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I learn vim in the Debian distro. In debian I can run commands like 'ls', 'cd', 'curl' etc directly from vim via power of '!' this sign. But now I am in windows because of the driver issue. But I don't able to use '!' this sign to run external commands direct form the vim. How to run external command within vim in windows os?

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  • pls clarify why you are not able to use ! on windows. – Maxim Kim Jul 15 '20 at 11:55
  • Could you also split your question 1. for external commands issue, 2. ctags on vim issue. – Maxim Kim Jul 15 '20 at 11:56
  • did you get an error message? If so, which one? – Christian Brabandt Jul 15 '20 at 12:10
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To run external commands from within vim on windows you should use the same vim commands you use for other OSes.

:!dir
:echo system('dir')

Just to double check, cmd.exe that is used by default as a shell doesn't have ls, windows doesn't have curl and ctags unless you install them.

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  • Power shell is the new cmd. Why I can't able to use those commands? – Bapi Jul 15 '20 at 18:21
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    I guess you can if you make it your shell in vim :set shell=powershell – Maxim Kim Jul 15 '20 at 18:24
  • It works. What about vim tags. How to use it? – Bapi Jul 15 '20 at 18:29
  • install universal-ctags and use it the same way you have used it in your debian? – Maxim Kim Jul 15 '20 at 18:31
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If you try to run a more complex command and it fails, with Vim you need to escape the character's it uses for running commands, i.e. !, &, and #. Use shellescape with {special} set to 1 to escape those chars with a backslash e.g.

let message = "Hello there!"
exe "!echo ".shellescape(message, 1)

See :help shellescape

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