Frequently when I am doing a find and replace in vi I will do it like this:
:%s/find/replace/gc
This gives you the option to skip by pressing n, or replace by pressing y. But, sometimes I will accidentally skip over one in a large file by pressing n when I meant to press y.
How do I go backwards to the previous one and give me a second change?
Essentially, how to I find (search) the other direction temporarily? thanks.
I'm not sure if you would like to interrupt current find-replace operation and resume it again. But if that is acceptable, here is my suggestion:
Start your find-replace the way you mentioned:
:%s/find/replace/gc
After you accidentally skip over a substitution by pressing n, interrupt the search by pressing <ctrl-C>
Press <shift-N> to go back to the previous occurrence of your find term
Run find-replace a little differently while you are at this word: :.,$s/find/replace/gc
Continue the operation
All this functionality works with vim native capabilities without having to install any addon.
Note: The .,$ range specifier indicates to perform :s (substitute) operation over a range of lines that start with current line (indicated by .) and until last line (indicated by $).
Note2: It might be known to you, but reiterating for anyone else who stumbles upon this post searching for something similar - The % range specifier indicates to perform :s (substitute) operation over all lines of currently active buffer.
This is not answer to the question, but a very good alternative. I recently discovered the CtrlSF plugin and it improves the search /replace process dramatically.
Basically, you have the search results in a buffer and you can do all the replacements in this single buffer.
In your scenario, you first do :CtrlSF find, get a buffer with all the matches in all files and then you do /find and move with n over your targets and change them (of course, you can actually change only the first one and then repeat the replacement with .).
If you miss some target, you just hit N to go back to the previous result and replace it.
Seems like you can't back to previous match using this pattern. Appeared bar propose following commands y/n/a/q/l/^E/^Y but no one of them will return backward to previous match.
But you can use little different pattern described bellow:
Type this /pattern replacing pattern with interested word;
Your cursor is navigated to first occurrence, if you don't need to change it press n it will navigates you to the next occurrence;
Since you understand you need to replace a word, do this by typing cw, this command cuts the forward word and turns you to insertion mode;
Type in desired text on the released place and press ESC to switch back to command mode;
Now again press n until desired occurrence;
Since you realize that you need to change an occurrence, just press on . it will repeat previously mentioned actions;
If you want to go back just use N.
Related
Is there any command equivalent to "delete until the end of the current highlighted search match and enter insert mode"?
For example, I search for a term with:
/Element
It finds the string ExampleElementExample, places the cursor on the E in Element, and highlights Element.
I would like a generic command that applies to all searches that is equivalent to c7l or ctE in this particular case. However, I also want to be able to easily repeat this command to the next match by pressing n, ..
c//e basically does what I want, but falls short because it replaces the current search buffer, so n no longer takes me to the next match. Right now I'm using ctE or visual mode, but I feel like there must be a better option.
What is the fastest and most efficient way to execute this command?
If your Vim is recent enough (7.3 with a patch-level above 6xx), you can use gn:
barbazfoobazbar
/foo<CR>
barbaz[foo]bazbar
cgnvim<CR>
barbazvimbazbar
You can hit . to jump to the next foo and change it to vim in one go.
See :help gn.
I think the best option would be to use search and replace with the confirm flag.
:%s//replace/gc
If you leave the search string empty, it will automatically use the current search string. By the c flag, it asks you for permission to replace and upon decision, it will move to the next match. The g flag will find all matches, not just the first on a line, which I hope is what you are looking for.
You can use the following custom text object taken from Copy or change search hit on the Vim Tips Wiki:
" Make a simple "search" text object.
vnoremap <silent> s //e<C-r>=&selection=='exclusive'?'+1':''<CR><CR>
\:<C-u>call histdel('search',-1)<Bar>let #/=histget('search',-1)<CR>gv
omap s :normal vs<CR>
Let's say I've typed "abcdefg", with the cursor at the end. I want to delete back to the c, so that I only have "abc" left.
Is there a command like d that includes the current character? I know I could do dTcx, but the x feels like a work-around and I suppose there's a better solution.
No. Backward motions always start on the left of the current character for c, y and d which is somehow logical but also unnerving.
The only "clean" solutions I could think of either imply moving to the char after c first and then do a forward delete:
Tcde
or using visual mode:
vTcd
v3hd
But, given your sample and assuming you are entering normal mode just for that correction, the whole thing sounds extremely wasteful to me.
