Question

How can I create a Vim command and copy it’s results to clipboard?

I want to convert Markdown to HTML and copy the result to the clipboard. So far I got:

nmap md :%!/bin/markdown/Markdown.pl --html4tags

But this will substitute my opened file on Vim to the result of Markdown.

Answer 1

You didn’t say which system you’re using, but generally saving it in the +
register should work. You can call system():

:let @+=system("markdown --html4tags", join(getline(1,line("$")), "\n"))

The system() function takes the second parameter (optional) as input to the
command, and here I’m using a chain of other functions to retrieve the contents
of the current buffer. Not sure, but there should be a better way to do it (if
someone knows, please let me know).

Alternatively, you can pass markdown your file name as input directly:

:let @+=system("markdown --html4tags " . shellescape(expand("%:p")))

But keep in mind that you’ll need to write the file before calling this.

Two important notes:

1. I didn’t type your full path to markdown. Use it.
2. I didn’t use maps here, the final result would be something like:

nnoremap md :let @+=system(...)