CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vimtextreplace
JT.
JT.

Reputation: 935

/ in vi Search and replace?

in vi, search and replace, how do you escape a '/' (forward slash) so that it is correct. Say in a path.

like: /Users/tom/documents/pdfs/

:%s//Users/tom/documents/pdfs//<new text>/g  --FAILS (obviously)

:%s/\/Users/tom/documents/pdfs\//<new text>/g -- FAILS with a trailing error

:%s/'/Users/tom/documents/pdfs/'/<new text>/g -- FAILS with a trailing error

What am I missing?

Upvotes: 73

Views: 79570

Answers (6)

fohrums
fohrums

Reputation: 101

Windows uses backslash for directories and Linux uses forward slash for directories. Vim is a text editor that works for operating-systems. Since both os have different directory path interpretation regarding how slashes are used, Vim must then need a way to interpret Windows twisted method.

LINUXFORWARD vs. WINDOWSBACK (DIRECTORY SLASHES)

  • The slashes are literally reversed in Windows and easily stated for Linux
    • Windows:
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft OneDrive\
    • Linux:
    • /usr/bin

SOLUTION

I'm only able to state the struggle for Vim's Find & Replace on Windows as i'm not on a Linux pc.

  • Fix is to double backslash
    • GOOD:
    • :%s/c:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft OneDrive\\/annoyancereplaced/g
    • BAD:
    • :%s/c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft OneDrive\/unabletoreplaceannoyance/g
NOTE
  • If working with network paths where Windows uses two slashes \\ then that means for every backslash there needs to be another backslash as it's always kept even
    • e.g. network path: \\Foo\Bar\
    • %s/C:\\Program Files (x86)\\foo\\bar/\\\\Foo\\Bar\\
    • notice the \\\\

Upvotes: 0

JXITC
JXITC

Reputation: 1178

You can use ? to search

In case of searching pattern in a register, and the pattern contains a '/' character, you can simply use ? command instead of / command from normal mode to start pattern matching. In such case, no more escape required for '/' char. (however you need to escape '?' char now)

? will search in the opposite direction of /, so if you don't mind the search direction, and your search pattern doesn't contains '?' char.

In addition, check the escape() script if you want more.

Upvotes: 5

Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010
Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010

Reputation: 3918

I know this question is several years old, but for others who may land upon this one searching for an easier solution, in 2014, you can substitute the "/" delimiter for something else like "!", as long as you do it in front, middle, and back, like this:

:%s!foo/bar/baz!foo/bar/boz!g

Very simiar to Meder's answer ... But, I find that the exclamation is a lot easier to view as a separator. And I just wanted to confirm that this method still works in the current version of VIM, which I am using in Mac OSX Mavericks.

Upvotes: 7

Bob
Bob

Reputation: 811

As Sarah suggested, you need to escape ALL forward slashes.

You could instead use another character besides forward-slash as the delimiter. This is handy if your search string has a lot of slashes in it.

:%s#/Users/tom/documents/pdfs/#<new test>#g

This works perfectly in vim. I'm not 100% sure about vanilla vi.

Upvotes: 19

meder omuraliev
meder omuraliev

Reputation: 186562

Alternatively you can do :%s,foo/bar/baz,foo/bar/boz,g - I almost never use slashes because of the escaping confusion.

Upvotes: 136

Sarah Vessels
Sarah Vessels

Reputation: 31640

You need to escape the forward slashes internally, too.

:%s/\/Users\/tom\/documents\/pdfs\//<new text>/g

Upvotes: 70

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