Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!chx400!bernina!neptune!inf.ethz.ch!wyle
From: wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: vi range delete sometimes gets lost
Summary: use named buffers
Message-ID: <27776@neptune.inf.ethz.ch>
Date: 28 Mar 91 19:32:21 GMT
References: <1991Mar26.181950.3078@chinet.chi.il.us>
Sender: news@neptune.inf.ethz.ch
Reply-To: wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Organization: Departement Informatik, ETH, Zurich
Lines: 23

In <1991Mar26.181950.3078@chinet.chi.il.us> 
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) writes:
>At seemingly random times when I delete a range of lines in vi using
>the ex mode command :'a,.d
>(delete from mark a through the cursor line), I can't move the deleted text 
>with 'p' or 'P' to another location, although if I remember to do it
>immediately 'u' will undo the deletion.   I never have this problem using
>ndd to delete some number of lines, but I prefer to refer to ranges using
>the "mark to cursor" notation.
>Does anyone know why this happens or how to avoid it? 

Dunno why it happens, though sysVr3 vi is suspect.  The solution is
1) don't delete in ex mode; do it in visual mode as in

d`a

It saves you half the keystrokes.  2) To be safe, you might try

"ad`a

to but the deleted text in buffer a.

"Vi users do it visually."