gistfile1.md

Vim Regexes

When do I need a backslash?

• this is all dependent on the "magic" option being set to the default, magic (:set magic? will tell you what you're set on)

• vim regexes are beyond reason

• (defn finds a literal paren, and \(defn\) creates a group.

• | finds a literal pipe and, \| separates alternatives

• [ring.adapter.jetty finds literal text, but so does \[ring.adapter.jetty

  • however, closing the square bracket makes the stuff inside a character class
  • backslashing or omitting either bracket finds literal text instead

• . matches any character, \. matches a literal period

• f\+ matches 1 or more f's, but f* matches 0 or more

• \d finds a digit

• \d\{2,} finds 2 or more digits (note: no backslash on closing bracket)

Zero-width matching

• foo\(bar\)\@= matches any foo that's followed by bar
• foo\(bar\)\@! matches any foo that's NOT followed by bar
• \(foo\)\@<=bar matches any bar that's preceded by foo
• \(foo\)\@<!bar matches any bar that's NOT preceded by foo
• ^\s*\zsuser matches user at the start of a line, ignoring whitespace
  • ^\s*user matches user at the start of a line, keeping whitespace

Case sensitivity

• \c (anywhere in the pattern) marks the search as case insensitive