CS 497C

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CS 497C Introduction to UNIXLecture 10 The
vi/vim Editor

• Chin-Chih Changchang_at_cs.twsu.edu

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String Search

• vi supports two forms of searches
• Search for a string or a regular expression in
  the entire file.
• Search for a single character in the current
  line.
• Search commands in vi
• /str searches forward for pattern str.
• ?str searches backward for pattern str.
• n repeats search in the same direction.
• N repeats search in the opposite direction.
• fch moves cursor forward to first occurrence of
  character ch in the current line.

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String Search

• Fch moves cursor backward to first occurrence
  of character ch in the current line.
• tch moves cursor forward onto but before first
  occurrence of character ch in the current line.
• Tch moves cursor backward onto but before first
  occurrence of character ch in the current line.
• - repeats search in the same direction made
  with f, F, t, or T.
• , - repeats search in a direction opposite to
  that made with f, F, t, or T.

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Searching with Regular Expressions

• vi accepts a generalized pattern containing some
  special characters (metacharacters) as the search
  expression.
• This pattern is called a regular expression and
  is used to match a group of similar strings.
• The regular expression characters used by vi

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Searching with Regular Expressions

• - matches zero or more occurrences of the
  previous character.
• pqr matches a single character which is
  either a p, q, or r.
• pqr matches a single character which is not
  a p, q, or r.
• . matches a single character.
• pat matches pattern pat at beginning of line.
• \ltpat matches pattern pat at beginning of a
  word.
• pat\gt - matches pattern pat at end of a word.

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Search and Replace (s)

• Search and replace commands in vi
• n1,n2s/s1/s2 replaces first occurrence of
  string or regular expression s1 with string s2 in
  lines n1 to n2.
• 1,10s/find/look/g replaces all occurrences of
  find with look in lines 1 to 10.
• .,s/find/look/gc interactively replaces find
  with look from current line through the end.
• s repeats the last substitution on the current
  line (Linux only).

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Handling Multiple Files

• vi uses the Last Line Mode to handle multiple
  files and buffers.
• These are advanced file handling commands
• r note reads file note below current line.
• r !date reads output of date between current
  line.
• e note stops editing current fine, and edits
  file note.
• e! note stops editing, but after abandoning
  changes made to current file.

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Handling Multiple Files

• e! loads last saved edition of current file.
• Ctrl- returns to most recently edited file.
• e returns to most recently edited file.
• n edits next file (when vi is invoked with
  multiple filenames).
• rew rewinds file list to start editing first
  file (when vi is invoked with multiple
  filenames).
• You can split the screen into multiple windows in
  vim.
• sp splits the window.
• Ctrl-wCtrl-w moves between windows.