Open a file under cursor with a line break in vim

Question

I want to set up a key mapping to open an absolute path filename highlighted in visual mode that may have a line break in the middle.

Most files I have are formatted in the following way, and I would like to highlight the path between the single quotes and open that file (formatted for MSC NASTRAN for those curious):

INCLUDE '/directory/directory/directory/directory/
directory/filename'

What's difficult is yanking that whole section results in a ^M newline character in the middle of the path. My approach was the following (walking through the :map command below):

1. Yank the path from selection (stored to @0)
2. Create new register @f where empty string was substituted for the newline char from @0

3. Open file path in @f

   map <F8> y \| :let @f=substitute(strtrans(@0),'\^@','','g') \| :e <C-R>f<CR>
   

The problem is that if it's run a second time on a new file path, vim uses the previous path stored in the @f register before updating @f

Any ideas to fix it or another approach? Clearing the register with :let @f='' at the end didn't seem to work either.

I also don't have admin rights, since this is a work computer, so I don't think I can install plugins, but I'm still new to vim, any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

An auxiliary register is unnecessary; use :exec in order to evaluate an expression and use the result as an argument to a command. I'm not sure whether strtrans() is somehow advantageous, but replacing \n directly seems to work. Either way, make sure to use fnameescape(). Also, use noremap in order to avoid recursive mappings unless you need them. If this particular mapping is intended only for visual mode, xnoremap is even better.

xnoremap <F8> y \| :exec "e" fnameescape(substitute(getreg('"'),'\n','','g'))<CR>