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Let's say I want to edit the text

blahblah WombatModeFunctor

to be

blahblah WombatModeFunctor::WombatModeFunctor

The way I know to do it is:

  1. Move the caret (cursor) until it is over the W
  2. Use yw to yank the word
  3. Move the caret 1 position to the left of the W

  4. Use p to paste the yanked word. Now you have:

    blahblah WombatModeFunctorWombatModeFunctor

but the caret is over the first 'r', so you have to

  1. Move the caret 1 position to the right of the r
  2. Enter INSERT mode
  3. Type ::

My questions are:

  • Why is step 3 necessary? It seems silly that a p right after a yw would cause a pasting after the first letter of the word you just yanked.
  • Why is step 5 necessary? It seems more intuitive that the caret would be after the final pasted character, not on top of it
  • Is there a more efficient vim incantation for this action?
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2 Answers 2

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4
  1. Step 3 is not necessary, you can use P instead of p.
  2. Step 5 is not necessary, you can use a instead of i to enter insert mode.

An alternative approach is this, assuming cursor is on the first W:

C<c-r>"::<c-r>"

Here C will delete the text from the cursor to the end of line, then enter insert mode and <c-r>" (from insert mode) will paste the content of the last used register.

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3
  • Thanks. I would have expected p to behave as P and i to behave as a, since the behavior I wanted seems like the more-common need. (Indeed, I cannot think of any case where I would want the behavior of p.)
    – Cognitive Hazard
    May 13, 2017 at 7:24
  • 2
    Actually, these are minor but important differences. I use both i, a, p and P often. It is all about understanding the different commands and when to apply them. i and P acts in front of normal mode cursor, while a and p acts after. Both behaviours are useful in different scenarios.
    – Karl Yngve Lervåg
    May 13, 2017 at 8:09
  • @RyanV.Bissell You'll probably want p if you want to paste after the end of the line...
    – 8bittree
    May 15, 2017 at 15:48
2

With caret at the beginning of the line: wy$Pa::

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3
  • Very nice! It's clear that I should spend more time thinking about how to economize my vim incantations.
    – Cognitive Hazard
    May 13, 2017 at 15:03
  • 1
    If you want to be even more economic, you might consider mapping Y to y$. This provides a nice analog to D and is often useful. It's old functionality will still be available to you via yy (which normally duplicates Y).
    – Octaviour
    Jun 8, 2017 at 12:37
  • Totally agree @Octaviour, I use Y a lot. I also enjoy the extra eye-candy of haya14busa/vim-operator-flashy's plugin, makes yanking feel better.
    – rafi
    Jun 8, 2017 at 13:53

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