How do I access my delete history beyond the last delete?

Explanation

Vim maintains a numbered register history from "1 through "9 that stores your last 9 deletes and changes. Register "1 holds the most recent delete, "2 the one before, and so on. This gives you a 9-level undo buffer for deleted text.

How it works

• Every time you delete or change text (with d, c, s, x, etc.), the deleted text shifts through the numbered registers
• "1 gets the new delete, the old "1 moves to "2, and so on up to "9
• Text in "9 is lost when the next delete pushes it out

Browsing the history

Vim has a clever trick for cycling through delete history:

"1p      " Paste the last delete
u        " Undo
"2p      " Paste the delete before that
u        " Undo
"3p      " Keep going...

Or even faster, use the . command:

"1p      " Paste from register 1
u.       " Undo, then repeat — Vim automatically advances to "2p
u.       " Advances to "3p
u.       " Advances to "4p

Tips

• Register "0 is separate — it always holds the last yank (not delete)
• Small deletes (less than one line) go to the "- (small delete) register instead
• Use :registers 0123456789 to see all numbered registers at once
• The u. trick for cycling is documented under :help redo-register