If you wrap it in a function it wont clobber the last search pattern, and use winsaveview()/winrestview() to not move the cursor/view around. fun! TrimWhites

If you wrap it in a function it wont clobber the last search pattern, and use winsaveview()/winrestview() to not move the cursor/view around. fun! TrimWhitespace() let l:save = winsaveview() keeppatterns %s/\s\+$//e call winrestview(l:save) endfun command! TrimWhitespace call TrimWhitespace() Little bit more, but not too much and gives a much nicer experience IMHO.