copying selected text using vi

aceone · 11-20-2010, 04:03 AM

hi,
how can i copy and paste selected text from one file to other using vi in RHEL5.i googled and found some methods,like

just use m to mark the start, with an arbitrary buffer name (so you might type mx). Move your cursor down to where you want to stop copying, and type y'x (or d'x if you're cutting and pasting). Then move the cursor to the point where you want to paste, and type p.

when i do this it pastes the entire line of which a part is selected so in essence it is working as yy.
when i open a new file using vi and try to paste it says "nothing in register".what i exactly want to do is copy only the selected text as shown above in red and paste it in a new file.
plz guide

thanks & regards

honeybadger · 11-20-2010, 04:23 AM

I found a way out to deal with this one

You have to open the file in a new tab (esc :newtab) and than press 'p' and it would be pasted.
Hope this works for you too.

colucix · 11-20-2010, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceone

when i do this it pastes the entire line of which a part is selected so in essence it is working as yy.

To copy part of a line you can simply use the y (yank) command:

Code:

yw   copies a single word
yNw  where N is a number copies N words
ye   avoids copying the blank space after the word
yNe  same as above for multiple words
y$   copies form the cursor position to the end of the line

To paste it into another file, you can copy the text, then edit another file inside the same vi session using the edit command

Code:

:e newfile

and paste with p. Hope this helps.

colucix · 11-20-2010, 04:56 AM

I forgot to mention that you can copy/paste any portion of text by entering in Visual Mode. Just press v to switch to visual, then move the cursor using the arrows keys to select text, then use y and p to copy and paste respectively.

catkin · 11-20-2010, 05:50 AM

According to Hewlett Packard's excellent "The Ultimate Guide to the vi and ex Text Editors", the ʾ is used for marking lines and the ʻ for marking character positions. In case you can't see the difference the first is a closing single quote and the second an opening single quote, the characters that are sometimes known as "smart single quotes" in word-processing, hex codes 02BE and 02BB.

That's not much use on IBM-PC style keyboards which have neither. The ' character which they do have is treated as the closing single quote so is a line marker as described earlier.

If using a terminal with copy and paste facilities the text can be copied and pasted, the pasting working as if the text were typed so best to be in input mode! The copy will also copy line numbers if displayed so :se nu! is useful.

Vim is hugely configurable so it may be possible to redfine some other character to be equivalent to the opening single quote.

catkin · 11-20-2010, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

I forgot to mention that you can copy/paste any portion of text by entering in Visual Mode. Just press v to switch to visual, then move the cursor using the arrows keys to select text, then use y and p to copy and paste respectively.

Hi colucix

That's a nice technique, new to me.

colucix · 11-20-2010, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

Hi colucix

That's a nice technique, new to me.

Hi catkin! Just noticed you've reached 5000 posts and acquired the guru title... congratulations!

Sorry for the off-topic.

catkin · 11-20-2010, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

Hi catkin! Just noticed you've reached 5000 posts and acquired the guru title... congratulations!

Thank you kindly.