How do I inspect only Ex command history so I can quickly rerun a complex command?

Explanation

When you work with long substitution pipelines or multi-part Ex commands, digging through all history (:history) adds noise. :history : limits the view to Ex command history only, so you can quickly find the exact command you want to repeat or refine. This is especially useful after a refactor pass where you iterated on several similar commands.

How it works

• :history prints Vim's command histories
• : narrows that output to the command-line (Ex) history list
• Vim shows numbered entries, newest last
• You can rerun an entry with :{number} or copy parts into the command-line window (q:) for editing

Example

Suppose you recently ran several project-wide substitutions and formatting commands:

:%s/old_api/new_api/ge
:argdo %s/\\<foo\\>/bar/ge | update
:g/^#/d

Now you want to rerun just the second command with a small pattern change. Run:

:history :

Find its index, then execute it again with :{index} and edit as needed.

Tips

• Use q: when you need full Normal-mode editing over command history
• Pair :history : with :silent in scripts to inspect state without extra redraw noise
• If you only need recent entries, combine with history options like :set history=... to keep a deeper command backlog