notes/util/editors/vim/ex-replace-regex.txt

Note:
	We can use : as a separator intead of / (slash)
Substitute (replace):

:h cmdline-ranges
	Help on command-line ranges

:[range]s/pattern/replacer/[flags][count]
	range (work with lines, not chars) :
		default - search only the current line
		% - [all lines in a] current buffer
		.,'a - complex range - from the cursor (.) to mark a 
		. - current line
		+5 - 5 lines up
		-3 - 3 lines down
		1  - line number 1 of the buffer
		$  - last line of the buffer
		%  - all lines of the buffer
		't - position of mark t
		/pattern/ - next line where patter matches (also try ?pattern?)
		       
	/ delimite a text and replacement

	flags:
		<empty> - the first occurence only
		g - search for all occurences (global)
		c - ask for confirmation on each match (confirm)
		i - ignore case
		I - case sensitive
		n - show number of matches (non-destructive i.e - without making any changes)
		p - print matching lines

	count
		N - N lines

if you skip a pattern - the last one will be used
if you skip a replacer - the delete will occur

Samples
	:%s/^/>  /
		Insert > and 2 spaces to the beginning of each line
	:.,+5s/$/./
		Add a period to the end of net six lines


Global (search & execute):

Global searches
:g/pattern
	Finds (moves to) the last occurence of pattern in the file
:g/pattern/p
	Finds and displays all the lines containign pattern
:g/pattern/nu
	-//- also displays line numbers
:g! or :v
	-//- not containing pattern




:[range]g[lobal]/{pattern}/[cmd]

	[cmd] could be:
	# - show matches with line numbers
	d - delete matching lines
	y - yank matching lines
	p - print
	nu - also display line numbers
	normal {command} - execute a normal-mode {command}
		ex - (/normal OBACON is here) - insert a new line "BACON is here"

normal {command} - Execute an extended sequence
	
Default range is (unlike search) the whole buffer

Note: unix grep stands for g/re/p

Samples:
	:g/params[:foo]/#
		show line numbers where params[:foo] occurs
	:g/^$/d
		delete blank lines
	:g/pattern/+y
		Yank line after the ones that match
	:g/<keycap>/s/Esc/ESC/g
		To change instances of Esc to ESC only when Esc is on a line that contains <keycap>
	:g /search-start-pattern/.,/search-end-pattern/+5 move /place-pattern/-1
		To do a sophisticated move of selected range

Note: use v instead of g to operate on non-matching content

	Ranges:
	:.,+10g/foo/d - delete matches from cursor through next 10 lines
	:.,'f+2g/foo/# - show line numbers through 2 lines after mark f
	:.,/bar/g/foo/d - delete lines through next line matching 'bar'



RexExp syntax styles:

	\v - Very Magic - Similar to Perl, Ruby, Python (egrep)
	\m - Magic - The default but awkward (grep)
	\M - No Magic - Rarely used
	\V - Very No Magic - Rarely used

Example:
	/\v(.y){3} - for very-magic syntax


Note: after hitting a start-search you can paste from a prev-search register by hitting C-r


Metacharacters used in regular expressions:

.
	any char (p.p matches pep, pip, pcp)
*
	zero or more (bugs* matches bug, bugs, bugss, ...)
	.* matches any number of any chars
^
	When used at the start of regexp, requires the following expr be found at the beginning of the line.
	When not - just stands for itself
$
	When used at the end of regexp, requires the preceding expr be found at the end of the line.
	When not - just stands for itself
\
	Treates the following spec-char as itself.
[]
	Matches only chars enclosed between brackets. Ranges can also be used ([:;A-Za-z()]).
	Within brackets you still need to ESCAPE \, - and ]
	[^ (^ is the first char after [) reverses the range ([^0-9] - any char not a digit).
\( \)
	Saves the pattern enclosed between \( and \) into special holding buffer. Up to nine patterns can be
        saved this way on a single line. The pattern can be replayed via \1 to \9:
		:%s/\(That\) or \(this\)/\2 or \1/
\< or \>
	Matches chars at the beginning or at the end of a word (\<ac - action, ac\> - amiac)
~
	Matches the last given substitute(may not behave well...)
+++++++++++++
+ VIM stuff +
+++++++++++++
\|
	Indicates alternation (house\|home).
\+
	Matches one or more of the preceding reg-exp
\=
	Matches zero or more of the preceding reg-exp
\{n,m}
	Matches n to m of the preceding reg-exp
\{n}
	Matches n of the preceding reg-exp
\{n,}
	Matches at least n of the preceding reg-exp, as much as possible
\{,m}
	Matches 0 to m of the preceding reg-exp, as much as possible
\{}
	Matches 0 or more of the preceding reg-exp, as much as possible
\{-n,m}
	Matches n to m of the preceding reg-exp, as few as possible
\{-n}
	Matches n of the preceding reg-exp, as few as possible
\{-n,}
	Matches at least n of the preceding reg-exp, as few as possible
\{-,m}
	Matches 0 to m of the preceding reg-exp, as few as possible
\i
	Matches any identifier character, as defined by the isident option (\I - excluding digits)
\k
	Matches any keyword character, as defined by the iskeyword option (\K - excluding digits)
\f
	Matches any filename character, as defined by the isfname option (\F - excluding digits)
\p
	Matches any printable character, as defined by the isprint option (\P - excluding digits)
\s
	Matches any whitespace character (exactly - space of tab)
\S
	Matches anything except space and tab
\b
	Backspace
\e
	Escape
\r
	Carriage return
\t
	Tab
\n
	Reserved for future use



POSIX Character classes:

[:alnum:]
	Alphanumeric characters
[:alpha:]
	Alphabetic characters
[:blank:]
	Space and tab characters
[:cntrl:]
	Control characters
[:digit:]
	Numeric characters
[:graph:]
	Printable and visible (nonspace) characters
[:lower:]
	Lowercase characters
[:print:]
	Printable characters (including whitespaces)
[:punct:]
	Punctuation characters
[:space:]
	Whitespace characters
[:upper:]
	Uppercase characters
[:xdigit:]
	Hexadecimal characters


Metacharacters for REPLACEMENT string:

\n
	Where n is 1..9, means previously saved pattern via \( and \).
\
	Treates the following spec-char as itself.
&
	Is replaced with the entire text matched by the search pattern when used in a replacement string.
	Ex. - to surround each line from 1 to 10 with paranthesis:
		:1,10s/.*/(&)/
~
	Is replaced with with the replacement text specified in the last substitute command.
\u or \l
	Causes the next char to be changed to upper/lower - case. Usefull mainly with variable strings.
\U or \L, \e or \E
	The same as above but causes all the following character (up to \e or \E) to be converted.


More substitution tricks:

:s
	Is the same as :s//~/. In other words - repeat the last substitution.