How do I copy command output in vim?

Question

For example, if I type ':pwd' to get the current working directory, I can select the text in gvim but I can't figure out how to copy it to the clipboard. If I try the same in console vim, I can't even select it with the mouse. I would like this to work with all vim commands, such as set guifont to copy the guifont=Consolas:h10:cANSI output.

Answer 1

Are you looking for this,

:redir @* | set guifont | redir END

:redir command redirects the output of a command to a register (@*). The register @* refers to the clipboard.

For more info on this,

:help :redir

Answer 2

If you're running vim in an xterm, holding the shift key while selecting the text will copy the text to the X equivalent of the clipboard.

Answer 3

For this particular example you could do (note the "!" which makes it go through the shell):

:!pwd | xclip

or

:!pwd | xclip -selection secondary

(depending on which X-selection you want).

You might have to install xclip first

sudo apt-get install xclip

(or equivalent)

Answer 4

Try ':r !pwd' to get the current working directory directly in to the GVIM opened file.
You can then copy it to clipboard like you would any other text file contents opened there.