I want to run command like this:
vim -c "%g/blablabla/norm /str<ESC>cwSTR" file
How I write escape character in the command?
As you type the command, use control-v then escape to enter the escape.
However, I have to question whether vim is the right tool for this job. Normally, you would be better off with something like sed. That said, I'm not quite clear what the vim command is up to, so maybe you do need it.
This is what I would do:
vim -s -c ':exec "normal %g/blablabla/norm /str\<Esc>cwSTR"' file
Notice that I am using :exec to expand the "\" to the real . The advantage? it is more script friendly. However, I am not sure what this command is doing, are you using some of your custom maps here?
Related
By reading this question I learned that you can give -c to vim such that it will call a command. The question is then answered by calling vim -c startinsert. Good, but what if I want to give other commands? I only know the shortcuts like i for :startinsert.
For example I'd like to write vim -c gotoend but it doesn't exists.
After some reading, all : commands, which are ex commands are written here and in man vim, but where do I find a lis or method to know what can be done?
The commands for options -c are called ex-command named after ex(tendended line editor). The list of commands are in vimdoc and vimhelp.
The command to jump to the end of file is just :$ so you can do this in command line:
vim -c $ <file>
Please note you probably better escape or quote $ as it's a shell metacharacter:
vim -c \$ <file>
or
vim -c '$' <file>
:help :normal. Also note that instead of -c command you can use +command.
With that, I'd typically say vim +"norm G" foo.txt to start at the bottom. You could even alias it: alias vimbottom='vim +"norm G"'; then you can use vimbottom foo.txt to start at the bottom, if you prefer.
where do I find a lis or method to know what can be done
There is no better resource for Vim than its :help. And I don't know any place that has all the ex-commands in one place, since it would be a huge list. (EDIT: :help :index actually has that. Thanks, Christian Brabandt!)
I want to script vim to edit files from the command line. For example I want to do something along the lines of:
vim -<SOME_OPTION> 'Iworld<Esc>bIhello <Esc>:wq helloworld.txt<CR>'
or:
echo 'Iworld<Esc>bIhello <Esc>:wq helloworld.txt<CR>' | vim
and have it save the file helloworld.txt with a body of hello world
Is this possible? I've tried a few different approaches but none seem to do it. I realize I can do things like vim +PluginInstall to run Ex commands from the command line, but I'd love to be able to string together arbitrary motions
This can be achieved with the + flag and the :normal command:
$ vim +"norm Iworld" +"norm Ihello " +"wq helloworld.txt"
I think what you are looking for is vim's -w/W and -s {scriptin} option. Well in your case you should make a scriptfile, and with -s file to let vim execute all your "key presses"
I think vimgolf has used these options too.
Short and simple example
How can I use shell like command substitution in the vim command-line mode?
For example, if I want to edit a particular path whose path is available as output of another command, say, which foo, I could do something like this on the shell.
vim "$(which foo)"
How can I do this with the :e command when I am already within Vim?
I am looking for something that is the equivalent of :e $(which foo.txt).
Real use case
The above is just a short example so that this question makes sense for everyone. Here is the real reason why I am looking for this answer.
In the shell, I can execute gdb -p $(pidof bar) to attach to a process bar and debug it. With Vim, I am using ConqueGdb which accepts the same arguments as gdb, so I would want to do something like :ConqueGdb -p $(pidof bar) from within Vim.
:e `which foo`
:help backtick-expansion
I have to make a script using vim which opens a file, set the fileformat=unix, and then save the file and exit. Could you please help? Thanks
First, check out whether you have a dos2unix or dos2ux command; it already does this for you.
With Vim, this should do the job:
$ vim -c "wq ++ff=unix" filename
This one in-lines the fileformat change with the :w command; of course, you can also do this separately via -c "set ff=unix".
Notes
You can also do this via a variety of tools, e.g. sed, perl, ...; Vim is a quite heavyweight alternative.
This still starts up a full, interactive Vim instance. Have a look at this answer which additional command-line arguments can turn Vim into batch mode.
I would like to delete the second line of a text file. Using vim or ex any kind of text editor form script.
I have came up with these commands but does not work for me.
#!/bin/sh
iconv -f Utf-16le -t utf-8 ~/Desktop/upload.csv -o ~/Desktop/finalutf.csv
vim ':2d|wq' ~/Desktop/finalutf.csv
ex -sc '%s/\r//e|x' ~/Desktop/finalutf.csv
The script .sh is executable. First line of code works, 3rd as well but not the second one. I tried to see the documentation for the vim commands to delete the specific line, and tried it on terminal and it works (:2d)
trying to use it in script seems confusing. I am new to Ubuntu as well as vim and scripts, trying to learn seems hard enough, with so much of complex commands explained leaving far away, for beginners learning vim, in its documentation.
This is the sort of thing that sed is built for.
sed -i 2d ~/Desktop/finalutf.csv
However, if you must use vim you can do
vim -c "2d|wq" ~/Desktop/finalutf.csv
This works for me:
vim -c "2d|wq" infile