Renaming Variables and Functions Across Multiple Files in Vim

Zettel#69

zettelkasten
Published

2023-04-13

Even though Vim isn’t an IDE, it still allows for easy refactoring.

Select the Files You Want to Modify by Populating the Argument List

Use the :args command to add all the files matching the specified pattern (e.g., all Python files) to the argument list:

:args *.py

Search and Replace

Perform the search and replace operations across all the files in the argument list:

:argdo %s/old_variable_name/new_variable_name/g | update

To ignore potential “pattern not found” errors, append the e flag to the :s(ubstitute) command: /ge.

Automatically Save with the update Command

The update command is not strictly necessary for the search and replace operation, but it is useful for saving the changes made in each file after the :s(ubstitute) command has been executed. If you prefer to save all of the buffers later, omit the update command and use :wa when you’re ready to save.