In Vim I need to convert all lowercase to uppercase and all uppercase to lowercase with a single command. So if my text file looks like this..
Hello World
.. it needs to be toggled to look like this..
hELLO wORLD
I know :%s/[a-z]/\U&/g will change all lowercase to uppercase and that :%s/[A-Z]/\L&/g will change all uppercase to lowercase. But how would I write that to do both at the same time?
In addition I know if my cursor is at the top of the file VG~ will toggle case everything but that's not the answer I need. Thank you.
<Esc>1GVG~
Explanation:
<Esc> — return to Normal mode; just in case we're in Insert mode or Command line
1G — jump to the 1st line
V — start Visual mode
G — jump to the last line extending selection
~ — toggle case in the selection
Or
<Esc>1Gg~G
g~<motion> — change case during motion; the motion is G (jump to last line)
Docs: http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/change.html#~
Looks like you already know everything you need. ggVG~ marks all your code and toggles the case. If you want a single command you can either use:
:nnoremap <keybinding> ggVG~
or use this function, which does the same, but keeps your current position in the file:
function ToggleCase()
exec "normal! mqHmw"
exec "normal! ggVG~"
exec "normal! 'wzt`q"
endfunction
command ToggleCase silent call ToggleCase()
the first and last exec mark your position in the file and restore them, after the case toggling. See: :h marks
type :ToggleCase to use the function. Of cause you can bind this to a keybinding as well.
:nnoremap <keybinding> :ToggleCase<cr>
Since you mentioned using a single command and you mentioned some :%s/.../ substitutions, I'll offer this one:
:%normal! g~~
This will run the g~~ command to switch case of a single line, for each line of the buffer.
One more way to accomplish this, if you're ok adopting a plug-in, is to use the kana/vim-textobj-entire plug-in for a text object for the entire buffer.
As the plug-in README.md file says:
Though these are trivial operations (e.g. ggVG), text object versions are more handy, because you do not have to be conscious of the cursor position (e.g. vae).
With this plug-in installed and enabled, you can switch case of the whole buffer with:
g~ae
Related
I had a large file I was trying to reformat which involved removing the 2nd to nth repeating sets on 2 to 100 lines per duplicate.
The data looked like
element1.element2.element...field.comment
I wanted to remove the repetition in elements after the first instance so of course I went complicated :) and did a macro something like
In a macro Yanked first element on current line to register p and then processed lines yanking the first element into register o and then doing, still in the macro
:if (#p=!#o)|:.s/paste register p//g|else|:norm! j|endif
Now this worked OK except when it got to a line where #p<>#o the :norm! j part stayed in : mode until I manually escaped once or twice then executed the :norm! j command.
I solved the problem an easier way but would like to know why it was only on the else portion that it wouldn't leave :ex mode.
From :help norm
:norm[al][!] {commands} *:norm* *:normal*
...
This command cannot be followed by another command,
since any '|' is considered part of the command.
...
An alternative is to use |:execute|, which uses an
expression as argument. This allows the use of
printable characters to represent special characters.
Example: >
:exe "normal \<c-w>\<c-w>"
So this would do the trick:
:if (#p=!#o)|:.s/paste register p//g|else|:exe "norm j"|endif
Is it possible to reuse the range of ex commands in VIM?
As an example, I can write (copy) lines 4 to 10 from my current file to a new file using the following command:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
But what I really want to do is move the lines to a new file. I can do this like so:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
:4,10d
But it's a bit annoying to have to type 4,10 both times.
So I have two questions:
Generally, Is there a way to reference the previously used range in ex commands?
Specifically, if there is not a way to do (1), is there any easier way to cut and paste a number of lines from one file into a new one.
I usually use cat to do this:
:4,10!cat > foo/bar.txt
This works because you're piping the lines through cat and replacing them with the resulting output, which is nothing. And of course you can append to the end of an existing file by doing >> instead of >.
I am unaware of an answer to (1), but to answer (2), there are a number of different ways of doing it that don't require reselecting the lines by hand. In visual mode this will work:
4GV10G
:w foo/bar.txt
gvd
because gv reselects the previous selection, which is almost what you want, without using an ex range.
But you could just turn the problem on its head, and try:
:4,10d
:sp foo/bar.txt
pZZ
to cut, then paste into a new file, then close it.
Other than using the Vim history (:Cursor Up, q:) and removing the previous command so that just the range is kept, there's no way to re-use the last range, no magic variable.
If I used this move lines combination more often, I would write a custom command for it:
command! -bang -range -nargs=1 -complete=file MoveWrite <line1>,<line2>write<bang> <args> | <line1>,<line2>delete _
You need to specify the range only once and save typing.
You can write something like this for other combinations, too. The main challenge is specifying all the command attributes (bang, range, completion), and, later, remembering the custom command name.
