Deleting lines matching a pattern and put them into the buffer

Question

I am trying to do this: deleting lines matching a pattern and then copy these lines into some other place in the file.

:g/PATTERN/d

does delete the lines but when I use p or P, only the last line is inserted to the file from the internal buffer.

How can I do this?

Answer 1

You could delete the lines in a register:

First clean up your register q for example with qqq in normal mode.

Then use :g/PATTERN/norm! "Qdd

In normal mode when you use "qdd you replace the content of the q register with the deleted text but if you use "Qdd you append the deleted text to the register.

EDIT As @Matt pointed out in the comments you don't need to use the norm! trick in you global command because :d also accepts a register as a parameter (:h :d) so you can simply use

:g/PATTERN/d Q

You can then use "qp to past the content of the register where your want to.

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Another solution is to combine :h :move with the global command. For example to move all the matching lines at the end of the buffer:

:g/PATTERN/move $

Answer 2

The reason why you get only the last line back is that :g works on the found lines line by line. This means that every next delete operation overwrites the previous content of the register used.

To overcome this you must use a named register (A-Z) and use the uppercase name, which causes the new content not overwriting the previous one but appending to the register.

g/PATTERN/d A

will append all deleted lines to the register a.

Now that register will not be empty, so you must clear its contents before using it.

qaq will start to record a macro into register a and immediately stop again, thus clearing its contents.