How do I use relative line numbers in command line mode?

Question

Recently I learned from Practical Vim a way to copy or move block of lines without having to move the cursor from the current position. This is done in command line mode. e.g.

:123,133m.  # moves lines from 123 to 133 below the cursor position.

While I like it, it is a pain to type the long line numbers, especially when the file has too many lines.

At times, the lines to move are relatively near the cursor (but I don't want to move my cursor, yank, come back where I was, paste!). It would be great if I could use relative numbers, similar to how we do in normal mode. It is like saying

move 5 lines which are 10 lines above the current line to here

In short, how to use relative numbers in command line mode (similar to normal mode)?

Answer 1

Assuming your lines span from 15 to 10 lines above the current one, you can achieve what you requested using relative line numbers:

:-10,-15m.

Unfortunately when specifying a backwards range, Vim asks you to confirm if that is what you really wanted. To avoid the confirmation step, you can type silent before your command, or just specify a forwards range:

:-15,-10m.

As you might expect + can be used to refer to lines below the current one.

Detailed help can be found with:

:help cmdline-ranges

Answer 2

You can use hard numbers in your range:

:200,300command

Or relative numbers:

:-27,+46command

Or manual marks:

:'a,'bcommand

Or automatic marks:

:'[,'>command

Or searches:

:?foo?,/bar/command

Or line shortcuts:

:.,$command

Or any combination of the tricks above:

:?foo?,+46command
:'a,$command
...

Answer 3

You can use relative addressing (e.g. .-10,.+3) with any Ex command, cp. :help :range.

Alternatively, have a look at my LineJuggler plugin; it provides several short mappings to move lines around or duplicate them, and all those mappings take a relative line offset as [count].