how to move a word to the beginning of the sentence in vim

Question

say I have this line

= function (x, y, word);

and I want to convert it to

 word = function (x,y);

Thus far, I have been manually selecting the word, then 'x', and then paste it at the beginning. And then I would remove unnecessary comma.

Is there a more efficient way to accomplish the same thing?

Answer 1

Try this: :dw to cut the current word, move to beginning of line, then :p to paste the buffer there.

Answer 2

Don't create weired functions or macros, as many advanced users may suggest you, but learn simple commands, which can help you when you would need to make similar, but slightly different substitution.

My solution would be: place cursor on the comma, and type: xxdw^Pa <C-[>

Description:

• xx - delete comma and space
• dw - delete word
• ^ - place cursor on the beginning of text in line
• P - place deleted text before cursor
• a - add space after word
• <C-[> - escape to return to normal mode, you can also press <ESC> if you like, or don't press at all

And how to place cursor in comma? Learn about f,, F,, t,, T,, w, b and e to move faster around your text.

Answer 3

I'd suggest recording a macro: (starting at the beginning of the line) qq2f,2xdw0Pa <esc>0jq, then running that macro wherever you need it: @q.

Answer 4

:%s/\(.*\),\([^)]*\)/\2\1/

EDIT:removed /g

EDIT2: the %s is only if you want to do this for the entire file. if you just want to do this for the current line then replace % with . (a dot)

Answer 5

Place cursor over word and type:

"0diw    delete word and store it in register 0
dF,      delete backwards up to and including ,
^        place cursor at first character in line
"0P      paste word

I would suggest to map this to a key.

Answer 6

Or you could use a regular expression.

    :s/\(^.*\), \(\a\+\)\();\)/\2\1\3/

(Match up to the last comma) -> \1

(match last argument) -> \2

(Match closing brace and semicolon) -> \3

The reorder the matched terms as you need.