What is a good way to automate substitute commands in vim?
Suppose I have something like:
s/foo/bar/g
except much more complex and I want to run it on selected ranges without
having to type the substitute command?
How can I save the substitute command and give it short convenient name that I can invoke it by?
You can create a function with range supported, and in the function do the substitution. Also create a custom command to call the function with range.
However the easiest way I think, is creating an abbrev in your vimrc file:
cab RR s/foo/bar/g
thus, when you selected lines, or in command line gave ranges (like 3,5 or % ...) you press RR<space> the s/foo/bar/g will be filled automatically. You can do some adjustment or just press enter let it go.
You could try mapping below pressing the space key twice on a particular word will autofill the substitute command with the word under the cursor and wait for you to enter the replacement name
" super quick search and replace
nnoremap <Space><Space> :'{,'}s/\<<C-r>=expand('<cword>')<CR>\>/
nnoremap <Space>% :%s/\<<C-r>=expand('<cword>')<CR>\>/
in your case just put the cursor on the foo word and press the space bar twice.
You should see
:'{,'}s/\<foo\>/
Then type the word bar
'{,'}s/\<foo\>/bar
all occurrences of foo will be replaced by bar
Related
Is there a simple way (without too many keystrokes), to substitute the next occurrence of a pattern (in the line or in the whole document, both would be interesting), starting from the cursor position?
So far, I've only come up with selecting onwards, going to normal mode, and doing :s/\%Vpattern/rep. It's too cumbersome. Perhaps there's a nice way to select the next occurrance of a pattern, and then one can "change" the selection?
Thanks
You can use the confirm option with your substitution. Use the command
:%s/pattern/replacement/gc
It will take you through each occurrence of the pattern. Type y to replace, n to move on without replacing, and q to quit the search.
You can use gn
Just search for the pattern, using /
Select using gn
Once selected, you can perform any action on it. Like y to copy, c to change etc
:h gn
I want to be able to paste something from the buffer (probably using p), but instead of inserting it into the text, I want to replace whatever was there before (just like the R command). I've searched Google, vim documentation, and Stack Overflow but could not find anything on the issue. I imagine that it's just a command that I don't know about. Any help would be appreciated.
That's all I need to know, but if you want to know my specific problem:
Essentially I'm just trying to create a short script for documentation headers. At the beginning of every function I put the following:
// FunctionName <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
However adding all those <> gets annoying. I want to be able to place my cursor on a function name, press the F6 key and it produce the above. The problem, of course, is that function names are not constant sizes and it would make the "chain" look weird. So I just want to paste OVER a bunch of pre-made chain so that the whole thing will always be a constant number of characters. i.e.:
start with
//<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Paste " FunctionName " and end with
// FunctionName <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I found a much better solution
R Enter Replace mode: Each character you type replaces an existing character, starting with the character under the cursor.
So R <ctrl-r>" will do what you want. Note there is a space before and after <ctrl-r>".
OLD ANSWER
You can do this with a macro pretty easily
qhmhA <esc>a<><esc>40.80|D`hq
qh start macro
mh set mark
A <esc> insert a space after the existing text
a<><esc> insert '<>'
40. repeat last command 40 times
80| move to column 80
D delete to the end of the line
`h jump back to mark
q end macro
The macro can then be repeated with #h. You probably want to save this to your .vimrc like so
let #h = 'mhA ^[a<>^[40.80|D`h'
Note that the ^[ are supposed to be one character entered by pressing <ctrl-V><esc>
You can use visual selection.
Vp select the whole line and overwrite with buffer
viwp select the word under cursor and overwrite with buffer content.
vi(p overwrite what is in between parenthesis.
I particularly like that it highlights what should be overwritten, which
makes it easier to verify.
You can do it with this:
:exe "normal ".strlen(#p)."x\"pP"
It deletes the right number of chars, and then paste the content of register p.
Short answer
Simply do R and <C-r>0 or the 'register' you are trying to yank. If in doubt, check :reg
Long answer
From :help i_CTRL-R:
Insert the contents of a register. Between typing CTRL-R and
the second character, '"' will be displayed to indicate that
you are expected to enter the name of a register.
The text is inserted as if you typed it, but mappings and
abbreviations are not used. If you have options like
'textwidth', 'formatoptions', or 'autoindent' set, this will
influence what will be inserted. This is different from what
happens with the "p" command and pasting with the mouse.
Special registers:
'"' the unnamed register, containing the text of
the last delete or yank
'%' the current file name
'#' the alternate file name
'*' the clipboard contents (X11: primary selection)
'+' the clipboard contents
'/' the last search pattern
':' the last command-line
'.' the last inserted text
'-' the last small (less than a line) delete
*i_CTRL-R_=*
'=' the expression register: you are prompted to
enter an expression (see |expression|)
Note that 0x80 (128 decimal) is used for
special keys. E.g., you can use this to move
the cursor up:
CTRL-R ="\<Up>"
Use CTRL-R CTRL-R to insert text literally.
