I love that you demonstrated how to use the quickfix list.
But here’s how to trivially search and replace that string, for the curious:
Step 1. match the string: /r#"[^#]*#/
In English this says, Find (/) a string starting with r#", followed by anything that is not # ([^#]), as many times as you can (*) until you DO find find a #.
Step 2. Search and replace: :%s/r#"\([^#]*\)#/json!(\1)/c
This is :%s, a global search (more specifically a search with a range of %, which is the whole file), followed by the same search string from above with \( ... \) grouping added so we can remember the bit between the #s later. Then replace it with json!(\1) where \1 is the bit we remembered from \( ... \). Finally the trailing c stands for “confirm” and it will ask each time whether you want to perform the substitution.
Then you can do an argdo or a buffdo, or otherwise find some way to run that in all buffers: :argdo norm! @:
Tip: when crafting searches and commands, know that they are respectively saved to the / and : registers. So after performing a search, you can "/p to paste your search to a buffer to edit it. And you can @: to repeat a command. Anything you can do with registers and macros, you can do with the search and command registers.
Tip: if you do a search, and then want to do a search and replace, instead of retyping the search again into :s/old/new (or typing :s/<c-r>//new as you just learned to do, since searches are saved in the search register) you can simply :s//new because the search and replace command will auto-insert the most recent search if the search term is omitted.
The only reason I went with a macro was because I am not too familiar with regexes, would that work for strings that contain a # in them? something like r#"#room:matrix.org"#?
If your content (the stuff in [^<delimiter>] contains a delimiter, you have a pretty classic problem that regexes technically can’t solve (PCRE I think can, but technically those are more general than regular expressions proper, as I understand it).
I think I would’ve also gone w/ the macro approach here, if only because it makes the process more interactive so I can selectively apply a re-usable edit. You can do similar w/ :s and & to do a substitution and then repeat that substitution, but doing a @@ and encoding the :next into the macro is also really nice, it leaves you with either hitting the @@ to apply or the :next to skip (in my case it’s @@ and C to apply/skip once I’ve recorded the macro).
With that added wrinkle, what my eye settles on is the final #) of the line from_str::<Action>(r#"{"set_tweak": "highlight"}"#),, and it feels like it’s even easier to match on that.
Here’s a search: /r#".*#)/. This is finding a string starting with r#", followed by a bunch of anything (.*), followed by #). This will work for strings that contain a # in them.
so your final search and replace should be something like this: :%s/r#"\(.*\)#)/json!(\1)/c
I think I’d still go regex for this one. Although macros would obviously also do the trick just fine.
I love that you demonstrated how to use the quickfix list.
But here’s how to trivially search and replace that string, for the curious:
Step 1. match the string:
/r#"[^#]*#/In English this says, Find (
/) a string starting withr#", followed by anything that is not#([^#]), as many times as you can (*) until you DO find find a#.Step 2. Search and replace:
:%s/r#"\([^#]*\)#/json!(\1)/cThis is
:%s, a global search (more specifically a search with a range of%, which is the whole file), followed by the same search string from above with\( ... \)grouping added so we can remember the bit between the#s later. Then replace it withjson!(\1)where\1is the bit we remembered from\( ... \). Finally the trailingcstands for “confirm” and it will ask each time whether you want to perform the substitution.Then you can do an argdo or a buffdo, or otherwise find some way to run that in all buffers:
:argdo norm! @:Tip: when crafting searches and commands, know that they are respectively saved to the
/and:registers. So after performing a search, you can"/pto paste your search to a buffer to edit it. And you can@:to repeat a command. Anything you can do with registers and macros, you can do with the search and command registers.Tip: if you do a search, and then want to do a search and replace, instead of retyping the search again into
:s/old/new(or typing:s/<c-r>//newas you just learned to do, since searches are saved in the search register) you can simply:s//newbecause the search and replace command will auto-insert the most recent search if the search term is omitted.The only reason I went with a macro was because I am not too familiar with regexes, would that work for strings that contain a
#in them? something liker#"#room:matrix.org"#?Thank you for your detailed reply!
No, it wouldn’t, but the general regex pattern for a delimited string that doesn’t contain it’s delimiters is:
If your content (the stuff in
[^<delimiter>]contains a delimiter, you have a pretty classic problem that regexes technically can’t solve (PCRE I think can, but technically those are more general than regular expressions proper, as I understand it).I think I would’ve also gone w/ the macro approach here, if only because it makes the process more interactive so I can selectively apply a re-usable edit. You can do similar w/
:sand&to do a substitution and then repeat that substitution, but doing a@@and encoding the:nextinto the macro is also really nice, it leaves you with either hitting the@@to apply or the:nextto skip (in my case it’s@@andCto apply/skip once I’ve recorded the macro).You’re welcome! I love vim and I love regex.
With that added wrinkle, what my eye settles on is the final
#)of the linefrom_str::<Action>(r#"{"set_tweak": "highlight"}"#),, and it feels like it’s even easier to match on that.Here’s a search:
/r#".*#)/. This is finding a string starting withr#", followed by a bunch of anything (.*), followed by#). This will work for strings that contain a#in them.so your final search and replace should be something like this:
:%s/r#"\(.*\)#)/json!(\1)/cI think I’d still go regex for this one. Although macros would obviously also do the trick just fine.
Very useful, I didn’t know about arglists before. Also, calling
!uniqto remove repeated imports is genius.I found some helpful hints in here, thank you!