Generally, what I do is delete the lines from the one file, switch to the other file, and paste.
Also, I generally use marks. Instead of typing the actual numbers, I hit mb to mark the beginning line, then go to the end line and hit d'b to delete back to the line marked as b. But you can use mb to mark a begin line, and me to mark an end line, then run an ex command:
:'b,'e w somefile.txt<Enter>
Of course you can use any letters from a through z for your marks; I usually use b and e but you can use what you like.
How I would move the lines:
m'b
<navigate to end line>
d'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
p
Ctrl+^
Ctrl+^ switches from the current open file to the previous open file. (You could also just open a pane and switch panes, if you prefer. Panes don't work in plain vi but do work in vim.)
The above assumes that you have set the autowrite option on. With autowrite, the :n command and Ctrl+^ both just write the current file and then switch files, instead of complaining that the file has been changed without you saving it. You can also do the above and just explicitly write the file before using :n or Ctrl+^.
By the way, I use Ctrl+^ so much that I mapped it onto K. Easier to type, but I got in that habit long ago when I used to have to sometimes use a dumb terminal that couldn't type Ctrl+^.
By the way, when you delete lines, they go into the "unnamed buffer". In vim, the unnamed buffer is preserved when you switch files. In original vi, the unnamed buffer is cleared. So the above won't work with old vi. You can make it work by deleting into a named buffer, then pasting from the named buffer; that works in any version of vi.
m'b
<navigate to end line>
"ad'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
"ap
Ctrl+^
The above deletes into the buffer named a, then pastes from a in the other file. This does work in vim of course; it's just that you don't need it.
Here's a command-line mapping that achieves this. I've bound it to CTRL-G CTRL-U, since it performs a similar action as CTRL-U. (But you can change that, of course!)
" c_CTRL-G_CTRL-U Remove all characters between the cursor position and
" the closest previous |:range| given to a command. When
" directly after a range, remove it.
" Useful to repeat a recalled command line with the same
" range, but a different command.
let s:singleRangeExpr = '\%(\d\+\|[.$%]\|''\S\|\\[/?&]\|/[^/]*/\|?[^?]*?\)\%([+-]\d*\)\?'
let s:rangeExpr = s:singleRangeExpr.'\%([,;]'.s:singleRangeExpr.'\)\?'
let s:upToRangeExpr = '^\%(.*\\\#<!|\)\?\s*' . s:rangeExpr . '\ze\s*\h'
" Note: I didn't take over the handling of command prefixes (:verbose, :silent,
" etc.) to avoid making this overly complex.
function! s:RemoveAllButRange()
let l:cmdlineBeforeCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), 0, getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:cmdlineAfterCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:upToRange = matchstr(l:cmdlineBeforeCursor, s:upToRangeExpr)
if empty(l:upToRange)
return getcmdline()
else
call setcmdpos(strlen(l:upToRange) + 1)
return l:upToRange . l:cmdlineAfterCursor
endif
endfunction
cnoremap <C-g><C-u> <C-\>e(<SID>RemoveAllButRange())<CR>
as a plugin
My CmdlineSpecialEdits plugin has (among many others) this mapping as well.
You can also do something like this to write the contents of the anonymous register to file2.txt
:4,10d | :call writefile(split(##, "\n", 1), 'file2.txt')
You can do the deleting first, and then open a new tab and paste the contents - so :4,10d, then :tabe foo/bar.txt, followed by p... does that sound better?
In Vim 8 and NVIM 0.3.7 as of writing, you can actually edit your command list and hit enter to execute.
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
q:
q: is to enter interactive ex command
Once you open the interactive command list, you can then edit it and press enter to execute.
I love moopet's answer though, it's efficient.
You can perform normal mode commands programmatically in Ex mode, via execute normal, e.g.
:execute "normal" "iNEWTEXT\<Esc>0"
This switches to insert mode (i), writes "NEWTEXT", escapes to normal mode (\< Esc>), then moves to the start of the line (0).
However, using a non-constant string, either a register or variable, the behavior is different. For example, suppose you have the same command above saved on a line in any file (not necessarily a vimscript file):
iNEWTEXT\<Esc>0
You can then copy the text into any register (here, z) via "zy$ and execute the register via #z. This time, though, the output is different:
NEWTEXT\<Esc>0
After entering insert mode, the Escape is no longer treated as a special character, and is instead taken literally. Alternative forms like \e don't work either. Is there a way around this?
EDIT: Using Ingo's answer, I created the the following function. Basically, the use is for having a set of normal/insert commands embedded within the text of the file, and being able to execute them. More commonly, something similar is used for running Ex commands from a line of text, but I couldn't find anything that did this exact thing for normal and insert mode.
