How to copy the current line(s) out to a new file?

Question

I'm reading through a very large web service log, and I want to pull a single line out from the file, and write it to a new file.

The log lines consist of web service request XML, so they are long and unwieldy.

muru · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-17 02:28:39Z

5

w can operate on ranges, so you can do:

:.w foo

:[range]w[rite]! [++opt] {file}
                    Write the specified lines to {file}.  Overwrite an
                    existing file.

Any range would do, so the following will write lines N-M inclusive to file foo:

:N,Mw foo

The . in the first command stands for the current line. See :help :range for more information.

answered Mar 17, 2015 at 1:15

muru

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1

Thanks, this command worked ... :34908,34914w ~/webservicelogextract.txt
– roblogic
Mar 17, 2015 at 1:58
2

Note that most (all?) commands that take a range also work from Visual mode. When you type : from Visual mode, it automatically inserts '<,'> for you. This is a range using special marks that refer to the start and end of a Visual selection. Leave the inserted range and type in your command (it will look like :'<,'>w webservicelogextract.txt).
– tommcdo
Mar 17, 2015 at 11:17

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