Is there a way to execute a Vim command on a file from the command line?
I know the opposite is true like this:
:!python %
But what if I wanted to :retab a file without opening it in Vim? For example:
> vim myfile.c
:retab | wq
This will open myfile.c, replace the tabs with spaces, and then save and close. I'd like to chain this sequence together to a single command somehow.
It would be something like this:
> vim myfile.c retab | wq
This works:
gvim -c "set et|retab|wq" foo.txt
set et (= set expandtab) ensures the tab characters get replaced with the correct number of spaces (otherwise, retab won't work).
I don't normally use it, but vim -c ... also works
The solution as given above presumes the default tab stop of eight is appropriate. If, say, a tab stop of four is intended, use the command sequence "set ts=4|set et|retab|wq".
You have several options:
-c "commands" : will play Ex commands as you entered them in the command line.
In your example : vim myfile -c 'retab | wq'. This is what Firstrock suggested.
-S "vim source file" : will source given vim script
(like running vim -c "source 'vim source file'"):
If you have a file script.vim containing:
retab
wq
Then you can use vim myfile.c -s script.vim (the extension does not really matter)
-s "scriptin file": will play contents of file as it contains normal mode commands: If you have script.txt containing:
:retab
ZZ
with end of lines consisting of a single ^M character (for example you saved the script using the :set fileformat=mac | w), then you can run: vim myfile.c -S script.txt (ZZ is another way to exit vim and save current file).
Note that you can record those scripts with vim my_file -W script.txt, but it suffers a bug if you happen to use gvim (the GUI).
Not a direct answer to your question, but if you want to replace tabs with spaces (or do any other regex search/replace) for a list of files, you can just use in-place sed search/replace:
sed -i 's/\t/ /g' foo1.txt foo2.txt
or
ls *.txt | xargs sed -i 's/\t/ /g'
(In this example I am replacing each tab character with three spaces.)
NOTE: the -i flag means operate in-place.
From the sed man page:
-i[SUFFIX], --in-place[=SUFFIX]
edit files in place (makes backup if extension
supplied)
Related
I remember doing magic with vi by "programming" it with input commands but I don't remember exactly how.
My sepcial request are:
launch vi in a script with command to be executed.
do an insert in one file.
search for a string in the file.
use $VARIABLE in the vi command line to replace something in the command.
finish with :wq.
I my memory, I sent the command exactly like in vi and the ESC key was emulate by '[' or something near.
I used this command into script to edit and change files.
I'm going to see the -c option but for now I cannot use $VARIABLE and insert was impossible (with 'i' or 'o').
#!/bin/sh
#
cp ../data/* .
# Retrieve filename.
MODNAME=$(pwd | awk -F'-' '{ print $2 }')
mv minimod.c $MODNAME.c
# Edit and change filename into the file (from mimimod to the content of $VARIABLE).
vi $MODENAME.c -c ":1,$s/minimod/$MODNAME/" -c ':wq!'
This example is not functionning (it seems the $VARIABLE is not good in -c command).
Could you help me remember memory ;) ?
Thanks a lot.
Joe.
You should not use vi for non-interactive editing. There's already another tool for that, it's called sed or stream editor.
What you want to do is
sed -i 's/minimod/'$MODNAME'/g' $MODNAME.c
to replace your vi command.
Maybe you are looking for the ex command, that can be run non-interatively:
ex $MODENAME.c <<< "1,\$s/minimod/$MODNAME/
wq!
"
Or if you use an old shell that does not implement here strings:
ex $MODENAME.c << EOF
1,\$s/minimod/$MODNAME/
wq!
EOF
Or if you do not want to use here documents either:
echo "1,\$s/minimod/$MODNAME/" > cmds.txt
echo "wq!" >> cmds.txt
ex $MODENAME.c < cmds.txt
rm cmds.txt
One command per line in the standard input. Just remember not to write the leading :. Take a look at this page for a quick review of ex commands.
Granted, it would be better to use the proper tool for the job, that would be sed, as #IsaA answer suggests, or awk for more complex commands.
