Delete first word of each line

Question

How do I delete first word of each line in Vim?

How about a pattern on each line?

Answer 1

:normal to the rescue:

:%norm dw 

It basically replays the arguments as if you were typing them in normal ('non-edit') mode.

From :help :

:norm[al][!] {commands}

Execute Normal mode commands {commands}.

This makes it possible to execute Normal mode commands typed on the command-line. {commands} is executed like it is typed.