Lesson 5.1: HOW TO EXECUTE AN EXTERNAL COMMAND
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** Type :! followed by an external command to execute that command. **
1. Type the familiar command : to set the cursor at the bottom of the
screen. This allows you to enter a command-line command.
2. Now type the ! (exclamation point) character. This allows you to
execute any external shell command.
3. As an example type ls following the ! and then hit
will show you a listing of your directory, just as if you were at the
shell prompt. Or use :!dir if ls doesn't work.
Note: It is possible to execute any external command this way, also with
arguments.
Note: All : commands must be finished by hitting
From here one we will not always mention it.
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Lesson 5.2: MORE ON WRITING FILES
** To save the changes made to the text, type :w FILENAME. **
1. Type :!dir or :!ls to get a listing of your directory.
You already know you must hit
2. Choose a filename that does not exist yet, such as TEST.
3. Now type: :w TEST (where TEST is the filename you chose.)
4. This saves the whole file (the Vim Tutor) under the name TEST.
To verify this, type :!dir or :!ls again to see your directory.
Note: If you were to exit Vim and start it again with vim TEST , the file
would be an exact copy of the tutor when you saved it.
5. Now remove the file by typing (MS-DOS): :!del TEST
Lesson 5.3: SELECTING TEXT TO WRITE
** To save part of the file, type v motion :w FILENAME **
1. Move the cursor to this line.
2. Press v and move the cursor to the fifth item below. Notice that the
text is highlighted.
3. Press the : character. At the bottom of the screen :'<,'> will appear.
4. Type w TEST , where TEST is a filename that does not exist yet. Verify
that you see :'<,'>w TEST before you press Enter.
5. Vim will write the selected lines to the file TEST. Use :!dir or !ls
to see it. Do not remove it yet! We will use it in the next lesson.
NOTE: Pressing v starts Visual selection. You can move the cursor around
to make the selection bigger or smaller. Then you can use an operator
to do something with the text. For example, d deletes the text.
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Lesson 5.4: RETRIEVING AND MERGING FILES
** To insert the contents of a file, type :r FILENAME **
1. Place the cursor just above this line.
NOTE: After executing Step 2 you will see text from Lesson 5.3. Then move
DOWN to see this lesson again.
2. Now retrieve your TEST file using the command :r TEST where TEST is
the name of the file you used.
The file you retrieve is placed below the cursor line.
3. To verify that a file was retrieved, cursor back and notice that there
are now two copies of Lesson 5.3, the original and the file version.
NOTE: You can also read the output of an external command. For example,
:r !ls reads the output of the ls command and puts it below the
cursor.
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LESSON 5 SUMMARY
1. :!command executes an external command.
Some useful examples are:
(MS-DOS) (Unix)
:!dir :!ls - shows a directory listing.
:!del FILENAME :!rm FILENAME - removes file FILENAME.
2. :w FILENAME writes the current Vim file to disk with name FILENAME.
3. v motion :w FILENAME saves the Visually selected lines in file
FILENAME.
4. :r FILENAME retrieves disk file FILENAME and puts it below the
cursor position.
5. :r !dir reads the output of the dir command and puts it below the
cursor position