vim tips: base64 encoding or decoding the selected text

April 29, 2022 | 0 Minute Read

I’ve been writing a lot of these huge Kubernetes YAML files lately. Here’s a trick for Vim that has saved me a lot of time when editing secrets, which contain base64 encoded values.

First, add the following lines to your .vimrc

vnoremap <leader>64d y:let @"=system('base64 -w 0 --decode', @")<cr>gvP
vnoremap <leader>64e y:let @"=system('base64 -w 0', @")<cr>gvP

This is a shortcut that, when you select a text and press <leader>64e or <leader>64d copies the selected content in the unnamed register @", replace the register content with the encoded or decoded text, then paste the new text inplace.