How do I run an Ex command on exactly the current visual selection without typing the range manually?

Explanation

In Visual mode, typing : does more than open the command line: Vim automatically inserts the exact selection range as '<,'>. That means you can run any Ex command against only the selected lines without manually typing ranges. For experienced users, this is a fast bridge between visual selection and command-line power.

How it works

• Enter Visual or Visual Line mode and select the target text/lines
• Press :
• Vim opens the command line with :'<,'> prefilled
• Append any Ex command (s, normal, sort, g, etc.) and press <CR>

Because the range is injected automatically, you avoid off-by-one mistakes and keep your command intent focused.

Example

Select a block of lines in Visual Line mode, then press : and run:

s/^\s\+//

Vim executes it as:

:'<,'>s/^\s\+//

Only the selected lines are affected; the rest of the file stays untouched.

Tips

• Works with complex commands too: :'<,'>normal! A;
• Reuse the same range later with '<,'> even after leaving Visual mode
• Especially useful when composing one-off refactors where macro setup would be overkill