I am trying to open all the files listed in file a.lst:
symptom1.log
symptom2.log
symptom3.log
symptom4.log
But trying the following command:
cat a.lst | tr "\n" " " | vim -
opens only the stdin output
symptom1.log symptom2.log symptom3.log symptom4.log
It doesn't open symptom1.log, symptom2.log, symptom3.log & symptom4.log in vim.
How to open all the files listed in a.lst using vim?
You could use xargs to line upp the arguments to vi:
vim $(cat 1.t | xargs)
or
cat a.lst | xargs vim
If you want them open in split view, use -o (horizontal) or -O (vertical):
cat a.lst | xargs vim -o
cat a.lst | xargs vim -O
while read f ; do cat $f ; done < a.lst | vim -
I like a variation on Qiau's xargs option:
xargs vim < a.lst
This works because the input redirection is applied to the xargs command rather than vim.
If your shell is bash, another option is this:
vim $(<a.lst)
This works because within the $(...), input redirection without a command simply prints the results of the input, hence expanding the file into a list of files for vim to open.
UPDATE:
You mentioned in comments that you are using csh as your shell. So another option for you might be:
vim `cat a.lst`
This should work in POSIX shells as well, but I should point out that backquotes are deprecated in some other shells (notably bash) in favour of the $(...) alternative.
Note that redirection can happen in multiple places on your command line. This should also work in both csh and bash:
< a.lst xargs vim
vim may complain that its input is not coming from a terminal, but it appears to work for me anyway.
In my project regression settings, output file have statement like
"diff between foo.txt and bar.txt found"
Now I need to take vimdiff between foo.txt and bar.txt. Can I do it from output file opened in vim only?
currently I need to first open my output file in vim. Then I need to select line specifying diff found. after it return to shell. then take vimdiff b/w this files.
You can do it without opening any new vim instance using the following function:
function s:OpenDiff()
let line=getline('.')
let match=matchlist(line, '\v^\ {4}\"diff\ between\ (.{-})\ and\ (.{-})\ found\"\ $')[1:2]
if empty(match)
throw 'Incorrect line:' line
endif
execute 'tabedit' fnameescape(match[0])
execute 'diffsplit' fnameescape(match[1])
endfunction
nnoremap ,od :<C-u>call <SID>OpenDiff()<CR>
If you add set bufhidden=wipe after each of execute statements you will be able to get rid of opened buffers by running :tabclose.
If you had no file opened or an unmodified buffer:
:edit file1.txt
:vert diffsplit file2.txt
To open diffs in a new tab,
:tabedit file1.txt
:vert diffsplit file2.txt
would be very convenient
To get things automated, I'd consider
diffprogram | grep -w '^diff between' | grep 'found$' |
while read diff between file1 and file2 found;
do
gvim -d "$file1" "$file2"
done
Notes:
doesn't work for filenames with speciall characters (notably whitespace)
To open all these vims simultaneously, just add &: gvim -d "$file1" "$file2"&
You can also get all diffs to open in separate tabs in a single vim:
gvim --servername GVIM --remote-silent +"tabedit $file1" +"vert diffsplit $file2"
I want to get automatically to the positions of the results in Vim after grepping, on command line. Is there such feature?
Files to open in Vim on the lines given by grep:
% grep --colour -n checkWordInFile *
SearchToUser.java:170: public boolean checkWordInFile(String word, File file) {
SearchToUser.java~:17: public boolean checkWordInFile(String word, File file) {
SearchToUser.java~:41: if(checkWordInFile(word, f))
If you pipe the output from grep into vim
% grep -n checkWordInFile * | vim -
you can put the cursor on the filename and hit gF to jump to the line in that file that's referenced by that line of grep output. ^WF will open it in a new window.
From within vim you can do the same thing with
:tabedit
:r !grep -n checkWordInFile *
which is equivalent to but less convenient than
:lgrep checkWordInFile *
:lopen
which brings up the superfantastic quickfix window so you can conveniently browse through search results.
