Search and replace a pattern with new line except for a pattern

Question

I am having a very long line file, I have to break the line into number of small lines.

Example:

< this>is a testing< /this>< next>testing< /next>< tested>successfully< /tested>

I have to break it into as of below

< this>is a testing< / this> 

< next>testing< / next> 

< tested>successfully< /tested>

for this I am trying to search for < and add new line, but this results in:

< this>is a testing

< /this>

< next>testing

< /next>

< tested>successfully

< /tested>

What would be the correct command to fix this?

Answer 1

If for some reason you can't check those tools that statox recommended, you can use something like this:

%s;\(< */[^>]\+>\);\1^M;g

It will look at every line for every closing tag (\(< */[^>]\+>\)) and replace it by itself and then a new line.

The first part (to identify the closing tag) will search for

• a < character
• followed by any number of spaces ( *),
• then a slash (/)
• and any (positive) number of any character different from a closing tag sign ([^>]\+)
• and finally a close tag sign (>).

To insert a new line (^M above) you should press Ctrl-V (or Ctrl-Q if you are on on Windows) and then press the Enter key.

Answer 2

What you need to find all >< patterns and to insert two new lines.

One of the simplest is to do

:s/></>\r\r</g

Or

:s/>\zs\ze</\r\r/g