moopet's answer though, it's efficient.
I only know of one instance using registers is via CtrlR* whereby I paste text from a clipboard.
What are other uses of registers? How to use them?
Everything you know about VI registers (let's focus on vi 7.2) -- share with us.
Registers in Vim let you run actions or commands on text stored within them. To access a register, you type "a before a command, where a is the name of a register. If you want to copy the current line into register k, you can type
"kyy
Or you can append to a register by using a capital letter
"Kyy
You can then move through the document and paste it elsewhere using
"kp
To paste from system clipboard on Linux
"+p
To paste from system clipboard on Windows (or from "mouse highlight" clipboard on Linux)
"*p
To access all currently defined registers type
:reg
I was pleased when I discovered the 0 register. If you yank text without assigning it to a particular register, then it will be assigned to the 0 register, as well as being saved in the default " register. The difference between the 0 and " registers is that 0 is only populated with yanked text, whereas the default register is also populated with text deleted using d/D/x/X/c/C/s/S commands.
I find this useful when I want to copy some text, delete something and replace it with the copied text. The following steps illustrate an example:
Yank the text you want to copy with y[motion] - this text is saved in " and 0 registers
Delete the text you want to replace with d[motion] - this text is saved in " register
Paste the yanked text with "0p
where " is the command to use a register for the next command.
On the final step, if you were to paste from the default register (with p), it would use the text that you had just deleted (probably not what you intended).
Note that p or P pastes from the default register. The longhand equivalent would be ""p (or ""P) and "0 holds the last yank, "1holds the last delete or change.
For more info see :help registers.
One of my favorite parts about registers is using them as macros!
Let's say you are dealing with a tab-delimited value file as such:
ID Df %Dev Lambda
1 0 0.000000 0.313682
2 1 0.023113 0.304332
3 1 0.044869 0.295261
4 1 0.065347 0.286460
5 1 0.084623 0.277922
6 1 0.102767 0.269638
7 1 0.119845 0.261601
Now you decide that you need to add a percentage sign at the end of the %Dev field (starting from 2nd line). We'll make a simple macro in the (arbitrarily selected) m register as follows:
Press: qm: To start recording macro under m register.
EE: Go to the end of the 3rd column.
a: Insert mode to append to the end of this column.
%: Type the percent sign we want to add.
<ESC>: Get back into command mode.
j0: Go to beginning of next line.
q: Stop recording macro
We can now just type #m to run this macro on the current line. Furthermore, we can type ## to repeat, or 100#m to do this 100 times! Life's looking pretty good.
At this point you should be saying, "But what does this have to do with registers?"
Excellent point. Let's investigate what is in the contents of the m register by typing "mp. We then get the following:
EEa%<ESC>j0
At first this looks like you accidentally opened a binary file in notepad, but upon second glance, it's the exact sequence of characters in our macro!
You are a curious person, so let's do something interesting and edit this line of text to insert a ! instead of boring old %.
EEa!<ESC>j0
Then let's yank this into the n register by typing B"nyE. Then, just for kicks, let's run the n macro on a line of our data using #n....
It added a !.
Essentially, running a macro is like pressing the exact sequence of keys in that macro's register. If that isn't a cool register trick, I'll eat my hat.
Other useful registers:
"* or "+ - the contents of the system clipboard
"/ - last search command
": - last command-line command.
Note with vim macros, you can edit them, since they are just a list of the keystrokes used when recording the macro. So you can write to a text file the macro (using "ap to write macro a) and edit them, and load them into a register with "ay$. Nice way of storing useful macros.
The black hole register _ is the /dev/null of registers.
I use it in my vimrc to allow deleting single characters without updating the default register:
noremap x "_x
and to paste in visual mode without updating the default register:
vnoremap p "_dP
If you ever want to paste the contents of the register in an ex-mode command, hit <C-r><registerletter>.
Why would you use this? I wanted to do a search and replace for a longish string, so I selected it in visual mode, started typing out the search/replace expression :%s/[PASTE YANKED PHRASE]//g and went on my day.
