vims

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You can use "exe" mode (flag -e): for example, to comment out in C++ every line containing my_bad_var, then delete the line above it:

cat my_script.cpp | vims -e 'my_bad_var' 'I//\<esc>kdd'

Which translates to vims '%g/my_bad_var/exe "norm I//\<esc>kdd"' - the I being the command to start insert at the start of the line, and // being the comment sequence. \<esc>kdd pushes the escape key, moves up a line, then deletes the line.

> echo 'Hello World!' | vims -s 'ea Beautiful'
Hello Beautiful World!

• -s - Turn on simple mode (normal vim commands, start at char 0, line 0)
• ea - Start inserting after end of first word

Usage/Examples

To install, put vims somewhere on your path, e.g., /usr/bin.

{command} | vims [-n|--quiet] [-d|--disable-vimrc]
                 [-e|--exe-mode] [-r|--inverse-exe-mode]
                 [-s|--simple-mode] [-l|--line-exe-mode]
                 [-t|--turn-off-mode]
                 [ <args>... ]

Call vims on piped input, providing a list of arguments that you would use in vim command-line mode. All lines not deleted are printed by default, but you can turn this off with a -n|--quiet flag.

Trigger "exe" mode using the -e|--exe-mode flag, which creates macros for '%g/$1/exe "norm $2"' (see the power of :g), where $1 is the first arg of a pair, and $2 is the last arg of a pair. This lets you type non-text characters, like \<esc>, \<c-o>, etc.

Likewise, -l|--line-exe-mode translates to %g/.*/exe "norm$1", meaning it executes a command on ALL lines.

Inverse exe mode is done with the -r|--inverse-exe-mode flag, which does the same as exe mode, but only on lines NOT matching the regex.

Use simple mode with the -s|--simple-mode flag, which is as vanilla as it gets. This translates every passed argument to: exe "norm $1", meaning that you can run commands just like you opened the editor, starting at line 1. Use the same backslashes (\<enter>) as you do for exe mode.

Modes are activated for all the proceeding args. You can switch modes partway, by calling the flag for the other mode you want, or you can turn off any activated mode with -t|--turn-off-mode.

Your default vimrc should be enabled by default, turn it off with -d|--disable-vimrc.

Example 1

Delete lines 10-15, and print the remainder:

cat myfile.txt | vims '10,15d'

• 10,15 - A range from 10-15 - see :help :range in vim for a huge number of options.
• d - The delete (from ex) command - see :help :d in vim.

Example 2

Delete blank lines, then lower-case everything:

cat mylog.log | vims -e '^\s*$' 'dd' '.' 'Vu'

• -e - Turn on exe mode
• ^\s*$ - Line only containing whitespace
• dd - Delete it.
• . - Line containing anything (Every pair of arguments triggers a new exe command)
• Vu - Select the line, then lower-case all alphabetical characters

Or, with line exe mode (a shorthand for .*):

cat mylog.log | vims -e '^\s*$' 'dd' -l 'Vu'

• -l - Turn off exe mode, turn on line exe mode

Example 3

Add a comment (#) on every line NOT containing foo:

cat script.sh | vims -r 'foo' 'A # Comment'

• -r - Work on all lines not matching regex
• foo - Match all lines with the word "foo"
• A # Comment - At the end of the line, type " # Comment"

Example 4

Delete all modifications to files in a git repo:

git status | vims '1,/modified/-1d' '$?modified?,$d' -l 'df:dw' | xargs git checkout --

• git status - View which files are modified
• vims - Start vims in normal mode
• 1,/modified/-1d - Delete all lines up to the first line with "modified"
• $?modified?+1,$d - Delete all lines from below the last line with "modified"
• -l - Turn on line exe mode (execute a command on each line)
• df:dw - Delete until the ":", then delete the white space
• xargs git checkout -- - Pass all the filenames to git checkout --

Example 5

Move all Python classes to the bottom of a file:

cat myscript.py | vims -e '^class' 'V/^\\S\<enter>kdGp'

• '^class' 'V/^\\S\<enter>kdGp' becomes '%g/^class/exe "norm V/^\S\<enter>kdGp"'
  • %g/^class/ - Every line starting with "class"
  • exe - Execute the following, including escaped sequences (so you can call \<c-o> to mean Ctrl-o)
  • norm V/^\S\<enter>kdGp Enter normal mode, visual select to the next zero-indentation line, move up a line, delete, paste it at the bottom

Example 6

Only print the last 6 lines (just like tail)

cat txt | vims -n '$-5,$p'

• -n - Don't print all lines automatically
• $-5,$ - A range extending from 6th last line to the last line
• p - Print

Example 7

Replace all multi-whitespace sequences with a single space:

cat txt | vims '%s/\s\+/ /g'

Which can also be done in exe mode:

cat txt | vims -e '.' ':s/\\s\\+/ /g\<enter>'

Note the double back-slashes needed (only in the second string of a pair in an exe command!) when you are typing a character like \s, but not like \<enter>.

Example 8

Resolve all git conflicts by deleting the changes on HEAD (keep the bottom code):

cat my_conflict.cpp | vims -e '^=======$' 'V?^<<<<<<< \<enter>d' -t '%g/^>>>>>>> /d'

• -e - Turn on exe mode
• ^=======$ - Match the middle bit of a git conflict
• V?^<<<<<<< \<enter>d - Highlight the line, backward search to the top of the conflict, delete it.
• -t - Turn off exe mode
• %g/^>>>>>>> /d - Delete remaining conflict lines

Example 9

Uncomment all commented-out lines (comment char: #)

cat script.sh | vims -e '^\s*#' '^x'

• ^\s*# - Work on lines with whitespace followed by a comment char, followed by anything
• ^x - Go to the first non-whitespace character, and delete it

Example 10

Delete the first word of each line and put it at the end:

cat script.sh | vims -e '^[A-Za-z]' '\"kdwA \<esc>\"kp'

• ^[A-Za-z] - Only work on lines that start with an alphabetical character
• \"kdw - Delete the word under the cursor and put it in register k
• A \<esc> - Start insert mode at front of line, type a space, hit escape key
• \"kp - Paste from the register k

Example 11

Run a super-vanilla long chain of commands in simple mode, starting from line 1 of a file:

cat python.py | vims -s '/^class\<enter>O# This class broke\<esc>Go\<enter># This file broke'

• /^class\<enter> - Find the first class, and go to it
• O# This class broke - Type above it: "# This class broke"
• \<esc>Go\<enter> - Back to normal mode, make two blank lines at end of file
• # This file broke' - Write at the end of the file: "# This file broke"

Example 12

Reverse a file:

cat text.txt | vims '%g/.*/m0'

• %g - Work on all lines that match a pattern
• .* - Matches all lines
• m0 - Move line to start of file

Example 13

Sort the output of ls -l by file size, using the unix command sort (which you can use inside vim):

ls -l | vims '1d' '%!sort -k5n'

• 1d - Delete the first line of ls -l
• %! - Call the following external command on all lines
• sort - The unix sort command
• -k5n - Sort by column 5, numerically

Credit

The heart of this script comes from a Google groups posting: posting, and then from an answer on SO

Thanks!

TODO

• Find way around vim command limit (only can seem to launch ~8 commands at once to vims - see issue #1)