created August 13, 2004 · complexity basic · author Dave Silvia · version 5.7
Say I have a file that was loaded with:
:view ~/thud/foo/bar.c
I now want to save it as, say ~/thud/foo/bar.c.txt
This can be done using these commands.
command! -nargs=1 AddExt execute "saveas ".expand("%:p").<q-args>
command! -nargs=1 ChgExt execute "saveas ".expand("%:p:r").<q-args>
The following saves the current buffer's file as the current buffer's filename with '.c' appended.
:AddExt .c
The following saves the current buffer's file as the current buffer's filename with the extension changed to '.txt'.
:ChgExt .txt
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:w %:p.txt will save the file with .txt added after the existing extension. :w %:p:r.txt will replace the extension with txt.
Speaking up for mnemonics, some people, newbies especially, have trouble remembering !/*%^, much less, what it may or may not mean. I, for one, find ChgExt easier to remember, not only for use, but for meaning, than w %:p:r.<ext>. When I see the command in my vimrc 2 years from now, I won't have any trouble using it or remembering what it's for. Nor will I have to say, 'Let's see, I did that once 2 years ago... gosh, I'll just look it up again in :h expand' (if I remember that I need to look in :h expand). Let's not loose track of one of the major strongpoints of commands: they make tasks easier. It's the same reason things like aliases and functions exist in shells.
Now if you want to change the command to say something like
command! -nargs=1 ChgExt :w %:p:r.<args>
that's another matter. But to say 'use this anti-mnemonic formula instead of the command' is not very helpful.
Also, the original question was how to ':saveas' not ':w'. One changes the buffer to the new file, the other does not. So, to be correct, the command should be
command! -nargs=1 ChgExt :saveas %:p:r.<args>
If you have a mind for anti-mnemonics and the like, great! But don't forget many people don't.
One alternative:
:w %<.txt
will write to ~/thud/foo/bar.txt
think of a '<' as 'some backspaces' :help <>