How do I recover text from older deletions using Vim's numbered registers?

Explanation

Vim automatically stores your deletion history in numbered registers "1 through "9. Every time you delete a line or more with dd, d{motion}, c{motion}, or similar, the deleted text lands in "1. The previous content of "1 shifts to "2, and so on—giving you a rolling history of your last 9 deletions to recover from at any time.

How it works

• "1p — paste the most recent deletion
• "2p — paste the second-most-recent deletion
• "9p — paste the oldest deletion still in history
• Only deletions spanning at least one full line (or using D, dd, c, s) populate registers 1–9; small word-level deletions with x or dw go to "- (the small-delete register) instead
• Yanks (y) do not shift numbered registers — they only update "0

Example

You delete three lines in sequence:

Delete 1: foo     → stored in "1
Delete 2: bar     → "1 becomes "2, bar goes to "1
Delete 3: baz     → "1 becomes "2 shifts to "3, baz goes to "1

Now:

"1p   " pastes: baz
"2p   " pastes: bar
"3p   " pastes: foo

Tips

• Use :reg 1 2 3 to inspect the current contents of registers 1–3 before pasting
• Combine with . repeat: "2p then u"2p cycles through paste candidates without having to retype the register
• In a macro, @" replays the unnamed register — be careful not to confuse it with numbered ones
• This is particularly useful after an accidental dd earlier in a session when you've since made other deletions