 Tip #63: Applying substitutes to a visual block
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| created: |
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March 28, 2001 8:26 |
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complexity: |
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intermediate |
| author: |
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Chip Campbell |
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as of Vim: |
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5.7 |
If you'd like to apply a substitute, or even any ex command, to a visual-block
selected text region (ctrl-v and move), then you'll want Stefan Roemer's
http://www.erols.com/astronaut/vim/vimscript/vis.vim . Just source it in,
and then press ":B". On the command line you'll see
:'<,'>BCtrl-V
Just continue with the substitute or whatever...
:'<,'>B s/abc/ABC/g
and the substitute will be applied to just that block of text!
Example: Ctrl-V Select..........|......Type
..................just the central.......|......:B s/abc/ABC/g
..................four "abc"s.................|
..................---------............|...-------------
..................abcabcabcabc............|......abcabcabcabc
..................abcabcabcabc............|......abcABCABCabc
..................abcabcabcabc............|......abcABCABCabc
..................abcabcabcabc............|......abcabcabcabc
(dots inserted to retain tabular format)
<< Applying substitutes to a visual block |
Always set your working directory to the file you're editing >>
Additional Notes
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Anonymous,
June 15, 2001 6:51
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Sorry about the "Ctrl-V" in :'<,'>BCtrl-V, it shouldn't be there.
Also I tried to get the dots to line up, but proportional fonts won out.
--Chip Campbell
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[email protected],
February 15, 2002 20:59
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I use the following pretty much the same, but no need to import a file...
Just the :g/ command after using V, Shift-V, or CTRL-V to select.
For example:
to change this line:
word one word two word three
to a vertical list, put the cursor at the start of the line, then
Shift-V
:g/ /s//CTRL-vCTRL-m/g <CR>
It's a global replace command. :g/
The first pattern to find is a space :g/ /
Now start a substitution :g/ /s//
Use CTRL-v followed by CTRL-m to compose a carriage return (<CR>)
Now finish the regex with a slash and 'g' for global :g/ /s//CTRL-vCTRL-m/g
and press enter.
Seems like a ridiculously large amount of stuff to remember but it's been 2nd nature for years now :)
I use it mostly to comment blocks when writing scripts until I found the b_v_I
try
:g/^/s//# /g
after selecting a block of text to comment out in a script.
OH MY GOD I JUST REMEMBERED THIS IS PART OF VI NOT VIM. hari kari
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[email protected],
February 28, 2002 7:41
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I fear I may not have conveyed the idea properly. Its not referring
merely to a block of lines but to a visual-block (ie. a subset of the
characters) and restricting the substitute to refer only to that visual
block.
I want to convert just the some of the central "cab" strings to CAB;
use ctrl-v and motion (hjkl or cursor keys) to select the "cab" strings
to be transformed via a visual-block selection:
to
---->
abcabcabcabcabc abcabcabcabcabc
abcabcabcabcabc abcabCABcabcabc
abcabcabcabcabc abcabCABcabcabc
abcabcabcabcabc abcabCABcabcabc
abcabcabcabcabc abcabcabcabcabc
This operation has nothing much to do with converting a line to a
vertical list. Often it is used to change a variable:
to
---->
printf("...", printf("...",
abc[0],def[0],ghi[0], abc[0],DEF[0],ghi[0],
abc[1],def[1],ghi[1], abc[1],DEF[1],ghi[1],
abc[2],def[2],ghi[2], abc[2],DEF[2],ghi[2],
abc[3],def[3],ghi[3], abc[3],DEF[3],ghi[3],
One could break this on the commas, [range]s/def/DEF/,
and rejoin, but that's a lot more work and less intuitive
than simply using ctrl-v to select a visual block and
doing the substitute just on that visual block.
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[email protected],
June 19, 2002 7:13
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Vis.vim has been improved as of 6/19/2002 -- it is now immune to tabs and
is considerably faster. Its a complete internal re-write, although its
interface has been retained.
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[email protected] - NOSPAM,
October 12, 2004 13:41
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website address change: to http://mysite.verizon.net/astronaut/index.html#VimFuncs,
see "Visual Block Commands" and click on the link to get <vis.vim.gz>. A help document
is provided and installed automatically.
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[email protected] - NOSPAM,
February 4, 2005 7:29
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| vis.vim is now also available as vimscript#1195
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[email protected],
October 20, 2006 7:25
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Well in VIM70 just make make your selection in visual mode then type in your command starting with :
the '<,'> stuff is inserted automatically !
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[email protected] - NOSPAM,
January 25, 2007 6:57
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| Francky Teston -- please try your idea on the Feb28 note above's block of abcabcs... . Be sure to use ctrl-v to highlight the second block of cab, and apply s/cab/CAB/ as shown in the example above. You'll see that your idea capitalizes the *first* column of cab, not the *second*. That's because the visual-block nature is ignored by the substitute command; it gets applied on a linewise basis. Vim 7.0 does not change this behavior. vis.vim allows one to select exactly where the substitute is to be applied on a visual block basis.
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