So, you'd have text like the following in your file:
jy10j10jpO\<Esc>jEll
When on that line, you could call the function or a remap, and the commands would execute (in this example, copying and pasting 10 lines, and moving 2 columns past the first word). Ingo's alternatives are better for serious usage, namely sourcing commands from another file, having the command in the .vimrc, or a file-type specific option. Macros saved by a session would work just as well, and are more practical than having commands scattered throughout a file. In my case, I was syncing across multiple devices, and didn't want to have another file or clutter my vimrc with this very specific command, but didn't mind cluttering this specific file itself. Think of this like a portable macro.
" Execute current line as Vim normal mode commands.
nnoremap <A-y> :call EvaluateLineAsNormalModeCmd()<CR>
function! EvaluateLineAsNormalModeCmd()
let g:getCurrentLine = getline(".")
"have to :execute twice: once to get the contents of the
"register inserted into a double-quoted string, and then once for
"the :normal to evaluate the string.
execute 'execute "normal" "' . g:getCurrentLine . '"'
endfunction
EDIT2/3: Here are two functions using Christian Brabandt's answer. They work about the same but can put the user in insert mode at the end (whereas, based on my minimal information, 'i' in the other context is considered an incomplete command and not executed, and :startinsert can't be used in that situation). PS: Please don't ask me what all those single and double quotes are doing, as I can't wrap my head around it O_o
function! EvaluateLineAsNormalModeCmd()
normal! 0y$
execute ':call feedkeys("'.#".'", "t")'
endfunction
function! EvaluateLineAsNormalModeCmd()
let g:getCurrentLine = getline(".")
execute ':call feedkeys("'.g:getCurrentLine.'", "t")'
endfunction
If you really need this (the use case is dubious), you have to :execute twice: once to get the contents of the register inserted into a double-quoted string, and then once for the :normal to evaluate the string.
:execute 'execute "normal" "' . #z . '"'
PS: Please give more background; what is your final goal? When a question is only about a small technical step, it's difficult to provide a good answer. If you don't tell us why you want this, it's easy to succumb to the XY problem.
I would rather use the feedkeys() function. E.g. for your sample, this should work:
exe ':call feedkeys("'.#".'", "t")'
(If you yanked your line into the unnamed register, else adjust the register name accordingly). Note, quoting could get ugly.
To understand what is going on, this is what is done:
exe ':call feedkeys(' - First part of the feedkeys() function call
" - Start of Quote for the first argument
. - String concatenation
#" - content of the unnamed register
. - String concatenation
' - Start of second part of the feedkeys function call
" - End of Quote for the first argument
, "t")' - Second argument of feedkeys() function call
You could also do it in 2 steps like this:
exe ':let a="'. #". '"' - Also needs to quote #" correctly.
call feedkeys(a, 't')
which should be easier to understand. The exe call is only to translate the normalized key notation into literal keys.
Is it possible to reuse the range of ex commands in VIM?
As an example, I can write (copy) lines 4 to 10 from my current file to a new file using the following command:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
But what I really want to do is move the lines to a new file. I can do this like so:
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
:4,10d
But it's a bit annoying to have to type 4,10 both times.
So I have two questions:
Generally, Is there a way to reference the previously used range in ex commands?
Specifically, if there is not a way to do (1), is there any easier way to cut and paste a number of lines from one file into a new one.
I usually use cat to do this:
:4,10!cat > foo/bar.txt
This works because you're piping the lines through cat and replacing them with the resulting output, which is nothing. And of course you can append to the end of an existing file by doing >> instead of >.
I am unaware of an answer to (1), but to answer (2), there are a number of different ways of doing it that don't require reselecting the lines by hand. In visual mode this will work:
4GV10G
:w foo/bar.txt
gvd
because gv reselects the previous selection, which is almost what you want, without using an ex range.
But you could just turn the problem on its head, and try:
:4,10d
:sp foo/bar.txt
pZZ
to cut, then paste into a new file, then close it.
Other than using the Vim history (:Cursor Up, q:) and removing the previous command so that just the range is kept, there's no way to re-use the last range, no magic variable.
If I used this move lines combination more often, I would write a custom command for it:
command! -bang -range -nargs=1 -complete=file MoveWrite <line1>,<line2>write<bang> <args> | <line1>,<line2>delete _
You need to specify the range only once and save typing.
You can write something like this for other combinations, too. The main challenge is specifying all the command attributes (bang, range, completion), and, later, remembering the custom command name.
Generally, what I do is delete the lines from the one file, switch to the other file, and paste.
Also, I generally use marks. Instead of typing the actual numbers, I hit mb to mark the beginning line, then go to the end line and hit d'b to delete back to the line marked as b. But you can use mb to mark a begin line, and me to mark an end line, then run an ex command:
:'b,'e w somefile.txt<Enter>
Of course you can use any letters from a through z for your marks; I usually use b and e but you can use what you like.
