how to increment a specific number in a csv file

Question

I am very new to vim, and I have a csv file with this format :

"1006","text:xxx"
"2007","text:xxx"
"3008","text:xxx"
"4009","text:xxx"
"5001","text:xxx"

every "xxx" is replaced by an increment+1 of numbers at the start of each line. athe result should be like this:

"1006","text:1007"
"2007","text:2008"
"3008","text:3009"
"4009","text:4010"
"5001","text:5002"

Answer 1

You could use a substitution command like this one:

:%s/"\(\d\+\).*:\zs.\+\ze"/\=submatch(1)+1

The command can be decomposed in these several parts:

• % is the range of lines you want to apply the command to. % is all the lines in the buffer, check :h :range for more options
• s/ [...] / [...] is the substitution which will replace the first part by a second one
• "\(\d\+\).*:\zs.\+\ze" This is the part used to match the text you want to act on, several things are going on here:
  • " is the first litteral " before the number you want to increment
  • \d\+ is the number you will need to increment
  • the number is surrounded by \( ... \) to tell vim that we should capture this value to reuse it later on
  • .*: are all the characters between the end of your number and the xxx you'll need to replace
  • \zs ... \ze are used to say to vim that the part we actually want to change is between these two markers see :h /\zs and :h /\ze
  • .\+ inside the \zs ... \ze is are all the characters we want to replace (your xxx)
• \=submatch(1)+1 is the second part of the command: what we will replace our text with
  • \= indicates that we will replace with the result of the evaluated expression following on. See :h sub-replace-expression
  • submatch(1) is used to get the value of the captured string in the first part. :h /\=
  • and finally +1 is used to increment the value

Answer 2

You can do this with a macro. Start by placing your cursor at the very start of the file gg and then type the following:

qqyi"2fxviwpCtrl-Aq

This records a macro that will update a single line in the way you require. Then undo your changes uu and play the macro on every line of the file by entering the command:

:%norm @q

How the macro works:

• qq Start recording a macro into register "q.
• yi" Yank the contents of the next double-quoted string on the line.
• 2fx Jump to the second x after the cursor.
• viw Visually select the word xxx.
• p Replace the visual selection with the yanked text.
• Ctrl-A Increment the number.
• q Stop recording.