dd a line and paste it in the middle of another (in vi/vim)

Question

here is a sample, [] means cursor:

vim is a text editor
[]great

We will dd at this point :

vim is a[] text editor

Then i want to paste the previous line in the middle of current line:

vim is a great[] text editor

`dd` is linewise, which means it deletes entire lines at a time. You will probably want to use something like `"ad$dd` to delete the line and then `"ap` to paste the text where you want it. — bdesham, May 13 '14 at 19:54
Check Ingo Karkat's UnconditionalPaste plugin, it does exactly what you want and very easily — Wiener Boat, May 13 '14 at 22:35

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '14 at 19:57

2

if just focusing on the example in your question, you could do:

kJD3bp

short explanation:

k: move back to above line
J: join the line you want to delete, and added a space
D: remove the text from the line you just joined
3b:go to the 3rd word's beginning backwards
p: paste you just deleted text (by D)

if you want a generic solution, you may need wrap the middle calculation (line length /2) in a exec cmd or map <expr>

answered May 13 '14 at 19:57

Kent

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or just `^D` instead of `kJD` – Dhruva Sagar May 14 '14 at 07:49
@DhruvaSagar have you read the question? `^D` will remove the 2nd line and leave the linefeed there. then how would you remove the linefeed? how would you add the space? – Kent May 14 '14 at 09:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '14 at 19:46

I don't think there is any very simple way to do this; you will have to copy the text excluding the newline, delete the newline, paste it in and add the additional space on your own. You can create a shortcut for copying a line, adding a space to the end of it, and deleting that line via:

A<Space><Esc>^y$dd

Then the text with the space will be in the 0th register. Move the cursor to where you want it and paste with "0P. Based on where your cursor is you can do this via:

A<Space><Esc>^y$dd4w"0P

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 13 '14 at 19:50

do not use "dd" but "dw" to delete the word, and "p" (paste after cursor) or "P" (paste before cursor) it.

if you insist on "dd": you need to paste it using:

[i] [Enter] [Esc] [p] [k] [J] [J]

using vim, you can also record macros, to do the "pasting" above:

 just start to record ([q][a], to record in "a" register), 
 then [i] [Enter] [Esc] [p] [k] [J] [J]
 then finish recording with [q]. 
 and then use it with : [@] [a] (ie "execute registered macro "a")

Of course, "timtowtdi" (gosh!)

dd a line and paste it in the middle of another (in vi/vim)

3 Answers3