Swapping in VI editor

Jahn · #1 (**permalink**) 06-24-2009

Hi,

I am attempting to replace several similar words with another word in vi. Here is what I have written for the script:

3dTcat -prefix SuperBrik_4WAY_HRF ../JULY10_2007A/results2TENT/stats.JULY10_2007A+tlrc ../JULY10_2007G/results2TENT/stats.JULY10_2007G+tlrc ../JULY10_2007I/results2TENT/stats.JULY10_2007I+tlrc ../JULY11_2007F/results2TENT/stats.JULY11_2007F+tlrc ../JULY11_2007J/results2TENT/stats.JULY11_2007J+tlrc ../JULY12_2007A/results2TENT/stats.JULY12_2007A+tlrc ../JULY12_2007B/results2TENT/stats.JULY12_2007B+tlrc ../JULY12_2007I/results2TENT/stats.JULY12_2007I+tlrc ../JULY12_2007J/results2TENT/stats.JULY12_2007J+tlrc ../JUNE13_2007A/results2TENT/stats.JUNE13_2007A+tlrc ../JUNE13_2007B/results2TENT/stats.JUNE13_2007B+tlrc ../JUNE13_2007C/results2TENT/stats.JUNE13_2007C+tlrc ../JUNE13_2007E/results2TENT/stats.JUNE13_2007E+tlrc ../JUNE13_2007G/results2TENT/stats.JUNE13_2007G+tlrc ../JUNE13_2007I/results2TENT/stats.JUNE13_2007I+tlrc ../JUNE14_2007D/results2TENT/stats.JUNE14_2007D+tlrc ../JUNE14_2007H/results2TENT/stats.JUNE14_2007H+tlrc ../JUNE15_2007A/results2TENT/stats.JUNE15_2007A+tlrc

What I want to do is replace the "stats.J*+tlrc" with "displayBriks". I am familiar with using the :s/ command to find and replace several identical words, but am unsure of how to do this for a regular expression in vi. Any idea on where to start?

Thank you,

-Jahn

fpmurphy · #2 (**permalink**) 06-24-2009

Perhaps an example would help you. Suppose you have the following text file

Code:

abcdefg
faaaag
accxxcck
abbde

and want to use vi to search and replace all instances of 'b', 'c', 'd' and 'e' with 'Q',
you can do with the following command ":%s/[b-e]/Q/g' which results in

Code:

aQQQQfg
faaaag
aQQxxQQk
aQQQQ

Here is an except from a typical vi man page regarding substitute:

Code:

    [range] s[ubstitute] [/pattern/replace/] [options] [count] [flags]
    [range] & [options] [count] [flags]
    [range] ~ [options] [count] [flags]
        Make substitutions. In the substitution string, the characters ~ and %
        may have special meanings. If the entire replace pattern is a percent
        sign (%), the previous replacement pattern is used. (This can be
        useful for repeating substitutions that contain back references.) The
        special character ~ inserts the previous replacement string into this
        replacement string.
        The options can be any of the following:

        c
            Ask for confirmation before replacing the text.

        g
            Perform the replacement on all occurrences of the regular
            expression on the line.

        r
            If no regular expression was specified, use the most recent
            regular expression (used for a search) rather than the same
            regular expression as used for the last substitute command.

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