Use macros in vim
Did you ever need to perform a set of actions to tranform a text from one format to another. And how you wished that there has to be a simple way to automate this without writing a script.
Well, Vim is what you would ever need to edit (almost) anything.
Let me show you the power of vim macros with an example.
Excercise 1: Surround each column of CSV with quotes
Your Input:
Kaladin Stormblessed,Syl,Bridge Boy
Shallan Davar,Pattern,Veil
Adolin Kholin,Maya,
Kelsier,,Lord of Scars
The Output:
"Kaladin Stormblessed","Syl","Bridge Boy"
"Shallan Davar","Pattern","Veil"
"Adolin Kholin","Maya",""
"Kelsier","","Lord of Scars"
You can record a macro with following step:
- Go to the first line and type
qfollowed byato record a macro in registera. - Hit
I"to insert"at the start of the line. - Hit
esc. - Hit
f,to find the next, - Hit
i"followed byescto insert"before, - Hit
a"followed byescto insert"after, - Hit
;to go to the next comma and repeat above 2 steps. - Hit
;to go to the next comma andi"to insert before the,followed byesc - Hit
A"to insert at the end of the line, followed byesc - Hit
jto go to the next line. - Hit
qto stop recording. - Now you can repeat this macro with
@ahow many times you want. - If you know the number of remaining lines before hand (3 in this case), you can directly hit
3@ato repeat the macro 3 times.
Now reading this will take a lot time, believe me, once you get the hang of this it will be very fast.
You can also write recursive macros, edit the macros and save the macros across different session. Read reference for how to do this.
Excercise 2: Convert the CSV to JSON.
You do this yourself. I know you can.
Input:
Kaladin Stormblessed,Syl,Bridge Boy
Shallan Davar,Pattern,Veil
Adolin Kholin,Maya,
Kelsier,,Lord of Scars
Output:
{name:"Kaladin Stormblessed", spren:"Syl", nickname:"Bridge Boy"}
{name:"Shallan Davar", spren:"Pattern", nickname:"Veil"}
{name:"Adolin Kholin", spren:"Maya", nickname:""}
{name:"Kelsier", spren:"", nickname:"Lord of Scars"}
Hint: It’s same as previous one with some more inserts