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Tip 406 Previous Tip • Next Tip

Created: January 17, 2003 Complexity: basic Author: Raj Kiran Minimum version: 5.7 Karma: 56/20 Imported from: Tip#406

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You don't need to use the slash character as the expression delimiter. Whatever character follows the :s is defined to be the delimiter character. You can use most non-alphanumeric characters (but not \, " or |). This is very handy when working with Unix filenames, as in the following example:

:s#/usr/local/#/opt/#

If you insist on using the normal slash, you have to escape each slash in the pattern with a backslash:

:s/\/usr\/local\//\/opt\//

As you can see, the escaping method is much less readable, so consider carefully your choice of delimiter character!

[edit] Comments

If I need to replace a '/' character, I use a period '.' ie

 :s.///.fff.

to replace /// with fff

The description alludes to this, but another example seemed to be in order.

bandit (at) cruzio.com