You can alternatively get slower but in-some-ways-more-flexible results by using vim's native grep:
:lvimgrep checkWordInFile *
:lopen
This one uses vim REs and paths (eg allowing **). It can take 2-4 times longer to run (maybe more), but you get to use fancy \(\)\#<=s and birds of a feather.
Have a look at "Grep search tools integration with Vim" and "Find in files within Vim". Basically vim provides these commands for searching files:
:grep
:lgrep
:vimgrep
:lvimgrep
The articles feature more information regarding their usage.
You could do this:
% vim "+/checkWordInFile" $(grep -l checkWordInFile *)
This will put in the vim command line a list of all the files that match the regex. The "+/..." option will tell vim to search from the start of each file until it finds the first line that matches the regex.
Correction:
The +/... option will only search the first file for the regex. To search in every file you need this:
% vim "-c bufdo /checkWordInFile" $(grep -l checkWordInFile *)
If this is something you need to do often you could write a bash function so that you only need to specify the regex once (assuming that the regex is valid for both grep and vim).
I think this is what you are looking for:
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2184
When you open a file:line, for instance when coping and pasting from an error from your compiler (or grep output) vim tries to open a file with a colon in its name. With this little script in your plugins folder if the stuff after the colon is a number and a file exists with the name especified before the colon vim will open this file and take you to the line you wished in the first place.
It's definitely what I was looking for.
I highly recommend ack.vim over grep for this functionality.
http://github.com/mileszs/ack.vim
http://betterthangrep.com/
You probably want to make functions for these. :)
Sequential vim calls (console)
grep -rn "implements" app | # Or any (with "-n") you like
awk '{
split($0,a,":"); # split on ":"
print "</dev/tty vim", a[1], "+" a[2] # results in lines with "</dev/tty vim <foundfile> +<linenumber>
}' |
parallel --halt-on-error 1 -j1 --tty bash -ec # halt on error and "-e" important to make it possible to quit in the middle
Use :cq from vim to stop editing.
Concurrent opening in tabs (gvim)
Start the server:
gvim --servername GVIM
Open the tabs:
grep -rn "implements" app | # again, any grep you like (with "-n")
awk "{ # double quotes because of $PWD
split(\$0,a,\":\"); # split on ":"
print \":tabedit $PWD/\" a[1] \"<CR>\" a[2] \"G\" # Vim commands. Open file, then jump to line
}" |
parallel gvim --servername GVIM --remote-send # of course the servername needs to match
If you use git, results are often more meaningful when you search only in the files tracked by git. To open files at the given line which is a search result of git grep in vim you will need the fugitive plugin, then
:copen
:Ggrep pattern
Will give you the list in a buffer and you can choose to open files from your git grep results.
In this particular example:
vim SearchToUser.java +170
I want to mass-edit a ton of files that are returned in a grep. (I know, I should get better at sed).
So if I do:
grep -rnI 'xg_icon-*'
How do I pipe all of those files into vi?
The easiest way is to have grep return just the filenames (-l instead of -n) that match the pattern. Run that in a subshell and feed the results to Vim.
vim $(grep -rIl 'xg_icon-*' *)
A nice general solution to this is to use xargs to convert a stdout from a process like grep to an argument list.
A la:
grep -rIl 'xg_icon-*' | xargs vi
if you use vim and the -p option, it will open each file in a tab, and you can switch between them using gt or gT, or even the mouse if you have mouse support in the terminal
You can do it without any processing of the grep output! This will even enable you to go the the right line (using :help quickfix commands, eg. :cn or :cw). So, if you are using bash or zsh:
vim -q <(grep foo *.c)
if what you want to edit is similar across all files, then no point using vi to do it manually. (although vi can be scripted as well), hypothetically, it looks something like this, since you never mention what you want to edit
grep -rnI 'xg_icon-*' | while read FILE
do
sed -i.bak 's/old/new/g' $FILE # (or other editing commands, eg awk... )
done
vi `grep -l -i findthisword *`