Some more examples: a) Let's say that you have a file that has a list of files. You don't want to edit all the files, but selectively. :map "zyiw:exe "vs ".@z."" Pressing will open the file in vertically split window. b) Browsing a text file and saving all those difficult words you want to refer to during leisure Open the text file and in a split window open an empty file. :map "zyiwwo"zpw yank the word under cursor, change window, paste and return c) Help in help in help [help :help] :map "zyiw:exe "h ".@z."" Press on any word and we can see vim help for that keyword.