Unable to append text in Vim's visual mode to another file

Question

I have selected text by visual mode and pressed :.

I run the following command unsuccessfully

w >> ~/Documents/Test/test.java

The result is an empty file.

How can you append text in Vim's visual mode to another file?

Answer 1

After selecting the text in visual mode and typing ":", you should see ":'<,'>" already typed out for you. This means between the start and end of your visual selection. You can add "w >> ~/Documents/Test/test.java" after the ":'<,'>". What you will see before hitting enter will be:

:'<,'>w >> ~/Documents/Test/test.java

If the file doesn't exist or you don't have appropriate permissions, you will get an error, otherwise it should say "appended" and work. I tested that out and it works on Vim 7.2.