How do I reverse a string with Vim script

Question

I am trying to reverse a string, so that 'abc defg hij' becomes 'jih gfed cba'. The solution I came up with is

join(reverse(split(l:text, '.\zs')), '')

Is there a more elegant solution or should I stick with what I have come up with?

It depends on what you mean by "elegant". There is no internal function dedicated to reversing a string, if that's what you're asking. If you mean doing it with two or less calls to internal functions and no additional statements, that doesn't seem to be possible, either. — Sato Katsura, Oct 1, 2015 at 14:17
Your current solution is already both elegant and idiomatic. — romainl, Oct 1, 2015 at 14:27
@SatoKatsura actually, I think it is more efficient, because the regexp engine does not need to match anything. Furthermore, this is the prefered way from the documentation. — Christian Brabandt, Oct 1, 2015 at 14:55
@ChristianBrabandt According to the manual, split() without the {keepempty} option should remove a single empty item at the beginning, and a single empty item at the end. It currently removes all empty items, including the ones in the middle of the list (which is more useful than the documented behaviour if you ask me, but you probably aren't). I think this has been discussed recently on vim_dev. — Sato Katsura, Oct 1, 2015 at 15:08

JJoao · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-01 15:44:17Z

11

Your solution is very elegant! An alternative if you are in Unix based env:

!!rev

answered Oct 1, 2015 at 15:44

JJoao

5514 silver badges9 bronze badges

Add a comment |

SergioAraujo · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-17 15:20:11Z

6

From wikia

vnoremap <Leader>r c<C-O>:set revins<CR><C-R>"<Esc>:set norevins<CR>

For more see: :h revins

answered Feb 17, 2018 at 15:20

SergioAraujo

1,13711 silver badges11 bronze badges

Add a comment |

KeeeeiZ · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-09 12:58:20Z

5

If you are using a unix-like system, in vim, type ex-command :%! rev

answered Sep 9, 2019 at 12:58

KeeeeiZ

511 silver badge1 bronze badge

Add a comment |

3 Answers 3