How do I insert the word under the cursor into the Vim command line?

Explanation

When typing a command on the Vim command line, pressing <C-r><C-w> inserts the word currently under the cursor. This saves you from having to retype identifiers, filenames, or variable names that are already visible in your buffer.

How it works

• <C-r><C-w> — insert the small word under the cursor (equivalent to expand('<cword>'))
• <C-r><C-a> — insert the WORD under the cursor (includes punctuation, equivalent to expand('<cWORD>'))
• <C-r><C-f> — insert the filename under the cursor
• <C-r><C-l> — insert the entire current line

These all work from the : command prompt, / search prompt, or any command-line input.

Example

With the cursor on myVariable in your code:

let myVariable = 42

Type :echo then press <C-r><C-w> to get:

:echo myVariable

Or for a search-and-replace: type :%s/ then <C-r><C-w> to pre-fill the search pattern with the word under your cursor.

Tips

• Especially useful with :%s/<C-r><C-w>/replacement/g for quick renaming
• In the search prompt, * and # are faster for whole-word search, but <C-r><C-w> works in any command context
• <C-r><C-a> grabs more text (WORD), useful for URLs or file paths with dots