VI Question

[Brian07]

If I have a text file open in VI that looks like


12345
54321
21435
24135
etc.
etc.
for hundreds of lines, whats the comand I want to simply append a , to the end of every line such as

12345,
54321,
21435,
etc.

Thanks!

 

[gittyup]

With the file open in vi, do the following:

:%s/$/,/


This will add a comma, for example, at the end of each line.

 

[Brian07]

so your command is saying

%-globally s-search/$-end of everyline /, - append comma?

Thanks!


PS- that works but it puts a ton of spaces between the last digit and the end of line comma....

12345 ,

 

[gittyup]

It should only append a single comma and no spaces. Maybe there was already spaces at the end of each line? Do a "set list" within the file to see if there are any trailing spaces there already.

 

[Brian07]

Yep, full of spaces......any tricks to dump them out?

Thanks,

Brian

 

[gittyup]

Ofcourse.

Take your original file before adding your trailing comma or whatever. In the file, do
:%s/\(.*\) *$/\1/

Note: There is 2 spaces between \) and *$

After that, then add back the trailing comma or whatever. I assume you made a copy of your original file?

 

[Brian07]

Pure magic...thanks a ton. Now if you don't mind could you briefly explain the syntax? Just for my own understanding? Thank you very much!


Brian

 

[stndn]

.... and i thought i know vi by heart .... 🙁 🙁

anyway, the vi lovers homepage is very good resources of everything we all oh so love 🙂

now, if only i have even the slightest motivation to read the faqs myself.... 🙁 😉

🙂🙂
-171-

 

[gittyup]

:%s/\(.*\) *$/\1/

:%s/ / - substitute command
\(.*\) - save all the text on the line
*$ - all spaces at the end of the line
\1 - restore the line without spaces