Find and Replace in Vim / Vi

Vim is one of the most popular command-line text editors. It comes preinstalled on macOS and most Linux distributions.

One of Vim’s most powerful features is search and replace. Once you get comfortable with it, editing text becomes incredibly fast and easy.

In this guide, we will show you how to find and replace text in Vim and its predecessor Vi.

Basic Find and Replace #

In Vim, search and replace is done with the :substitute command, often abbreviated as :s.

Before running any command, make sure you are in Normal mode, the default mode when starting the editor. To go back to normal mode from any other mode, just press the Esc key.

The general syntax looks like this:

:[range]s/{pattern}/{replacement}/[flags] [count]

• range - which lines to apply the command to.
• pattern - the text or regular expression to search for.
• replacement - the text to replace it with.
• flags - options that change how the command behaves.
• count - a positive integer that multiplies the command.

If no range is specified, Vim only replaces text in the current line. The current line is the line where the cursor is placed.

Replace the First Match in the Current Line #

The following example replaces the first occurrence of foo with bar on the current line.

:s/foo/bar/

Replace All Matches in the Current Line #

To replace all occurrences of the search pattern in the current line, add the g (global) flag:

:s/foo/bar/g

Replace Text in the Entire File #

To search and replace the pattern in the entire file, use the percentage character % as a range. It represents all lines from the beginning to the end of the file.

:%s/foo/bar/g

Delete Text Using Substitute #

If the {replacement} part is omitted, Vim replaces the match with an empty string, effectively deleting it.

The following command deletes all occurrences of the string foo from the current line:

:s/foo//g

Using Different Delimiters #

Instead of the slash character (/), you can use any other non-alphanumeric single-byte character as a delimiter. This option is useful when you have the / character in the search pattern or the replacement string.

:s|foo|bar|

Confirm Each Replacement #

To review and confirm each substitution, use the c flag:

:s/foo/bar/gc

Vim will prompt you for each match:

replace with bar (y/n/a/q/l/^E/^Y)?

• y - replace this match.
• n - skip this match.
• a - replace this and all remaining matches.
• l - replace this match and quit.
• q or Esc - quit without further replacements.
• Ctrl+E - scroll the screen up.
• Ctrl+Y - scroll the screen down.

Using Regular Expressions #

Vim’s substitute command also supports regular expressions as a search pattern. If you are not yet familiar with how Vim searches work, see the Vim search guide first.

The command below replaces all lines starting with foo with “Vim is the best”:

:%s/^foo.*/Vim is the best/gc

• ^ - the caret symbol matches the beginning of a line.
• .* - matches any number of any characters.

Case Sensitivity #

By default, searches in Vim are case sensitive; searching for “FOO” will not match “Foo”.

Ignore Case #

To ignore case for the search pattern, use the i flag:

:s/Foo/bar/gi

Another way to force ignore case is to append \c after the search pattern. For example, /Linux\c performs an ignore-case search.

Force Case Sensitivity #

If you changed the default case setting and you want to perform a case-sensitive search, use the I flag:

:s/foo/bar/gI

Uppercase \C after the pattern also forces case-match search.

Limiting the Search Range #

When no range is specified, the substitute command operates only on the current line.

The range can be either one line or a range between two lines. The line specifiers are separated with the , or ; characters. The range can be specified using the absolute line number or special symbols.

Replace Between Two Line Numbers #

To substitute all occurrences of foo with bar in lines 3 to 10:

:3,10s/foo/bar/g

The range is inclusive, meaning the first and last lines are included.

From Current Line to End of File #

To substitute foo in all lines starting from the current line to the last one:

:.,$s/foo/bar/

• The dot . character represents the current line.
• $ represents the last line.

Using Relative Line Numbers #

The line specifier can also be set using the + or - symbol, followed by a number that is added or subtracted from the preceding line number. If the number after the symbol is omitted, it defaults to 1.

:.,+4s/foo/bar/g

This replaces foo with bar on the current line and the next four lines.

Replacing Whole Words Only #

By default, Vim matches substrings — the substitute command looks for the pattern as a string, not a whole word.

For example, when searching for “gnu”, the command finds matches where “gnu” is embedded in larger words, such as “cygnus” or “magnum”.

To match whole words only, use word boundaries:

:s/\<foo\>/bar/

• \< marks the beginning of a word.
• \> marks the end of a word.

Substitute Command History #

Vim keeps track of all commands you run in the current session. To browse the history for previous substitute commands:

1. Type :s
2. Use the arrow up/down keys to find a previous substitute operation.
3. Press Enter to run the command. You can edit the command before running it.

Practical Examples #

The following examples demonstrate common real-world substitutions that can save time when editing configuration files, source code, or large text documents.

Add Comments to a Line Range #

:5,20s/^/#/

Remove Comments from a Line Range #

:5,20s/^#//

Replace Multiple Words at Once #

:%s/apple\|orange\|mango/fruit/g

Remove Trailing Whitespace #

:%s/\s\+$//e

The e flag prevents errors if no matches are found.

Quick Reference #

Troubleshooting #

Pattern not found The search pattern is case-sensitive by default. If you expect a match but get “Pattern not found”, add the i flag (:s/foo/bar/gi) or append \c to the pattern (:s/foo\c/bar/g).

Substitution only runs on the current line Without a range, :s operates only on the current line. Use :%s to apply the substitution across the entire file.

Pattern contains / characters The slash is the default delimiter, so a literal / in the pattern must be escaped (\/) or you can switch to a different delimiter such as | or #: :s|/old/path|/new/path|g.

Special regex characters not matching literally Characters like ., *, [, and \ have special meaning in Vim regex. To match them literally, escape each one with a backslash: :s/foo\.bar/baz/g.

FAQ #

How do I undo a substitution? Press u in Normal mode to undo the last change. You can press u multiple times to step back through the undo history.

What is the difference between :s and :%s? :s applies the substitution to the current line only. :%s applies it to every line in the file. The % is a range specifier meaning “all lines”.

How do I replace a whole word, not a substring? Use word boundary anchors: :s/\<foo\>/bar/g. Without them, searching for foo would also match foobar or seafood.

Can I use regex in the search pattern? Yes. Vim’s substitute command supports regular expressions. For example, :%s/^\s\+// removes leading whitespace from every line. See the regular expressions guide for a full reference.

How do I replace text only in a visual selection? Select the lines you want in Visual mode (press V to select lines), then type :s/foo/bar/g. Vim automatically inserts '<,'> as the range, limiting the substitution to the selected lines.

Conclusion #

The :substitute command is one of Vim’s most powerful editing tools. Once you know how to use it, you can make large-scale changes to text files quickly. For a broader reference on Vim commands and shortcuts, see our Vim cheatsheet .

About the authors

Dejan Panovski

Dejan Panovski is the founder of Linuxize, an RHCSA-certified Linux system administrator and DevOps engineer based in Skopje, Macedonia. Author of 800+ Linux tutorials with 20+ years of experience turning complex Linux tasks into clear, reliable guides.

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