Vim Large-Scale Editing Reference

Vim Large-Scale Editing Reference

This reference provides detailed Vim commands and patterns for large-scale text transformations.

Substitution Commands

Basic Syntax

:[range]s/pattern/replacement/[flags]

• % - All lines in file
• 1,100 - Lines 1 through 100
• .,$ - Current line to end of file
• g flag - Replace all occurrences on each line
• c flag - Confirm each replacement
• i flag - Case insensitive

Common Patterns

Whitespace Removal

:%s/\s\+//g           " Remove all whitespace
:%s/^\s\+//           " Remove leading whitespace
:%s/\s\+$//           " Remove trailing whitespace
:%s/\s\+/ /g          " Collapse multiple spaces to single space

Case Transformations

:%s/.*/\U&/           " Uppercase entire line
:%s/.*/\L&/           " Lowercase entire line
:%s/\<\w/\u&/g        " Capitalize first letter of each word
:%s/\([^,]*\)/\U\1/   " Uppercase first CSV field

CSV Column Operations

" Reorder 3 columns: ABC -> CBA
:%s/\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\)/\3,\2,\1/

" Reorder 3 columns: ABC -> BCA
:%s/\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\)/\2,\3,\1/

" Delete second column (3 columns to 2)
:%s/\([^,]*\),[^,]*,\([^,]*\)/\1,\2/

" Add new column at end
:%s/$/,new_value/

Field Matching

[^,]*     " Match any characters except comma (non-greedy for CSV)
[^,]\+    " Match one or more non-comma characters
\([^,]*\) " Capture group for CSV field

Macros

Recording and Playback

qa        " Start recording into register a
<commands>
q         " Stop recording

@a        " Play macro once
@@        " Repeat last macro
10@a      " Play macro 10 times
:%normal @a  " Apply macro to all lines

Macro Content Verification

:registers a    " Show content of register a
:echo @a        " Display macro content

Setting Macros Programmatically

let @a = '0f,ldt,A,\<Esc>p'

Note: In Vimscript strings:

• \<Esc> represents the Escape key
• \\ represents a literal backslash
• Special keys use \<keyname> format

Keystroke Counting

What Counts as a Keystroke

Escape Sequences in Vimscript

When counting keystrokes from a Vimscript let @a = '...' statement:

Example Counting

Script: let @a = ':s/\\s\\+//g\<CR>'

Actual keystrokes:

1. : - enter command mode
2. s
3. /
4. \
5. s
6. \
7. +
8. /
9. /
10. g
11. Enter

Total: 11 keystrokes

Running Vim Scripts

From Command Line

# Run script on file
vim -s script.vim input.txt

# Run Ex commands directly
vim -c '%s/foo/bar/g' -c 'wq' input.txt

# Silent/headless mode
vim -es -c '%s/foo/bar/g' -c 'wq' input.txt

Script Structure

" transform.vim

" Define macros
let @a = 'macro_content'
let @b = 'another_macro'

" Perform substitutions
%s/pattern1/replacement1/g
%s/pattern2/replacement2/g

" Apply macros
%normal @a

" Save and quit
wq

Performance Considerations

For Large Files (>100K lines)

1. Disable features during editing:

   :set noswapfile
   :set nobackup
   :set nowritebackup
   :syntax off
   

2. Use :silent for commands:

   :silent %s/pattern/replacement/g
   

3. Prefer single global substitutions over macros when possible:

   • :%s/... is faster than :%normal @a for simple replacements

Batch Operations

For multiple operations, chain them efficiently:

" Less efficient: multiple passes
:%s/\s\+//g
:%s/.*/\U&/
:%s/\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\)/\3,\2,\1/

" More efficient if possible: combine into single pass
" (only when operations don't conflict)

Verification Commands

In Vim

:!wc -l %              " Line count of current file
:!head -20 %           " View first 20 lines
:!diff % expected.csv  " Compare with expected output

Exit Codes

• Vim exits with code 0 on successful :wq
• Check with echo $? after Vim command completes

Common Regex Pitfalls