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+*usr_12.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2004 May 01
+
+ VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
+
+ Clever tricks
+
+
+By combining several commands you can make Vim do nearly everything. In this
+chapter a number of useful combinations will be presented. This uses the
+commands introduced in the previous chapters and a few more.
+
+|12.1| Replace a word
+|12.2| Change "Last, First" to "First Last"
+|12.3| Sort a list
+|12.4| Reverse line order
+|12.5| Count words
+|12.6| Find a man page
+|12.7| Trim blanks
+|12.8| Find where a word is used
+
+ Next chapter: |usr_20.txt| Typing command-line commands quickly
+ Previous chapter: |usr_11.txt| Recovering from a crash
+Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.1* Replace a word
+
+The substitute command can be used to replace all occurrences of a word with
+another word: >
+
+ :%s/four/4/g
+
+The "%" range means to replace in all lines. The "g" flag at the end causes
+all words in a line to be replaced.
+ This will not do the right thing if your file also contains "thirtyfour".
+It would be replaced with "thirty4". To avoid this, use the "\<" item to
+match the start of a word: >
+
+ :%s/\<four/4/g
+
+Obviously, this still goes wrong on "fourty". Use "\>" to match the end of a
+word: >
+
+ :%s/\<four\>/4/g
+
+If you are programming, you might want to replace "four" in comments, but not
+in the code. Since this is difficult to specify, add the "c" flag to have the
+substitute command prompt you for each replacement: >
+
+
+ :%s/\<four\>/4/gc
+
+
+REPLACING IN SEVERAL FILES
+
+Suppose you want to replace a word in more than one file. You could edit each
+file and type the command manually. It's a lot faster to use record and
+playback.
+ Let's assume you have a directory with C++ files, all ending in ".cpp".
+There is a function called "GetResp" that you want to rename to "GetAnswer".
+
+ vim *.cpp Start Vim, defining the argument list to
+ contain all the C++ files. You are now in the
+ first file.
+ qq Start recording into the q register
+ :%s/\<GetResp\>/GetAnswer/g
+ Do the replacements in the first file.
+ :wnext Write this file and move to the next one.
+ q Stop recording.
+ @q Execute the q register. This will replay the
+ substitution and ":wnext". You can verify
+ that this doesn't produce an error message.
+ 999@q Execute the q register on the remaining files.
+
+At the last file you will get an error message, because ":wnext" cannot move
+to the next file. This stops the execution, and everything is done.
+
+ Note:
+ When playing back a recorded sequence, an error stops the execution.
+ Therefore, make sure you don't get an error message when recording.
+
+There is one catch: If one of the .cpp files does not contain the word
+"GetResp", you will get an error and replacing will stop. To avoid this, add
+the "e" flag to the substitute command: >
+
+ :%s/\<GetResp\>/GetAnswer/ge
+
+The "e" flag tells ":substitute" that not finding a match is not an error.
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.2* Change "Last, First" to "First Last"
+
+You have a list of names in this form:
+
+ Doe, John ~
+ Smith, Peter ~
+
+You want to change that to:
+
+ John Doe ~
+ Peter Smith ~
+
+This can be done with just one command: >
+
+ :%s/\([^,]*\), \(.*\)/\2 \1/
+
+Let's break this down in parts. Obviously it starts with a substitute
+command. The "%" is the line range, which stands for the whole file. Thus
+the substitution is done in every line in the file.
+ The arguments for the substitute command are "/from/to/". The slashes
+separate the "from" pattern and the "to" string. This is what the "from"
+pattern contains:
+ \([^,]*\), \(.*\) ~
+
+ The first part between \( \) matches "Last" \( \)
+ match anything but a comma [^,]
+ any number of times *
+ matches ", " literally ,
+ The second part between \( \) matches "First" \( \)
+ any character .
+ any number of times *
+
+In the "to" part we have "\2" and "\1". These are called backreferences.
+They refer to the text matched by the "\( \)" parts in the pattern. "\2"
+refers to the text matched by the second "\( \)", which is the "First" name.
