vi: Unix question?

Question

Copy file /labs/data/cases.out to your pwd. Cases.out is a datafile that came from a database. It contains 5 fields. Each field is separated by a |. The first field is a case #, the second is an id #, the third is the persons name, the fourth and fifth field are the data opened/closed. If a field contains '**/**/**' then the case is either still open or has never been opened.

Use search and replace occurance of '**/**/**' to NEVER.

Im having moderate difficulty with this lab trying to preserve the formatting. Perhaps someone could be of help.

Answer 1

s/

only does the line you're on

if you want to do the whole document, then enter command mode by hitting esc

:g/\*\*\/\*\*\/\*\*\//s//NEVER/g

if you mean the * to be wildcards, then remove the \ before each one, otherwise you need the \ to escape the wildcard functionality. Same as escaping the / as was mentioned above. The vi pocket reference guide from O'Reilly is also a good resoure. Less than $10.

Answer 2

Try this site and see if it doesn't help any. Great source for VI commands.

http://www.ece.vill.edu/~doug/Unix/Vicommands/index.html

Answer 3

Good answers, but this could be done using sed much easier.

Answer 4

using vi,

vi Cases.out

then type the following

:s/\*\*\/\*\*\/\*\*/NEVER/g

Answer 5

Try:

s/**\/**\/**/NEVER

You need to escape (\) your slashes.