:%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.
<C-r><C-o>a
When you paste multiline snippets from a register while in Insert mode, default insertion can trigger indentation and formatting side effects line by line.
registers #registers #insert-mode #formatting #indentation #editing
:packadd justify | :'<,'>Justify 72
Vim can wrap text, but full left-and-right justification is a different task.
plugins #plugins #formatting #visual-mode #text-manipulation
:g/^\s*$/,/./-1join
When text is hard-wrapped (for example from email, logs, or copied docs), joining entire paragraphs manually is slow and error-prone.
editing #editing #formatting #ex-commands #text-manipulation
:%s/\v^([^,]+),([^,]+),/\2,\1,/<CR>
When CSV-like data has two columns in the wrong order, manually fixing each line is slow and error-prone.
:%s/\v(\d+)/\=printf('%04d', submatch(1))/g<CR>
When you need to normalize IDs, ticket numbers, or sequence values, :substitute can do more than plain text replacement.
command-line #command-line #substitute #regex #formatting #ex-commands
:%s/\v\d+/\=printf('%04d', submatch(0))/g
When you need aligned numeric data for logs, IDs, or generated fixtures, manual edits are slow and error-prone.
:set nrformats-=octal\<CR>
If you work with IDs, ticket numbers, or zero-padded counters, Vim's default octal behavior can be surprising.
:%s/\v<(\w)(\w*)>/\u\1\L\2/g
When you need to normalize casing across headings, labels, or generated docs, editing words one by one is tedious.
:'<,'>s/\%V\s\+$//
Sometimes you need to clean alignment artifacts in a rectangular region without touching the rest of each line.
visual-mode #visual-mode #substitution #regex #formatting #editing
:%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.
:set diffopt+=algorithm:histogram,indent-heuristic
Default diff behavior can produce noisy hunks when code is moved or indentation changes significantly.
:%s/\vfoo\zsbar/baz/g
When your match has a stable prefix but you only want to replace the trailing segment, \zs is often cleaner than introducing extra capture groups.
:argdo %s/\<old\>/new/ge | update
When you need to apply the same substitution across a curated set of files, :argdo is safer than a broad project-wide command.
command-line #command-line #ex-commands #search #buffers #formatting
:silent keeppatterns %s/\s\+$//e
Trailing whitespace cleanup is a common housekeeping step, but a plain substitution can leave side effects: it can overwrite your last search pattern (@/) and t
command-line #command-line #ex-commands #editing #search #formatting
:keepjumps keeppatterns %s/\s\+$//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.
:%s/0x\x\+/\=str2nr(submatch(0), 16)/g
When cleaning logs, protocol dumps, or generated code, you may need to normalize 0x.
