Acting on the surrounding lines

The Ex command given to Vim’s global command works in the exact same way as if you had specified it on Vim’s command line. :global will execute the command verbatim. If you specify an address or a range, it’ll be accounted for.

This means that the global command is not limited to just acting on the matching line. It can act on the surrounding range of lines, or even a completely different line/region entirely. This is where the power of this command really shines, and not many Vim users are aware that this is possible.

We know the core mechanics of :global by now, so let us learn by example.

Delete all paragraphs containing the word foo

Here’s how you do it:

:g/foo/'{+,'}d

Here, the :g/foo part is saying ‘find all of the lines that contain foo’. The command part is using two of Vim’s special marks, '{ and '}, which specify the start and the end of the current paragraph respectively. '{+,'} is specifying the surrounding paragraph as range, then the d is deleting it. So the above command is deleting all paragraphs that contain the word foo.

Print all functions in the current buffer

Here’s how you do it:

:g/^func/,/^}$/p

Here, the :g/^func part is saying ‘find all of the lines that start with func’. The ,/}$/ part is specifying a range that captures from the current line to the next line that contains only a } — this range is approximating a function definition in a language like Go. The p part is just saying ‘print this range’ (and is optional, as we know).

Print the signature of functions using var

Here’s how you do it:

:g/var/?^func?;p

Here, the :g/var part is saying ‘find all of the lines that contain var’. The ?^func?; part is saying ‘from those lines, search backwards for the nearest line that starts with func and change to it’. The p part is just saying ‘print that line’. Note that if a function contains the string ‘var’ multiple times, you’ll get multiple entries in your output.

Let’s try. The editor holds a list of request definitions. Work through the checklist below to print the path of every GET request — twice, using two different addressing tricks. First with ?path?p, which searches backwards from each GET line to the nearest line containing path and prints it; then with -1p, where -1 simply means ‘the line just above the match’. The path always sits on the line above its type, which is why both tricks land on the same lines.