Using Registers with the Substitution command

Lately, I have found myself using more than the system clipboard for registers.

Specifically for substitutions,  I will use this mapping:

register s will be my source

register t will be my target

Here is an example:

Then I just enter the substitution command and placing the contents of register s in the source section and the contents of register t in the target section.

The "trick" is to press [Ctrl-R] when you are ready to paste the value of a register in the :s ex command. You will see a  double quote, ", as follows:

Now, just enter the desired register, e.g. s for the source, s.  Also, just enter the desired register, e.g. t for the target:

In this particular scenario, I have a specific (perhaps rote), substitution going on and there is no real need for a regular expression in the pattern section (aka in this context, the source).

Certainly we could use various tools to facilitate an accurate, intentional substitution (e.g. anchors). I am not trying to demonstrate these features today.

Vim has plenty of registers (kind of like marks) and it just takes some creativity to leverage this feature to improve your productivity.