How do I send commands from a Vim buffer to an embedded terminal?

Explanation

Vim 8+ and Neovim have a built-in terminal emulator that runs inside a buffer. You can run shells, REPLs, build tools, and test suites without leaving Vim — and even copy text between your code and the terminal.

Opening a terminal

:term                " Open terminal in a horizontal split
:vert term           " Open terminal in a vertical split
:tab term            " Open terminal in a new tab
:term python3        " Open a Python REPL
:term bash           " Open a bash shell

Terminal mode navigation

Practical workflow

1. Split your screen: code on top, terminal on bottom
2. Edit code in the top window
3. Switch to terminal with <C-w>j
4. Run tests, see results
5. <C-w>k to go back to code

Copying from terminal

1. Press <C-w>N to enter normal mode in the terminal buffer
2. Navigate and yank text like any buffer
3. Switch to your code window and paste

Tips

• Terminal buffers support syntax highlighting for ANSI colors
• Use :terminal ++close to auto-close the terminal window when the process exits
• Map a quick toggle: nnoremap <leader>t :botright terminal<CR>
• In Neovim, use :TermOpen event for autocmds like setting local mappings
• The terminal buffer is a real buffer — you can search, scroll, and yank from it