vim Find and Replace Substitute Command
Example
This command:
:s/foo/bar/g
substitutes each occurrence of foo with bar on the current line.
fool around with a foodie
becomes
barl around with a bardie
If you leave off the last /g, it will only replace the first occurence on the line. For example,
:s/foo/bar
On the previous line would become
barl around with a foodie
This command:
:5,10s/foo/bar/g
performs the same substitution in lines 5 through 10.
This command
:5,$s/foo/bar/g
performs the same substitution from line 5 to the end of the file.
This command:
:%s/foo/bar/g
performs the same substitution on the whole buffer.
If you are in visual mode and hit the colon, the symbol '<,'>
will appear. You can then do this
:'<,'>s/foo/bar/g
and have the substitution occur within your visual mode selection.
This command:
:%s/foo/bar/gc
is equivalent to the command above but asks for confirmation on each occurence thanks to the /c flag (for "confirmation").
See :help :s and :help :s_flags.
See also this section on command-line ranges.
