In Vim how do I split a long string into multiple lines by a character?

Question

I have this long regex string

(\.#.+|__init__\.py.*|\.wav|\.mp3|\.mo|\.DS_Store|\.\.svn|\.png|\.PNG|\.jpe?g|\.gif|\.elc|\.rbc|\.pyc|\.swp|\.psd|\.ai|\.pdf|\.mov|\.aep|\.dmg|\.zip|\.gz|\.so|\.shx|\.shp|\.wmf|\.JPG|\.jpg.mno|\.bmp|\.ico|\.exe|\.avi|\.docx?|\.xlsx?|\.pptx?|\.upart)$

and I would like to split it by | and have each component on a new line.

So something like this in the final form

(\.#.+|
__init__\.py.*|
\.wav|
\.mp3|
\.mo|
\.DS_Store|
... etc

I know I can probably do this as a macro, but I figured someone smarter can find a faster/easier way.

Any tips and helps are appreciated. Thanks!

Related answer [here](http://stackoverflow.com/q/17667032/778118)... — jahroy, Aug 09 '13 at 04:36
possible duplicate of [How to replace a character for a newline in Vim?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/71323/how-to-replace-a-character-for-a-newline-in-vim) — Andrew Marshall, Sep 15 '15 at 12:39

jahroy · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-31T06:14:12.970

76

Give this a try:

:s/|/|\r/g

The above will work on the current line.

To perform the substitution on the entire file, add a % before the s:

:%s/|/|\r/g

Breakdown:

:    - enter command-line mode
%    - operate on entire file
s    - substitute
/    - separator used for substitute commands (doesn't have to be a /)
|    - the pattern you want to replace
/    - another separator (has to be the same as the first one)
|\r  - what we want to replace the substitution pattern with
/    - another separator
g    - perform the substitution multiple times per line

edited May 31 '13 at 06:14

answered May 31 '13 at 06:06

jahroy

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Mine too; no explanation… `:\` – Andrew Marshall Aug 08 '13 at 23:45
@AndrewMarshall - Maybe our answers were _too_ effective... I already upvoted yours :-) – jahroy Aug 09 '13 at 00:09

score 20 · Answer 2 · answered May 31 '13 at 06:06

20

Replace each instance of | with itself and a newline (\r):

:s/|/|\r/g

(ensure your cursor is on the line in question before executing)

answered May 31 '13 at 06:06

Andrew Marshall

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Nothing to do with the original question or the answer, but Why is it `\r` instead of `\n`? – Apalala Jun 01 '13 at 13:00
4

@Aperçu I haven't researched why, but in VIM you must use ``\r``as the replacement character, and it will do the right thing for the underlying OS. If you use ``\n`` as the replacement, the result won't be what one would expect. – Apalala Sep 15 '15 at 11:48
@Apalala It was an answer to your question, not a question ;) – Preview Sep 15 '15 at 12:13
1

@Apalala See [Why is `\r` a newline for Vim?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/71417/211563) – Andrew Marshall Sep 15 '15 at 12:41
@Aperçu Nice. Your 8.5k allow you to edit the answer, I think ;-) – Apalala Sep 15 '15 at 16:24
@Apalala No it's a comment I can't, but sorry for the misunderstanding :) I think Andrew didn't saw my comment as well haha – Preview Sep 15 '15 at 16:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 16 '23 at 07:51

If you want to split a line by comma, try pressing this sequence (note: if you see <C-v> it means Ctrl-v, if you see <Enter> it means Enter); all other characters should be treated literally:

:s/,/<C-v><Enter>/g

<C-v> allows you to input control characters (or invisible characters) such as Esc, Enter, Tab, etc.

Type :help ins-special-keys for more info.

Demo: https://asciinema.org/a/567645

score -3 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 19 '15 at 04:35

-3

actually you dont have to add |before the patter, try this s/,/,\r/g it will replace comma with comma following a line break.

answered Nov 19 '15 at 04:35

Pengfei.X

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In Vim how do I split a long string into multiple lines by a character?

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