Find and replace strings in vim on multiple lines

Question

I can do :%s///g for replacing a string across a file, or :s///

Answer 1

Search and replace

:%s/search\|search2\|search3/replace/gci

g => global search

c => Ask for confirmation first

i => Case insensitive

If you want direct replacement without confirmation, use below command

:%s/search/replace/g

If you want confirmation for each replace then run the below command

:%s/search/replace/gc

Ask for confirmation first, here search will be case insensitive.

:%s/search/replace/gci

Answer 2

We don't need to bother entering the current line number.

If you would like to change each foo to bar for current line (.) and the two next lines (+2), simply do:

:.,+2s/foo/bar/g

If you want to confirm before changes are made, replace g with gc:

:.,+2s/foo/bar/gc

Answer 3

Replace All:

:%s/foo/bar/g

Find each occurrence of 'foo' (in all lines), and replace it with 'bar'.

For specific lines:

:6,10s/foo/bar/g

Change each 'foo' to 'bar' for all lines from line 6 to line 10 inclusive.

Answer 4

To answer this question:

:40,50s/foo/bar/g

replace foo with bar in these lines between the 40th line and the 50th line(inclusive), when execute this command you can currently in any line.

:50,40s/foo/bar/g

also works, vim will ask you for comfirm and then do the replacement for you as if you have input the first command.

:,50s/foo/bar/g

replace foo with bar in these lines between the line you are currently in and the 50th line(inclusive). (if you are in a line AFTER the 50th line vim will ask for confirm again)

To clearity the difference between vim and the vrapper plugin of Eclipse:

Note that in varpper

:,50s/foo/bar/g command will NOT work.

:50,40s/foo/bar/g will work without asking for comfirmation.

(For Vrapper Version 0.74.0 or older).

Answer 5

In vim if you are confused which all lines will be affected, Use below

 :%s/foo/bar/gc  

Change each 'foo' to 'bar', but ask for confirmation first. Press 'y' for yes and 'n' for no. Dont forget to save after that

:wq

Answer 6

You can do it with two find/replace sequences

  :6,10s/<search_string>/<replace_string>/g
  :14,18s/<search_string>/<replace_string>/g

The second time all you need to adjust is the range so instead of typing it all out, I would recall the last command and edit just the range