Tip to replace text easily in VIM equivalent to Ctrl + F (search and replace)

Like all text editors VIM can search and replace text with another text, but this function is not accessible by the traditional Ctrl + F keyboard shortcut. You must type a command line in VIM to be able to do:

:1,$s/text to be replaced/text to replace it with/g

It seems a little barbaric to read, but it's very simple. Let's detail this command line:

  • ":" allows to invoke a function in VIM
  • "1" represents the first line of the file and can therefore vary
  • "$" represents the last line of the file and can therefore also vary
  • "s" the invoked command
  • "/" are text delimiters. If your text contains /, it will be necessary to escape them with a \
  • "g" allows to do a global search and therefore to replace all occurrences. This is an option that can be omitted.

I hope this tip will be as useful to you as to me.

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