Re: execute "conf qa" or ":conf qa"

On Mon, Jun 11, 2018 at 4:21 AM, M Kelly <mckelly2833@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> It seems that sometimes I see cmds in an execute statement without a leading colon, as in:
>
> execute "conf qa"
>
> And sometimes I see the colon, as in:
>
> execute ":conf qa"
>
> Is there a rule or reason why ? Just wanting to understand it properly.
> I would have thought I need a colon always since I had thought the execute was being performed in 'normal' mode. But it seems to work without the colon, at least in some places.
>
> thx as always,
> mark

The operand of the :execute command must be an ex-command, not a
Normal command: for instance,

:execute "j"

will join the current line with the next one, not move the cursor down
one line. So the colon is not necessary. But at the start of an
ex-command, a colon (or several) actually does nothing, e.g.

::::::::help

still displays the help.txt helpfile. So if the operand of :execute
starts with a colon, that colon is not harmful, but it isn't necessary
either.


Best regards,
Tony.

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