Yrurtj

yw to yank your word, then move the cursor to the word you wish to replace and use "_dw to delete it, sending the text to the null register (so it doesn't overwrite the contents of the " register, where yanked/cut text goes by default), and then simply paste with p.

You could use the following mapping to make things a little easier:

nnoremap <leader>d "_d

...so in normal mode, you could use dw to delete a word, without affecting the " register.

I need this so often, I wrote a plugin to simplify and allow maximum speed: ReplaceWithRegister.

This plugin offers a two-in-one gr command that replaces text covered by a {motion} / text object, entire line(s) or the current selection with the contents of a register; the old text is deleted into the black-hole register, i.e. it's gone. It transparently handles many corner cases and allows for a quick repeat via the standard . command. Should you not like it, its page has links to alternatives.

To repeat the paste use the change command.

cw ^R0ESC (^R=Control+R; 0 for register 0)

will replace the word with the contents from reg. 0 and let's you repeat it with .

This is great for cgn (VIM 7.4) to replace search patterns:

• First search with / or *
  


• 
  cgn ^R0ESC
  


• 
  . to repeat on next match or n to skip

Since it's not included yet, you usually replace strings with :%s/.../.../ and you can do this with the word under your cursor as well.

1. You enter the first part of the command, what you are searching for: :s/find/
   


2. Then you click <ctrl-r> and choose with the cursor the word you want to replace it with.


3. Then you click <ctrl-w> (small "word") or <ctrl-a> (big "word) to paste the word under the cursor into the command line


4. Then you finish the command.

See the link about how to use cursor stuff in the command line.

I usually use this: yw to yank foo, then delete bar with dw, and as final step, put foo from register 0 which holds yanked text using "0p. Repeat putting with period (.) as needed.

Also, instead of yw and dw, you can use yiw and diw (notice the extra i - it means inside). With that you can yank or delete word from any location inside it, not just on the beginning of word.

I use this plugin for expanding selection region:
https://github.com/terryma/vim-expand-region

So my combination for changing a word will be: vvpin any place of a word.

I also have a hack for saving unnamed register contents after paste so I can repeat this.

vnoremap p p:let @"=@0 <CR>

vnoremap P P:let @"=@0 <CR>

(my clipboard is autoselect)

I'm using below key mapping to replace the current word with copied word.
" replace with Register 0
map <leader>rr ciw<C-r>0<Esc>

yiw copy a word. Navigate to a word. ,rr replace the word.

Leader key is map to ,.

First, navigate to the start of the word you want to yank. If you're in the middle of the word, just do b to go back to the start of it. Then do ye to yank the whole word, without any trailing spaces (yank to end). Finally, go to the word you want to replace - perhaps by doing w a few times - and do a vep to enter visual selection mode, select to the end of the word, and paste the contents last yanked.

(If anyone wants to know why I didn't simply comment on the accepted answer, for the small modification of using ye rather than yw, it's because my reputation on this stack is still too low.)

1. use yw to yank the world, go to the world you want to change.


2. use v to select the world, ve or vw depending on your situation.


3. enter p to paster the world you copied to replace the selected block

To do this the VIM way, you intentionally use the yank, delete and other registers.

Register "0 is the yank register. Anything you yank will be put here, but deletes never touch register "0.

So, in your example, you had just yanked a word. To replace a word with what you just yanked, you take advantage of deletions never touching the yank register. So move to the target word, delete it with dw, then paste from your yank-register with "0p, or better yet, cw then ^R0 (which is repeatable).

A close opposite to the yank register is the small deletions register "-. Any small delete or change removal is put here, but yanks never touch "-. A deletion counts as small if it is less than a full line.

Registers "1-"9 are the delete history registers. With "1 containing the latest large deletion or change removal, and "9 containing the oldest large deletion or change removal. Only deletes that aren't small, i.e. deletes of one line or more, get pushed onto "1-"9.

For any operation that changes a register, a copy is also always placed in the default, a.k.a. unnamed register "". This is the register used when you don't explicitly name a register.

Register "_ is the black hole register, and it is always empty. If you delete to it, nothing in any register is changed at all, not even the default "" register, or the black hole register itself. The removed text is fully gone, apart from your undo history. Yanking to, or pasting from the black hole register does essentially nothing.

The black hole register "_ lets you do things like first one small deletion, then a number of other deletions into "_ without changing your small deletions register "-, then paste your first small deletion.

Other registers are the last inserted register "., the filename registers "% and "#, the command register ":, search register "/ and expression register "=.

You can get a list of all these registers and their contents by the command :register. That command is very useful to experiment with and learn what ends up where.