Yank a whole file in Vim

Vim is an incredible tool. Sometimes, it allows us to do the same things in a very different ways. Recently, I’ve found a shorter way to yank (in other words to copy) a whole file.

This way is using the Ex (colon) command: %y.

There is a "classic" way of yanking a whole file. This is a sequence of commands: ggyG. But there is a caveat in this approach. What if you need to copy it to the system clipboard? It becomes: ggVGy+. Seems a little cumbersome, doesn’t it?

With the Ex command, you can do the same with just: %y+.

Note: works in IdeaVim too.