How I would move the lines:
m'b
<navigate to end line>
d'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
p
Ctrl+^
Ctrl+^ switches from the current open file to the previous open file. (You could also just open a pane and switch panes, if you prefer. Panes don't work in plain vi but do work in vim.)
The above assumes that you have set the autowrite option on. With autowrite, the :n command and Ctrl+^ both just write the current file and then switch files, instead of complaining that the file has been changed without you saving it. You can also do the above and just explicitly write the file before using :n or Ctrl+^.
By the way, I use Ctrl+^ so much that I mapped it onto K. Easier to type, but I got in that habit long ago when I used to have to sometimes use a dumb terminal that couldn't type Ctrl+^.
By the way, when you delete lines, they go into the "unnamed buffer". In vim, the unnamed buffer is preserved when you switch files. In original vi, the unnamed buffer is cleared. So the above won't work with old vi. You can make it work by deleting into a named buffer, then pasting from the named buffer; that works in any version of vi.
m'b
<navigate to end line>
"ad'b
:n somefile.txt<Enter>
"ap
Ctrl+^
The above deletes into the buffer named a, then pastes from a in the other file. This does work in vim of course; it's just that you don't need it.
Here's a command-line mapping that achieves this. I've bound it to CTRL-G CTRL-U, since it performs a similar action as CTRL-U. (But you can change that, of course!)
" c_CTRL-G_CTRL-U Remove all characters between the cursor position and
" the closest previous |:range| given to a command. When
" directly after a range, remove it.
" Useful to repeat a recalled command line with the same
" range, but a different command.
let s:singleRangeExpr = '\%(\d\+\|[.$%]\|''\S\|\\[/?&]\|/[^/]*/\|?[^?]*?\)\%([+-]\d*\)\?'
let s:rangeExpr = s:singleRangeExpr.'\%([,;]'.s:singleRangeExpr.'\)\?'
let s:upToRangeExpr = '^\%(.*\\\#<!|\)\?\s*' . s:rangeExpr . '\ze\s*\h'
" Note: I didn't take over the handling of command prefixes (:verbose, :silent,
" etc.) to avoid making this overly complex.
function! s:RemoveAllButRange()
let l:cmdlineBeforeCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), 0, getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:cmdlineAfterCursor = strpart(getcmdline(), getcmdpos() - 1)
let l:upToRange = matchstr(l:cmdlineBeforeCursor, s:upToRangeExpr)
if empty(l:upToRange)
return getcmdline()
else
call setcmdpos(strlen(l:upToRange) + 1)
return l:upToRange . l:cmdlineAfterCursor
endif
endfunction
cnoremap <C-g><C-u> <C-\>e(<SID>RemoveAllButRange())<CR>
as a plugin
My CmdlineSpecialEdits plugin has (among many others) this mapping as well.
You can also do something like this to write the contents of the anonymous register to file2.txt
:4,10d | :call writefile(split(##, "\n", 1), 'file2.txt')
You can do the deleting first, and then open a new tab and paste the contents - so :4,10d, then :tabe foo/bar.txt, followed by p... does that sound better?
In Vim 8 and NVIM 0.3.7 as of writing, you can actually edit your command list and hit enter to execute.
:4,10w foo/bar.txt
q:
q: is to enter interactive ex command
Once you open the interactive command list, you can then edit it and press enter to execute.
I love moopet's answer though, it's efficient.
In Vim, when I run a substitution command like
:%s/foo/bar/g
it replaces all occurrences of foo with bar in the entire buffer. When it completes, the cursor moves to the last location where foo was replaced with bar.
How can I run :%s/foo/bar/g without having the cursor leave its original location where it was before the substitution command was issued?
Is there some option I can set in the .vimrc file?
When the :substitute command is run, prior to any replacements being
carried out, the current position of the cursor is stored in the jump
list (see :help jumplist).
In order to return to the position before the latest jump, one can use
the `` or '' Normal-mode commands. The former
jumps exactly to the stored position; the latter jumps to the first
non-whitespace character on the line the stored position belongs to.
It is possible to both invoke a substitution command and move
the cursor back afterwards, at once, by issuing the command
:%s/pat/str/g|norm!``
or, if jumping to the containing line is sufficient, by using
the command
:%s/pat/str/g|''
It is not necessary to preface '' with norm! in the latter
command, because the '' address is allowed by the range syntax
of Ex commands and refers to the same line the Normal-mode
command '' jumps to (see :help :range); both just look into
the contents of the ' psudo-mark.
I just type Ctrl+O after the replace to get back to the previous location.
It's old, but for anyone coming across this question, I wanted to share my solution since it will work correctly even if nothing is substituted:
:exe 'norm m`' | %s/pattern/substitution/eg | norm g``
exe is needed since norm treats the bar as an argument.