Question

I’m looking for a more elegant way of doing this

function PasteBin() range
    let l:stdin = join(getline(a:firstline, a:lastline), "^M")
    let l:output = system("pb", l:stdin)
    echo l:output
endfunction

Specifically, how can I avoid using getline() and join()?

Answer 1

Looks like you’re just reinventing :w_c. If you already have a visual selection, you can just run

:'<,'>w !pb

to use the visual selection as the stdin for pb.