Most efficient way to replace the entire buffer?

Question

Currently, I have two similar methods to replace the entire buffer with some other text (say in clipboard).

Method #1:

1. delete all lines: :%d.

2. paste text: "+P ( or similar: :put+).

Method #2:

1. visually select all lines: ggVG.

2. paste text: "+P.

However I couldn't seem to find an one-command-fire way to do that. The most close one I found is :change command. But it doesn't seem to work well with registers. Of course I can create some function and/or map a key to do that. But before I could make all these customizations, I want to make sure:

Is there some built-in command to replace a range of lines with some other text? Like, you could :%replace+ to replace the entire buffer with text in clipboard?

Answer 1

You could do ggvG<CTRL-G> to visually select the whole buffer and enter Select-mode. This is the easiest way to replace the buffer with text you're planning on typing out. You may even be able to make a Select-mode mapping with :smap that solves your problem.

Answer 2

One way to replace the whole buffer with your clipboard can be via external command, for example:

:%!pbpaste
:%!echo my_text

^{See also: Mac OS X clipboard sharing}

Or by using substitution:

:%s/\_.*/\=@+/
:%s/\_.*/my text/

Alternatively use :%d|put+ (as already suggested in the comments).