How to run a series of vim commands from command prompt

Question

I have four text files A.txt, B.txt, C.txt and D.txt I have to perform a series of vim editing in all these files. Currently how I am doing is open each files and do the same vi

Answer 1

Try the following syntax:

ex foo.txt <<-EOF
  g/^\s*$/d
  %s/^/[/
  %s/\(.*\)\(\s\+\)\(.*\)/\3\2\1
  %s/$/]/
  %s/design/test/
  wq " Update changes and quit.
EOF

The ex command is equivalent to vim -E. Add -V1 for verbose output.

Alternative one-liner syntax is for example:

ex +"g/^\s*$/d" +"%s/^/[/" +"%s/design/test/" -cwq foo.txt

To load commands from the file, use -s cmds.vim.

You can also use shebang for Vim to parse the file from the argument.

For more examples, see:

• How to edit files non-interactively (e.g. in pipeline)?
• BashFAQ/021