external shell
command: >
:!echo % --> filename
< The arguments of ":!" are expanded, see |:_%|. >
:!echo "%" --> filename or "filename"
< Like the previous example. Whether you see the double
quotes or not depends on your 'shell'. >
:echo % --> nothing
< The '%' is an illegal character in an expression. >
:echo "%" --> %
< This just echoes the '%' character. >
:echo expand("%") --> filename
< This calls the expand() function to expand the '%'.
*:echoh* *:echohl*
:echoh[l] {name} Use the highlight group {name} for the following
`:echo`, `:echon` and `:echomsg` commands. Also used
for the `input()` prompt. Example: >
:echohl WarningMsg | echo "Don't panic!" | echohl None
< Don't forget to set the group back to "None",
otherwise all following echo's will be highlighted.
*:echom* *:echomsg*
:echom[sg] {expr1} .. Echo the expression(s) as a true message, saving the
message in the |message-history|.
Spaces are placed between the arguments as with the
`:echo` command. But unprintable characters are
displayed, not interpreted.
The parsing works slightly different from `:echo`,
more like `:execute`. All the expressions are first
evaluated and concatenated before echoing anything.
If expressions does not evaluate to a Number or
String, string() is used to turn it into a string.
Uses the highlighting set by the `:echohl` command.
Example: >
:echomsg "It's a Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz, as you can plainly see."
< See |:echo-redraw| to avoid the message disappearing
when the screen is redrawn.
*:echoe* *:echoerr*
:echoe[rr] {expr1} .. Echo the expression(s) as an error message, saving the
message in the |message-history|. When used in a
script or function the line number will be added.
Spaces are placed between the arguments as with the
`:echomsg` command. When used inside a try conditional,
the message is raised as an error exception instead
(see |try-echoerr|).
Example: >
:echoerr "This script just failed!"
< If you just want a highlighted message use `:echohl`.
And to get a beep: >
:exe "normal \<Esc>"
<
*:eval*
:eval {expr} Evaluate {expr} and discard the result. Example: >
:eval Getlist()->Filter()->append('$')
< The expression is supposed to have a side effect,
since the resulting value is not used. In the example
the `append()` call appends the List with text to the
buffer. This is similar to `:call` but works with any
expression.
The command can be shortened to `:ev` or `:eva`, but
these are hard to recognize and therefore not to be
used.
The command cannot be followed by "|" and another
command, since "|" is seen as part of the expression.
*:exe* *:execute*
:exe[cute] {expr1} .. Executes the string that results from the evaluation
of {expr1} as an Ex command.
Multiple arguments are concatenated, with a space in
between. To avoid the extra space use the ".."
operator to concatenate strings into one argument.
{expr1} is used as the processed command, command line
editing keys are not recognized.
Cannot be followed by a comment.
Examples: >
:execute "buffer" nextbuf
:execute "normal" count .. "w"
<
":execute" can be used to append a command to commands
that don't accept a '|'. Example: >
:execute '!ls' | echo "theend"
< ":execute" is also a nice way to avoid having to type
control characters in a Vim script for a ":normal"
command: >
:execute "normal ixxx\<Esc>"
< This has an <Esc> character, see |expr-string|.
Be careful to correctly escape special characters in
file names. The |fnameescape()| function can be used
for Vim commands, |shellescape()| for |:!| commands.
Examples: >
:execute "e " .. fnameescape(filename)
:execute "!ls " .. shellescape(filename, 1)
<
Note: The executed string may be any command-line, but
starting or ending "if", "while" and "for" does not
always