~ / operators / find-and-replacelesson 5/7

Rename one at a time: *, n and cgn

Search for a word, change it once, then repeat at each match you choose.

?how it works

When a word appears a few times, you can replace it without writing a :s command. Put the cursor on the word and press *: Vim searches for that whole word and jumps to the next match. # does the same backwards.

Now change the match (cw, the new word, <Esc>), press n to jump to the next match and . to repeat the change. Want to keep one? Press n again to skip it. The search wraps around the end of the file, so you come back to where you started.

Shorter still: cgn means "change the next match". After one cgn, new word, <Esc>, every . jumps to the next match and changes it, so you can drop the ns.

* matches whole words only, so searching for "row" won't touch "rows" or "arrow".

⌨keys

`*`	search forward for the word under the cursor
`#`	search backward for the word under the cursor
`n`	next match
`N`	previous match
`cgn`	change the next match (repeat with .)
`dgn`	delete the next match
`{Visual}*`	search for the selected textnvim

Nin neovim

Neovim adds a default mapping for * and # in Visual mode: select some text (it doesn't have to be a whole word) and press * to search for exactly that.

3 drills

Rename with *, n and .: Rename every copy of the word under the cursor to the target name. Search for it with *, change one copy, then use n and . for the rest.
Change some, skip some: Change only the first and third copies of the word under the cursor. Leave the second one alone.
Change every match with cgn: Rename every copy of the word under the cursor. This time use cgn, so each . both jumps and changes.

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