When the result is a |List| the items are used
as lines. They can have line breaks inside
too.
When the result is a Float it's automatically
converted to a String.
When append() or setline() is invoked the undo
sequence will be broken.
Suppose I have the piece of text below with the cursor staying at the first A currently,
AAAA
BBB
CC
D
How can I add spaces in front of each line to make it like, and it would be great if the number of columns of spaces can be specified on-the-fly, e.g., two here.
AAAA
BBB
CC
D
I would imagine there is a way to do it quickly in visual mode, but any ideas?
Currently I'm copying the first column of text in visual mode twice, and replace the entire two column to spaces, which involves > 5 keystrokes, too cumbersome.
Constraint:
Sorry that I didn't state the question clearly and might create some confusions.
The target is only part of a larger file, so it would be great if the number of rows and columns starting from the first A can be specified.
Edit:
Thank both #DeepYellow and #Johnsyweb, apparently >} and >ap are all great tips that I was not aware of, and they both could be valid answers before I clarified on the specific requirement for the answer to my question, but in any case, #luser droog 's answer stands out as the only viable answer. Thank you everyone!
I'd use :%s/^/ /
You could also specify a range of lines :10,15s/^/ /
Or a relative range :.,+5s/^/ /
Or use regular expressions for the locations :/A/,/D/>.
For copying code to paste on SO, I usually use sed from the terminal sed 's/^/ /' filename
Shortcut
I just learned a new trick for this. You enter visual mode v, select the region (with regular movement commands), then hit : which gives you this:
:'<,'>
ready for you to type just the command part of the above commands, the marks '< and '> being automatically set to the bounds of the visual selection.
To select and indent the current paragraph:
vip>
or
vip:>
followed by enter.
Edit:
As requested in the comments, you can also add spaces to the middle of a line using a regex quantifier \{n} on the any meta-character ..
:%s/^.\{14}/& /
This adds a space 14 chars from the left on each line. Of course % could be replaced by any of the above options for specifying the range of an ex command.
When on the first A, I'd go in block visual mode ctrl-v, select the lines you want to modify, press I (insert mode with capital i), and apply any changes I want for the first line. Leaving visual mode esc will apply all changes on the first line to all lines.
Probably not the most efficient on number of key-strokes, but gives you all the freedom you want before leaving visual mode. I don't like it when I have to specify by hand the line and column range in a regex command.
I'd use >}.
Where...
>: Shifts right and
}: means until the end of the paragraph
Hope this helps.
Ctrl + v (to enter in visual mode)
Use the arrow keys to select the lines
Shift + i (takes you to insert mode)
Hit space keys or whatever you want to type in front of the selected lines.
Save the changes (Use :w) and now you will see the changes in all the selected lines.
I would do like Nigu. Another solution is to use :normal:
<S-v> to enter VISUAL-LINE mode
3j or jjj or /D<CR> to select the lines
:norm I<Space><Space>, the correct range ('<,'>) being inserted automatically
:normal is probably a bit overkill for this specific case but sometimes you may want to perform a bunch of complex operations on a range of lines.
You can select the lines in visual mode, and type >. This assumes that you've set your tabs up to insert spaces, e.g.:
setl expandtab
setl shiftwidth=4
setl tabstop=4
(replace 4 with your preference in indentation)
If the lines form a paragraph, >ap in normal mode will shift the whole paragraph above and below the current position.
Let's assume you want to shift a block of code:
setup the count of spaces used by each shift command, :set shiftwidth=1, default is 8.
press Ctrl+v in appropriate place and move cursor up k or down j to select some area.
press > to shift the block and . to repeat the action until desired position (if cursor is missed, turn back with h or b).
Another thing you could try is a macro. If you do not know already, you start a macro with q and select the register to save the macro... so to save your macro in register a you would type qa in normal mode.
At the bottom there should be something that says recording. Now just do your movement as you would like.
So in this case you wanted 2 spaces in front of every line, so with your cursor already at the beginning of the first line, go into insert mode, and hit space twice. Now hit escape to go to normal mode, then down to the next line, then to the beginning of that line, and press q. This ends and saves the macro
(so that it is all in one place, this is the full list of key combinations you would do, where <esc> is when you press the escape key, and <space> is where you hit the space bar: qai<space><space><esc>j0q This saves the macro in register a )
Now to play the macro back you do # followed by the register you saved it in... so in this example #a. Now the second line will also have 2 spaces in front of them.
Macros can also run multiple times, so if I did 3#a the macro would run 3 times, and you would be done with this.
I like using macros for this like this because it is more intuitive to me, because I can do exactly what I want it to do, and just replay it multiple times.
I was looking for similar solution, and use this variation
VG:norm[N]I
N = numbers of spaces to insert.
V=Crtl-V
*** Notice *** put space immediate after I.
file.txt
abc123
456efg
hi789j
command
:set hlsearch
/\d\+
I want to copy highlighted text bellow to clipboard (or register):
123
456
789
Just like
egrep -o '[0-9]+' file.txt
Thanks.
