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    Ongoing observations by End Point Dev people

    Vim Tip of the Day: running external commands in a shell

    Selena Deckelmann

    By Selena Deckelmann
    March 10, 2009

    A common sequence of events when editing files is to make a change and then need to test by executing the file you edited in a shell. If you’re using Vim, you could suspend your session (ctrl-Z), and then run the command in your shell.

    That’s a lot of keystrokes, though.

    So, instead, you can use Vim’s built-in “run a shell command”!

    :!{cmd} Run a shell command, shows you the output and prompts you before returning to your current buffer.

    Even sweeter, is to use the Vim special character for current filename: %

    Here’s :! % in action!

    A few more helpful shortcuts related to executing things in the shell:

    • :! By itself, runs the last external command (from your shell history)
    • :!! Repeats the last command
    • :silent !{cmd} Eliminates the need to hit enter after the command is done
    • :r !{cmd} Puts the output of $cmd into the current buffer.

    tips vim


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