+"\1" refers to the first "\( \)", which is the "Last" name.
+ You can use up to nine backreferences in the "to" part of a substitute
+command. "\0" stands for the whole matched pattern. There are a few more
+special items in a substitute command, see |sub-replace-special|.
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.3* Sort a list
+
+In a Makefile you often have a list of files. For example:
+
+ OBJS = \ ~
+ version.o \ ~
+ pch.o \ ~
+ getopt.o \ ~
+ util.o \ ~
+ getopt1.o \ ~
+ inp.o \ ~
+ patch.o \ ~
+ backup.o ~
+
+To sort this list, filter the text through the external sort command: >
+
+ /^OBJS
+ j
+ :.,/^$/-1!sort
+
+This goes to the first line, where "OBJS" is the first thing in the line.
+Then it goes one line down and filters the lines until the next empty line.
+You could also select the lines in Visual mode and then use "!sort". That's
+easier to type, but more work when there are many lines.
+ The result is this:
+
+ OBJS = \ ~
+ backup.o ~
+ getopt.o \ ~
+ getopt1.o \ ~
+ inp.o \ ~
+ patch.o \ ~
+ pch.o \ ~
+ util.o \ ~
+ version.o \ ~
+
+
+Notice that a backslash at the end of each line is used to indicate the line
+continues. After sorting, this is wrong! The "backup.o" line that was at
+the end didn't have a backslash. Now that it sorts to another place, it
+must have a backslash.
+ The simplest solution is to add the backslash with "A \<Esc>". You can
+keep the backslash in the last line, if you make sure an empty line comes
+after it. That way you don't have this problem again.
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.4* Reverse line order
+
+The |:global| command can be combined with the |:move| command to move all the
+lines before the first line, resulting in a reversed file. The command is: >
+
+ :global/^/m 0
+
+Abbreviated: >
+
+ :g/^/m 0
+
+The "^" regular expression matches the beginning of the line (even if the line
+is blank). The |:move| command moves the matching line to after the mythical
+zeroth line, so the current matching line becomes the first line of the file.
+As the |:global| command is not confused by the changing line numbering,
+|:global| proceeds to match all remaining lines of the file and puts each as
+the first.
+
+This also works on a range of lines. First move to above the first line and
+mark it with "mt". Then move the cursor to the last line in the range and
+type: >
+
+ :'t+1,.g/^/m 't
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.5* Count words
+
+Sometimes you have to write a text with a maximum number of words. Vim can
+count the words for you.
+ When the whole file is what you want to count the words in, use this
+command: >
+
+ g CTRL-G
+
+Do not type a space after the g, this is just used here to make the command
+easy to read.
+ The output looks like this:
+
+ Col 1 of 0; Line 141 of 157; Word 748 of 774; Byte 4489 of 4976 ~
+
+You can see on which word you are (748), and the total number of words in the
+file (774).
+
+When the text is only part of a file, you could move to the start of the text,
+type "g CTRL-G", move to the end of the text, type "g CTRL-G" again, and then
+use your brain to compute the difference in the word position. That's a good
+exercise, but there is an easier way. With Visual mode, select the text you
+want to count words in. Then type g CTRL-G. The result:
+
+ Selected 5 of 293 Lines; 70 of 1884 Words; 359 of 10928 Bytes ~
+
+For other ways to count words, lines and other items, see |count-items|.
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.6* Find a man page *find-manpage*
+
+While editing a shell script or C program, you are using a command or function
+that you want to find the man page for (this is on Unix). Let's first use a
+simple way: Move the cursor to the word you want to find help on and press >
+
+ K
+
+Vim will run the external "man" program on the word. If the man page is
+found, it is displayed. This uses the normal pager to scroll through the text
+(mostly the "more" program). When you get to the end pressing <Enter> will
+get you back into Vim.
