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Linux Vim Batch Comments And Custom Comment

Vim is a powerful and versatile text editor used by many Linux users. One common task when working with code is adding, removing, or customizing comments. This tutorial will demonstrate how to perform batch commenting and create custom comments using Vim.

Batch commenting

To comment out multiple lines in a Vim session, follow these steps:

  1. Open the file in Vim: vim file_name.
  2. Enter visual mode by pressing v. You can also use V to select entire lines or ctrl+v to select blocks of text.
  3. Move the cursor to select the lines you want to comment out.
  4. Press : to enter command mode. The visual selection will be represented as '<,'>.
  5. Enter the following command: s/^/COMMENT_CHARACTER/. Replace COMMENT_CHARACTER with the appropriate commenting character for your programming language (e.g., #, //, or --).
  6. Press Enter to execute the command and comment out the selected lines.

To uncomment the selected lines, follow steps 1-4 above, and then execute this command: s/^COMMENT_CHARACTER//.

Custom comments

To create custom comments or modify existing comments, you can use Vim's search and replace functionality combined with regular expressions. For example, let's add a "TODO" label to all existing single-line comments in a Python script.

  1. Open the file in Vim: vim file_name.
  2. Enter command mode by pressing :.
  3. Enter the following command: %s/\(^#\)/\1 TODO:/. The \1 is a backreference to the matched comment character.
  4. Press Enter to execute the command and add the "TODO" label to all single-line comments.

You can also use similar techniques to modify or remove custom comments.

In conclusion, Vim offers powerful tools for batch commenting and customizing comments in your code. By mastering visual mode and Vim's search and replace functionality, you can efficiently manage comments in your codebase.

  1. Batch commenting in Vim on Linux:

    • Description: Vim provides commands to comment or uncomment multiple lines at once.
    • Code:
      # Example: Commenting multiple lines
:1,10s/^/#/

  2. Adding comments to multiple lines in Vim:

    • Description: Use visual mode to select lines and then prepend a comment character.
    • Code:
      # Example: Using visual mode to add comments
:1,10s/^/#/

  3. Vim plugin for batch commenting code:

    • Description: Plugins like "NERD Commenter" provide additional features for batch commenting in Vim.
    • Code:
      # Install the NERD Commenter plugin
git clone https://github.com/preservim/nerdcommenter.git ~/.vim/pack/vendor/start/nerdcommenter

  4. Customizing comment characters in Vim:

    • Description: Adjust Vim settings to customize comment characters for different file types.
    • Code:
      " Example: Customizing comment characters
autocmd FileType python let b:comment_leader = '#'

  5. Toggle comments in Vim for selected lines:

    • Description: Toggle between commenting and uncommenting selected lines in visual mode.
    • Code:
      # Example: Toggle comments in visual mode
:1,10T.

  6. Using blockwise visual mode for batch comments in Vim:

    • Description: Utilize blockwise visual mode to comment or uncomment a rectangular block of code.
    • Code:
      # Example: Using blockwise visual mode
Ctrl + V (select block) :norm I#

  7. Vim commands for commenting and uncommenting code:

    • Description: Vim commands like :s and :norm can be used for commenting and uncommenting code.
    • Code:
      # Example: Using :s command to comment
:1,10s/^/#/

  8. Creating custom mappings for commenting in Vim:

    • Description: Define custom mappings to streamline the commenting process in Vim.
    • Code:
      " Example: Custom mappings for commenting
nnoremap <Leader>c :s/^/#/<CR>

  9. Troubleshooting comment-related issues in Vim on Linux:

    • Description: Troubleshooting may involve checking syntax, plugin configurations, or Vim settings.
    • Code:
      # Example: Checking Vim logs for issues
:messages
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