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When I start vi/vim as ex, I can use the -c option to provide the set of ex commands to apply to a file:

echo Yes | ex -sc 's/Y/y/|%p|q!' /dev/stdin
yes

But how can I use normal mode commands like the ~ (switch case command) with ex?

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    If you want to switch case you could use :h g~ (e.g. :norm! g~2W) and not use visual mode.
    – statox
    Sep 18, 2018 at 7:04
  • Thanks, @statox. Indeed running normal mode command is what I was looking for. However, could you post an answer with the full command? I tried a couple of variations around echo 'Élève' | ex -sc ':norm! g~|%p|q!' /dev/stdin but it doesn't work.
    – Sylvain Leroux
    Sep 18, 2018 at 8:44

1 Answer 1

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Based on a comment by @statox, I found a solution:

echo 'Élève' | ex -sc 'norm! g~w' -c '%p|q!' /dev/stdin
éLÈVE

The norm command allows executing Normal mode commands. And I had to use two -c option since, after norm, the rest of the line is considered part of the normal-mode command to execute.

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    Yup I couldn't answer your comment in time but that's what I meant :) Don't forget to mark your answer as accepted when you can so that the question has an answer. Also for this kind of manipulation, I would rather use sed or perl substitution command rather than vim.
    – statox
    Sep 18, 2018 at 10:11
  • There are some situations where, as far as I know, ex can be easier than sed. For instance, for removing a specific tag that spread across multiple lines. The ex commands '/id="todelete"' and 'dat' would delete the tag wit todelete id regardless of how many lines the tag takes.
    – ndvo
    Oct 18, 2020 at 22:14

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