In Vim is there a way to delete without putting text in the register?

vim replace vim-registers
Edward Tanguay picture Edward Tanguay · Sep 10, 2008 · Viewed 75.4k times · Source

Using Vim I often want to replace a block of code with a block that I just yanked.

But when I delete the block of code that is to be replaced, that block itself goes into the register which erases the block I just yanked. So I've got in the habit of yanking, then inserting, then deleting what I didn't want, but with large blocks of code this gets messy trying to keep the inserted block and the block to delete separate.

So what is the slickest and quickest way to replace text in Vim?

  • is there a way to delete text without putting it into the register?
  • is there a way to say e.g. "replace next word" or "replace up to next paragraph"
  • or is the best way to somehow use the multi-register feature?

Answer

Christian Berg picture Christian Berg · Sep 10, 2008

To delete something without saving it in a register, you can use the "black hole register":

"_d

Of course you could also use any of the other registers that don't hold anything you are interested in.

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