how to yank text from one instance of gvim to another using ex commands

Question

So I have a lot of lines to copy from one file (open in one instance of gvim) to another file (open in another instance of gvim) and I'm using ex commands. So I tried doing the usual

:0,164ya

and then going to the other file and doing

:pu

and I also tried

:+0,164ya

and then

:+pu

but neither worked. I also tried using p instead of pu. Anyone have any idea on how to do this?

Try using the `*` or `+` registers to yank and put from the X clipboard. — FDinoff, Sep 12 '13 at 02:09

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 12 '13 at 06:00

1

Use the "+ or "* registers:

:0,164y +
:put +

answered Sep 12 '13 at 06:00

romainl

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 12 '13 at 06:45

Vim doesn't sync its register contents across Vim instances. Therefore, you have to use a shared data store like the system's clipboard (register "+), or a separate file (:[range]w /tmp/file, followed by :r /tmp/file).

If you really need to transfer multiple register contents at once (where the approaches above become tedious), you have to explicitly sync the register contents via the viminfo file that persists them (among all other history).

In Vim 1:

:[range]yank a
:wviminfo

In Vim 2:

:rviminfo!
:put a

how to yank text from one instance of gvim to another using ex commands

2 Answers2