Replace misaligned columns in vim

Question

I have seen many posts like this, that tell how to replace text column wise in vim.

That is straightforward when columns are arranged with fixed widths.

How about using vim to replace text in a given column when the columns are not aligned.

E.g.

I have a file with multiple columns:

col1 -col2 0.col3 +col4  col5.
col1  0.col2 +col3  col4.0  -col5
col1.0 0.col2 +col3  -col4 col5
col1 col2.0  +col3 0.col4  -col5
-col1 col2.0  +col3 0.col4  col5
col1 -col2  +col3 0.col4  col5.0

and I want it to look like

col1       0.col3 +col4  col5.
col1         +col3  col4.0  -col5
col1.0        +col3  -col4 col5
col1         +col3 0.col4  -col5
-col1         +col3 0.col4  col5
col1        +col3 0.col4  col5.0

romainl · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-11T13:35:32.713

3

Here is a convoluted solution using a substitution:
```
:%s/^\S*\s*\zs\(\S*\)/\=repeat(" ", len(submatch(1)))/g
```
See :help :s, :help submatch(), :help repeat().
And here is a much simpler one using a macro:
```
:%normal WvEr <-- there's a space after the 'r'
```
See :help :normal.

edited Jan 11 '17 at 13:35

answered Jan 11 '17 at 06:42

romainl

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You don't have to add `\ze` at the end of pattern if there is nothing after ! – Meninx - メネンックス Jan 11 '17 at 13:30
The `normal` cmd is not correct it should be `:%normal WvEr ` !! – Meninx - メネンックス Jan 11 '17 at 13:33
1

@Meninx-メネンックス, fixed. – romainl Jan 11 '17 at 13:35

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 08 '23 at 18:51

You can use this:

:%s/^\(.\{-}. \)\{1}\zs\(.\{-}. \)/ /g

You can change \{1} to desired column number, note that is 1 less than actual column number. Also you can modify this regex a little more to erase multiple consecutive columns. And so on and so forth.

for transform this:

col1 -col2 0.col3 +col4  col5.
col1  0.col2 +col3  col4.0  -col5
col1.0 0.col2 +col3  -col4 col5 
col1 col2.0  +col3 0.col4  -col5
-col1 col2.0  +col3 0.col4  col5 
col1 -col2  +col3 0.col4  col5.0

to this:

col1       0.col3 +col4  col5.
col1       +col3  col4.0  -col5
col1.0       +col3  -col4 col5
col1        +col3 0.col4  -col5
-col1        +col3 0.col4  col5
col1        +col3 0.col4  col5.0

Replace misaligned columns in vim

2 Answers2