vim: execute shell command without filtering

Question

I want to select a block of text (eg. V%) and use the text as input to a shell command (eg. wc or pbcopy) - but I DON'T want to alter the current buffer - I just want to see the output of the command (if any) the continue editting without any changes.

Typing V%!wc translates to :'<,'>!wc and switches the block of text for the output of the wc command.

How do you pipe a chunk of text to an arbitrary shell command without affecting the current buffer?

Answer 1

I know it's not the ideal solution, but if all else fails, you could always just press u after running the command to undo the buffer change.

Answer 2

One possibility would be to use system() in a custom command, something like this:

command! -range -nargs=1 SendToCommand <line1>,<line2>call SendToCommand(<q-args>) 

function! SendToCommand(UserCommand) range
    " Get a list of lines containing the selected range
    let SelectedLines = getline(a:firstline,a:lastline)
    " Convert to a single string suitable for passing to the command
    let ScriptInput = join(SelectedLines, "\n") . "\n"
    " Run the command
    let result = system(a:UserCommand, ScriptInput)
    " Echo the result (could just do "echo system(....)")
    echo result
endfunction

Call this with (e.g.):

:'<,'>SendToCommand wc -w

Note that if you press V%:, the :'<,'> will be entered for you.

:help command
:help command-range
:help command-nargs
:help q-args
:help function
:help system()
:help function-range

Answer 3

Select your block of text, then type these keys :w !sh

The whole thing should look like:

'<,'>w !sh

That's it. Only took me 8 years to learn that one : )