:%s/[“”]/"/ge<CR>:%s/[‘’]/'/ge<CR>
When text comes from docs, email, or CMS exports, it often contains typographic quotes (“”‘’) that break code snippets, Markdown tooling, or shell comma
vipJ
When text is hard-wrapped for readability in git diffs or markdown source, you sometimes need the paragraph as a single line for refactoring, search, or export.
:%s/\n\{3,}/\r\r/g
When files pass through formatters, generators, or repeated edits, they often accumulate noisy vertical gaps.
:g/^\s*$/,/./-1join
When text is hard-wrapped (for example from email, logs, or copied docs), joining entire paragraphs manually is slow and error-prone.
editing #editing #formatting #ex-commands #text-manipulation
:%s/\v^([^,]+),([^,]+),/\2,\1,/<CR>
When CSV-like data has two columns in the wrong order, manually fixing each line is slow and error-prone.
:lockmarks normal! >>
When you run editing commands from the command line, Vim usually updates special marks like '[ and '] to the changed text.
:g/./t.\<CR>
The :global command can apply an Ex action to every line that matches a pattern.
:%s/\v<(\w)(\w*)>/\u\1\L\2/g
When you need to normalize casing across headings, labels, or generated docs, editing words one by one is tedious.
:%s/\v(\S+)\s+(\S+)/\2 \1/<CR>
When you need to flip two fields across a whole file, a single substitution is faster and safer than recording a macro.
editing #editing #substitution #regex #ex-commands #formatting
:keepjumps normal! gg=G
Bulk formatting commands are common in cleanup sessions, but they often leave side effects in your navigation history.
:undojoin<CR>
By default, separate edits often become separate undo entries, which makes replaying or backing out a multi-part change noisy.
mzgUiw`z
When you run an operator like gUiw, Vim can leave your cursor in a slightly different place than where you started.
:keepjumps keeppatterns %s/\s\+$//e<CR>
Bulk whitespace cleanup is common, but a plain substitution can leave side effects: your last search pattern changes and jump navigation gets noisy.
:g/^/normal I// <CR>
When you need to comment a whole block quickly, :global combined with :normal is faster than recording a macro or entering Visual Block mode.
:%s/0x\x\+/\=str2nr(submatch(0), 16)/g
When cleaning logs, protocol dumps, or generated code, you may need to normalize 0x.
g?iw
g? is Vim’s built-in ROT13 operator.
:%s/#\zs\d\+/\=printf('%04d', submatch(0))/g
For log files, changelogs, or issue references, you sometimes need fixed-width numeric IDs without touching surrounding syntax.
editing #editing #ex-commands #substitute #regex #text-processing
:s/\v(\S+)\s*=\s*(.*)/\=printf('%-20s = %s', submatch(1), submatch(2))/
When a line contains uneven key = value spacing, quick manual fixes are easy to get wrong.
:s/\%#\k\+/REPL/
Most substitutions operate on broad ranges, but sometimes you want a precise edit anchored to where your cursor is right now.
:%s/\d\+/\=printf('%04d', submatch(0))/g
When you need fixed-width numeric fields, manually editing each number is slow and error-prone.
