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==Comments== |
==Comments== |
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What a great tip. Very nice when trying to comment out Java or JS. e.g. :5,8 s#^#//# which looks much nicer than :5,8 s/^/\/\// |
What a great tip. Very nice when trying to comment out Java or JS. e.g. :5,8 s#^#//# which looks much nicer than :5,8 s/^/\/\// |
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| + | The percent ('%') character is also a frequently used alternative. |
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| + | Both percent and the octothorpe ("pound sign") ('#') characters |
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| + | have '/' embedded in them, to visually cue you why they are there as delimiters. |
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Revision as of 15:23, 2 June 2010
created January 17, 2003 · complexity basic · author Raj Kiran · version 5.7
You don't need to use the slash character as the expression delimiter. Whatever character follows the :s is defined to be the delimiter character. You can use most non-alphanumeric characters (but not \, " or |). This is very handy when working with Unix filenames, as in the following example:
:s#/usr/local/#/opt/#
If you insist on using the normal slash, you have to escape each slash in the pattern with a backslash:
:s/\/usr\/local\//\/opt\//
As you can see, the escaping method is much less readable, so consider carefully your choice of delimiter character!
Comments
What a great tip. Very nice when trying to comment out Java or JS. e.g. :5,8 s#^#//# which looks much nicer than :5,8 s/^/\/\//
The percent ('%') character is also a frequently used alternative. Both percent and the octothorpe ("pound sign") ('#') characters have '/' embedded in them, to visually cue you why they are there as delimiters.