Copying Lines

The basic form of the ex copy command is:

:line#,line# co line#

The first two numbers (separated by a comma) specify the range of lines to be copied. The third number is the line before the insertion point.

For example, to copy lines 1 through 5 of paint and place the copy after line 12, you would type the following:

:1,5 co 12

Then press Return.

When you specify line ranges, use the abbreviations:

• Period (.) to denote “from the current line.”

• Dollar sign ($) to denote “to end of file.”

Thus, to copy the range “from the current line through line 5” and insert this block after line 12, you would type:

:.,5 co 12

To copy the range “from line 6 through the end of the file” and insert this block after line 2, you would type:

:6,$ co 2