One can follow the below procedure.
Empty a register (for instance, "a).
qaq
or
:let #a = ''
Run the command1
:g/\d\+/norm!//e^Mv??^M"Ay
If it is necessary to append a new line character after each of the
matches, run this command instead:2
:g/\d\+/norm!//e^Ma^M^[??^Mv$"Ayu
Type ^M as Ctrl+V then Enter (or
Ctrl+M), type ^[ as
Ctrl+V then Esc (or
Ctrl+[). In order not to retype the pattern
that just have been used in search, one can press
Ctrl+R, / to automatically insert
last search pattern.
Also one can record the command to execute on matched lines (the part
following norm!) as a macro. This allows to see the actions
immediately on a sample line and to make sure they are correct. Then,
the macro can be applied using :global:
:g/\d\+/norm!#z
1 At the top level, the command is a :global executing the Ex
command norm!//e^Mv??^M"Ay on each of the lines that match the pattern
\d\+. The Ex command begins with the norm! command to execute the Normal
mode commands //e^Mv??^M"Ay. These are three commands separated by the
carriage return symbol ^M. The first one, //e, looks for the search
pattern (which is set to the pattern used in the global command) and put the
cursor to the last symbol of the match (because of the flag e, see :help
search-offset). Then v command starts Visual mode. The command ?? looks
for the last search pattern backwards (and put the cursor to the first
character of the match), thus selecting the text that match the last search
pattern. The last command, "Ay, yanks the selected text appending it to the
a register.
2 The second global command resembles the first one in outline.
At each of the matched lines, it moves cursor to the last symbol of the match
and inserts newline after that symbol. Then it puts the cursor to the start
of the match and selects (in Visual mode) everything up to the end of line
(including just inserted newline). Finally, the command appends the selected
text to the register, and undoes newline inserting.
3 One can always see the actions recorded in particular macro by
examining the contents of the corresponding register using :di z or "zp,
for example.
If your text obeys the pattern you posted you can start visual mode blockwise with Ctrl+V and select from 1 in the first line to 9 in the last line. Then you just copy to the + register, which is the system clipboard, by typing "+y.
Edit:
I have tested this new solution for the text:
abc123
456efg
hi789j
Replace all non-digit by nothing with :%s/\D//g and the result will be:
123
456
789
Copy it to the clipboard typing "+y%, then revert the changes with u and you are done.
Use this command to extract all URLs, and append to the end of file:
:let urls = [] | %s/http:[^"]*/\=add(urls, submatch(0))[-1]/g | call setline(line('$')+1, urls)
I'm aware that in Vim I can often repeat a command by simply adding a number in front of it. For example, one can delete 5 lines by:
5dd
It's also often possible to specify a range of lines to apply a command to, for example
:10,20s:hello:goodbye:gc
How can I perform a 'vertical edit'? I'd like to, for example, insert a particular symbol, say a comma, at the beggining (skipping whitespace, i.e. what you'd get if you type a comma after Shift-I in command mode) of every line in a given range. How can this be achieved (without resorting to down-period-down-period-down-period)?
Ctrl-v enters visual mode blockwise. You can then move (hjkl-wise, as normal), and if you want to insert something on multiple lines, use Shift-i.
So for the text:
abc123abc
def456def
ghi789ghi
if you hit Ctrl-v with your cursor over the 1, hit j twice to go down two columns, then Shift-i,ESC , your text would look like this:
abc,123abc
def,456def
ghi,789ghi
(the multi-line insert has a little lag, and won't render until AFTER you hit ESC).
:10,20s/^/,/
Or use a macro, record with:
q a i , ESC j h q
use with:
# a
Explanation: q a starts recording a macro to register a, q ends recording. There are registers a to z available for this.
That's what the :norm(al) command is for:
:10,20 normal I,
If you are already using the '.' to repeat your last command a lot, then I found this to be the most convenient solution so far. It allows you to repeat your last command on each line of a visual block by using
" allow the . to execute once for each line of a visual selection
vnoremap . :normal .<CR>
I believe the easiest way to do this is
1) record a macro for one line, call it 'a'; in this case one types
q a I , ESC j q
2) select the block of lines that you want to apply the macro to
3) use the 'norm' function to execute macro 'a' over this block of lines, i.e.,
:'<,'>norm#a
I think the easiest is to record a macro, and then repeat the macro as many times as you want. For example to add a comma at the start of every line, you type:
q a I , ESC j q
to repeat that 5 times, you enter
5 # a
With your edit already saved in the . operator, do the following:
Select text you want to apply the operator to using visual mode
Then run the command :norm .
Apart from the macros, as already answered, for the specific case of inserting a comma in a range of lines (say from line 10 to 20), you might do something like:
:10,20s/\(.*\)/,\1
That is, you can create a numbered group match with \( and \), and use \1 in the replacement string to say "replace with the contents of the match".
I use block visual mode. This allows you to perform inserts/edits across multiple lines (aka 'vertical edits').