How do you use a register value in a substitute command?
:%s/<C-r>a/replacement/g
In command-line mode, a inserts the contents of register a.
Search: S substitute line
139 results for "S substitute line"
How do I use Vim expressions and functions in substitute replacements?
:%s/\<\w\+\>/\=toupper(submatch(0))/g
The \= flag in the replacement part of :substitute tells Vim to evaluate what follows as a Vimscript expression instead of treating it as a literal string.
How do I edit the contents of a macro using Vimscript string functions without re-recording it?
:let @q = substitute(@q, 'from', 'to', 'g')
Macros are stored as plain text in named registers, so you can manipulate them with any Vimscript string function.
How do I swap two adjacent words on a line using a substitute command in Vim?
:s/\v(\w+)\s+(\w+)/\2 \1/
By using capture groups in a substitute command with very magic mode (\v), you can swap two adjacent words in a single operation.
How do I repeat the last substitute command preserving its flags?
:&&
After running a :s/pattern/replacement/g command, you often need to repeat it on another line or range.
How do I replace a character or pattern with a newline in a substitute command?
:%s/,/\r/g
In Vim's substitute command, \r in the replacement string inserts a newline.
How do I change the case of matched text in a substitute replacement using \u, \U, \l, or \L modifiers?
:s/\(\w\+\)/\u\1/g
Vim's substitute command supports case-change modifiers in the replacement string that let you capitalize, uppercase, or lowercase matched text as part of the s
How do I run a substitute command on every file in the quickfix list at once?
:cfdo %s/old/new/ge | update
When you grep across your project and want to perform a search-and-replace on every file that matched, :cfdo is the most efficient approach.
command-line #quickfix #substitute #search #ex-commands #editing
What are the useful flags for the substitute command?
:s/pattern/replace/flags
The substitute command supports several flags that modify its behavior.
How do I zero-pad numbers with :substitute using an expression replacement?
:%s/\v(\d+)/\=printf('%04d', submatch(1))/g<CR>
When you need to normalize IDs, ticket numbers, or sequence values, :substitute can do more than plain text replacement.
command-line #command-line #substitute #regex #formatting #ex-commands
How do I remove duplicate consecutive lines using a substitute command?
:%s/^\(.\+\)\n\1$/\1/
This substitute command detects pairs of identical adjacent lines and collapses them into one, using a back-reference to match the repeated content.
How do I restrict a search or substitution to exactly the characters I visually selected?
\%V (in search/substitute pattern)
The \%V atom in a Vim pattern matches only inside the last visual selection.
search #search #visual-mode #substitution #regex #normal-mode
How do I perform a substitute only within a visual block column?
:'<,'>s/\%Vpattern/replacement/g
Using \%V in a substitute pattern restricts matching to within the visual block area only, rather than the full lines.
How do I preview substitute changes inline while typing without opening a split?
:set inccommand=nosplit
When you are crafting a risky :substitute command, the expensive part is usually confidence, not typing.
How do I run a substitute command without overwriting my last search pattern?
:keeppatterns %s/old/new/g
The :keeppatterns modifier runs any Ex command without modifying Vim's last search pattern (stored in @/).
command-line #search #ex-commands #command-line #substitute #registers
How do I restrict a substitute command to only the text within my last visual selection using the percent-V atom?
:s/\%Vfoo/bar/
The \%V atom in Vim's regex engine matches only within the area of the last visual selection.
search #search #visual-mode #substitute #advanced #ex-commands
How do I use yanked text as the replacement in a substitute command?
:%s/pattern/\=@0/g
The \=@0 replacement expression inserts the contents of register 0 (last yank) as the replacement text.
How do I edit the contents of a macro register using Vimscript without re-recording it?
:call setreg("a", substitute(getreg("a"), "old", "new", "g"))
The getreg() and setreg() functions let you read and write register contents as plain strings, making it possible to surgically edit a macro without re-recordin
How do I align key=value pairs on one line using a substitute expression in Vim?
: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.
How do I add line numbers to the beginning of every line using a substitute expression?
:%s/^/\=line('.').' '/
Vim's substitute command supports expressions in the replacement string using \=.