Replace a string with a variable containing newline characters

Question

I have a file that looks similar to this:

module.exports = {
    blank: {
        area: 'frontend',
        name: 'Magento/blank',
        locale: 'en_US',
        files: [
            'css/styles-m',
            'css/styles-l',
            'css/email',
            'css/email-inline'
        ],
        dsl: 'less'
    },
    backend: {
        area: 'adminhtml',
        name: 'Magento/backend',
        locale: 'en_US',
        files: [
            'css/styles-old',
            'css/styles'
        ],
        dsl: 'less'
    }
};

I need to add another entry inside module.exports. I use vim inside a bash script in the following way:

THEME_CONFIG="\r    $LOWERCASE_THEME_TITLE: {\r
        area: 'frontend',\r
        name: '$ESCAPED_THEME_PATH',\r
        locale: 'en_US',\r
        files: [\r
            'css\/styles-m',\r
            'css\/styles-l'\r
        ],\r
        dsl: 'less'\r
    }\r
"

vim -c "%s/}\n/},$THEME_CONFIG\n/|wq" dev/tools/grunt/configs/themes.js

This works fine apart from the fact that I do not want to use \r as it seems to be breaking grunt. I would like to use \n instead, but if I replace \r in the code above with \n it does not work (THEME_CONFIG has no line breaks).

I have tried \\n, $'\n' but all I get is one line.

Answer 1

The problem isn't the \r characters in your string, but the fact that the string also contains literal newline characters, and Vim is including these in the replacement as NUL characters after the linebreaks. If you remove the latter from your bash script, then the replacement works correctly:

THEME_CONFIG="\r    $LOWERCASE_THEME_TITLE: {\r        area: 'frontend',\r        name: '$ESCAPED_THEME_PATH',\r        locale: 'en_US',\r [...]

If you (understandably) don't want to write your bash string on a single very long, line, there are a number of ways you can split it up.

Note that you’re also including another NUL character in your substitution which needs to be changed to a \r linebreak:

vim -c "%s/}\n/},$THEME_CONFIG\n/|wq" ...
                              ^^
                              NUL character

Here's a complete solution, using line continuations to break up the string over several lines:

THEME_CONFIG="\r    $LOWERCASE_THEME_TITLE: {\r"\
"        area: 'frontend',\r"\
"        name: '$ESCAPED_THEME_PATH',\r"\
"        locale: 'en_US',\r"\
"        files: [\r"\
"            'css\/styles-m',\r"\
"            'css\/styles-l'\r"\
"        ],\r"\
"        dsl: 'less'\r"\
"    }\r"

vim -c "%s/}\n/},$THEME_CONFIG\r/|wq" themes.js

Answer 2

Thank you guys for the answers. awk (gawk in this particular case) is indeed the way to go. Though the solution has nothing to do with vim I paste it here just in case somebody stumbles upon this question.

THEME_CONFIG="    $LOWERCASE_THEME_TITLE: {
        area: 'frontend',
        name: '$ESCAPED_THEME_PATH',
        locale: 'en_US',
        files: [
            'css\/styles-m',
            'css\/styles-l'
        ],
        dsl: 'less'
    }
"

gawk -i inplace -v replacement="},\n$THEME_CONFIG" -v RS="" '{sub(/}\n/,replacement)}1' dev/tools/grunt/configs/themes.js  

Answer 3

Two methods to append something in ex mode. You don't need to add \r in these methods.

But in this case, you should use sed or awk, feel free to ignore this answer.

Append

ex -sc +'if !search("}\\n") | q | endif' +'norm! A,' +"a|$THEME_CONFIG" +x theme.js

• +'if !search("}\n") | q | endif' exit if search failed. :append doesn't work well with global or if, you need to exit immediately if search failed.
• +'norm! A,' add , after }
• +"a|$THEME_CONFIG" append a block of text below current line. I didn't add the ending ., but it still works.
• +x save and exit

Characterwise paste

              v comma added here
THEME_CONFIG=",
    $LOWERCASE_THEME_TITLE: {
        area: 'frontend',
        name: '$ESCAPED_THEME_PATH',
        locale: 'en_US',
        files: [
            'css\/styles-m',
            'css\/styles-l'
        ],
        dsl: 'less'
    }"
     ^ no line break between } and "

ex -ns +"let @\"=\"$THEME_CONFIG\"" +'g/}\n/ norm! $p' +x  term.js

• -ns ignore recovery file, silent.
• +"let@\"=\"$THEME_CONFIG\"" set default register to desired content. Because you want to add , directly after }, you must paste in characterwise mode, so you need to make sure THEME_CONFIG doesn't end in newline, otherwise your default register ended up in linewise mode. check :h :let-@.
• +'g/}\n/ norm! $p' search, go to line end, paste. check :h :g.