vim-reference

Searching for text¶

• / + {pattern} or ? + {pattern}
  • searches for next/previous occurrence of pattern
• ?
  • searches for previous occurrence of pattern
  • n
    • next occurrence
  • N
    • previous occurrence
• # or *
  • searches for previous/next occurrence of current word (the word your cursor is currently on)

Replacing text¶

to replace text you use :s/ in command mode followed by {pattern}/ to search for the pattern, followed by {replacement}/ to replace all found instances

By prepending s with % you can replace occurrence in entire document,

likewise by appending g at end of command you can replace multiple occurrences in same line (g for global)

by appending c you can confirm each replacement before the replacement occurs

• :s/{pattern}/{replacement}/
  • replace first occurrence of pattern with replacement in current line

replace multiple occurrences¶

• :s/{pattern}/{replacement}/g
  • replace all occurrences of pattern in current line (prepend s with % for all lines)

confirm replacements¶

• :s/{pattern}/{replacement}/c
  • confirm replacement before replacing (likewise can be combined with % or g)

replace pattern in multiple lines:¶

• :a,b + s/{pattern}/{replacement}/
  • replace first occurrence of pattern with replacement in range from line a to line b
• :%s/{pattern}/{replacement}/
  • replace first occurrence of pattern with replacement in all lines
• likewise if you are in visual mode then after highlighting desired range you can type : followed by s/{pattern}/{replacement} and pattern will get replaced with replacement in specified range

combine specifiers¶

• :%s/{pattern}/{replacement}/gc
  • g
    • allow for multiple replacements in same line
  • %
    • multiple lines
  • c
    • confirm replacements