Easy Copying File's Path Using Vim

Sometimes I need to copy the current file’s relative path to the main register (Cmd+C). Luckily Vim has a nice command that returns it:

expand("%")
" => current_project/path/to/file.rb

It also has a command that returns the current line your cursor is at: line("."), and of course you can use both commands at the same time:

" use . to concatenate things
expand("%") . ":" . line(".")
" => current_project/path/to/file.rb:42

Alright, cool, that helps, but now what?

Now you can add that output to your main register (in OSX), which can be achieved using @+:

:let @+ = expand("%") . ":" . line(".")

It wouldn’t be a vim post without creating a new shortcut, am I right? I personally like to have both options, one with the line number at the end and the other without it.

In my .vimrc file I mapped those to leader + C and leader + c.

" Copy relative path to clipboard
nnoremap <silent> <Leader>c :let @+ = expand("%")<CR>
nnoremap <silent> <Leader>C :let @+ = expand("%") . ":" . line(".")<CR>

That’s it, I hope you enjoyed.