Replace all instances of characters between tags with vim

Question

I need to replace all instances / character with \ between <filename> ... </filename>.

The file has about 2,000 of these tags, and I only need to replace the / character inside these tags.

How can i do this?

Answer 1

Edit: with the new information, the following substitution is likely to work:

:%s/<filename>\zs.\{-}\ze<\/filename>/\=substitute(submatch(0), '\/', '\', 'g')/ 

Explaination:

• %s : replace with whole file
• /<filename> : start of pattern and static text to match
• \zs : start of matching text
• .\{-} : any character that is not greedy
• \ze : end of matching text
• <\/filename>/ : end of target tag and template
• \= : evaluate the replacement as a vim expression
• substitute(submatch(0), '\/', '\', 'g')/ : replace all / with \ in the matched text.

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Original answer:

I'm going to suggest that you mean XML style tags. What I would do is visually select the area in which you want to work, and then use the regex atom \%V to work only with that choice.

 vit:s!\%V/!\\!g 

Gotta do the trick. Note that when pressed : vim will automatically add a range for visual selection, the actual substitution command will look like this:

 :'<,'>s!\%V/!\\!g 

Answer 2

Iff, we can assume that the tags are on the same line, it's simple:

_{Note Enter ^M as Cv Cm ( Cq Cm on Windows)}

 :g/<filename>/norm! /filename>/e^Mvity:let @"=substitute(@", '/', '\\', "g")^Mgvp 

Hmmm, integrating Randy’s hint on using \% V in the template makes it easy:

 :g/<filename>/norm! /filename>/e^Mvit:s#\%V/#\\#g^M 

I tested both. Wow. I will explain now. Hold on

• :g/<filename>/ - _ for each line containing <filename>
• norm! - _execute regular commands (ignoring mappings)
• /filename/e _^Enter go to the end of the open tag
• vit - select the inner text of this tag in visual mode
• :s#\%V/#\\#g _^Enter - _ in this visual selection, replace (replace \ with / )

Answer 3

VIM has a sharp learning curve, like a regular expression. I believe this team will do this. You must avoid each char with '\'.

 :%s/\//\\/g