[wellylug] vi(m) question.

[Sam Cannell]

1    first line
2    second line
3 third line and we want to leave this alone
4    fourth line
5    fifth line
6 sixth line and this stays the same too.

:%s/^\( \+\)/newtext\1/

1 newtext   first line
2 newtext   second line
3 third line and we want to leave this alone
4 newtext   fourth line
5 newtext   fifth line
6 sixth line and this stays the same too.

If you use '\s' instead of ' ', it'll match other whitespace characters
like tabs: 

:%s/^\(\s\+\)/newtext\1/

There may be characters other than space and tab that it matches - I
don't remember off the top of my head. :)

-----Original Message-----
From: wellylug-admin at lists.naos.co.nz
[mailto:wellylug-admin at lists.naos.co.nz] On Behalf Of Enkidu
Sent: Friday, 7 May 2004 10:05 p.m.
To: wellylug at lists.naos.co.nz
Subject: Re: [wellylug] vi(m) question.

What if *some* of the lines already had something there?

1   first line
2   second line
3third line and we want to leave this alone
4   fourth line
5   fifth line
6sixth line and this stays the same too.