vim: assign variable to return value of ex call?

Question

I want to have vim .vimrc do something like:

let root = :pwd

and the variable root will have memorized that "pwd" that vim was in at that moment. How do I do this?

Another person asked this question, but another solution was found, so the question was never really answered (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2540524/vim-call-an-ex-command-set-from-function)

Using variables

Also, once I assign root to a value, how do I do the following:

:cd root

Every time I do that, vim gives me the following error:

E344: Can't find directory "root" in cdpath
E472: Command failed

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 27 '11 at 11:35

6

:let root = getcwd()
:exe 'cd ' . root

There are probably nicer ways to do this (especially the last part) but it works.

answered Jun 27 '11 at 11:35

alexaandru

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also quite useful: `:cd %:h` (_change to directory of file in current_) – sehe Jun 27 '11 at 11:47
only short thing I can think of: `:exe 'cd'root` – sehe Jun 27 '11 at 11:51
@sehe, can you explain that `%:h` notation? – Alexander Bird Jun 27 '11 at 12:00
Also, to make sure I understand, there is no way to call ex commands in functions or let statments or anything. I have to scrounge around and find the inbuilt function that does the same thing and use that. Correct? – Alexander Bird Jun 27 '11 at 12:02

vim: assign variable to return value of ex call?

Using variables

1 Answers1