Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!midway!quads.uchicago.edu!zi0h
From: zi0h@quads.uchicago.edu (W. Ishii)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Global Empty Line Removal in vi?
Message-ID: <1991Jan24.064310.8077@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 24 Jan 91 06:43:10 GMT
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 23


Hello there!  As a vi novice (maybe a stronger term is called for--vi idiot,
probably), I've been stuck for about a week now trying to figure out how to
globally remove multiple blank lines from text.



Like those, above this line, in order to neaten up the body of the text while 
still retaining paragraph integrity.  As far as I can tell, I can't just 
substitute for something like '\12\12\12' with '\12\12' (multiple new-line
characters with double new-lines).  I think I've tried most every version of 
that, including literal returns, but nothing seems to work.

Crossing lines seems to be tough, and some have suggested sed or tr in lieu of
vi, but so far no go.  Would anyone out there be able to help me?  Please 
forgive me if this is too rudimentary/frequently-asked, but any info you have 
would be tremendously useful.

Thanks!
--

W. Ishii
zi0h@midway.uchicago.edu