How to replace [ with ( in vim

Question

I have this markdown line,

![Home][screenshots/home.png]

I want to replace it with,

![Home](screenshots/home.png)

So, I tried this,

:%s/[s/(s/g

Vim(version 81) says pattern not found.

Pro tip: use vim-sandwich or vim-surround, they both work great to change a pair of character quickly. No need to do it manually. — jdhao, Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 8:35
Possible dupes: vi.stackexchange.com/q/21682/10604, vi.stackexchange.com/q/7264/10604 — D. Ben Knoble, Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 12:39
The error you're getting ("pattern not found") is due to [ starting a character class in a regex (see :help /[]. You need to escape it with a backslash. This should work: :%s/\[s/(s/g. But much better is to use something like vim-surround, which gives you commands to switch the [] pair with a () pair in a single command (cs]) anywhere inside that block.) — filbranden, Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 18:00

padawin · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-17 07:54:20Z

2

You need to escape the opening square bracket:

:%s/\[s/(s/g

For the whole replace, you can use:

:%s/]\[\(.)]/](\1)

answered Nov 17, 2020 at 7:47

padawin

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Yes worked!! I did it two times for opening and closing brackets. :%s/\[s/(s/g and :%s/\g]/g)/g
– atheros
Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 7:55

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