[SOLVED] How to create custom vim command with shell command

Issue

I often create new files with the name of today's date. So, I would like to make this a command that calls the shell date command. The date command I use is:

class="lang-bash prettyprint-override">date +%Y-%m-%d-%B%d).md

I tried to call this same shell command from within Vim with this custom command in my .vimrc:

command Post e !date +%Y-%m-%d-%B%d.md

But that doesn't work because % means the current filename in Vim and the desired filename isn't created.

Solution

You can use the built-in :help strftime() function instead of the date command. This makes the command a little bit more portable and, since the function is evaluated before :edit is executed, you don't get the unwanted side-effects of :help cmdline-special.

:command! Post execute 'edit ' .. strftime('%Y-%m-%d-%B%d') .. '.md'

Answered By - romainl

Answer Checked By - Katrina (WPSolving Volunteer)