How to search for a matching pattern only in the first line across multiple files?

Question

How do I search in multiple files for 1st line of file matching a pattern?

e.g. I want to search for files starting with ++

++ Heading 1

and not

+ Heading 1

++ Heading 2

Any pointers appreciated.

Answer 1

Use :vimgrep as below:

:vimgrep /\%(\%<2l\)foo/ *.*

This will search for foo in all files in the current folders (*.*) only in the 1st line (<2l).

Alternatively may search either in the current file (%), certain files (*.c) or recursively (**/*.*, see: :help starstar-wildcard). See: :help :vimgrep and :help /\%>l.

To jump between patterns, use :cn[ext] and :cp[revious]. See more at SO.

However there is no straight forward solution to use substitution on quickfix list.

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To search and replace pattern for the first line only for multiple-files, you can use Ex command:

$ ex +'bufdo!1s/php/bar/ge' -cxa *.*

^{Note: The :bufdo command is not POSIX.}

Answer 2

For doing something to multiple files, :argdo is your friend. You might need to edit the argument list first. It's set to the opened files on vim start, you can output it with :args and set it with, e.g., :args *.txt. After that, a simple :argdo /^++ will search for the first line that starts with ++ and puts the cursor there.

That assumes the cursor is on the first line of each buffer. To assure that, use :argdo :normal 1G first.

Note that you did not specify to do anything special with that line, so I've just performed the search here (search as in "put the cursor there").

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Edit: If you wanto to substitute something, just use the usual vim command for argdo, i.e. :argdo %s/^++/--/ge. Note that for edits you should use :set hidden, otherwise it won't be able to switch buffers. Use the e qualifier for the substitution so the command doesn't stop at a buffer with no match.