(Vim) Using regex with magic in search & substitute

  1. Search: Add \v right after /, i.e. /\v<PATTERN_TO_SEARCH>, e.g. 
    :/\vAGE: \d+ NAME
  2. Substitute: Add \v right after the search part, i.e. %s/\v<TARGET>/<REPLACEMENT>/<FLAGS>, e.g. to replace whitespace between age value and “NAME”: 
    :%s/\vAGE: (\d+) NAME/AGE: \1\rNAME/g
Written on October 1, 2021