Ubuntu – How to execute a shell-command in Vim, and have the result printed below

In vim there are 3 different modes:

• Insert - allows typing and editing as normal
• Visual - used for selecting copy/paste etc.
• Normal - used for commands

To get back to Normal mode, you can always press esc.

Once you are at Normal mode Press : to begin your command (you'll see it appear in the bottom left). The following commands are related to quiting vim:

• :q - quit if no changes were made
• :q! - quit and destroy any changes made
• :wq - write changes (save) and quit
• :x - similar to :wq, only write the file if changes were made, then quit

You can paste the contents of the clipboard buffer between characters with Ctrl-R * in insert mode (and a similar approach for other buffers). So if you can get the system command into a buffer, you should be set. (Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1491135/paste-multi-line-string-into-gvim-at-cursor-position ).

:let @a=system("ls -l") will put the output of ls -l into register a. You can then paste it (in insert mode) with ^R-a.