How to copy from current position to the end of line in vi

If you don't want to include the line break with the yank, you can use yg_. (Or in your case, "*yg_)

Basically, just recognize there's a difference between $ and g_ movement-wise. It's helped me on numerous occasions.

The normal-mode command to move to the end of the line is $.

You can copy to the end of the line with y$ and paste with p.

To copy/paste between different instances, you can use the system clipboard by selecting the * register, so the commands become "*y$ for copying and "*p for pasting.

$ move-to-linebreak

$

y$ yank-to-linebreak

y,$

"*y$ select clipboard-register yank-to-linebreak

",*,y,$

"*p select clipboard-register paste

",*,p

Check :h registers for more information.