It is a common task to search and replace all occurrences of a word within the current buffer.
For example, given the following buffer:
Initial Conditions
Beautiful·is·better·than·ugly.
Explicit·is·better·than·implicit.
Simple·is·better·than·complex.
Complex·is·better·than·complicated.
Flat·is·better·than·nested.
Sparse·is·better·than·dense.
Readability·counts.
NORMAL
Top
1:1
Suppose one wants to change all occurrences of is better to is
way better. The first step in the example if to move the cursor to the word we want to replace:
w
Beautiful·is·better·than·ugly.
Explicit·is·better·than·implicit.
Simple·is·better·than·complex.
Complex·is·better·than·complicated.
Flat·is·better·than·nested.
Sparse·is·better·than·dense.
Readability·counts.
NORMAL
Top
1:11
then press & to select all occurrences of the word under the cursor. In addition to
selecting all occurrences of is, the cursor moves to the next occurrence.
*
Beautiful·is·better·than·ugly.
Explicit·is·better·than·implicit.
Simple·is·better·than·complex.
Complex·is·better·than·complicated.
Flat·is·better·than·nested.
Sparse·is·better·than·dense.
Readability·counts.
NORMAL
25%
2:10
The general template for searching and replacing is:
:[range]s/{pattern}/{replacement}/[flags]
where
| Template | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| : | Puts Vim into Command Mode | |
| [range] | % | Applies this command to the entire file |
| s/ | Indicates that this is a search and replace operation | |
| {pattern}/ | Not needed, since the words to replace are already selected. | |
| {replacement}/ | is way | Specifies the text to replace the search pattern with. |
| [flags] | No flags are specified. |
Putting this all together and executing the command:
Beautiful·is·way·better·than·ugly.
Explicit·is·way·better·than·implicit.
Simple·is·way·better·than·complex.
Complex·is·way·better·than·complicated.
Flat·is·way·better·than·nested.
Sparse·is·way·better·than·dense.
Readability·counts.
NORMAL
75%
6:1
6 substitutions on 6 lines
As expected, each occurrence of is has been replaced with is way.