Tip 96: Find and Replace Across Multiple Files

Return to the top: <<Practical Vim>>

Example: find and replace to change each occurrence of "Pragmatic Vim" to "Practical Vim" in each txt file.

The Substitute Command

/Pragmatic\ze Vim
:%s//Practical/g

Execute a Substitute Command on All Files in the Current Project

:args **/*.txt
:set hidden
:argdo %s//Practical/ge

Build a List of Files Containing Our Target Pattern

/Pragmatic\ze Vim
:vimgrep /<C-r>// **/*.txt

• Each match returned by vimgrep is recorded in the quickfix list, and we can browse the results by running :copen, which opens the quickfix window.
• qargs.vim

  command! -nargs=0 -bar Qargs execute 'args' QuickfixFilenames()
  function! QuickfixFilenames()
  	let buffer_numbers = {}
  	for quickfix_item in getqflist()
  		let buffer_numbers[quickfix_item['bufnr']] = bufname(quickfix_item['bufnr'])
  	endfor
  	return join(map(values(buffer_numbers), 'fnameescape(v:val)'))
  endfunction
  

  • using qargs.vim

    /Pragmatic\ze Vim
    :vimgrep /<C-r>// **/*.txt
    :Qargs
    :argdo %s//Practical/g
    :argdo update
    

  • :update saves the file, but only if it has been changed

References:

# If you open the file in vim,
# then you can \"ayy@a the next line to execute the vim command: 
:h update

• the last three commands could be combined into one

  :Qargs | argdo %s//Practical/g | update
  

  • On Vim’s command line, | simply stands for a command separator, making it equivalent to the semicolon in the Unix shell.

References:

# If you open the file in vim,
# then you can \"ayy@a the next line to execute the vim command: 
:h :bar