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Given a file like this:

Roy
Maurice
Jen
Douglas

If I were to type the following commands: ggVj"zy, followed by :reg z, I would see Roy and Maurice.

Now I want to yank Jen and Douglas into the z register, but by a different method. If I do: GVk:normal! "zy<CR> (where <CR> is a key press of the Enter key, of course), the z register remains unchanged. Even erasing the '<,'> range modifiers after typing : doesn't help.

The above is an easy way to show the problem. I'm implementing it in a function that I call with a vnoremap key mapping:

function! Foo()
    reg z       " show before
    normal! "zy
    reg z       " show after
endfunction

So why is my normal! "zy statement not working? Is there something I've missed or misunderstood?

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1
  • Side note, you could also use :[range]yank z. If you have a range, it could be :'<,'>y z
    – Luc Hermitte
    Jan 22, 2021 at 22:31

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Is there something I've missed or misunderstood?

Yes, there's no y command in Normal mode. It's y{motion}.

As your command ends prematurely it simply does nothing.

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4
  • Of course - Visual vs Normal mode. It looks like I'll have to investigate the range modifier in my function definition. I was hoping to avoid that.
    – Phil R
    Jan 22, 2021 at 19:25
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    @PhilR you can just reenter visual mode using normal! gv
    – Mass
    Jan 22, 2021 at 19:31
  • 2
    @PhilR Usually, it's easier to start Visual-mode mapping with "zy and only then call a function. But if you really must do it the other way round, you have normal! gv"zy, as @Mass suggested, or '<,'>yank z if you support only linewise selections.
    – Matt
    Jan 22, 2021 at 19:42
  • @Mass, @Matt Thanks for the suggestions. The gv command is what I need in my situation. I don't want to limit myself to linewise selections, and my function is taking the precaution of saving and restoring the contents of @z when it's done.
    – Phil R
    Jan 22, 2021 at 20:21

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