How do I substitute from a list of strings in VIM?

Question

I am a vim user, and I want to be able to loop over a range of substrings when I am substituting. How can I use some vim magic to go from a set of lines like this:

Answer 1

It's probably going to be much easier to record a macro that can replace the first two, and then use :s for the rest.

The macro might look like /foo^Mcwbar^[. If you're not familiar with macro mode, just hit q, a (the register to store it in) and then the keystrokes /foo <Enter> cwbar <Escape>.

Now once you've got that macro, do 2@a to replace the first two occurrences in the current buffer and use :s normally to replace the rest.

Answer 2

Why not:

:%s/\(.\{-}\)foo\(\_.\{-}\)foo\(\_.\{-}\)foo\(\_.\{-}\)foo/\1bar\2bar\3baz\4baz/

I'm not sure that it covers the breadth of the problem but does have the virtue of being a simple substitute. A more complex one may cover the solution if this one doesn't.

Answer 3

I would use a function that has a state, and call this function from %s. Something like:

" untested code
function! InitRotateSubst()
    let s:rs_idx = 0
endfunction

function! RotateSubst(list)
    let res = a:list[s:rs_idx]
    let s:rs_idx += 1
    if s:rs_idx == len(a:list)
        let s:rs_idx = 0
    endif
    return res
endfunction

And use them with:

:call InitRotateSubst()
:%s/foo/\=RotateSubst(['bar', 'bar', 'baz', 'baz'])/

The call to the two commands could be encapsulated into a single command if you wish.

---

EDIT: Here is a version integrated as a command that:

• accepts as many replacements as we wish, all the replacements needs to be separated with the separator-character ;
• supports back-references ;
• can replace only the N first occurrences, N == the number of replacements specified if the command call is banged (with a !)
• does not support usual flags like g, i (:h :s_flags) -- for that, we would have for instance to impose the command call to always ends up with a / (or whatever separator-character), if not the last text is interpreted as flags.

Here is the command definition:

:command! -bang -nargs=1 -range RotateSubstitute <line1>,<line2>call s:RotateSubstitute("<bang>", <f-args>)

function! s:RotateSubstitute(bang, repl_arg) range
  let do_loop = a:bang != "!"
  " echom "do_loop=".do_loop." -> ".a:bang
  " reset internal state
  let s:rs_idx = 0
  " obtain the separator character
  let sep = a:repl_arg[0]
  " obtain all fields in the initial command
  let fields = split(a:repl_arg, sep)

  " prepare all the backreferences
  let replacements = fields[1:]
  let max_back_ref = 0
  for r in replacements
    let s = substitute(r, '.\{-}\(\\\d\+\)', '\1', 'g')
    " echo "s->".s
    let ls = split(s, '\\')
    for d in ls
      let br = matchstr(d, '\d\+')
      " echo '##'.(br+0).'##'.type(0) ." ~~ " . type(br+0)
      if !empty(br) && (0+br) > max_back_ref
    let max_back_ref = br
      endif
    endfor
  endfor
  " echo "max back-ref=".max_back_ref
  let sm = ''
  for i in range(0, max_back_ref)
    let sm .= ','. 'submatch('.i.')' 
    " call add(sm,)
  endfor

  " build the action to execute
  let action = '\=s:DoRotateSubst('.do_loop.',' . string(replacements) . sm .')'
  " prepare the :substitute command
  let args = [fields[0], action ]
  let cmd = a:firstline . ',' . a:lastline . 's' . sep . join(args, sep)
  " echom cmd
  " and run it
  exe cmd
endfunction

function! s:DoRotateSubst(do_loop, list, replaced, ...)
  " echom string(a:000)
  if ! a:do_loop && s:rs_idx == len(a:list)
    return a:replaced
  else
    let res0 = a:list[s:rs_idx]
    let s:rs_idx += 1
    if a:do_loop && s:rs_idx == len(a:list)
        let s:rs_idx = 0
    endif

    let res = ''
    while strlen(res0)
      let ml = matchlist(res0, '\(.\{-}\)\(\\\d\+\)\(.*\)')
      let res .= ml[1]
      let ref = eval(substitute(ml[2], '\\\(\d\+\)', 'a:\1', ''))
      let res .= ref
      let res0 = ml[3]
    endwhile

    return res
  endif
endfunction

which could be used this way:

:%RotateSubstitute#foo#bar#bar#baz#baz#

or even, considering the initial text:

AfooZ
BfooE
CfooR
DfooT

the command

%RotateSubstitute/\(.\)foo\(.\)/\2bar\1/\1bar\2/

would produce:

ZbarA
BbarE
RbarC
DbarT

Answer 4

This is how I'd attempt that macro.

qa          Records macro in buffer a
/foo<CR>    Search for the next instance of 'foo'
3s          Change the next three characters
bar         To the word bar
<Esc>       Back to command mode.
n           Get the next instance of foo
.           Repeat last command
n           Get the next instance of foo
3s          Change next three letters
baz         To the word bar
<Esc>       Back to command mode.
.           Repeat last command
q           Stop recording.
1000@a      Do a many times.

Any advice on how to do it better is welcome.

thanks, Martin.

Answer 5

This is Not strictly what you want but can be useful for cycles.

I've written a plugin swapit http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2294 which among other things can help with cycling through lists of strings. Eg.

 :Swaplist foobar foo bar baz

then type

 This line is a foo

create a simple yank/paste line, go to last word and ctrl-a swap.

 qqyyp$^A

then execute the swap pattern

 100@q

to get

This line is foo
This line is bar
This line is baz
This line is foo
This line is bar
This line is baz
This line is foo
This line is bar
This line is baz
This line is foo
This line is bar
This line is baz
...

It could probably be applied to your problem although its {cword} sensitive.