If you only want to paste a single word in ex mode, can make sure the cursor is on it before entering ex mode, and then hit <C-r><C-w> when in ex mode to paste the word.
To make it more convenient :
cnoremap <c-g> <c-r>"
cnoremap <C-Right> <c-r><c-w>
A cool trick is to use "1p to paste the last delete/change (, and then use . to repeatedly to paste the subsequent deletes. In other words, "1p... is basically equivalent to "1p"2p"3p"4p.
You can use this to reverse-order a handful of lines:
dddddddddd"1p....
I think the secret guru register is the expression = register. It can be used for creative mappings.
:inoremap \d The current date <c-r>=system("date")<cr>
You can use it in conjunction with your system as above or get responses from custom VimL functions etc.
or just ad hoc stuff like
<c-r>=35+7<cr>
q5 records edits into register 5 (next q stops recording)
:reg show all registers and any contents in them
#5 execute register 5 macro (recorded edits)
From vim's help page:
CTRL-R {0-9a-z"%#:-=.} *c_CTRL-R* *c_<C-R>*
Insert the contents of a numbered or named register. Between
typing CTRL-R and the second character '"' will be displayed
<...snip...>
Special registers:
'"' the unnamed register, containing the text of
the last delete or yank
'%' the current file name
'#' the alternate file name
'*' the clipboard contents (X11: primary selection)
'+' the clipboard contents
'/' the last search pattern
':' the last command-line
'-' the last small (less than a line) delete
'.' the last inserted text
*c_CTRL-R_=*
'=' the expression register: you are prompted to
enter an expression (see |expression|)
(doesn't work at the expression prompt; some
things such as changing the buffer or current
window are not allowed to avoid side effects)
When the result is a |List| the items are used
as lines. They can have line breaks inside
too.
When the result is a Float it's automatically
converted to a String.
See |registers| about registers. {not in Vi}
<...snip...>
I use the default register to grep for text in my vim window without having to reach for the mouse.
yank text
:!grep "<CTRL-R>0"<CR>
Use registers in commands with #. E.g.:
echo #a
echo #0
echo #+
Set them in command:
let #a = 'abc'
Now "ap will paste abc.
One overlooked register is the '.' dot register which contains the last inserted text no matter how it was inserted eg ct] (change till ]). Then you realise you need to insert it elsewhere but can't use the dot repeat method.
:reg .
:%s/fred/<C-R>./
A big source of confusion is the default register ". It is important to know the way it works. It is much better if the default register is avoided most of the times. The explanation from the Vim documentation:
Vim fills this register with text deleted with the "d", "c", "s", "x" commands
or copied with the yank "y" command, regardless of whether or not a specific
register was used (e.g. "xdd). This is like the unnamed register is pointing
to the last used register.
So the default register is actually a pointer to the last used register. When you delete, or yank something this register is going to point to other registers. You can test that by checking the registers. There is always another register that is exactly the same as the default register: the yank register ("0) , the first delete register("1) , small delete register("-) or any other register that was used to delete or yank.
The only exception is the black hole register. Vim doc says:
An exception is the '_' register: "_dd does not store the deleted text in any
register.
Usually you are much better off by using directly: "0, "- and "1-"9 default registers or named registers.
My favorite register is the ':' register. Running #: in Normal mode allows me to repeat the previously ran ex command.
So we can verify some commands in with :MY_commandXXXXX then put MY_commandXXXXX in vimrc
My friend Brian wrote a comprehensive article on this. I think it is a great intro to how to use topics. https://www.brianstorti.com/vim-registers/
My favorite feature is the ability to append into registers by using capital letters. For example, say you want to move a subset of imports from buffer X to buffer Y.
Go to line x1 in buffer X.
Type "ayy to replace register a with the content of line x1.
Go to line x5.
Type "Ayy (capital A) to append line x5 at the end of register a.
Go to buffer Y and type "ap to paste
<content of line x1>
<content of line x5>