+
+A disadvantage is that you can't see the man page and the text you are working
+on at the same time. There is a trick to make the man page appear in a Vim
+window. First, load the man filetype plugin: >
+
+ :runtime! ftplugin/man.vim
+
+Put this command in your vimrc file if you intend to do this often. Now you
+can use the ":Man" command to open a window on a man page: >
+
+ :Man csh
+
+You can scroll around and the text is highlighted. This allows you to find
+the help you were looking for. Use CTRL-W w to jump to the window with the
+text you were working on.
+ To find a man page in a specific section, put the section number first.
+For example, to look in section 3 for "echo": >
+
+ :Man 3 echo
+
+To jump to another man page, which is in the text with the typical form
+"word(1)", press CTRL-] on it. Further ":Man" commands will use the same
+window.
+
+To display a man page for the word under the cursor, use this: >
+
+ \K
+
+(If you redefined the <Leader>, use it instead of the backslash).
+For example, you want to know the return value of "strstr()" while editing
+this line:
+
+ if (strstr(input, "aap") == ) ~
+
+Move the cursor to somewhere on "strstr" and type "\K". A window will open
+to display the man page for strstr().
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.7* Trim blanks
+
+Some people find spaces and tabs at the end of a line useless, wasteful, and
+ugly. To remove whitespace at the end of every line, execute the following
+command: >
+
+ :%s/\s\+$//
+
+The line range "%" is used, thus this works on the whole file. The pattern
+that the ":substitute" command matches with is "\s\+$". This finds white
+space characters (\s), 1 or more of them (\+), before the end-of-line ($).
+Later will be explained how you write patterns like this |usr_27.txt|.
+ The "to" part of the substitute command is empty: "//". Thus it replaces
+with nothing, effectively deleting the matched white space.
+
+Another wasteful use of spaces is placing them before a Tab. Often these can
+be deleted without changing the amount of white space. But not always!
+Therefore, you can best do this manually. Use this search command: >
+
+ /
+
+You cannot see it, but there is a space before a tab in this command. Thus
+it's "/<Space><Tab>". Now use "x" to delete the space and check that the
+amount of white space doesn't change. You might have to insert a Tab if it
+does change. Type "n" to find the next match. Repeat this until no more
+matches can be found.
+
+==============================================================================
+*12.8* Find where a word is used
+
+If you are a UNIX user, you can use a combination of Vim and the grep command
+to edit all the files that contain a given word. This is extremely useful if
+you are working on a program and want to view or edit all the files that
+contain a specific variable.
+ For example, suppose you want to edit all the C program files that contain
+the word "frame_counter". To do this you use the command: >
+
+ vim `grep -l frame_counter *.c`
+
+Let's look at this command in detail. The grep command searches through a set
+of files for a given word. Because the -l argument is specified, the command
+will only list the files containing the word and not print the matching lines.
+The word it is searching for is "frame_counter". Actually, this can be any
+regular expression. (Note: What grep uses for regular expressions is not
+exactly the same as what Vim uses.)
+ The entire command is enclosed in backticks (`). This tells the UNIX shell
+to run this command and pretend that the results were typed on the command
+line. So what happens is that the grep command is run and produces a list of
+files, these files are put on the Vim command line. This results in Vim
+editing the file list that is the output of grep. You can then use commands
+like ":next" and ":first" to browse through the files.
+
+
+FINDING EACH LINE
+
+The above command only finds the files in which the word is found. You still
+have to find the word within the files.
+ Vim has a built-in command that you can use to search a set of files for a
+given string. If you want to find all occurrences of "error_string" in all C
+program files, for example, enter the following command: >
+
+ :grep error_string *.c
+
+This causes Vim to search for the string "error_string" in all the specified
+files (*.c). The editor will now open the first file where a match is found
+and position the cursor on the first matching line. To go to the next
+matching line (no matter in what it is file), use the ":cnext" command. To go
+to the previous match, use the ":cprev" command. Use ":clist" to see all the
+matches and where they are.
+ The ":grep" command uses the external commands grep (on Unix) or findstr
+(on Windows). You can change this by setting the option 'grepprg'.
+
+==============================================================================
+
+Next chapter: |usr_20.txt| Typing command-line commands quickly
+
+Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: