Using backspace on VIM search and replace

Question

What character do I use for the newline on Vim search and replace commands?

I'm trying to make this:

1, 
2, 
3, 
4, 
5

to this: 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5

So i thought of writing something like: :%s/$/\b/g

But it didn't work even if I set: :set magic. How can I achieve that?

I"ve edited my question, each number is on a different line. — user1410363, Mar 04 '13 at 20:25
It looks like you just want to join those rows. Since you are using Vim, select the rows in visual mode and press `J` to join them together. — professorsloth, Mar 04 '13 at 20:25
This solves my problem, but just out of curiosity: is there a Vim command that represents a "backspace character" on Vim Search and Replace? — user1410363, Mar 04 '13 at 20:35
A "backspace" character doesn't really make sense here. What you probably want is to replace the matched text with nothing. — David Cain, Mar 06 '13 at 20:24

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:26

9

Newlines are represented by \n.

So, with such a simple example, you can replace every newline with:

%s/\n//g

You can replace each comma, followed by optional whitespace until the end of a line with a space, like so:

:%s/,\s*$\n/, /g

Of course, the J operator will most likely suit your needs just fine as well (try Jip within the block you wish to concatenate. Or to automatically line wrap per your textwidth setting: gqip.

answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:26

David Cain

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Thanks for giving both Search and Replace and Visual solutions, the :%s/\n/ /g worked fine to me. – user1410363 Mar 04 '13 at 20:41

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:26

3

you don't need :s this will do the job:

gg5J

answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:26

Kent

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:27

1

Use this search and replace command:

:%s/,\n/, /g

The \n character matches the newline in the search string.

As a sidenote, if you want to insert a newline character in the replace string make sure to use \r instead.

answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:27

Tuxdude

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 04 '13 at 22:53

1

Alternative would be the :join command.

:%j

For more information see

:h :j

answered Mar 04 '13 at 22:53

Peter Rincker

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:35

0

You can use visual mode to select the lines that you want to join

ggvGJ

gg takes you to the top of the document. v puts you in visual mode G takes you to the bottom of the document (thereby highlighting all rows) J joins all rows in the selected range.

answered Mar 04 '13 at 20:35

Barton Chittenden

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Using backspace on VIM search and replace

5 Answers5