Can I use multiple functions in substitute string in vim

Question

I want to extract information from file path and use it as part of substitute string, racked my mind, tried many times and only to found the follwing works

let spd = split(expand('%:p'),"/")
%s/to_be_replaced/\=spd[-2]/g

I want to merge the two commands into one

%s/to_be_replaced/\=split(expand('%:p',"/"))[-2]/g

but it doesn't work. Since I am working with multiple files in tab mode, the two commmands method is actually quite inconvenient. Moreover, it doesn't fulfill the requirement since

%s/to_be_replaced/some_string\=spd[-2]more_string/g

is also wrong. So I am wondering if there is a solution or a quicker way to do it?

kev · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-15 03:14:57Z

3

Try other delimit (such as @)

%s@to_be_replaced@\=split(expand('%:p'),'/')[-2]@g

If you want to embed expr insider string:

%s@to_be_replaced@\=printf('some_string%smore_string', spd[-2])@g

answered Oct 15, 2013 at 3:14

kev

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Ingo Karkat · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-15 08:11:19Z

0

Alternative

Unless you invoke this for multiple buffers (:bufdo et al.), your expression is constant for the buffer. You can therefore insert it literally in the command line via <C-r>=:

:%s/to_be_replaced/<C-r>=split(expand('%:p'),"/")[-2]<CR>/g

Explanation of your problem

The reason why your original attempt doesn't work is explained at :help sub-replace-expression:

Be careful: The separation character must not appear in the expression! Consider using a character like "@" or ":".

As kev has pointed out, you can just use any other single-byte character, but not an alphanumeric character, '\', '"' or '|'.

answered Oct 15, 2013 at 8:11

Ingo Karkat

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1 Comment

Kevin Powell Over a year ago

Thank you for your nice reply!

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