CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashshellvimautomation
Tem Pora
Tem Pora

Reputation: 2093

vim how to insert text, save and exit from bash

I have multiple files to edit. I have to make certain changes, like copying some lines based on patterns and then I have to insert some text at different places. I am planning to use vim to automate my task. I have written this script

gg
i
some text to add
some more text to add
<esc>
:%s/text/TEXT/g
:wq

But it just opens up the vim editor and inserts even the commands in the file and then I have to manually remove the following text

<esc>
:%s/text/TEXT/g
:wq

and save the file.

I am invoking the following command:

vi -s vimscript mytextfile

I have used vim scripting earlier to do other things than inserting text like searching and replacing or copy-pasting patterns etc.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 8429

Answers (4)

Idriss Neumann
Idriss Neumann

Reputation: 3838

Why using vim to automate that kind of task whereas there are many commands or shell languages which are excellent and more efficient to do it ? You could use other tools instead of vim to automate your task.

You could try to use sed for exemple :

[ ~]$ cat file
Here is a file
[ ~]$ echo "some text to add" >> file
[ ~]$ echo "some more text to add" >> file
[ ~]$ cat file
Here is a file
some text to add
some more text to add
[ ~]$ sed -i "s/text/TEXT/g" file
[ ~]$ cat file
Here is a file
some TEXT to add
some more TEXT to add

EDIT : There are different ways to insert some text at the top of a file.

Using a temporary file :

 echo "some text to add" > tmp.txt
 cat file.text >> tmp.txt
 mv tmp.text file.txt

Using sed :

sed -i "1isome text to add" file.text # or
sed -i "1s/^/some text to add\n/" file.txt

Using subshell :

echo -e "some text to add\n$(cat file.txt)" > file.txt

Upvotes: 3

R Sahu
R Sahu

Reputation: 206667

I find it more natural to use a standard Vim script, not a normal mode script. You can invoke it using:

vim -c "source vimscript" mytextfile

Your vim script will need a little update to work using this approach. It will look something like:

1
i
some text to add
some more text to add
.
%s/text/TEXT/g
wq

Upvotes: 2

Ingo Karkat
Ingo Karkat

Reputation: 172648

Alternatives

Unless you really need special Vim capabilities, you're probably better off using non-interactive tools like sed, awk, or Perl / Python / Ruby / your favorite scripting language here.

That said, you can use Vim non-interactively:

Silent Batch Mode

For very simple text processing (i.e. using Vim like an enhanced 'sed' or 'awk', maybe just benefitting from the enhanced regular expressions in a :substitute command), use Ex-mode.

REM Windows
call vim -N -u NONE -n -es -S "commands.ex" "filespec"

Note: silent batch mode (:help -s-ex) messes up the Windows console, so you may have to do a cls to clean up after the Vim run.

# Unix
vim -T dumb --noplugin -n -es -S "commands.ex" "filespec"

Attention: Vim will hang waiting for input if the "commands.ex" file doesn't exist; better check beforehand for its existence! Alternatively, Vim can read the commands from stdin. You can also fill a new buffer with text read from stdin, and read commands from stderr if you use the - argument.

Full Automation

For more advanced processing involving multiple windows, and real automation of Vim (where you might interact with the user or leave Vim running to let the user take over), use:

vim -N -u NONE -n -c "set nomore" -S "commands.vim" "filespec"

Here's a summary of the used arguments:

-T dumb           Avoids errors in case the terminal detection goes wrong.
-N -u NONE        Do not load vimrc and plugins, alternatively:
--noplugin        Do not load plugins.
-n                No swapfile.
-es               Ex mode + silent batch mode -s-ex
                Attention: Must be given in that order!
-S ...            Source script.
-c 'set nomore'   Suppress the more-prompt when the screen is filled
                with messages or output to avoid blocking.

Upvotes: 5

romainl
romainl

Reputation: 196751

From :help -s:

-s {scriptin}   The script file "scriptin" is read.  The characters in the
                file are interpreted as if you had typed them.  The same can
                be done with the command ":source! {scriptin}".  If the end
                of the file is reached before the editor exits, further
                characters are read from the keyboard.  Only works when not
                started in Ex mode, see |-s-ex|.  See also |complex-repeat|.
                {not in Vi}

Think of it as a macro. This is how your vimscript file should look:

Osome text to add^Msome more text to add^[:%s/text/TEXT^M:wq^M

The ^M special character is a literal <CR> and is obtained with <C-v><CR>.

The ^[ special character is a literal <Esc> and is obtained with <C-v><Esc>.

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions