Tip #374: VIM's Filtering Commands Summary

Vim's Filtering Commands or how to get text into or out of a file

# Redirection to Paste register * (or any other a-z)
:redir @*                    : start redirect commands to paste buffer
:history
:g/fred/
etc etc
:redir END                   : end redirect

# Redirection to a file
:redir >> out.txt            : redirect to a file
blahblah
:redir END                   : end redirect

# Storing glob results in register a (note must use APPEND)
:g/fred/y A                  : append all lines fred to register a
# to a file (must use >>)
:'a,'b g/^Error/ . w >> errors.txt

# Get output from external commands
:r!ls.exe                    : reads in output of ls
!!date                       : same thing

# Filtering current file using an external command
:%!sort -u                   : use an external program to sort current file
:'a,'b!sort -u               : use an external program to sort current file

These tips are "filtered" from vimtip #353

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Additional Notes