----- Original Message -----
From: "mario" <
[hidden email]>
To: <
[hidden email]>
Cc: <
[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 1:09 PM
Subject: please, please quick help.
> hello,
> I am very new to vim.
> I need to process an entire directory of .txt files (>2000), by the
> following vim commands
> :e namefile.txt
> :g/./normal gqq (see
http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/vimfaq.html#14.2)
> :saveas namefile.txt
>
> Is it possible to write some kind of script to process once for all.
> It is very urgent
> Thanks a lot
> mario
":saveas" is mainly for saving under a different name. You could do the
following:
vim *.txt
then, in Vim:
:set hidden
:set textwidth=80
:bufdo normal ggVGgq
:wqa
As you see, a script is not even needed (though you may write one as an
exercise).
Explanation:
"vim *.txt" starts vim, tells it it will have to operate on all *.txt files
in the current directory, and shows the first one of them in the Vim window.
":set hidden" tells Vim not to complain when a modified file ceases being
displayed in a window, but to "hide" the buffer instead. Another possibility
(possibly more economical in terms of memory) would be to use ":set
autowriteall" instead: prior to abandoning a modified buffer, save it to
disk.
":set textwidth=80" tells Vim that we're going to reformat lines to a width
of 80 characters. Use another value if that's not what you want.
":bufdo normal ggVGgq" tells it to do the following Normal-mode commands on
all buffers (*.txt files) in turn:
gg go to top of file
V set linewise visual mode
G go to bottom of file
gq reformat the visual selection (i.e., the whole file)
Note: If you want to keep existing linebreaks, a slightly different command
will be needed, for instance ":bufdo 1,$g/./gqq" (based on what you
proposed).
":wqa" tells Vim to write all modified buffers, then quit.
HTH,
Tony.
Locked