What about staying in insert mode and simply doing ←←←←?
try this:
TcD
this will leave abc for your example... well if the abcdefg is the last word of the line.
if it is not the last word in that line, you may do:
ldTc
or golfing, do it within 3 key-stroke:
3Xx or l4X
See this answer to a similar question : there is a setting to be allowed to go beyond the end of the line
From the doc :
Virtual editing means that the cursor can be positioned where there is
no actual character. This can be halfway into a tab or beyond the end
of the line. Useful for selecting a rectangle in Visual mode and
editing a table.
"onemore" is not the same, it will only allow moving the cursor just
after the last character of the line. This makes some commands more
consistent. Previously the cursor was always past the end of the line
if the line was empty. But it is far from Vi compatible. It may also
break some plugins or Vim scripts. For example because |l| can move
the cursor after the last character. Use with care!
Using the $ command will move to the last character in the line, not
past it. This may actually move the cursor to the left!
The g$ command will move to the end of the screen line.
It doesn't make sense to combine "all" with "onemore", but you will
not get a warning for it.
In short, you could try :set virtualedit=onemore, and see if your environment is stable or not with it.
Use d?c
That will start d mode, search back to 'c' and then delete up to your cursor position.
Edit: nope, that does not include current position...
I may be misunderstanding your request, but does 3hd$ do it?
I would use vFdd in this example. I think it's nicer than the other solutions since the command explicitly shows what to delete. It includes the current character and the specified character when deleting.
v: enter visual mode (mark text)
F: find/goto character backwards
d: the character "d" that will be included for removal.
d: delete command
Since it is visual mode, the cursor can also be moved before executing the actual removal d. This makes the command powerful even for deleting up to a non unique character by first marking a special character close to the character and then adjusting the position.
I'm getting more and more comfortable with Vim after a few months.
BUT, there is only one simple feature I can't get any answer from the web. That is "Search and replace the results". The problem is that I know:
:/keyword to search, and hit enter "keyword" will be highlighted (of course with set hlsearch)
n, or N to navigate
:% s/keyword/new_keyword/g to replace all occurences of keyword with new_keyword.
BUT, I would think that there must be a way to search, and replace the matched keyword (highlighted) with any new_keyword WITHOUT doing ":% s/keyword/new_keyword/g", which is a lot of typing considering search & replace is such a day-to-day feature.
Any answers/comments will be greatly appreciated!
If you've already done a search you can do a substitution for the same pattern by simply leaving out the pattern in the substitute command. eg:
/keyword
searchs for "keyword", and then:
:%s//new_keyword/g
will replace all occurrences of "keyword" with "new_keyword".
Searching and using the dot command (you didn't meantion you are using the dot command, that's why I highlight it) to repeat the last input action is my best bet here.
I use s///g for search and replace.
Well, since #keyword# and #new_keyword# account for most of the characters, and you need some way to differentiate between them (i.e., a character in vim, or tab between entry fields in dialog in a different editor), you're left with maybe four or five keystrokes beyond that.
So I think you're probably overestimating number of keystrokes and also forgetting that (1) it becomes very natural, and (2) working this way allows you also to naturally modify the action performed by specifying a different range or option flag.
But you can cut down on keystrokes. If you want you can map a key to automatically bring up the command line with '%s/' already in place. e.g.:
nmap s :%s/
The command above would remap 's' (I'm not recommending remapping to that key, but it gives the idea) and set you up to insert the keyword.
Also, you can set the 'gdefault' option to default to substituting multiple times per line. This lets you skip the ending '/g' in your keystrokes:
set gdefault
See ':h gdefault' for help section on that option.
In the end I would say just get used to the default way it works, because using it that way allows you to keep same basic operation when you want to specify different ranges or option flags, and creating a new special map is just another thing to remember. gdefault may be worth setting if you think you're going to want it majority of time, adding /g flag at end when gdefault is set has effect of turning /g off. . .
Move to the first highlighted word then record a macro for replacing the word and moving to the next one, e.g:
gg
n
qq
caw new_word^[
n
q
#q
##
##
...
