Using the current file name (%) in command line mode when the file name contains spaces (or other special characters)

Question

I cannot figure out the general rules for using % to substitute the current file name/path into a command line mode command.

Here are examples.

I create a file te st.txt, open it in vim and try to save a copy named te st.txt.backup with :w %.backup. This works as expected.
From the same file, I try to print it to a PostScript file with :ha > %.ps. This time, instead of te st.txt.ps, I get a PostScript file te\ st.txt.ps.
If I do :exe "ha > " . expand("%") . ".ps", I get te st.txt.ps.

I do not follow the rules for using % in command line. Are they documented somewhere?

I think the problem is related to the :hardcopy command, as I can't see this behaviour with other commands. Perhaps it is a bug? If you use % after a :! command, you should note that the :S modifier can be useful to automatically escape e.g. spaces in paths. E.g. :!sort -u %:S. — Karl Yngve Lervåg, May 5, 2017 at 13:02

Alexey · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-04 20:13:38Z

1

This was a bug, it must be fixed with patch 8.0.0615.

answered Jun 4, 2017 at 20:13

Alexey

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