Undo a paste without undoing previous typing

Question

In vim I frequently end up undoing more than I want to after a messed up paste from the system clipboard. Is there a better way?

To reproduce:

Open iTerm      # or terminal
vi              # open vim
i               # enter insert mode
type some stuff
Cmd-V           # paste the contents of the OS X clipboard

The paste is a mess because I haven't :set paste. So

Esc # enter command mode
u   # undo

but that undoes my typing as well as my paste.

Is there a different undo I can use? Apart from remembering to :set paste before pasting is there a better way to do this in general?

Depending on the terminal, you use bracketed paste mode to auto set paste. http://stackoverflow.com/a/7053522/1890567 — FDinoff, Nov 11 '15 at 05:26
What I do when that happens to me is to select the pasted text and format it (hit '=' in escape mode) — Diego Pino, Nov 11 '15 at 07:46

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

4

This is not the answer you're looking for, but you really should stop using vim as a non-modal editor. If you want to paste then return to normal mode and use vim's paste commands. Assuming that you have a vim version with clipboard access this should do the trick "+p. You can also facilitate this by setting your unnamed register to be the + (or *) register, such that pasting from clipboard becomes a simple p.

The following question has a great answer that includes all this information How to make vim paste from (and copy to) system's clipboard?.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

Community

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answered Nov 11 '15 at 08:48

Vitor

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Oh no, definitely looking for "change your habits for great win" answers over "here's how to band-aid". Thanks! – Thomas David Baker Nov 11 '15 at 16:18
The really crucial thing here was getting a copy of vim with +clipboard option compiled in. (Then you can set clipboard=unnamed in .vimrc and share system clipboard.) – Thomas David Baker Nov 11 '15 at 19:00

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '15 at 03:20

I'm not sure there's anything you can do after the fact, but one solution is to hit Ctrl-G u in insert mode just before you paste. This breaks the undo block into two separate blocks - so the paste will be remembered as a separate undoable action.

Granted if you have to remember to do this, you might as well just use :set paste instead - but on the upside it's fewer keystrokes and you don't have to go to command mode first.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '15 at 08:07

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Take a look at this plugin, it can auto run :set paste! when you use Cmd-V(or Ctrl-V) to paste some text. And leave paste mode when you finished.

answered Nov 11 '15 at 08:07

Remi Guan

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 11 '15 at 08:22

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The following mappings create an additional undo point (via :help i_CTRL-G_u) before pasting in insert mode. This way, you can undo the paste separately.

inoremap <C-r> <C-g>u<C-r>
inoremap <C-v> <C-g>u<C-v>

answered Nov 11 '15 at 08:22

Ingo Karkat

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This doesn't actually seem to work. Perhaps to do with the features my vim is compiled with? – Thomas David Baker Nov 11 '15 at 16:19
I have the first mapping myself. I'm not sure about the command-V on a Mac; it might be a mapping itself. Does it work when you explicitly type `u` before pasting? – Ingo Karkat Nov 11 '15 at 16:56
Yes it does. I guess I'm just not picking up Cmd-v properly. I tried after some googling but that didn't work either. – Thomas David Baker Nov 11 '15 at 23:41

林果皞 · Answer 5 · 2018-01-21T19:09:52.690

Actually the solution is you have to go to command mode(e.g. Esc) first and re-enter the insert mode, but it only works if I type manually but it seems "randomly" stop working if I test it in ~/.vimrc. Google doesn't help at all.

I spends a lot of time try to fix this issue and I just figure out the reason in my case:

Don't map the paste key same with the terminal existing paste key

e.g. Ctrl+Shift+V will paste in my Konsole terminal, but if I assign this key <C-S-v> in ~/.vimrc, the "undo for only single paste instead of multiple pastes" will not working.

In my case, I have to use <C-v> instead of <C-S-v>:

inoremap <C-v> <Esc>"+pi<Esc>i<Right><Right>

Your case may difference, but the point is same: don't assign the same paste key conflicts with existing terminal emulator key.

I've 100% proved this conclusion by set my terminal paste key to Ctrl+V and now <C-v> stop working but <C-S-v> working.

Note also that the vim is too sensitive and strange. I figure out I have to use i and then 2 Right keys manually to make it works in the correct cursor position, that's means I have to put i and 2 Right keys in the ~/.vimrc too. Your case might difference, but the point is same, ensure the keys+order in ~/.vimrc 100% match with what you type manually.

Undo a paste without undoing previous typing

5 Answers5