Undo Ctrl-w in Vim

undovim

I'm a pro user of vim, however, somehow I don't seem to have definitively figured out the use of time based undo, or maybe I don't really like it.
Is there a way I can undo a deletion caused by Ctrl–w
W3I will be really grateful for the help.

Thanks.

Best Answer

The tip title refers to Ctrl+U which is similar but not quite the same as Ctrl+W. However the same method can be used for both.

Recover from accidental Ctrl+U.

You can't undo these deletions. However, what you've typed is still in the . register. You can confirm that (after pressing Esc to return to normal mode) with the command :reg which will list all registers (or just :reg . to display the . register). You may be able to copy the missing text from the register display, for example, with the mouse.

Unfortunately, simply pasting the . register won't help because it will repeat the Ctrl-u or Ctrl-w and will delete the text again. However, you can use another register (register a in the following):

:let @a = @.
"aP

The above will paste all the text you last inserted, including what was accidentally deleted.

Related Question