Pipe ex command into vim register?

Question

I would like to do get the output of an ex command placed in a register. I know there is the :redir command, but that requires three commands to accomplish the task. Is there a native way to do it in one command?

Answer 1

I doubt you'll get much shorter than...

:redir @a | echo "This will end up in register a." | redir END

...without writing a function.