In Vim is there a way to delete without putting text in the register?

Question

Using Vim I often want to replace a block of code with a block that I just yanked.

But when I delete the block of code that is to be replaced, that block itself goes into the register which erases the block I just yanked. So I've got in the habit of yanking, then inserting, then deleting what I didn't want, but with large blocks of code this gets messy trying to keep the inserted block and the block to delete separate.

So what is the slickest and quickest way to replace text in Vim?

• is there a way to delete text without putting it into the register?
• is there a way to say e.g. "replace next word" or "replace up to next paragraph"
• or is the best way to somehow use the multi-register feature?

Answer 1

To delete something without saving it in a register, you can use the "black hole register":

"_d 

Of course you could also use any of the other registers that don't hold anything you are interested in.

Answer 2

Yep. It's slightly more convoluted than deleting the "old" text first, but:

I start off with..

line1 line2 line3 line4  old1 old2 old3 old4 

I shift+v select the line1, line 2, 3 and 4, and delete them with the d command

Then I delete the old 1-4 lines the same way.

Then, do

"2p 

That'll paste the second-last yanked lines (line 1-4). "3p will do the third-from-last, and so on..

So I end up with

line1 line2 line3 line4 

Reference: Vim documentation on numbered register