Vim: Repeat a command with substitution

Question

In Unix the ^ allows you to repeat a command with some text substituted for new text. For example:

csh% grep "stuff" file1 >> Results
grep "stuff" file1
csh% ^file1^file2^
grep "stuff" file2
csh%

Is there a Vim equivalent? There are a lot of times I find myself editing minor things on the command line over and over again.

Answer 1

There are 2 ways.

1. You simply hit the . (period) key to perform an exact replay of the very last command (other than movement). For example, I type cw then Hello to change a word to hello. Move my cursor to a different word and hit . to do it again.
2. For more advanced commands like a replace, once that you do after hitting the : key, you simply hit the : key then the ^ arrow and it fills your command line with the same command.

Answer 2

q: to enter the command-line window (:help cmdwin).

You can edit and reuse previously entered ex-style commands in this window.

Answer 3

Take a look at this: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Using_command-line_history for explanation.

Answer 4

Once you hit ":", you can type a couple characters and up-arrow, and it will character-match what you typed. e.g. type ":set" and it will climb back through your "sets". This also works for search - just type "/" and up-arrow. And "/abc" up-arrow will feed you matching search strings counterchronologically.