How do I replace '\\' with '\'?

Question

Tried

:s/\\\/\\/g

but VIM will search for \\/\ instead.

So is there any way I can do this in Vim?

When working with \ or /, I often use # as a delimiter for the substitute command because this is more easy to grasp visually (I feel), i.e. :s#\\\\#\\#g — Rolf, May 29, 2019 at 6:26

muru · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-10 04:58:05Z

5

In s/\\\/\\/:

So you need to escape the third \ like the second was:

:s/\\\\/\\/g

answered May 10, 2019 at 4:58

muru

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thanks!! It worked. but in '\\\\/', why the 4th '\' isn't escaped by the 1st '\' like the 2nd and the 3rd one? in vim, how many character will be escaped by '\' exactly?
– Teddy C
May 10, 2019 at 8:03
1

Usually, \ escapes the next character, unless it is itself escaped by a \ . There are a lot of exceptions. See :h pattern-atoms for some of those
– muru
May 10, 2019 at 9:04
1

@TeddyC The 3rd \ isn't escaped by the 1st. The 2nd is escaped by the 1st and the 4th is escaped by the 3rd.
– Rich
May 10, 2019 at 14:55

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muru · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-13 05:22:47Z

1

:1,$:s/\\\\/\\/g

1 means the first line and $ means till the last one. each \\ means \, and \/ removes the / as divider, here you have your syntax error.

muru

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answered May 11, 2019 at 14:12

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1

:%s/from/to/g may be better. % means all lines in the file
– Teddy C
May 12, 2019 at 2:48
2

What OP posted isn't a syntax error though. :s/\\\/\\/g uses \\\/\\ as the pattern and g as the replacement. (A trailing / is implied.)
– muru
May 13, 2019 at 5:23
@muru I thought that the trailing / was mandatory.
– Hola Soy Edu Feliz Navidad
May 13, 2019 at 15:31

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2 Answers 2