In Unix the ^ allows you to repeat a command with some text substituted for new text. For example:
csh% grep "stuff" file1 >> Results
grep "stuff" file1
csh% ^file1^file2^
grep "stuff" file2
csh%
Is there a Vim equivalent? There are a lot of times I find myself editing minor things on the command line over and over again.
Specifically for subsitutions: use & to repeat your last substitution on the current line from normal mode.
To repeat for all lines, type :%&
q: to enter the command-line window (:help cmdwin).
You can edit and reuse previously entered ex-style commands in this window.
Once you hit :, you can type a couple characters and up-arrow, and it will character-match what you typed. e.g. type :set and it will climb back through your "sets". This also works for search - just type / and up-arrow. And /abc up-arrow will feed you matching search strings counterchronologically.
There are 2 ways.
You simply hit the . key to perform an exact replay of the very last command (other than movement). For example, I type cw then hello to change a word to "hello". After moving my cursor to a different word, I hit . to do it again.
For more advanced commands like a replace, after you have performed the substition, simply hit the : key then the ↑ up arrow key, and it fills your command line with the same command.
To repeat the previous substition on all lines with all of the same flags you can use the mapping g&.
If you have made a substitution in either normal mode :s/A/B/g (the current line) or visual mode :'<,>'s/A/B/g (lines included in the current selection) and you want to repeat that last substitution, you can:
Move to another line (normal mode) and simply press &, or if you like, :-&-<CR> (looks like :&), to affect the current line without highlighting, or
Highlight a range (visual mode) and press :-&-<CR> (looks like :'<,'>&) to affect the range of lines in the selection.
With my limited knowledge of Vim, this solves several problems. For one, the last visual substitution :'<,'>s/A/B/g is available as the last command (:-<UP>) from both normal and visual mode, but always produces an error from normal mode. (It still refers to the last selection from visual mode - not to the empty selection at the cursor like I assumed - and my example substitution exhausts every match in one pass.) Meanwhile, the last normal mode substitution starts with :s, not :'<,'>s, so you would need to modify it to use in visual mode. Finally, & is available directly from normal mode and so it accepts repetitions and other alternatives to selections, like 2& for the next two lines, and as user ruohola said, g& for the entire file.
In both versions, pressing : then & works as if you had pressed : and then retyped s/A/B/, so the mode you were in last time is irrelevant and only the current cursor line or selection determines the line(s) to be affected. (Note that the trailing flags like g are cleared too, but come next in this syntax too, as in :&g/: '<,'>&g. This is a mixed blessing in my opinion, as you can/must re-specify flags here, and standalone & doesn't seem to take flags at all. I must be missing something.)
I welcome suggestions and corrections. Most of this comes from experimentation just now so I'm sure there's a lot more to it, but hopefully it helps anyway.
Take a look at this: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Using_command-line_history for explanation.
Programming in vim I often go search for something, yank it, then go back to where I was, insert it, modify it.
The problem is that after I search and find, I need to MANUALLY find my way back to where I was.
Is there an automatic way to go back to where I was when I initiated my last search?
Ctrl+O takes me to the previous location. Don't know about location before the search.
Edit: Also, `. will take you to the last change you made.
Use `` to jump back to the exact position you were in before you searched/jumped, or '' to jump back to the start of the line you were on before you searched/jumped.
I've always done by it setting a mark.
In command-mode, press m[letter]. For example, ma sets a mark at the current line using a as the mark identifier.
To get back to the mark press ' [letter]. For example, 'a takes you back to the line mark set in step 1. To get back to the column position of the row where you marked the line, use `a (back-tick [letter]).
To see all of the marks that currently set, type :marks.
On a slightly unrelated note, I just discovered another nifty thing about marks.
Let's say you jump to mark b by doing mb. Vim automatically sets the mark ' (that's a single-quote) to be whichever line you were on before jumping to mark b.
That means you can do 'b to jump to that mark, then do '' (2 single-quotes) to jump back to wherever you were before.
I discovered this accidentally using the :marks command, which shows a list of all marks.
You really should read :help jumplist it explains all of this very well.
CTRL+O and CTRL+I, for jumping back and forward.
I use this one:
nnoremap / ms/
nnoremap ? ms?
Then if I search something by using / or ?, I can go back quickly by `s. You could replace the letter s to any letter you like.
The simplest way is to set a mark, with m[letter], then go back to it with '[letter]