18 Nov 09 Simple Vim Macros
I found myself editing a configuration file (multiple actually) at work today and ran into an issue. The config file looked similar to:
Var_1=A Var_2=B Var_3=C ... Var_146=ABC Var_147=ABD
As it happened I needed to remove one of the lines at position 23. The program that reads/uses these config files has an issue if there is a break in the sequence. So after removing the line with “Var_23″ I needed to shift all of the numbers in following lines down by 1. Here is how I accomplished that.
In vim I put my cursor on the 24 in the line that now follows the “Var_22″ line and performed the following commands:
qa CTRL-X j q 125@a
Here is what happened broken down by line:
1: Here I am recording a macro (q) with the name or identifier of ‘a’. Note you will probably see some indication in the last line that you are in “recording” mode.
2: CTRL-X decrements the number under the cursor. Since I am on the 24 that decrements it to 23.
3: I move down 1 line and now the cursor is on the 25 in the next line.
4: I quit recording the macro. I know have a named (a) macro that includes the commands “decrement the number under the cursor and move down one row”.
5: I perform that named (a) macro 125 times. Now realistically I only needed to do it 123 times. It didn’t seem to matter that I used 125 but YMMV. The first line after the last line I wanted to change was a blank line so I assume the macro quit when the CTRL-X failed. You are probably better off using the exact number.
And there you have it. I successfully renumbered all of the variables below the line I deleted to be in sequence.
Tags: automation, configuration, replace, Shell, variable, vi
23 Jan 09 Add A Comma To The End Of A Line
I work with long lists and WinSQL a lot. I always find myself wishing these long lists had commas at the end for pasting into a SQL where clause using “IN” for the list. This can be accomplished in one of two ways.
From the command line:
sed "s/$/,/g" <FILENAME>
I usually pipe the output there to a new file.
In vi (from command mode):
:%s/$/,/g
The “%” says to perfom the substitution on the whole file. In both cases we are doing a substitution of “$” (the end of the line) with a “,”.
Tags: automation, replace, sed, substitute, vi
08 Dec 08 Global Search And Replace In Vi
To perform a global search and replace in vi do:
:%s/search_string/replacement_string/gIf you want to confirm each replacement add a “c” after the “g” at the end of the string.
