Read a register from a file

Question

How to load the contents of a file into a register (I wrote a file list there using :!echo %rx)?

Answer 1

There is no easy way to do this, only by using custom views as in the following command:

command readreg : execute '!cat %%c%%U'
               \| normal "%ayah

The command:

1. Loads unsorted custom view (no need to sort for a register) (execute '!cat %%c%%U').
2. Copies all files into register specified via command argument ("%aya in :normal).
3. Leaves custom view (h in :normal).

Comments

Thanks.

1. "%aya — why two “a”s?
2. %rx for echo made the list space-separated. Maybe it is easier to use vifminfo?

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"%aya — why two “a”s?

%a is replaced with register name.
ya -- yank all files.

So :readreg y produces "yya.

%rx for echo made the list space-separated. Maybe it is easier to use vifminfo?

I output list with :!for i in %rx; do echo "$i"; done > file. vifminfo can change, so better not to use it for such purposes.