Edit and execute a command on the unix command line from vim

Nov 19, 2020

Sometimes I type or paste a lot of text on the command line and there is a small error right in the middle. Sometimes I've run a command but I need to run it again but replace a word multiple times. There are a number of ways to quickly solve this issue, but since I'm handy with vim I choose to edit the command in vim and execute it.

unix

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ctrl + x, e
While holding the control key, hit 'x' and then 'e'. This will bring up the current command in your default text editor.

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John (304)

Aug 11, 2021

2 minutes

Vim is a powerful tool. I often paste raw data into Vim in order to format it in a specific way, and sometimes I need to clean up the file by removing many blank lines.

From the unix command line hit ctrl + x, e