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Q&A Vim: how to search for all instances of a string, except for those that are between two specific strings

Using Vim, I am trying to search for all instances of a specific string, except for those that fall somewhere in between two other specific strings. For example, I want to determine all instances ...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Trevor‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Dirk Herrmann‭

#3: Nominated for promotion by user avatar Alexei‭ · 2022-06-12T05:34:46Z (over 2 years ago)
#2: Post edited by user avatar Trevor‭ · 2022-06-10T05:08:21Z (over 2 years ago)
made first sentence a little more specific
  • Using Vim, I am trying to search for all instances of a string, except for those that fall somewhere in between two specific strings.
  • For example, I want to determine all instances of `bird`, except for those that fall somewhere between `abc` and `xyz`. So in the text below, a successful command would find only the 1st and 3rd instances of `bird` on line 1, and only the 1st instance of `bird` on line 2:
  • ```
  • bird ant abc cow bird xyz cat bird
  • cat dog fish bird abc bird horse xyz
  • ```
  • ---
  • **my best efforts:**
  • This search seems to find all instances of `bird` that do not have `xyz` somewhere after them:
  • ```
  • /bird\(.*xyz\)\@!
  • ```
  • This search seems to find all instances of `bird` that do not have `abc` somewhere before them (a similar example is shown in `:help \@<!`)
  • ```
  • /\(abc.*\)\@<!bird
  • ```
  • But naively trying to combine these two patterns does not work:
  • ```
  • /\(abc.*\)\@<!bird\(.*xyz\)\@!
  • ```
  • Using Vim, I am trying to search for all instances of a specific string, except for those that fall somewhere in between two other specific strings.
  • For example, I want to determine all instances of `bird`, except for those that fall somewhere between `abc` and `xyz`. So in the text below, a successful command would find only the 1st and 3rd instances of `bird` on line 1, and only the 1st instance of `bird` on line 2:
  • ```
  • bird ant abc cow bird xyz cat bird
  • cat dog fish bird abc bird horse xyz
  • ```
  • ---
  • **my best efforts:**
  • This search seems to find all instances of `bird` that do not have `xyz` somewhere after them:
  • ```
  • /bird\(.*xyz\)\@!
  • ```
  • This search seems to find all instances of `bird` that do not have `abc` somewhere before them (a similar example is shown in `:help \@<!`)
  • ```
  • /\(abc.*\)\@<!bird
  • ```
  • But naively trying to combine these two patterns does not work:
  • ```
  • /\(abc.*\)\@<!bird\(.*xyz\)\@!
  • ```
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Trevor‭ · 2022-06-10T05:07:27Z (over 2 years ago)
Vim: how to search for all instances of a string, except for those that are between two specific strings
Using Vim, I am trying to search for all instances of a string, except for those that fall somewhere in between two specific strings.

For example, I want to determine all instances of `bird`, except for those that fall somewhere between `abc` and `xyz`. So in the text below, a successful command would find only the 1st and 3rd instances of `bird` on line 1, and only the 1st instance of `bird` on line 2:
```
bird ant abc cow bird xyz cat bird
cat dog fish bird abc bird horse xyz
```

---
**my best efforts:**

This search seems to find all instances of `bird` that do not have `xyz` somewhere after them:
```
/bird\(.*xyz\)\@!
```
This search seems to find all instances of `bird` that do not have `abc` somewhere before them (a similar example is shown in `:help \@<!`)
```
/\(abc.*\)\@<!bird
```
But naively trying to combine these two patterns does not work:
```
/\(abc.*\)\@<!bird\(.*xyz\)\@!
```