Executing Vim commands from a shell script

Question

I am writing a Bash script that should open ls man page then expand the page.

what I did:
bash$ vim +Man\ ls -c Wo
What I exbect to happen that the bash open ls manpage then execute keybind <C-w>o to expand
this part -c Wo is wrong

Is there a practical way to execute Vim commands from the shell script?

This opens man page, not like :Man because :Man has colored, and man ls | vim - not — smalinux
– smalinux, Commented Feb 17, 2021 at 6:23

romainl · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-17 09:46:26Z

3

-c and + expect a command-line mode command (AKA "Ex command", the commands that start with :) but <C-w>o is a normal mode command so it can't be used directly, here.

One way to get around this problem would be to use :help :normal and your shell's ability to insert control characters via <C-v>:

$ vim +Man\ ls +normal\ ^Wo

with ^W being a literal <C-w> character obtained by pressing <C-v> followed by <C-w>.

But using the command-line mode equivalent of <C-w>o seems like a better idea:

$ vim +Man\ ls +wincmd\ o

See :help :wincmd.

edited Feb 17, 2021 at 9:46

answered Feb 17, 2021 at 8:33

romainl

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4 Comments

smalinux Over a year ago

The second solution wincmd work fine, but the first not work with me, also I tried C-v follow by `, buts me in V-block mode, so this not work as we expected here. Thanks alot.

romainl Over a year ago

You need to be in insert mode for that.

Philippe Over a year ago

I ran second command, it gave E492: Not an editor command: Man ls

romainl Over a year ago

@Philippe, :Man has to be enabled manually, which OP already did. See :help :Man.

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