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Goal: Select multiple words, one at a time, then replace them all.

I'm new to Vim, I come from Visual Studio. I would like to achieve one important feature that helped me a lot in my productivity: Select multiple words, one at a time, and then replace them all.

I know there is a Vim way of selecting and replacing using:

:% s/target-word/replacement/gc

But as you can see it's still a lot to write compared to its counterpart in VS.Code. Could someone help me with a vim script or a plugin to achieve this in the most similar way?

• imagine that I already have selected the word with viw, for example.
• then I want to have a single command to select the next match.
• then start writing and see those changes written in real-time or after hitting Esc.

Thanks for any guidance on this.

[EDIT]

As Martin Tournoij explains it, I can use the star * operator and then the %s//replacement, this is great.

Now... how can I map this to a nmap, nnremap or inoremap (that I yat don't fully understand...) Let's say I already make a selection with * then... what do I do to avoid typing :%s//replacement just a lead key and then the replacement, is it possible?

[Edit] Accepted answer

Thank D. Ben Knoble, you provided to me the more convenient and practical answer. As the main goal is to change a word locally, the combination *gn Is perfect.

As I'm changing the also the current word and * jumps me to the next match, what I add to go back to that word is Ctrl + N.

* Ctrl + N cgn then .

Thanks to this amazing community! Cheers.

Goal: Select multiple words, one at a time, then replace them all.

I'm new to Vim; I come from Visual Studio. I would like to achieve one important feature that helped me a lot in my productivity: Select multiple words, one at a time, and then replace them all.

I know there is a Vim way of replacing using:

:% s/target-word/replacement/gc

But as you can see it's still a lot to write compared to its counterpart in VS Code. Could someone help me with a vim script or a plugin to achieve this in the most similar way?

• imagine that I already have selected the word with viw, for example.
• then I want to have a single command to select the next match.
• then start writing and see those changes written in real-time or after hitting Esc.

[Edit] Accepted answer

Thanks D. Ben Knoble; you provided to me the more convenient and practical answer. As the main goal is to change a word locally, the combination *cgn Is perfect.

As I'm changing the also the current word and * jumps me to the next match, what I add to go back to that word is Ctrl + N.

* Ctrl + N cgn then .

Goal: Select multiple words, one at a time, then replace them all.

I'm new to Vim, I come from Visual Studio. I would like to achieve one important feature that helped me a lot in my productivity: Select multiple words, one at a time, and then replace them all.

I know there is a Vim way of selecting and replacing using:

:% s/target-word/replacement/gc

But as you can see it's still a lot to write compared to its counterpart in VS.Code. Could someone help me with a vim script or a plugin to achieve this in the most similar way?

• imagine that I already have selected the word with viw, for example.
• then I want to have a single command to select the next match.
• then start writing and see those changes written in real-time or after hitting Esc.

Thanks for any guidance on this.

[EDIT]

As Martin Tournoij explains it, I can use the star * operator and then the %s//replacement, this is great.

Now... how can I map this to a nmap, nnremap or inoremap (that I yat don't fully understand...) Let's say I already make a selection with * then... what do I do to avoid typing :%s//replacement just a lead key and then the replacement, is it possible?

Thanks again!

Cheers.

Goal: Select multiple words, one at a time, then replace them all.

I'm new to Vim, I come from Visual Studio. I would like to achieve one important feature that helped me a lot in my productivity: Select multiple words, one at a time, and then replace them all.

I know there is a Vim way of selecting and replacing using:

:% s/target-word/replacement/gc

But as you can see it's still a lot to write compared to its counterpart in VS.Code. Could someone help me with a vim script or a plugin to achieve this in the most similar way?

• imagine that I already have selected the word with viw, for example.
• then I want to have a single command to select the next match.
• then start writing and see those changes written in real-time or after hitting Esc.

Thanks for any guidance on this.

[EDIT]

As Martin Tournoij explains it, I can use the star * operator and then the %s//replacement, this is great.

Now... how can I map this to a nmap, nnremap or inoremap (that I yat don't fully understand...) Let's say I already make a selection with * then... what do I do to avoid typing :%s//replacement just a lead key and then the replacement, is it possible?

[Edit] Accepted answer

Thank D. Ben Knoble, you provided to me the more convenient and practical answer. As the main goal is to change a word locally, the combination *gn Is perfect.

As I'm changing the also the current word and * jumps me to the next match, what I add to go back to that word is Ctrl + N.

* Ctrl + N cgn then .

Thanks to this amazing community! Cheers.