Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!mintaka!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!chx400!bernina!neptune!inf.ethz.ch!wyle
From: wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Restricted Searches in VI
Summary: dunno
Keywords: use buffers
Message-ID: <28178@neptune.inf.ethz.ch>
Date: 22 Apr 91 12:06:36 GMT
Sender: news@neptune.inf.ethz.ch
Reply-To: wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Organization: Departement Informatik, ETH, Zurich
Lines: 43

Greetings vi fans,

RJ-rn screwed up again so I don't know who wrote this article; 
anyway, someone asked:

>In vi is it possible to restrict the range of a search.  Specifically
>I want to be able to search through just one function in a .c file.
>I've inherited some badly written code that has functions that just go on
>and on and I'm trying to break them up into smaller units.  To do this I need
>to be able to find where local variables are used but not if that name is
>also used in some other function later on.

I apologize that this method is not a direct answer to your question.

I solve this problem as follows: I start an edit session of a
non-existent file, read in the C module, trim off everything except the
function I want to change, and search inside it.  I must admit it
*sounds* complicated, but it works for me.

% vi tt               start vi on an empty file
:r bigmodule.c        read in the C file
/big_bad_function     find begining of big, bad C function
k:1,.d                delete everything above it
}}jj%j                find end of big, bad C function matching first brace
.,$d                  delete everything below it.
/foo_bar              start searching for use of variable foo_bar

>If it's too much of a hassel I'll continue as I have been by checking with
>"[[" to see which function I am in, but I thought there may be some way of
>combining either "[[" or "%" with a "/" to give a restricted search.

I have seen people using % inside vi macros to delete everything inside
a given parenthesis level, but I've never tried to restricted a search
inside a given file.  I usually use markers and [[ to mark and come
back to places when I am searching inside big files.

Also, check out using C cross-reference programs to tell you which variables
are used where in which functions.  It might be easier to work on paper than
on-line.

Cheers,

-Mitch