Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!microsoft!steveha
From: steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve HASTINGS)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Global Empty Line Removal in vi?
Message-ID: <70525@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 7 Feb 91 05:01:24 GMT
References: <1991Jan24.163844.7521@unmvax.cs.unm.edu> <1991Jan26.233521.17721@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <1991Jan27.073848.27626@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <1991Jan30.001551.7538@unmvax.cs.unm.edu> <2704@wn1.sci.kun.nl>
Reply-To: steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Hastings)
Organization: Microsoft International Products Group
Lines: 24

In article <2704@wn1.sci.kun.nl> hansm@cs.kun.nl (Hans Mulder) writes:
>	:g/^$/+s//qqq/		This changes the next line, but only if
>	      ^^^^		it, too, matches the pattern.

This inspired me to come up with the following.  Note that it is only
possible to use this in ex mode; you have to use Q to exit vi to ex mode,
and you can use the ex "vi" command to switch back.


-- cut here -- cut here -- cut here -- cut here -- cut here -- cut here --
g/^[ <tab>]*$/.,/[^ <tab>]/-1c\
\
.
-- cut here -- cut here -- cut here -- cut here -- cut here -- cut here --

This finds all runs of lines containing only whitespace, and changes them
to a single line with no characters on it.

I was trying to put this in a file and execute it from vi with a :source
command, but I couldn't make it work.  Can anyone tell me why it shouldn't
work that way?
-- 
Steve "I don't speak for Microsoft" Hastings    ===^=== :::::
uunet!microsoft!steveha  steveha@microsoft.uucp    ` \\==|