created 2006 · complexity intermediate · author hari_vim · version 6.0
You can use the g// global command to repeat an Ex command on each block of lines in a file. This technique is useful because you don't need a macro, and the command is retained in history for reuse, possibly after editing.
For example, suppose you want to sort each block of text in a file, and you have a blank line before and after each block (including one before the first block, and one after the last block).
You can sort a single block after the cursor position using the command:
:/^$/;/^$/-1sort
This applies the :sort command to a block of lines defined by a range. The first line in the range is the blank line next after the cursor, and the last line is just before (-1) the blank line after that. You must use ; (not ,). See :help :;.
The following uses the global command to sort each block in the file:
:g/^\s*$/;//-1sort
The pattern /^\s*$/ is used to find blank lines, including those consisting of only whitespace (\s). The second pattern (//) is empty, so the first pattern is repeated (search for next blank line).
Comments
For the address part you can use '}. '{ and '} find paragraph boundaries.
It would be nice to have shortcuts for these patterns:
\(\%^\|^\n\)\@<=\(.\)\@= : paragraph start \(.\)\@<=\(\%$\|\n$\)\@= : pragraph end
In normal mode, you can use "Vip:".